Spring is HERE! Woo Hoo.
The clouds were scudding around the tops of the hills and out of the sun it was cool but it
was sunny and nice. Threw the bike on the back of the car and headed out of town and up one of
the valleys.
10 km in things feel remote enough and I'm on some farmland where I regularly ride. Leave the car
parked at the Dairy Shed that's on the river flat in the middle of the valley and gear up. The
farmers are bringing the new calves and the cows in for the first milking of the season. Calves and
lambs. Spring is here alright.
It's a little valley. The ride was only 10km today but you have a choice of directions and tracks to
take for other days. I did pass through here on a 85km ride one day last summer. Today I'm just
going to do some short, sharp climbs and blow the cobwebs out. Haven't been on the bike much over
the last month - between short daylight hours, staff hassles at work and broken forks it's been
difficult to get out. That doesn't matter now, today I'm riding up the hills and terraces to a small
forest covered knob that I haven't been to before. I think that I can ride up and loop around behind
it before coming out on top and following old tracks back down the hill and home. The downhill
should be pretty good.
The soil is still wet from the recent rain so I stick to the farm tracks until they peter out a
couple of km's in. I hit a short climb onto some high river terraces and work my way along them
across fields and fences to a smaller gully. The sandstone rock comes close to the surface here. The
outcrops and bluffs drop stones and boulders down the hillsides across the landscape. The streams
that flow from the beech forest that coats the hillsides cuts through the clay soil. Weaving uphill
on narrow terraces that run alongside the stream leaves me sweating and stuffed. The flat is covered
with rock - they're just big long scrubby rock gardens with blackberry bushes for added obstacles.
I'm just happy that I'm cleaning some nice reasonable technical stuff on an uphill grade. The
physical effort of the climb is a buzz too.
I can see the top so cut left across the gully and follow the edge of the beech forest down towards
the stream. Two sharp stream crossings. The streams have cut deep into the hillside and run some 50
feet below me. Bracken fern, deep cuttings, steep slopes. It gets a bit close and narrow so I have
to put the bike over my shoulder and do some bush-bashing to get up the other side of the gully. I'm
sure that there must be a crossing here somewhere. I get most of the way down the steep bank. The
bike gets lowered delicately over the edge of a stream cutting and dropped a couple of feet to the
bottom. I clamber down behind it in a shower of dirt and beech leaves. This ain't biking, but I'm
having great fun.
Carrying the bike up the other side I notice a well used network of tracks - sheep maybe? I'm not
looking that closely. They provide a reasonable way of reaching the top. I pass some fresh wild pig
rooting. I've hunted pigs before so I know what I'm looking at. Ah! Pigs then, not sheep. Then
moments later I can smell the gamey tang of wild pigs. The bush rustles and without so much as an
'oink' a little black, coarse haired piglet leaps out and races along the path in front of me! I
laugh and keep checking the surrounding area in case I see more.
No more luck today. No more wild boar sightings. Just a nice gentle climb to the top of the knob and
a great view across the 5 km's to the other side of the valley. A couple of logs to clamber over on
the way. I almost manage to ride the bike over one big log. Got the front up and over but the chain
ring hung up and I overbalanced. Damn - close. The clouds are coming in and squally showers pass.
Spring weather.
The downhill is nice. Bumpy, not too fast but fast enough for some bunnyhops over obstacles and
holes. The brakes need to be pulled hard to get around the zigs and zags of the old bulldozer
tracks. Originally farm access tracks, the 60 year old tracks are well weathered and eroded. Almost
an un-noticeable part of the landscape now. A blackberry cane catches me across the shin on the way
down. I hate that feeling of thorns on skin. A little blood. All part of the fun.
The arms and thumbs get sore and my legs are getting unsteady from the continuous shock absorbing
and braking that they are doing. A few startled sheep scatter in front of me. After crossing rocky
fields and a tossing the bike over a couple of barbedwire fences I decide to slow a little on the
last downward leg. Steep track, sandstone babyheads and compacted clay. Fast if you can pick a line.
Not good for you if you can't. I'm not that fast :-)
Finally I swoop down out the hills and recross the streams I had crossed at the top. This time it's
smooth and I splash at speed through them. Water parts and v's away from me. It's a gentle warm-down
as I ride alongside the riverbank and the crack-willow back to the car.
Spring. New Zealand. I love it.
--
Westie