Friday, January 26, 2007

Peakin' at Makara


We finally got on the bikes today, and as a nice intro to NZ riding for the K Man, I took him to Wellington's famous Makara Peak. We hooked up with Christchurchians Brent and June, who we met yesterday at the Dry Creek Trailhead, and started the long (about an hour), steady climb to the top, up Koru, Sally Alley, Missing Link and Aratihi. Halfway up we met up with 5 other riders, who were also from Christchurch. We climbed as a group, a group that was splattered all over the hill as we suffered in silence. At the peak it was the usual cloudy, windy, cold conditions, so we quickly headed back down, via the Ridgeline track. What a cool trail, pretty techy, steep, narrow and on the edge of, surprisingly, the ridgeline. At the bottom of Ridgeline, as I came flying out of the trail, two young fellas about 13 or so were watching us come down and were lovin it. They followed us down to the Skills Area, where we proved once and for all that we don't have any! But it was fun trying. We rode off drops, jumped table-tops, see-sawed and North-Shored some shit. After about an hour of that, it was time for the final drop down to the carpark, via Livewires. What a hoot. Tight, twisty sections mixed with steep fast chutes and some nasty corners. How nasty? You'll have to ask Kedan about that. We didn't cover half of what I wanted to, but tomorrow we hit it again, taking in the stuff we missed today. After cleaning up in the carpark, we drove into the city via the Botanic Gardens, and had a walk around the CBD, along Lambton Quay. We got sore neck muscles and sunburned eyeballs from all the Kiwi talent wandering about. I thought I saw Eva about a dozen times, and we would yell out the car windows "EEEEVVVVAAAAAHHHHHH." But she never appeared. Sigh. So more Makara next, then Belmont Park and the Wind Turbine, trails I've never done before, but have heard good things about. Wellington rocks.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

sweet huck to flat yo