Who said tar and dirt don't mix?

The night air was crisp, biting even, but the wind had dropped and the trails were dry... perfect for a Makara mission. I met up with Josh at his house and we rode the tar as a warm-up. Josh's idea of a warm-up is to put it in the big dog and smash it up through Aro Valley, while I beg for mercy and my knees scream in protest. He was riding the I-Drive like he rides his fixie; out of the saddle and grinding. I'd recovered sufficiently by the time we got to Karori, meeting up with Carl and Marty at the carpark. Carl had ridden up also, but took on Deliverance, something I'm not that eager to do at night. It's challenging enough in daylight. Amy and Clare also came along, but Clare dropped out early as she was a bit under the weather. The trails were in perfect condition, they dry out so quickly up there, there were a few small sticky patches on Aritihi but Ridgeline was perfect. Perfect until I railed around a corner to find Josh sprawled on the ground, groggily regaining his feet after testing his Bell's integrity. He later discovered a crack through it, so it must've been a decent headbutt to the soil. The ride back down Starfish always rocks, and Marty was charging on the front with Carl on his heels, while I watched them from a more sane distance. Amy kicked the butts of some 'freeriders' who we'd encountered halfway down Ridgeline, on her hardtail with a half functioning fork... she's only been riding a year but goes real well both up and down. Smiles all round when we got back to the carpark, except for Josh who was complaining about a sore leg... couldn't hurt that head... Carl basically told him to harden up and that taking the road back to town wasn't an option, so we climbed up the singletrack of Salvation to Wright's Hill and then bombed the twisty, narrow switchback trails to Campbell St and the old gold mine. A bit of high speed road action finished off another fine Wellington ride.

*Trivia: how come '2 minute noodles' always take 5 minutes to cook?