Paul Petch

Three week MTB drought broken!

This morning I was greeted with a 17deg day with sunshine- PERFECT mountain biking weather :) So off I spun to Port Hills on my Trek Fuel EX8 (2007) to break the three week siesta I’ve had putting rubber to dirt. It seems that you can pretty much find the numerous trails on the hills simply by riding towards them from town- you cannot really miss them! Today I opted to ride up the Rapaki Track onto Summit Road and after some sweet rocky single track trails I ended up descending with a ear to ear grin into Sumner. WOW! I had an awesome ride and the views of Lyttelton Harbour and Pegasus Bay were simply breath taking.

I confess- I’ve ridden the hills a few times now- but I’m still in awe at how magnificent these trails really are. I’ve just scratched the surface of what Port Hills has to offer and I’m looking forward to exploring some more in the coming months. I’m not sure how high I climbed today or how fast I went as I forgot the Garmin! What I do know is that I was lost in action for about 4 hours. Next ride I’ll make sure I take it.

Something magical happened today also- at one point on the trail I stopped and laid and relaxed and took in the views! The sound of the Sky Larks, rustling grass in the cool breeze, the mind bending views and warm sun on my face made all the climbing worth while. The odd thing is that I can’t remember the last time I’ve done this- but I have a feeling that it will happen very often in this beautiful country! Maybe the bench I rode past with the words “Rest and be thankful” got me thinking?What was interesting on the hills is how technical and more challenging they are compared to the riding I’ve done in Australia- I’m loving it! And my aching body is testament to how much I’m simply not used to riding upwards and then eye ‘wateringly’ fast downwards all day especially after being off the dirt for several weeks.

It’s a magnificent feeling when the riding throws up unknown parts of a trail and you have to react with no idea of the outcome. Saying that- I’m also looking forward to some familiarly to then hammer it!

Related posts:

1. Sign of the Kiwi and the Flying Nun
2. Weekend run (week one) – Port Hills
3. Sneaky mid week Port Hills ride
4. Port Hills and no dab into Sumner
5. Worsleys Track, Flying Nun & the Victoria Park wall ride – Christchurch

This entry was posted on Friday, December 21st, 2007 at 4:01 pm and is filed under Bike Rides and tagged with port hills, Trails & Rides, trek. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.