Paul Petch

Woodhill mountain biking. North Island trip. Ride one.

I’m currently in Auckland and staying with my good friend Craig- who I’ve had many an adventure with over the past few years. Last night we met up with some of his mates and went out for food- and rose early this morning for a spin at Woodhill bike park- about 45mins outside of Auckland.

With a few more PSI in the Rubber Queens off we went and I must admit that my initial reservations of riding at the park with hardly any elevation were quickly banished as we pedaled like nutters through the sandy single track. With roots and drop off everywhere it was a great ride and with 2.5 hrs under our belts we covered a fair few tracks too.

There are no epic climbs and panoramic views as often seen on the South Island- but it was actually quite refreshing to not grind for hours to get to the top. With some nice technical rooty climbs, fast descents and a playground to have some fun on wooden structures and hitting tight turns at speed- what else could you ask for?

Craig is now on a Trance too- which has really helped his confidence when it comes to riding. On most technical downs- I was chasing him which is a far cry from his Christchurch days when he was on a hardtail with SIDS! I was also a bit concerned that riding a 16KG trail bike would be too much for these little legs- but it worked out just fine- in fact the 2.4″ tyres rode like a dune buggy through the many “sand traps” within the park. It seems that adding a few more PSI to the new tyres is actually a good thing too as they seemed to dig in really well today. With just a handful of rides on the Rubber Queens- I think that I’ve now kind of found their sweet spot. As for the new Lumix LX3 camera with its sports setting and “multiple shots”, it was also a total success today too.

Day one and all is well and considering that the PIKES had an oil leak (another & this will be the 5th warranty!) from the U-turn when I unloaded the bike…..I can’t complain. Tomorrow we head to Rotovegas and meet up with Richard and his mate Mark. Wicked.

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This entry was posted on Monday, December 28th, 2009 at 3:44 pm and is filed under Bike Rides and tagged with continental rubber queen, craig, marin, new years trip, North Island, rock shox, warranty, woodhill. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.