Okuku Pass, Ashley Forest

Ten riders formed the pelaton here, pursued by latecomers Graeme & Claire.

The ride was mostly along a gravel road, with a solid downhill, and a steep singletrack that caused a few falls, attributed to slippery windfall.

Three riders had joined us from the West Coast for the day. The day was cool but we were sheltered, as we stayed down on the road, avoiding a windy, exposed ridge. And we even earned a decent view.

Reynolds Valley, Lake Forsyth

This was a chain-thirsty ride, with a super-huge downhill that saw two chains broken in 100 metres. It was a ripping descent that the club has missed on its last three visits, due to the lake outlet being open.

This time the full loop was doable, with the dozen or so riders powering back from Birdlings Flat to Little River, along the rail trail.

Nice to speed along the lakeside flats, looking up at the hill that had given a worthy day’s riding.

Gherkins Track

This local ride was notable for a demolition derby of sorts. While plunging down Kennedy’s Bush track at around 40km/h, a pair of riders found a rut and collected each other. There was a mess of bodies and full suspension bikes, although bloodless. Dave earned the yellow jersey for by riding from home, stopping at PMH by himself for some reason, then doing the ride and choofing off home by his own power.

Captain Thomas

Just a small group did this midwinter ride, from Tidal View up the Captain and across the top of the hills.

They respected the closed rim singletrack, tried a little bit of the Bridle Path on the Lyttelton side, and then down to Heathcote. Today’s visiting mystery regional rider had come up from Ashburton.