Saturday: a bit of a grind to the turbine after a pretty long day of yard work. I was knackered before I started. But it was a good climb, I was forced to stop once on Fenceline at the steepest pinch climb, on what is already a steep section. A note for next time is to grind through it, at least I’ll be expecting it.
The ride down Carparts was uncomfortable. Overall it was better than last time, but it was still tough and disconcerting.
Sunday: an earlyish start at Makara. I rode up the Koru shortcut and was forced to stop twice, I think I can get that down to once next time I do it. Then it was up Snakecharmer, that took about 20 minutes and was a lot easier than last time. I did not need to stop.
Then onto Zac’s Track for the first time. It was great, although I found it very, very rocky. The bike rolled everything with no problems, which massively helped my confidence. There was a really cool technical bit that I managed to get up but lost momentum right at the top. Very cool. I took it slow of course, but it was fun.
The very top of Varley’s that links to the way up on T4 was also doable without too much drama.
T4 was pleasant and unremarkable, providing a good chance to recover. The top of it turns into A to Z, which is two way, and I met a few folks coming the other way, but no major drama.
Peakflow was incredible today, most certainly the best and most fun ever. I think it was a combo of Zac’s Track as a warmup, and possibly the practice I’ve had on Rollercoaster. I felt really confident and went faster than I have before, it was a super feeling. At the bottom I was utterly stuffed though.
Three Brothers and Smokin’ were hard work and I made a number of silly errors due to fatigue.
SWIGG was fun as always, but I was definitely out of steam by the end.