Today was the first ride on the Meta for three months. As much as I love the Kona and the advantages of a full squish, it felt insanely good to be back on a bike that fits me.
It’s hard to quantify but the Meta is such a good climber, I did feel I was expending much less energy on the climbs. Oddly, the steepest parts of the Karepa Vomitron were perhaps more difficult on the HT.
Downhill it feels intense and fast, it’s not, but every single sensation of the trail is heightened.
Getting used to the brakes gave me the shits a few times, the Zeds really are superb completed to the Guides, that might be something I consider changing if I keep the bike in the long term.
It is probably foolish to keep riding a hardtail, but today’s short visit to Waimapihi was a lot of fun.
It’s been a little while between posts, here are a few reflections.
There’s been slightly better weather the last month so I’ve been able to get out a lot more, 10 rides in October, 2 in Setpember, and 9 in August. I want to be out there a lot more and aim for 15 in November if the weather allows it.
Getting a few days in at Mākara was fun, getting back to trails like Northface, Zacs and Upper Starfish (now renamed Ridgeline Extension) which was great fun. Ridgeline Extension is a fantastic trail.
The obvious truth that improved fitness results in improved technique and performance has been brought into sharp focus – it certainly gets easier the more frequently you do it.
Riding the full sus is much less fatiguing on the long downhills.
An inpromptu cornering wānanga on Northface meant for a few turns corning really fell into place. These lessons were soon forgotten, but I hope I’ll be able to reconnect with that feeling again soon.
A modest achievement in getting around the right hander that has always stuffed me up on Northface.
After my first Covid infection I’ve had a couple of weeks off the bike as a precaution. The 200 hour Yari service was due so it seemed like a good time to do it.
The big, obvious lesson was that the fork needs to be tuned for the rider’s weight. Adjusting the air pressure and rebound made so much difference. The first ride after the service and adjustment was amazing – especially given a few weeks without any form of riding. I could brake later, and shaved almost 30 seconds off my recent times on a short segment.
Fork service ≠ fun
I had previously serviced the Rockshox Judy Silver, and my general impression was that it was a fork that wasn’t really designed to be serviced, there were parts of the procedure that were very time consuming — I recall spending close to two hours attempting to reseat something until I applied heat (or was it cold?) to persuade it to fit.
Little Yari
Service on the Yari couldn’t have been more different. I wouldn’t say it was easy, but, it certainly wasn’t difficult. There was nothing in the process that was fiddly or required much of a special knack.
Don’t be a tool fool
Another lesson was to read the service manual and take note of the tools needed, and check that they were available before starting. All the lubricants were sorted, but not the tools. This required two visits to the hardware shop for sockets which added about 2 hours to the process.
Timing breakdown
Remove fork and prepping tools and a makeshift workspace: 1hr
Service: 4 hrs (excludes 2 hours of trips to get hardware)
Clean up: 45 mins
Reattach fork: 20 mins
Tune and adjust: 30 mins
So yeah, the best part of a day. But it was cruisy and overall very pleasant, with a superb result.
The difference cleaning the bike makes
I then spent a good couple of hours cleaning the bike including the drive train. The end result was fantastic – it looked almost new apart from minor scuffs, chips, and wear from rubbing. It was surprising how easily a quick rinse with the hose after a muddy ride immediately restored the bike to an almost completely clean state.
Mākara both days, but I have tried new trails both times.
An achievement today: I cleaned Starfish. I had to repeat one segment (a rooty peak after a tight corner and rock roll), but I got it the second time. I was stoked at being able to put together the rest of the trail, and we’ll see if I can keep it up.
I rode North Face today and yesterday, and it is magic apart from a scary as hell looking right hander, which I hope to get around soon. The rest of the trail is fine – it contains a bit more technical stuff than Peak Flow, but mostly rollable drops, a few tighter corners, and some slightly steeper terrain.
I attempted Lower Pōhatu. That was well beyond my current abilities. I guess I could ride 60% to 70% of it, and there were a few bits I walked that I should have attempted. It was not that I didn’t enjoy it or that it didn’t feel safe, there seemed to be enough time to anticipate upcoming features. Nevertheless I was really happy to have had a go and I am hopeful I can improve in future.
A few lessons:
I need to ride more variety of the grade three and four trails at Mākara and elsewhere. The new stuff is building my skills more rapidly.
I had the realisation yesterday that once I was on a feature, or something I needed to really think about, I could at a certain point just look ahead, knowing that the bike would handle it. This has been very helpful on rollable drops as I can get established on the roll, and once on it look ahead, and in the case of Starfish and Lower Pōhatu get a read on the upcoming feature.
YouTube point of view riding videos are nothing like the trail. The best ones show someone riding the feature from different and narrower lens angles, the POVs lack detail of the steepness and texture of the trail. I already knew this, but looking at Lower Pōhatu after today’s ride it was really stark.
I managed 13 rides in December, but there were a few significant highlights.
Upper Starfish: I was lucky to ride this three days in a row in reasonable conditions, and it massively boosted my confidence and willingness to try different trails. It didn’t give me the confidence to clean Serendipity as I had hoped it would, but I will get there. So in total I rode Starfish 5 times in December, with varying degrees of luck, but gradual improvement.
I think I also got a few personal best times on Ikigai and some of the Mākara trails, and while that is not the aim, I think it shows improvement.
After spending May focusing on climbing the Fenceline trail, my lunchtime ride since the end of June and into the start of July have been downhill focused.
I figured it was possible to get an Ikigai loop coming back up Transient well within an hour, and even a second lap if I took a shortcut up the vomitron that is the Karepa Killah on the way home.
Today I was able to get in the Ikigai – Serendipity – Transient loop in just over an hour. I did linger in a couple of spots, so I reckon it’s doable in 50-55 minutes.
The times on Serendipity should improve by a few minutes once I can ride the damn thing without stopping.
The Transient uphill from the bottom was apparently 28 minutes, which is not an athletes time, but I was pretty chuffed, and if I can shave a few minutes off over the next couple of months it all helps.
Well it’s not saying much, but a time under my goal of 7 minutes felt pretty cool for the segment between the end of Highbury Fling and Sawmill. It was really hard work though. Usually at the top of the segment I feel relatively good; an observer today they’d have seen a hunched over man breathing very loudly and in an almost laboured manner.
The second leg was also relatively quick alongside my previous efforts and under 9 minutes.
Anyhoo, it all feels like good progress given I rode this route for the first time just over a month ago. Looking back over this journal also made me realise I have only been working on the steeper ascents for a little under two months, which is further encouragement.
The first segment of the climb from Highbury Fling to Sawmill took just under 10 minutes. From Sawmill to the Turbine took roughly 15 minutes (I was so fatigued at the top I didn’t check the time). It’s just shy of 2km, so the time demonstrates how hard and slow the climb is. It honestly doesn’t feel like something I’ll get much faster at.
16 rides in the last 23 days is also a number that brings me comfort, the days I have not ridden I sometimes feel guilty, but stepping back and seeing this ratio is a good feeling.
It was a light one today, my Wednesday flu jab seemed to be catching up with me.
The times were all reasonably good, my time up Fenceline 1 were only 7 seconds off the best since I started recording. It felt reasonably quick in places but a bit of a slog in others.
The call of the flag-it was strong – to have at least got out on the bike felt like a major achievement, even if the best part of a decent ride was spending 15 minutes taking in the view on the bench near the old AA guns.
During cornering drills an epiphany occurred: I really need to do these a lot more. After only a couple of reps I was already learning and improving, which is a sure sign of my current lack of good technique.
While it wasn’t a hard out ride, it was valuable and pleasant.
TL;DR: it’s going really well. I don’t miss the bag and it feels good not having a backpack. Some of the tools I am using to stash stuff on the bike are not great though.
A small Evoc under-saddle pouch: it’s OK, but it does stop the dropper post going all the way down, and that is annoying. The bag is really well made and surprisingly roomy, but unfortunately I need to find a replacement.
The Specialized Roll Cage bottle holder: garbage. It doesn’t hold the bottle I use, and I have a really annoying strap around it to hold the bottle in place. Its days are numbered.
Granite Rockband Strap: really good. My big inner tube and old school pump fit well and it is very stable. I do need something to protect the inner tube from damage.
I don’t know how I would find riding with a backpack if I wore one tomorrow.
