I have been very fortunate to have the use of a full suspension bike for the last three weeks. It’s a great bike, and while it’s a size too big for me, it is still an amazing ride.
Strava has not recorded fast times on it in Waimapihi, in fact it’s been pretty slow compared to my times on the Meta HT, but today it came alive on the bigger and wider trails at Mākara.
Peak Flow was incredible. It took about a third of the trail to realise how much faster I could go. The first third felt slow as I adjusted, but the final half felt very quick despite the wet and slippery conditions.
I happened upon a new grade 3 called Kārearea. I’d decided to go down Zac’s on a whim. I enjoy Zac’s, but finding a brand new trail at the end was a very happy moment.
Kārearea is a stupid amount of fun, a proper smooth flow trail, and I cannot wait to get back there. It does have a few quite sharp corners, but the berms are still in good shape. Coupled with T4 from the Mākara saddle there is a new fun G3 loop that doesn’t require starting from the main carpark.
This ride nearly didn’t happen at all, but I am so glad that I did manage to make it up the hill despite the missteps getting ready.
Today was a truly wonderful ride, I was buzzing.
