After the usual ride up to the turbine, and despite feeling pretty average (negative RAT though), the journey down was a little more active than usual taking in Carparts and Spuds. Lots of work is being done on Carparts and it is riding really well. Spuds (Upper Ikigai) was great fun, despite the usual corners.

There was good news on the way up, hitting a fastest time on the first leg and second fastest time on the second leg. Looking at the fastest time I’ve recorded on Strava, and how much of an outlier it is, I am not sure when I will actually be able to beat it.

A huge ride for Harry all the way to the coastal lighthouse at Pencarrow – a really huge achievement.

The climb to the top is generally feeling easier – today I even managed to be forced to stop only once, at the steepish bump near the top. I was a little frustrated with myself as I was so close, and the line I was on was no steeper than what I’d just climbed. Anyhoo, it’s all good progress and the times are reducing as is the recovery time.

In the last week I have also done Ikigai, Carparts, and Rollercoaster. Carparts was still freaky although the trail is getting a lot of love. Ikigai’s left handers screwed me up as usual, but I have ridden it a couple of times and want to make that a habit. Rollercoaster was super fun, and as usual I’m looking forward to doing it more regularly.

I also rode up Windmill for the first time in a very long time. It is a lovely climb, and I’d forgotten the cool little uphill rock step things – neat fun. I had completely forgotten the sharp switchbacks on the last climb to the top – quite a few stoppages.

Colour me surprised – I really thought the steep parts of the climb were going to be horrendous on the Meta, but I was wrong. The climb was every bit as good as the Roscoe, and I was forced to stop on the usual two extra steep portions.

After the Fling to Sawmill I readjusted the seat height – this time I got it bang on. It had probably been over a centimetre too low. The subsequent climb to the turbine was amazing, perhaps even easier than on the Trek.

I was going to Ikigai down and Transient back up as well as the turbine climb, but I was a little short of time and the inclination.

Easter Sunday morning turns out to be a popular time at Waimapihi, I don’t think I have ever seen so many people up there.

I decided to try Lower George Denton (aka Squatters) for the first time. My brakes were making a really, really weird noise so I ended up walking much of it. It looks hairy as hell, but might be fun once I get everything going smoothly. The trail is pretty wide with a series of tight corners, with a couple of what I would regard as steep sections.

Next onto lovely Clinical. The seat post angle is different, or maybe it is that I have the seat in a different place that on the Roscoe, but I could really feel the climb in my quads.

Getting used to the bike on some of the narrow bits was a little touch and go in places.

I did notice that the bottom bracket is higher than on the Roscoe, which got me over a bump or two I might have struggled with.

Then the climb up Fenceline – I went up to Sawmill, and while parts felt fine, I was typically in one gear lower than usual. I don’t know what the Sawmill to Turbine section will be like, I’ll try that during the week. I expect it to be much harder.

I rounded out the ride with the top of Ikigai. It was OK, but I’m keen to get back to it once I have the setup dialled in.

The brakes were still annoying, tomorrow’s mission is to get that totally sorted.

I will also play around with the rear tyre pressure.

Second Meta ride, this time right up to the top of the hill at Mākara and down the usual trails.

It was blowing really fiercely. The first part of the climb was great, the upper part started to get influenced by the very strong northerly. Despite this it was still climbing well, although I did struggle towards the top.

The ride down was great, I was being rather cautious.

Peak Flow was nice, it was definitely smoother on the Yari, and slightly less fatiguing than usual.

Three Brothers and Smokin’ were also fine. SWIGG was super fun, and I think the bike excels on the harder stuff – only the lack of courage on the riders part lets it down.

I was a bit cagey about the brakes – they are rubbing, and while on one occasion really bit the way I expected, overall they did not give me the confidence I was hoping for.

I had to tweak the position of the dropper post a few times but I think I got it right.

The dropper remote is also quite stiff, and I nearly came a cropper on one section as it didn’t drop when I pressed the lever. I expect this will get better with use.

Unfortunately the rear tyre tubeless conversion seems to leak at low pressure – I expect it’s an issue with the rim tape. But the side effect is the rear tyre is running at a much higher pressure than I’d like.

The ride was lovely. It climbs really well, and is so easy to standup for climbing. I did a few laps of Magic Carpet to get used to it, which was dull but necessary.

After seeing a chap badly hurt his knee I called it a day. Given the brakes were underperforming I rode down Lazy Fern. It was pretty fun, although I was not conscious of my riding technique. I am keen to see how it performs on more challenging stuff.

The bike feels so different. A lot sharper, and yet it smoothes out choppy terrain.

It took quite a while to get everything set up, and I still wasn’t quite satisfied with the way the brakes were bedding in, and initially the dropper post took some getting used to. I need to tweak the location of the dropper actuator.