5 in a row. It might be hard to squeeze something in tomorrow.

Today was significant as I managed to get to the Turbine via Highbury Fling and Fenceline, and back home in less than an hour.

I had a couple of dismounts on the steep stuff, and was pretty stuffed the further up I got. Recovery was quick however.

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.

The conditions were pretty good, still, heavy fog (so everything was wet), cool but a pleasant temperature.

I won’t do this everyday but it was still a neat little accomplishment.

3 in a row after the fork service. The fork service is definitely deserving of its own post.

Saturday was a careful jaunt along Highbury Fling to test the fork and headset reattachment, and a Fenceline climb.

Sunday was a Maraka mission. I left my water in the car, and it was an omen. The ride was average, with a wee spill on Sally Alley, and a traverse across all of Three Brothers. It was good to try different tracks, but my confidence and energy seemed to be lacking.

But there were some lovely folk there, including a generous man who offered to give me his water bottle.

Today was a quick lunchtime ride. I went up to the turbine, which was mostly awesome. I got stuck at the steep bit as usual. It was good to know it’s doable in 50 minutes or so. Carparts was its usually gnarly self. It was a little wet, and it was an awful descent, I struggled to time anything well.

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.

Monday and Friday were rest days.

Tuesday through Wednesday were either early morning or lunchtime jaunts with a mix of Highbury Fling, Fenceline, and Rollercoaster. Great workouts on the way up but pretty short rides of about 45 minutes.