Rat on a rope

It's been a wee while, and life has been a bit stressful and chaotic.

On the positive side of the ledger, I went for a decent ride with the Croc. He is returning to the Lucky Country at the end of the year, and is engaging in a box ticking exercise of sorts before he goes, of rides that he hasn't done, and rides to revisit.

One of the rides he wanted to tackle was the loop through Muriwai and Woodhill Forest. Last time I rode this loop, it was a bit of a mudfest and cemented the quality of the loop. The Croc hadn't been there that day, but recently felt the urge to tackle the loop. So we did, just the two of us, on a weekday. It turned into a tough ride, we had a headwind there, it drizzled a little in places, I suffered two pinchflat punctures in the depths of the forest, and when we emerged out on SH16 at Woodhill, our anticipated tailwind had gone, and was replaced with a cross/headwind for most of the way home. Additionally my much hoped for shower of rain didn't eventuate, so I carried the forest crud all the way back home.

It was a damn good outing, and as always, confirmation of how much fun some of those roads off the beaten track are.

Also in the news this week, Te Araroa finally opened. The walkway from the Cape to the Bluff, it has been a longtime in the making and shaping, but it is finally here. It does pull fairly hard on me to go and tackle it from top to tail, but that would require a length of time that I just don't have at the moment. Maybe when I am closer to twilight I shall indulge.

In the meantime I shall tackle sections close to home, and dream of grander walking plans.