News for August/September 2010

Last month we tried to guess the weather and arrange sheltered rides, and what happened? 2 of them had perfect conditions! The first Sunday Urban ride was one of those magic Wellington days, windless and sunny. So we went a bit further than planned and devised an "inner Skyline" ride around Tinakori Hill, Aro Valley, Mt Vic returning along the waterfront for a coffee. And it was the same for the Cannon Point ride too, though it all turned to custard for the South Coast excursion.

So for August and September, we're getting more adventurous. First off, on 15th August there is a ride up to 900m on Tangata Maunga, north of Otaki. We've already checked out this ride from the Kennett book to see that it matches our expectations, but you'll have to expect less planning on the other Sunday rides:  The Rimutaka "Pylon and Incline" circuit on 29th August might see a long day in the saddle if it all goes wrong and the Makara Beach ride on 12th September is another unknown destination.

And we have Wednesday rides to make use of the evenings getting lighter. The Belmont ride on 18th August will be your last chance to get in there for a couple of months before lambing. And we have popular singletrack rides at Wainuiomata and Aro Valley as well.

There are plans to try running the weekend trip to Tora again, this time for 25th & 26th September. It will be more of an "out-there" endurance ride rather than gnarly singletrack. Details will be emailed to the membership when we have some proposed arrangements.