It's an easy ride to Bottle Lake, and we cruise for a wee while on the nice wide level forestry roads. The sun has set, it's dark, and my light is fully charged (thankfully) and working well. Confidence is high. We decide to give one of the easier single-track paths a go, it has gentle corners and no major humps and consistently level. We weave and dodge, avoiding the trees and staying on track to the end of the path. Logan is happy, I'm reliving every single one of the trees, but we focus on the next task - the Pegasus Track.
Last time we did this, it was daylight, and there were puddles galore. This time however, it's pitch black, and most of the puddles have dried up. We apply some power and the track burns up under us. The only thing that stops us dead is a deep sand drift on the top of the bank. We hit it, and stop. Logan performs a less than graceful dismount and we move the entire 2m required to clear the sand. When you have the same number of wheels and twice the weight, you sink into the soft stuff a lot further, and it eats your wheel making cornering, or even moving, nearly impossible.
Back on we hit the track again, zigging and zagging and making damn good time. It's not until we hit the 2nd of the sand drifts that the first of the hattricks presents itself. A slow s-bend with high sand on each side, and we strike a deep bit. The front wheel digs in, turns 90 degrees, but we're still flying forwards. Some quick thinking (well, blind panic) and we recover, losing only a small amount of speed, except now we have some extra adrenalin to burn off.
Feeling fine, we get to the end of the track, spin around and prepare to head back. There have been very few puddles this time, just some wet ground, so we're clean and dry still. The return leg however is different. We're against the regular flow of the track, and it's dark, and I have only done it in this direction a couple of times before so most of the corners are going to be a surprise to me too. The line you take corners in one direction is completely different to the return, and due to the lower traffic, it's less clean. Twice, while heading back, we lose the front wheel. We lost it both times due to cornering through a mud puddle which was completely bypassed in the other direction. It is very scary having the bike slip away while you are cornering and peddling. We recovered each time tho. That can only mean one thing of course - we were not going fast enough!
We slipped back onto the forestry roads again, and back to the single track we did on the way in. Logan exclaims "that track is a lot easier than Pegasus" to which I reply "that's because you can't see the trees!"
Out of the forest and back onto the road, heading home. Another successful ride, another lesson learned (the faster you go, the easier it is to recover?) and more km's under the wheels. Cornering is getting better, we're getting the hang of each others style, and both of us are able to cope with the distances. Of course, we haven't done an uphill yet (maybe next year?) but I think I want more time on easier surfaces before I hit the Port Hills. Maybe a couple of laps of the Little River Rail Trail is in order? Yes, that's the next challenge I think - an 80km ride offroad! Should fill a morning.
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