Chris worked himself ragged on Friday and Saturday of the long Fourth of July weekend so he could have some free time left over on Sunday to hit the trails. We met up at the Pohakupu fountain after lunch to do the Luana Hills circuit. While we were waiting for Root to arrive a vaguely familiar green pickup pulled up. Jeff and Sara? Wow! They were going to ride part of the trail with us. They drove over to the Ditch end to meet us halfway. Root arrived, and we three little piggies headed out. After entering the Norfolk trail network, we took an early right to climb up to the concrete block hill. I thought at first it would make the whole process easier, but with two push-ups, it was much more heinous than the lower route to the big tree. All the extra climbing really took the “go power” out of my legs for the remainder of the ride. It didn’t help that I didn’t have lunch.
We met Jeff and Sara at the big tree, so all five piggies were together again. While breaking there, something black about the size of a softball went running across the road to the ironwood hill. We all thought it was a big rat, but a more careful assessment identified it as a tiny piglet. It looked to be about half head, and its little legs were skinny like chicken wings. There was an uncomfortable pause as we waited for the mommy pig to show up, but she never did. For a brief moment there were six little piggies. We dropped down fat guy and rode Ditch back to Government Road and climbed up to the top. Jeff and Sara rode in with us as far as the top of the first singletrack climb, then turned around and headed back. They essentially rode all the heinous stuff but didn’t partake in any of the reward sections! Two little piggies went home: Three little piggies continued on.
Chris was digging the descent, quickly disappearing out of sight down the trail. From the junction on to the terminus, the trail had been recently groomed. The visually widened trail made it much easier to select a clear line, even it there were no modifications to the riding surface. This made the climbs just a little less disheartening, but they were still painfully long. As the trail turned from clay under albizia to cobbles through christmasberry, Root grew weary and started having trouble keeping upright and negotiating obstacles. The effects of the grueling miles were beginning to show in the form of fatigue. I was getting some energy back from the bars and gels I had throughout the ride, but I was running short on water. Good thing was there was less weight to lug around.
With a overflowing of relief, we crested the last climb in the brasaia grove, and dropped to the hiking trail and arrived at the road. The security guard was different this time around, but was similarly unfriendly. Climbing up the highway back to the park, our attention was drawn to the loud sounds of impact. Over in the far side of the park, the SCA people were gathered in their battle regalia and were busily whacking each other with their swords. Chris’ coworker who lives in the neighborhood happened by with his dog. For some reason, the dog freaked out from Chris’ kilt. No, actually the dog was just going through a jittery stage, but everybody (including the owner) blamed the kilt. Weary from the toils and travails, the last three piggies headed home.
Pictures here
D = 17.28 km (10.74-miles), Vavr = 10.5 km/h (6.5-mph), Vmax = 40.2 km/h (25.0-mph), T = 1-hour, 38-minutes (total trail time approximately 3.5-hours)
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