7:30am Sunday I'm awaiting Gordie and Brains at a small playground at the top of Highbury. 7:35am I'm biking back home to get my helmet. How embarrassing. As always the guys are great - they do a quick ride up and down the Rollercoaster while I get my helmet.
The Rollercoaster downhill is wide, fast easy singletrack downhill with a few gentle uphills to prevent you from accidentally passing the speed of light and exploding. It is awesomely great fun. The admission price is the parallel Rollercoaster uphill: a dirt road up the Karori Sanctuary fence from Highbury Park towards the windmill, long steep ups and a few small downs to gain a little momentum for the next big climb. Many people recommend the Rollercoaster uphill as practice for Karapoti.
I keep up with Gordie and Brains going up hills - mostly. Technique matters: four times on the steepest slopes my wheels slip, or I brush the fence trying to find the steadier ground close to it, and I need to stop and push. Weight to far back and you'll pop off backwards (I've avoided that so far). Weight too far forwards and the back wheel spins. Steady pedalling with no fast pushes is important: if you stand up to push hard you need to do so without spinning your wheels. Gordie's good at this, Brains is close, I'm getting there.
I find it harder to match their speed going down. If I can see the bottom I'm fine because then I know how I'm going to stop: if not then I find it hard to take the act of faith to just lay off the brakes and begin an unstoppable descent.
We go up past the Brooklyn windmill and continue around the sanctuary fence, down a big slope and then up Wright's Hill (our fourth different route up Wright's Hill). Then we turn around and come back the same way, finishing with a glorious descent of the Rollercoaster.
I'm much better at the downhills on our way back, having figured out that an inability to stop is just an essential part of living. Wheee!
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