Over the course of the next two hours the four of us flowed through the forest like the heavy rain that preceded us. Every trail had a different feel, and whilst some sections that were normally skatey were now grippy, other sections that were normally loamy were now pure grease. As I was leading there was no reprieve and as Tdriver had assumed sweep role that left Nickj and Spud in-between us which meant I was always being pushed. The loop I had planned was coming together perfectly until we were blocked by the mother of all logs. This was not one you go under, over or around. It had drooped clean across the trail and extended at least 20 meters in each direction into the thick canopy which it had torn down with it. It was at this point I made the call to turn around and head back and pick up some techy trails on the way.
The nastiest of all is aptly named Kokoda and it is challenge in the dry but today it was nothing short of brutal. Brutal in a “I’m glad I rode it and would do it again” kinda way but not tomorrow :laugh:
As it turned out the descent into it was only ridable in one direction so once in we could only go forward. This piece of trail hugs a very steep slope so it is not unusual for a tree to fall or some scree to block the trail but today I was nervous as if that was the case we were walking out.
At the bottom of the downhill the trail turns and traverses across a slope that is covered in pristine sub tropical rainforest. Water was leeching from the ground and every metre was a challenge of throttle and balance. As soon as the trail turned even slightly uphill the real carnage began. I stopped with my wheel spinning on an off camber slope with my hip wedged against a tree which was the only thing stopping me and my bike sliding off the side of the hill. It was now apparent that this was probably not the best day to be down here but we had to go forward and that meant we would have to work together to skull drag our bikes through the worst of it.
To Be Continued
STM
