I was the last of the group to pull up to Castle Rock on Saturday night after my days riding in Napier. I arrived to meet Joe, Blair, Stephen, Carl and Carrie-ann. Then started the usual castle rock nightly shenanigans.

After waking up bright and early in the morning (with some feeling better than others) and popping down to the cafA© for a pie it was time to go and check out the tracks. Joe and I got down there at a reasonable time to find a couple of surprisingly interesting things to ride (much better than last time I attended).

Started off by riding the rhythm jumps which are a row of about six tabletops end with a small gap jump. unfortunately the running was a little slow for them on the day but they were still a lot of fun after pumping the 1st few you got plenty of speed to start jumping and having fun. This was followed by the usual antics in the jump bit, unfortunately the lips had been mellowed out a little which meant you could really hammer then jump or you’d find yourself falling a long distance to a flat landing! Everyone got there bit in on this session with Joe throwing down a very nice f/s indy 3 and blair gapping it for the first time. This was satisfying enough until we discovered how fun the gap jump in the lower section of the bsx track was….. A nice 6-7m gap (18-21ft) with a perfect up ramp and a well matched landing. This was given a good thrashing before lunch time.

After lunch in the sun and a few dews it was time to head back out again. After another session on the gap jump it was time to throw down the gauntlet on the bsx track. With the exception of the loose and rough top corner (which both Joe and myself came very close to eating dirt on) the rest of the track was reasonable fast and flowing. Then after a bit of a warm down on the rhythm jumps again it was time to head off. On the way back up we stopped in at a few on the skate parks we passed although we were a bit too tired to really throw down at the parks.

And that about sums it up, summers nearly here and the dirta??s getting firm and fast….

Ben

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