Dalethorpe Forest Trail, Sheffield, Canterbury - 11 August 2013

[Transalper]

I will come around to you before 8am... bikes kept only a few mins from your place..

Sweet....... bring it on.

[pete-blen]

maybe a wee bit muddy & wet 2morrow...

[Transalper]

Yep and the tree roots more slippery than ever. I'm used to them on the flat, adding hill should be interesting.
Have removed the roady bits from WR now. Front end was a 5 minute job but the rear blinkers took for ever to get in to to remove.
Dropped to 12T front sprocket too at Lintons suggestion.

Dug the POV Camera up and charging batterys now too.

[pete-blen]

I have put heavyer clutch springs in..
sure that was the prob..the Rekluse had
nothing to work against...
Seems better.... guess I will know 2morrow

[Transalper]

Good stuff, fine weather all day.
40.4km loops (by GPS reading).
Took us about 3 hours each... got passed a lot, only passed people who were stopped or stuck, the whole thing was a bit tighter and trickier than the usual rides but all quite dooable.
The boggy ditches near the start messed me up on the second lap, got through them ok on lap 1.
Tried the middle enduro deviation on lap 2, it undid me a bit loosing the front several times on the roots.

[pete-blen]

Yer those roots got me more than once or even twice....
All in all it was a great ride... 40km under trees is
something yer don't get to do very often....
And about 3k down the river with 15 or more water crossings..

thanks TA for takeing the bike out... I wouldn't have been
able to do it other wise....

[mattsdakar]

Yer those roots got me more than once or even twice....
All in all it was a great ride... 40km under trees is
something yer don't get to do very often....
And about 3k down the river with 15 or more water crossings..

thanks TA for takeing the bike out... I wouldn't have been
able to do it other wise....

Good stuff fellas, told you it was a rippa!

[Dent]

It certainly was a good day. I was trying to decide if I should go, looking at all the rain in chch, but its such a good ride I went anyway.
Well 2/3 of the way there the rain stopped and it was clear it had not rained at Dalethorpe that day.

The track was what I expected. First loop I stopped a few times and took about 2.20. It was a fairly clean lap, one small fall and one missed corner, so I was feeling good about that.
After lunch I decided to try the 1st enduro on the 2nd loop. That was a slight step harder than the main track forestry, and yep the roots were tricky. Well done to Grenville for getting the difficulty just a step harder, not too over the top there.

Later in the lap after the river I seemed to be making more mistakes on roots, and getting quite out of shape on the hills, which I put down to poor fitness and running low on energy. Took a few more longer stops after that. The last part of the forestry seems harder than it was, more roots etc. Took just on 3hrs with all my falls and stops.

Overall a good day.

[pete-blen]

didn't take meany pic.... heres a few

[browny]

[/QUOTE]

looks like you found some ghosts there

[ShinySideUp]

Hi guys, I see this ride is coming up again in August. Totally like the thought of it, but it sounds tricky. Can you please advise how much harder it is than the twisty stuff at, say, West Melton/McLeans Island?

Happy in the forests and mostly okay with stream crossings, but inexperienced on hills and lack confidence on steep sections, up or down. Having said that, this month finally got off-road tyres which I expect will help a lot.

This trail sounds like so much fun.

Cheers.

[pete-blen]

Hi guys, I see this ride is coming up again in August. Totally like the thought of it, but it sounds tricky. Can you please advise how much harder it is than the twisty stuff at, say, West Melton/McLeans Island?

Happy in the forests and mostly okay with stream crossings, but inexperienced on hills and lack confidence on steep sections, up or down. Having said that, this month finally got off-road tyres which I expect will help a lot.

This trail sounds like so much fun.

Cheers.

It's well worth it.... 90% is like what yer see in the pics above with about a 3km river section &
the odd bog hole... The ground gives good trackton...
There's the main loop with easyer deviations for the familys/quads & the harder enduro deviations...
The main loop is about 40km around...
There was talk that the forest was to be logged so whether it's the Dalethorpe of old..guess we will find out...

I see you have a sherpa... if yer riding that.. lower the gearing... last year I rode my TTR250 with the road
gearing...spent 50% of the ride in first gear...

I will be there.....

[ShinySideUp]

Thanks Pete. Cheers for that. Enjoyed showing the family the pics. Looks like a great trail.