Sloth enters a race? Really? Well, no, not really, my mtb racing days finished around 12 years ago, but that didn't stop me going out to the Vulcaniser course for a couple of laps. This was around an hour north of ChCh, in the Waipara (where I seem to be going a lot recently), then off on some rough, windy farm tracks until you pop out in an incredible location. Looking out over Pegasus Bay, the sea was bright turquoise, stunning! Quite a few people there for the open day, where you could pay $10 to ride the course - this is all on private land.
After registration, it was up the first climb, quickly followed by sweet singletrack/sheep trails. View of the surrounding area really opens up here, but no time to take that in as there were plenty switchbacks before descending into the trees. Very, very dry round here, but the trails were generally pretty sweet, up, down, up down, in and out of the bush. Oo-er that sounds a bit rude, Mrs. OK, so it was damn hot (32c) and this Sloth was suffering a bit on some of the climbs with no shelter, but soon enough it was back in the trees. Then came a big nasty climb, some of which wasn't rideable (for me) and home to the start/finish. After suffering on that last bit, told myself no more, but nothing a free banana and special drinks couldn't sort out. Back round again for more, riding it much fasterererer this time. Back in Rosie and home again to finish my veggie patch 
. Wicked day out, yay! And here's the pics.
