tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-92029644455747650012024-03-14T08:17:04.142+02:00Richard's Mountain Biking DiaryTrials and tribulations of a wanna be Mountain BikerRichardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.comBlogger262125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-27080203872667444522020-02-09T18:22:00.002+02:002020-02-09T18:41:51.004+02:002020 vision on my MTB (avoiding the monkey)
Awesome riding for 2020 so far, it has been a great year with some incredible rides shared with the Benoni Rough Rider clan. Almost 900km riding in the month of Jan and some new routes and experiences. We ventured out to SuikerBosRand nature reserve(SBR) and did a bit of off-road - the track was slightly over grown since the last time, so it was interesting to forge new paths and a bit Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-47793350456401288572020-02-09T16:09:00.002+02:002020-02-09T16:09:53.057+02:00Closing out 2019
Great year of riding for 2019. Marred with a few over the handle bar falls (mostly riding into 3 holes when following Juan's wheel 😮). But I managed to ride over 9200km for the year and had a blast with my Rough Rider Mates.
I completed my 10th 94,7 road race on my MTB - with no visit to ICU this year. And my greatest achievement was to complete the Festive 500 on Strava with riding Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-56096696080125109242019-08-24T13:57:00.001+02:002019-08-24T13:57:08.696+02:00Weekend jol at Belfast
So I was fortunate enough to have a weekend away at my mates place at The Lochs, just outside Belfast. It was an awesome weekend with a couple of good mates that I have know since high school. On the Sunday morning (nursing a slight hangover), Craig and I ventured out on our mountain bikes. It was so great riding different routes and exploring through the pine forests. Craig an avid biker Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-64849981130371120422019-08-24T13:21:00.000+02:002019-08-24T13:21:37.924+02:00Winter rides and sunrises
So winter is officially over as the leg warmers and balaclava have been packed away. We rode through winter once again, although the Rough Riders numbers were somewhat reduced on the really chilly mornings. This time of the year you get to experience some incredible sun rises in the morning and I have managed to capture some of these on my phone:
SentraRand out ride
Korsman Pan
Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-46871225852580796892019-05-08T17:19:00.003+02:002019-05-08T17:19:38.065+02:00Pre-Winter riding
Benoni Rough Riders are still turning the pedals at least 4 to 5 times a week. Early morning rides leaving home at 04:20 and meeting in the dip at 04:40 to troll through the plots ending up with the customary coffee at M&B on Atlas road. Mornings are getting fresh but nothing unpleasant at the moment. Weekend rides have been incredible, always a nice group and rewarded with a 70-80km ride Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-47120850367006596252019-05-08T16:04:00.000+02:002019-05-08T16:04:57.055+02:00Kitty Hawk and Rosemary Hill
Great ride out from Benoni to Kitty Hawk air strip on the edge of Pretoria. Wayne, Becky, Sean and myself ventured out there one late summer morning. It was really good doing a different route and the end destination did not disappoint - we could have a nice breakfast and see light aircraft land. We saw a WW2 Russian YAK land and taxi in just near us. Definitely going to return to this place. Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-61133607343260362732019-01-07T10:01:00.000+02:002019-01-07T10:01:59.164+02:00Cradle ride with Pierre
January the 6th 2019, I was fortunate enough to join my mate Pierre for a ride in the Cradle of Humankind. It was awesome to do a route different from the boring miellie fields of the East Rand. A reminder that mountain biking involves climbing hills, which is something we do not have in the East Rand. The Cradle Mountain bike route is incredible single track carved out next to the road and it Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-18322934040131779122019-01-07T09:45:00.000+02:002019-01-07T09:45:22.900+02:00Holiday riding
Great few rides to end off 2018 and start 2019 with a the joy of mountain biking. Pictures tell the story:
Returning from a Irene ride
Forbidden quarry ride
Jumping the fence to get out the quarry
Benoni Rough Riders on a Friday coffee ride
Michael on the dry pan before the rains
Mile, Mark and Rene
Becky picked up a stray at the BP beautiful puppy who has a new loving home.
Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-54099414108223243782018-12-21T12:41:00.000+02:002018-12-21T12:41:23.596+02:00Airport Track 20th December 2018
Photo of the month - Sean trying to catch up with Becky (oh and an awesome sunrise)
Becky about to ride over Warrens hump (he had a bad fall here a few weeks ago)
Airplanes and single track
Becky, drop off, sunrise
Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-22914004597858325102018-12-21T12:07:00.002+02:002018-12-21T12:07:51.502+02:00Benoni Rough RidersSo 2018 draws to a close and the Benoni Rough Riders have arrived with their own designer riding kit. After throwing a few ideas around we came up with a design for our own kit and I placed an order with Shannon from Activize Apparel for the people in the group that wanted. Below are some pictures of these awesome shirts.
First photo shoot
Friday team coffee ride at the Airport track (Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-7842770937136419802018-12-21T11:52:00.001+02:002018-12-21T11:54:33.852+02:00Terrors of 94.7
So the 94.7 road race of 2018 will be permanently etched in my mind forever and for all the wrong reasons. This year I was riding for one of my work's satellite capacity service providers, Intelsat in support of Kids Haven (a worthwhile cause to give street kids a home and start in life). As always, I was under prepared after not enough training (with flu 3 weeks before this set me back a Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-66421559842931678612018-10-28T19:26:00.002+02:002018-10-28T19:26:34.055+02:00Back into the swing of things..
So winter is now officially over and the mornings are getting lighter and warmer each day. So we survived another year of riding in the cold and dark. Summer riding is awesome, really good to be back in the swing of things. We have had some good rides during the week before work and a few longer ones on the weekends. Benoni Rough Riders as usual are a fantastic group of people and make the ridesRichardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-13271419910983469072018-07-29T15:43:00.001+02:002018-07-29T16:00:36.504+02:00Winter rides 2018
Winter time is chunky time - less riding and more eating. It has been a colder winter than 2017 which has resulted in fewer mid week rides and shorter weekend rides. I have also been traveling for work again with a trip to Holland in June (at least I managed to hire a really small bike and go for a 35km ride in the country side). We also went for a family holiday to the Kruger National Park in Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-90969258702312878562018-04-30T08:26:00.000+02:002018-04-30T17:23:49.079+02:00Further and further
So work has been interferring with my riding the past month or so with trips to Qatar and Pakistan, but that is behind me now and I managed to get some decent rides in. On the 8th of April I embarked on my longest ride yet, 155km to the petro port and back. The ride should have been shorter but we went the long way around via the Oxbow wedding venue first. It was a great ride with Sean, Wayne Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-88197147396815839662018-02-04T12:41:00.000+02:002018-02-04T12:41:43.315+02:002018 Chunky's revenge....
So 2017 finished off on a low after a crash in late October, that left me with bruised ego and a few fractured ribs. I had to skip riding the 94.7 for the first time in 9 years, due to my injuries (and also I was flying overseas on business on that day). So a few weeks off the bike for injuries and 2 weeks overseas, over-exerting my drinking hand, the Kilos pilled on. I got the shock of my life Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-60213187180572872152017-10-01T13:45:00.001+02:002017-10-01T14:53:57.680+02:00The wheel still goes round....
So long time no blog. Still riding though, at least 4-5 times a week. Summer is on its way and it is warmer and lighter every day. Rough Riders morning rides have changed to summer times for the mid week rides - meeting at 04:40 in the dip. I have had some great weekend rides over the past 2 months - we have had a few rides out to the Big Red Barn by Irene and back (breakfast stop at the Barn), Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com55tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-74126270957237513152017-07-16T20:30:00.001+02:002017-07-16T20:30:04.522+02:00Just another random collection of events.....
So winter is in full swing here in South Africa and my riding companions have slunk off into the warmth of their beds (besides a few dependables'). To be fare it has been a very mild winter with the temps very seldom getting below 2 or 3 degrees. The dark is what really gets to me in winter, not so much the cold, leaving home in the dark for a mid week rides and getting home before the sun risesRichardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-88384098280809768722017-05-21T20:11:00.001+02:002017-05-21T21:02:12.385+02:00Trail and Trout - 3 day stage race 2017
The inaugural Trail and Trout (besides the last 40km) was the best stage mountain race I have done in my 8 odd years of riding. It was absolutely incredible, it was small and intimate but also tough at the same time. Being the first event, the organizers kept it really small so they could foresee any teething problems, restricting the field to 60 riders. This meant that you pretty much had a Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-36604375281690116922017-05-21T13:21:00.001+02:002017-05-21T13:21:32.071+02:00Route 42 2017
Another Route 42 race in Nigel (my fifth one). This 75km MTB race, never disappoints always a great route with lots of variation - mielie fields, jeep track, rocky single track, a few climbs and a small forest section. It was a pretty hard race with Wayne and I keeping the back markers company. Becky got another podium and the fatties (Sean and Michael) did really well, Sean out sprinting Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-52265727886461820002017-04-30T18:02:00.001+02:002017-04-30T21:19:56.442+02:00Hills, sore back and mashed banana
April has been a good month for mountain biking (910km in total - which was about 800km more then Wayne rode) - I would have cracked 1000km if my back was not injured and there was a few days of forced rest. There have been some great rides, testing the limits and slowly getting fitter. We had a great ride out to Bedfordview with Darren, Alistair and some of his mates. Alistair found every hill Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-55926498087887602492017-04-02T20:13:00.001+02:002017-04-02T20:13:18.228+02:00Ezemvelo MTB race 01-04-2017
No April fool here, what a great race at the Ezemvelo Game Reserve. A nice representation from the Benoni Rough Riders with Michael, Wayne, Paul, Darren, Fabio and Dustin smashing it in the heat and dust. It was a really great race, smooth flowing tracks with a bit of loose sand on occasion. The only draw back was the bottleneck in the beginning at a river crossing. After a short queue and Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-48162407056406002512017-03-18T14:08:00.001+02:002017-03-18T14:08:32.710+02:00Another day another sunrise
Great rides last weekend to the Broodblik and back on Saturday and Monument single track on Sunday. Legs were pretty heavy after spending 10 days overseas in Spain and England with plenty of over eating and drinking. Nice sunrises with the winter chill knocking at the door.
Sunrise before off to eat pancakes and drink crap coffee
Mr Epic (Ashley), Becky and me selfie
Sean fixing Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-80638031358564101802017-03-16T08:50:00.001+02:002017-04-02T20:25:56.472+02:00RIP Barry
With deep regret, Barry Mccallum passed away last week. Reading the 50 odd pages on the www.hubsa.co.za you realize what a impact he had on so many people's lives in the cycling community. I will miss my interactions with him on Twitter and the odd visit to Procycles on a Saturday where his sense of humor always cracked me up.
I found found a post from my Blog in 2012 where I did a rideRichardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-27300748734097684452017-02-05T17:39:00.001+02:002017-02-05T17:54:36.445+02:00Mike the Sushi King
February 2017 is here already, how time flies when you are having fun on the bike. Few great rides in the last month with a great bunch of riding mates. It is incredible what a nice group of people are on our riding group - The Benoni Rough Riders, always good banter on the WhatsApp group and there is always fantastic company on our numerous rides (except if it is raining then it is just meRichardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9202964445574765001.post-10744930144348552182017-01-15T15:35:00.001+02:002017-01-15T15:35:51.692+02:002017 bring it on....
So 2017 is in full force and here's hoping it will be bigger and better then 2016. We had some lekker rides at the end of 2016 - I did over 300km in the last week and finished off the year on 8914km. Nice time in the saddle - almost 9000km in 445 hours. That is an extra 18.5 days of life I scored getting up early riding with my mates.
Becky followed by Greg and Claire on the tandem behind
Richardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12593354434014158224noreply@blogger.com0