Just 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 rises. We still manage to do a least 3 mid week rides - leaving home at 4:30 to meet who ever is up for the ride that day. The only common factor in these rides is the compulsory stop for coffee. 

On the weekends we normally have a long ride on Sunday, I have had some great rides the past few weekends, but these have been laced with a few technical issues that have made it interesting. We did a ride out to Big Red Barn (BRB), which was our coldest ride this year with temps reaching -4 in some parts. After a breakfast at BRB, just after we left, the bolts on my big chain ring snapped and left the chain ring spinning around the crank. We zipped tied (thx Mike) the chain ring to the crank and I had to ride/spin 50km home in my small chain ring. Fortunately the best bike mechanic in the East Rand was at home so I could drop the bike off at Sean's house and have a coffee with him an Becky until my wife could pick me up. Sean's service is really awesome anyone who does not use him in the East Rand does not know what they are missing. Brown Cabs

Frozen Silhouette before Dunblane

Darrens Garmin swing the almost -4 temp

Stopping to thaw the frozen feet and hands

The next weekend was a ride out to Sentrarand Michael had to come to my rescue again with his tools as my gear cable slipped and I had no gears. Marius and Mike had to do some make shift adjustments in order that I could peddle on in relative comfort. 

Marius and Mike carefully pulling my wire (that is gear cable)

Today was a great outing in the South of Boksburg with Greg, Claire, Catherine and Inati. It was really refreshing to do new routes, Greg was the route director and took us on some really cool routes. We even climbed up the big mine dump that I always wanted to try and ride up. This was very interesting as it took us awhile to find the way down, after a few attempts we finally found the path less traveled that took us to the bottom. 

Great shot next to the train tracks

Amazing views from the top of the mine dump

Claire scouting for a easy way down 

Greg and Claire

Yours truly in the dumps

Great views

Catherine almost on track

 Lastly on our Friday coffee ride - Darren managed to snap his frame. Fortunately it was just around the corner from Craig's shop so he could walk there and phone his wife for a lift home. Good news is that Pyga will replace the triangle at no cost to him. As a Rough Rider he should try and be more gentle with his bike :-)

Snap

New bike and other stuff

I was incredibly lucky in the month of August to get my new frame which was a replacement for the one that broke on Sani 2 Sea stage race, earlier this year. Dragon Sports are really awesome and honoured the 5 year warranty on my Giant Anthem frame. After spraying my handlebars, crank and seat post, Paul at Procycles assembled the bike and it looked like a brand new bike. Awesomeness!!!!

2017 Giant Anthem X Advanced :-)

Taking my new bike for it's first ride (with a coffee and a sunrise) 

Last weekend I did the Transvaal Galvanisers MTB race. It was an incredible race -  really awesome flat and fast route. This meant that it was flat out the whole time and you don't have much time to rest.   Much better then last year which was an absolute mud fest. I did the 51km race in a time of 02:15 which I was pretty happy with as I am still in the winter coffee ride slumber. 

Before the race with Sean, Brian and Becky (photo taker) 

They made a few ramps for the race :-)

Near the end of the race riding with Darren

So after last weekend's race I decided that it was a great route and to go and do our weekend ride there. As most of the Benoni Rough Rider crew are out of town, I thought it would be almost a solo ride but I was joined by Von, Ian, Jeff, Mark and Juan. This turned out to be an awesome ride - it is so great to do new tracks with some incredible people and do a bit of adventuring thrown in. We managed to do over 70km and stopped for the compulsory coffee on the way home. I think this will be one of our new routes.  

Von, Ian and Jeff (Mark and Juan taking a leak in the background)

Jeff fixing a puncture (yes people still ride with tubes)

M&B at Carnival City Mall (first time for everything)

So the cold begins...

Life after Sani - after returning from our value for money Sani, I took my bike to Procycles to send to the Giant agents to see if I could if they would replace my frame under the warranty. Sean Brown was incredible in letting me use his new fat bike until my bike returned. I spent a week riding on the fat bike - wow it was a different ride and is really awesome. Good news is that Giant will be replacing my broken frame with a new one at the end of June - super amped. 

Riding in the mornings before work is getting harder, with the temperatures plummeting and the sun only rising once you get home. Plenty of the crew are hibernating until the weather warms up but as usual I will soldier on through winter. As long as we ride at least 2 times during the week and once on the weekend the winter fat rolls should be kept abated.

Incredible photo of the misty sunrise on my ride this morning

Fat bike riding 

Sean and Becky training for their Race to Rhodes race

Wow

So after having quite a torrid time with my 'old' Giant Anthem with all the bearings needing to be replaced (thanks to Greg for doing this for me) the rear shock needing a drastic service and the front shock to be replaced, I took the leap and purchased a brand new 2013 Giant Anthem X Advanced 29er 1.

WOW, this is my absolute dream bike, it has carbon frame, aluminium rear triangle, RochShox SID 29 RL with the Giant OverDrive 2 steeerer suspension fork, RockShox Monarch Rl rear shock, full Shimano Deore XT (2 x 10) componentry  etc. The full specs can be found here . I went for my first ride this morning and it was incredible, hard to believe that a new bike can handle so well and feel so great, I am so chuffed at the moment.



My old front FOX shock has some nasty grooves on the sanctions

My new pride and joy



The beauty of our morning rides is sometimes ignored because of urge to race..

With regards to the last few weeks, I have had some incredible rides:
2 weeks ago we did the USN Mountain Bike Cup race at the Big Red Barn. This was one of the best races I have ever done, not by the result of where I came, but because of the awesome riding and single track that was in the race. The route was incredible, over 40km of single track in a 47km race. Greg was our local champ and gave us all carrots, followed by myself, Mark, Grant, Justan and Waldi.  

Some dirty boys after the USN MTB Cup at the Big Red Barn

Last week because my MTB was in the shop, I did a bit of road biking. I joined Jacques in the mornings for a couple of 50km rides before work and then rode the 103km Macsteel Carnival City Classic race on Sunday.  This race is relatively flat and extremely fast. I started in group DL with Renier (who ended up wining the group), the pace was really frantic in the beginning for the first 20km we were averaging over 45km per hour. This gradually slowed as I got dropped from the leading bunch  and was picked up by other bunches. Total time was 3:13 with an average of 31.8km/h for the 103km. Chuffed that I finished in a faster time then last year, but still aiming to break the elusive 3:00 barrier.



Reward for the 103km sprint