Winter 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

Modderfontien -3 degrees at the start of the ride

Paul, Franz and Sean

Paul makes an appearance at the end of winter

On the way to SentraRand

Out ride to Kitty Hawk- finished on 116km

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

All good...

It has been a great few weeks of riding - last weekend we went to Heidelberg and yesterday we had a great ride via Sentrarand. On both rides we did new routes that I have not done before. Awesome rides with great company. Heidelberg ride we went to the Telkom tower and then to Wimpy for a breakfast via the army camp. Was pretty shocking the lack of security as we rode through the army camp and then went out the main gate. It did however bring back some memories going across the parade ground (I begrudgingly did 2 years military prescription in 1987-1988). 

Ashley and Graham (the 2017 ABSA Cape Epic contenders) did the radio tower a couple of times whilst the rest of us mere mortals were stuffing our faces with Wimpy's finest. On the way back, the group split into two and I toggled in between the A and B batch, eventually sticking to the B batch after being finally dropped by the A batch :-)

'no tools Marius' getting help from the group

After a bit of bush whacking (my fault)  we found the track to the tower..

The bunch at the top of the Telkom tower hill

Muddy route under the highway (wasn't me) 

Was only a piece of wire holding the gate together to get into the army camp

The slog back 

Becky and I were pretty dead on the way home...

Yesterday we went to Sentrarand and Alistair (on his birthday) took us on new routes next to the railway tracks and then we stopped at the Parks for a great coffee and breakfast.

Fast wide open spaces coming back from Sentrarand 

Bench warmers are back - yes after six months on the bench we managed to get Greg and Hansie back on their bikes. Paul is yet to join us but he got his bike serviced last week and Strava says he went for a ride on the weekend (just need to verify if it was on a dirt bike or MTB).  

Greg, Wayne and Becky having the customary Mug and Bean coffee. 

Coffee rides to see out winter

So the plan is to keep the legs turning over during winter, this is easier said then done given the cold and dark early mornings. At the moment it is down to 2 rides during the week, on a Wednesday and a Friday and then a longer one on the weekend. These generally involve coffee and a catch up with the few that brave the horrid conditions (Wayne seems to be Mr Consistency at the moment joining me in the mornings that we ride).

Ashley printed out some great mugs for the Benoni Rough Riders - I think the slogan on the cup is very apt and my wife says is very relevant to me.  

We did a great (81km) ride this morning (Sunday 17th July) to SentraRand and back with a great breakfast at The Parks restuarant at the end - 9 Rough Riders showed up for a fresh Sunday ride and it was really awesome. 

Me, Alistair, Ross, Marco, Michael and Wayne (Ashley, Robert and Mark had time constraints and couldn't stay)

Early morning sunrise when riding past Korsmans Pan (1km from my house) 15-07-2016

Loads of evening sunset walks with my loverly wife...and yes I have been putting these on Strava

Awesome to witness a sunrise and sunset on the same day 15-07-2016. 

No new bike yet as I am still waiting for my frame replacement (after it broke at Sani to Sea) - hopefully I will receive it at the end of July. I am still on the old frame with the 'temporary fix' that was done on day 2 of Sani - hopefully it will still see me out for the next couple of weeks. 

The long one....

Sunday the 28th of Feb was a memorable ride. We started off in a big group 25+ riders with a support vehicle. We had a great opportunity to join the beginning of this ride by some crazy nutters that do a 200km mountain bike ride to Loskop dam (2 of them being Rebecca and Sean from our group). I was definitely not that brave (or fit enough) to take on this massive challenge, so a five of us (Mark, Wayne, Michael, Michelle and me) rode the first 50km with them and then did some route exploring.  

The first 50km was really crazy as it was a large group of really strong riders so the pace was hectic, we averaged 30km per hour. Once we hit Oxbow resort (where we were hoping to stop for coffee) we parted ways and had a chance to catch our breath. This ended up being my longest ride on a mountain bike 121km and was incredible on all fronts. The weather was perfect (overcast) and the company of my fellow Rough Riders was on top form as usual.  Here are the stats of my ride 

Action selfie - Wayne and Michael hard as steel

Long district roads - one of the few times I could ride in front of Mark

Not sure why Michelle is showing the peace sign, she takes no prisoners

Group photo after stopping for a drink at a 'local' shop

Wayne and Mike

Train tracks from hell

Great view and a well deserved breather..

Begin again...

Another year has started and time is flying so fast its seems all down hill. 2016 has been a great year of riding so far, with some fantastic rides in the early mornings with the Benoni Rough Riders (usually involving coffee) and a few longer rides on the weekends. My goals for this year are to emulate last year to stay away from hospitals and spend some quality time in the saddle. Major races for 2016 - at the moment it is Sani2C, Bielie Mielie, 94.7 and to do a few more races hopefully with my wife and/or son.

We did a awesome ride out to SentraRand earlier this month check out the ride filmed and edited by Hansie click on the YouTube link here: Benoni Rough Riders Sentrarand MTB

Below are a few photos of the ride, on the route, we came across a deserted track cycling stadium, sad to see but interesting to ride around. 

Sunrise over the highway on the way to meet the group

Paul the winner of his own race..

Rough Riders checking out the track

Blauwpan dam on route to pre work coffee

Rebecca's action shot of some of the Benoni Rough Riders

Sunday the 17th of January we went for a fantastic group ride out to Rosemary Hill bike park on the outskirts of Pretoria East. Nice big group starting off with around 20 mountain bikers (some riders peeled off early or were scared off by Alistair :-). The route to Rosemary Hill was fast and very flat with more downhill than uphill. It was only 75km there, so it was a lot shorter then originally planned and I also did a 20km loop there on the trail, finishing on 95km total ride. Nice track at Rosemary Hill and looks like a awesome venue to go and ride with up to 56km of trails. Wayne, Micheal and me were joined at Rosemary Hill by - Greg, Paul, Hansie and Juan, so we had a lift back whilst the rest of the group Becky, Sean, Alistair, Ashley, Michele, Ross, Anton, Milton etc...rode back to Benoni (finishing on between 150-170km ride). Next time I will get a return ticket instead of only a one way.

Sunrise on the way to Rosemary Hill

Nice big group on a great ride

Railway bridge group photo

Babelas Becky

Mike and I 

January is my birth month and that normally involves a MTB related present, this year my wonderful wife bought me a professional bike set up with Cyclefit. One of the best things I have done, this involves the optimum setting of the three points of contact on your bike: the pedals and shoes, the saddle and the handlebars. I spent over an hour and 15min with Richard Baxter (ex professional cyclist) checking and correcting my bike set up. My cleats in my shoes had to move right forward, my saddle up by 2.5cm, my handlebars brought forward and shortened by a 1cm on each side. My rear shock was 60PSi too soft and my from shock 5psi too hard (bike was sagging). The before and after videos show a remarkable difference - my back is much straighter now and I am not slouching over the bike. I have had a few rides already and the difference is amazing it is like riding a new bike. Well worth it.

Richard cutting my handle bars

Testing after changes have been made

January = lots of rain = lots of mud. We had to resort to urban MTB one Sunday which involved finding all the hills in Befordview and Bruma. Almost 1000m climbing in 80km, great new routes up and down Sylvia's Pass, cobbles and switch backs up to the tower by Linksfield etc...

Top of Sylvia's Pass 

View from the cell tower and beyond