December time

I love this time of the year, nice relaxed riding and lots of coffee with good mates. We have had some nice early morning rides and longer weekend rides dodging the mud that is so prevalent this time of the year. We have had a few people leave our small riding group as life takes them in different directions - Adam moving to Cape Town and Mike to Tanzania etc.. Others have moved further away from our customary starting point in Benoni and are now pretty scarce (Mark and Marco). Fortunately we still have a great bunch of guys and girls and there is a wonderful spirit in this group, it makes getting up before the birds are awake much easier if there are nice people to ride with. Also we have had a few 'new' people join our group and they also bring a great new dynamic - Hansie, Anton etc…

Incredible 60km ride last Sunday with Jess (on her single speed), Greg, Wayne, Michael, Hansie and Paul (who screams like a girl when he gets a fright). Great ride around Serengeti, mainly off road and then a relaxed coffee at the Mug & Bean on Atlas road. Great to have Hansie as part of our team now - he had his GoPro on and did a fantastic job of filming and editing our ride. Please click here to check it out.

Safety in numbers...

Great ride last Sunday organized by George, there were 11 other passionate mountain bike riders and I had the esteemed opportunity to lead them on some of the routes that Greg, Mark, Adam and I had pioneered before. It was great to be riding in such a big group for the first time, especially after hearing about another bike jacking near the R21 highway on the previous day (close to where we rode).

 

We met at the BP garage and then headed out past Dunblane, past the quarry, brick works and back via Serengeti. My Strava stats for the ride are on this link. Another highlight was the brief coffee stop at the end of the ride, great to spend time with like minded souls intertwined with the fantastic sport of cycling.  The group was a great fit as all of the riders were at the same level and we never really had to wait for people to catch up. What a fantastic experience to meet new people and to also be given that mantle of route director - thanks George for you efforts in organizing these group rides - they are a lot safer and social.

The group dazzled by the early morning sun..

Christi wondering why the pace is so slow...

 

Beautiful parts of the East Rand where a house can not be seen anywhere

Time for a quick stop to fuel up.

 

Coffee stop pic 1 - spot Gary's racing strips on his forehead

Coffee stop pic2