Marathon weekend rides....

What a great weekend of riding - yesterday we had a great ride out to Irene (95km) and today we rode out to Heidelberg (68km). Fantastic riding with some good company - Greg, Adam and Mark. Today was Greg's birthday and what better way then to celebrate then have an awesome ride in the countryside with mates. That makes it over 300km of riding in the last 7 days - not sure I could have done more for my preparation for Sani2C next week - lets hope those hills will be forgiving....

A TEAM

B TEAM

Breather at the top of the TV Tower hill at Heidelberg.

Your truly with Heidelberg in the background

Adam rising to Greg's challenge and riding rough shot...

Yes that is a staple in my rear tyre and 2 side wall cuts in one ride....

Back in the saddle - weekend rides 10 & 11 April

How awesome was it to be back in the saddle this weekend after 3 weeks off with the foot injury. Greg and me did 2 nice +50km rides (Greg and Stan have also been man down with the flu the last 2 weeks).  With Rooiberg Eco challenge in less then 2 weeks we really had to put in some time in the saddle. 

The weather was on ourside - the Saturday was bright and sunny and the Sunday was cold but dry. Couple of obsticles on the Saturday ride - overflowing sewage manhole that created a stinking stream that had to be portaged - Greg was first and showed me what not to do (wetting one foot), he kindly took my bike over cesspit (in the process wetting his other foot). We continued our ride with the dry footed Richard passing a few undeserved jokes towards the ripe smelling Greg. Below are photos of the traffic jam that we had to work around a few kms later near Serengeti.

The traffic on the Sunday ride was more about how many mountain bikers we saw on the route that we thought was ours, at least 20 other bikers were leaving their tracks on portions of devine route. I was really doing well with not falling on the Sunday ride, going through all the 'technical' bits wth ease until 5kms from home I had my first fall - cutting my tyre side wall in the process. 4 bombs later, there was no other way but to walk to the nearest garage about 1.5kms away. Greg being the nice guy that he is, let me ride his bike while he pushed mine (so that my foot injury did not take any further strain). That at least deserves another photo of the super hero Greg in this blog post (in his new SuperSport kit - courtesy of Melt and Pierre).

 

After the fixing the tyre at the garage, we continued our ride home and believe it or not someone moved hole that took me out a few weeks ago (by the Homestead dam wall). A nice over the handle bars dismount and a landing that must of measured on the Richter scale took pay to my temporary confidence in MTB technical skills :).

Weekend ride Sat 27 Feb

Fantastic muddy ride this morning, started early - meeting at the gym at 06:00 and ventured out towards Serengeti. First muddy single track next to Atlas drive in, plenty of water and our chains and derailers became clogged with grass so we had to stop and clean them. I had my first fall of the day shortly after this - going through a dip, I didn't lift my front wheel and went flying over the handle bars knocking the wind out my chest in the process - schools fees. Riding to Serengeti, I must mention that I was for the first time slightly quicker then Greg (he must have been saving himself for the last few hills home). 

Rain damage - the pallisade fense over the bridge by Serengeti has been washed away, must have been quite a flood.

Fall number 2 happended shortly after the bridge - bike just skidded in the mud as I was talking to Greg: 

The jeep track was floaded in places - Greg trying to brave the wet....

At last Greg had a fall - score is Rich 55, Greg 3:

After a brief stop at the Petit farmers market for a muffin and coffee (and plenty of laughs at how dirty we were) we ambled home, 50+ km ride that was really awesome. Stan we missed you bud.

Benoni mine dumps 13 Feb

We have finally ventured out into the mine dumps in Benoni. What an awesome ride - there was a bit of everything - single track, rocky parts, sand and small climbs. Fortunately Greg has spent many hours here on his dirt bike and knew his way around. Great to try new routes, below are photos of Stan, Greg and me at the 'dumps'.

And yes on the way home we lost Stan, he was riding ahead (as I was too slow) and we didn't see which way he went. After much panic and phone call to his better half he carried on as he made it back home.

Saturday Ride - 3 October 09

What an awesome ride today, I picked up ratty at 06:00 and we ventured off into the Benoni outback. First stop at the sandpan for a few 'careful' rides on the off road bike track (ground is very loose after the first summer rains).

Off through the open veld heading towards Bapsfontein - we met up with a group of 5 mountain bikers who were going on a long distance ride. We did about 15km with them and they showed us new a new route into the plots. It was nice chatting with the guys and I did not have to look at look at the Rat for a change. We peeled off with one of the riders when we realised that these boys mean business and were doing a long haul.

Ratty and Lion rode through the agricultural plots and on piece of single track, my front wheel hit a large grass clump, back tyre slid out and I went flying face first into the grass. Ratty who was (too) close behind me went crashing into my bike and we both ended on the ground. Below is a photo of the aftermath (there were a group of farm labourers who witnessed this an couldn't believe their eyes - eish). Petit Boere market next - we rode in past the stalls and stopped for a quick coffee followed by a home made lemon shooter to restore our dignity.

Homeward bound in lovely overcast weather.