Mayday groupie.

1st of May was a public holiday and it was great to go out on a long ride during a normal working week. 21 of us met for an awesome group ride that started from the BP at O'Reilly Merry street before we headed out to the Benoni outback.

The group before the ride

Fantastic strong group that was well matched. So awesome to ride with different people and have the continual banter and entertainment provided mainly by George.

First obstacle was a little river crossing and after a bit of hesitation we all got our feet wet, some braver then others - riding through the rocky riverbed and a few choosing to walk it out. Below of some photos of the ride:  

Greg wetting his nice white shoes

Clint's new Ghost gliding over the water

Jaco - ex roadie

Gary riding a real bike once again

George showing the youngsters how it is done

Tuck and roll when approaching thick sand

George at his best after going round the locked gate to the quarry

Birthday boy Paul had to be different

Heading down into towards the quarry

It has been a great week of riding, starting on Sunday, we did a ride to Modders and back (incl. airport trees)  98km. There were 4 of us that rode  Greg, Eddie, Milton and I. Few tumbles but good riding all-round. The next day Greg, Dee and I went for a chilled 56km to loosen the legs.

Sani2C starts in less then 2 weeks so our preparation is pretty much done now, few more medium rides and then we can relax until the 3 days of madness begins.

 

 

 

Back in the mielies

So after a fantastic holiday it is back to the Benoni flatland's, chasing dust in the mielie fields. I have had some great rides last Saturday (77km) and again today (75km). Weather has turned and at last there are clear skies and great summer days. Today I had the privilege of leading a group of 10 riders out for a mielie field, train track dash. The group split at 40km after Dee had a tumble, hitting the ground really hard and she and her hubby, Adriaan decided to head home (and 3 others joined them). This left Roy, Mandy, Nadine and Gary and myself to go hill hunting. The rest of the ride was awesome, fantastic ride with good company. Everyone had a good laugh when I was crossing a dry stream bed and my front wheel hit the rise on the other side with comical effect. My bike stopped dead and the back wheel rose up at 90 degrees and I stayed there for a while before crashing to the ground.

Vlakfontein single track...

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

 

After Sani...

So after what was possibly one of the most memorable weeks of my life at Sani2C with the best riding, one could ever imagine on a mountain bike, how you do proceed from here? It seems such a pity to take your foot off the accelerator (um sorry I mean pedal) after all those hectic months of training - yes there is an argument that your body needs a break, but I feel stronger then ever and need some extra motivation to keep on riding trough these cold winter months.

So I thought this could be pretty easy by entering a few races with my mates - say one a month. Unfortunately my Sani2C 'training group' has diminished in the last weeks to only one - me (Greg ITB injury, Mark's knees are shot, Adam - cut hand) so going out there alone can be pretty hard. 

But this ain't gonna keep me off my bike - by using a local biking website www.thehubsa.co.za and Twitter, I have managed to hook up with some other people in the last week. Saturday I went out with Twitter comrade aka IronMan Clint and a few Dirt Roadies for a ride in the plots and then on  Sunday, I was fortunate enough to attend a group ride (organized by Barry aka Tumbleweed on thehub) into the Benoni Mine Dumps (photos below). The latter was a awesome ride, 30 odd mountain bikers tearing up the dirt and creating plenty dust on some beautiful tracks, led skillfully by Paul from Procyles. There were amazing drop offs, that I actually yearned for, instead of hesitating, like before and a few steep up and overs, what an amazing experience. I had a few falls in the thick sand  and also did a classic face plant that has left its mark with a few scabs on my nose and chin this week.

Lastly I hooked up with another group after being in contact with (another) Greg on theHub for a ride in the mornings before work. OK funny story on its way.........the group meets at the BP garage 04:45 which means I need to leave home at 04:30 (getting up at 04:15), eager and not wanting to be late I got up before my alarm went off, got dressed for winter riding and hit the road on my bike.
I switched on my Garmin to see the time and to my horror it was only 03:30 - I had gotten up a whole hour early uuurgh. Long story short = back home, cup of tea and then leaving at the right time......

Was great morning ride though - longer, faster and more hills then I am used too (we went from Benoni to Bedfordview and back  - 50km) but great to test the body with like minded souls for 2 odd hours, thanks Greg.

Here is to keeping the legs spinning for the next few months....

Barry and Ian before the mine dump ride...

Nice downhills

and small climbs

Lovely drop-offs, yes those are mountain bikers on that mine dump..

Fantastic photo...of a group MTB ride

Nice to ride with Pierre once again..

Paul waiting for the others to catch up before leading the way..

Beware of the Dam

Awesome ride yesterday, Greg and I met up with Adam and Mark and we headed out towards Irene on a similar route to last Sunday. 

The riding was fantastic we managed to do around 90km at an average of 21.5km/h which was pretty good going in my books. Only downfall is that the terrain was relatively flat compared to what we are going to encounter at Sani2C with the total ascent on this ride of only 558m. Click on the link and you can view my Garmin stats for the ride (you may have to change the settings to Metric from Statute in the top right hand side of the page) Sunday 18-03-2012 Outride Stats

It was really great that we could ride with new like minded guys that have the same goals as us, it really made the ride more enjoyable. I had to take a photo of this sign below, taken just near a quarry near Dunblane Estate. Here is Adam holding up the damn sign..... 

2  minute respite for the boys as I take a photo of this classic warning sign.

Vote day....18th May

Wednesday the 18th of May was a public holiday in South Africa which means a day off work - oh what to do, oh what to do....

How about a nice mountain bike ride and then vote later. Once this was decided and Greg was keen (as always), plans were made - wait a tweet from The Saint (Clint) saying they were meeting at  the BP a 07:00 for a ride. Scrap the plans and lets join Clint and his group for a ride. Having never met Clint before this seemed like a great opportunity - it is amazing how technology can connect people with similar interests - Twitter is awesome. 

Greg and me met Clint, Jacques, Hennie, Mark and Karen at the BP and we then went on a nice muddy and sometimes wet outride. It was really great to be around other like minded people that ride at a similar pace. It was really fun chatting to new people and sharing our ideas, thoughts and passion for cycling. All in all, a great ride - from home and back it was just under 70km with an average speed of 19.5. Good thing is, that they meet every weekend so I am sure we will see more of them.