Testing the boundaries...

Ok so the previous blog post was called 'the long one', well a week or two later on Human Rights Day (aptly named Human Rides Day) I put that ride to shame. A group of eight of us headed out to Rosemary Hill on the eastern outskirts of Pretoria from Benoni. A bit uncertain about the route we were lucky to have George McPhail riding with us, to point Mark (our ride captain) in the right direction. Incredible riding so nice to do a different route after flogging the routes around Dunblane/Serengeti for so many years. The route was mainly district track with a few small bumps on the way back. We stopped over at Rosemary Hill bike park for a coffee and breakfast roll before heading back. Unfortunately George's bolt in his headset snapped and he had to get a lift back 20km out from our halfway stop (he was hoping to do a 250km ride for the day so this dented his ambitions somewhat). 

Pit stop to check out George's bike 

Sean phoning for backup as Robbie was finished after 100km (Shannon having a welcome breather)

Mark and Robbie 

Michelle and Becky

So this ride ended up being the longest ride that I have ever done - a whopping 143km, click here for Strava stats of the ride. Surprisingly I was feeling ok and not to bushed at the end of the ride, I think it has a lot to do with the great bunch of people that I was riding with. The pace the whole way was perfect and I didn't have to redline to keep up with the group.  Was really great to test the boundaries of my body and do something that is a benchmark for further rides.

Me rolling in home after a 143km ride

Awesome photo capturing the sunrise over Blaauwpan on one of our morning rides before work 

Rough Riders at Blaauwpan 

Mark and I did a ride in the rain one morning, we still had time for a coffee stop. 

Gentle does it

It has been a frustrating start to 2015 after being injured in my close encounter with the tar late last year. After 3 weeks of limited riding I finally got back on the bike this week with some great early morning rides and a awesome ride to the cell tower today. It has been gentle riding as my muscles are still a bit sore from the strain/tear of ligaments in my groin and hamstring. A bit different from this time last year where I did a 1000kms in January.  Never a less I know it is going to be a good year as it can't get much worse then 2014 from an injury perspective.

Incredible sunrise taken outside Dunblane Estate.

Enjoying a great cup of coffee after a ride with good people...
Becky, Sean, Michael, Paul and Greg

 

To Hill and back

Great ride on the weekend to Heidelberg and back from Benoni. We met at 6:00 at the gym as it is starting to get darker as winter slowly creeps in. Nice group of 11 guys: Greg, Adam, Paul, Warren, Sean, Renier x 2,  Aiden, Michael and Mike. The pace was fast out to Heidelberg through the mine dumps and then a lung bursting spin up to the top of the radio tower hill. The weather was brilliant and most of us did between 90-100kms for this ride (depending where you started), click here for my Strava details of the ride



Nice flat tracks lined with Cosmos flowers

Quick pit stop to pump up a wheel

The group at the top of the Heidelberg Hill

Me and Adam in our new Section7 kit

Warren looking out for oncoming trains

Aiden and Michael

Paul

Sean

Greg

Yours truly making the cosmos look pretty



Mr Calves (Warren) trying to catch up with the single speed

 

Bring on 2014

So after 351 Hours of riding in 2013 and over 7,638.2 kilometers traversed, I cant wait for 2014 so I can see how longer and faster I can go. Nice first few rides in 2014, all on the MTB (skinny wheels are hanging up in the garage for a while).

 

It was a great pleasure in having my mate from work Pierre (one of the guys who got me to start cycling all those years ago) to come from Northcliff and come ride with us. I organized a group ride from the BP and we did a similar route to the one I took the group on the previous weekend. I know that this route was pretty flat and slow compared to what Pierre is used to (given that he lives on top of Northcliff  hill and has completed numerous multistage races like the ABSA Cape Epic, JHB2C, Cape Pioneer Trek etc...) but it was great to ride with him all the same. Here are my Strava route and stats of the ride...

Pierre

Nadine, Pierre and Adam

Bevan and Ashley

Adam, Nadine and Jeff

Mark, Jess and Dee opted for a shorter ride and turned off before the brickwork's (haven't heard from Mark since, hope the ladies didn't leave him for dead on the Cell Tower Hill).

I had my first fall for 2014 when I  hit (T-Boned) a big rock and went flying off my bike, the impact was so hard, my front tyre dislodged and unbeaded from the rim. I subsequently had to replace this tyre with a new one, as there was a permanent wobble on the tyre (after taking the wheel to the bike shop to check that the spokes were still true and aligned). A few more scars to the elbow and my pride dented a bit, here's hoping 2014 will be an upright year.  
Feel like your crashing game is stuck in a rut, same old, same old? Need a little inspiration? Here are 75 new ways to crash your mountain bike, you're sure to find one or two things you can try on your next ride in this link! (courtesy of a tweet by Tony Huglin @tonyhuglin)

Best of both worlds....

Yes I have had the very best of both worlds this week - a couple of great road bike rides and a fantastic mountain bike ride today. OK I have been on the road bike a touch more then on the MTB and there are malicious unfounded rumours (started by Jess and backed up by George) that I am a roadie convert. Naah I reckon there is a place for both of them, the road group are a great bunch of people and it is always good fun riding with them. We did a 90km ride the day before Christmas and then a 70km ride on Boxing Day. These rides were fast and really awesome, I never knew I good enjoy road biking so much. On both occasions the group was larger  than 20 people and we did some great routes (led by George) with the occasional sprint for the top of a hill or coffee stop. Always competitive and always a good laugh afterwards. It must be noted that Milton rode a 40 year old track bike with no gears and brakes on Boxing Day and still kicked our butts. 

Day before Christmas ride - some of the group

Day after Christmas customary coffee stop

December 28th and it was time to venture back on the dirt. There were about 16 of us, that met at the BP garage at 05:45. Good bunch of people with the same goal in mind to ride, get fit and have fun. I led the group out past the quarry, brick works, sewage pipe and back via the roller coaster road. Here are the Strava stats for my 78km ride. Being out in the open spaces made me realise why I love mountain biking so much, the ride was fantastic, it was at a honest pace, with the occasional stop to help one of the girls out with a puncture. The vibe in the ride was always good even though a few people were suffering near the end.

 

Good week of riding so far - 3 rides and 240km in the bank and over 7500km for the year so far. Bring on 2014. 

Yup 4 of us to change a ladies tyre

 

Nadine, Gary, Renier and Jess

The gang at another tyre repair (rest stop)

 

Renier looking back after he took my KOM for the quarry segment

Yes another ladies tyre repair stop..

I took the group of some pretty overgrown tracks, was fun though...

Where the $%#* are we?

Early ride last Sunday with Rebbecca, Juan, Nadine and Gary, we met at the BP at 5:30 and headed out towards the mielie fields. Weather was great besides a bit of a headwind. I decided to detour from going down next to the train tracks like last week and instead went venturing over Bapsfontein road and past the Polo Fields. This where I came a bit stuck as we did not cut across a farm on the route Greg and I did before (the farmer had a few stern words with us), instead we headed straight and ended up getting slightly lost, after jumping a few fences we managed to eventually find our way back in the general direction of the brick yard. Fortunately the group did not hassle me with my bumbling tour director duties and welcomed the extra kilometers that we did :-).

3 other highlights of the ride were:

1. Accelerating past some (unfriendly) road bikers and leaving them in our dust when coming back on the 'Roller Coaster' road towards Dunblane.
2. Gary buying a farm when going through a ditch (ok I stopped and this put him off)
3. Platkop Mucha coffee at the Hava Java cafe at the Brentwood Pick & Pay center afterwards.

Gary, Nadine, Becky and Juan taking a breather and refueling

Gary after he bought a bit of a farm (Nadine had a good chuckle)

Well deserved coffee afterwards...

Awesome to be out riding with great company, I finished on 80km, click here are the stats of my ride.