At last there is Sun

So after a few weeks of rain we finally managed to get out and ride in the sun today. Riding the past few weeks has been really hard with the continual rain - the only riding I have done is when there was a gap in the clouds (and there were also a few wet rides). Last weekend I managed my quickest ride at Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve with Jessica on her single speed. She is really strong and gave me carrots on the first hill - yes!! without any gears on her bike. Great ride and one of the best places to train, 57km of safe road with 1200m of climbing in a picturesque game reserve. Click here for my Strava stats of the ride. 

Today we went out and tried to avoid the mud, this was not really possible judging by the photos below. Guys on the ride with me were Greg, Paul, George, Mike and Renier (for a few kms at the end). Awesome ride which involved a bit of bush-whacking at one stage as the single track was completely overgrown. It was fun adventuring and we had a bit of a disruptive ride as our route had to keep changing because of the terrain we encountered.  I did 79km - click here for Strava stats of this ride.



Muddy road stopping us from going to Irene

Paul and Greg getting their feet wet looking for a way around

Wise old George giving some suggestions

Not so wise George and Renier choosing mud over the route the rest of us chose

Mud and good laughs

After plenty of rain the last few weeks here in Benoni the tracks are pretty saturated. Today I reluctantly decided to join Roy, Mandy, Pieter and Milton for a ride out into the muddy blue yonder. Pieter showed us some new routes in the first part of the ride which was really great as I thought I there was little left in the Benoni outback where I had not laid my tread. We all had a few slippery encounters with some really muddy patches. There was one spectacular feat, when Roy saved himself from falling and inadvertently did a side swipe rooster (when you splash the person riding next to you) sending a shower of muddy water all over Pieter. But nothing beats Mandy's classic fall - avoiding a big puddle she went through the water logged grass and had a very wet and muddy lie down. Good laughs, great company and awesome coffee at the BP afterwards. 70km ride in total, here are my stats on Strava.

 

Hubby Roy showing Mandy how to ride the puddles

Pieter, me and Mandy at a quick refueling break

Early morning weekday rides have been really fun, great bunch of guys and yes we seem to be stopping for coffee more then we should, but what the hell it can't all be sweat and tears!!! 

Grant, Vossie, Mark, Marco, Paul and Ian (Greg and others MIA)

 

1st summer muddy ride 16-09-12

Oh what joy the advent of summer brings: the weather is getting warmer and it starts getting lighter each an every day. Summer also brings lots of rain and plenty of mud. Today Greg, Marco, Adam and me went for a great ride into the outskirts of Benoni and Kempton Park. There was a minny monsoon the night before and our route was extremely muddy in parts. On the other side of Serengeti Golf Estate the river had burst its banks and we had to ride through flooded roads wetting our bikes and feet good and proper.

Adam and his seat post.....best I don't say anything about this one...



 

I had another over the handle bars fling, when going through a puddle at the Sandpan on the way home: my front wheel sank right into the soft sandy mud, catapulting me right over the bars and landing unceremoniously in a muddy puddle (much to the delight of Adam and Marco behind me). 

We ended up doing just over 60km and our creaking bikes needed a thorough wash after the ride as mud does not do the bike's components much good. Good ride with great company.

P.S. This ride will go down in the history books where Marco broke Adam. At the end of the ride Marco was setting the pace up front and Adam ended up cramping and limped home with his tail between his legs (which does not happen too often).