Sun 22nd and 29th May Rides

Sunday 22nd May was another awesome ride - we met Clint and Dee at the BP at 07:00 and then did the same route as the previous Wednesday ride. You think we would have learnt - still loads of mud and water and we all got our feet wet again (Clint did a nice dodge on the last big puddle - choosing the tar instead, in his words "if you can't beat them then cheat")

Unfortunately I forgot to clear the last video off my head cam so I only has some space for a few minutes filming of the ride (pity cause there were some good water crossing shots).

All in all a good ride I felt strong, maxed out my heart rate a few times, we did 68km at a relatively quick pace given the mud and water. Nice to ride with Dee and Clint - great people and strong mountain bike riders even if they are converted roadies....

Sunday 29th of May - brrrr been really the last few days, Greg and me chickened out of riding on Thursday morn because of the wind and the sudden cold spell. We started our Sunday ride with our Garmins reading only 3 degrees, our fingers and toes feeling the brunt of the cold. Different route this Sunday - out past the model aircraft flying club and up the small koppie. Good to do some hills, the route in some parts was overgrown, so we had to do some real mountain biking - our leg warmers covered in black jacks.

In total 64kms at 19.5km/h average speed, both of us a bit tired at the end but it was memorable.

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.

Good week of riding...

It has been so good to be on leave the last week. I have managed to ride 5 times and averaged over 50km per ride. Greg had 8 rides and did over 400kms in total - I will be playing catch up the next few rides. Unfortunately I had a few problems with my rear tyre that messed up 2 of my rides and I even had to get a lift home from my wife the one ride - plenty of side wall cuts (5 plugs couldn't fix it). Seems like the Continental Race Kings recently put on the back, are not the greatest (time to put the Hutchinson's back on). The 2.4 Mountain Kings on the front are a bit heavy, but have plenty of grip when climbing up hills - who am I kidding we don't have real hills in the East Rand.

The weather has not been too kind, loads of rain which means water and mud. The crunch crunch of the working parts after a few hours of mud will make any mountain biker cringe. Today we did a 67km ride that was going well until my @#$%^&* rear tyre went flat again, a few bombs and visit to the garage helped me limp home. Here a a short video of parts of the ride I did with Greg and Justin.

2nd May route through the Benoni outback...

 2,530 km done over the last 4 months, hope that winter will be kind to us and let us ride at least half  of this....

Kids big race - Walkerville Country Challenge

Wow how proud am I doing this blog, my kids completed their second mountain bike race yesterday at Walkerville - Country Challenge. They did just under 10kms and it was a beautiful route in the mist. This was thier first real mountain bike ride with jeep track, dirt road and single track. There was loads of mud and puddles so this also added to the excitement. I entered the race with them (I really wanted to do the 60km route but as a parent you have to make sacrifices for your kids), unfortunately I flated 4km into the race and had no bombs or repair kit to fix my @$#$%^& back tyre. I managed to convince a bakkie to give me a lift back to the start/finish just after my beautiful children finished the race. They really enjoyed it and are eager to do another one.



Before the start of the race

 

ok some of the hills were tough for the girls...

 

Victory and medals to prove