As luck would have it...

I has been an exciting few weeks, I won a fabulous prize from Schwalbe (‏@SchwalbeZA) of 2 MTB tyres just by following them on Twitter and to be the lucky one to be picked as the winner!!!! The arrival of these tyres could not have come at a better time as the next ride after they arrived I slashed my tyre on some glass on our morning ride. Fortunately Wayne had a tube for me so I could put in a gator and the tube and finish the ride in one piece. My bike went in for a well deserved service and I had the components changed and front and rear shocks serviced. This cost more then my car service in the same week, but please don't tell my wife :-) 

My awesome winnings 

I have had a few great rides with my son and he is starting to love this sport and is always eager to go and ride on the weekends. I have entered him in for a 35km Transvaal Galvanisers MTB race in September so we have a goal to work towards to. 

Caiden at the Country Club riding under a peacock

Last weekend we join the Cycle Lab group for a fantastic ride out in south of Boksburg and doing part of the route for the race mentioned above in September. It was really awesome doing a new route for a change after slogging through our normal routes North East of Benoni for many years. There was a floating bridge that added a bit of adrenalin in the middle of the route also. Unfortunately Marco broke his rear derailer during the ride and we could not convert his bike to a single speed as the chain was twisted. We were about 15km away from home and took turns pushing/pulling him (Mark doing the majority of the work). Click here are the Strava stats of the ride... and click here for the Youtube video of the ride curtesy of Hanise. 

Hansie flying over the bridge

Sean breaking Marco's chain in an attempt to make it a single speed...

Marco walking through the ice cold water as his single speed was not working... 

4th of July 2015 - Irene Market ride

I arranged a ride out to Irene Market and back and was presently surprised by the turnout for the ride with a total of 23 people rocking up for this memorable experience. It was really great to see some friends I had not seen/ridden with for sometime like Roy, Mandi, Clint, Kathy, Ashley, Ross, Bevan etc... There were the usual Rough Rider suspects like Becky, Sean, Greg, Michael and Ian that joined us, my mate Pierre from Northcliffe and then some of Ash's mates that are training for Trans Baviaans.  It was a great bunch of people and it was a fantastic ride out to Irene Market - we changed the route slightly from the last time we rode and found a new 'technical' hill just before we hit the market. There were a few falls in the group during the whole ride and fortunately nothing too serious. 

Irene Market is special, there is a nice vibe, great coffee and the best home made muffins that one could ever taste. We went back home a different way (which is always my preferred option) and unfortunately the group split up with the racing snakes not waiting for the second group. This ride is one of my favourite rides and I finished on 102km - click here for the Strava stats of the ride. 

Group photo after coffee and muffin's at Irene Market