Hheheheeee So, after much consideration and having soo many awesome reports for 2008, it was decided that Fritz was the winner for best D&D report for the year (i will post it again later for good laughs :-)... for this title he won the task of writing the first report for 2009.....
Enjoy!!!! ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Fritz Sutherland <[email protected]> Date: 2009/1/9 Subject: DnD report 2009/01/08 To: Hardy <[email protected]> He was almost nervous approaching the moo-mall at 18h55, it's been a while since the fall and he has not been on the mountain bike since. Pulling into an open parking bay he saw the familiar crowd of dark and dirty riders hanging around, some kitting up and others checking lights, and he felt all the nerves dissolve as memories of good times with these people on some single tracks in the dark came rushing back. Our young hero realised that he must have been about the last to arrive and quickly put his helmet and pack on, switched on his bike-mounted green LED light and checking his backup, a tikka head-mount light …for just in case. It was a good turn-out tonight, being the first ride in the new year, an into-route, and the weather was absolutely perfect. Eric agreed to play sweeper and Hardy led the group out the mall gates. Our hero followed him out, it was just after 19h00 and it wasn't even properly dark yet. As he peddled near the front of the group around Irene farm villages he breathed in the fresh evening air and felt at peace with the world. Soon the road turned to a very overgrown single-track leading up the 'koppie', giving everyone the first rush as they sped up the track, creating a twisting snake of lights through the long grass. He was almost out of breath when Hardy stopped near the top, and everyone re-grouped trying to catch their breaths, now thoroughly warmed up. Someone fixed a brake and he listened as people joked about a glove stuck in his spokes and how glad they were that there wasn't a hand still in it. It was now almost dark, and the group turned left heading to Nelmapius avenue. Crossing the street they cruised the downhill around cornwall hill estate, later joining the end of 'downhill rush' and headed for the R21. His friend Jaco and Dirk excitedly told him about the drop-off ahead that went into the tunnel under the R21, but just before they reached it he realized that Hardy took the chicken-run to enter the tunnel. He wondered whether Hardy was chicken, or just taking it easy on the intro ride, and eventually he convinced himself that it must be the intro thing. On the other side Hardy somehow managed to find the very overgrown single-track that headed for the olifantsfontein road and the bridge over the 'ses myl spruit'. He was riding just behind Jaco and Hardy, they were just talking about the ditch running across the single track, and how it would be hard to spot with the grass being so long when both the leading guys gave shouts of surprise over the sound of hard braking. He hit the brakes hard, managed to stop just in time and saw the ditch right in front of the two riders, with Jaco's front wheel already halfway in. They had a good laugh, sounding relieved and continued towards the bridge. Hardy declared the following section a speed zone, running next to olifantsfontein road up to the dirt-road that turned off to the left. Waiting until the last car has passed he flew away at high speed, feeling fresh and wanting to push it, he got to the other side with only Jaco in front of him. He was pushing hard, hearing the wheels sing on the hard packed ground, feeling his lung beginning to sting on the incline, but he kept going as fast as he could, loving the chase and the fresh wind on his face. At last they reached the turn-off and he gulped some water, thinking how he would do better to hold back more in the beginning of the speed zone and yet knowing he would never be able to hold back until he's lungs burned and he's legs cramped. The group headed up the wide dirt road at an easy pace, until half-way up another speed zone started, but this time he was already tired and took it easy. Yet when he stopped at the T-junction with the rest of the leading group and looked back, there was no sign of Eric or of Dirk's green light. After a while Jaco and (other) Jaco agreed that it was taking too long, so he headed back with them to see what's up. From far away he could see Dirk's light flasing "SOS", and joked with the Jacos that Dirk, who was famous for getting punctures on just about every ride, must have picked up one. Arriving at the 'scene', however, it turned out to be Eric who got the puncture. Luckily it was fixed in no time and everyone headed back to the T-junction, where the group turned right, crossed the bridge over the R21 and headed from the track that shall not be named. The track turned out to be quite fun, being a narrow single track with long grass and Hardy taking it at an exhilarating pace. Near the end, riding close behind Jaco again, he heard a bang and a scrape, saw Jaco's light swing up into the sky and then cut out completely. Next moment he realized Jaco must have hit a big rock or an ant-hill, so he hit the brakes and swung right and somehow managed to hit the same rock too. Miraculously he stayed on the bike and saw Jaco riding ahead, now with a working light again, so it turned out that the nasty rock did not manage to claim the first fall of the night. At the end of the track that shall not be named, everyone switched off their lights, some more grudgingly than others (don't worry Dirk, I won't mention names) and he headed out on the ghost ride doing a…well…ghost ride. Someone called a halt near the back, and our hero thought that this was a nice little tactical move to wait for the clouds to clear the moon, and sure enough, when everyone moved off again he could suddenly see quite clearly by the bright moon light. At the end of ghost ride, they headed up the hill next to olifantsfontein road, and at the top Hardy showed off his amazing navigational abilities by taking turn after turn in the maze of tracks and still looked like he knew where he was going. After yet another such turn, Hardy stopped and declared that they have reached 'look ma no brakes' and another speed zone. This time our hero was off in front, but he let two guys pass to be near his buddies. Just as he got the speed cooking nicely again, two things happened at once. First he realized that the guy just in front of him had fallen really hard in the middle of the track, and hitting the brakes he shouted 'stop' behind him, only to realize that the second thing was that Jaco, who was just behind him had stopped for a flat. So after checking that the 'first to fall' was still breathing and not bleeding too much, he headed back to the group to help fix the flat. Hardy joked about holding the record for taking the longest to fix a flat, but after some time he declared Jaco the new record holder. In the mean time oupa Gert had taken the track down to where the leading guys were waiting and heading back to the puncture scene he took a sort of slow speed fall at the exact spot where the first guy came down. When the flat was flat no more, our hero headed off again, taking the bad spot on the trail carefully, since it was getting a reputation by now. Only a few meters further down there was another shout behind, but he was going fast down a rocky track so he kept going, hoping everything was Ok behind him. At the end of 'look ma no brakes' he waited for the rest to catch up, only to hear that Dirk had also taken a fall at the now infamous spot. >From there he took it easy, as the group headed down the jeep track to the smuts house. Just after the bridge the 'tour-de-tar' started, a stretch of tar-road that is raced back to Nelmapius. He was sure Hardy only added this to make the roadies show off, but he took off anyway, hoping to stay in a group so that he won't fall out too soon. As he raced down the tar, cursing the mountain bike's low gears and losing the leading group he realized once again that he should stick to mountain biking and leave the road races to the 'thin and speedy'. At the end of 'tour-de-tar' he felt like he's had enough, but the long Nelmapius ride up the cornwall hill still lay ahead. Everyone took this hill quietly, trying to keep a steady pace. At the top he waited out of breath for the others, and when everyone was together again they headed back to the moo mall with one last single track. As he approached the end of the ride, having had a good workout and loads of fun, he thought about dark-n-dirty, riding with friends down single tracks in the dark, and all was well. Thanks for a good one guys. Fritz (aka Nkwe/Jeans) --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DarkAndDirty" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/DarkAndDirty?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
