Hahahhaaa Well, Mr Chris "Zoomer" Pretorius, it may be late, but it was worth the wait :-)
Cheers C ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Pretorius, Philippus (NSN - ZA/Centurion) <[email protected]> Date: 2009/3/20 Subject: Ride report, as requested for publication To: [email protected] Ride report 12 & 19 March Here follows the ride reports for the 12th and 19th March, be warned by special request it is looooong. So if the boss or whoever whacks you over the head for reading this looooong report don’t blame me …. ( to the requester of the loooong report you better read it all there will be a test at the end ;-))) 12 March - New Root Well it has been a while, a long while in fact since I did a D&D ride. Somehow work and all manner of other commitments have consistently found a way of interfering with my D&D plans over the past few months. Finally I decided to put my foot down, enough is enough I am going to the ride. So it was with some anticipation that I arrived at the Moo mall, excited to see old friends again and curious to see what this Nu-Root that I have heard so much about but have never actually ridden was all about. It was indeed great to see so many familiar faces again, and the feeling was mutual. In fact so happy were the regulars with the return of this long lost sheep that I was promptly instructed / requested to write the ride report. As you may have gathered this did not happen on schedule for some very good reasons, but I wont bore you with those details. Off course on arriving at the Moo mall last night I was immediately reminded of some ill considered promises that I allegedly made ( but as Jacob Zuma would say: innocent until proven guilty, and I am still waiting for the proof), and that is the reason for this double edition. Rite enough of that back to the ride, that is the Nu-Root on the 12th. Ok so we were 13 dirt buddies, 3 lasses and 10 lads that took off form the Moo mall heading in to PV Park and some super trails. With Hardy in the lead and Eric our trusty Sweeper in the rear. At the N1 bridge we passed an SAP road block. Traffic was backed up, probably all the way into Centurion, man I bet those guys whished they were on there bikes. >From there we headed up the Airfares base wall, hooked up with End-of-the-world single track, proceeding to run the Gauntlet and then continued down the R 21 via some single track. This is where things got really thick, man that tall grass is dense. Think it is impossible to lose 10 or so mountain bikers with lights in as many metres of trail, think again it happened more than once. Hansel and Gretel would have needed more that bread crumbs to get them through that stuff. Next UP was the long slog UP Klapperkop, apparently some kind of speed zone, yea right… Yes its tar, but in this case all was forgiven. I am sure every body would agree that the end justified the means. Finally we arrived at the top of the hill and the start of the down hill course. Some Frequent Flied down, some skip biked down, some walked down, some hike a biked down and some fell down (well not more than once or twice). At the bottom we all regrouped and shared experiences. >From here it was back up along the R21, and once again through the jungle grass, I tell you never before did I want to meet the Panga Man on a ride so badly. Back at the N1 bridge Oupa Gert got a little tangled up in some fence wires and one of our dirt buddies parted ways with the group. Next on the menu was Cruiser I think and then back to the mall. So it was that the same 13 minus one dirt buddies arrived back at the Moo mall some 3 hours and 30 km worth of smileage later. Afterwards some of us met at the Hardy’s house for a midnight snack, and to prevent some beers from reaching their expiry date. Well except for that and a huge smile it is about all I can remember of the Nu-rout, but then again that more or less how I remember all D&D rides. Moving on to the 19th (really do wonder how many of you are still reading this). Its Thursday morning, I look out the window, rain … , having enjoyed the last ride so much I am eager for some more D&D, but the weather does not sit to well with the first sign of a cold I am experiencing. Its 5:30 pm, I am sitting at my desk, I look up and out the window, the rain has cleared and it is a beautiful afternoon. That means D&D! I rush home, effect some emergency repairs to my rear break and head off to the Moo mall. Its 7:10 pm I suspect the group has already left, but maybe if I am lucky I could still sneak into the back of the field. No such luck! On arrival I am immediately accosted by an angry QT regarding some ride report that I was allegedly supposed to write (well as Jacob Zuma says ……). It is good to be back! Many familiar smiling faces, some of the sporting impressive new bikes (very nice) and happily some new faces. The normal introductions are made and we are off on the Rock and Roll route. Hardy in the lead and Eric at the back making sure nobody takes any sneaky shortcuts or sneak in any unplanned extra mileage. The night are is cool, and filled with the strong fragrance of the veld, the trails are sweet and crisp with the odd puddle to make things interesting, the company is excellent. What a privilege to be out here! We head down a rather sedate Corn Wall DH R.U.S.H? and then on under the R21 and past Rietvlie. We pas a major accident involving at least one taxi and a sedan, peaces of wreckage is strewn all over the road. Next up is the first speed zone of the nigh, form the shibien, up the road, sharp left and up again regroup at the top. The usual suspects race off and beat as all to the top. Shoe as ek eendag groot is gaan ek ook so ry. Mean while somewhere down the road Oupa Gert demonstrates the principals of the long lost art of chivalry and ladies first to the rest of us. We make a quick mechanical stop ( leaky front tyre I think) while Donald explains the finer technicalities of attempting the Swazi X with a second 30 kg backpack and something about time travel. With this out of the way we proceed to find the “tunnel” and the light at its end, as any one who has attempted this would tell you it is a rather protracted endeavour. They real should stop moving that light! Down the Mine Shaft and through Blair witch forest, without incident, on the other side of the forest Frequent Flying turned into Frequent Sliding and some spectacular near dismounts. Next we crossed the R21 at the bill board bridge ( I really hope this election nonsense passes quickly so that they can again put some nice picture on the bill board). The tricky decent into the St Georges single track again clams a victim. This time the culprit was a sawed off dropper hidden right at the top of the trail, resulted in a spectacular Stans side wall puncture, Stans make you stand…. . Fortunately lots of help was on hand and the hole was quickly plugged. We make our way through some more sweet single track and onwards down part of Smuts DH. Donald again counts the number of dualies as part of some mystical mathematical equation that has some baring on something said by some guy who got famous for sitting underneath an apple tree watching apples fall and Elsie explain how to find the best line down. The group then proceeds to bust some Quads up the next climb. At the top I use the opportunity to put some air back into my rear tire and my lungs. Before following the sweet single track down to the cement factory. From here we link up with the Python single track Lekker. After regrouping it is time for the infamous Tour de Tar. The speed zone is once again claimed by the usual suspects. As usual this evil piece of tar brings out the worst of behaviours, real roaddy stuff. Plenty slipstreaming is observed and it is even rumoured that some lass pushed some lad most of the way. Clearly not the kind of thing to be mentioned in any polite MTB conversation. A quick vote is taken, and after consideration of the numerous puddles along the railway line and some mechanical issues (broken saddle) we decide to optimize the rout back to the Mall. So off we go up Vetseun (I think, sorry little rust here). Half way up the hill Elsie demonstrates an alternative technique for dismounting and quickly undressing ( SHOES, what were you thinking), personally I think the technique has potential but still needs a bit of refinement before it is quit ready fore the Triathlon seen. After a few stop starts we make our way to the Moo via Cruser single track. Just as we cross the last road thinking that all the fun is over Donald neglects to attack the curb stone with the required aggression. The result is a flawless demonstration of the tramline-rear wheel-slide-out-dismount. Fortunately no permanent damage is done. Shortly afterwards we all arrive back at the Mall, another lekker D&D ride completed. Thank you to all of you who by your presents makes these rides possible, turning each one into a memorable occasion. Hope to see you all next time Ride stats Mileage: Somewhere between thirteen and thirty something kilometres Dirt buddies: 13 , 9 lads and 4 lasses Ride time: To short Land claims: A few, but nothing that will leave a permanent indentation New bikes: one (it needs a was though) Smiles: Plenty, plenty, plenty --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DarkAndDirty" group. 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