Hardy couldn't lead. So he asked on the list for a volunteer. Mistake number one. He mentioned a howling cold wind. Mistake number two. Many excuses. Then Oupa Gert offered to lead - on the list again. Mistake number three. I could sense the grumble: "Oupa Gert? We don't want to be out in the cold the whole freakin night! Probably get lost as well..."
So I pitched up on the stroke of seven; okay, maybe three minutes later. And there were Power Girl and Mummy and ...nobody else. Three riders for a Rock 'n Roll ride? That's not good. Power Girl has an uncomfortable feeling about it. Sign number one. After much discussion about the safest routes and taking into account the beautiful evening, starry skies, a bit chilly, but not the slightest whisper of a wind, we decided to give it a go. Mummy needed to do a quick pump for his recently Stanned tyre, but it went all flat with Stans leaking at the rim. A bomb did not help. Sign number two - the ride was not meant to take place. Power Girl had an adapter ready and Mummy dashed off to the closest filling station in his car. To keep warm the two of us rode a few circles in the parking lot when the end of my handle bar fell off. Sign number three? Near loss number one. Finally the trio left the parking lot at 7h50. Up Cruiser. Fortunately the burnt-down grass did not give any hiding place to ill-meaning citizens of the veld. At the top my rear light fell off. Fortunately Power Girl saw the glow in the grass and recovered it. Near loss number two. Straight down to Nellmapius at the Plant Park; safer that way. Cornwall Hill RUSH should also be safe, so that is where we went. At this stage Power Girl decided the pace was much too pedestrian and took the lead under the pretext that she could not keep up. Well, yes; for the rest of the night Mummy and I are out of breath trying to keep up with the relentless Treil Mistress. No stopping to catch breath either; no sirree - right on at all the normal stops! Up Roetter's Route and back towards the shebeen to do the steep climb followed by the rocky road where Mummy shook off his tail-light. Fortunately I'm at the back and saw it fall. Near loss number three. Eventually Power Girl sensed she was alone and had to turn back to us. Up to the light that takes forever to reach, down Mineshaft, Blairwitch forrest, down Roetter's, up heartbreak, down to Smuts House, Python out and back at a breakneck speed with PG still in the lead. The Tour-de-tar was done at a more reasonable pace and required a photo-finish to determine the winner. Unfortunately the equipment did not work, but I'm quite certain that PG also took that one by a split second. For safety's sake we took Nellmapius, but then retraced our outwards route backwards to reach the Moo-mall on the strike of ten. Total distance: about thirty three kms. Wipe-outs: none. Thrills: many more than three. To all the people not turning up: You lost out guys and gals! Oupa Gert. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
