Einstein has said that "imagination is more important than knowledge. He has also been known to enjoy riding his bicycle, I guess it helped his process all that information. Robert Frost once said, "two roads diverged in a wood one day and I chose the one less traveled by..and that has made all the difference." Thursday night proved, that if you want to take the single track less traveled by, your eyes need to be wide open ... and that makes all the difference.
So in the parking lot, the following adventurers gathered: Oupa Gerrit, Stealth, Deekay, DASH, Spinner, Stan "the man", M&M's Matt & Matts, Herman, Hardy, his wife Q.T. and the Sexy Single. Sorry boys, she has promised to bring along her hubby as soon as he is fit enough to ride with her. So that answers that question. So what goes thump on a warm summer's night .... or perhaps the question should be, what goes thump, bump... oooouwhoch! At least four of the dark riders, got low down and dirty. There may have been more un-confessed disgraceful dismounts. It would seem DnD report writing, has become quiet a skillful avoidance art. Fortunately there was no need for any pumping or repairs. Spinner was however eventually swayed at the start, to release some pressure from his 8bar rear tire. Guess he's forgotten how it's done on the dirt. We Cruised up and zooted around the Quad loop, for fun. Buzzed in cheerful chatter as the stream of lights headed down the Mielie muur (cornwall) jeep track. The dirt shoulder UP to the Rietvlei turn, presented the first speedzone of the eve. Taken by the dashing Hardy duo. There were some rumors of teamwork efforts. Speed Queen saw a rather uncharacteristically slow start but had a Dashing end. Yes - Dash claimed the title, explaining to those who may not have known why his nick name is so. Enchanting night birds, called across the veld as the group traversed toward Blair Witch Forest. It was on this journey that Q.T. earned an almost forgotten privilege, to DnD report writing. The whole group had front row seats to the argument between rider and a sudden unseen bump. Stealth was kind enough to enforce some heavy braking, avoiding the infliction of further bruises. No animals were harmed in the first case study of the single-track-less-traveled-by experiment. Schwinging through some more twisted singletracks we headed to the outback loop. This long winded drag, along the farmland, made Hardy wonder if we missed the turn. Longing, like a surfer with no wave ... the turn was like water in a dessert, to riders needing the distraction like only a thrilling single track can give. Or maybe Hardy's saddle just made everyone crazy with all it's annoying squeaks. Squeak... we emerged from the mielie fields. Squeak... and back with some "whoop-whoop" yelps of delight as we launch through batman tunnel. Squeak! Seemed the nightly flying mammals were elsewhere. Squeak. After the slalom single tracks to the boring bill board, the group sojourned to "the-trail-that-Eric-shall-name" which was such sweet, loooong and downhill with sneaky rocks to be hopped, bopped and avoided. There were some schweet corners with loose dirt which were best negotiated with a double-wheel-powerslide... wide eyes and big smiles. Traces of trail zen glowed in all. Discussions were held about who's line to follow, trying not to follow the line of the wheel in front of you and who's line was it anyway?! Like monochromatic zebra's in the zone, we headed for home. Sweeper rewards had Stan the man leading the group as we slithered down the python. Everyone watched out for the famous pedal biting "red-rock". Some disputed its very existence, others testified about their personal encounters. It was then time for the riders to pull all their dodgy roadie moves out the closet. Shocks were locked, wheels were sucked, and break aways attempted. Matt took an early lead but the hound-like pack chased him down. DASH had an early eye on the win, but Stealth flew past from underneath the radar. Liedjie and Stickie were not there to name the song, title and artist. But they did sent their apologies for leaving us to our own devices with the song titles and back up dancing. Which brings to mind, Matt had some impressive moves going down "the-trail-that-Eric-shall-name". When asked about, it turned out not to have been for our entertainment but rather to avoid the same fate as Eric's(Gadget) encounter with mother earth a few months ago. Rumor has it Gadget will soon change his rare vagrant status and rejoin the DnD ranks. After TourdaTar, Oupa Gerrit spoke, and we went up Big Dipper. Lights off, no camera, action! Ghost Ride! It is amazing how the gloomy landscape emerges from the dark when one trusts your night vision. It is also amazing how much "stans" can leak from Sexy Single's knee after a misunderstanding with Big Dipper. On the way home a distracted Hardy missed the turn onto Cruiser. So we took the-path-less-travelled-by, case study two(by two). Another science experiment: the theory of relativity in the presence of black holes. All was going well until Hardy suddenly yelled: "Watch the holes!" Matt who was just behind him was caught unawares. He got sucked into the rabbit hole, at the same time as Hardy hit the eject button, as his front wheel submerged in another one. Both riders went flying, on cue, as if rehearsed. The rest of the crew hit the brakes and marveled at the crazy double wipe out spectacle. Eyes wide open. All relative. We arrived at the mall some 41km later. Now lately not even the RockAndRoll route distances 40km but a distracted Hardy seemed to have gotten his trails mixed up. Despite the 41km reading on our bike computers for the Mild2Wild, Hardy thought he cut the route short. Too many Southern Storm adventures and excess fitness? Unfortunately all the watering holes were dry. We had no choices and had to make udder plans. So we left the cow to get milk at home and dream of fields of single tracks in our comfy beds. While considering the Yoda-converse to Einstein's statement "Important is, knowledge of imagination!" --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
