It was a hot day. The evening promised to be ideal for riding; very unlike the unseasonably cold and wet conditions of the previous week.
As I had to meet someone at the Moo mall before the ride, I planned to go a little earlier than my usual just-in-time routine. As I was packing up, I noticed that both the tyres looked a bit flat. A quick pump would fix that in no time. While pumping the second one, a "pshhh" came from the first one. Turn, turn, wiggle, wiggle, but it did not want to seal. The Stans/Joels/Puncture-free must have all leaked out. Eventually the tyre was back to it's original low pressure, but not completely flat. Then the other one went "pshhh"! This one was leaking some white stuff and eventually sealed, but I was scared to inflate it again and just left it at that. So I pulled in at the Moo mall on the strike of seven. Fortunately the person I had to meet, found me after being told that nobody knew any "Gerrit van Niekerk" until the penny dropped that he was actually looking for Oupa Gert. There was indeed a good turn-out; I counted 20 or perhaps 21; difficult to be precise when there is a lot of milling around. These are the people I knew or can remember, if you are left out, I apologize: Hardy (Clinton), our leader. QT (Thursia), the power behind the throne. Deekay (Donald), unofficial second in command. Stealth (Nico), our willing sweeper. Vortexe (Leon) who had a serious shoulder injury sustained at Pelindaba three months ago and came back to win the Belfast Bike Rogaine recently. D1 (Daleen), finisher of the Bull of Africa. Goofy Mike (Mike), Mosbolletjie (Adri) and Nando (Fernando), members of the famous Lickety Split team. ? (Herman), who, I'm proud to say, I recruited at Sani2C. Sexy Single (Nadine), who ALMOST convinced her hubby to come along. Brendan and Hilgard, already old hands. Chris and Linda, D&D newbies. Oupa Gert (Gerrit), report writer, jors troely on a bike slightly wobbly because of under-inflated tyres. So we set off in the dusk up Cruiser, but instead of the normal Vetseun-se-rol, we went down Dirt-rider's hill; haven't done that one in a long time. Back to Nellmapius on the Eastern route and down Cornwall Hill, turning left to do the nice drop-off and steep climb underneath the highway. The drop-off went without a hitch, but having to do a sharp turn at the bottom, the flattish tyres came into play and I earned the right to write the ride report. To make up for it, at least as far as I am concerned, I manage to do the steep incline without having to put a foot down. At both the first and second speed zones I were not close enough to the front to see who the winners were. Still in denial about having to write the report, I also did not ask. From the bridge over the R21 we took some very mild roads and I was beginning to wonder about the Roadie outing; even taking the Smut's downhill, now stripped from it's former gnarly glory by some ill-conceived road works. As we slowed down halfway down, it dawned, if that is at all possible during the dark night, on me: We were going to do the port-a-bike up to Smuts memorial for a party! And so it was: both QT and Mike had recently turned a year older and it was celebrated with the usual cup-cakes and bubbly looking at the lights from the top of Smut's hill. On the way back the mood was perceptibly lighter. Deekay and Nando were chatting away in Portuguese or was it Spanish? Я не понимаю, португальском или испанском языке. The tour-de-tar was not officially announced as far as I remember, but was still taken up. Then we did not do the boring Nellmapius-to-the-second-traffic-light, but the much more exciting Big Dipper uphill. Just after the dipper itself we were told to switch off our lights and we did the rest of the hill: Ghost riders in the night! The steep road up the hill and gunning down Cruiser with Mike in the lead, ended off another perfectly enjoyable night ride. Thanks Hardy, QT and all the fellow riders! 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.
