Hi Guys and Gals, Well, this morning I decided that I must take DK's offer to do a bit of Groenkloof with the intro riders. Decided however that I need a bit of time in the saddle, so I mounted my trusted Stephens for the ride to Groenies. I decided 1 hour should be enough for the trip from just behind SA Mint to the Kloof. One slight glitch however is that it is still pitch dark at 5h00 in the morning! Well, we are d&d, so there must be light somewhere and hopefully a charged battery! Got one and quickly mounted it and got on the road at about 5h05. Decided to take old Jhb road to Eufees and then down to Groenies. (I know there is a single track just to the left of old Jhb, but having a bit of a history with hijackings, I decided to do the shoulder.
55 minutes later I got in the parking lot at the Kloof to find only Tatjana there. A bit surprised at the absence of the usual crowd, but hey, we are here and we have Groenkloof all to ourselves. We decided to do the jeep track and leave the single tracks for another day. What an awesome experience. Tatjana braved 2 monstrous muddy puddles and succeeded to get through without a mud bath. Impressive stuff if you think about the amount of rain that fell in the last 2 days! We negotiated a few very slippery corners without incident. The river crossing right at the bottom was fabulous and we managed that without incident. Highlights - We started of with 4 zebra that we almost had to push out of the way to get past. Then we had the privilege of spotting 2 giraffe having a nice thorn tree breakfast just a few steps away. On the long downhill next to the R21 we stopped and admired a kudu about 5 yards away from us. We were saddened by the fact that cars are speeding past on the R21 just 15 m away from this majestic animal without knowing about its existence. Tatjana made a comment that made me remember why we get up at 4h30 in the morning, mix the energy drink, gulp it down, fit a light to a bike, get the water bottles filled, lube the chain and then ride off in the dark. Her comment - "Imagine seeing a Zebra before work?!" Well, we can add to that list now... That is one of the reasons why we cycle. Hope to see you guys soon on the Night ride again! Enjoy. The Russian. -- 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.
