October 6: Whether it was the school holiday or the the slightly cooler evening, I don't know, but only six people, including one newbie, turned up for the ride. Off we went to Exstacy Park for two rounds down the drop-off and one up it. Everyone made it in fine style and we continued down the rocky trail next to the highway to the railway line.
At the old rail crossing Reon kept his promise and produced a sudden stop. We went on to do do Python first-to-last and then last-to-first carrying on to Quad Buster, but halfway up we discovered that Reon and his mate were still at the bottom. We waited and mate came to inform us that Reon had injured his hand and was not doing too well going uphill. Being so few, we all returned to the Moo Mall, dropped off Reon and did Mieliemuur R.U.S.H. and back. Total distance just over 24 km. October 13: This time only five riders showed up. Between Stealth and I we decided that the reason was that Hardy did not send out an invite. Hardy, regard this as a serious rap over the knuckles :) Stealth agreed to being trailmeister and I to be sweeper. It soon became clear that Stealth had a re-definition of the term "social ride" in mind. Going straight over Nelmapius to the Mieliemuur, I was already trailing; not because I was the sweeper, but because I could not keep up with Stealth and his three not-to-be-outdone young lads. Taking the first turn left from the tar road onto the tar road climbing up the hill, I bravely battled to catch up while they briefly waited at the top; just to shoot off down the other side and up to the light at the end of the tunnel. Down Mineshaft and up to the substation, down to the road and up the single-track I managed to stay in touch. The R21 loop also was not too bad. Bat tunnel and then the first part of the trail that Eric shall name taking the rocky left turn and the writing was on the wall: They had to wait longer for the sweeper to catch up. Just when I thankfully thought that we were finally going home, Stealth turned down Holy Trail and left again down the rocky trail going all the way down and up and down to the cement factory road. This time I was so far back that I lost the trail and got onto a dicey trail heading straight for the bush. Fortunately the others missed me, stopped and I could see their lights and bundu-bash my way to the right trail. As soon as I reached them, they set off at a brisk pace and in my efforts to keep up, my peddle must have struck a rock that hurled me off the bike as I found myself on the ground (or rather rocks). Strictly speaking that did not entitle me to write this report as I have certainly not been spotted in the act! They must just have surmised that I was getting even slower. We did Python and then Tour-de-Tar in a tight group - they must have been tiring by now. And still it was not the end; Stealth lead us along the railway line and up the rocky trail next to the highway towards Extacy Park, which we did not do - thanks for that. Back at the Moo Mall we had done 40km and it was just past nine-thirty. A social ride it was not, but it was good exercise! 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.
