On the nice warm evening of January 10, 2013, ten mountain bikers assembled in the parking lot of the Moo Mall for an Intro ride. Three newbies joined in and the fairer sex was very ably represented by D&D newbie Susan who proved to not be a newbie to mountain biking and nor to trail-running as we discovered the previous afternoon.
It was still light enough to go without lights as we set off in the dusk a little after seven on our way to Xtacy Park where we were greeted by an enthusiastic crowd of spectators while doing two drop-offs followed by a drop-up. A little incident on the latter event caused a human Stans leakage and earned me the right to write the ride report. Later in the evening a few more riders volunteered, but I was first :) After Xtacy Park, hopping on and off the circle and riding the first part of Supertube, we arrived at the mound where we decided to do the BIG drop-off. That went very well with everyone managing it, especially Susan who took the steeper right hand lane with no problem. Then I noticed another rider hesitating at the top. He had no light, wore a cap instead of a helmet and when he came down one could see that his forefathers were in Africa much longer than the rest of us. He managed the drop-off quite well and then crashed into the heap at the bottom. Fortunately bike and rider were still intact, except for the brakes which did not work to start off! So Ezekiel who had trailed us from Xtacy Park decided to join us for the ride. The second part of Supertube down to the railway line must have convinced him otherwise as he decided to leave us at Nellmapius Drive while we tackled Wash-n-Go, Python, a speed zone to the tar road, the tarred false flat, Bat Tunnel, Blairwitch Forest and another speed zone down to the tar road taken by Leon P by half a tube length according to his own account. By now we had seen plenty of lightning and a few drops were starting to fall so I started to push on going up Mieliemuur. Glancing back I could see lights following, but almost at the top I decided to wait for everyone and then I discovered that the lights following belonged to a lone rider with both a helmet and handlebar light. Going back we found that Stefan had a flat while I carried his spare tube in my hydration pack, but Leon had come to the rescue with a tube and they were on the point of proceeding when we arrived. The rain gave us some respite and we finished a very enjoyable ride at about 21h30. Thanks to the fellow riders and to those who did not join us: You missed out! 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.
