Van Gaalens Mood Enhancing School Bunk Ride: Thursday morning

"I'm going slightly mad
I'm one wave short of a shipwreck
Missing that one final screw
slightly mad ... it finally happened"

It's the usual end-of-year craziness. And the usual end-of-year irritatedness. So when Dawn mentioned that she desperately needs a mood-enhancing ride, I realised I'm also running out of space to hide the bodies.

So we decided to bunk school on Thursday and go ride the best mood-lifter that I know of: Van Gaalens Daggapad. We didn't think that we'd get anyone else that would be able to ride midweek mornings, but we sent out a few invitations anyway, and before we knew it Leon, Adri, Anja, Brendan and Andy were up for the challenge.

Van Gaalens opens at 8 on weekday mornings, but they left the gate open for us and we arranged to pay  when we came back.

The skies looked dark, but the singletrack called. Brendan would be late, and we decided that he would catch up with us. (He's training for Desert Dash, so need the speed :) )
We left slightly after 6, and soon it started drizzling. Absolute perfect weather to ride in. At the top of the cement track we waited for Brendan to catch up with us while Leon checked out the Pofadder tracks. (Why would anyone ride the Pofadder when the Daggapad is just next door?)

Then we went down - first the rocky bit, then the fast flowing bit, and then into the forest. Reward aplenty for the horrible climb. We were riding superb singletrack while other people were stuck in traffic on their way to the office.

By the time we reached the hidden singletrack next to the dirtroad, everyone was grinning- and our working colleagues probably would be arriving at the office.

The rain came & went, so we never were soaking wet. But it was wet enough to cause a lot of mud and slippery-ness on the river track. Some of the trails that were easy on Saturday suddenly became more tricky in the mud. (Good luck to the 24 hour riders this weekend - it would be interesting if the tracks don't dry out soon.)

Is it legal to have this much fun on a mountainbike?

Dawn, Adri, Leon, Anja, Andy, Brendan - you are the coolest crowd; thank you for an awesome morning out! THANK YOU!

Adri & Leon sorting an issue on Adri's bike while we waited for Brendan to catch up with us.

Anja showing Adri and Dawn how to ride one of the numerous bridgies.

Van Gaalens: it really is that good.

I love riding at van Gaalens with people who' never tasted that singletrack. I love the grins on their faces all through the ride, and how they glow afterwards. I love how for days afterwards they still talk about how they rode all the genres of Mountain biking in one ride. A bit of gravel, a bit of climbing on cement tracks, a bit of technical climbing, lots of singletrack, higher grade technical stuff, a bit of cross country. Some parts of the ride feel like fountains, some parts feel like Groenkloof, some feel like Sabie. Mud. dust. Rocks. Gravel. Sand. Depending on the route there may be a bit of farmland, sandy roads, a gravel road or two, rivercrossings, gnarly downhills, rocky descents, fast flowing singletrack, bumps, forests. Wooden bridges, skinnys, bushtunnels. Kilometers and kilometers of singletrack. A cafe along the way for a Fanta Orange break. A hidden singletrack high above the dirtroad. Steep climbs and hairy drops.

When Donald discovered the Daggapad on Saturday, I wasn't disappointed. Big grins from start to finish. Just before we finished the ride, we spoke about how varied the terrain was, and how it covered all the genres of Mountain Biking.
'Except Floating Bridges', Donald commented.

Here's Donald on the floating bridge that we crossed shortly after that remark :D

... and here's Zurika on one of the numerous bridges.

All that the world need is more singletrack. Can't ride there and be grumpy. Just equip the Cop17 delegates with bikes and send them on the daggapad. All will be well with the world afterwards :)

Pop goes the Nevegal

I loved the Nevegal. It had grip on muddy treestumps and could climb up slippery steps where other tyres (and nerves) failed. It wasn't the fastest rolling tyre I've ever had, but it inspired confidence and that was all I needed.

It was a warranty replacement for a Karma that burst overnight in the shop after the bike shop topped up on slime/stans/magic_potion. The bike shop didn't have Karmas in stock so rather than wait, I trusted my trusty mechanic's opinion that I would like this tyre. As always, he was right; I did :)

Until Sunday Afternoon.
The Trance was in the shop, so I did the 10 hours on the hardtail. Saturday's MTB Orienteering at Groenkloof too, and Sunday's 94.7 Mountain Bike event.

Then, Sunday afternoon while catching up on lost sleep, I heard an unearthly 'bang' in the kitchen. (What? Dont your bike sleep in the kitchen too?) It took a while to gather the courage to go investigate the commotion.

Found a flat Nevegal, and a piece of the rubber about 3 metres away.

I have no idea why it popped. The bike shop also couldn't give an answer. There was still plenty of thread on it, and I still wanted to take it places.

At least it didn't pop during hte 10 hours, or the Orienteering, or the 94.7!

This was the second Kenda that did this to me :(
I hope the Maxis Crossmark stay in one piece for a while longer.

94.7 MTB (13 November)

The 94.7 MTB ride is not one of the most exhilirating rides I've done. Too much congestion, too many people, too in-the-town. Boring extra loop just to add distance. Horrible to have to brave traffic twice for different number pickups for the roadie-ride and the offroad ride.

But I do it because it's on my doorstep. Can't really travel to Sabie and Baviaanskloof when i dont do the events on my doorstep, right?

It was a hot hot day. The event was advertised as 50 give or take a few. In the spirit of the last few years, I expected it to be take, rather than give. It ended up being almost 60 kays.

- The start was a bit of a mess with the commentator calling the short distances before the slower seeded bunches of the longer distance were called to queue.
- Seeding was a bit of a mess with the SMS confirmation of my seeding and the actual batch where i started being different.
- Watertables ran out of water (on such a hot day?)
- Lots of congestion at the start.
- Number pickup was a waste of time. 1 1/2 hours in traffic to get there, collect the number, then drive back. I much preferred the number-pickup on the same venue as last year.

The tracks was much more fun than previous years. It had something of everything: wooden bridges, singletrack climb, a gnarly downhill or 2, long boring climbs, a few rivercrossings (eeeeuuuwwww dont want to know what's in THAT water) and overall some excellent riding.

The congestion cleared up after the first 10 kays or so, and from then on I could enjoy the riding. A very good day out, and I'll definitely be back next year :)