Moriarty

A suggestion, how about a 4 to 5 day trip in the Eastern Freestate in the first week of December? I was thinking of starting in Frankfort (drive down and leave cars there)and doing a cirular loop around Heilbron, Steynsrus, Senekal, Ficksburg, Bethlehem, Reitz, Frankfort. That time of year we should be able to stay in guesthouses? My tentative dates would be leaving thursday 8th December, cycling on 9th to 13th and returning on the day we finish. It looks like it will probably be mostly tar unless someone has a good gps that we can find alternatives? PM me if you are keen to start planning.

Count me in for August next year or before.

Thanks Procrates, that looks like a really nice tour.

My idea was to try and stay as comfortably as possible in guesthouses/self catering whatever but to carry just enough with for it not to be a train smash if nothing whatsoever is available, I would carry lights and dry rations so that you can carry on at night if absolutely necessary......................... I have a bivvy bag as well as an extremely lightweight tent but this would have to be shared out to reduce weight, I would regard being independent of complicated arrangements/prior organisation as the main object, sort of like wilderness hiking with a bicycle.....................

Sorry but I don't know anything about 29ers, I was planning on using my hardtail 26 mtb with road tyres and slightly higher gearing for a road tour or my softtail for an off road trip. I haven't set any dates but tentatively propose 10 days in October this year as an option. I wasn't planning on putting on touring panniers, just taking minimal gear in a small backpack. Probably the best solution for planning would be for all interested parties to go for a longish casual ride together and discuss the options and preferences. For obvious reasons I would prefer this to be in the Pretoria are but i am flexible.

One of the ideas I had was heading out east from Pretoria (where I live) going through Mpumulanga and maybe into northern KZN. Probably mostly on roads although I only have an MTB, if someone has a GPS we could aim for minor road/track routes? Otherwise maybe driving down into the eastern freestate and doing a circular route? Comments?

I am looking for anyone interested in doing unsupported tours either off road or road or a mixture of both in South Africa, preferably based in Gauteng. Basically what I envision is setting out from home or some not too distant start point and doing rides from about 4 days up to 2 weeks, either coming back to the start point or getting somewhere where public transport can be used to get back. Anyone interested?

Motorpacing is a perfectly legitimate and effective way to training for racing in a fast bunch...........best road would be a nice peace of freeway or tollroad and use a motorbike rather than a car.....................