Welcome to the first ride report for 2011, very late but hopefully well worth the read. Hope you all have a fantastic year ahead with tons of happy MTBing moments and AR stories to tell! I think this might have even been my 1st Intro ride after about 4 months riding with the awesome DnD crew. It had been raining for the couple days leading up to the 6th January, so many were worried at how muddy the trails would be or if we were going to get rained on. What a fantastic night, quite warm even after all the rain, slightly overcast but the rains had held back and not spoiled the start. The evening was still quite bright with sunset only happening after 19:00. The biggest group I’ve ever done this ride with, a total of 18 with a guesstimate at 6-8 newbies, welcome to the new DnD riders & the guys and gals from Assitport Adventure Racing. The regular briefing to our social ride was given by Oupa Gert and Francois was going to do the sweeping this fine evening. I chose to ride at the back with Francois as there was a newbie Katharine who was definitely a tad nervous being her 1st night ride. Off along the regular route towards XTC Park, I haven’t learnt all the trail names yet and my 1st time to XTC park. The part was a little swampy with the previous days rains but still fun to ride. We did the drop off a couple times doing a loop around the park until it came time to ride UP the drop off. I’d seen a couple guys go up before and while some others chose the easier chicken run up the gentle slope, I was keen for a challenge and headed for the drop off. This is where I earned the honour of writing my 1st ride report J Sloshing thru the swamp towards the drop off, I failed to make it all the way up and lay my steed down gently after unclipping, this was followed by *screams* of “Ride Report!!!”. We continued out of XTC park were we hit a bit of tar towards the Wash & Go. Thru the drop off and along the railway lines. This section was filled with huge puddles of mud and a couple slippery sections. Just off the dirt, or rather mud, we were back on tar to head up to Python (1 of my favourite single tracks!). Along the road, we were met by a quick flowing stream crossing the road where all the mud you’d collected was quickly washed off by the ankle height water. All I recall was 1 of the Assitport ladies really keen to get back for Pizza….Erm wonder who that was Up to Python and what I’d class as our 1st speed zone for the night, not sure who took honours but I’m sure the newbies loved this as much as I do! Along the jeep track we twaddled, I was chatting to a couple regulars I’ve grown to know where we rode parallel to the R21. Another fence at the end meant we had to pass our bikes over the fence or barrier before riding to the top of Shebeen Queen. Couple of us stopped to put a bit of air into a flattish wheel of 1 of the newbies and then off once again down past the Shebeen, great fun along a wide road with a dash of speed! A bit more tar headed towards home is where we started to feel the droplets that had held off most the night. Back into the dirt we headed with the rain starting to put a damper on things. On the dirt track home, we had the pleasure of climbing RUSH (Ride Until Something Happens), it’s become really knarly from the rains before and a challenging climb to most. Thru the final bit of bush and back to the Irene Mall. All home safely, an eventful night but that’s what made it truly enjoyable! See you all on the next ride
