River Rat

It's a pleasure now go back to the books!

True story, details thought out up Klapperkop and added for effect. No time at all for a fertile mind!

And with that goes all my dreams. How you doing JC?

I have been Mountain Biking for about three years having migrated from years of canoeing having suffered a bad back injury. Due to my injury and I guess my mental state I have avoided the competitive side of Mountain Biking, I have found myself taking enjoyment out of being able to ride more of the technical sections than most of the field ( I guess you could call this being competitive) but up until now I have not worried too much about my time or finishing position in a race. However, something changed on my ride on Saturday let me set the scene.. My son and I decided to do some training for the Sabie Experience and we rode early morning from my house to Groenkloof. The morning air was filled with fresh smells after the previous nights rain, the humus smell in the forest sections was particularly strong. The trails at Groenkloof are simply awesome after a bout of rain and we were really enjoying ourselves with the odd puddle or mud patch forcing us to change our lines from the normal, effectively creating what felt like a brand new route. When we reached Onion hill I was telling my son how it was a mere bump compared to Mamba switchbacks, I was extolling the virtues of a slow steady pace as it is well known that the Mamba strikes three times and then I saw him, my competitor... He was a about 50 meters ahead of us clearly at home in this environment, a sponsored athlete, sponsored by Shell nogal. He had a leopard skin motiff outfit ( not to be confused with the Cheetah that chased me at Klapperkop earlier this year). He was in great shape clearly eating more vegtables than protein not exactly lean but powerfully built, his leather beaten skin evidence of his many hours in the sun, this was his terrain he was the master I, was the intruder. Our eyes locked as he glanced backwards, his black eyes narrowed into slits, reptilian in appearance. With a curt nod of his head he laid down the challenge. "Go for it Dad, I'm on your six" yelled my son, I nodded back, challenge accepted. For those of you who don't know Onion hill it is about 1 km long and has a variable gradient of between 5 and 10% ( Mamba averages10%). We were about a third of the way up with my son lagging about 20m back I set off in pursuit, I knew that I had to be patient, if I set off to hard I might blow, game over. I set a steady pace but so did my competitor he had a steady rhythm, he knew what he was doing. The distance between us remained static I had to do something, I decided to change up a gear, the X0 gripshifts working a dream, smooth even under pressure. I could see the gap closing but I knew that I couldn't hold this pace all the way up the hill. My lungs were starting to com[plain, my legs burning but my mind was focussed. This was what I had been missing for the last 4 years, the competition, the heat of battle, win or lose I was back! A couple of 4x4 vehicles came up behind us but my son held them back and pointed towards our mortal combat, they held back, grins all over their faces as they decided to watch the spectacle unfold infront of them. I could almost sense the desperation in my competitor his backward glances were a dead give away. I knew I had him, all I had to do was maintain my pace, it was faster than his, but my legs... and suddenly I could feel my back. Ignore it I told myself, focus on the pace don't slack off. In an instant it was all over, my leathery skinned competitor suddenly veered off to rest in the shade of a thorn tree. I stopped to check if he was okay, I mean a win is a win but what is a contest without a competitor. He seemed fine, a bit embarrassed and withdrawn, in his shell so to speak. I could understand his pain, afterall if you compete it's about winning there is no other option. My son and I continued on our journey the 4x4's stopped to check on my competitor clearly this was something unique for them too. We stopped at the kiosk on our way out and chatted to the rangers who told us that this guy and his team mates are often spotted in the area especially on the wet trails, they seem to come out and train after the rain. They gave me his name, Stigmochelys Pardalis, must be a foreigner training for the Epic, maybe a Czech who knows. Anyway, do you guys think that this little episode justifies my signing up for Strava?

At least we have some straight talking from someone within the organisation. Let's just hope that the rest of CSA take note and do something about it or am I living in a dreamworld?

Yoh! And that's how spamming can backfire on you.

If any of you are having technical problems en route try and limp your way to Heartbreak hill where DCD have equipped a small technical assistance area with tubes and kit kindly provided by Summit Cycles. Otherwise just say Hi as you amble past.

This sounds like someone's ex boyfriend!!

Now that's sounds like something I just have to do. Will definitely target the next event.

Okay so it's not about the bike, it's about the kit!

Thanks, never know who you meet on the interweb.

Where about's that?

Why do I hear the verses of Tennyson's the charge of the light brigade tempering my ego here? "Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. "Forward, the Light Brigade! "Charge for the guns!" he said: Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred."

I am thinking about giving this Enduro thing a go but I am not sure of the skill level required. Can somebody give me a frame of reference for example I could ride all the downhill sections on Hakahana marathon route. Is this good enough or am not even close to Enduro level?

Yoh boet! Here I was thinking that a great response would have been " our trails at Hakahana are a work in progress and we shall do all that we can to improve" but you decide to attack your customers. So one can only assume that you have greatest faith in your product, so much so, that the theory that 1 bad piece of feedback can be multiplied by 10 does not bother you. Now before you try and attack me I actually enjoyed the challenge that your race presented to us yesterday. But will I visit your venue in the future outside of a race? Well I consider the entire experience important which includes the attitude of the proprietor not just the trails. So you might want to get a little humility. If you can't find any don't worry it finds all of us just have to have the intelligence to recognise it when it finds you.

What are the race distances?

So PJ do I see you on the marathon or are you doing the half?

Man I'm so disappointed that I'm going to miss this years race due to work commitments. Really going miss those bush tunnels! For the lucky ones doing the race race enjoy, for the noobs your technical riding will never be the same again after three days you will be on a new level.

What a boytjie!

I have been thinking about this for some time now and I am convinced that something has to be done otherwise we could find that our access to trails will be restricted in time. However, a simple name and shame could be open to a abuse which in turn could discredit the process and what we're trying to achieve. I think a complaint to the race organizer is the way to go and if they receive more than one complaint a race ban should considered for the culprit. I am also in support of addressing the issue directly with the individual but we must recognize that this may not work all the time. Another suggestion is for the race officials to appoint riders (volunteers) that they trust to act as race marshalls on the day and to give their word more credence in terms of sanctioning the offenders.

In for the 2 day!

It was on the half marathon and reading this I"m sort of regretting not doing the marathon, sort of....

Normally, I finish in the last 20% of the field, I am fit but not fast but I have one thing that I do relatively well which is when the going gets technical I am in my element. Will I beat a very good technical rider? No, but yesterday I beat 60% of the field which really shows how tough the course was. What I could observe from my batch which, was C by the way, was that many of the riders encountered this sort of terrain for the first time and they were clueless. Body position on the bike was way too far forward, no momentum, hesitation instead of attack, head position looking where they should not be going They fell, they got up, they complained, they laughed and some even cried but you know what they finished and they learned. My own race was also not flawless I had a little off when I tried to get onto the single track adjacent to the railway line. Thinking that I had spotted a gap in the disused railway way line I tried to bunny hop to the left but hidden in the grass was a length of railway line which caught my rear wheel and it slid out causing me to take tumble in front of a young rider from Affies fixing a puncture. With a huge grin on his face he asked "is Oom owraait?" Having seen this same youngster as well as some of his school mates eating dirt earlier I responded by saying "wat lag jy, julle Affies manne is manne is meer affie bike as oppie bike". We both had chuckle and got on with the ride. What impressed me most about yesterday's ride was the shear courage displayed by some of the female riders, the number I saw taking big falls was scary, but I did not see one giving up and that's what makes heroes in my book, well done to all of you! To be fair yesterday's conditions suited my skill set but I know that for the rest of the year I am going to get my butt kicked so if you see me walking around with a grin on face this week be happy for me, because it won't last!

I would suggest that you adjust the derailleur cable tension either tighten or loosen it.

Riaan the worst of it is that I trying to recall about 10 seconds of my life. What I do remember is that it raised it's head above the bush at the edge of the jeep track as we we were coming around a curve. It defintely slunk off by first lowering it's head as it moved and then seemed to melt into the undergrowth. You are right in that I fully expected it to come out of the bush for a peek at us but it just disappeared. Only observed one print but then again I did not really track it thinking that it was a dog. Who knows what it was? Do you want the coords .