DJR

They'v also renamed "the seat of power" Loothuli House.

If thos ANCs can cancel out the ANC I want a pair pleeeeeaaaase!

Winter is here

The same idiots who thought they could run (Sorry, that should read STEAL) Eskom,

And just like an addict trying to quit smoking, I cannot stop trying more very frustrating watercolours.

I have been good at drawing and painting regularly (despite life returning to normal post Covid). But I have been bad at posting stuff. Here's one I did last week of our stoep in the Karoo. It really is the heart of the home.

And then you have the little town of Rhodes, with an old world hotel, pub, restaurant of two, friendly laid back locals and only sometimes internet. Just GO!

Further downstream, on the Lower Bell at Glass Nevin, the river is more pastural, peaceful, with lovely wild rainbows ranging in size from cocky little ****s to mean bruiser monsters.

Naudes Nek Pass, don't try it in a platkar (and take a full suspension mtb and some lung capacity) or you will leave some plastic pieces on the mountain. To show the spectacular Maluti scenery where the high altitude, Alpine like, streams are.

Firstly, this is all cycling related - because the area around the very quaint little hamlet of Rhodes in the Southern Drakensberg in the Eastern Cape, IS a premier mountain bike area (especially for altitude training and lung busting with the higher routes going up to 3000m above sea level.) But that's not what I did there last week, I was there for flyfishing a little slice of the over 200km of wild trout mountain streams. It was fantastic and highly recommended. Yes, take your bike too, you never know when the weather makes cycling a better choice than fishing. Lovely cockfish that came out of a pool the size of a jacuzzi at Tenahead, on the Upper Bell, where it is only a tiny little stream.

So. after a couple of difficult outings, even one blank day, arrived April Fools Day! And I had a stunner of a day on the Smalblaar, a.k.a the Prince of Streams. I caught and released enough rainbows to give me plenty of chances to play a little with the camera.

If you pick a lullaby you are doomed! Admittedly, it is the best lullaby EVER, but still a lullaby. 😜 Much better Metallica songs for ripping someones head off. 😃

I agree, that stretch has been a disaster for a long time. You won't catch me dead on that part, even with a small group. Sies, City of Cape Town! You let a jewel rot under your noses!

👍❤️👍❤️

What justifies replacing a helmet? 1. Money burning a hole in your pocket 2. A better looking one on the bike-shop shelves 3. A new colour bike to match 4. New cycling kit to match 5. A lighter one 6. Sommer just 7. You haven't spent any money on cycling for a while 8. Your birthday 9. It smells and you don't want to shower with it 10. You had a proper crash, it is cracked and look like the dog chewed it I can go on and on, but 10 commandments are enough!

I've also got something like that. Years ago I walked into the farrier shop in Noordhoek Village to buy a dog collar because I knew they always have some really exquisite leather ones. The woman behind the counter gave my cycling clothes a curious look (I thought) and then gave me the two refective bracelets that they keep (for horses) as a gift and wished me safe cycling. Now, all you naughty people, please don't speculate as to why she thought I needed something meant for a horse!

By all means hang it somewhere good, but ride it every so often. Best is to take it out when your mates are all riding their plastic wonders and then not just keep up with them, but make them hurt for the privilege to hang with royalty! (You did see my tongue somewhat in my cheek for the last part, didn't you?)

Sometimes, just once in a very blue decade, brown trout becomes easy. Usually skittish as all hell compared to rainbows, especially in wild, small, high mountain streams. They are just sooooo pretty and there are so few places in SA where there are real wild selfsustaining populations. These were a bit darker than usual because they come out of a dark whiskey coloured stream. They were not yet in their spawning clours which bring out some red spots. My wife says it was because it was my birthday and she arranged for the brownies to oblige........love my wife, even though I think that is a very tall fishy story. (Cederberg)

Plus: Deale & Huth is a real piece of SA cycling history. Yes, keep it, clean it up, service/rebuild it front to back, but keep it original. Edit: And ride it every now and then!

Heard of the ultimate training plan recently.......guy said he goes riding whenever the electricity goes off ........ he'snever been as fit as right now 😃

Just want to add here how chuffed I am with Chris Jooste and his win. He has worked very hard from very young and deserve this for sure. I have known him since he was a little chap in Prince Albert where we both grew up. (His father and I competed as kids.) As a schoolboy, and for a couple of years after that, Chris used to be my own fathers' (the senior DJR before his passing) occasional training buddy. The old man was then in his mid seventies and Chris was of course waaaaaaay faster. The unlikely pair rode together on Chris' recovery days and sometimes hill repeats. One for the senior DJR and multiples for Chris, I suppose ! He rode his first CTCT as a 12 year old and if I remember right, he won every age group until he was 18 and turned professional. Their riding together came to an end when Chris joined his first professional team. He is a climber and the CTCT is not the kind of race that would normally have a winner like him. But then, he has always been at least as tough as a Jack Russel Terrier with a never say die attitude. It certainly worked out for him this past Sunday. I'm pretty sure my Old Man watched Sundays race and cheered at least as loud as he used to cheer for Proooooovince!

It's Cape Town, you'll have autumn, winter, spring and summer before the electricity comes on again.

Beattbox, can we PLEASE go do this in stead of riding the Cycle Tour? 🤪

Cool single engined asymmetrical tail jet that one. 😁

Shikes, your post caused a sudden and severe outbreak of green on the Bikehub.