X-post from the DnD mailing list: So, I finally managed to con my friends into doing a ride from my house. Why is that a con? Because then I can wake up later, don't need to pack the car, load the bike, etc etc! All for the cost of some coffee and biscuits! Sgt Skills had to drive to my house (something about going to a farm afterwards) whilst Jason and Adele live close enough that they rode to meet us. We had a 'before' cuppa, then set out for our ride. We looked so pro on our dual suspension bikes, me on the grey Commencal, Adele on my old Scott, Jason on his new (to me) grey Specialised Stumpjumper and Sgt Skills of course on his beautiful Orange Mongoose Teocali. Of course, leaving from home has its down side. My two geriatric Labradors were determined to try and come with! After much negotiating, I managed to get them on the house side of the gate and we set off. Well, needless to say my training programme went out the window as I chased this bunch of whippets! I was supposed to stay within 60-70% of max heart rate, but I was already pushing 80-90%! We climbed up and up and up to Rock Cottage, before bombing down past Wilgeheuwel and onto dirt again. Our route for the day was mostly dirt, even if it meant riding on the pavement! After crossing over towards Honeydew, we raced down some singletrack to a river crossing. I was very impressed that I crossed the river successfully, but couldn't gear down in time for the steep exit. Adele I think stepped off midstream, but I know we were both feeling (or should that read could not feel) that one of our feet was cold and wet! We meandered around the area between the river and the new complexes, saddened by the dumping and the constant march of 'development'. This development also forced us onto a new route, thank goodness Jason was there otherwise our ride may have become an out and back at the dead end! We crossed a concrete bridge and hit a technical uphill, when chainsuck forced me to dismount. Adele musta been following too close, and she not only dismounted, but did it with style!! I'm not allowed to share more information than that, on pain of, well pain! Jason led us in a merry dance where no-one knew where we were, until we popped out onto Peter road again and headed towards Ruimsig once more on a dirt road. Now those who had done Urban Assault were starting to feel like they had seen this before. We popped out onto singletrack again and headed down to the stadium. Remember how we were discussing that a downhill race can be held anywhere where the ground tilts downward and there is more than one rider? Well, I won the downhill race, but seeing as no-one else knew we were racing, the victory felt hollow!! :-D By now we were all running later than we had planned, so we turned towards home. We stayed one road away from Hendrik Potgieter and twisted our way along ancient footpaths (chuckle!) back to Weltevreden Park. I checked the time and informed Jason that he would be late for work and that we could find our way from here. ZOOM, he vanished into the distance. Man, I gotta stop riding with young whipper snappers! We (when I say we, I mean I!) crawled up the last hill before gratefully freewheeling home for coffee, hot chocolate and ginger biscuits! Roberto was very disappointed to find that I was unable to deliver on the promised ice cream privileges, I promise to owe you one Sgt Skills! Stats: I averaged at 85% of MHR and hit my highest recordded max heart rate on this ride (!) Distance: 32.3km Time: 2:14 Total ascent: 425m
