Honkdonk

And this is why I am no fan of the Spruit. I have riden it a few times, but its too congested by all and sundry -MTBers, Folk out for a walk, foilk out with their dogs on a casual stroll, trail runners, family outings etc. For me, I prefer a bit more less a manic place to ride. One that is of the 'get on bike, ride, no worries kind of place'. Not a 'get on bike, watch out for runners, dogs, old fogies, oncoming traffic, zionists'. The rules of supply and demand are in effect here. Too much demand and not enough supply for an inner city facility that offers everything to everyone without upsetting the balance. I would say, that as the fastest moving object on the trail,the bicycle and its rider need to be the most aware and courteous of the lot. Give way, slow down and make yourself known. Not much fun in that is there.. Dogs off a leash is another issue that needs to be dealt with by the authorities (this may take a while). Dont confuse the two. The next step would be to demarcate certain areas for riding and others for walking etc. And charge for it..

Correct. But there no hard and fast rules there. Do that bit, then down through the field, through the woody single track, down to fish eagle dam, turn left, floow jeep track, then a left up through the field and join the single track where you would have turned left instead of right at the very beginning

I got the cross trails. Super cool, fairly light, nice and strong, look the busines and not to much of this KRRRRRR noise nonsense like a Hope or Chris King

It is a fairly new bit of trail. When you come up towards Interval Hill and have the choice of either going up it or turning right, say you turn right, it is at the next turn into single track where you can either go left or in this case go right. it takes you through the woods and round the bottom end of that field before you go in to the single track through the woods just above fish eagle lake. Hoep that helps

Make sure you have good legs. Once you cross over the N2 and head into the sugarcane and banana plantations there are some serious hills! Was down there last week staying at the Pumula and got a few rides in with the GM of the hotel. He knows the area really well. Anyone who rides out in those hills a few times a week will grow beeeg muscles. The locals are really chilled so its pretty safe as well as well damn pretty. Try the LBS in Sheppies - not sure of the name

Get hold of Anton at Summit Cycles. They are in that small centre just off Whisken at the fourway stop opposite Papachinos. Or send him a PM here - he goes under the guise of Dangle.

Ok, another CL bashing I have seen a few of these threads over the years and held out from making any comment. One day CL, next day this LBS, day after its another LBS and so on and so on. Folk always like to take shots at the largest in any industry. Its how we are and its easy to do so. I know this from personal experiance in the company I work for. We do great work most days and have a good customer return rate, and then we have days where by we suck giant eggs and the clients put us in their sights and take pot shots and its a refund here, a grovel there etc. And quite frankly if you make a mess of things you deserve it. The service industry in this country for sure could learn a few lessons. No one is perfect all the time and if we only we could clone employee of the month. We are all entitled to an opinion and expect high levels of service whether we are just browsing or itching to drop 50k on a new carbon what what with the lastest flash flash dripping with best whats it. My own personal experiance was nothing of exceptional with CL Fourways. Great advice from Andrew and Nic, awesome follow up. Very quick and constant on email. Got a great deal and the follow up via sms and emails adds a nice touch. It was a fairly lenghty process that involved going around to just about every LBS in the north of Jhb, I took my time in deciding. I am on the mailing list for the MTB club rides. I dont even belong to the club. Its that little bit extra that makes it all worthwhile. They may be a premium brand and so is the company that I work for. but you pay for what you get. However do the research and spend wisely, I tell my clients the same thing

To my knowlegde the XT chain is Nickle plated and wont rust, SLX is not and if you leave it dripping after a scrub in the coming winter sun while you suip a cold one, you will see traces of oxidisation on it, but it is not the end of the world. Wire brush solves all.

Hills! Love em or hate em, they are part and parcel of the jol Find that comfy gear, get into that routine, get comfy and go. I find daydreaming helps - and I do that a lot when grinding up the hill. Get your breathing right - its part of that rhythm. I learnt to breathe right during my running days years ago. I also do regular core strenght exercises - do a search on one called 'The Plank' and the occasional 10/12k run. I also only ride once a week with a few early morning spin sessions thrown in, with family, work, lenghty drives to work and back thrown in for good measure I have the Magalies Monster looming in 8 weeks and there is a futhermucker of a climb involved there. Need to do a lot more in the coming weeks to enjoy, never mind finish it.

Ha ha! Hopefully not in a public place?

Ok, so who clicked on the link?

Honkdonk says: The new Shout video is cool! Honkdonk says: I am looking forward to following the Cape Epic (online) in 8 days time Honkdonk says: The rain in Jhb has moved my kids school camp out to mid week next week, how dof! Honkdonk says: Its Friday, and I am bored, so its time to vokof home

Thats Honkdonk, thanks. Haa Hee Doing the spruit from Emmerentia and the main road loop back to the spruit is easy 100km +.

I guess you take the Spruit trail all the way to the bridge over Witkoppen in Paulshof, hook a left, up over Cambridge and carry on to the intersection of Main (where the robo's are forever out causing untold grief for al motorists), hook a right and move over to the left hand side of the road, join the path through the foresty bit, charge down past Lonehill, over the Jukskei, just after the bridge find the trail that goes up the other side through the woods, avoiding all the rubble and Zionists. Pop out at the top and follow the trail all the way to the T Junction of the R55. If you feeling adventurous kap a left into the plots and explore Glenferness, Inanda Country base, Running free and Riversands Farm. Be careful of going to far North as there are nasty people hiding in the long grass who will spoil your fun, Once back on the track, gooi a right on the R55 and head up towards Kyalami. Cross over the road and charge down the path past Kyamai Estates. Cross over Allandale and head down to the Jukskei for another bridge crossing and carry on up towards Woodmead, alternatively you could hook a left onto Alandale and do a short loop through Waterfall and join up again with the R55 to add another few clicks on. On approach to Woodmead kap a right onto Maxwell, past Megawatt park and then down the extension of Maxwell towards Chilli lane. Jump on the trail behind Chilli Lane and head on back and you have a monster of a urban safari route!

Make a mark on your tyre sidewall with a piece of chalk, use the valve position as a starting point. Position your wheel with the valve/chalk mark on the floor. Make a mark on the floor that lines up with the chalk mark on your tyre. Roll your wheel along the floor one complete revolution in a straight line and make a mark on the floor at this point. Measure the distance between the 2 marks with a tape measure. Make sure that you use metric measurements and not imperial. That is your wheel size setting

I have entered. Last did it 3 years ago and the cable for my front der snapped just after the bridge under the highway. Was my quickest race ever! What to expect? Normal NF trails - good thing I know them intimately, a bit of bottlenecking and congestion TIP - All water crossings with the exception of Fish Eagle dam are extremly slippery! You will fall.

Ah, Northern Farm. I have a love/hate relationship with it. Its safe to ride and all offroad, but i get bored after a while (6 weeks on the trot) and would enjoy a bit more of a challenge technically. Nice facilities - Hey Brew and good visible security. Enjoyed seeing the Hippo and fish eagles yesterday I've also managed to work out a good 70k trail. I found no issues with my RP23. It may come down to suspension design. I have a floating rear shock.

I saw another 'guy' in the CL fourways shop buying a rather expensive 29er 2 weeks ago. Might be the same chap who was going for his morning ride along Hornbill in peak traffic with a X5 blue light chaperone the other day The advice might have come from above and i can only encourage it.

Ha. I just got an updated SMS with a better result which is closer to what my onboard measured I smell a gremlin. Could be why thge delay in getting the results published.

Mine was also 15 or so mins out. Also riding Solo Sunday

new tyres and all

Looking forward to it!

Not lekker Anton. Glad you ok

Updates on Jan snr: After a weekend of being in ICU this is the update: 1. He is still on the adrenalin and morphine 2. He is still receiving blood 3. he is still in an induced coma. 4. The cat scan this morning has not revealed anything new, so no changes, but no improvements, which is a concern. 5. He is still not breathing on his own either 6. The gash on his leg has turned into a major cut, running from the knee to the bum. It is deep. Things are bit unclear but I think the Dr’s are waiting for his heart and lungs to kick in and do their own thing, that is why he is still on the adrenalin and in an induced coma!!! The story that is coming out about the accident is worse than initially thought. A jogger stopped at the accident and so did two black men who saw the whole thing happen. The jogger ran to a garage in Sunninghill, Rog knows the owner and is trying to piece it all together. The jogger and the owner then drove to Jan, then the owner of the garage drove back to the garage and phoned the hospital. The two black men stayed with Jan while this was all happening. The driver of the bakkie that hit Jan apparently was walking around doing nothing, in a total daze!!!

Not so super keen on the highly technical stuff - black routes etc. But love the open trail and single tracks. I guess if really comes down to it, the fact that I can ride just about anywhere, on any road and take any path in any direction I choose