BenReaper

Hi DJR, those are VP pedals, not sure who the importers/agents are, but I know my LBS stock them. Let me know if you want there details.

Went out for a road ride this morning. From Worcester I set out on ths R43 towards Wolseley, turned left up Bainskloof Pass, snapped a few pics at the top and went back down the way I came. On the way back to Worcester I turned of the R43 and rode through the beautifull Slanghoek Valley to try and dodge the wind, to no avail. Stopped of in Rawsonville for some refreshments and continued on home. Was my first time up Bainskloof on the bike and what an experience it turned out to be. You see a lot of stuff on the bike that you don't see when driving in a car.

With a million upgrades pending the turn finally came around for a upgrade in the shoe department.

Congrats NSBB, you should've gotten a tandem and taken the missus out for a romantic ride. [emoji6]

I had some fun riding on the beach between Pearly Beach and Uilkraal on the first of January. The fun however did not last long and this turned into a k@k idea when the wet sand started sticking like fleas and I had to do alot of pushing over the dunes towards the end. Atleast it started out fun... ... I should probably ad that this was on my trusty die hard XTC wich unfortunately didn't make it into the pictures, but I swear it was there.......

Personally I feel that the slacker trail geometry of the previous and new models of Tallboy are more suitable for probably 80% of South African mtb'ers. But as everyone knows we are a marathon obsessed nation and everybody thinks they are a 'sharper' , 'racier' Christoph Sauser Specializes S-Works type rider whereas we are actually more like the 'slacker', 'more relaxed' John Smith Santa Cruz Tallboy type riders. But maybe thats just me......

Haven't been on the bike this week on account of man-flu. But did a nice road ride with an old colleague and riding buddy from Worcester to Ceres and back on Sunday. I just love the beauty of the mountains around here.

Yesterday evening when I came home from work my little guy wanted some attention, he asked me if I wanted to either swim or play Playstation? I suggested 'cycling? ' and his eyes lit up. ☺

Didn't get round to riding much this week, but on Thursday I finally finished building over the parts from my roadbike onto a new frame. Dropped about half a kg on the frame alone, so although this bike is still heavy by road standards its already faster than it was before. Next upgrade will be groupset, but for now I'll just 'ride upgrades'.

Argh, not again! As mentioned above congrats random guy on winning the competition and becoming the new owner off that stunning new Scott Spark. I guess that means that the rest of us are all losers! [emoji33] I am through with entering these competitions! I cant handle the disappointment anymore! I will have to drink myself to sleep again tonight! [emoji6]

I did contemplate taking a dip in the pool at the bottom , but there were people on the dam wall looking down at me when I got there, and I don't think they'd have appreciated me doing a bit of skinny dipping. [emoji6]

Well I'm truly jealous of the great Sunday Funday everybody else had.... On account of family obligations I could only manage to go riding at 13:30 on Sunday afternoon, wanted to get some distance in the legs, and pointed my bike towards Stettyn Dam. By this time it was extremely hot and windy and I suffered tremendously, first in the wind on the flats and then in the heat on the climbs towards the dam. Ran out of water, but luckely there are a few mountain streams coming down with crystal clear cool water that I could fill my bottels with. Stopped at the foot of the dam wall for the first time to check out this spray of water. This is always flowing, what for I have no idea. Seriously contemplated a quick cool down shower. Made my way up the last climb to the dam wall, many people only ride to the foot of the dam wall and then turn around, I feel you cant say you've been to the dam unless you've actually seen this view. #sufferfestsunday

Started building over my roadbike onto a new(second hand) lighter frame this morning , but hit a snag when the front derailleur wouldn't fit over. So ended up heading out on my pre planned road ride with a colleague on my MTB.

Now thats interesting, do Giant do this frame in Aluminum or Carbon? I have to do a warranty on my current Alu XTC frame as it has started to develop a small crack and I wonder If I could get it swopped for one of these.

Tuesday was supposed to be a repetition of Monday and it started out very well. Began my ride with the big climb to the "Windpompie". On the descent down, only about 12km in, disaster struck as I got a sidewall cut. Spare tube was a bust and I had to hike-a-bike about 3km to cell reception to phone the missus to come pick me up. Was so disappointing I hadn't gone for a ride again this week. Still pissed off, rather gonna give the roadie a go over the weekend.

This past Monday I had one hell of a fun ride,I planned a laid back 20km ride, but ended up doing 35km. It didn't feel fast, but ended up klapping quite a few Strava KOM's

Damn thats one good looking bike! ????????

My third and longest ride/'photo session '.

Have been kept busy with work for the last couple of weeks, but managed to sneak in a few rides. Spent some time in Grabouw last week and did a few short rides, beautifull trails and scenery there. First ride. Second ride.

Does this mean I have to start listening to Techno music if I want to be fast! [emoji185]

There's a pair of these in black at my Lbs, also for a very good price, but it just ain't exactly my style.

Only saw your post now, how do you like my new saddle............ Saw it at my LBS and even though the orange doesn't suit my bikes color scheme at al it draw my attention and I just had to have it!

I ventured over Du Toitskloof Mountain yesterday and and made my way to Jonkershoek outside Stellenbosch. Had a blast of a day in the reserve, did two trails in total, Bennetts Red and Firehut. I have only been riding for 3 years now and haven't been on too many of the trails around the Western Cape, but from where I've ridden Jonkershoek always remains my first choice to visit outside my valley. You do lots of climbing to get to the trail heads, but with surroundings like this it really ain't all that bad. Crossed a stream with a small waterfall and tried my hand at some creative photography,well as creative as you can be with a 8mp camera phone. When you finally get to the top you are greeted with this spectacular view before you bomb down one of the trails all the way to the bottom of the valley again. At the opposite side of the valley I climbed up to the Firehut trail head and took a selfie to make few fellow hubbers jealous.

08:23 in what decade looks like a pic from the 1950's.[emoji48]

Bike rides have been few and far between lately. Here's some pics from my only ride so far this week.