bradjackson

Gonna be at Holla Trails tomorrow (Wed the 23rd) at 08:00. I plan on first riding one of the short, easy routes as I will be taking my father-in-law along who is a total newbie. Any recommendations on which of the Holla routes will be a very easy, but enjoyable ride? After the easy ride I would like to do one of the more challenging routes. Will probably start around 09:00. Any Hubbers interested in joining me? I will be riding a red & black GT Marathon, just look out for me. bradjackson2009-12-22 13:34:13

OK, hopefully there are some other Hubbers in the area who will join me. Got the bike rack sorted thanks. In the end I just used an old one my dad had lying around, I just had to make a new bracket for fitting it onto my bakkie. Works great - got me from PE to Durban carrying 2 bikes without any hassles.

Anyone in the area interested in joining me for a ride at Holla Trails on Wednesday or Thursday? I thought of going in the morning, but I see there's a late afternoon ride there on Thursdays at 16:00 Anyone know if there will still be a ride this Thursday, with it being Christmas Eve? bradjackson2009-12-21 07:40:59

Ja, this is a little bit of an irritation, although you learn to flip through the modes so quickly you hardly notice the split second while cycling through off. I am still not sure what is the best way to control the modes on a bike light. You want to keep its operation as simple as possible. I don't like having to hold a button in, as this is really a mission on bumpy terrain. Maybe 2 buttons would be ideal - 1 for brighter and 1 for dimmer? How do you do it on your DIY rig ML? I have had ideas of using a Magicshine light as a platform for some DIY modding - not because it needs any modifications, but more out of interest (I am a DIY kind of guy), I am waiting for one to fail so that I can strip it and do some DIYing, but these things are so good, I haven't had a failed light yet!

Sorry man, if I was gonna be in town during that time I would definitely arrange a few group rides. You can check out the Fat Tracks MTB Club web site and put yourself on our Outrides mailing list. Hopefully some of the other PE MTBers will be riding and making use of the mailing list to post when they go riding. http://www.fattracks.co.za bradjackson2009-12-14 09:14:42

If you're in PE, don't under-estimate the Baakens Valley which runs right through the centre of the city for some nice, easily accessible MTB riding. Here's one of my rides there, but there are loads of intersecting trails you can follow: http://gpsed.com/track/13023110697743727 Your best bet is to pop into Cyclo Pro on the William Moffet Expressway & chat to Rob or Julie. The trails run right past the shop, so they will be able to point you in the right direction. When I am back in PE on the 27th I will be riding there most days, so let me know if anyone is keen to join me for a ride - especially a night ride!! If you don't have a light, let me know, I should be able to hook you up with a set of Magiclights to use.

We've started something here in PE which I think is gonna work. There's always people wanting to ride but its just not wise to ride alone. So we (Fat Tracks - our local club) have setup a mailing list which anyone can join via the website. Whenever anyone on the list wants to organize an informal group ride, they just send an email to the group and it hits everyones mailbox. This suits me a lot better than having a weekly ride at a fixed time. You can just join the ride whenever it suits you. We are doing frequent night rides as well as early morning rides and its a good way to meet new MTBers & introduce them to the local trails.

Why don't you guys ride with pepper spray? I know its no match for a gun, but okes with knives, I reckon it will at least incapacitate them enough for you to get away unharmed. I have a can of the direct-jet pepper spray. I have never used it and hope it works well enough if I ever have to. At least it offers some form of defense.

Hey Borriz Any chance of sharing some pics or designs of your bike rack? I am looking at making one for my Hilux. Mine's a double cab though, with a canopy. Would your design work on this setup?

Thanks I'll actually be staying at Zimbali, near Ballito. Just had a look at Holla trails website - looks good, and its nearby. If you guys organise any group rides over this period, post them here. It'd be good to hook up with some of you KZN Hubbers for a ride.

I will be in Durban from the 17th to the 27th December. I would like to do a mountain bike ride or 2 while there. Where/when do you guys ride? Are there any races or events taking place? How about night rides?

Thanks for all the responses guys... I think I have made up my mind. I have been reading up quite a lot about this bike & checked out some Youtube videos about I-Drive in particular. Pretty impressive. My test ride was on a singletrack, cross country type of course. Tomorrow I intend to take it out for a long marathon-type ride and see how it feels.

I am considering buying a GT Marathon Expert 2009 (carbon). I can get it for a good price. I would like to hear from other Hubbers who have experience with this bike. Are you happy with it? What sort of riding do you find it best suited to? Any other advice? I will be doing a fair mix of Cross Country & Marathon riding. I took it for a short test ride on a fairly technical trail the other day and it felt pretty good. bradjackson2009-11-24 05:15:19

Do your homework and make your own comparisons, but you can't go wrong with the Magicshine bike light. Its affordable (R1 400) Very bright (+/- 700 Lumens) Lightweight (650g) And has excellent battery runtimes (3hrs on high mode & 5 hrs on low). It mounts directly onto your handlebars but also includes a helmet mount bracket, so you can run it in either setup. For the ultimate combination, run one on the bars, and one on the helmet. More info here: www.magiclight.co.za bradjackson2009-11-17 07:11:45

Went for ride on Sunday night, just in the Baakens valley and saw a buck (I think it was a bushbuck) - it was about 500m from the Elliot centre!! He froze for a few seconds in the path in front of me as my lights shone on him, and then ran off when I was only a few metres away. I caught it on video, but you've really got to look hard to see it. Actually I just noticed when viewing the video closely, there were 2 buck there. You can see another one on the left of the frame for a fraction of a second. I only noticed the one when I was out riding. Thanks to Schwynn for the mini-DV camera which I used to record this. That little thing is awesome. Obviously much better suited to daytime recording than night time, but for its size and price, I think it did a great job.

Nice pic Cycle Fan You often have the pleasure of seeing whales / dolphins playing in the waves around there too. You gotta love PE!!!

That Site looks promising. And its good that its local. At the moment I use an app on my cell phone called GPSed It uploads my rides in real-time to the gpsed.com server and saves them online. Here's one of my rides: http://gpsed.com/track/13023113584431231 You can also download the saved tracks in .gpx format which can be uploaded to your Garmin via Mapsource. I have a few rides on there, mostly in the PE area though.

Try the Eastern Cape Mountain Biking website He has a bunch of GPS resources including routes which can be downloaded. http://www.ecmtb.co.za/index.php?page_name=page&menu_id=9 bradjackson2009-11-09 23:20:38

hehe, I love this... Gonna print it to show my girls as motivation. They are 2 & 4 years.

Many years back... I was lying in 1st position in the Knysna Cycle Tour (MTB). Broke my chain at the top of the last downhill into town. It had been a very muddy course which had obviously taken its tole on the bike. As I shifted into the big ring for the downhill, the chain just gave in. I managed to freewheel down to the bottom of the hill without losing a place, but then.. those last few K's along the flat road into town I got passed by several riders while I limped along. I had to freewheel with one foot clipped in while using the other to push on the ground. Very frustrating and probably my most disappointing racing experience ever. I ended up in 8th place if my memory serves.