Trelawney

I did the one back in May and it was really good, did a loop around the Rust de Winter dam then off into the hills, some nice concrete strips to keep your heart rate up and lots of semi-technical downhill sections that even I could manage. Must check the diary, keen to do it !

Anyone keen on a van Gaalens ride this weekend ? Am a medium speed and medium technical rider, did my first social ride there last week in an attempt to start getting used to the trails before the Trailseeker event in 2 weeks time, keen for some more this weekend, let me know !

I know, utterly bizarre how small the world can be! So pleased to hear you're still brewing as well, more than I can say for my brewery, which by the way is tucked away at www.chezwallis.com/pensans/

Very cool ride this morning at vG's ... Thanks Swift01 & co. for being so welcoming :-)

Am keen to join, hopefully see you there. Am needing to practise some of those trails ahead of the Trailseeker so figure even if I get dropped off the back of a bunch you can at least point me in the right direction ! I have done a previous Trailseeker there so know the Church area, Jou Bliksem and the route back to the river where my ribs and some cartilage parted company

Thanks, have done so !

Hi, I'm a van Gaalens newbie of medium technical level, looking to ride there this Saturday morning. From reading this thread it looks like I could spend a lot of time re-routing myself so if there's anyone riding there from say 7.00 am this Saturday (24 Aug) who goes at medium pace and rides medium technical trails, let me know if I could join you ? I ride mostly around an average of 20 km/hr on a Nissan Trailseeker event so would not want to ride with people who finish in the top 40% of a Trailseeker because I would become a pain in the rear quite quickly ! But if you finish 50% and down then let me know, we might be reasonably well matched speed / strength wise. I am basically keen to get some experience in the area ahead of the next Trailseeker race on 14 Sept. In terms of my technical level, I have now managed in the past three months to train myself to be able to ride the ruins section at Rosemary Hill Farm in the Boschkop area so I can do that section from the house onwards, up and down without putting a foot down, took some practise but it's coming right, hopefully that gives some idea. I would be game for 60-70 km. Thanks, T.

How does it compare to the van Gaalens race ? That broke me 3 years back and it's taken me until this year to feel like re-entering !

A year back I had my front shock (Rock Shox) and rear shock (Fox Float) serviced by Tool Up Bike Shop at the Grey Owl Shopping Centre at Midstream (very close to the SA Mint off ramp of the N1), I dropped the bike off again yesterday for an annual service of them both, they really seem to know what they're doing and I'd suggest call them for advice : 012 661 1661 (ruan@tool-upcycles.co.za)

6 months back my 305 would not hold a charge. The local Garmin price was R1500 to replace the battery. I did some searching and found an article on how to do it yourself ... I eventually paid R100 on eBay and swopped the battery myself. So if you're not keen on spending a lot of money, click here: http://www.jimcarson.com/2009/replacing-the-battery-in-a-garmin-edge-305/

If you come through the N1 / N4 interchange I would estimate to allow 30 minutes from there to Cullinan if you keep to the speed limit along the way. So estimate your time to that interchange ?

The Mountain Bike Pils that Cockpit had at the end of the Curro College race was awesome, just 3% ABV, such a pleasure to finish an event and find 6 craft beers on tap !!

OK, got it: http://rosemaryhill.co.za/find-us/

Who / where would one pay on say a weekend to ride there ?

Which parts are accessible though ? For instance, the Section with the floating bridge ? the section with the wooden ramps ? That house section ? That awesome section after the house ? Anyone know ? I ride that area often but never those sections as I assume they are off limits.

Great event this morning, nowhere near as muddy as I'd been expecting. That single track tired me out though, you've got to concentrate so much more when there's such a high percentage of single track !

Ha ha, just checked 3 different weather apps, one has a large sun for Saturday, another shows heavy clouds, rain and lightning. Let's assume snow.

Ok, have entered the 50 km, not into mud wrestling though, hope the clouds stay zipped up for a while longer !

Apparently the same modus operandi as the one earlier this year I heard of, bakkie passes cyclist, pulls off, armed wally brain gets out, bikes loaded into bakkie and away they go.

Cyclist friend of mine told me last night that another bike jacking took place in the Boschkop area last weekend, anyone heard anything ?

Agree with all the rants on that last bottleneck, doesn't take a genius to see ahead of time that that wooded section could turn into one gigantic bottleneck, even assuming the bridge hadn't broken. I asked one of the couple hundred riders who took the tar road around it (3 minutes versus 25 minutes) and they said the organiser had told them to use the road. Will certainly screw up the seedlings with riders who were half an hour behind me with 3 km to go finishing along side me. Rest of course was really good, no idea where that wind comes from each year though !

Just wondering how you faired ?

Hi Tim, Any route profiles available ? T.

Buying a bike reminds me of buying my first digital camera. I studied the specs of loads of brands and models and then, having made my choice, never looked at all the specs of other models again, kind of make your bed and lie in it, it seems to matter most when you are about to buy and are undecided. So after some thought, I bought a Silverback Mercury 2 and have really enjoyed it. It's a 26 inch wheel machine. At one point I had a problem with the frame and Silverback checked it out and eventually replaced it for me, with a Mercury 1 frame. So I think I now ride a Mercury 1.5 or something ! I bounced for just over a hundred Kim's along dirt roads between NorthWest and Limpopo Provinces yesterday and we survived some seriously rutted roads together. Thing I eventually came to realise is that, unlike a camera where the whole machine stays as is for life, a bike is a frame plus parts, and over time, all those parts get replaced anyway. It's the frame that's with you for the life of the bike, and I'm happy with the current Mercury 1 frame. T.

Yeh, relocated, not extinguished !