JMBC Dam2Dam-Extreme Ride 100Km

[JMBC]

JMBC will be holding its annual Dam2Dam ride from Emmarentia to Hartbeespoort Dam on Saturday 23rd December 2017. It is a Saturday this year and just before Christmas, making it easier for all those who work during the week between Christmas and New Year to ride this awesome event. Your logistic support should be easier to organise as well. This is a long ride (100km) which is not for beginners and you will be required to register to participate. Get your name in early (by sending Kelly an email indicating which ride group you would like to participate in), we will cap the groups at 20 or so a ride group and will be publicising this ride for non-JMBC members as well. If you are going to deliberately bail at Maggies or Nikita or start from Paulshof or some other point on the route, please notify Kelly for security reasons. We don't want very small groups to become targets.


OUR NEXT EXTREME RIDE
Dam2Dam
23 Dec 2017
Ride groups: Red & Blue
Ratings: Technical: 7/10 Hills: 9/10 Distance: 80-100km
Starting From: Emmarentia or Paulshof
Starting Time: 04:45 for 05:00


Technicals in Detail:
Distance: About 100 km for the blue and red groups and 80km for those starting from Paulshof
Starting From: Emmarentia Dam Car Park (red and blue groups) or
Cambridge Crossing Shopping Centre across from Fritz Pienaar Cycles, Paulshof (cheating red/blue riders)
Start time: 04h45 for 05h00 (Emmarentia)
05h30 for 06h00 (Paulshof)
Duration of Ride: All approximate durations include the stops but no time for mechanicals/accidents
Blue group - 7 hours
Red group - 8 hours
Ride Category: A SERIOUS RIDE
Ride Groups: Blue and red only
Technical Rating: 7/10
Hill Rating: 9/10 (Mystic Dolphin area)

Ride Description: For those of you left in JHB, and can ride at a min average of +12km an hour off road, then this is your pre-Christmas ride of note. JMBC Blue leaders (16km/hr plus) and red group leaders (14km/hr plus) will take 2 groups from Emmarentia Dam to Hartbeespoort Dam. It's a great ride but very long and tough in the middle. There will be stopping points along the way (Maggies Farm [The Home of the Chicken Pie] - Lanseria), Nikita Pub and Grill (Broederstroom) and then the end @ Yasmyn's in Meerhof Hartbeespoort (Big Dutch Windmill). The route has small sections of tar but we have kept these to a minimum (about 10km of the 100km).


The ride will take 6 to 9 hours. You need to be well prepared for this ride. It can be viciously hot in the valleys from midday (recorded 40 deg in 2004) so do not run out of water. Do not assume because you have done the 94.7 road ride that this is well within your capabilities - it is equivalent to 200km on tar.

The basic route is down the spruit to Paulshof up Witkoppen to Lonehill, down Main road to Leeukop prison, through Helderfontein, Riversands, Northern Farm Sewerage Works, down to the Juskskei/Heron Bridge, almost to the Lion Park, up to Lanseria, around the runway and on to Chicken Pie, northwards through the Southern parts of Mystic Dolphin, Renosterspruit, down to Nikita. The blue route takes a longer route into the Harties mountains, through the gorge to Pecanwood via the quarry, a bit of tar past Oberon, to the bridge over the Crocodile river. The red route takes a shorter route directly to the Crocodile River, down the concrete strips at the dam to the bridge. Both routes continue over the bridge to Jasmyns at the end.

You also need to organise transport back from the Dam or from the various stopping points. Plan to have a late lunch and lots of beers or whatever at the end.

If you are keen, please send Kelly an email at kellymarnewick@gmail.com with your details and indicate with which group you want to ride (see the section Notification below).

Non-members at R30.00 a rider

Here is more information to which you must pay attention if you are going on this ride:

Start Point....
We will meet at the Emmarentia Botanical Gardens entrance (Olifants Road, Emmarentia) just before the dam wall. The parking will be closed at that time of the morning. Leaving your car in the side streets nearby will be at your own risk. It would be better to have your logistic support drop you off.

There is public parking at Cambridge Crossing in Paulshof - the construction of the new parking should be complete by Christmas but it is also recommended that your logistics drop you off there.

Logistic Support....
You have to organise logistic support for the day because you have to get to Emmarentia/Paulshof, be collected from the stop points or any convenient point if you abandon the ride, and be collected from Yasmyn's at the end at Hartbeespoort.

Start Time...
We will leave at exactly 05h00 (Emmarentia) and 06h00 (Paulshof) because of the potential heat during the day. If you are not ready to ride, you will be left behind. The Paulshof time tends to be later but don't trust it to be so.

Cell Phones ....
All riders must have a cell phone with them.

If you have a mechanical failure or you simply blow out physically, you will have two choices:

1) Drop back to the other group if you are part of the blue group (the other group could be some way behind). Both blue and red groups will not wait for you - fixing punctures or mechanicals is no fun for faster groups like this.

2) Make your way to the nearest main road and phone your logistical support vehicle to fetch you. The 2005 punctures and mechanicals turned the ride into a 10 hour nightmare. The other years have been much more successful because of these rules.

Punctures and Mechanical Failures.....
Please make sure your bike is in good working order. Bike failures will result in you being left behind to be evacuated by your logistical support. We suggest that all riders carry spare tubes with sealant in them. Do not assume that because you have tubeless tyres, that you do not need these tubes as backup. We punctured several tubeless tyres in 2005 and had problems getting them to seal. There are a lot of thorn bushes (think Sun City) and dolomite (side wall cutter of note) out there.

Riders Joining 'en route'....
Several riders have said they will meet the groups 'en route'. Please be sure to calculate the arrival time accurately. Make sure you join the correct group as well. You could kill yourself joining the wrong group and hold them up which would be unfair. Those who want to meet the groups en route need to notify Kelly in advance where they will be meeting the ride.

Distance....
The distance of the ride will be between 80 and 100km. We will adapt the ride on the fly depending on how well it progresses.

Notification.....
NB: Please do not just pitch on the day. Tell us if you are coming. We would like a feel for numbers. Each ride group will be limited to a max of 20 riders. Yasmyn's is very popular over weekends and public holidays so we can no longer reserve seating for JMBC and you will have to fight for places after the ride with all the other holidaying people. Perhaps use your logistic support to organise seating.

Pace....
The Blue group will ride at a pace of about 16 km/hr average and the red group will try to average 14km/hr - If you cannot ride this pace off road for the kind of distance planned, you will end up being left behind. The group will try not to go faster than this average speed. If you cannot keep up, you will be asked to drop back or be collected. Please remember, we are a social club and this is a social ride so do not try to push the pace of the groups to a higher level.

Stopping Points....
Two stopping points are envisaged. These are Maggie's Farm (The Home of the Chicken Pie) on the R512 and Nikita Pub and Grill (before you reach the Crocodile River on the R512). We will stop there for short periods for refreshments. They are also good abandonment points. Bring money on the ride so that you can buy something.

End Point.....

The end point of the ride is Yasmyn's in Meerhof. We can grab a bite to eat (alla cart menu) and plenty of beers there with your logistic support. Directions to Yasmyns: Take William Nicol North past Diepsloot, under the N14, and turn left onto the R511/Brits road past Idle Winds, Hennops, the N4 toll plaza. As soon as you see the dam, take the next road/robot to your left (first robot before Hartbeespoort proper), you will see the big Dutch Windmill fronting Yasmyn's ahead.

GPS Coordinates:
Emmarentia: S26.15194 E28.00338
Paulshof: S26.03543 E28.05133
Maggies Farm: S25.91640 E27.89682
Nikita: S25.82445 E27.89264
Yasmyns: S25.75499 E27.91070

Contact: Kelly Marnewick (082 477 4470) or kellymarnewick@gmail.com

[Koos Likkewaan]

What sort of elevation can one expect on this route ?

 

Will give me a better indication of which group to join.

 

Thanks.

[JMBC]

What sort of elevation can one expect on this route ?

 

Will give me a better indication of which group to join.

 

Thanks.

Hi, you can expect about 968m give or take a few meters.

[coppi]

This seems like a great adventure..................I'm in !

[mrcg]

Sounds like such a cool ride. Wish I was there for it. Always wanted to find a track to go to Haarties when I was staying in Farmall area. Never found it.

Alas, I will be riding some other lekka routes down here in CT.

Enjoy guys....and maybe one day!

[EmptyB]

Hi, you can expect about 968m give or take a few meters.

Strava link from previous years?

[JMBC]

Strava link from previous years?

Sorry no Strava, you will have to join us on the ride to discover the route

[Scalpel]

Hop hop Spinnekop!!

[I FLY]

We used to do this ride every year until we moved to eMalahleni 5 years ago.

 

Now we are back we will go again.

 

It will be interesting to see how the urban sprawl has changed the route.

 

It is a long ride made harder if it is very hot. The pace is not too hectic if you are fit as the groups do regroup frequently so the slower riders and those with mechanicals don't get left behind/lost.

 

There are a few bail out points along the R512 if you need them.

 

As we have no early morning supporter ( my daughter does not do 5am) we plan to ride to the pickup point in Paulshof from our house in Greenstone.

[I FLY]

Hi, you can expect about 968m give or take a few meters.

I checked my 2011 ride file - 1447m in ascent. The route is probably not exactly the same anymore.