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Posted

First long ride after winter .... NICE to be out again.

 

Spring has sprung .... well, in a few spots ....

 

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And with a new season comes new options ....  Essence is no more ....

 

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Bootlegger is now trading from this address.  Good service, and very lekka food.

 

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Uhm jaa .... my sitbones are not happy with me .... fit and saddle fit aint the same thing !!

Posted

Last ride of the week yesterday am..a bit of a moment on some tram tracks and came down..damage to knee and my road bike...very frustrating to lose the bike time...so in its honour..no bike images but Autumn here in the UK 

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Posted
7 minutes ago, daveno7 said:

Last ride of the week yesterday am..a bit of a moment on some tram tracks and came down..damage to knee and my road bike...very frustrating to lose the bike time...so in its honour..no bike images but Autumn here in the UK 

20240915_170248.jpg

 

Oooo so nearly had an incident with the railway line outside Franschhoek this weekend, on the way back.

 

Going into Franschhoek the crossing is as I remember ... tricky angle, but sort of level.

 

 

On the way out I was at speed, and a truck next to me ..... last second I notice what appears to be a new layer of tar which raised the road above the track .... nicely beveled off at an angle .... absolutely perfect to grab a bike tyre.  I hopped the front wheel over the first rail ... whole bike shook as the rear wheel almost got grabbed into the rail.  It was violent enough that I was looking at by rear wheel for a while checking that it was still running true.

Posted
29 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

Oooo so nearly had an incident with the railway line outside Franschhoek this weekend, on the way back.

 

Going into Franschhoek the crossing is as I remember ... tricky angle, but sort of level.

 

 

On the way out I was at speed, and a truck next to me ..... last second I notice what appears to be a new layer of tar which raised the road above the track .... nicely beveled off at an angle .... absolutely perfect to grab a bike tyre.  I hopped the front wheel over the first rail ... whole bike shook as the rear wheel almost got grabbed into the rail.  It was violent enough that I was looking at by rear wheel for a while checking that it was still running true.

These moments..can catch us out..Street furniture etc..

Posted

Bit of an overdue post, but we just had two weeks in the Karoo and what a place it is. We started out with the Race to the Sea 100 miler (my first gravel race) which was awesome (although I hurt my hand and chest in a minor fall early on so the last 5km was pretty sore). The highlight probably being the bit where we rode under the wind turbines:

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Next up (after a tiny bit of drama involving a broken Land Rover engine and a swap to my dad's Everest - queue hundreds of"I told you" so messages), we went to Calitzdorp. Seems like it could be a cool little town, but there are a lot of poor and desperate people around. Did a quick ride out to the top of Rooiberg and back:

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The road surface wasn't that great and I had to stop several times due to hand pain from braking so much (bit of a skill issue of course).

The highlight was Prins Albert - Swartberg Pass should be a national monument. I managed to go up and over a bit, but here there was a different hand issue - they were frozen :)

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Roads were in great shape and the climb wasn't that bad given my attention was on the stunning views all the time. Hardly any cars too.

Lastly we stopped at a rural farmstay south of Laingsburg. I wasn't expecting much, but the ride out to and through Seweweekspoort was another awesome experience. Coming down southbound you have a 17km ~3% downhill which is just enough that you should still peddle and hardly ever have to brake. Feels like the gravel version of coming down supertubes.

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And climbing back out isn't even that bad due to the low gradient and some more awesome folding mountains (the highest point in the Western Cape is right next to you).

What a holiday - can't wait to go back.

 

Posted
30 minutes ago, dexterdent said:

...........The highlight was Prins Albert - Swartberg Pass should be a national monument. .......

So glad to hear you enjoyed my hometown and the pass in particular. By the way, it IS a National Monument and rightly so. Do yourself the favour and Google a bit about the history of Thomas Bain and the Pass.

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