Where has your bike taken you today?

[BSG]

Consider speaking to Justine at CBR in Durbanville.

 

She made us a stickers in different colour combinations ... Not in my wildest dreams would I have thought of white lettering on a light green bike - it WORKS !!

Is that on the "new" bike for Maritz, mine is a little lighter, apparently Hi Viz green, so white might just look nice. That's what a friend suggested also. Did you do his white, if you did, would you post a picture please?

[ChrisF]

Is that on the "new" bike for Maritz, mine is a little lighter, apparently Hi Viz green, so white might just look nice. That's what a friend suggested also. Did you do his white, if you did, would you post a picture please?

 

CBR did the paint and stickers for us ... 

 

for the side Maritz used this (excuse the white drops, as he was busy applying polish to the frame) -

 

 

 

For the front he used this -

 

 

Justine at CBR knows her way around these colour options !!  She even made a set of custom stickers for the shock.  It looks like it could be a factory Rock Shox sticker, but in a green to white fade that suits the bikes colours.  (shock is at Mark for a major service, I can post pics next week)

[BSG]

CBR did the paint and stickers for us ...

 

for the side Maritz used this (excuse the white drops, as he was busy applying polish to the frame) -

 

Mongoose revamp-149.jpg

 

 

For the front he used this -

 

Mongoose revamp-173.jpg

 

Justine at CBR knows her way around these colour options !! She even made a set of custom stickers for the shock. It looks like it could be a factory Rock Shox sticker, but in a green to white fade that suits the bikes colours. (shock is at Mark for a major service, I can post pics next week)

Definitely the white on green looks great. Thanks for sending the pictures. Edited May 11, 2019 by BSG

[Bonus]

Did a couple of road rides this week on the road out towards Los Molinos and San Victorian.

 

Sunny days and empty roads in the Pyrenees  :-)

 

 

[ChrisF]

The old Willow Oak ride in the Nuy valley dissapeered off the calendar ...

 

 

Did the Nuy valley festival ride today .... effectively the reverse of the previous route, and starting from another farm, slightly higher up the road. - https://www.nuyvalleyfeast.co.za/

 

 

 

the event was very poorly advertized, and the attendance showed it.  And that is the sum total of the negative comments.

 

 

BRILLIANT weather !!  Okay, the first 25 minutes we were riding into the shade of the mountain, and the temperature dropped to a chilly 6 degrees .... knowing we were heading for 20 degrees many of us ventured out without jackets ....         But what a stunning valley !!

 

First 8 km were a steady 1 to 3% climb .... stretching the field like an elastic band.  Super proud of myself for hanging with the mid pack.  And then the field was split !!

 

 

Shortly after the downhill section I saw white spots on my Garmin screen ... took a few seconds to figure out ... must have gone through a thorn-tree thorn on the ground, rear tire was spewing sealant all over !!  Thankfully I topped up recently, and the hole was plugged.  I stopped a few times to check the pressure though ... messed with my rythm a bit .... eventually put it out of mind and cencentrated on the road ahead.  Turns out a lady actually got stuck with a flat tire, and had to be recovered by a 4x4.

 

The surface was technically a "dual single track" (jeep track) ... but it was all kinds of loose rocks, dry river beds (at least reminded me of this), a few sections with serious pot holes .... you had to be WIDE awake !!

 

Think we were 1 hour into the ride before we saw the first sun light.

 

 

Couple of kilometers to regroup on the solid surface, and then back into the veld .... and then a nasty little hill !!  Decided not to burn matches at this stage a quickly walked up it, passing a couple of people.  

 

 

This was followed by rolling hills, mostly down ...  This one nearly caught me off guard !!  Good solid surface, but steep down ... so the speed picked up quickly .... and then the surface turned bad quickly, without any chance to reduce speed .... then the road started leaning steep to the left, with me on high right hand side .... I could feel my front fighting to keep grip .... found a spot, and rode through the mid section and made the best of the left all the way down ... thankful to have made without any mishap .....

 

 

 

Okay, now it must be mostly downhill, and the last 10km ....  I was in good nick and started turning up the pace.  At 27km another rider was close behind me, but then we hit a slight uphill and he verbalized that he was beginning to struggle with the hills .... now note that we were firmly in the second half of the field .... still this sign of weakness from my "competitor" awakened something in me and I got a lekka gear and spun away up the slight incline ..... next level section he got closer .... then at 29km we had to turn up again and he made it clear that he was nearing the end of his reserves ... make no mistake my muscles were burning by now!  I did not dare look back and show him the pain on my face .... low gear and running a 95 cadence I spun up the hill and got a gap .... dammit, level section and he catches up again ..... and then we turn UP !!  THIS one looked bad !!  Turns out it was only 20m up, but the arrow was hidden, so your mind played bad tricks until you saw the turn.  By now he shouted when he saw the hill, which gave me the power to spin up yet another hill, despite burning legs .... this time I kept my momentum on the downhill, and then a short steep uphill, I just powered up it, down and the finish point  I beat him by 5 seconds     Hiehie ... properly second half of the field, and yet it was SO nice to have our own little "race".

 

And this little dice meant we closed up to the mid-pack, and the next 13 people were all in the same 10 minute bracket ..... who knows, a few more Sunday practice rides and I may actually be part of that mid-pack ... 

 

 

 

uhm, this all played out over a reasonably flat 30km ride ... but facts should never mess with a good story ....    

[IMPACT]

Well done, the kids winter school sport program is playing havoc with my weekend morning rides. Must say this afternoon was perfect out on the trails past Fair Cape and Malanshoogte.

[Duane_Bosch]

A little spin in the morning and a little Tokai in tha arvo.

[SwissVan]

No bladdy where

Hope Giro is having better weather today than we had

Gales and pop up rain showers storms

[Pikey]

Despite what some think Thaba is not just rocks and climbs, never gets boring!

Of course it isn’t ???????? snigger ......well that 300m isn’t ????

[NotSoBigBen]

I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but I love early mornings on a bike

[ChrisF]

I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but I love early mornings on a bike

 

Something magical experiencing a sun rise while in the saddle ....

 

was trying my best not to get dropped (any further) while still taking a moment to take this pic in the ride.  Riding in the shade of the mountain we were enroute for an hour before the sun finally made its show.

 

[BenReaper]

Early morning ride with my boy to the shop for breakfast ingredients.

['Dale]

I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but I love early mornings on a bike

Magic hour, Bennie

That transition from night to day

Love it ????

[BSG]

Took the yellow/green (still pondering about a name) for it's first after service ride with my daughter on her "new" 26er Scott 40 which we swapped in the family.

Edited May 12, 2019 by BSG

[SwissVan]

Spring and winter fighting it out earlier this week

 

 

 

 

 

 

['Dale]

Jiffy-Bag-In-Shoes Season (Autumn)