It was the Druiwefees festival in Modimolli this past week. To close the festival off there was a road cycle race and a mountain bike race. I did the longest road race which was 105 km. Am quite happy with myself as I raised my average speed to 24 km/h. This was done on my mountain bike with Maxxi cross mark tyres.
I also did the mountain bike race of the longest distance of 50 km. The results are not out on the internet yet. However I am very pleased as it was my second mountain bike race. This was quite a technical ride compared to my first race.
Mountain bike race was at Bosfontein caravan park. I was very pleased to find a well run little out of the way caravan park. Bosfontein is nestled next to a mountain that is covered in trees and has been stocked with game animals. They have also laid out a mountain bike route that you can ride when camping. Very nice getaway form the city. Has a central swimming pool where the children can also have a good time.
The course criss crossed rivers over small wooden bridges. Then there was endless twists between the trees. Not giving any time to fall asleep on your bike. Then there was ‘Martelbult’ which challenged your hill climbing legs. Only way out was on the granny gears. Then there was a rock decent which lead to some carefull riding. At one point I thought an antelope was charging me, as what happened to that one mountain bike rider on youtub. However it was just spooked by a rider coming across the opening.
All in all The road race was painful and the mountain bike race was very nice and enjoyable.
New year has begun and it is that time of the year when I have to submit my leave plan for the year. Is there anybody out there that would like to do a tour with me?This way we can get our times to come together. This is often the biggest hill to get over. Most times people cannot join you as their time table does not match yours. Unfortunately I am limited in time. I get four weeks a year but also need to spend some time with my family. Thus it would be nice to do a two to three week tour. That is also good for most people who have a real job and family. We cannot all be vagabonds.
The second question would be where to next. People are already asking me where my next crazy adventure will be. Well it could be a pleasure ride or a mad rush to get to a destination, to fit the most amount of km in before the leave runs out. I really enjoyed the slow ride with my Dad last month. To be honest I feel a lot safer on the roads outside South Africa. As the traffic is less and they travel slower. On the other had it my be time to get that book everybody is talking about. Riding the Dragon’s Spine book uses back roads to travel the length of South Africa. That way we can get away from the traffic.
Well send me a comment or a tweet. Let me know if you available and what tour you would like to do. Then we can start planning.
Prince Albert- Willowmore- Steytlerville- Jansenville- Graaff-Reinet- Nieu Bethesda- Middelburg- Steynsburg- Burgersdorp- Jamestown- Roussow- Barkley East- Wartrail- Tele River
There are small towns and expansive farms with teams of farmworkers in blue cotton coveralls slowly working under the sun in full-brimmed caps. There are afternoon winds and windless starry midnights. Kudu sausage and lamb chops on our plates indicate the presence of wild game and managed stock, especially Merino sheep and Angora goats. Twice, antelope race alongside the road excited by my 18mph presence, afraid or unable to cross the barbed wire fence. Once, I reach past 35mph with the assistance of a powerful tailwind, gaining on the full-tilt sprint of the animal. At last, side by side, it cuts right toward the fence and jumps. Tired or distracted or unable to jump high enough, it somersaults into barbed wire in a flurry of fur. It watches as I disappear down…
Just finished a tour with my Dad so have called it Tour de Dad. I did 500 km and my Dad did 315 km. Very proud of my 76 year old Dad. I will make a page for this tour. I have already begun with the video. We landed up cutting the tour short as his circulation in his legs was giving him a hard time up the hills. Never the less he did an outstanding attempt for somebody of his age.
There were people along the way that thought we were doing it for a charity. However it was just a good father and son outing. Why do we need to do this type of thing for charity? Time to get out of your chairs and do it for yourself. For those of you who are not out riding your bicycles, it is now time to start.
Then there were wonderful people who stopped and give motivation along the way. It is nice to find good people out in the world. Gives you hope for the future of our world. There are people out there that are driven by more than just money. They have good hearts.
As always we learned things along the road. We are suffering from electrical load shedding in South Africa at the moment. As there is not enough generation capacity to cope with demand. It feels as the government has not been putting in enough energy as they should to correct this problem. However we found km after km of new road surface that had been laid to help the trucks that transport coal to the power stations. Then the volume of trucks transporting coal was impossible to count. There was a steady stream of trucks all the way from Balmoral to Volksrust. The amount of money that must be paid to keep this stream running is beyond my comprehension.
Pay a visit to my Bicycle trips page. Tour de Dad is now under construction.
How nice it is this evening. I sit in my garden typing this post as the sun slips away over the African Savannah. Actually the sunset on the top of my blog was taken last year in the winter from my garden. Tonight sunset is a lot different to that cloudless evening last year. There is an expectation of rain with the sun peeping around some clouds leaving a silver lining with some orange pink touches. Well forgive me for not giving the right name of the colour .You need to be an artist to know the name of that colour.
Every evening from the time the rainy season started I drive across the farm passing this wetland to find the White face duck. As I get there they fly up in a cloud. So I decided to take this photo. Actually it is quite nice. It makes it possible to count how many there are. This is not all the birds as they do not all fly up together. The white bird is a Sacred Ibis.
Today I came across this very well camouflaged insect. It looked like a tree seed that had legs growing out of it. If there is anybody that knows its name you are welcome to drop a comment.
Actually I started writing this post to tell about the preparation for the tour I am taking with my father. Looks like I will have to put that in another post.
Last weekend I rode the Momentum 947 cycle challenge. I really enjoyed the spirit of the course. I must say there was more supporters along the road than I thought there would be. The large number of participants made it a big challenge to get to the starting point. The new venue will have to be improved to cope with the traffic .
Momentum947 cycle challenge start
The course has more hills than I thought. When I grew up in Durban Natal we all used to say it is flat in Johannesburg. Well try ride it on a bicycle. I think the hills make it more difficult than the Cape cycle tour. On the other hand it made it very interesting to ride. I found that the hills made it difficult to keep my heart rate constant. After halfway I turned the alarm off for my heart rate target zone. Just glanced at my monitor from time to time.
Sunninghill area
Coming from the Springbok flats I am not used to the down hills. Reaching speeds of over 65 km/h can be quite scary. I do not get much chance to pick up speed like that down hill were I live. Then there are other riders that do not hold their line and can crash into you. I saw a few people who had taken bad falls. There was one woman laying in the middle of the road on a steep down hill. Lucky the ambulance was not far away. Other riders behind me said they saw there was a big puddle of blood and the paramedics were stabilizing her with oxygen. Also laying her out straight so they could get her on to a stretcher. That just can take your nerve away.
Well a side from the dangers of road racing with bicycles or should I call it fun riding. If you want to see Johannesburg from a different perspective, try riding the streets on a bicycle. I think I rode through the old centre of Johannesburg faster than you could ever do with a car. Went through all the red and orange traffic lights. Roads were empty of cars, that was strange. I have never seen Johannesburg without cars in it. All the road closures for the race made it seem so different. Then there was riding down the M1 highway and M2 highway on a bicycle. If you did that normally the police would come and get you. Or you might be knocked over before they even get to you.
The road passed Johannesburg Zoo and going through Randburg and Santon was just a big street party. People playing music,clapping calling out. Then there was all the braais (barbeques) and camping chairs along the road. There was a man offering his beer to me but it smelled like he was burning his meat on the fire. Looked like he had to many distractions to watch how his meat was cooking.
Heading north out of the suburbs brought some nice long hills to test your stamina. By this time it had reached 32 degrees. Thank goodness they had placed some sprayers across the road to cool off the riders.Then passing the Lion park was a nice down hill. This tricked me into think it was down hill to the finnish. Well not so fast the organizers made sure there were two monster hills coming near the finnish. About 50 % of the people climbed off and pushed up these two hills.
There were riders that did two laps for the day, that makes about 200 km. Then there was Batman. People in Rhino suits and one rider had a Rhino around his bicycle. Others with short skirts on and super hero capes on. Other fund-raising groups helping three wheel bicycles along, dressed in cow outfits.
There was no late summer rains last summer. This lead up to a very dry winter with a shortage of grass for the cattle. Then the rain did not come. This is a very unpredictable area. We have had two dry years in a row. The average rainfall is 470 mm per year. However on a good year we get 900 mm and in a bad year we can get 250 mm. The rain came in on Friday. It was such a heavy down pour the lands got washed away and the bush wetland areas have water standing in ponds.
The rain was one month late and the cattle had calved and the cow were starting to get a little thin. We had to give them some extra feeding. Now it is Monday and the green grass shoots are starting to sprout. When the ground dries out a little more, then we can start planting. The planting team will have to work night and day to get the seeds into the ground before the window for planting passes.
I always love the rainy season. The clouds are amazing and the sunsets are out of this world. Then there are the migrant birds that come in for the breeding season. You cannot see it but there are White Faced duck out on this body of water.
They say part of a holiday is the planning . The next is getting there which in our case will be the holiday. The destination will be the smallest part. Last the way back is also part of the adventure.
I have been keeping touch with my dad regularly. He sure is living out the planning and training for his cycle holiday. He is working hard and has been on a exercise schedule. He is now on to the cycling every day stage. His exercise has effected his blood pressure. He is normally on blood pressure tables. He monitors his blood pressure and has had to stop taking tables as his blood pressure has come right. As with age there are lots of other things you have to look out for with your health.
He is concerned that his health will hold out for the whole trip. I just keep on telling him we are going to go at his pace and if he has any problems we can rest or if worse comes to worse we can find a bus home.
As with all first time tour cyclist, he has a long list of questions.
Gear is one question:
I just keep saying that you do not have to have the most expensive gear.
Take time to find the things you need and do not buy the first thing you see.
Normally we buy too much gear and cannot pack all. Land up having to leave some behind.
Find what you have around the house and modify it if you need to.
Bicycle requirement:
Should he get a more comfortable saddle or riding pants. Well I say that if you going slow and doing sight seeing. It is up to you. Which ever you feel comfortable in.
Should he put slicks on. Well he is not going to go heavy off-road. It will probably help to get a more easy roll.
Clothing to take with:
Hard to say to a person that is used to been set in their ways to leave most things at home. Time to rank needs and wants. Summer tour will always have rain in this area. Then there are the night time mosquitoes to keep off. Wind chill when it rains. The scorching heat at mid day and afternoon. Then something to swim in. Light backpacking towel.
Well back to me. I have stopped training and now resting for the Momentum 94.7 this weekend. Will let you know next week how it went.
There have been no responses for anybody to join me to East London. However my father has been itching to take his first long ride. So I have changed my mind. I do not have many years left with my father. Thus I have decided to take to a shorter trip from Johannesburg to Richards bay via St Lucia Natal South Africa. This will be done at my fathers pace and we plan on doing about 50 to 60 km a day. Thus giving us time to rest and enjoy some time together. He is in his mid 70’s and not a spring chicken anymore.
Anybody who wishes to join us is welcome. This my be in the range of more people. We will be camping wild and stopping at some nature reserves. Then ending with some swimming in the Indian ocean. My father is an avid bird watcher so he will want to stop and look at birds.
Departure from my house will be on 12 December and will meet my father at my sister’s house at Balmoral on the 13 December. From there we will hit the road together and head east. Doing a mix of sand and tar roads. We will be avoiding all major routes to keep out of the traffic. Plan to bus it back to Johannesburg on 27 December. Once I have done more planing I will post it on my Next trip page.
Took a training ride to Vaalwater this past weekend. The aim was to ride hills on tar roads to get fit for the Momentum 94.7 cycle challenge. On top of it was to do a two stage ride. To make sure I am getting fit enough for my December adventure to East London. I covered a distance of 209 km for the weekend.
Left at 09H45 on Saturday and stopped for lunch at Nylstroom (Modimolle). From my house to Nylstroom there are no hills.
From Nylstroom to Vaalwater is in the Waterburg hills. Must admit they are big for me but will be small for those of you that are riding in Europe or in Natal. Must be getting fit as the hills did not seem as big as I remember from the previous time I did this route.
The road climbs up out of Nylstroom in steps leaving the Springbok flats behind in the distance. The hills are fenced with game fencing. From time to time you can catch a glimpse of Impala, Kudu, Nyala, Vervet monkey, Baboon,Wildebeest or a cow. The scenery then opens out to grasslands and crop lands. As you start to descend again into the next valley the peach orchards begin. Peaches are now in season and can be bought along the road at small stalls. Not to mention all the Sekelbos wood been sold for camp fires or braai (barbecue). After this there is a goat farm that has a restaurant and makes goat cheese. This would be a nice little outing for the family.
To climb out of this valley is the steepest part of the ride. After passing some game farms comes the monster climb. On the way back home I had to make some noises to chase the Baboons off the road, as I was freewheeling and reached a speed of 65 km/h. It would have caused a terrible accident if I had hit one of them. My heart rate monitor started to beep as I was not peddling down the hill. To the mother baboons in the trees this was terrifying. They just dropped out of the trees baby and all. Their feet were running in the air, so when they hit the ground they hit it running. Fortunately the up hill is not to long in the direction of Vaalwater and then you are rewarded with a nice long down hill to Vaalwater.
First time I went to Vaalwater I had all these romantic ideas of a town surrounded by game farms and pumping with tourists. Well it has some game farms around it. It has a grain silo and a rundown town centre. This town centre could have come out of some middle African town. The buildings are in need of paint the roads are very fill of potholes. There are street vendors selling vegetables. Must say some of the nicest tomatoes I have seen in a long time. Signs everywhere to sell biltong (beef jerky). There are any type of biltong, starting at beef all the way to Eland.
I camped at a small lodge come camp site tucked away behind the sports bar. The sports bar is a nice neat restaurant come bar that serves very nice pizzas or steaks. Their salads are nice and crisp. They say there are two other places to eat in town. I have not tried them. The local farmers sometime come with their wives and children to eat out. Open people if you start to talk to them. They will enjoy a chat with you. Note big topics are the weather, rugby, crop farming and game farming.
Word of warning there is a night club where the local blacks like to hang out. This place has the music up loud and goes all night. Almost until the sun comes up on Sunday. Then there is the busy road that runs through the centre of town. This is one of the main routes to the mining and game farming towns to the west of Vaalwater. So any place you choose to stay at in town will have the back ground noise of the road and night club. The town’s name is also Vaalwater which means unclear water. This means the water source is caring a high particle load and the local municipality can not clean it up so good. Do not think it will harm you but bottled water tastes much better.
Left Sunday at 7H00 and was home by 11H30. Much more down hills on the way back. Early riding is best as it is cooler. For example on Saturday it went to 35 degrees on my cycle computer just before getting into Vaalwater.
They have also laid out a mountain bike route that you can ride when camping. Very nice getaway form the city. Has a central swimming pool where the children can also have a good time.
Long day safaris 