Date to start Joberg to East London

Posted on Sep 14, 2014 by krfarmer

Having done some organizing of my December holiday. I plan to set off from my house on 12 December 2014. Will be able to link up with anybody who wishes to join me along the road. I must be home by 28 December 2014. I am planning to catch the train back on the night of 26 December to be in Johannesburg by 27 December.

This gives 14 days to complete the trip. We will have to put some good kilometers in on the good roads to give us some time on the gravel roads and hilly sections.

See Life is coming back into the bush as Spring comes. This means it will be more pleasurable to do some training rides in the evening. Not much time left to get into shape. Remember if you are doing a long extended ride you do not have to do training before as you have time to strengthen up on the ride. However if you have to do 1200 km in two weeks there needs to be a level of fitness before starting. The fitter you are the more you will enjoy the ride. It will also give you more time to explore.

So leave a comment to this post if you can join me. On the other hand tweet me @kennyfagan.

Feel the adventure of tour cycling

Posted on Aug 26, 2014 by krfarmer

I made a short video to let you feel some of the adventures that I have had. Well I see it would be far better to write a book or sit and have short videos of some of the best stories. I am currently editing my first book. Looks like it should be finished by the end of the year. Take a look at this video. Hope you feel some of the excitement I felt when tour cycling.

You could join me along the road and make your own stories.

Joberg 2 East London Introduction

Posted on Aug 10, 2014 by krfarmer

Joberg 2 East London Follow up

Posted on Aug 2, 2014 by krfarmer

Have added more information to trip plan. Go Check out Joberg 2 East London page. Scroll down to bottom where new planning is added. Note no accommodation costs entered in table yet. I am working on places to stay on route. If we do land up camping wild then it is always nice to stop and have a nice shower and bed to sleep in every now and then.

Repair time

Remember a good ride always needs a good service before starting.

Joburg 2 East London

Posted on Jul 26, 2014 by krfarmer

Have added more information to the page Joburg 2 East London. Have added a route plan with a link to Google. That way you can zoom in and out to see more details. Route can be changed to meet any needs that may arise.

Joburg 2 East London

Posted on Jul 5, 2014 by krfarmer

Have started a new page on my blog for next trip in December 2014. I am looking for companions to ride with me from Johannesburg to East London (Settlers country). I will be adding more details of the tour from time to time. So keep an eye on this page and send me comments if you are interested in joining me.

Sondela cycle race weekend

Posted on May 18, 2014 by krfarmer

This weekend I rode the Sondela Bela Bela challenge which is a road race. Did 102 km in 4 hour 10 min on my mountain bike. This is my personal best for a tar road surface. This was my second race that I have ever done. To busy riding to take photos on the road. Here is a after photo.

Then did the Sondela Bela Bella mountain bike experience of 40 km. This was my first mountain bike race. The course was flat snaking around in the African bush of the Nature reserve. Passing many wild animals on the way but was to busy negotiating the turns and sandy sections that I did not see any. This is a very well known reserve where you are allowed to do walking trails and cycling on your own. So I would recommend to come back and do the cycle routes at a much slower pace. They only have lions in a rehabilitation center.Well here is a photo of people gearing up and getting bikes ready outside the venue.

Note the save the rhino shirt. Here is a photo of the start.

Again was to busy negotiating the trail to take photos but here are some after photos. Must say the mountain bike riders are more friendly and laid back than the road riders.

Finished the race in 2 hours and 10 minute time.This is unofficial at this time but is close enough for me. Here are the two medals to prove it.

Is there anybody that has done this race and what do you think of it?

Nylsvley

Posted on May 7, 2014 by krfarmer

I see the correct spelling is Nylsvey. Looking back at my last post, I see that there was not much of an explanation on what Nylsvley is. It is a 40 km square nature reserve that is considered to be one of the worlds birding hot spots. There are also some antelope species, zebra and giraffe not to mention all the small little creatures. I have been told to be careful, as there might be crocodile that washed down stream from a crocodile farm. I do not know how true that is. Lucky for me it is in my bicycle training area. It is only 40 km from my house. One vet that visits my farm says he normally sees 160 plus bird species for a day. Well I am not such a birder as he is. You can find out more about Nylsvley at http://www.nylsvley.co.za.

Thought to add a few photos of back at work on the farm after weekend.

Bonsmara cows and calves on the farm

Good old faithful tractor that keeps farm going.

Nylsvlei

Posted on May 4, 2014 by krfarmer

Took a ride up to Nylsvlei Nature reserve this weekend. I left my bicycle at the restaurant and my stepson left his motor bike there also. We took a walk in the reserve to do some birding.

Lunch rest after a long walk

Breakfast the next morning.

Camp from another angle.

Camped the night at the farm where I live.

Waterberg

Posted on Apr 22, 2014 by krfarmer

Had a good ride in some nice hills of the Waterberg. Did 220 km all together. That is counting 105 km from the Nylstroom side down a fair amount of dirt road. Some stony stretchers and other sandy patches.

Then there was about 18 km riding around the farm.

Came back home past Naboomspruit and Cresy.

Down hill to Naboomspruit. With Springbok flats stretching out in the distance

Was very disappointed to see the tar road that was ripped up by a contractor who ran out of money or was it ran away with the money. Ripped the tar road up in about 2011 has not even been taken to court or the government has not got another contractor to retar the road. There is about 5 km of dirt road now. It used to be one of the main roads to transport grain, fertilizer and other goods out and in of the Springbok flats. Now transport company’s have to use other longer routes.

Can see what road looked like before it was ripped up. This piece of road was left untouched

Road after been ripped up.

Cannot say too much about the fishing. Did not even get a bite. We tried all different baits, worms and lures.

As can be seen from the pictures it was in a lovely setting. The winter temperatures are on their way in. Night was a little cool (6 degrees celsius) and day time temperature going up to 30 degrees celsius.