Delta Marsh

The week started with a lazy coffee-ride with my friend Karen. As we approached the parking at the botanical gardens after a loop to zoo lake, we were thinking about cycling a loop through Delta Park. But when we reached her car a few minutes later, it was already pouring. She offered to take me home, but I declined - i'd be ok in rain, it's hail that i'm scared of.

It's about 10 kays back to my house - I managed to outcycle the storm and i was dry (bar the mud from all the puddles everywhere) until I had to turn up in Delta Park. When the first drops fell, i heard them clank on my helmet. A few tiny hailstones, and then clank clank *clank*. I had to find shelter, and quickly. I wasn't going to make it to the playpark, so opted for a tiny little tree - the only one i could find - while watching the singletrack turning into a river.

A line from the pina-colada song kept ringing in my ears:
"Yes, I like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.
I'm not much into health food, I'm more into champagne."

getting caught in the rain ... maybe ... but i'm not into hailstorms!

When the storm calmed down, i continued up Delta park. It was deserted. When I came down it about 2 hours ago, there were cars and kids and dogs all over .... not a soul, just a white layer of hail and raging singletrack-rivers. I had the park all to myself. It was about 4 in the afternoon, almost dark but lots of daylight left.

The park was exceptionally muddy, but the wet grass was like a wash&go - by the time I reached the tar on the other side of the park, my bike had no sign of mud.

Getting caught in the rain? maybe .... hailstorms? exhilirating!

on a bike to cape town

(picture from the hatman's site)


There are different ways of getting to Cape Town on a bicycle.

You can load your rigid with panniers, buy an air ticket back, and take 2 weeks to solo-tour from Joburg to Cape Town, visiting friends and family along the way.

Or you can ride from Pietermaritzburg to Cape Town on the freedom challenge, cycling in snow storms over mountains to experience the best of South Africa's singletrack and the best of its hospitality.

If you like the idea of having a backup vehicle to transport your luxuries for you, or just want to experience a little more then just South Africa, you can maybe join Tour d'Afrique on their ride from Cairo.

If you have enough time you can, like Riaan Manser, start out from Cape Town and circumnavigate the continent before returning a few years later.

Or you can cycle from Durban to Cape Town on a unicycle.

One unicyclist and one blogger left Durban on 28 December - 3 weeks later, and they're in the Eastern Cape somewhere.

They're raising awareness of the horribleness of landmines. The tour was almost off due to lack of funds, but Rotary Umhlanga donated R5000 towards fuel, food and blogging expenses. They'll need more - their banking details is on their website - go have a look at the pics and if you've got change lying around, here's one way of spending it.

1 100 kms to go - good luck guys!

The Alaskan version of Freedom Challenge

Up till a few days ago I thought Freedom Challenge was the most extreme physical anything any person can put himself through - possibly (only maybe) with the exception of climbing Mt Everest.

The heroes and heroines drag their bicycles over mountains for endless kilometers. Unsupported. They face gale-force winds, snow, mud, hail, killer-proteas, mechanical failures, map-reading-disabilities, map-maker-disabilities, injuries, sleeping in stables or outside - all so that they can earn the title of blanket-wearer.

I thought this was the most extreme event ever.

Then I stumbled accross the Alaskan version of the Freedom Challenge

(map from their website)

Advertised as the world's longest Winter Ultra Race Across Frozen Alaska, this is 1 100 miles of unsupported cycling across ... welll ... ice. In winter.

Like with Freedom Challenge, there are support stations where riders can get food and shelter. Outside of these, you're on your own.
Like Freedom challenge, there is a 'lighter' version of 'only' 350 miles. Equally unsupported. Equally cold.

Like freedom challenge, there is a higher_grade version if the cycling alone is not hard enough for you: you can do the whole distance on foot!

The event for 2010 is sold out.

So who's got some leave for early 2011??

Extreme Dinner 2010

Off-bike adventures with the slightly-crazy Mummy

Entrance fee on the Mnweni side is R25, and then it's R35 per day. Times 2 people, made the total amount R260. Agrippa couldn't use credit cards, and by the time we counted all our change, we had exactly 20c to spare. So we packed the chocolates and glasses and wine and bottled peppers and cheese and chocolates and off we went. Weather turned nasty, and we opted to stay in a cave that we found at the bottom of Rockeries, in stead of going up the pass.

There were lots of lovely green plants growing all around the cave. Wondered if i would be able to make one grow in a pot at home - such a healthy green colour.





Here's the Mummy ironing his clothes before the dinner party. These dinners are quite formal affairs, can't be seen with wrinkled clothes.




... and here he is in the jacuzzi, getting ready for the party. Can't be dirty either.



The best view that any jacuzzi possibly can have



Here he is baking pancakes .... pancakes just won't be the same if they're not baked in the Jamie Oliver pan.





.. and some after-dinner chess and wine - and some chocolates - the perfect end to a perfect evening.




Someone told the Mummy that milk is good for that morning-after-ness.


A lovely weekend :)

a most pleasant Breedts' nek ride

I'm no roadie.

I tolerate district road rides like Breedts nek, because i know it's good training. So that i'd be able to enjoy things like Joberg2C, in stead of simply surviving it.

So when the hubbers organised a Breedts nek ride, I figured - why not. Nancy Drew's family has a farm in the area, which would provide safe parking and some boerewors rolls afterwards. Agteros organised some coffee and Nancy provided some carrot-muffins - yummie!

There were what - about 50(?) riders and they soon broke up into smaller groups with the racing snakes (who cycled the 60-odd kays from Joburg to Nancy's farm) way up front, and the mortals at the back.

Some beautiful singletrack through sunflowers, then off to the main bump in the road. The racing snakes went down to the shebeen on the other side, but the saner hubbers just sat around at the top of the mountain before racing back.

Some nice chats on the way, some bicycles to drool about, through the sunflower-tracks again, and then boerewors-and-swimmingpool-time.

It's good to be a cyclist.
And it's good to have friends who can organise rides like this one - THANK YOU NANCE!!

Rock & Roll

It was Thursday Night again.
We've had the official Dark&Dirty Year-end party ride, but with traffic between Joburg and Pretoria calmed down a little, I nagged Oupa Gerrit for a ride.

He agreed, and I dragged Gadget and Agteros to the ride to show them what REAL mountain biking is about.

Oupa Gerrit was the competent leader.
Herman (whom Oupa Gerrit poached on a Sani2C ride) was the sweeper. Between them were
- William, who forgot his light so bought a Pick&Pay emergency light
- Gadget, the x-freedom-challenger and my Joberg2C partner
- Agteros, an x-roadie whose conversion to mountain biking is almost complete
- Gideon, not a newbie, but because I haven't been there myself for almost the whole year, whom i've never met

We sped off to the top of Big Dipper. Searched a little in the grass for it. It was far gnarlier than I remembered it - only at the bottom did Oupa Gerrit confess that we weren't on Big Dipper at all - we found the right track, and then went on to the Cornwall RUSH. The last time I was there, there was still a gate and the downhill was all powdery. But WOW - all the sweetness and gnarly-ness of THAT downhill is back! Then on to St Georges, up Roetter's Route, then down on the Shebeen-Queen track to find the turn-off to the light-chase, where Gadget did some emergency-repairs to Agteros's brakes (it was HIS excuse) while the rest of us caught our breaths.

Then down Mine Shaft, through Blair Witch, and back to Roetters Route, this time down. Up that heartbreak hill koppie, then on to do Quadbuster, down Look-Ma-No-brakes at break-neck speed (this is why i cycle!), up Python, and on to Tour d'Tar.

I never wanted the ride to stop.
I never wanted the evening to end.
I wanted to be nowhere else.

Roetters Route has never been this fast.
Blair Witch was never this pretty.
Cornwall Rush hasn't been this gnarly for years.
Quadbuster was as tiring as I remember, Look-Ma-No-Brakes was FAR better than I remembered it.
Python has never been sweeter! The mud dried out a little, so it grips the tyres on the corners; I just wanted to go back and do it all over.

Has Tour d'Tar always started right at the bottom? And has Joburg always had THIS little oxygen?
Up Big dipper where William had an unfortunate incident with his bike and his cycling shorts and a rock and his bike's seat.



On to Cruiser and then back to the Moo Mall for some hot chocolate - a perfect end to a perfect evening.

Champions for the night:
- Night Light Chase: Oupa Gerrit
- Quadbuster: Herman
- Tour d'Tar: Agteros

Stats for the night:
- Distance: about 30
- Mechanicals: none
- Involuntary dismounts: William: 5; haven't seen any others - which is amazing considering what the wannabe-Big-Dipper looked like - not to mention Cornwall RUSH.
- Total vertical ascent: about 400
- Smileage: LOTS

THANK YOU to all involved - when can we do this again??

gumption traps

gumption: the energy you throw into what you're doing - the enthusiasm, initiative, sparkle

gumption trap: something that drains the gumption - energy sucker, enthusiasm damper

I just finished reading Robert Pirzig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - a book that is not about Zen, not about Art, and not much about Motorcycle Maintenance either.

But this is not a book review, it's about things that drain the gumption - cycling gumption in particular - and possible ideas on preventing it. Or at least minimizing the damage.

Gumption traps (said Pirzig) can be external or internal.

External Gumption Traps are things out of your control. Examples are

- horrible thick mud that collects on your mountain bike and builds up so thick that the wheels refuse to turn.
- ill weather - a non-stop south-easter, or never-ending cold fronts, or hail storms every afternoon exactly when you planned to ride.
- injuries / illness - you have all the gumption needed but can't put it to use because of an injury.
- mechanicals

Internal Gumption Traps are things within yourself. Examples are
- tiredness
- boredom

The essence of Pirzig's advice for bypassing Gumption Traps (in Zen & Motorcycle Maintenance) is to take time off. He calls it 'to go fishing'. Sit back, do something else. The answer will find you, you don't have to search for it.

I have seen this parallel principal at work very often with work-related problems. I would struggle with a problem on the database, not knowing exactly how to solve it, and then go onto Chain Reaction's website to browse through e.g. red bitsies for the bike - and next thing the solution would jump into my head. On a more dramatic note, i have gone to sleep at night with an unsolved problem, and wake up in the middle of the night with a clear solution - which i then immediately email to myself at work, and usually would work on the first implementation.

I have seen this parallell principal at work in cycling as well.
Some gumption traps that I have fallen into, and possible ways to bypass them:
The thick sticky clay on the first after-rain lap at the 24-hours
This was both an external and internal gumption trap. External because the mud simply didn't allow my to continue cycling. internal because I was frustrated that i didn't want to damage the bike (I spent almost R2000 at a bikeshop after some mud in last year's Sabie Xperience) and had to give the lap up.

Afterwards i was curious as to how other cyclists managed to cycle through the mud. I hubbed the question and got some pointers:
- Ride through every puddle you see. It washes the clay off and would allow the wheels to keep turning.
- Just keep pedaling. The clay will fall off after a while.
- Try to avoid changing gears.

The emotional trap I solved by standing back and changing the goal. Originally i wanted to do as many laps as possible. When the mud happened, I realised that I could either try to continue to race (and pay for teh damage) or just give up the race. I took a lot of time off, cleaned the bike as well i could, socialised with members of an x-adventure racing team, D&D buddies, hubebrs and other people i knew. Then went to sleep until i realised a long time later that that particular piece of mud was not part of the laps any more. I felt refreshed, the bike was reasonably ridable, and i got back on.
I'm going to have to train more to be able to ride through mud, but at least the take-time-off worked for getting back on.

the broken gear-cable at 94.7 MTB
I was flying - has a good seeding (2nd batch) and haven't been passed by many people in my group - in fact, I was passing people on the climbs and on the downhills. I felt good. Until the derrailleur stopped working at about 15 kays into the race. Stopped to check it out, and the gear cable broke off clean.

- learn how to fix it - or at least how it works.
When there's no gear cable, the chain goes to the smallest chainring - the biggest gear. A knight stopped and changed the limit-screw on the derrailleur so that the chain came to rest on the second-smallest chainring. This helped. A cycling-friend afterwards sugested that i could also have put a stick between the derrailleur and the gear where i wanted it. It would have manual gears, but it would have been better than singlespeeding in a difficult gear.

The ultimate place to see these make-shift fixes in place, is on Freedom Challenge. gadget epoxy'd a bottom bracket into place, the Gardener singlespeeded for a while, Doug rode with broken shoes, the tandem, the snowstorms and high winds and driving rain for days on end .... good grief, now that i think about it, the Freedom Challenge blogs are ALL about overcoming every possible kind of gumption trap - i wanted to still talk about getting bored with training, and with the ride itself, tiredness and other gumption traps - but there are far better examples of this out there - fiona's blog or doug's or the tandem story or gadget's story - so i'm logging off :)