Here you can read or contribute your own comments on the JMBC message board.
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Here you can read or contribute your own comments on the JMBC message board. |
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| Comments | ||
| Date | Name | Comments |
| 11/18/2008 | Keith | NIGHTRIDE Fri. 21/11/2008: remember the nightride on Fri. 21/11 at Fratelli's Blairgowrie (bottom of Conrad Drive) 18h00 for 18h30. Be sure to come along - you'll be sorry if you don't! |
| 11/13/2008 | Don | Another Mugging from MCC (looks like the Mia land) - Good Morning Wayne, Well, being the diligent cyclist that I would like to think I am and to make sure that when I do ride with the club again, I could keep up with the A group as Rob rather optimistically thinks I can, I went for a training ride on Sunday along the Jukskei river trail. My training session did not last long as I was held up at gun point by 3 blacks, I guess Zimbabwean or Mozambiquen nationals. Need less to say, all my kit taken, thankfully not shot or stabbed. (Have to add this thankful disclaimer in our country). Sadly, this has now totally changed my perspective about mountain biking in this beautiful country. Reason for the mail, is not to generate sympathy, but to warn all fellow cyclists about riding in this area, I was apparently the third to be robbed that afternoon, clearly this trail is very unsafe. Ride with all the pepper spray and batons you want, this is not the “Matrix”, you are not going to dodge any bullets with a gun point at your head. Kindly warn all cyclists about this route. Regards, Marcel |
| 11/11/2008 | Kelly Marnewick | Breedts Nek was nice training ride! Lots of climbing (as promised) where I got left behind as always!!! The weather was pretty miserable, but on the top of the moutain the mist was quite prety and felt a bit like Scotland - even thought the vis was probably round 50m. I want to go back on a clear day to see the view everone was talking about.To all those who got out of their cozy beds and trained, well done, Lance would have trained too. To all those who chickened out and stayed in bed, you missed out!!!! |
| 11/11/2008 | Don | From Craig Bracken - There is a lot of exciting riding in the Magasliesberg. The 3 day Cradle Quest (7-9 November) followed a varied route through a transformed green Magaliesberg shrouded in rain and cloud. The Friday (20 km) time trial went around Teak Place, along the boundary fences (going up the big hills the steeper way) and across / under the road through a culvert. Saturday (89km) from Van Gaalens went up the tar to the west and then left along the dirt (over that sort of pass) then right through a game reserve on the other side of the mountain above the Goat Trail, up and down along the top of the ridge almost to the satellite station before turning back down, then along the disused railway line to Hekpoort up over Breedt’s Neck on the road before descending into black rain clouds staining the sky to wet wandering single track and orchards near and then at Buffelspoort Dam in the rain to end eventually at the AKTV Resort. Sunday (79km) from the AKTV Resort predictably followed the Magaliesberg Monster route up to Buffelspoort Dam wall (bypassed Utopia and Mountain Sanctuary detours) and continued the Magaliesberg Monster route through Mountain Sanctuary (rocks formations shrouded in cloud cover) to come out on Breedt’s Neck, down the road towards Hekpoort but bypassing it and the tar through a chicken and game farm to come out at the far end of the dirt road to the west of Van Gaalens, another detour to go up against Magaliesberg ridge for another view of the valley before crossing the dirt road to the very wet Van Gaalens single-track. Of course the traveling time was still substantial. The cycling in fact took me as much time as the 3 day Cederberg Escape (24-26 October, 84/54/48km) where I was 12 hours behind Christoph Sauser (who took just under 8 hours), it was more technical this year and included an extreme 4x4 trail (the word road would be not be appropriate). I went to Eselfontein (as I was in Ceres afterwards) which it turns out is worth a special visit in itself. The 40km (can be extended to 70km) marked route has fabulous single-track (and remarkably hardly any farm roads), I have not seen that amount of single-track anywhere, ever. |
| 11/11/2008 | Keith | It was nice riding in a quiet and deserted (for a change) Groenkloof, in the mist and occasional drizzle. Mud riding skills were refreshed after the long dry winter. A good ride - saw 4 giraffe, buck and the grouchy wildebeest who must have got annoyed with us coming past, and decided to charge the next hapless riders who came along! |
| 11/10/2008 | Don | Groenkloof (slower group) - awesome technical riding in the mud, rocky climbs, flowing single tracks in the mist and rain. Apparantly one couple was charged by a wildebeest. Total distance 24.4km, total ascent 403m, average speed 9km/h with waiting. Everyone was a little nervous of the mud. No mishaps of note nor mechanical incidents. It was very quiet. Gautengers are afraid of the rain. |
| 11/10/2008 | Don | Kelly, According to the Bekker results he is Ken Mortimer - hasn't been a JMBC member as long as I have been involved with members. Many non-JMBC members have the old Astrolab shirts. I think he was in a 24Hour team a year or 2 back. |
| 11/7/2008 | Kelly Marnewick | Anyone seen the pic of the JMBC rider on pg 89 of the new Ride mag? |
| 11/6/2008 | Kelly Marnewick | We would have found it on Saturday too if the rest the group were not too lazy to ride there :-)!!!!!! |
| 11/5/2008 | Keith | Kelly, glad to hear that you did [eventually] find the hang gliding platform! :-P |
| 11/4/2008 | Kelly Marnewick | Dan and I did a jont effort of leading the Blue Group as we have not done any leading before. We did a little back tracking in the first few km's, but then it all went realtively well. Our land speed record going down the Kdp highway was 68km/hr - there was a head wind that was limiting :-). The King of the Mountain was a guest called Al who can ride up nearly anything - he rode the whole SMS hill except the slippery red ruts - he even did a bit of downhill bouler jumping at the retainer wall on the SMS hill - the rest of us ate jelly babies and clapped enthusiastically! We did a little extra loop to see the hang gliding platform and admire the views and enjoy a breeze. I took a photo there, will see if I can get it posted in the gallery. We unfortunatley bumped into some horrid motorbike guys who were very agressive and were riding through the veld - The top of Protea Ridge is proclaimed and has the same protection (on paper) as a National Park. There are also several Red Data species of plant that grow only on that ridge and nowhere else in the whole world! Please, please, we must always stick to the roads and encourage others to do the same. This allows us all to enjoy the area without damaging it - RESPECT!!! I love Protea Ridge, is probably one of the most pristine spots in Gauteng, the views are magnificant and the riding technical and tough. Thanks to all who organised the ride and to the Blue Group for being patient with the beginner leaders! |
| 11/4/2008 | Keith | Hello everyone, My name is Antoine Six and I live on Reunion Island, not too far from SA. This is a French Island with lots of mountains and one active volcano. I am a mountainbike addict like you guys and I started a Bike Tour Company here. I would be happy to welcome you and the members of JMBC here and show you around the fantastic landscapes of this island on our bikes ! Check out the web page in English for pictures and details www.bikereunion.com. There's even a mountainbiking video game! That would be great if you could pass on this info to your members and add the link to your website as well. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you as well. I hope to hear back from you and to see you soon in Reunion Island ! Good riding to you all ! Thanks ! Antoine |
| 11/2/2008 | Don | Protea Ridge (yellow group) - we started out with merged yellow/green groups. We took the group quickly into the technical 4X4 climbs with the green group opting for the easy route. After the descent into the basin, a puncture forced separation of the green and yellow groups. Many in both groups were finding the technical climbs quite tough. Down the tar of Krugersdorp Hill amongst the traffic we went and onto the single track out towards Phambili. This is an awesome fast flowing piece of single and jeep track. Then came a long climb up to the N14. Crossing over the N14 the group was shown the awful dumping area of household waste hidden in the trees at the foot of Krugersdorp Hill (someone must know how to complain about this to a place were it will have an effect). Next came the long trek up the concrete strips, sandstone and loose rocks of SMS hill back to the top of the ridge (this preferred to the tar of Krugersdorp Hill). Once back at the top of the ridge, we did a couple of loops with awesome lookout views. Then followed a fairly technical descent back into the suburbs. A final little sting in the tail of a hill claimed those who weren't in the right gear and back to the parking lot for Steers breakfast in a pita. Good hard riding - total distance 28km with a total ascent of 600m. Lots of places to ride out here. |
| 10/27/2008 | Don | Out the Front of Northern Farm (yellow group)- As stated by Keith, The rain forced us to abandon the planned routes for a less technical route. However, the route was not bad with a single track downhill which was not to be missed. Unfortunately, the yellow group left a few struggling riders behind to be swept up by the green group. They were even phoned to notify them. The green group simply did not turn up because they decided to go the wrong way round the loop. When we discovered what the green group had done, we dispatched two riders (Melody and James) across a short cut to find them but they had given up hope and left. Sorry for abandoning you guys, this is not the norm and we won't do it again. Ride group leaders, please make sure in advance as to which is the correct way round the route and the ride coordinators must endeavour to tell the ride leaders on the day. If we both try to do that, we won't repeat the same mistake again. This is South Africa and we must not leave riders out in the bundu. Total distance 38km, average speed 14.2km/h with waiting (that's quite a pace for yellow - cycling average must have been around 16km/h which is the bottom end of blue pace), total ascent 517m. |
| 10/27/2008 | Keith | a nice ride yesterday out the front of Northern Farm on an absolutely beautiful morning. The rainstorm the night before meant that the Jukskei was flowing too strongly to do the planned route involving two river crossings - but the alternative route was cool, the blue/red group even did two laps to get a second dose of that awesome downhill. I for one was not at all unhappy to miss the river crossings - that weir one (a.k.a. Keith's Splatse) is not my favourite place, no siree! |
| 10/20/2008 | Keith | de Deur - gotta agree with Don, it's awesome riding out there, one can hardly believe you are only 45 mins out of Jhb. Lots of wholesome wide open country, a lot of it not even fenced, with enough hills and technical bits to keep it interesting; 1000's of bluegum trees to ride in and through and around (and how's that clean fresh smell of damp bluegums after rain! in the same league as freshly baked bread - mmmm!). It was so good I even went off with James and Marius to do another loop (only realised a third of the way in, that these are two super-fit blue riders - but they were very gracious and waited for the old toppie to catch up! Thanks to Gerhard for sourcing and recce'ing this ride, from my point it's well worth the trip (and really, it's not much difference distance-wise to travelling out to van Gaalens). |
| 10/20/2008 | Don | De Deur Orange - y'all don't know what you missed - 86km from Fourways. What an awesome ride in pristine conditions. Lekker technical descent from the cross down towards the Town and Country race route. James had us all worried before we started but Judy showed the boys how to do it. Good one Judy!!! Lots of damaged egos. Did the distance and the rain scare you off - don't do it again - this is far better riding than in amongst the squatter camps and other urban rubbish. Make a lift club if distance and petrol is a problem. |
| 10/19/2008 | Coe | De Deur Green. Far to drive too, but once you start the ride and appreciate that there are no squatter camps, no building rubble sites, only country roads and some good single and jeep tracks. (Well worth the early morning call ). Due to the rain that fell on Saturday night made this ride very interesting and not just a ride in the park. The mud just after 6k's made our task a little more challanging but everyone survived and we had to stop to remove all the mud from the wheels and bike frame. No major problems except that I had to take a fall for the team - just nearing the end my front wheel hit a rather large rock turning into a corner resulting in the front to give way and for me to fall the other. No problem. Total distance was 22.5 km with an average of 12.1 kph excluding stops and a total ride time of 1h 52mins . This is a must ride in the near future |
| 10/9/2008 | Don | From Craig Bracken - Thabazimbi is recommended. Striking about the Kumba Iron Ore mountain bike event (4 October 2008) in Thabazimbi ("mountain of iron") is just how literal the title is. You cycle below the rust coloured mountains surrounding the venue which have been mined for decades. The sheer scale creates doubt about what is constructed and what is excavated. On one side there is a vast expanding apparently deposited rust covered mountainside extending the mountain (beyond the scale of a hill). The event is in the Ben Albert's Nature Reserve (accessed across a tarred mining truck highway) with the option of 1 or 2 of the 35km laps. A 3 leaf clover shaped route to get the distance, adapted from existing laid out MTB routes in the reserve. The route was fairly flat and features sand, short hills with loose rocks, bush single track through thorn trees, extra thorns, a riverbed and dirt roads with holes dug by warthogs much in evidence. For more wildlife there is memorable accommodation at Marakele National Park http://www.sanparks.org/parks/marakele/ 12 km away, literally (of course) no longer the "place of sheltering cattle". The camping site (conveniently close to the entrance tar road for cycling elsewhere) overlooks a waterhole. So you can sit by your tent looking out at half a dozen white rhino, a fish eagle and the rest of the bushveld cast. Drove up the spectacular tarred mountain pass to the communications relay tower (clearly a highpoint) which is supposed to be near the largest Cape Vulture Colony (in the world) but the distances are so enormous I was not sure which cliff it was. There were a few black eagles and probably a vulture circling about. The park also has a tented camp by a dam which is further in the reserve. |
| 10/9/2008 | Keith | a bike-jacking took place on the spruit yesterday, apparently :( happened around 5-30pm in Rivonia, just near the 12th Ave (Cowley Rd) bridge. |
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