2nd Tango Cycling Ladies Ride

The Ladies Rides seemed to have taken off, 13 ladies joined on 3 August to explore Peaslake. 5 Brand new girls that has never been out with us before.

We met at Raynes Park station as before. Paula was so paranoid that her sister Karen was joining us before her that she just had to come and see what we were up to. She clearly didn't fit in with her road bike.



Paula slowly infiltrating the MTB-group

We did a quick check on tyre pressures and made sure that everybody shocks were unlocked this time.

We set off along the White Downs then followed Cycle route 22, had a scary road crossing at Abinger Hammer, up past Holmbury St Mary YHA to Yoghurt Potts, our first fun part of the day.

I was so proud of everybody and special kudos to Izelle who attempted it with almost no back brake. Some of us did Yoghurt Potts twice before we set off to Barry Knows Best. Angela had a bit of a crash on Yoghurt Potts, but she got back on her bike and soldiered on.

We then got to Barry Knows Best. I was a bit nervous about BKB, because the drop is a bit scary and I wasn't sure if I should warn people or if I should just leave them. I had to hang back a little bit to wait for Liezl and Ange to join us again, so I sent Bron and the girls off. As soon as Liezl arrived I carried on, because I was as worried as a mother hen with her chicks about my girls. Big was my surprise when I got to the drop that they discovered the chicken run on the right hand side. I didn't even know there was a chicken run. I was so relieved! :)

We descended and waited at the bottom for everyone. The next minute I looked up I saw Izelle hitting a tree. Panic struck as I said, "Liezl... Izelle just went into a tree!" Izelle was fine, she moved out of the way for a speed junkie and because she only had a front brake she grabbed it and went over her handlebars into the tree.

Tarynne with her slick wheels had the biggest smile on her face and was saying how much she enjoyed it.

We made a quick loo stop at Peaslake and got Izelle's bike sorted at the bike shop. It was so straight forward, only a little screw that had to be adjusted, if only we knew that, but now we know.

We went back via the flat route, through the Tunnel of Love to Tillings Tea Rooms in Gomshall where we spoiled ourselves with coffee, cool drink, sandwiches and cakes.

Parked off at Tillings

Mel chilling

Our Route:
We covered 35km. I felt so proud every time I looked around there was a long line of girls riding along. They are all pretty hardcore for doing 35km on most of their first ride ever and all deserve kudos.
http://www.strava.com/activities/71840936

Thank you's:
Great thanks to Letitia for making the circle bigger (who tagged 3 friends, Mel, Tarynne & Carrie along) and for Emily from Ireland who came along not knowing any of us. We met her boyfriend, Glen the week before in Peaslake and I told him that I was taking some girls out the next week. #networkingisking. Special thanks to Pokkeltjie aka Liezl van Zyl for co-leading so self-sacrificially. Thank you everybody for a fun day out!

Video:
The day was filled with banter at Paula's expense as Karen her sister came mountain biking before her. I've known Paula for a few years now and we have bumped into each other at Peaslake Village Store plenty of times. Paula on her road bike and myself on my mountain bike. I've tried all strategies to get her to join, I even started road riding and then Bron had the winning strategy. She convinced Karen to come along whilst we were in France so we had loads of fun taking small videos that we showed to Paula to stir the pot a little bit.

If the video doesn't work, you can use this link to see the video...

http://www.magisto.com/video/PE4bYUVWBzQpUhJgCzE

Some of the ladies requested tips on how to improve hill riding, so I thought I'll put my top tips down for you.

TC's TIPS for next time:

1. Ride as often as possible to build up some base fitness
2. Ride at your own pace up a hill, best not to try and keep up with the person in front of you as you are just burning yourself out quicker than you ought too
3. Use your gears, use a lighter gear and increase your cadence (cadence = the amount of pedal strokes you give per minute) so you might will feel like a hamster on a wheel, but you will get used to the technique and the benefit is that the quicker you learn this technique the more energy you will safe
4. Just keep on pedalling, you will get there even if it feels like you won't
5. Don't look at the top of the climb, keep your eyes in front of you and before you know it, you will be at the top
6. Sorry for the over share, but it is common knowledge in cycling circles, so think it is appropriate to go on this blog. Ride commando under your cycling shorts/tights - you don't need more rubbing than what is there already 

NEXT Rides make a note in your diary:

31 August 2013
5 October 2013
2 November 2013 (Yes we ride whatever the weather, there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing)

3 Days = 3 Rides = Bank Holiday Weekend!

25 May 2013 - Ride & Braai

The Ride

Box Hill Window

13 of us reported for riding on Saturday morning. We split into groups right from the start.
Hard core, Less Hard core & Fun groups. We all started with the steep climb round the back of Box Hill to the top. I led the Fun group (myself, Cecilia, Bron, Kyle & Mike). I was unable to find the entrance to China Pig, so instead we went down quite a steep descent, Kyle fell of his bike like a bag of potatoes, the sound effect was priceless as it was just a thud on the ground, he jumped straight back onto his bike and we continued. We got reprimanded by an auntie on a private farm that it is private land and no cycle track, she was rebuking us in a very kind way, we just apologised, cause in all honesty I couldn't find the trails that I was looking for. We dropped Mike at the station and found our way up to Leith Hill Tower by climbing up Summer Lightning. I love that route, it always bring back memories to when I first started riding, I relive all my moments of insecurities where I fell, unclipped or thought this is tough, so it is a huge confident booster whenever I do it.

Bron, Mike & Kyle

At the top of Leith Hill Tower we had the most amazing and biggest sausage roll ever! I am definitely going back for more soon! The teashop is under new management, the lady is not overly friendly, but the treats on offer make up for that.

Three of the A-Team ( The Van Niekerks & Rich) bumped into us at the Tower and joined us for our journey back to the station.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Hitting Summer Lightning hard with Stephné van Niekerk!
Steph and I love chasing each other down Summer Lightning. It is our ticket to ride 'varkerig' as we would say in Afrikaans. Summer Lightning divides naturally into 3 parts, so we take turns to go in the front. Today we had an absolute ball! We were gunning it whilst giving running commentary all the way down to the bottom. We rode so fast, that we had enough time for a 'bos piepie' before the others arrived. :)

The Braai

I prepared most of the side dishes on Friday evening as I knew space would be an issue once the 25 guests arrived. Most of today's riders, their better halves and friends who were unable to ride joined us for the braai. We had the obvious signature dishes of lamb chops and paptert on the menu accompanied by butternut, sweet potato, carrot, feta & cranberry salad. For pudding some people had braaied marshmallows on the fire or chocolate pudding with custard

Finally blessed with some sunshine

26 May 2013 - Swinley Forest

A lot of people have been talking about the new improved Swinley Forest. I've never been a huge fan of it in the past, but was keen to give it a try.

So my verdict is:

• They have done an amazing job on building a challenging blue run, in my opinion it is more advanced than other blue runs I've ridden before, so will give beginners a good feel for mountain biking and help build their confidence
• They have done a superb job on the berms!
• The red run is also good, there were two sections that gave your stomach that sinking feeling like when you drive over a short steep hill fast - I loved it!
• It was more challenging than what I expected
• Some people are still cycling in the wrong direction, this can be dangerous especially it is near some jumps and on a downhill where we got some oncoming traffic
• Signage is good, but could need a few more signs at a few corners especially the link from the blue to the red can be marked better
• It was fun and is especially great for people who want to do a quick ride and who don't know other routes that well or want to ride on their own and it is IDEAL for anyone with a family as the teashop and play area is any child's dream
• I don't want to do it every weekend as I prefer getting a bit more distance on the legs between single track sections, but it is a great for some variety every now and then

27 May 2013 - Dorking

Today we had the privilege to have the company of no other than Mr Gerhard Bonthuys, thoroughbred roadie as many of you would know. I met Gerhard the first time on a mountain bike ride last year, but has never seen him on his mtb since, I have however seen him on his road bike a lot and even had the courage to go on a few of their roadrides.

Myself, The Van Niekerks, Bonty, Pokkeltjie and Rich our token Brit was joined by Lizzie at Dorking station. Now in our circles if you mention that you've been riding with Lizzie it puts you automatically in another level of riding. She has a racing background and is known for her mountain bike skills and that she can out ride any male rider. Nervous levels were high before we even started riding.

We started off with the same steep back of Box Hill climb... WHY??? It takes me a good 20 minutes to warm up on every ride, this was a bad idea. This time we found the entrance to China Pig, we then went across to near Denbies Farm and climbed up past Tanners Hatch to Ranmore Common, stayed on the North Downs and down a steep section at White Downs onto the 22. From here we went the normal way over to Yoghurt Potts & BKB. We crossed the A24 head up past the fish farm over to the Volunteer, up past the YHA in Holmbury.

We had some tea, cheesestraws and other delicacies from The Peaslake Village Store before we took the 'flat route'  back to Dorking station. Pokkeltjie finally got her mojo back after she finally ate something and started enjoying the 2nd half of the ride. We have now excelled to another level of riding after we survived our first ride with Lizzie. Hehehe. :-)

Bonty seen on his MTB @ Peaslake!

Snow Riding

Picturesque Peaslake

It's been such a cold winter with so much snow. Not knowing if Summer will ever arrive we thought well at least with the snow we won't get wet. We as South Africans are the only people who still get excited when it snows in London. 

I ordered overshoes from Wiggle and they e-mailed me to say they can only deliver in April, well technically it should be Spring in April and they will be redundant by the time I receive them. Jason lend me a pair of his. 

The first time I rode in snow was last year with Simon, that was an experience in it's own. Riding in snow is hard work. It is such a weird consistency. Last year we were slipping in sliding a lot more as the snow was thick and lose. This year the snow was more compact and the consistency of a ski slope. It was awesome. 

Saam met die Van Niekerke

I wasn't that cold, I used some instant hand warmers that my cousin had left over from playing golf in the cold and was actually quite toasty, but my feet were ABSOLUTELY freezing and I even said to the others, I wish I could defer some of the heat to my toes, my ankles was warm, but my toes so cold that I was on the brink of tears. When I heard that they mentioned tea, I overruled the option to carry on riding, cause my feet was just so cold. 

A visit to Peaslake Village Store is always a highlight, but this time I was just so relieved to be there. I said hallo to Trudy, walked to the back of the shop and took the booties off just so that I can wiggle my toes. I discovered that my toes was literally on ice... The booties were to big, so the snow came in from underneath my shoe and formed a layer of ice. I'm not lost for words often, but my toes was so cold and started to defrost whilst I was having my tea at the bus stop in silence. :(

My poor tootsies were on ice

Tea at our usual Hangout

We went all over our local playground, it was totally different than normal. So serene, so quite, so peaceful. It was snowing softly all day and you were able to hear the snow falling... tap-tap-tap... It was so beautiful and a once-in-a-lifetime-experience. 

Video Footage compliments to Simon Osborne

Rich, our token Brit shows us in which gear you should ride in this weather - he is nuts

Steph & I on top of Pitch Hill

Albert on Barry Knows Best

Steph on Carpetland hanging onto Jason's tree

10 Riders, 9 Bikes?!

What better way to spend Bank Holiday Monday in the beloved Dorking...

3 of us hit out on the 8:43 train to Dorking, meeting us at the station is Darren & Amanda on a tandem mountain bike. This was the first time in my life that I've actually come so close to a tandem bike let alone ride one.

We (Cecilia, myself & Stephhe) met Amanda a few weeks prior at the start of Yoghurt Pots & she said that she would like to ride with us.

We took the Chalk Way down to the farm & connected with the 22, went down to Abinger, took the farm road down to the Volunteer & up to the car park at the bottom of the Telegraph. From there we took the bottom road with the 3 steep-short climbs over to BKB... Thankfully Zane came with & were able to keep up with this very capable duo, Liezl & I were catching up on some quality time & I was glad for her company as I was vrot from the previous day's ride through all the mud this mud island had to offer!

Hitting BKB I was trying to stay close enough to the tandem so I can see what happens when the 2 of them takes on the 2nd drop of BKB... Well I was in time to see how there heads disappear and off they went only for me to see them at the bottom again. Zane was saying how he was going flat out & they caught him right at the end.

Going into Peaslake, we met the  5 other riders that were joining us for our social ride. Lindie Gericke, Damian, Lee-Animal, Katy & Barry. An early teastop was in order & we sommer treated ourselves with an early cheese straw from Peaslake Village Store.

Amanda & Darren took us down some trails, some familiar, some not. It was at Yoghurt Potts that Darren asked me, "Do you want to have a go?" At first I wasn't sure what he was talking about & said yes before I knew what I said yes to. The next minute I was on the back of the tandem listening to his instructions as he briefed me.

Now if you have been cycling with me before you will know that Yoghurt Pots is my ultimate favourite trail... In all the years of mtb'ing, riding Yoghurt Pots after being away for a while, is like that welcome home feeling.

I have NEVER been down Yoghurt Potts so quickly. Sitting on the back of the tandem, not picking your own lines or steering your bike, listening (submitting) to instructions & following them was out of character for me, BUT with Darren clearly knowing what he WAS doing & giving such clear instructions (tree on your right - don't look at it, bump coming up, power & bail-bail-bail) , it was a ride of a lifetime. I LOVED it!

Zane & Liezl both also got a chance to have what we all thought in the beginning would be a piggyback ride at the back, we soon knew, that the backseat driver works as hard as the driver.




We went down to Peaslake for celebratory cakes & tea. Darren & Amanda took us back in to the station with a shortcut in the pouring rain.

Darren & Amanda is in a league of their own. They are lovely, humble, supportive, helpful & fun to be around with. They had so much time & patience for us & it was great to spend the day with them. Thank you so much for a memorable day.

From left to right: Leanne, Me, Zane, Liezl (Pokkeltjie), Darren, Katy, Amanda, Barry, Damian & Lindizwe