Crash Boom Bang

At the beginning of the day I thought to myself, today won't be more fun or exciting than yesterday... LITTLE did I know what was about to happen.

 

Six of us started at Dorking Station. Today was an intermediate ride, so none of us were going to get away with a flat route, we were going to work and earn our tea & cake.

 

We started with the White Downs and connected with the 22. At Abinger, Marie stared at the cows and made a voluntary dive into the grass, we realised a noise on her back wheel shortly after her tumble. Liezl is an expert in v-brakes and quickly found the problem. The rim burst/split and was rubbing against the brake pads. She opened the brakes more and Marie was able to continue the ride with her front brake only. She was determined to be on this ride especially after the mission it was to get to Dorking on time. First she missed the train as they changed the platform at the last minute, then 'Spiertier' Willie fastened the quick release so tight that she couldn't get the front wheel off to put it in the back of her car. Her frustration gave her the extra strength she needed and she was able to join us in the end. 

Mechanics at work

We stayed on the 22 up to after Shere. We then followed the route crossing the train line and went up in the trevine/kloof. It is a bit of a longer, technical climb but with a nice gradient. That part of Peaslake is usually quiet and you feel totally removed from the rest of the world. I was so proud of everyone as we were all equally matched and sitting right on each others wheels.

 

At the top of this climb we (Pokkeltjie & myself) rewarded ourselves with some fun in 'Die Sloot/The Ditch' as we call it. The Ditch has 2 lines, one steep smooth line and one less steep, but rooty line. Pokkeltjie went for smooth and steep and I went for less steep & rooty. Liezl went first and as she finished she wanted to turn around and look what I did... By the time I stopped I spotted her flat on her back in the middle of the road, moaning and groaning. I instantly thought, collarbone... Luckily nothing was broken and the moaning & groaning was just attention seeking. :) We decided that we would like to get Liezl's style on video, so she had to have another go. She did it brilliantly again and even rounded it off with a nice jump. I had total brain failure and didn't get it on camera. Liezl then volunteered to go a 3rd time. I was starting to consider to try her line WHEN I spotted the little tree stump roundabouts where you would land when you come out of the jump.

 

Seconds after my last thought my tree stump fear happened. Liezl's back wheel landed on the tree stump and she got catapult over her handlebars! 3 seconds went by before her bike landed on top of her head as she was busy pushing herself up from the ground.

 

We were all shocked and very concerned. She was moaning and groaning, but moving and not to badly injured. A cut on her arm and some major bruising. We made a makeshift bandage with my arm/knee warmer and stopped the bleeding.

 

She did 'The Ditch' a fourth time and redeemed herself!

 

My nerves were hanging on a threat as we will say in Afrikaans as we continued, it could've been so different, but I am very greatful that she was fine. We moved across to Christmas Pudding & Carpet land for some single track action.

 

The sun, the leaves and weather was just amazing. Here Lara is styling!

Halfway down I heard something behind me and stopped. Sara came off her bike so we went to see if she was ok. Her bike landed on her and her leg got bruised, but she was ok. The right hand  gear casing from her bike broke off and was hanging lose. We tried to position it back on with a plaster, but it didn't quite hold. Two guys came passed us and I asked if they had ductape with them, they didn't, but the one offered his last cable tie to us. We managed after lots of faffing to tie it back on and just left her gears in a gear that she could stay in for the rest of the day... Middle ring front and middle back.

 

Bronwen, Lara, Marie, Sara & Pokkeltjie

After all of this drama we had a well-deserved tea break at Peaslake Village Store where Trudy offered us lots of TLC. We had a non-eventful but FAST return to Dorking station. A record 45 minute sprint via the flat route to Dorking Station and made the next train back with 5 minutes to spare.

 

I send our in-house nurse a text to ask if she was home as Pokkeltjie needed some medical attention. Nurse Saartjie was pleased to know that I was not the patient this time and she was ready with savlon, cotton wool and an extra dosage of TLC. I only had Mr Myprodol left in my TLC-cabinet and provided Pokkeltjie with some at church that evening. :)

 

Thank you Ladies, I had a ball despite all the mishaps along the way, it is all part of the adventure.

 

Check out our route:

http://www.strava.com/activities/87267693

 

Add-ons for my first-aid/essential-must-have kit in the future

1. Ductape

2. Cable ties

3. Pain killers

4. Plasters

 

In one of my previous blogs, "My Favourite Things" I mentioned Squirtlube I am now proud to announce that Squirtlube is sponsoring Tango Cycling. I will be handing out sample sizes when I see you next time. No more dirty hands when dealing with your chain, less time needed to wash your bike as you will never have to degrease your chain again is just some of the benefits when you use Squirtlube! #morefunforless

 

Future Rides:

 

20 October - Intermediate: Men & Women

2 - 3 November - Skills Weekend: Men & Women (note no ladies ride in November)

30 November - Beginners: Ladies

1 December 2013 - Intermediate: Ladies

 

Drop me a line if you would like to join us.

 

Try this link if the video doesn't work. http://www.magisto.com/video/bF4eaglWFDNsDxJhCzE?owner_login=1

Paula's Debut MTB ride!

Sunday, 11 August 2013 - This post is all about Paulatjie! 

Well as I mentioned in my previous blog post, it has been years of banter and begging before Paula finally decided to come mountain biking with us. I lowered myself to even ride and buy a road bike and she still didn't budge, but as soon as Bron convinced Karen to come along she was up for it. I e-mailed Paula to invite her along and when she replied with, "Thanks for the email and your thoughtfulness!" I expected something along the lines of BUT I have to train for the Haute route. Instead she replied with, "Yes, that sounds like a great plan!" I could not believe what I was seeing in black on white.

We had a whole build up to the actual ride, I told Paula that mountain biking is like the surfing of cycling and that she will have to blend in with the cool kids.

So yes Paula finally joined the cool mountain bike crowd on her inaugural ride.

As there were engineering works on the train lines, we went down to Peaslake with the cars and did loads of single track.

We were a group of 16 all competent riders even though some joined for the first time ever. Albert invited a few old faces along and it was great to have a more people than what I expected.

Gill, Jason, Jono, Bryan, Simon, TC, Paula, Glen, Louis, Annelize, Pokkeltjie, Albert and Nathan
Unfortunately Bron, Kyle & Duncan was fixing Duncan's flat

We took Paula first to the legendary and well known Yoghurt Pots. She was right behind me the first time and it was an absolute priceless event. She recently got the nickname, Scrat, as in the squirrel from Ice Age. It was hilarious hearing her go, Ehhhh or Uhhh at the top of every dip on Yoghurt Pots. I was constantly looking back to check if she was still on her bike. She looked and rode like a potential very good mountain biker! :)

Some of us did Yoghurt Pots four times before we decided to carry on to Barry Knows Best. Jono's phone unfortunately dropped out of his saddle bag and fell somewhere on the trail. After a lot of uhmmming and ahhing and faffing with the app, locate my phone we were going to leave him there and meet up later. I suddenly just thought this is NOT going to work, no cellphone coverage and someone who potentially don't know where they are or where they need to go, so I made the executive decision that we are all going to look for the phone.

Typically mountain bikers our efforts were a bit useless as we were too selfish to push our bikes and walk and look under ferns. I was riding my bike while dialling Jono's number constantly. We gave up and just as we were about to leave Jono behind with Albert's phone Kyle saved the day.

He was on his way down Yoghurt Pots when he pulled over to let a speedster pass him. As he jumped into the bush he saw Jono's phone and Bron even picked up a pound that fell from his saddle bag too. Jono was so relieved and rewarded Kyle with the pound!

We went over to Barry Knows Best and down to Peaslake and up through the Walking Bottom parking lot over to Christmas Pudding and Carpet Land. The trails were dry and running smoothly.

  

Coming down Carpet Land, Nathan, Bron, Jason & Liezl

We went back up on the tar road to do Secret Santa. As Paula was cycling up she got into road cycling mode and brushed wheels with Jono and fell on the tar. I helped her to get her chain back on and ran some water over her elbow before we went on to Secret Santa. We were all amused that she came off on the road and not on the trails. :-) Hope your hand heals quickly!

We did Secret Santa before we head back to Peaslake for a well deserved cup of tea and famous cheese straws!

Thank you Paula for finally joining the cool kids. You were styling! Also thank you to Glen our first Aussie, Nathan, Duncan and Gill, the Newbies who joined us for the first time!

Starring Paula & Karen Rutherfoord.

If the video doesn't work click on this link and I you will be able to watch it. http://www.magisto.com/video/O0AbPQBQS2phWhthCzE