Unfortunately there has been a couple of muggings on Table mountain lately, so this morning there was an awareness ride on Tablemountain. The rationale behind it was to show the authorities that there a group of mountain bikers who rides Deer Park and the many contour paths. It would cool if some development of trails and the resources for law enforcement could be allocated to the Table Mountain side of the world and not just to Tokai and Cape Point. I missed the previous one in August so was really amped to do this.
Saturday was extremely hot, perfect beach day. Too bad I was in the office knee deep in month end reports. That raised my motivation levels even more. Luckily the temperature dropped and wind direction changed to NW. This does mean rain though, but I wasn't going to let a bit of rain stop me. There is no such thing as too cold, only insufficient clothing. I went with baggies for the ride, as I had no aspirations of racing and just wanted to get into the mountain and meet like minded people.
Alicia dropped me off at the parking at Kloof Nek, so I didn't have to thrash my way up via Kloof Nek road.
Table Mountain has two modes. Up and down. Both are rather steep and very rocky. Guaranteed hard work but also real fun. The ride went up to the first hairpin bend of Tablemountain rd and then promptly left the tar for gravel. Great! We were warned beforehand about a loop that was added that was technical and also optional. I promptly dove right in. I might have made a few people negative here as I bombed past them on the outside and over the rock slabs, but as the trail entered the singletrack I mellowed out. No point in trying to go past someone on a cruise ride.
The ride went over mostly gravel road, had lots of climbing,m very fast descents and a lot of thrills.
What I enjoyed the most was the people. Almost everyone was chatting and greeted back, and there was a good vibe on the mountain. One lady hike we passed asked us why there was so many MTBers on the mountain, so we managed to spread some awareness in the public's eyes as well.
I rode a good deal of the ride with a dude from Tokai, we bonded after he almost crashed into a pile of bricks after going slightly too fast on one of the downhills. He had an epic save though. We went down a couple of hair raising downhills, everything is rocky, and steep, and fast if you let go of the brakes. I passed a couple of dudes on the downhill, luckily it was almost all jeep track, but due to all the rocks I had to set up my lines and choose my braking points very carefully. It was epic fun, fat smiles and lots of adrenaline all round. At one point a rock got flicked up by the front wheel, deflecting it into the bush via my downtube. This dude thought it was my cell phone and stopped to pick it up. The vibe on the mountain was that good. We rode together chatting with the people around us, but at one stage the climb turned around and we headed straight into the wind. By this stage the wind was rough and clouds were covering most of the mountain. We knew we had to go up this one last climb to the end of Tablemountain road were there was a coffee stand and some Demo Scott bikes to be ridden. Great. We slogged up and rewarded ourselves with some amazing coffee. We were met by a huge police presence both in the mountain on quads, but also with a couple of police cars on Tablemountain road, as well as a police helicopter cruising by. It seems they also used this event as a show of force.
At this stage Awie, a mate of mine caught up and after smashing the coffee we headed home. At this stage we rode about 12km and climbed 550m. Like I said, Table Mountain is steep. Cruising back the mist enveloped us totally. The wind was pumping, blowing the clouds up the mountain, so we cruised around the mountain in the mist, dodging hikers, cars and the occasional bus, all spotted at a moments notice as it materialised out of the mist. This was not the time for high speed shenanigans.
Back at Kloofnek parking I decided to follow one of the singletracks I've heard rumours about. I found it and went down it, feeling like Alice looking down the rabbit hole as I had no idea where this was heading. I love exploring new singletrack and this one didn't disappoint, offering a thrilling, twisty trail that spat me out in Oranjezicht. From here I cruised down to Alicia's flat for another cup of coffee and some warmth.
All in all it was a really cool day out in the mountain, I discovered new trails, rode with some cool people, and drank way too much coffee.
I'm moving into town in a week's time. My new flatmate also rides, and is pretty strong. That and the fact that I'll be riding to work via Tablemountain most mornings is making me very excited. I can't wait. Now just to pack up all the junk I've collected over the last 6months. Not cool.
Ps: one day when I have a pc again I won't have to blog with my cellphone and I'll insert some pics as well.
Anyhoo... Happy trails everyone.
Vrede
Phlip
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