Wow !
I was expecting a turnout of six to eight bikes to chase the train to Magaliesburg – I knew there would be three or four of us at Maraisburg Station, to see Dakota’s boys off (our on-train observers and locators) and I expected to pick up a couple more at the regroup point where we headed onto the Gravel bits outside Krugersdorp, but the party swelled to about ten bikes at the start, and I was delighted to see a whole pack of at least another ten at the regroup point.
So a total of about twenty bikes. I count eighteen people in the team photo, but there were two guys who did not want to be in the photo.
(I suspect they told their wives that they were going to the Chinese Massage Parlour, and were really riding bikes, and did not want to get caught out.)
ot:
So we saw the boys onto the train at Maraisburg.
The pack gathering
The day trippers waiting for the train – train takes about 400 and it was full
We waited for the train, and were delighted to see that I was wrong is saying it was a diesel, when in fact it was a beautifully maintained and shining steam train.
I lead the pack with very little expertise to the regroup point. We phoned the boys to find that they had only made half the distance to Krugersdorp, so we had quite a bit of time to kill so off to the old train graveyard.
And a team photo.
And from there to the first crossing to wait for the train.
We decided to split the pack in two, with Jules leading a faster group, and me keeping with the slower group.
The Slow group did not make it more than a Km or two before the mudmonster took his first and only victim – Travel Gravel who did an extremely elegant side-dismount in some slushy chocolate-coloured mud.
A bit of metal straightening and we were on the road, but the train and the fast group were nowhere to be seen. In fact I never saw the train again as it was quite slow going at the back with many puddles to dodge and quite a few twists and turns in the track.
I believe from Jules that they just beat the train to Magalies, but only because the train stopped a few times on the way.
When the slower and muddied group made it about an hour later, the speedies had organized a pleasant spot for us under the trees at the Magaliesburg Hotel from where the pack split up at different times and in different directions.
** due to bribery and corruption and unpublishable pictures of muddy ladies, the remainder of the post has been deleted **
I was expecting a turnout of six to eight bikes to chase the train to Magaliesburg – I knew there would be three or four of us at Maraisburg Station, to see Dakota’s boys off (our on-train observers and locators) and I expected to pick up a couple more at the regroup point where we headed onto the Gravel bits outside Krugersdorp, but the party swelled to about ten bikes at the start, and I was delighted to see a whole pack of at least another ten at the regroup point.
So a total of about twenty bikes. I count eighteen people in the team photo, but there were two guys who did not want to be in the photo.
(I suspect they told their wives that they were going to the Chinese Massage Parlour, and were really riding bikes, and did not want to get caught out.)
ot:So we saw the boys onto the train at Maraisburg.
The pack gathering
The day trippers waiting for the train – train takes about 400 and it was full
We waited for the train, and were delighted to see that I was wrong is saying it was a diesel, when in fact it was a beautifully maintained and shining steam train.
I lead the pack with very little expertise to the regroup point. We phoned the boys to find that they had only made half the distance to Krugersdorp, so we had quite a bit of time to kill so off to the old train graveyard.
And a team photo.
And from there to the first crossing to wait for the train.
We decided to split the pack in two, with Jules leading a faster group, and me keeping with the slower group.
The Slow group did not make it more than a Km or two before the mudmonster took his first and only victim – Travel Gravel who did an extremely elegant side-dismount in some slushy chocolate-coloured mud.
A bit of metal straightening and we were on the road, but the train and the fast group were nowhere to be seen. In fact I never saw the train again as it was quite slow going at the back with many puddles to dodge and quite a few twists and turns in the track.
I believe from Jules that they just beat the train to Magalies, but only because the train stopped a few times on the way.
When the slower and muddied group made it about an hour later, the speedies had organized a pleasant spot for us under the trees at the Magaliesburg Hotel from where the pack split up at different times and in different directions.
** due to bribery and corruption and unpublishable pictures of muddy ladies, the remainder of the post has been deleted **
