Well well, without the mudmonster on her team, and if you cheat a little, Ole Puffer (Or Little Suzie, more accurately ) is quite easy to beat.
But first things first. Thanks to some welcome late joiners, it was quite a sizeable pack that set off from Heuningklip Sasol – I think about 12 bikes – the usual suspects and mixture of makes and models.
We headed off to the old train graveyard to show some of the people who had no been there the trains, but were not allowed in:-
“Sorry, but the Transnet, she say you got to have the letter to come in,” so we headed off to the same crossing point we waited at last time, but this time with about 45mins to wait for the train.
We decided to send off the slower, lazy, impatient and babelaas riders first with a 30Min handicap. Chalsam and I set off with a 15Min start, and Jules, Justbiking and the other speedies were going to wait until the train arrived and leave with it.
But Suzie was in no hurry today. Chalsam and I reached the level crossing at Tarlton and Suzie was nowhere to be seen. We decided to backtrack to Tarlton, thinking that she must be waiting at the siding, but she had stopped up-rail from there. Just as we heard the train whistle I got a call from JustBiking in Magaliesburg asking where we were. It seems as if they had gone through and missed us.
For me it was great. I rode next to the train all the way from Tarlton to Orient where we zoomed ahead on tar getting to Magalies just as the train pulled in.
In the meantime the folks up ahead were understandably agitated after over an hour’s wait for us, and were keen to move on, so we set off on phase two of the ride, but unfortunately a nail in TravelGravel’s rear tyre just outside Magalies set us back a further 45 Minutes, and it was already 1:30 before we crested Breedt’s nek and after 2:00 by the time we reached the second service road on the Brits/Rustenburg line.
We rode about 20Km of that road, almost dead straight, but there are a few challenging bits where the vegetation, mostly stinky khakibos, seems intent on grabbing your handlebars and footpegs. There are also a few places where you ride on thick railway ballast and you just have to let the bike dance about underneath you.
From there onto the dry and dusty West Canal road and finally the tar at Harties, reaching O’Hagans after 3:30.
I don’t think I have ever enjoyed anything as much as the first drink out on their stoep.
A big thanks to the Dogs who came along today – I enjoyed it thoroughly, but I will sleep well tonight – I don’t know why it feels like we rode so far ?
The track we rode was precisely as planned at:-
https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=29832.0
But first things first. Thanks to some welcome late joiners, it was quite a sizeable pack that set off from Heuningklip Sasol – I think about 12 bikes – the usual suspects and mixture of makes and models.
We headed off to the old train graveyard to show some of the people who had no been there the trains, but were not allowed in:-
“Sorry, but the Transnet, she say you got to have the letter to come in,” so we headed off to the same crossing point we waited at last time, but this time with about 45mins to wait for the train.
We decided to send off the slower, lazy, impatient and babelaas riders first with a 30Min handicap. Chalsam and I set off with a 15Min start, and Jules, Justbiking and the other speedies were going to wait until the train arrived and leave with it.
But Suzie was in no hurry today. Chalsam and I reached the level crossing at Tarlton and Suzie was nowhere to be seen. We decided to backtrack to Tarlton, thinking that she must be waiting at the siding, but she had stopped up-rail from there. Just as we heard the train whistle I got a call from JustBiking in Magaliesburg asking where we were. It seems as if they had gone through and missed us.
For me it was great. I rode next to the train all the way from Tarlton to Orient where we zoomed ahead on tar getting to Magalies just as the train pulled in.
In the meantime the folks up ahead were understandably agitated after over an hour’s wait for us, and were keen to move on, so we set off on phase two of the ride, but unfortunately a nail in TravelGravel’s rear tyre just outside Magalies set us back a further 45 Minutes, and it was already 1:30 before we crested Breedt’s nek and after 2:00 by the time we reached the second service road on the Brits/Rustenburg line.
We rode about 20Km of that road, almost dead straight, but there are a few challenging bits where the vegetation, mostly stinky khakibos, seems intent on grabbing your handlebars and footpegs. There are also a few places where you ride on thick railway ballast and you just have to let the bike dance about underneath you.
From there onto the dry and dusty West Canal road and finally the tar at Harties, reaching O’Hagans after 3:30.
I don’t think I have ever enjoyed anything as much as the first drink out on their stoep.
A big thanks to the Dogs who came along today – I enjoyed it thoroughly, but I will sleep well tonight – I don’t know why it feels like we rode so far ?
The track we rode was precisely as planned at:-
https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=29832.0
ot: 
