So I decided to do the Sun City Ride, solo, starting on Friday, 27 March 2015.
This would be a recce ride in order to evaluate the degree of difficulty for my lazy arsed buddies.
People show a fair amount of interest in doing the ride, whilst sitting in the pub at the Troyville, but I have it on good authority, that not much training is taking place outside of the confines of the pub.
Some of my mates have very little or no cycling fitness or off-road experience and taking them on the mother of all rides, will probably put them off cycling for good. This I don't want to do.
I'm hoping that this will be the first of many short touring rides with my beer drinking buddies.
I left home at 8h30, after seeing my wife off. She had to work. Shame!
From my house in Blairgowrie, I ride on designated cycle tracks, pavements and road verges etc and I'm able to avoid tar almost completely. My route takes me past the old Five Star Driving, the Honeyrock Motel, the Sandspruit informal settlement, Gilroy's pub and out towards the Cradle.
At the T-junction and first major traffic circle at the top of the ride you turn right and cross the Lanseria road (R512) onto the first bit of true single track.
This gets one to the first stop at the Home of the Chicken Pie at about 36km.
All riding up until this point is easy.
View from the patio of the Home of the Chicken Pie.
The next stretch measures about 11.5km and consists of single track that runs along the right side of the R512, from the Chicken Pie up to a great little Portuguese Restaurant and motel called Nikita.
Single Track running along the R512
More of the same.
This section, although short, is technically the most challenging part of the day's ride. Even experienced riders will have to portage some of the rocky step ups and negotiate challenging drop offs. Riders with fair technical skills will be able to ride all but about a few hundred meters. I recommend that newbie riders err on the side of caution and walk more of this stretch than they feel necessary. Wasting energy just to prove a point may result in complete exhaustion.
Proof:: My mate Liam visiting a dark place when doing this stretch in February.
Having recovered enough, Liam now shows his appreciation of mountain biking.
There was a fair amount of long grass flanking both sides of the single track, making riding less than pleasant. Riders suffering from hay fever would have had a torrid time.
It then dawned on me that summer was not a good time to be doing this journey.
This ride is best tackled mid winter or early spring.
Nikita is a great place for the next stop. The beer is cold, the Portuguese cuisine is almost as good as Manny's at the Troyville and the setting is pleasant. On most Sunday's there will be a musician plying his or her trade.
The name, Nikita, comes from an alcoholic drink which has pineapple as its main ingredient.Nice!
From here we head back across the 512 into the hills in order to avoid the tar road and we end up crossing the R560 for some nice riding with beautiful countryside that runs along the Crocodile River, heading in a Northerly direction.
Riding along the river opposite Roos se Oord
I was not sure of this big fella's intention, but he let me pass.
Some of the Villa's at Isle de Afrique can be seen looking down the valley below
Final climb to the top of hill before seeing Harties
Concrete strip road down to the old disused railway bridge
You have to walk across the bridge and head for Schoemansville
I had to take shelter from the thunderstorm at a filling station just outside the village and I spent an hour there waiting for it to subside. It was chucking it down.
Another reason to avoid this trip during the summer months. The lightning can be off putting.
Had a pizza and some wine in this little place opposite the Hartebeestpoort Zoo.
Stayed at the Squires motel and popped into the pub for a craft beer. The place was pumping!!
When I do this trip with my buddies, we will definitely pop in here to end day 1 with a bit of a shindig.
Total riding for Day1 only about 75km's.
Total riding for Day1 only about 75km's.
Day 2 - Harties 2 Sundowner Lodge
Day 2 started at 6h00, as I headed for the tunnel and on towards the start of the canals on the lower side of the dam wall.
Day 3 - Sundowner 2 Magaliesburg.
The total distance to Sun City would have been about 200km. This is also a good training ride, if done non stop. Suitable for long distance events, such as the 36One, Ride2Rhodes, Dash2Durbs etc.
My next event was to be the Dash2Durban, an event that would be predominantly on tar.
With this in mind, I decided to ride home via Rustenburg and Magaliesburg along the tar.
Day 2 started at 6h00, as I headed for the tunnel and on towards the start of the canals on the lower side of the dam wall.
The Tunnel
Some of this water would end up in the canals along which I would travel.
First sighting of the canals with the service road along which one travels for about 24km's
Reason no.3 for not doing this ride in summer: this service road was wet and spongy. More so than most other dirt roads I have ridden in the past. I wasted bout an hour and a half washing mud of my drive train and other wearing parts. In winter, this will be perfect hard pack to ride on.
Next photo opportunity of this vehicle will show a few of my buddies hanging from the windows having a dop.
So you travel along with this until you hit the railway line. Take a left and pedal for a very long time.
The service road along the railway line is flat. Very flat and it carries on for ever. Not the most inspiring riding, but this ride is about getting to Sun City and being able to talk about it in a pub afterwards.
Its the dirt road on the right of the picture.
Eventually, 50km, you pass the village of Marikana. I stopped for a quart, bought from this bottle store and had a chat with an old cobbler, Edgar and his friend. They battle to understand why anyone would want to cycle this far and consider it fun.
This was his friends reaction when I told her that back home I would be considered quite a catch.
Rustenberg was the next stop at a further 30km.
From there I followed the service road again, to just short of Sun City. My wife called and suggested I confirm accommodation at Sun City. Luckily I did. There was none. School holidays and a beauty show had packed the place out.
I headed for the Sundowner Ranch, turning away 12km short of Sun City.
They had room at the inn.
The pub was festive. I met a cowboy and 4 bushies. They insisted that they were bushies and I was Larny.
They were busy with the establishment of a new mine just opposite the Sundowner and stayed, as permanent guest, in the old chalets.
Entertaining chaps the 4 of them. We had a few bloody Mary's, sang some old songs and had a great time.
Finally, they agreed that I would be allowed to go to bed.
From there I followed the service road again, to just short of Sun City. My wife called and suggested I confirm accommodation at Sun City. Luckily I did. There was none. School holidays and a beauty show had packed the place out.
I headed for the Sundowner Ranch, turning away 12km short of Sun City.
They had room at the inn.
The pub was festive. I met a cowboy and 4 bushies. They insisted that they were bushies and I was Larny.
They were busy with the establishment of a new mine just opposite the Sundowner and stayed, as permanent guest, in the old chalets.
Entertaining chaps the 4 of them. We had a few bloody Mary's, sang some old songs and had a great time.
Finally, they agreed that I would be allowed to go to bed.
The Cowboy also worked on the mine. He is from Deneysville.
Day 3 - Sundowner 2 Magaliesburg.
The total distance to Sun City would have been about 200km. This is also a good training ride, if done non stop. Suitable for long distance events, such as the 36One, Ride2Rhodes, Dash2Durbs etc.
My next event was to be the Dash2Durban, an event that would be predominantly on tar.
With this in mind, I decided to ride home via Rustenburg and Magaliesburg along the tar.
Surprisingly bike friendly is Rustenburg.They have quite a few km's of designated cycle track.
The road out of Rustendburg towards the Olifantsnek dam has a nice little stretch of single track running alongside the tar road.
Olifantsnek dam is en route and is impressive. There is a German brewery on the one side, but I felt it best to stay focused on the ride. I gave it a miss.
Shortly before Magaliesburg, I found this quiet little pub. Spent some time with the locals and left for the final stretch of my journey having wasted 2 hours listing to their stories.
The road out of Rustendburg towards the Olifantsnek dam has a nice little stretch of single track running alongside the tar road.
Olifantsnek dam is en route and is impressive. There is a German brewery on the one side, but I felt it best to stay focused on the ride. I gave it a miss.
Shortly before Magaliesburg, I found this quiet little pub. Spent some time with the locals and left for the final stretch of my journey having wasted 2 hours listing to their stories.
In Magaliesburg I called my wife to come and have supper with me at the Valley Lodge and to give me a lift home. The Valley Lodge is worth a visit. Upmarket with good food and all manor of animals roaming around.
A nice way to end a ride.
So it was. Now to fine tune the route and to motivate my friends to start training.
A nice way to end a ride.
So it was. Now to fine tune the route and to motivate my friends to start training.
