Some Zebra & a Lion (park)

I trust the Xmas festivities, feasting and family time treated you all well … we had a full house of 16 at ours! Fun times. Karen, Molly and I did a quick lap around the neighbourhood delivering presents to long time family friends – not recorded on the Strava App for the challenge – who knows those 2 kilometres might be needed later!

 

 

I also snuck in a quick 1 hour burn just after the present unwrapping frenzy on Xmas day while everyone at home had a pre-feast sleep. Another go up Polly Shortts and Little Pollys. It was pretty warm – 33C or so but stood me in good stead for the feasting that followed.

 

 

 

Boxing Day followed, and perhaps after too much food and cheer the day before, my Dad – Chris – & I had agreed to go on a early morning ride with cousin Ryan – the muscles from Maritzburg. This would be his second proper bike ride – the first – from Durban to Pietermaritzburg – ended with a forlorn phone call about 25km from home after he misjudged the effort needed to ride a single speed from sea level to 880 m over 90km! So we kitted him out and at 550am we set off for the Lion Park. 40km later and he had learnt a few lessons on pacing – or how to go slow from me, and some un-cleating fundamentals from Chris. We saw zebra en route and some impala – always a thrill on a road ride.

 

 

 

 

Next up was family time at my brothers for the cousins to catch up. So Karen & I just managed to squeeze in a late afternoon MTB ride with Patrick Morewood of PYGA Industries. We all know Patrick has been building a new bike … but what we weren’t to know was that this would be its maiden voyage! In the glorious singletrack of the Hiton/Cedara forests Pat took his first pedal strokes on his new baby! And I got to have a couple of goes myself! While I can’t take specifics at this stage I can tell it looks good, rides great and has big wheels! Its always a privilege to see a first time ride of a new bike … and to see the guy who built it go for that first ride is even sweeter!

 

 

A few brandy and ginger beers followed back at Patrick’s and in the spirit of the spirits, I agreed to do a long ride in the morning with my Dad. 51km around the Dardanelles with an extra little loop down to the Lion Park again. Its always great to ride with my Dad … he’s the one who got me into cycling and his love for riding a bike has not diminished after all these years. And what’s best is at 68 he can still drop me on the rollers around the back of the loop … big ring Chris!

 

 

 

So another few days have passed on the challenge, I’ve had good family time, great riding time, with 6 rides in 4 days – and even caught up with an old mate as he dives headlong into a new revitalised career. Fun times.

More to come …

G

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