MuddX Intermediate ride at De Wildt - 26 July 2008

MuddX runs a Newbie ride at De Wildt every month. It’s an organised ride with marshals and catering and takes riders, regardless of their skill level, on a 45km guided loop through an are of De Wildt. These have been going on since February 2007 and have continued mainly due to popular demand (Steve taps himself on the shoulder). We have not been keen on running an intermediate event, specially after lessons learned last year in July when the first intermediate was hosted, simply because it is so difficult to tell what an intermediate rider’s fitness and skill levels are. Are they one notch up from newbie, or one below expert?

We did another one anyway, folks were asking so much that I decided to give it another whirl.

Well, what a great ride!

The riders were: Brad, Richard, Peter, Leon, Anfried, Keith, Brian, Justin, Renato, Tyrone, Anton (marshal), Tiaan (marshal), Steve (Marshal), and yours truly.

The route I planned took a lot of technnical riding into the start of the ride and then eased off. This was to make sure that the guys could get a taste of the technical stuff before they got too tired. So we left the hotel (had to wait about 10 minutes at the boom for a local funeral procession to pass) and headed along the normal newbie route to the start of the Coconuts/Long Rocks T-Junction road. This is where we changed it up! Up the T-Junction road and down Long Rocks.

It was really cool that a bunch of our usual ride buddies: Nolan, Sean, Andre, Etienne, Brad, Justin, Tom and others were riding their own style and route but in a similar direction, so besides hooking up with all of them for breakfast at the hotel before the ride (I strongly recommend this approach to a day’s riding at De Wildt), we also met them a couple of times on the ride. The base of Long Rock being the first.

From Long Rocks we rode down the the River Bed where the serious technical stuff kicked in since we stayed in the River Bed until the Coconuts exit. Unfortunately we lost three riders before we got to the Coconuts due to a nasty bale and fitness. However, those that left us got back to the hotel safely and happily.

 From the Coconuts exit, it was off to Big Tree, then the MX Section, then the trail to 3-Fences. Instead of 3-Fences, we opted for the Twisties given that the 3-Fences river bed is horrible during this time of year. Go figure…. 7km of river bed whooped out down to bedrock. Not pleasant! 3-Fences Shop saw us hook up with the rest of the breakfast crew again and it was all good times over a couple of beers listening to how they had tried to cut a new trail up the mountain between Aloes and the V. Much respect boys…. but not for me thank you.

After 3-Fences we headed back to the river and rode the banks of the river until we got to the point where we dropped into the River Bed from Long Rocks in the morning. A vote was taken on whether the guys wanted to continue up the River Bed again to conclude the ride by riding up Coconuts or to jump out of the bed at this point and head for the hotel. The majority voted technical!

And so it was. We rode up teh River Bed again, took the Coconuts exit and trailed up to the base of Coconuts. At this point I gave some basic tips on how to conquer Coconuts and headed up to the top. Everybody bar 1 got there on their own, some just took a bit longer than others. Renato…. good effort anyway bud (but I gotta tell ya… I hate walking down Cocos).

Back at the hotel it was the usual boerie rolls and beers which led to some really good and liquid socialising when the res of the breakfast crew arrived. However this was not before MuddX’s standard ride awars was given to Leon for really having an issue with staying upright on two wheels after the 3-Fences shop ;-). A close runner up was Peter who provided us with quality entertainment with the depth of mud he got his bike stuck in and the recruitment of half a township to get it out.

I’m sure I speak for everyone there on the day when I say “Another great day in Africa!!”

Photos to follow