Karoo to Coast with a difference

Mmm, took a bit of an alternate ride from Uniondale to Knysna, at the Karoo to Coast 2007 this morning as some form or glorified long ride. 100km across some bigger than expected ‘bumps’ to finish on the South Coast after starting somewhat inland.

(Destination: Knysna)

 For a start, my back brake pads went about 10km into the race yesterday, and I wasnt able to find replacements for this morning. Seemed I’d bent the one spring holding the pads in place though, and meant was better to just take the entire system out. I figured I’d be alright on just the fronts, but realised they were on their way out too.

Entered last night, into the last batch off for the morning, but we missed it, being on the later side of early, and I was the last person off in search of Knysna. Got stuck in a serious bottleneck heading up the first climb, riding a single file Que to the top. Must have passed near 1500 riders thereafter, till bout 10km out.

Luck must run dry at some stage. And eventually I had to drag my foot when the front brake faded. Gears stopped shifting after the rain came down, chain suck, and bent my chain a little. Was lucky to make it home after this.

 Had great fun though, and plenty better than a solo monotonous long ride. The course is fantastic, not technical but some great long fast flowing descents, change in riding surface and terrain going from arid land to indigenous forest, and although a ‘downhill’ ride, there are some testing climbs. Recommended.

 I further recommend having a set of working front brakes, waking up a little earlier, being on time, getting into a front bunch, and getting in before the rain sets in and while the showers still have hot water.  

Categories: Mountain Biking, News

Tags: Mountain Biking

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 23rd, 2007 at 9:51 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.