In this Issue:

From the Editor ...... 1 2021 MTB News ...... 2 - 4

Ride Reports ...... 2-4 3 BW Spring Ride ...... 5 Vive le Tour & Upcomign Events ...... 6

There are 24 days left before the Big 5 Spring Ride. This is a NOT TO BE MISSED Club event, and we are hoping to have as many BWs out in the Midlands as possible. For those who have been training hard, and for those who have not, we will be managing group sizes as well as ensuring each group has an experienced group The last official Polar Bear ride leader and back up for 2021 vehicle with support. Ensuring Rider Safety is a priority. All are welcome to join us. Please read all the details later in the BT and follow the link to book your spot. Well done to our Polar Bears who held their last official winter ride together on Thursday 26 August. Under the astute leadership of the Polar Bear King, a small strong core group have stayed committed and ridden through winter on some very cold days. A number of not so brave but enthusiastic bears have joined them for some of the rides. For those who have forgotten – the term for a group of

polar bears is a Celebration, and there has been much celebrating. Thank you especially for Cornel and to CoffeeBox (Mark and Con) y… B for the much appreciated early morning coffees. Thank you to Rich, Chris, Rod, Bobby and Cornel for contributions to this issue of the BT. Stay safe & sane, owered

Mustang P

BURG TALK | 34-2021 Richard Krusekopf

Ride Reports Saturday morning was good to ride and the C and D groups both did a tour out to Thurlow via slightly different routes though. The F group had agreed not to ride and from next weekend will be back in the safe hands of Gordon again. Thanks for standing in Jumbo.

Attakwas Extreme The six local riders all finished strongly and we will be hearing more about this in next week’s BT

ICE Reminder to make sure you have yours in place and on you when riding.

Lights For safety, whenever on public roads. This request goes hand in hand with the above ICE message.

Timber Harvesting & Fire Season Harvesting is ongoing. Please respect their trail and Chris Greene road closures during this period. Riders: Charles Hughes, Angus Macinnes, Richard K, Be on the lookout for any trail closures with regard Clive Deacon, Dylan Evans, Pierŕe vd Merwe, Chris to burning firebreaks. Be vigilant while in the forests and Greene, Dave Davie, Grant Gifford, Alison Rowland. make sure you know how to get out. Following Mark’s 1st ever fall (caused by soft earth), the firsts continue. Dylan arrived early and of concern, Club Rides Grant had an off day which I have never seen before. It The Wednesday rides will leave from X-ways at the wasn’t a first for an A Group rider to join the popular C’s SUMMER start time of 15:30. and show how slow we can be, but awesome to have This Saturday the C, D and F groups will be riding Dave on the ride. from Hilton Quarry Centre at the winter start time of It was great to have Alison back albeit not happy 7:00. The summer 6:30 starts from 4 September. Further about the Lions results. Coincidently Dylan has missed details will be found on relevant WhatsApp chats. the same number of rides. Contact me if you would like to be added to the MTB On with the ride report with the aim of all riders groups. staying together for the whole ride. Richard has mastered this and lately helped Mark achieve this easy Club Hill Climb feat. The Worlds View Hill Climb Challenge ran its course Leaving the Quarry we headed into the pleasant leafy during July. Although the challenge ended in July, the lanes of Olde Hilton, accessing Kim’s way down Hillside marked course will remain for all to ride. Road. Wet roots through this section were almost a pleasant experience compared to the dust of previous Spring Ride weeks. The rain had done a good job to quell the dust 18th Sep has been designated a suitable date for a and reduce the minors cough everyone was getting Club Spring outing. There will be two MTB rides, a 65km after the rides. and a 40km. The 65km will follow railway service roads Down Daan’s demise (he still doesn’t remember), up and gravel while the 40km loop will essentially be a the other side, past Mark’s favourite left turn, into gravel ride. If you are keen to ride, let me know. The BW Cedara like an arrow true to its mark, Richard aimed us gazebo will be set up at N2 for after ride drinks and at Heart Break Hill. The group stayed together so Pierre snacks.

BURG TALK | 34-2021 could point out rescue corner (again). From here the group always separates. A clever strategy, created out of jealousy was set up to block Angus from racing to the top and winning the king of the mountain. Four abreast we held him back for forty metres, however if you have ever watched Braveheart you will know ‘aggression’ is a Scotsman’s middle name and like a bowling ball he bashed his way through our gentleman’s barrier and raced off. After that we took the goat track through to Thurlow. Dicing with Taxis across the Mpophomeni highway helps get the adrenaline pumping. Everyone masked up to pass the guard into Midmar. It was with some surprise she stayed seated in her comfortable chair and didn’t come out to great us. Alison had showed no aggression to this point so there was no need to fear us. Dave, wary of us loafing set a fast pace that had the Zebra’s panicking. There were just enough Arriving at the Quarry to find Mark was waiting to see if left for Alison to get some photo’s. The Selfie shot (more we had brought his wife back in one piece. training from Andre needed) carefully blocked out our Distance 50km, Elevation 714m, Time 3hrs, Calories leader-Richard, Clive and Dylan. I never heard what they 1480. Join the D group if you want to do more than this. had said about Mark being too soft to ride with a Moonboot. It is no co-incidence that the flowers of Namaqualand are blooming, and our normal leader is absent for the flowering period. How does a macho leader tell his group he wants to have a break to go and look at some flowers? (There must be a joke in that) Climbing up to the start of the Serengeti loop we passed some twitchers watching crowned cranes. At the top the writer briefly stopped to take photos for the D Group. The C group took no notice of this courteous gesture and in no time had completed the Serengeti Loup without the writer. Notwithstanding the writer had to make up a story about his absence and was forgiven with no sarcastic comments or retribution. Clearly, it should be asked ‘does Richard need a lesson from Mark on how to keep the group together’. We left Midmar to its beautiful setting and headed home back the route we came, Charles and Clive showing strong fitness. They had both missed a few rides and clearly had fitted in some extra training to stay Rod Blake with the group. (Rumour has it Richard is setting up the Same ride as C group – just 2kms further! Worlds view circuit as qualification criteria for C group Lesley, Andy, Ritchie E, Liz Burdac and myself rode. rides) Stats 52km avg 15.5km After Cedara we rode back on the loop above the No technicals, no wipe outs, even though we did a Vlei into Mallory rd. Grant pointed out that all the roads longer distance and everybody enjoyed the ride, in this area have something to do with Mount Everest. although a bit out of the comfort zone for a few but no pain no gain.

BURG TALK | 34-2021 attended to. Tony had to return home early so Cornel and BN ventured on to the end of the Dargle Rd. BN offered to take the final photo on the Umgeni Bridge but Cornel decided that, after viewing the photo, BN didn’t have the height to include a view of the river so he, very tactfully suggested that they try a selfie, taken by him. [I guess that’s the long and the short of it. Cornel’s arms have been likened to God’s Selfie Sticks. Mostly by Him. Assuming His Selfie Sticks be pale and crooked, with lecherous paws at both ends.]

Bobby Nefdt (and a PB friend) Ride specs: Distance: 115,7 km; Ave Speed: 23,1 km/h; Elev Gain: 2 147 m; Time: 5:00:25 The PB’s were a little thin on the ground this Saturday with only Tony and Cornel leaving from the Coffeebox at 05:30, meeting up After that brief stop we headed back for home, with Wynand at Crossways and BN, who rode in from meeting up with Wynand whose bike had been sorted. Howick, just before Rotunda. The temperature was fairly [We also saw many other Burg Wheelers along the mild, dropping briefly to 4°C near Cedara, but rising to taxing Dargle Road]. a comfortable 18°C. The route was to be from Preparation for the Big Five Spring Ride is looking Coffeebox, through Hilton, past Piggly Wiggly, turning good. [We deserve our fate.] just past the top of Happy Hill. After Happy Hill we were to retrace our steps to Piggly Wiggly and turn onto the Dargle Rd and ride to the end of the tar for our final ‘Bridge shoot’. The pace was comfortable throughout the ride but Cornel was keen to highlight the bridges along the route by ensuring that we stopped at 4 of them for group photos [and inept metaphors pertaining to my beloved card game Bridge.] We crossed the Umgeni River and Lions River upstream and downstream, and could easily add the Msunduzi River as well by merely doubling the distance. (Perhaps a bridge too far?) Wynand had to stop twice to adjust the height of his seatpost which was dropping a few cm’s every 30min or so. After his second [abridged] stop along the Dargle Rd he decided to return to the bike shop at Piggly Wiggly to have his seatpost

BURG TALK | 34-2021 For those who have been training through winter, and also for those who haven’t, we are planning a Spring Ride on Saturday 18 September. This would have been our Club race date so hopefully you have the date marked in your diaries – but if not – please Save the Date now. The ride is open to everyone and you can choose to do as many of the legs of the route as you wish. The full route is 220km; although there will be a number of different groups, at staggered starting times, each with a group leader and backup support. We have named our Spring Ride -The Big 5. So what are the BW Big Five? First - Old Howick Road - (The Elephant, for the hardcore okes, get it out of the way first) Second - Nottingham Road - (The Leopard, quick recovery, before traffic gets too busy) Third - Dargle Road - (The wounded buffalo, just get it over with) Fourth - Curry’s Post - (The Rhino, watch out for the front end, nice return for some recovery) Fifth - Karkloof Road - (The Hippo, slow and steady but no sudden movements) Finally - The Polar Bear - (If you’re still riding, Rotunda awaits....) If we cannot ride on Saturday 18 Sept we will move it to Sunday 19 Sept.

ROUTE OPTIONS

Road: • 40km starting 06:30 • 80km starting 06:00 • 130km starting 05:30 • 180km starting 05:00 • 220km starting 04:30

MTB: • 40km starting 07:15 • 65km starting 07:00

To reply, please complete the booking form as soon as possible from this link: https://form.123formbuilder.com/5970071/form

We want to have as many BW out in the midlands as possible.

BURG TALK | 34-2021 Snippet #31 Roger the Dodger Dates: 8-28 July 1956 No. of stages: 22 Stages, Dist: 4 498 km Race Date: 10 October 2021. The 1956 was wide open with no previous winners taking part. This particular year the Race Date: 28 November 2021 average speed for the race this year was also the fastest Entries open 2 August 2021, Entries limited to 4000 experienced at over 36 km/h. One significant change to the race this year was that previously flat tyres had been repaired whereas this year the organisers allowed flat Race Date: 24 October wheels to be changed. To win the Tour de France is a Entries are open @ https://www.shova.co.za/ monumental achievement in any circumstances, which is why you have to feel sorry for Roger Walkowiak of Information on upcoming races can also be found France, who triumphed in 1956. Surely in the history of on the KZN Cycling website. the race there cannot have been a winner so universally https://kzncycling.co.za/ dismissed as unworthy of the title. Okay, he did it without winning a single stage - but he was hardly the first to manage that. It was hardly Walkowiak’s fault that the favorite such as Luxembourg’s Charlie Gaul, Stan Ockers of Belgium, and of Spain were far too busy battling for the jersey to bother with the general classification. Walkowiak was unfortunate because the 1956 tour had been shorn of the great heroes of cycling with the withdrawal of three times winner , an aging former champion Coppi, Kübler and Koblet. With the exception of Bobet it's unlikely that any of them would have been in the frame for the Tour victory, but this did not stop the critics blaming Walkowiak for winning the Tour that nobody else seemingly wanted to win.

Congratulations to Wade Harris (son of BW member Alec Harris) who finished the epic Burra 500 in 2nd place over the weekend.

BURG TALK | 34-2021