3 years 10 000km and still an awesome bicycle! 26" Mongoose Canaan Team

I bought my Mongoose Canaan Team three years ago from a friend who had owned it for about a year before that. It is a super bike. Since I have owned it I have done an average of 3000km of awesome mountainbiking a year on this lovely bike! Sure, there are newer and fancier bikes on the market, but this one suits me just fine!

Yesterday I did a lovely 45 km ride along the Helderberg - Schapenberg Black route (including Hans se Kop). The 26" wheels can handle the tightest of corners and the most technical of terrain. I will be doing my fourth Wines2Whales stage race on it this year. I love it! I am so grateful!

My time on the bike is often spent alone. I pray, reflect work out solutions to challenges, change my attitude about people and things that I have not been engaging appropriately... And of course it is good for my health! Since having a bad motorcycle accident in 2008 cycling has been a wonderful way to stay fit, enjoy nature and strengthen my leg (which was badly broken requiring pins and screws, and a form of exercise that was low impact).

The fire on the Helderberg Mountain, Somerset West

This morning a fire broke out in the Helderberg Nature reserve.  From what I have heard it started at around 8am.  Unfortunately the vegitation in our area is extremely dry at this time of the year - our rainfail comes in winter.  That, accompanied with the very strong South Easterly winds is a recipe for dissaster.  The fire quickly spread across the side of the mountain.  By lunch time there were 4 helicopters and 2 crop-duster planes trying to put out the fire.  In addition I heard that somewhere between 80 and 250 firefighters and volunteers were on the mountain trying to stem the spread of the fire.

I'm not sure how many homes have burnt down.  There are man different rumours about how many have burnt down.

One of my photos was used in the Times Online article today. The article gives some more information about the fires.

Below are a series of photos - most of them were taken by my wife, Megan.

This photo was taken from my friend Graham Power's home at about 8pm this evening.

I took the photo below with my iPhone when I went cycling this afternoon. It shows the width of the fire.  From here it 'hopped' around the left hand side of the mountain towards Stellenbosch (along the R44).

Here are some photos taken by Megan of the helicopters and planes tryinig to put out the worst of the blaze.

In this picture you can see one of the helicopters scooping water from a dam at the bottom of the nature reserve.

This is one of the two crop dusting planes that also pitched in to help.

Please spare a prayer for the firefighters and those who have evacuated their homes, and those who may have lost homes and possessions.

All the gory details!

Yesterday my friends Greg (@gregbeliever) and Ruan (not on twitter!) and I (@digitaldion) did an EPIC mountainbike ride from Somerset West to Stellebosch (on the mountains), and back.

Ruan had to turn back a bit early (I think at about 30km's), but Greg and I did 60km's in total, mostly on the mountains above Somerset West and Stellenbosch.  It was great fun!  There were many parts where we had no roads or tracks to ride - we simply road through the bushes, and at times pushed our bikes, and even had to 'hike' them over our shoulders.  Yes, there were one or two spots where we had to jump a boundary fence!

We left at 13.30 and eventually got back home in Somerset West at 19.30 - 60km's in 6 hours!  Not exactly a world record for speed, but definitely a ride of a lifetime.

It was great to share the experience with Greg - he and I are both deeply committed Christians.  So, we had lots of time to talk, pray and give thanks, and just celebrate being healthy, alive, and riding in one of the most beautiful settings in the world.

It is a great varied ride; some tar, some good jeep track (with lots of climbing), some technical single track, some VERY technical single track (in Eden and Paradyskloof - hectic, steep, rocky downhill!), and some bush with no road in sight!  So cool!

Well, if you're interested in following the route in Google earth you can download the file here (right click and save it if you're on windows, control click it if you're on a mac).  Firefox seems think it is a text file and open it in the browser instead of saving it to open in Google Earth.  Not sure why.

There was some spectacular scenery along the way! My goodness!  At one point we ended up on this farm (I'm still not entirely sure where it is - somewhere behind Avontuur farm).  Isn't this view amazing?

If you're interested in the 'inner workings' of my heart this image below shows my heartrate throughout the ride - I snapped this one at my highest point (166bpm - not too bad for such a long ride!)

A friend asked 'Why would you do this!?' - well, first it is GREAT fun! But, we're also training for the wines2whales race later this year that will be between 80-100km a day for three days.

Have you got any 'fun' activities for which you'll endure strain and discomfort!?

A little piece of heaven on earth. The single track on the Helderberg mountain

This is one of my favourite places on earth - the start of the single track on the top of the Helderberg mountain. It is about 12km's from my home, of which the last 8 km is a 1000m climb to the top. The ride down is awesome! Lots of switchbacks, lots of technical stuff - I'm convinced that it is some of the nicest singletrack in South Africa.

I meet God here on my bike very often! My head clears, my thoughts become focussed and I find myself drawing nearer to God as I ride.

Sadly I heard that the access to this part of the mountain will soon be restricted. We normally enter about half way up Silverboomkloof road (on the right), then there's a little bit of single track, a short climb and then onto the contour paths on the way up. If there is anyone who has any contacts with someone on this farm PLEASE drop me a line! I would love to be able to keep the access open!

I recently read about a guy who started a 'braai church' (a 'cookout' Church, where people gather once a week to try out new recipes, cook different kinds of meat, but of course also to share their lives with one another, have some prayer and learn a few things about their faith).  I often think of this as the Church of Cycling, or my Cycling Church!  I have a lot of time to share with the guys and ladies that we ride with.  I often pray with people, offer a listening ear and some encouragement.

How do you connect with God?