Somerset West sunrise - fire in the clouds

This was the beautiful view that accompanied on my way into the office this morning. Indeed, as the Apostle Paul writes, "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse" (Romans 1.20).

Riding the new Schapenberg Mountainbike trail from Ongegund in Somerset West

Greg and I headed out to ride the new Schapenberg MTB trail ride this afternoon - it is just above Sir Lowrys pass in Somerset West.  We intended doing the red route.  But, when we arrived they were closing up and so Johan Kriegler (the guy who does the Wines2Whales trail) told us how to get in along the Knorhoek road.

We met up with a few friends along the way and started riding the route with them. They turned off onto the shorter yellow route and we decided to take the red route.  About 10 km into the ride we realised that we were at the cut off point of day one of the wines2whales!  We knew that with just a little climb we would link up with the most amazing single track (from Hans se Kop down into the valley). So, we braced ourselves and climbed the black route... Quite a climb to the top, but some beautiful views and incredible single track on the way to the top!  It was worth doing the black route!

At the top we made the turn and hit the road down.  Greg was in fine form flying down the technical stuff!  I was a little... shall we say ‘sensible’ about my descent? Just when we thought it was over the route took us into a tunnel of trees and a whole new section of single track!  At the end of that we climbed next to the railway for a few km’s only to be taken into another section of incredible downhill single track – some of it quite steep like on our Helderberg ride.  Super stuff.

This is certainly a route worth riding.  Because we came in from the side (since the Ongegund office was closed) we probably missed the first 18km of the trail.  But, the last 23km we did ride was absolutely amazing!

Blessings,

Dion

PS.  If you have google earth installed on your computer just click on the attached file for a ‘fly through’ of the route.  If you don’t have it installed download google earth from here:

http://www.google.co.za/earth/

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.

An institution - The Noddy Party at Vergelegen Somerset West

The Noddy Party (Noddy's Party) is a real institution in Somerset West. It is arranged by the Round Table 31 of Somerset West and takes place on the historic Vergelegen wine farm.

Such a lovely family event at an incredible venue.

We've been attending for years now! Our kids love it. And the picnic is great for the adults. Best of all it is a great cause for charity!  The proceeds from the party (which runs every night for a week or two) go to the Masikule Child care project that caters for disabled children from dissadvanted backgrounds.

Does your city or town have any annual events that have become a local institution?  I'd love to hear about them, and please post a link or two, so that I can check them out.

Thanks!

Dion

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!?

The power of nature! A wave of clouds in a wind-storm!

Take a look at this incredible image of the clouds coming over the mountains this morning.

They look just like a massive wave rolling over the mountain.  I took this picture with my trusty iPhone.

At this time of year the wind in the Western Cape can be strong. When the SouthEaster starts blowing the clouds often peek over the mountains just like this.  The wind is strong enough to rip the roof off a house or blow over a buss!  People have to be careful when they walk that the gusts don't sweep them off their feet.  It is incredible how beautiful, and powerful, the wind and clouds are!

Today is the first time that I've seen the clouds quite like this. It is called a black southeaster - it normally brings strong wind and some rain.

Days like these remind me of God's power!

Does anybody have a southeaster story to share?  My most significant story was last year's Cape Argus cycle tour - this was the year that Matt Damon road the race.  The winds were so strong that numerous riders got blown off their bikes in the gusts.  It was a tough ride in the wind!