Cycling in PMB
and
my MTB Downhill on Old Howick Road
picpmb.co.za
Blog 010 - 29 May 2012
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Cycling in PMB
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About six years ago I had a back operation. Part of the recovery included cycling on a stationary cycle in the Gym. As gyms have never really appealed to me, I gave it up after a while and returned to swimming and doing weights (repetitions) with two bricks. As Bruce's main mode of transport is a bicycle, I decided to hop onto his bike and take it for a spin. I left the property and free-wheeled some 500 meters down Town Bush Road. I then turned around, the free-wheeling was over, it was uphill all the way home. To my credit I did not stop once, but when I stopped pedaling, I could here a load noise. At first I thought that a truck was in trouble on the freeway. Then I realized it was my own pulse pounding in the vicinity of my own ears. I WAS HOOKED, and have been ever since.
I now cycle two or three times a week and usually cover 20 kilometers on these rides. Most of the rides start with an uphill climb along NonSuch Road besides the Cascades Stream and then a ride through Queen Elizabeth Park. Despite the alien invasion along the Cascades Stream section, the surroundings are superb and a real pleasure and privilege to be able to cycle through them. Once out of QE Park I can either proceed up Old Howick to World's View or Hilton, or downhill along various routes.
If I need to get into the city center to do just one errand, I hop on the bike and head down Town Bush Road. It is downhill till you reach the city outskirts and then mostly flat. So one arrives at ones destination both looking and smelling good. The ride home is of course mostly uphill and one arrives back at Park View rather sweaty and not as presentable. I have also undertaken several tours of the city to capture what are hopefully photographs of interesting places. These can be viewed elsewhere on these pages.
I have now also completed the Shova, The Argus, Nottingham Road to Himeville, and the Tour Durban plus several 20km MTB rides. I have never done any serious single track and probably never will. It thus follows that I will also not be doing any single track downhill stuff. I do of course enjoy watching it and you may also enjoy this classic insanity. H vae of course done some serious downhills on the tar as one can hardly avoid that if one cycles in PMB. So I will end this with my recent descent of Town Hill along Old Howick Road. I have yet to make it from Victoria Road (edge of the city center) to Crossways Hotel (now Old Main Brewery), Hilton. Hopefully not a hill to far!
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