West Canal Road & Rock of Jericho (2008-06-01)

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I think the words I used in the last two Canal Road ride reports were "relaxing", "low stress", "easy" and "enjoyable".

Had this ride just been the West Canal road, the ride up to Beestekraal and a tar road home I would have used the same words again, but that was not where the ride ended today, and from my point of view, and for the post-Beestekraal bit I need to add a few more words and phrases.

They are "Hectic", "terrifying" and "exhilarating" and "Fark! You want me to ride my bike up where? “ and finally “Sheet! When is this bludee sand going to stop?”

But I am getting ahead. Started at Harties – 9 Bikes – mix of Beemers, Kawas and Malgat’s AT, and somewhere up North we picked up a big Katoom that missed the start and joined mid-ride.

West canal road is different from the North Road. For a start it is a bit shorter – only about 50Km of canal – and goes through land  where those horrible mining blokes have severely tortured what must have been attractive countryside. But don’t let me put you off. It is still a road worth riding and the nice bits more than make up for the not-so-nice bits. Compared with the North road it is a bit rougher, and there are quite a number of different road surfaces to keep you on your toes.

There are bits of farm land towards the end which are pretty, and there are some weird rocky koppies dumped all over the place that look like unfinished geological work-in-progress.  

After rain I would stay well clear – looks like there could be severe mud.

Got to Beestekraal late morning. We decided to skip the bits of unridden canal road that we missed from the last ride as a few guys had time issues and we needed an excuse to visit the area again !

The road from the R511 to Jericho Rock has some patches of fairly nasty loose sand, and I have a bit of an aversion for the stuff. I am sure the others had the same experience, that as you get used to it, and get to relax a bit, it is not nearly as daunting as at first. I had also noted Shark’s warning and let my tyres down to 1.6 back and 1.4 front which I am sure helped a bit.

And then the rock! I must be honest I was not expecting anything quite as daunting – even the easy side. The pictures here on the forum did not prepare me for the size and steepness of the thing, and the thought of finding a tree at the base and waiting for the others to come back down was appealing.

But the demon needed to be faced, and all of us except Li, who had decided she was not in a hyrax mood, got up and down without serious mishap. So now that piece of my “things to do before I die” list looks like this:-
. . . . .
See Ayer's Rock - Done
Ride up Rock of Jericho – done
Learn to ride sand – In  Progress
Make love to Polar Bear – To Do
Catch Eskimo with Bare Hands – To Do
(EDIT: - err- got last two wrong way round) 
. . . . 
The rock is worth it! The view from up there is quite something. Must admit it took me a while to overcome my adrenaline poisoning to be able to enjoy it, and for a while my hands were shaking too hard to take a photo.

But next time - no problem !

From the rock we headed to the tar road and then home.

Thanks to the guys who made it a ride I certainly won’t forget for a long time, and one that certainly taught me a thing or two.  

Looking forward to other picks !!

 

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