Windy winter's ride

A while back I had a chat with a friend of mine about a social ride with him and his wife.  We chose a date and hoped for the best. The weather is always a gamble this time of the year and today was nothing different.

We were blessed with clear skies and even some sunshine, but it was very, very windy!
Arné and I decided to ride from town to Jonkershoek and meet up with them at the gate at 10:30.  Philip and his wife, Alicia, came through from Somerset West by car, probably a better idea than our idea of pedaling in.

We didn't really decide on a route and just followed our noses that led us to Never Ending Story. This was Alicia's first time on this trail and she enjoyed it a lot. I took some time out to ride with Arné and help her on some tricky bits. It was very satisfying seeing her conquer yet another obstacle that kept her from enjoying the trail to its fullest.

Next we made our way to the lowest Canary trail. To our surprise there were some trees that had fallen down and we had to bundu bash twice to stay on track. It was also very muddy at spots, almost too muddy to ride through. But we persevered and made it to the gate after which we decided to reward ourselves with coffee.

Alicia joined Arné and I as we pedaled from the gate to our favorite after ride coffee stop - the Ride In restaurant. We weren't planning on eating anything but once we spotted the delicious muffins, we were convinced otherwise. As always the coffee was delicious and the muffins even more so. Philip and Alicia also enjoyed nice big bagels stuffed with scrambled eggs. It looked delicious from the other side of the table.

After saying our goodbyes Arné and I got ready for the last pedal home making sure to add  some small pieces of singletrack into our route.

Despite the icy wind, it was a day well spent! Thanks Philip and Alicia for braving the weather with us!