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MisterMikkel
@Verbs_&_Nouns
Went on an 80k ride yesterday, about 50/50 gravel and road. Most of the road riding was on bike paths which was cool. Long story short, where I live we have a bike path (known as the Patrick Jonker Veloway) that follows a freeway (aka The Southern Expressway). That bike path is okay, kinda boring and a bit of a pain to get to the start of. When I’ve driven the Expressway, I’ve seen a gravel path on the opposite side of the Veloway. I’ve often wondered if it is rideable. Did some google mapping and a Strava route and it turns out the path exists and it can be ridden almost the same length of the Veloway. All up I think I did about 40-45k’s of gravel. A bit of steep climbing, some both-brakes-on-sitting-over-the-back-wheel descents, a bit of mud and some single track. So happy I explored this path. I’ll be able to use it to get to my parents house for an overnighter. The other cool thing is it’s mainly back streets and bike paths from my house to get to the start of the gravel track.
On that note, I thought I would be okay Witt my gearing yesterday, but even a 34t chainring and a 11-42t cassette caught me out on a few of the climbs and I had to walk. Some of the climbs I could feel the front wheel lifting when I was seated, even with weight in my basket. I’m also pretty unfit. I also had a full change of clothes in my basket because I thought i was riding to my mother-in-law’s house afterwards, so that didn’t help.
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