Biking in Boven

This morning Chris headed out at 5:30ish for a "Standard Loop" North of Boven with Glenn and Gustav. One must rise early to beat the African heat or suffer the tandoori oven effect.

It was his first bike outing since getting here. His ride starts with a 5km stretch down the dirt road into town to meet Glenn and Gustav and ends with a 5km climb back up the hill to Tranquilitas. This is a shot of me just getting in from the loop. A wee bit dirty and wet from the uphill grind.

Glenn managed to score a Giant NRS for Chris while he is here. It's a fine fully suspended ride just like the one at home so there can be no whining about a strange bike setup.

On this part of the 10km single track, apparently the actual single track is under the water.



This loop offers it all: it has not-track (open field), single track and multi-track riding (otherwise known as "dirt road").

Glenn informed us about a few of the dangers that he has encountered while riding in Africa. Here they are in order of importance:

1) Black Mamba - nasty, nasty, nasty! Neurotoxin venom will kill an adult human if not treated within an hour of the bite. These nasty, nasty, nasty buggers can move along at 12-15mph and on average measure 8 feet long. They typically rear-up into a standing strike position about 1/2 their body length. Imagine cruising along and then be almost eye-to-eye with one of these, yikes!

2) Mozambique Spitting Cobra - nasty, nasty! This one has a venom which is a cytotoxin and the bite rots the flesh. However these nasty, nasty buggers like to spit their venom up to 3 meters and often the victim ends up with a gob of it in the eyes.

3) Puff Adders/Berg Adders (also called Vipers) - nasty! Another cytotoxin venomous snake, these guys are ambush predators and like to wait for their prey before attacking. When annoyed, it strikes vigorously in all directions and has the capability of a lightning-fast sideways strike. Oh look Vern another mountain bike approaching...

4) Bulls - No shit! The trails we rode cut through some farm fields which have cattle grazing. Sometimes the cows are fairly close to the trail and as we blaze thru the bulls get a bit miffed as they sense our manly presence. Glenn has obtained certification as a matador from Spain but if the bull eyes you up and Glenn is too far ahead, you may be on your own!

Cool cruising the downhill back into town.