COME RIDE WITH ME - CITY OF GOLD: We welcome Timo Cooper to the team. He introduces his new series with a monster ride in Egoli

MONSTER RIDING IN THE CITY OF GOLD! SUS THE RIDE!

Hitting Jozi’s red gravel byways.

I was very excited to get back to Johannesburg after being away for just over two months during the lockdown period. During this time a lot changed in my life, with the birth of our son Eli, starting the Coopetto series and a few other things. All I wanted to do was get back home and plan a monster ride with friends that share the same idea of freedom. The idea of riding your bike all day with lekker people and great weather. With this idea in mind, the planning for our first real post-lockdown adventure started and this one was simple: We wanted to go out, have fun and hit 100miles of mostly gravel riding.

Before I knew it there was a WhatsApp group called the secret cycling club (not so secret anymore). All the planning for the big day took place on this group with some friendly banter as well. Bryn planned most of the route as he knows the area around Magalies the best and we obviously did not want to get lost out there. With that in mind, it is very important to plan your route in advance if you want to attempt a big ride alone or with friends. Planning your ride gives you the opportunity to estimate how long you will be out there and the possible locations you can use as a stop to rest and purchase some much needed snacks.

We arrived home on Friday afternoon one day before the big adventure and Michaele, the great wife she is, decided to give me the night off Eli duty to get a full nights sleep before the big day. This really helped a lot with recovery form the long drive and some sleepless nights during the week before. I woke up feeling rested and ready for the big adventure that awaited. Luckily we decided to only leave at 7:30; not too early or to cold. I had my normal oats and coffee breakfast, said goodbye to Miki and Eli and headed out to the meeting point at Broad Acres, about five minutes from home. I did arrive a bit late, but most people know I arrive a few minutes late for most rides (not on purpose).

Finally the long awaited adventure began and a bit too fast if you ask me. The group was definitely excited to get out there and ride/race. The first few kilometres went by very fast. We tried to avoid tar roads as much as possible, luckily Johannesburg has a great gravel road network that is not very hard to find and connect with other gravel roads. Our first stop was a Bidon Bistro in the cradle at the 33 km mark. We took some time to shed some layers and fill up bottles as the next stop will be a

“THE BEST GRAVEL 100 MILE RIDE IN JOHANNESBURG!”

bit of a stretch. Heading out of the cradle onto our circular gravel loop, the weather started changing for the better and we were all just having such a great time out on our bikes with friends. From kilometre 60 to the next stop at Magaliesig Spar the roads took a turn for the worse, the conditions of the roads was not very good but we kept going and kept moving forward. Luckily I was on my mountain bike and not a gravel bike.

Arriving at out next stop, we were all very excited to get our hands on some sweet snacks and maybe even a Coke or two. I was very happy to find out that Dax decided to buy some pancakes but not

When nature calls, nature calls.

too happy when I realised I definitely ate too many before we got going again a few minutes later. After the halfway mark we kept the pace fairly steady and settled into a nice tempo before we hit the Cradle again at about 50 km to go. I always had the plan to test the my legs during the last bit of the ride, so from this point onwards I decided to increase the pace a bit. I believe racing will start again sometime this year and when it does I would like to be on some sort of form to compete in local events. The plan for the last hour and a bit was to ride at a tempo that is just above where I feel comfortable. This will give me and indication of how my body feels and performs after the five hour mark. With our newfound tempo we quickly reached our last stop, Bidon Bistro once again. This time we stopped for a bit longer to enjoy a coffee and even a Coke to get us home as fast as possible.

We left Bidon with the same idea in mind – let’s see if we can push the limits a bit for the last 30 km. This did have a slight negative affect on the group riding aspect. We all rode at our own pace up all the hills back into Fourways with a few sprints here and there and even a few top 10 finishes in Strava KOM’s. We did regroup before we rolled back into town and by this time we all felt the duration of the entire ride, especially the pace of the last bit. The ride and day was a success as we arrived with one goal in mind and that was to have fun and ride some new routes around Johannesburg. That goal was definitely achieved, there has always been a negative connotation around cycling in Johannesburg and how little options we have here. That is not the case, Johannesburg has a lot of options for all forms of cycling.

Please make sure you check out the video of this epic day out.

SUS THE RIDE!

I am TIMO COOPER and I grew up in a small town called Wellington. Most cyclists will know Wellington for its amazing trail network and for hosting the Cape Epic and a few other big races over the years. I was not always a big sportsman or even a sportsman at all, I still cannot catch a ball to save my life.

At the age of 17 in grade 11, I was asked if I wanted to join the local bike club on one of their easy weekend rides, I was hooked within the first few minutes. I fell in love with riding from that day and have been ever since.

From 2009 it got serious very quickly, riding for results, trying to get sponsors, trying to better myself . As a professional athlete I had the privilege of meeting some of the biggest names in the sport, training with them, asking questions and even racing with some of them. This really upped my cycling to an entirely new level. Through this series I am excited to share some of my rides and knowledge I have learnt over the years with you.