About an hour or more before seven, the clouds started clearing and the sun had cut it's way through to shine on the Dark and Dirty crowd for the first time in three rides. This however did not mean the ride was going to be only good clean fun, not by far.

Eight brave souls set off down the nice and speedy tar section (One armed with a baseball bat, very closely resembling the fifth ninja turtle) down to the bottom of the gauntlet where the fun really starts. This was the last worthwhile piece of tar to be seen for the night, also the last time anyone resembled anything clean. Barely off the road the first two deep puddles and subsequent mud left its brown line on the back of all the fancy neon colored riding vests, the birthmark of a good evening. From there the Airbase wall waited with some really loose and eroded rock. The turn-off to the single track was missed by the front riders, and caused some nice new tracks to be developed on the spot.

By now light was starting to fade, and one could see headlamps going on, one after the other, just in time for the top section of airbase wall which was loads of fun at hectic speeds, spitting and chewing various kinds of dust sand and good old khakibos flavored mud. Next on Hardy's (At this moment looking like a flaming Christmas tree) menu was the handlebar-kissing tunnel, that was virtually incident-less, apart from a few worrying glass popping sounds under the rear wheels.

An excellent single track past Fritz's stump took us through some grass fields, a romantic setting with city lights in the background that was about to be cut short by the most incredible downhill I have done in a long time. The Cornwall hill downhill R.U.S.H quickly split the bunch into two with Flash, Daemon and Dirt Deviant racing down into the dark depths at break neck speeds... headlamps and tail lights rapidly fading into the distance at an ever increasing speed. The RUSH's S never H'ed so we R'ed on when the rest of the group joined. The adventure racing spirit kicked in with hopping a few fences to get us to the next section, up with the Rietvlei dirt road passing the eggs and honey shop, that I seriously doubt still sells eggs and honey, although fairly busy for that time of the night.

Getting to a really slippery and muddy T-junction, we turned left still feeling strong, and enjoying the quiet and stillness of the night, with the moon just peeking out from behind the last clouds. Another incredible single track took us to the highlight of the trip, the holy trail. There was a strange quietness on the way there, as if everyone was anticipating the first serious wipe out, or flat to occur anytime soon.

The Holy trail was slightly muddy, slightly wet, very demanding, and very 'holey'. QT was the first to do a thorough inspection of the dirt quality and glorious rock formations to be found on the holy trail with her flashing light, and to this morning bears the evidence of a perfect handle bar print. Somewhere in the background you could here the sound of Gerhard coming off as well, gracefully, and seemingly unnoticed. Halfway through holy trail Daemon assured us all that the rest is perfect tar road, somewhere on this really technical perfect tar road Gerhard got a puncture, and we made a pit stop. Next was Irene, and the Railway line, again QT provided some entertainment value, noticeably starting to laugh at the situation even before she hits the ground when her front wheel decided to rather follow the railway track. Black beauty did not even twitch.

The railway line got some high speeds and some nice puddle sidesteps. One of these marvelous puddle avoiding maneuvers was perfectly executed by Daemon, unfortunately connecting with Flash wanting to see it from close by and in the process causing an awesome muddy wipeout. Noted that Daemon did his best to break Flash's fall, and he had the dirt to prove it.

After the railway line and Flash sharing his pipe with all the females in the group, a nice hard and fast pace took us back to shoot the gauntlet after repairing a last flat Dirt Deviant had, and sending some scouts out to find a table at Dros. A quick king of the hill with a fast pace set by Andre and co allowed us to join the rest at Dros, and take a good look at the blonde.

Total riding time was 02:25, with a steady 16.8km/h average over just under 39km, which claimed 7 wipeouts and two flats. Undoubtly the best D&D this newbie ever joined in.

holidays was good. glad to be back in a sense though, hungry for some work. more climbing and more cycling this year