Ride With Me: Jonkershoek Loop скачать в хорошем качестве

Ride With Me: Jonkershoek Loop

Welcome to my new series called Ride With Me. The one where I basically, finally take my camera along with me, on the many bike rides I do. This isn't a trail review or a bike review. I'm not trying to help you with your riding skills, you're probably not going to learn anything here at all, other than where some of my favourite trails are here in the Western Cape and why I love them. This one, for example, is Jonkershoek Nature Reserve. There are many trails here in fact. Iconic slivers of crunchy gravel such as Armageddon and the Irish Climb, Fire Hut and Red Phoenix. We'll get to that one in a moment. But first, let's discuss the one I'm currently riding on. This is the loop, a 10km jeep road that circumnavigates the reserve and is by far the least challenging. I've chosen it as my inaugural Ride with Me just to establish the format and hey, the place has sentimental value to me. I've been riding here for around a decade or so, but more than this, about four months ago, something of a critical moment occurred. It was on the aforementioned Red Phoenix that I fell. It's a single trail but my bail happened near the end. The front wheel washed out and I hit the deck, landing on the back of my head. I heard this crazy screeching sound in my brain. And a flash of light. I knew it was a big one, I knew I probably suffered a concussion. Still, I was able to climb back on my bicycle, and roll down the mountain, order a cup of coffee, hang my bike up on my car and get halfway through my cappuccino before I lost consciousness. Apparently, I had suffered a fit. I remember drifting in and out, at some stage I remember the ride in the ambulance and waking up in the hospital, my wife arriving. It's all still a bit of a blur, but it's the fall that saved my life. Without going into too much detail, one cat scan and an MRI later and my doctors discovered 7 tumours in an enflamed area the size of a tennis ball. I had brain cancer. Then, I had brain surgery. They could only remove one of the lesions, but later we'd find out that it's a low-grade cancer and the other six were probably similar. So now I'm back on my bike, have been told to consider myself healed, and am treating every bike ride, and indeed every day I wake up, as a gift. I don't know what calls me to this sport, but I am grateful that it does. I promise not to make every episode of Ride With Me about this one moment, this one thing. But, I can thank the experience for a renewed passion, a new vigour and gratitude for life on two wheels. As well as the views, nature that goes with it, along with the conversation with friends who are similarly afflicted. So come ride Jonkers, even if it's just the loop. You'll enjoy a stunning view, an easy ride and if it suits you, a great cup of coffee with friends.