Day 7 - Slaapkranz to Vaalbank

11h30 today. Day started with back to back mountain portages. The first 20km's took us 4h15 by which time we were clear of both mountains. Superb downhill riding by Glenn made short work of the Bontehoek descent and a mockery of the comment made by one of the competitors last year who complained that there was no reward for the climb as the descent was unrideable. To be fair he did walk 50 metres of it. I chose to remain off the bike for most of it and was rewarded with a good show. Later it got cold and drizzly so wasn't much fun. Tim and 2 others came into Slaapkranz last night. They started the day about 10 minutes after us and eventually caught up with us about 15km after the last portage. Tim has pushed on from here and will probably ride until midnight or a bit later to make the next stop. We are content to sleep here and move forward in day light tomorrow. Weather looks like it is deteriorating with strong winds predicted over the next few days. Weather is looking similar to what we experienced in the same area in 2007 during the race and it turned to snow which was no fun. We need to get off the high ground and drop into the karoo quickly to avoid to snow. Even then, there is one portage in the karoo that was snowed in during 2007.