Day 19 - Finally some sleep in Montegu

By the time we arrived in Montagu at 11h30 this morning we had been on the road for over 30 hours. We had only covered 220km since leaving Die Hell at 5am yesterday. We lost precious time struggling with the damaged hub which was only sorted out by the time we had been on the road for 11 hours. Going up Die Leer took longer than single bike as expected. Our run from Rouxpos to Anysberg was frustrating as the jeep tracks often ran along stream beds which the tandem just wallows in. The long walk in and out of Die Hell with a crippled bike was felt in my legs and ankles in particular. We arrived at Anysberg nearly 3 hours later than expected. Glenn had done all the front work up to that stage and opted for the rear seat on the way out of Anysberg to Montagu. I only managed 2 km's before it became apparent that neither my legs nor arms were up to the job. At this stage Francois suggested a 10 minute power nap. Setting the alarm for 10 minutes we lent back on our packs and feel asleep instantly. Waking up we continued our assault on the most uninspiring jeep track you could hope to find. The total length of the track in and out of Anysberg is 66 soul destroying km's. By the time we found better riding my right leg was wasted. My ITB was screaming for mercy and the tendons in my ankle were so sore they rendered the leg useless. Glenn had to dig deep and drag my wasted carcass into town. Our 30+ hour effort reduced to entertainment for onlookers rather than a cunning tactical manoeuvre. Instead of catching a few hours sleep and heading onto the final support station of the race we have accepted that we will have to take an extra day so have stopped to lick our wounds.
We will leave "all nighters" to the pro's in future. But hey, how many people do you know who have witnessed 2 sunrises on a single ride? It is Glenn's birthday today so that was my gift to him. We are currently sitting in a time-warped 1980's era Wimpy in downtown Montagu wondering "What were we thinking?"