Schurfteberg
It's amazing what a good nights rest can do for one's outlook. After the unscheduled but sorely needed sleep in Hofmeyr I was enjoying being on my bike. The ride through to the Elandsberg farm support station had been a lot of fun. The flawless navigation through the notorious Elandsberg portage in the dark had done wonders to bouy my sagging enthusiasm. The biggest change had been to allow myself to be off the clock. By that I mean I became less concerned about my finishing time and far more engaged with enjoying the challenge of moving down the trail. The first sign of this change in attitude was the 5 hours I'd allowed myself to sleep in Hofmeyr. Typically I would have set my alarm for 3 hours. Setting a 6 hour alarm was a luxury I wouldn't have allowed myself previously. Waking after 5 hours without the blaring of an alarm meant I had worked through a natural sleep cycle and had woken fresh. My time to Elandsberg was respectable and I had arrived at a time that was compatible with sitting down to a good breakfast. Instead of wolfing down as many carbs as I could in 10 minutes I had a leisurely half hour eating and chatting to the SS host.
As much as I was having fun I couldn't resist the temptation of chasing down Seb and Warrick who had spent the night at Elandsberg. It was going to be an interesting chase. They were on gravel bikes with a 90 minute head start. If there's any part of the Freedom Trail that is perfect for gravel bikes it's the road out of Elandsberg. The first 25kms are fast due to the smooth district road that is predominantly downhill as it makes its way to the Fish River. Even when over the Fish River the next 25kms are easy riding. I'd have the challenge of spinning out once over 30km/h which would slow me. They would be slowed by the navigation. I know the route so wouldn't waste any time figuring out where to go.
According to the timesheet they'd left at 5am. It was now 6:30am. The chase was on. The road was in good shape and over the next hour I'd managed to cover the first 25 km's to cross the Fish River. Once at Newlands it was only another 7 kms to Groenfontein but the terrain is such that it took another 45 minutes to get there. A this point a gravel bike is as much use as a single speed MTB but I still had the advantage of knowing exactly where I needed to go.
Rounding the last corner of the Groenfontein farmhouse I found Seb and Warrick standing next to their bikes ready to head out. They'd arrived 30 minutes before me. I'd made up and hour over the last 3 hours 15 minutes. Not as impressive as you'd think considering that only 1 of us was racing - me. The navigational advantage of knowing the route also plays a major part in time spent moving forward.
We had a quick chat and they hopped on their bikes and headed out. As for me, I settled down to a good breakfast and a long chat with hosts Frans and Amelia. Before I knew it an hour had ticked by. I gathered my kit and headed down the driveway only to turn back after a few minutes to hunt down my cell phone I had left in the dining room. By the time I got going again the gravel bike lads had a lead of 75 mins. It wasn't a race between us but it gave me something to focus on.
By the time I got to the base of the Schurfteberg climb I thought I could see Seb and Warrick making their way up the mountain. It was far off and with the mid afternoon shadows cast over the track I couldn't be sure.
The winding jeep track is a stiff climb up the mountain and while I had previously managed to ride to the top there was no way I was going to get up there on my single speed. With that in mind I picked the bike up and hiked up the steep face of the mountain skipping the first big switchback. Big saving? No—probably 5 or 6 minutes at best. What I did achieve was going undetected by Seb and Warrick who were checking the lower track of the first switchback to see if I was closing on them. About halfway up the mountain I could see Seb and Warrick just ahead. It looked close but it took me another 10 minutes to get to where I had seen them. By then they were over the saddle and on their way down the mountain.
Once over the top I scanned the plains below to see if I could see the curly bar bike boys. As I've said previously I am not particularly good at technical riding or brave enough to discard the risk of falling off. They were long gone by the time I had negotiated the twisty rock strewn track and bottomed out.
Once off the Schurfteberg it's another 45 km to the finish in Cradock. The last 20km are downhill so are effectively free miles. That leaves 25km that need pedalling. Leaving the Schurfteberg farmhouse it's a fast ride to cross the Small Fish River, past the Jakhalsfontein farmhouse and on to the Cradock/Somerset East district road which would leave 30 kilometres to finish. Given the free 20km at the end it meant only having to negotiate the 10km up the Swaershoek Pass. Those 10 kilometres would take over an hour.
I caught up to Seb and Warrick at the low level bridge over the Small Fish River. I was concerned that they had stopped for water. It wasn't a river I'd drink from. I had a spare bottle of water on me and unsure of where they could get water I was happy to part with the extra weight. Lightened, I scampered up the jeep track that rises from the river crossing. A few kilometres later I chastised myself for not offering them the bottle of Coke I had in my bag. I didn't need it. I put the bottle in the middle of the road and scratched a message in the dirt so they'd know it was intentional and not a poison trap. I hadn't gone more than a few hundred metres when out of nowhere I had a craving for Coke. I'd been carrying that bottle since I don't know where and hadn't given it a seconds thought. The moment it wasn't there I became fixated on it. Weird how that happens.
As expected the climb up the Swaershoek Pass took over an hour from when I joined the district road. I rode sections until my legs whinged and then walked until they stopped muttering and repeated the cycle until I was rewarded with my free miles to the finish.
I hadn't made either of the targets set for me by the Freedom Challenge family but that didn't stop them from doubling down and in some cases exceeding that with their generosity to the Freedom Challenge Scholarship Fund. By the time Ron and I had got to Cradock the donations to the fund had swelled to 3 times what had been pledged when I'd left Rhodes two and a half days previous.
I'd set out on a single speed because Roger had been unable to ride. In my Ride for Roger I'd overcome adversity and made it to the finish. Even though my time wasn't brilliant it was still good enough to establish a single speed record for the event which was Roger's goal. Unfortunately for Roger I'm told that the record is not transferable and he will have to enter next year if he doesn't want to see my name loitering next to the Race to Cradock SS trophy.
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