Adventures of an Ordinary Cyclist

A journal of my Freedom Challenge mountain bike adventures, 2007, 2009(tandem)2011, 2012(solo) and 2014. Race to Rhodes and the 2300km Race Across South Africa. The race starts in Pietermaritzburg and ends in Wellington close to Cape Town, with a 26 day cut-off. The Ride to Rhodes(2008-unblogged and 2010) is a shortened version that starts in Pietermaritzburg and ends 6 days later in Rhodes.

Sunday, 31 May 2009

It is getting cold!

Winter has finally arrived on the highveld.This morning it was freezing cold. For the first time this year I had to wear my beanie! I suspec...

Saturday, 30 May 2009

The Race is Almost Over

"The race is almost over" is a comment someone made yesterday. It might sound a bit odd considering we only line up at the start i...

Saturday, 23 May 2009

Where can I get one of these?

If there is one thing that Glenn excels at it is his ability to eat non-stop. He is a grazing machine! When we ride together he stays off th...

Thursday, 21 May 2009

Go Big or Go Home!

Firstly I must thank all of you who showed concern for my injury following the posting of the bruised shoulder picture. The interest it arou...

Monday, 18 May 2009

A Tale of Two Rides

Friday saw a handful of us dashing to Magaliesburg and back. It was a fast and enjoyable ride. I covered about 106 km's in about 7 hours...

Thursday, 14 May 2009

So I guess I am a Wimp

First point is that whether you spell my present condition as Whimp or Wimp it makes no difference except that one is generally regarded a...

Sunday, 10 May 2009

... and we all rolled over and the one fell out...

Early Sat 9th May 5 of us gathered at the Sasol garage at the foot of Krugersdorp hill. The plan was to ride up Krugersdorp hill and then th...

Saturday, 2 May 2009

Just Keep Moving

Glenn says: So Mike hasn’t been sleeping well and I’ve been getting restless after a recent forced layoff. We are both quite consum...

Wednesday, 29 April 2009

Restless Nights

Uninterrupted nights of sleep are a distant memory. I just can't stop dreaming about the race. Judging from conversations with other ent...

Monday, 20 April 2009

Training is Addictive

In my previous post I was moaning about being tired of training. In the 7 days ended yesterday I managed just short of 23 hours of training ...

Thursday, 16 April 2009

Training Training Training...

I am so tired of training. When I go out and do a 115km training ride I can't help thinking that if I was on the race I would already be...

Monday, 6 April 2009

On the road again

The Freedom Challenge - Race Across South Africa (RASA) 2007 is almost 2 years behind me now. Last Year I entered and rode the Freedom Chall...

Wednesday, 11 July 2007

People of the Race Have you ever had the experience of going to the movies and at the end of a profound and moving story nobody moves or say...

Last riders home Last night went out to watch Kevin and Steven get to the finish. They were tired but elated. They seem to have made to most...

Tuesday, 10 July 2007

Stettynskloof Revisited Yesterday I returned to the top of Stettynskloof to wait for Andre, Andy and Earle to claw their way out. From the t...

Monday, 9 July 2007

The last few days of the race I just wanted to get back to a normal life. For one, I wanted to be able to lie in bed until after the sun cam...

Day 21 - Trouthaven to Paarl 47km 12h15 1800m of climbing Planned to get up at 2am (after only 2 hours of sleep) and get to the bottom of th...

Sunday, 8 July 2007

Sunday - 8 July - to the finish 12h15, 47km Mike has safely arrived. He is somewhat exhausted and will give full details tomorrow. Thank yo...

Saturday, 7 July 2007

“Things lost along the way” During the race we have at one stage or another lost a couple of things. The first was my speed sensor on day ...

Day 20 – Montague- McGregor –Kasra – Trouthaven Triple stage today. 158 km, 14h20m 1870m Got in late this evening. Hard day but we are at th...

Friday, 6 July 2007

Day 19 - Rouxpos - Anysberg - Montague

150km,1600m climb, 11 hours After bombing on the previous day today was so much better. Rode twice as far but finished stronger. Doing a dou...

"Waddilove'isms"

Navigating is tricky enough without having to deal with David's rather interesting written instructions. One such recent incident was th...

Going where Vodacom doesn't

Had a number of complaints that my Blog is not up to date. The route we follow takes us places where electricity is not the norm and where t...

Day 18 - Up the Ladder

67km in 8 hours 1800m of climbing. Die Hel is situated in the remotest of valleys. From what I can gather 2 trekboer families somehow made t...

Day 17 - Into the Hell

Rondawel - Prince Albert - Die Hel 130km, 1880m climb, 11 hours. Am so tired of waking up in the dark and then riding through the dark in su...

Tuesday, 3 July 2007

Day 16 - Damsedrif to Rondawel

182km in13 hours. Finally out of the Baviaanskloof mountains. Had a late start as 3 of us are struggling with aches and pains. My knees and ...

The depopulated countryside

Since leaving Rhodes we have been struck by the number of deserted dwellings as well as the scarcity of people. We are told that small farms...

Day 15 - Trek through the wilderness continues. Cambria to Damsedrif

81km, 8h30, 1560 climb. Today we continued our trail through the Baviaanskloof. Unlike yesterday, where it was devoid of people, today we en...

Monday, 2 July 2007

Day 14 - Sunday - Through the Wilderness. Bucklands to Cambria.

77km, 12h15 , 2100m of climbing. More of that later. Last night the 5 of us stayed at Bucklands. As they were expecting 7 of us we were move...

Day 13 - Saturday - Toekomst to Bucklands

105km, 10 hours. Legs not happy puppies today after 2 double-ups the previous 2 days. Slightly tricky navigation but once again our luck hel...

Saturday, 30 June 2007

Only 2 weeks left!

We were talking yesterday and someone commented that we only have 2 weeks left. It's bizarre. Been at it for nearly 2 weeks and just les...

Friday, 29 June 2007

Day 12 Grootvlakte -Van de Venterskraal - Toekomst

125km Just short of 12 hours. Got off to a grubby start slogging through mud. Took us 3 hours to cover the 20 km's to the start of the ...

Questions about the race.

I have received a few questions from people following the race on the internet . I will go through a few of them and give my perspective bas...

Thursday, 28 June 2007

Day 11 - MZNP to Grootvlakte

62km, 4 hours. We had a real good fun ride into the support station after a big climb out the back of the park. We had to haul our bikes ove...

Into the Mountain Zebra Park

52km 5 hours. Easy riding, route narrative a little scratchy. having burgers for lunch and then hitting the road again to the next station....

Winter Wonderland, great if you are not on a bike!

Day 10 - Gunstelling to Elandsberg 106km 10 hours. Snowed overnight. Rode the first 30km through virgin snow 2 - 4 inches thick, with occas...

Moments to remember

There are already so many special memories that have come from this race that should my race be over tomorrow it has already been an enrichi...

Why this race is not like the "Cape Epic"

One of the riders doing the non competitive 6 day "Ride to Rhodes" asked me if I thought he could do the "Epic". My answ...

Wednesday, 27 June 2007

Day 10 - 27 June

Snowing all night and still snowing. Will attempt to route around mountain portage to Hofmeyer and then on to next stop. We will be dropping...

Riding in the snow is not what it is cut out to be

Day 9 - Boschofskraal to Gunstelling. Left at 6am when the temperature was 2 above zero, the warmest it was to be all day. An hour into the ...

Tuesday, 26 June 2007

Day 9 - Boschofskraal

123 km. Arrived at 17h30. Less than 12 hours today but really tough. Max temp was 2° and that was at 6am when I started! It dropped to zero ...

Day 8 - Rust de Winter to Boschofskraal

115km, 14 hours. Day started with 2 mountain portages. Took 6 hours, that is considered good. The navigation in this race is crucial. Yo...

Monday, 25 June 2007

Battling through the wind

Dordrecht heading to Boshofskraal. Since just after lunch we have been riding in a very strong wind. The weatherman predicted wind today of ...

Sunday, 24 June 2007

Time takes on a new meaning

While on holiday many years ago we were sitting around in the late afternoon and someone asked "what’s the time?" The answer he go...

Day 7 – Rhodes to Rust de Winter

Relatively easy day 112km, 2270m climb. 12 hours which included a 2 hour lunch at a homestead along the way. Weather cold and windy and wors...

Saturday, 23 June 2007

Walkerbouts lowers the bar on service

At the end of a somewhat inadequate dinner, the rather overbearing proprietor of the above mentioned establishment made an inappropriately c...

Day 6 - "Up Lehana"

Vuvu to Rhodes. About 53km, and 1520m of climbing. 1000m of that climbing was in the space of 7km. We had to traverse a range of mountain...

Day 5 continued - Long walk to Vuvu

87km and about 2000m of ascent. At the 20km mark my front shock fell apart. So I tied my bike to my back pack and hauled the combined weig...

Friday, 22 June 2007

Day 5 - Bike is getting its revenge!

After 4 days of carrying me all over the countryside, my bike has decided it's time to reverse the roles. The front fork has just crumpl...

How not to dry your socks

This is a picture of the unsuccessful outcome of attempting to dry my socks. We were unable to do any laundry yesterday, so both pairs of so...

Thursday, 21 June 2007

Day 4 - Through the frozen zone

About 65km. Riding time 6 hours. Official time will show 7 hours, but we stopped at Mariazell Mission just short of the support station to h...

Wednesday, 20 June 2007

Day 3 - "My body is revolting"

93km 1500m of climbing. Just over 10 hours. My body and mind are out of sync. Want to ride harder but the body won't hear of it. Exp...

Questions we were asked along the way

Am currently slogging up yet another steep climb so I thought I could use the time productively and update my blog. We are asked all sorts o...

Day 2 - Don't take advantage of a sleep deprived man!

Today was really interesting. I was sharing a room with 'my pal' Kevin, who proved to be a bit of a liability. After listening to hi...

Monday, 18 June 2007

Day 1

If one was concerned about the well disguised race strategies at the pre-race dinner, then breakfast this moring would have brought some rel...

The dinner is done, the race begun.

We have had our pre-race dinner and briefing. It is really interesting to see how the various competitors portray themselves. You would thin...

Saturday, 16 June 2007

My Skottel unveiled!

After all the interest my so-called Skottel has aroused, I have decided to show you all what it actually looks like. It is in fact a small g...

From race horse to pack mule

I have now completed the transformation of my bike from thoroughbred race horse weighing in at 10.5kg to a pack-mule weighing in at 15kg! Fo...

Friday, 15 June 2007

How to add a comment

Someone asked me this morning how they can add a comment to my blog. Must admit it isn't too obvious. Actually rather simple. Below each...

Thursday, 14 June 2007

Hurry up and wait

My bike is in pieces getting a final once over before we set off on the trail - new chain, new cassette (the gear cluster at the back), new ...

Wednesday, 13 June 2007

What bike to ride?

It seems that my original choice of riding a full suspension bike was not a good one. The old hands tell me that the lighter the bike the ea...

The packing puzzle

Now that I have sent my 2 litre support station refresher boxes off attention turns to what I carry on my back. I opted for a 30 litre adven...

Monday, 11 June 2007

Sleepless Nights

Dragged myself through the day following a restless night. Probably had something to do with reading Andre’s Blog before bed time. Go read h...

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About Me

Mike: Johannesburg, South Africa; Just an ordinary guy who started riding in 2005 at the age of 45. I started with the ambition of completing the local 94.7 Cycle Challenge (94.7km). This is an annual road cycle race in and around Johanesburg. Some where along the way it become a race and not merely a completion excercise. I clocked a 2h54 in my first attempt only 6 months from my first trundle down the road and back. I was hooked and then discovered the magic of MTB. While my efforts on the road were credible, MTBing humbled me. Having said that, over the last 24 months I have competed in 9 multi-day events. I'm a very middle of the field rider, but I enjoy every minute of it.

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