Sunday, 22 July 2012

Day 15 and beyond - the final push

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For the first time since the race began I got up at a civilised time and tucked in to a great breakfast. Once everything was ship shape I we...
7 comments:
Wednesday, 18 July 2012

Day 14 - A rest day of 160 kilometres

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After just 3 hours sleep I was woken by Brian's alarm. Not quite what I had in mind but I was awake so I got up had a shower and prepped...
Tuesday, 17 July 2012

Day 13 - 'Never take drugs to mask pain when you are on the bike!' - Really?

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3 am and I was riding out of Dam se Drif with Tweet. One doesn't actually ride "with" Tweet. Its more a case of riding in his ...

Day 12 - getting back in to the race groove

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Getting up just before 4 Tweet and I heated some water for coffee on the Aga stove and managed to make toast in the oven. With about 965km...
Monday, 16 July 2012

Day 11 - legs back online and well greased

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Got out of bed at 5am and found the breakfast table set for 4 people. A quick trip outside revealed that Tweet (Graham Bird) had arrived aft...

Day 10 - a fortunate encounter

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After a good nights sleep I rolled out of Grootdam a few minutes after Chris and Dawn. It was clear that my aching body had not miraculously...
Sunday, 15 July 2012

Day 9 - The wheels fall off

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It was time to make up lost time so we left Stuttgard with the intention of doubling through Grootdam to van der Venterskraal. Allen and Ric...
2 comments:

Day 8 - A brief encounter with the flat karoo

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We faced a long ride today over Aasvoelberg, through Hofmeyr and on to Elandsberg. We were hoping to get through that section quick enough t...

Day 7 - We get to ride our bikes again

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6am start with us dressed for the anticipated rain. An hour in to the ride it seemed like it was shaping up to be a gorgeous day. As it got ...
Friday, 13 July 2012

Day 6 - the mud wrestling continues

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Day got off to an interesting start. After arriving at 01:35am we got to bed at about 2:30am. I asked Trevor what time he was setting his al...
Wednesday, 11 July 2012

Trevor wanted to know why the kit list had a bike mentioned as a necessity.

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Dr Livingston I presume?

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Day 5 - would you like a side order of mud to go with that downpour?

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Having got a good rest at Chesneywold we wanted to get to Kranskop which would be a stage and a half for the day. Unfortunately there were 3...
Monday, 9 July 2012

Day 4 - Good sleep at last

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2 hours sleep and we were on our way again. We were still sleep deprived and took our first power nap at midday stretched out in the sun. Ou...

Day 3 - Rampant Sleep Monsters

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We headed out at about 4am and on the spur of the moment I decided that we would try the longer but faster route out of the lodge which I kn...

Day 2 - the madness continues

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After just 2 hours sleep we headed out of Ntsikeni intent on making our way to Malelgalonyane about 150km's away. I became aware early o...
Sunday, 8 July 2012

Day One. Go big or go home.

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I arrived at the start of this years race with few real ambitions and a handful of "wouldn't it be nice if's". It would be...
Saturday, 16 June 2012

Aintree Lodge Again!

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The years pass so fast. This is my 6th pre-race dinner for the Freedom Challenge. Twice as a Ride to Rhodes rider and fourth time as a Race ...
Monday, 11 June 2012

Is this really such a great idea?

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As I lie here under a fluffy duvet with the electric blanket cranked up to 'roast' the idea of getting on my bike in the dark every ...
Tuesday, 5 June 2012

Less than 2 weeks to the start and I feel terrible

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Just started a course of antibiotics as I have lost the battle of trying to out stare the dose of lurgy I have. At least I have enough time ...
Tuesday, 29 May 2012

We have no electricity!

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The electricity went off yesterday due to our streets transformer getting cooked, apparently by a veld fire. Still off this morning. So we g...
Monday, 12 March 2012

Thanks for the support

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Thank you for the support that has been shown toward raising funds for the Freedom Challenge Scholarship Fund. Many hundreds of thousands in...
Wednesday, 29 June 2011

Work to be done

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Although my race is over I still have some unfinished business. The Freedom Challenge Scholarship Fund is a cause that is very close to my h...
Tuesday, 14 June 2011

Supernova

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Day 2 Ntsikeni to Masakala. On what is supposed to be day 3 of my race I am sitting in the sun pecking out this blog. My left leg is useles...

Day 1 - Wow!

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Day 1. Wow what fun! The press release for the day tells the story: "Leaving Pietermaritzburg on Sunday morning, current tandem record...
Saturday, 11 June 2011

One more big sleep

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Game on!. Have arrived in Pietermaritzburg ready to start tomorrow at 6am. We are staying at Aintree Lodge as I have done on 4 previous occa...
Wednesday, 8 June 2011

Rain, rain and more snow

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Woke up this morning and turned the telly on just to see a picture that reminded me of why this race is a bad idea! The whole country covere...
Saturday, 4 June 2011

One week. One weak!

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7 days from now I travel down to Pietermaritzburg to start the race. The question in my mind now is - have I done enough to adequately prepa...
Tuesday, 24 May 2011

Another year, another race

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New Year, Easter and Christmas - the milestones that mark the passing of the year for most folk. For a small band of mountain bikers there i...
Friday, 18 June 2010

Finally at Rhodes

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Today was the last stretch for the Rough Ride to Rhodes bunch. Knowing that it was a short day (if a 7 to 9 hour day can be considered short...
Wednesday, 16 June 2010

Ride into a frozen Vuvu

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Really cold night at Malaghalonyane last night made it difficult to sleep. Got going just after 6 to be faced with an icy wind blowing off t...
Tuesday, 15 June 2010

First Snow

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We had a lie in today due to the short section. Only about 60km. We hopped out of bed at 6 for a 7 o'clock breakfast to start at 8. At 7...
Monday, 14 June 2010

Days 2 and 3

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Today was much like yesterday in one respect and in another the complete opposite. Yesterday I had no fun on the trail and today was just th...
Saturday, 12 June 2010

When walking is a great idea

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At first glance this concrete "road" looks like the perfect option for descending into the Umkomaas valley. The only problem being...
Friday, 11 June 2010

So not ready!

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7 hours till the start of the ride and I have only just finished packing my backpack - to be fair I only started on it an hour ago. Have b...