Monday, 25 July 2016

RASA 2016 - Could I have gone faster?

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Before the race started I was asked how long I thought it would take me to complete the race. My answer, 13.5 days. My actual finishing time...
Saturday, 23 July 2016

Banishing the If-Only's - Racing Without Regrets

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Four weeks after finishing the Freedom Challenge Race Across South Africa I sit at home and watch the sun sink below the horizon. It's t...
2 comments:
Friday, 15 July 2016

Of talking rabbits and interstellar butterflies

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A coughing fit woke me. I looked at my watch. I had been tossing in my space bag for nearly 2 hours. I had been following Chris Morris up th...
Sunday, 3 July 2016

Why would you do FC RASA more than once?

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I have just added a forth Race Across South Africa blanket to my Freedom Challenge (FC) collection that also includes four Race to Rhodes wh...
2 comments:
Tuesday, 7 June 2016

No One Remembers Who Came Second

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No one remembers who came second, third, or forth for that matter. Winning is everything it seems. Too often we have a warped sense of what ...
Thursday, 26 May 2016

Is the Freedom Challenge similar to Fight Club?

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What do the Freedom Challenge and turn of the century movie Fight Club have in common? Apart from shared initials, nothing! But the rules of...
2 comments:
Tuesday, 17 May 2016

If vasbyt, like beer, came in 6 packs, one pack wouldn't be enough to get you through RASA

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Vasbyt. Now there's a cool South African word. It has even made its way into the Oxford Dictionary. Alas, it isn't properly defined ...
2 comments:
Friday, 13 May 2016

Another year, another race. Race Across South Africa 2016

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As the sun heads north and autumn leaves scurry around my yard, my head space is filled with memories of the many yesteryears spent riding t...
5 comments:
Sunday, 24 April 2016

The Ordinary Cyclist heads to Durban

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The Durban Dash Down is a challenging ride. Even though 614km's, it's short enough in duration to be ridden without stopping to slee...
1 comment:
Thursday, 21 April 2016

Race to Cradock - Rockdale to Cradock

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The sun rose as we approached the head of the valley giving us sight of our next challenge. The climb over Schurfteberg looks intimidating. ...

Race to Cradock - Newlands to Rockdale

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The first challenge was to cross the Pauls river. After seeing how full the Fish river was we expected it to be flowing a lot stronger than ...
Wednesday, 20 April 2016

Race to Cradock - Baroda to Newlands

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Big trucks passing at speed are intimidating when you have spent two days riding through areas so remote that many hours pass without seeing...
Tuesday, 19 April 2016

Race to Cradock - Elandsberg to Baroda

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Before I had completed a single pedal stroke I knew my bike needed attention. The back tyre was flat. Casper unaware of that bolted down the...

Race to Cradock - Elandsberg

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We were tired. In the absence of a mirror I had no idea how I looked. If it was anything like Casper, then I needed a shower and a good nigh...
Sunday, 17 April 2016

Race to Cradock - Hofmeyr to Elandsburg

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The ride from Hofmeyr to the Elandsberg support station is only 33 kilometres. Most of it is flat and doesn't take more than 3 hours - w...
Saturday, 16 April 2016

Race to Cradock - Magdala to Hofmeyr

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Sitting in the inadequate shade of a scrawny thorn tree wasn't helping our cause. I was all too aware of the time constraints that faced...

Race to Cradock - Romansfontein to Magdala

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On our way out of Romanfontein we bumped into Gavin Robertson. He had started the day ahead of us. Without realising it we had passed him wh...
Friday, 15 April 2016

Race to Cradock - Stormberg to Romansfontein.

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The run from Stormberg to Romansfontein went off without any snags. It was a simple matter of pedalling along and watching the miles slide b...
Thursday, 14 April 2016

Race to Cradock - Stormberg.

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The Stormberg station used to be a railway junction but the tracks that headed off west toward Steynsburg have been lifted and as far as I c...

Race to Cradock - Brosterlea to Stormberg.

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Not long after leaving Brosterlea the fog dissipated and we were able to trundle along without too much difficulty. We zigged and zagged at ...
Tuesday, 12 April 2016

Race to Cradock - Brosterlea.

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We scuttled inside the cottage at Brosterlea and my first order of business was to get the kettle on. Last year we had arrived in the middle...

Race to Cradock - Predikantskop to Brosterlea.

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As we neared the top of the Predikantskop climb we got above the mist and while I hoped we had seen the last of it I knew the road dropped d...
Saturday, 9 April 2016

Race to Cradock - Kranskop to mist swathed Predikantskop

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It had been a long day. Casper and I were tired. The food selection at Kranskop was more than adequate and certainly more than we could stom...
Sunday, 3 April 2016

Race to Cradock - Moodenaarspoort to Kranskop

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The stop at Moodenaarspoort is a great transition point. For some it's a welcome midday soup stop that comes after 2 tough portages. For...
Saturday, 2 April 2016

Race to Cradock - Loutebron to Moodenaarspoort.

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The hike-a-bike portage that spans the Loutebron and Bonthoek farmhouses isn't terribly challenging, but it was our third big portage of...
Thursday, 31 March 2016

Race to Cradock - Slaapkranz to Loutebron.

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The climb up the mountain didn't start immediately, we had 100 metres of flat road first. The ascent started off easily enough as we fol...
Wednesday, 30 March 2016

Race to Cradock - Slaapkranz

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Anthony and Fjord should be made to attend a class or two of race etiquette as taught by Tim James. Tim has the decency to look exhausted af...
1 comment:
Monday, 28 March 2016

Race to Cradock - Chesneywold to Slaapkranz

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Picnic-legs ˈpɪknɪk-lɛɡs/ Noun A condition of leg fatigue and exhaustion that arises from taking an extended period of rest whilst engaged ...