Musing from atop a mountain pass

10h30 Tuesday 30th June. Here we sit on top of the Swartberg Pass drinking coffee. It it amazing how your race can suddenly change. 24 hours ago we were mapping out our final assault on the finish. Today we are chilling in the sun with the finish tucked away in the back of our minds. Our "trusty" Rohloff is broken. We have instituted a rescue plan but it will take time to take effect. In the mean time we are relaxing for the first time since the race started. The mountains around us are truley majestic, regally draped in snow.
The 3 of us travelling together (us and Francois) have come to the same conclusion - this race has not been fun. There has been an hour here or there that we enjoyed but overall it has been arduous. The tandem has been harder than we imagined and the weather has been tougher on us than in the 2007 race. Add the new tougher routing of the race and I would have to say that a par finish to my day 21 finish in '07 would be a day 23 finish.
The race for the podium is over. Tim is chilling this morning after a great race. Andrew has clinched an impressive 2nd spot in the cycle event while he waits for the paddling leg of the Extreme Triathlon. Sure there are clouds over the adherence and application of race rules etc. but the race director needs to tidy those up. We are just hoping to finish to law down a tandem record for others to aim at. Behind us Carl and Marnitz are engaged in there own personal battle for bragging rights. Francois summed it up in 4 words 2 days ago. "this rubbish must end!" (ed. One word changed to make it suitable for sensitive blog readers). I think this sentiment resonates with most riders at this stage of the race.
While I am rambling on I must tell you a little about the changing country side and the economic realities of farming. We have come across no wealthy farmers. At best they live normal middle class lives. There was a time when a livestock farmer could make a living off of 1000 hectares of land, and that in the good grazing areas. The carrying capacity of farms in the Molteno/Cradock region with good grazing is 1 hectare per sheep. As we moved south it changed to 3 hectares per sheep and in the Willowmore area it is 5-7 hectares per sheep. In the 1 hectare per sheep regions the farmers were suggesting that 5000 hectares is the viable size of farm to make a living. So when you need more hectares per sheep you need so much more land. That would explain why the occupied farm houses are many kilometres apart.
Coffee is done. Now to amble along and sleep in Die Hell tonight.

Day 16 - Willowmore to Prince Albert

172 km day in 14 hours. Better than the nearly 20 hours it took us to do a similar distance yesterday. Given the terrain and weather conditions today was rather pathetic. The day was good and the route flat. But we do have a handful of excuses. Firstly, we are seriously sleep deprived. Blogging instead of sleeping doesn't help but the 'fans' are demanding.
Secondly, riding the beast is hard on the butt and regular butt breaks are necessary.
Thirdly, riding up front is hard work when every inch of the riding line has to be carefully picked and ridden, particularly at night when it is hard to differentiate between sand, mud and the good stuff. It takes about 5 minutes for your shoulders to start cramping. It feels like someone is pushing a blunt knife into your shoulder blades. I have piloted the bike for over 5000km in the last 6 months and it still works me over. Nursing my ITB problems in the past week has meant Glenn has had to captain the beast for the best part of each day. Today he was feeling a bit off colour so I took control for the last 4 hours and my shoulders and neck ache.
Lastly, the Rohloff hub our secret weapon for trail reliability failed! This must be a world first. These things are supposed to be bullet and bomb proof. We have lost 6 gears in our range of 14. We have 1 and then 8 - 14. So we can crawl up hills or ride flats and downhills. Johann Rissik the 'go to guy' in Prince Albert leapt at the chance of fiddling with a legendary Rohloff and rinsed and filled the hub with new oil. Will see how that works in the morning. Hopefully all will be good. Failing that we need to make a plan to get our spare one out of the store room back home and onto the bike. Going to make tomorrow a rather long day if it aint fixed. At worst it will give us a good excuse for the longs days and extended walking sessions.
The right knee is still very sore. By the time I get into the support station I hobble around in pain. But only a handful of days left so must just suck it up.

Day 15 - Cambria to Willowmore

19 hours 45 mins! Today we started at 04h30 with the objective of getting to Willowmore which is the support station beyond Damsedrif. It is a long double of 175km that should have taken about 16 hours. A gentle rain fell for the first 8 hours and we squelched through sticky wet clay for the last 25km. To add to our troubles my knee started hurting badly at the 70km mark leaving us to struggle along for the balance of 105km. We eventually rode into a freezing cold Willowmore at 15 minutes after midnight. Now to catch 40 winks and ride the 170km across to Prince Albert in the morning. My butt is tender, my shoulder is sore and my leg aches something horrible and I can barely walk on it without wincing. Today was incredibly tough.

Day 14 - Bucklands to Cambria

12 hours today. Battled to get going but finished feeling strong. Weather was great today. In places it was hot enough to have just a short sleeved riding shirt on. Big haul out of the river valley, 400 metres of climbing in 3 km. Ride across and down the osseberg was awesome. Glenn's technical skills are impressive. I just sat at the back and made a point of not looking at the track. The last bit through the river valley includes wading through the river no less than 11 times in about 5 km. Once my feet are cold and wet the fun runs out.

Day 13 - Toekomst to Bucklands

Today was in total contrast to yesterday. We were on the road for 11 hours today which included a 45 minute lunch stop as well as a 45 minute siesta next to the track. The track side snooze was unplanned. We stopped riding and I sat down resting against my back pack enjoying the warm sun and promptly nodded off.
We started the day with the stars bright against a cloudless canopy. The temperature was well below zero but the wind was not blowing for a change. The surface had dried out and it was possible to ride. Only snag being that we had no riding legs! We just trundled along slowly making sure we got to the next support station before dark.
Glenn has a swollen knee from his fall the other night as well as toothache which he has been suffering from for 4 days now. My knee was a bit sore today and my butt is really uncomfortable in the saddle. I have even started using anesthetic cream to stop the pain and it helps a bit.
Well riding today we found a Kudu stuck in a fence. It had obviously tried to jump the fence and got its back leg trapped in the top 3 strands. There were signs of it trashing around trying to get free. By the time we came past it just lay there exhaused. Francois freed its back leg and we left it to recover.
I heard a funny riding account that is worth passing on. Dave Barr is riding with the batch A riders that we are moving with. A few days back he raced ahead to get to a gate to open it so that the others could simply ride through without stopping. He overlooked the fact the the gate was paired with a cattle grid. While he was fiddling with the gate to open it, the others simply rode through the grid opening much amused by his antics.

Day 12 - Van de Venterskraal to Toekomst

Soft day today. Too much wind, too much mud and too much cold rain to be fun. To add to our misery we sustained a side wall gash of the front tyre at speed less than an hour into the ride. Sorting that out in the pouring rain with an artic wind blowing a gale really tested my resolve.
We do carry a spare tyre but we have a DIY tubeless setup ("homeless tubeless" using a 20 inch BMX inner tube as a tubeless strip) with deep section rims (downhill spec) just getting the tyre off the rim is hard work requiring 3 extra strength tyre levers. I swear the cold must have shrunk the tyre because it didn't cooperate. Then we had to decide if we should put an inner tube in or try go tubeless with our spare. With all the thorns around an inner tube is not a good option. With our setup not being genuine tubeless we always face the possibility of the tyre not sealing on the rim even with an inflator. In the end we just opened the tyre sufficiently to stick a patch on the inside wall over the 1 cm cut. Fortunately it worked and we were on our way in 20 minutes. 20 mins sounds excessive but we don't have quick release skewers. To get the front wheel off you need to remove no less than 8 bolts. Glue and patches don't like water so Glenn used an emergency blanket to make a "tent" to keep the elements at bay. Then it took an age for the glue to dry sufficiently to apply the patch. We tried to speed up the process by lighting the glue - an old Indian trick taught to me by old man Pillay at my local bike shop - but with all the wind the lighter was as much use as lock-jaw! While all this was going on the rain was streaming down, we were getting covered in mud and our fingers were turning to ice lollies. Shivering from the cold we then had to scramble up a path that was as slippery as fresh snot. Knowing the route is a pleasure because after all this excitement it only took us about 20 minutes to catch up with the guys ahead.
This is our third mechanical problem. Two days ago we tore a valve stem. Yesterday I had difficulty trying to clip into the left pedal on a fast, bumpy descent. At the bottom I discovered that the pedal casing was "missing in action" and only the shaft was left. We had the good sense to bring a spare pair of pedals so that was a 2 minute fix.
So far our Rohloff hub has worked well. Mud is ugly and takes no prisoners with the drive train. If we were using a conventional "cassette derailleur" setup I have no doubt that the mud would have caused it to fail. As it is, our Rohloff "gear box" is doing good. We push big torque through the pedals. Today we were wheel spinning on a slope without moving forward. Already some riders have experienced drive train failure and I expect many more will. The wear and tear brought about by riding in mud can reduce a bike to trash in a single day. In a multi-week event like this mud can be a race ender.
At the end of todays ride we only covered a paltry 50km in 6 hours. Arriving in Toekomst we were easily seduced by the promise of laundry and good food. Having to layer up for the weather makes your clothes stink. Arriving late last night meant no washing. The next 2 support stations don't offer washing facilities and quite frankly I have gotten to the stage of finding the odour of my clothes repugnant! The other factor mitigating against moving on is our tactical options. The next support station in 100km ahead, which in wet conditions would mean another long night. Only got 5 hours of sleep last night and the leg is starting to twinge again from todays mud ride. Going to recharge here for today be then re-charge!
The race this year has been more arduous than previous years because of the weather and the extra "interesting" bits the race director has added. Some of them described as "mostly rideable" but aren't! One of the other riders staying here today commented "I just want to ride my bike!" Sounds like a reasonable request for a mountain bike race doesn't it?

Day 11 - Stuttgard to Van der Venterskraal

Yesterday was a miserable day with leg problems. Last night I spoke to Doc Rudi who explained that the recommended treatment for acute ITB was rest but that that was obviously not possible. He then said I should do the following: Ice, Stretch, lower my saddle a bit, change my shoe set up to be more heal in and then take some Voltaren. What a difference one night and some good advice can make. After limping along yesterday, today we came out firing and knocked off 150km's of riding. It did take 16 hours but the terrain today was tough. Lots of walking up steep mountains. Unrideable sections and a steep rocky descent that took an hour. The wind today was unbelievably strong and cold, but at least there was no rain or snow.
This is thorn country. Found a HUGE one today that must be nearly 20cm long. They don't come bigger than that.
After pushing through the first support station today we got to the start of the Struishoek portage at last light. Francois was a little anxious and with good reason. Last year he and a few others spent hours lost on the mountain there at night. That has been the case with a few riders in the part few years. Struishoek by night was the perfect remedy for Francois. The whole thing took just over an hour. The only excitement came from Glenn. The only point that we differ on is what is rideable. Glenn believes every thing can and should be ridden. My view is that caution is sometimes more important than bravery. At least I an not the one with a huge gash on my knee from trying to ride down Struishoek at night.
We are now well into the second half of the race and are still well placed, top 5 I think. Don't really know what is happening with the rest of the field but believe there are a few bunches trying to chase us down. All good fun and we intend to keep the fun going as long as possible.
For all the aches and pains Glenn and I laugh a lot. We are starting to enjoy the race a bit more now as the terrain starts to suit us more. The mountains up to now have brutalised us. We have portaged as fast if not faster than most people over the mountains but at huge physical cost. We have also hauled the beast over countless fences and gates without any help, not because we won't get help but because it is not fair to make other people suffer for our choice of mount for this race.

Day 10 - Elandsberg to Stuttgardt

Today was horrible! Early in the ride my right knee started hurting. Pedalling was impossible without experiencing intense pain. To add to our woes the wind is howling. Riding into the wind is draining. We then had problems with the one tyre. Somehow the valve stem tore and we had to replace our home made tubeless conversion. It actually went rather quickly. Eventually the pain in my knee was so bad we resorted to walking more than riding. The last 15km over fairly flat terrain took over 2 hours. We ended up riding only half the intended distance and have gone to ground in the hope of me recovering sufficiently to continue tomorrow. The alternative does not excite me. There have already been 5 withdrawals from the race and I don't want to add my name to that list.

Day 9 - Romansfontein to Elandsberg

13h30. Owing to a professional foul committed the previous day ( we diverted around a portion of the route due to thunder storms ) we were only allowed to leave the support station at 10am, effectively a 4 hour penalty. The 4 riders who left at 6am found themselves coming off a huge mountain when the mother of all thunderstorms rolled through the area. At this time we were having a leisurely breakfast at the farm house. Just after 10am we ambled out the farm. The climb up Aasvoelberg is relatively simple. It is a stiff walk but there is a basic jeep track to follow. Along the way we met the farmer who was driving down from the top. He had given up trying to find his sheep because of poor visibility. He said were were lucky it wasn't snowing. He thought it was going to start the next day if not that very day. We then found some of his amusing sign boards while walking up. At the top visibility was down to 30 metres and the wind speed must have been around 70-80 km/h. It was freezing cold. We scuttled off the mountain as fast as we could down the Hofmeyer 100 miler horse trail route. Glenn will try ride anything so I sat at the back and clung on for dear life! We then headed off to Hofmeyer. Not very fast it must be said. A few days back I started showing symptoms of ITB in my right knee. I suspect it was caused by all the portaging we did in the first week. The pain when pedalling is intense. I have strapped it to reduce the pain but it still aches. When arriving at the support station last night I could barely walk on it. We arrived in Hofmeyer well after dark, 30km short of the next support station. Between us and a warm bed was a portage around the Elandsberg mountain. We popped into the Hofmeyer hotel and snacked on hamburgers and chips washed down with hot tea. Leaving HofmeyerwWe finally arrived at the Elandsberg support station 20 minutes shy of midnight. Navigating through that tricky portage was the highlight of my trip so far and I was pleased with my efforts. My travelling companions were not as impressed. They reckoned we should have slept in town and done the portage in the morning instead of wasting good sleep time.

Day 8 - Vaalbank to Romansfontein

A day to remember; a day to forget! Thunderstorms, rain, sleet, wind, mud and freezing conditions all combined to make today a hard miserable experience. We spent 15 hours in awful conditions.
To add to our difficulties both Glenn and I have developed knee injuries. I have the painful symptoms of ITB of my right knee and Glenn is experiencing acute pain located under his left knee. On the bright side we still have a good pair between us. Walking and riding are painful. I strapped my knee with duct tape which helped. The bad weather has affected the entire field. What was once an easy day (if 11 hour cycling days can be considered easy) is now a 15 to 16 hour ordeal. I suspect that a number of riders will consider shorter days opting to stay at intermediate stations until the weather lifts. Even the mighty Tim James has been affected by the weather.
Am hoping that by morning I am no longer hopping. We need to press on tomorrow to drop into the karoo to escape the possibility of snow.
As I lie in bed typing this I am aware of the thunderstorm raging outside.

Day 7 - Slaapkranz to Vaalbank

11h30 today. Day started with back to back mountain portages. The first 20km's took us 4h15 by which time we were clear of both mountains. Superb downhill riding by Glenn made short work of the Bontehoek descent and a mockery of the comment made by one of the competitors last year who complained that there was no reward for the climb as the descent was unrideable. To be fair he did walk 50 metres of it. I chose to remain off the bike for most of it and was rewarded with a good show. Later it got cold and drizzly so wasn't much fun. Tim and 2 others came into Slaapkranz last night. They started the day about 10 minutes after us and eventually caught up with us about 15km after the last portage. Tim has pushed on from here and will probably ride until midnight or a bit later to make the next stop. We are content to sleep here and move forward in day light tomorrow. Weather looks like it is deteriorating with strong winds predicted over the next few days. Weather is looking similar to what we experienced in the same area in 2007 during the race and it turned to snow which was no fun. We need to get off the high ground and drop into the karoo quickly to avoid to snow. Even then, there is one portage in the karoo that was snowed in during 2007.

Day 6 - Chesneywold to Slaapkrantz

Short day. We took 5 hours to cover 36km today with one portage. Started out with minus 3 degrees this morning. The ground blanketed in frost. We don't have legs today after yesterdays hard ride. There are 2 huge postages between us and the next support station and the prospect of hauling the Beast over 2 mountains and getting to the next support station late at night was enough to convince up that an early day with adequate recovery time was a better option. My toes are aching and my saddle area is tender. Riding a tandem means spending a lot of time walking up hills and when in the saddle it is just that - in the saddle. Standing and pedalling or even free wheeling is all but impossible. So with bruised toes, a tender butt and a shoulder that took a knock yesterday I am not in good shape. Fortunately I was able to convince Glenn to take a short day. We are still 1 day ahead of my race in 2007 so we are doing ok. Hopefully by morning we have some fight back in us.

Day 5 - Vuvu to Chesneywold

15 hour day. We started the day by scuttling up Lehana ahead of everyone else. We did start about 10 mins ahead of the next couple of riders but managed to hold that gap. This achievement wasn't without a price. The tandem is heavy and difficult to portage with and we paid the price ending th day totally wasted. We were first to arrive in Rhodes. After a quick lunch we headed off to Chesneywold a further 68km up the road. We walked plenty of hills and managed to get in before the other 4 who followed us from Rhodes. The temperature dropped below freezing and made the last 15km seem like a lifetime. Eventually rolled in at 21h30. We were happy to be out of the cold and off the bike.

Day 4 - Malekhalonyane to Vuvu

12 hours today.
Day started at 05h10 with 8 of the riders from Batch A who we have caught up with. Getting out of the support station was tricky. The Batch A riders going to Cape Town went off on their own mission and took a bit longer than us to get off the ridge. At one stage they were a few hundred metres from us and then we never saw them again. When I left the others to go to bed at 20h30 they were not yet in at the support station. More about that just now. We were really slow for the first hour to the start of the Black Fountain single track section arriving there after the Ride to Rhodes riders. They didn't have to drop off the ridge line and simply rode out of the support station on the public road. Given the difficulty of getting off the ridge they were about 3 km's ahead of up when we hit the public road. We past them crossing the river and they eventually caught up. Th conditions this morning were horrendous for navigating. Th narrative is visually based, such as "head up to the water tanks on th ridge above the village". The whole landscape was covered in thick fog. Fortunately we knew our way across the valley having done it on 3 previous occasions. The other 3 riders then joined us for a fast ride through the single track section. They seemed to enjoy the riding as they didn't have to deal with the challenges of navigativion and could just focus on the fun of riding a stunning part of our country. Eventually we had to head down the Vuvu valley. The Rhodes riders didn't have to ride the valley so made their way to Vuvu on the public road arriving a full hour ahead of us even though they rode nearly twice as far. Neither Glenn nor I have ridden the Vuvu valley before and were a little apprehensive about it given the tales told by previous valley explorers. It was horrible. The navigational challenges are enormous with plenty of scope for big mistakes. It is unpopulated, overgrown and often has no obvious tracks to move down. As mentioned earlier the other riders had not emerged from the valley more than 3 hours after dark. It is a nasty entirely unnecessary section that is going to get people in trouble. I do not want to get stuck in that valley after dark. One rider chose not to in through and used the public road instead incurring a time penalty which is a far more sensible option if you suspect you might not emerge before dark. As it is we got out with only 30 mins to spare which is tight. Having now completed only 5 of the 27 sections of the race I must say the changes to the route since I did it in 2007 have raised the level of difficulty to the point that the average person is going to battle to complete the event without incident. Tomorrow we take on the big portage of Lehana which we expect to be difficult given the challenges of man handling the tandem over obstacles.

Day 3 - Banchory to Malekhalonyane

14 hour day today. We arrived at Masakala at 12h30 after a good ride through the Taylorville single track and left again 20 mins later and raced through Queens Mercy arriving on the ridge line above Malekhalonyane just as it was getting dark. Eventually made our way off the mountain and arrived just after 8.

Day 2. Centacow to Banchory.

Hard day. Only covered 86km in 14 hours. Climbed some big stuff today. Legs are tired. Lack of sleep is showing. Only had 4h30 sleep in the past 2 days. Stopped at an intermediate support station and had a good meal, hot bath and had laundry sorted out. Thanks to Martin and Margie of Banchory for wonderful hospitality. Had a couple of low speed spills today. The first was interesting as I got stuck under the bike and Glenn got stuck in a bramble bush. We both needed help to get out and the others just looked on laughing and taking pictures. Our bodies are sore all over. Every muscles is under the impression that they are entitled to an opinion, and they are all voicing them. This barn door on wheels (supposedly a tandem) is hard work. It has yet to buy into our vision of getting to Cape Town as easily as possible. It clearly has no intention of moving forward without putting up a fight .

Coffee time in the mountains

It is now 07h30. We have been on the go for 3 hours so far. Most of it uphill. Our method for hauling the Beast up the mountains is to tie a bungy cord to the bars and then connect it to one of our back packs. Currently enjoying a cup of coffee courtesy of my little stove. Sun is coming up and the temp is 5 degrees

Day 1

Today was really tough. 156km in 16h20. The tandem is really hard to keep moving. With two human passengers loaded with trail luggage the total rolling weight of The Beast is just over 200kg. There was a lot of climbing today and that is the toughest part of riding a tandem, particularly one that weighs as much as it does. We got the the first support station just behind Andre and Francois. Andre is riding a single speed so that was an outstanding effort. After tea and some food the four of us decided to push on to Centacow an interim support station about 48 km further on. Not an easy task when we were all so tired and so late in the day. At 17h15 we headed out to use the last 30 minutes of day light before continuing on in the dark. It took us 5 hours to get there but we were satisfied with that given our fatigued state, the lack of day light and the tricky navigation of the part of the trail. On arrival we were treated to dinner and hot showers and feel well pleased with our days effort.

Great way to start the race

Shoulder still not is good shape. Have patches and drugs so hope it gets better quickly. Now at the start about to set off. Hard day ahead I suspect.

(editor's note: Good hair-cover should be an advantage in the bad weather to come)

And the final weight of the Beast is. . . .

27.4kg ! Oh my greatness this thing is a monster! This is the weight without water in the bottles. I am hoping all the fences and gates along the way are manned by caring marshals who open and close for us and lift it over fences while we look on. As for Lehana and Stettyskloof. . . I don't even want to think about those and the other dozen or so portages along the way.

Just what you shouldn't be doing the day before the race!

The Art of the 9 Hour Taper Ride

With just 10 days to the start of the race it was time for a gentle ride to fit in with the concept of tapering your training before a race. The idea is to slow your training intensity to keep in form while rebuilding your body from training depletion. In other words, stop riding hard and be strong at the start of the race.

Well yesterday I spent 9 hours engaged in just such a taper ride. 9 hours!! Yes, I know a bit extreme I admit but it wasn't the plan at all. My guess is that we rode for about 5h30, spent 2 hours drinking cofee and eating soft and browns (Wimpy double up breakfast with soft eggs and brown toast)and then spent an hour and a half fixing punctures - actually one puncture several times. For the inexperienced I must point out that you should always take a pump, tube, puncture repair kit, tyre levers and ideally a tubeless repair kit with you on rides. Yesterday I had ...... a bike! This was only my second puncture in 4 years of riding with tubeless tyres. Obviously I have been riding for more than 4 years. For the first 2 months I rode with tubes.
I have become so blaze about punctures that I have been riding for the best part of the last year without any spares. I do however make sure I ride with better prepared riders.

A 4 inch nail put their niceness to the test. 2 tubeless swatches and a chunk of glue almost fixed the puncture. If only I had followed my own oft given advice about topping up on tubeless tyre sealant every 4-6 months it would have been easy to fix. Apparently there is none in my tyres. Slow punture most of the way to Magaliesburg and back was the result.

Hard to believe I am supposed to be at the top of my game ahead of the Freedom Challenge and ready-for-anything. One sissy nail and the ride becomes a mini-mission.

The ride was good though. We tried a new good looking route and were rewarded with a 45 minute detour through aweful unridable terrain resulting in 200 metres of progress from where we started. At least we know one option that in not a viable route. Other experimental route worked well and chopped out a 5km tar road that is never fun.

Sitting on the grass drinking coffee at the Sasol near home talking trail rubbish with Derek was the perfect end to a good day on the bike.

Close encounters with Coco

Glenn says:

Considering the time and effort that have gone in so far, it would be a real pity to sideline myself with an injury right now, especially since Mike is still recovering from his sore shoulder and besides, he would never forgive me for making him pedal the Beast across the country on his own. So I’ve been riding really carefully and generally staying off sketchy trails and sticking to dirt roads but the singletrack habit is a hard one to break and yesterday I headed up a trail that traverses a mountainside before spilling out onto the lawns of a nearby farmhouse. Once you’re off the mountain, the riding’s not too technical but there is one thing that can still make it exciting – his name is Coco. He’s a shaggy old sheepdog and he doesn’t like bikes much….

Normally he’d be lying in the sun dreaming of dinosaur bones but yesterday he was on the prowl. So when I saw him run out in front of me, I took the cautious approach and slowed right down to a halt. Sometimes caution is a good thing but not always... He came bounding over and stopped about 2 metres away. His little sidekick, Bruno, was running rings around me, tail wagging furiously, so I thought the coast was clear. Coco then took a step forward and slowly tilted his head sideways, not so I could give him a scratch under the chin, mind you but to line up his mouth better with my half bent leg. As if signalling the charge, little Bruno went berserk and Coco lunged forward….

Instinct took over and my leg jumped out the way by stomping on the pedal, which sent me lurching forward. Luckily my other leg was in on the plan and obliged by stomping on the other pedal which sent me wobbling off across the lawn in a half wheelie with Coco in hot pursuit. The wobble turned into a sprint and thankfully Coco tired before me and gave up the chase.(although I only stopped pedalling about half a k further down the road!)

Rolling back into town a few minutes later with my heart rate back to normal, I took some comfort in the knowledge that if it did come down to a sprint finish at Diemersfontein, I think we’d be ok.

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 suspect that on the trail I will have to add 1 or 2 more cold weather items - like gloves and a buff.

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 in 16 days time.

Having though about it I must agree that the race is almost over. Packing the race boxes and shipping them off is the last real activity before the race starts.

The first part of the race begins with the desire/dream of doing it. That progresses through actually entering, coercing your friends into joining you, getting on the forum, having countless dreams about the race, getting your first glimpse of the route, attending a race briefing, getting the updated maps and narrative and planning your boxes etc.. In between all of this is the countless hours and kilometres on the bike.

By the time you have shipped your race boxes you have lived the race for the better part of 6 months. All things going to plan you will be home with the race behind you in little over 5 weeks.

There is little you can do to be better prepared physically so it is now hurry up and wait for the start.

Packing the boxes is a little stressful, even the second time around. You are allowed to forward 2 litre icecream containers, filled with stuff to ease your race, to each of the 26 designated support stations. 2 litres is not that much once you start loading necessities and comfort food. Riders have opted for everything from loo paper to Jack Daniels. The last minute rush to stuff everythng possible into 2 litres is both expensive and exhausting. Now that it is behind me I can relax as there is now nothing I can do about it - what has been sent is done, we must live with the consequences of any oversights or mistakes. One rider in a previous year loaded his maps in corresponding support station (SS) boxes. Day 1 maps in SS box 1, Day 2 maps in SS2 and so on. The problem being that you need the day 1 maps to get to support station 1. Fortunately for this rider other events resulted in him not starting the ride....which is probably fortunate.

Carl, one of my guys at work yesterday admitted to having a dream where he had entered the race and was all excited. Most people I have spoken to who are doing the race have had at least one dream about the race - mostly negative ones at that. Carl is the first person I have heard of who is not doing the race and had a dream about it. Perhaps my excitement and anxiety is rubbing off on him.

So with boxes packed and shipped I can turn my attention to getting my bike in good shape and plannng and packing my backpack. A couple of fun rides chucked in and then it is all systems go.....

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 the subject of food for at least the first 20 minutes. After that he is constantly hooking stuff out of his bag and eating. Between bites he enquires about the next available food stop. We hadn't been out of the Wimpy more than 20 minutes the other night and he was already grumbling about needing to eat something!

I found the accompanying picture on the internet. It looks like a rugged off-road cooler box on wheels. I think this would keep Glenn happy for at least 10 hours. Where can we get one?

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 aroused was touching. I must point out that it wasn't a picture of my injury but rather a picture randomly downloaded from the internet. There are 2 similarities. Firstly, the person in the picture suffered this injury as a result of a cycling accident. Secondly, the coverage of the bruising was very similar to mine, except I didn't have all that awful colouring. My bruising was very faint. Even so, many of you knew that a superb in-form athlete like me was in better physical shape than the picture indicated.

As you can see from the attached picture I have made a remarkable recovery!

Yesterday Forest and I decided it was time to embark on a full test of The Beast and riders in race-like conditions. With this in mind we packed our backpacks will all our kit (yes, including the pot and stove to make tea) and headed out on the Tandem.

Our route took us from Roodepoort across to my office in Kya Sand where we were delayed for an hour sorting out the lighting on the bike and other work related nuisances. After we got going again we headed to van Gaalen's in Skeerpoort via the Home of the Chicken Pie and the cradle. We stopped for fresh brewed tea en route. Actually, more like hot milk as I had left the tea bags behind. After a quick lunch we did the bridle trail and then rode along the dirt roads all the way to Hekpoort. A quick scamper past Bekkers Skool saw us having dinner at the Magaliesburg Wimpy. As it got dark (6pm) we layered up, turned the lights on and wiggled the last 55km's home in the dark arriving at 21h45 a full 14 hours after we had left home that morning. Actual riding time was around 11 hours and we managed 160km for the day.

Surprisingly we were not that tired although the sitting part of the body was starting to feel uncomfortable in the saddle. I shows that if you back off a bit and keep the effort levels under control it is possible to ride for a very long period. If we were required to get back on the bike again today and do it again, we both thought it would have been ok.

I guess that means we are race ready as far as fitness levels are concerned.

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 which included a 1 hour breakfast stop in Magalies. One of those rides where you feel you are strong enough to ride all day.

Saturday saw a similar handful of us riding from The Home of the Chicken Pie near Lansaria through to Van Gaalen Kaasmakerij (cheese farm - for those of you who don't speak Dutch) and back. I rode to and from the Chicken Pie and totalled around 116km for the day. Door-2-door it took 10 hours. We stopped near the cheese farm and again at the pie shop for a total of around 90 mins I guess. Was glad to be done with the ride when I eventually rolled in the gates. My "uninjured" shoulder hurt like crazy and I was tired.

Based on Fridays ride I was ready to conquer the trail in 7 days. Saturdays ride left me wondering about making the 26 day cut-off. Sunday I didn’t feel up to a ride and so declared it a rest day. Makes me wonder how I am going to manage in 4 weeks time when I line up at the start.

Tim managed to ride the same distance as me in the same time. A few notable differences being:
1) he did it in one day on day one of the race last year
2) in worse conditions
3) with a race back pack
4) …and climbed nearly 5000 metres whereas I barely managed 2500 metres over my pathetic 2 day effort

Clearly I need to find some race form and quickly if I want a 2 week taper before the race!!!

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 as a Nerd Whimp if you acknowledge Whimp as the correct spelling which apparently very few people are aware of. So in order to avoid the appearance of being a complete woosie I declare myself to be a common or garden Wimp.

This condition came upon me this morning when I went to the GP to get some medical attention for my current irritation, being my annual sinus flare-up. While I was there I mentioned that my right shoulder was a little sore following the spill on Saturday past. I was given a piece of paper and directed to the closest X-Ray facility. The result is that there is no evidence of skeletal damage, in fact no evidence of anything unusual at all! In fact the supposed-to-be-injured right shoulder fared better than the non-injured "control" shoulder - being the left one.

So all the huffing, puffing, groaning and muffled screams everytime I have tried to use my shoulder over the past 5 days has been a figment of my imagination - apparently.

Accidents come in 3's I am told - lets for a second confine the 3's to bike accidents and just gloss over my son bending my VW Golf out of shape this past Saturday night. Doug was number 1, I will claim the second spot which leaves spot number 3 up for grabs. Good news is that the spot has already been taken. I took my imaginary shoulder injury out for a test ride on Tuesday evening with my regular Tuesday night riding partner - Bradley Francis - hereinafter referred to as Tumble Weed. Shortly after our ride started he zipped off up a footpath and promptly took a tumble over the bars - no damage worth detailing.

Come to think of it Tumble Weed is not the final 3rd of the accident trilogy. Cecil, my ABSA Cape Epic partner (2007) had a nasty fall one evening early this week breaking a bone in his hand and sustaining a cut lip and other abrasions to the face. This trumps Tumble Weed both in time and degree of mentionable injuries.

Beware fellow riders, Tumble Weed did not close out an active accident set but rather started a new one!

... 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 through Kings Kloof, AKA Krugerdorp Gorge. The ride through the kloof is stunning as the riding is challenging, the view magnificent and the sense of being far away from the city wonderful. After snaking up a jeep track one is rewarded with an exhilarating downhill. I always enjoy going with first timers down this section as it is tricky and a tad slippery with a lot of loose rock. The look of horror or satisfaction in the face of a kloof rookie is always worth seeing. Chris and I bombed down the hill and scrambled up the steep incline on the other side and then waited for the others to catch up. The lengthy wait was ominous - surely someone has been dismounted!

Eventually we saw the others coming down the other side and then crawl up the hill to where we were waiting. My comment of "A lag like this must have a story attached to it" elicited an apology from Doug, "Sorry for keeping you waiting so long but I fell off." He is such a mellow guy but apologizing for falling off was just too funny. To make matters worse he didn’t even fall off on the tricky bit. The jeep track leading up to the decent is a tad rutted and Doug managed to drop his front wheel into one of these ruts and ended up over the bars. He is well organized and produced a bandage from his pack and we strapped his wrist. He was obviously not having much fun and opted to head back to the car as soon as we exited the kloof. Fiona couldn’t bring herself to abandon him so kindly rode back with him.

That left 3 of us - Sean, Chris and I. We ended up having a pleasant ride to Magaliesburg where we wolfed down platefuls of Wimpy food. On the way out the back end of Magalies we had the 3 SAA planes destined for the Presidential Inauguration in Pretoria fly overhead in tight formation. About 20 kms after leaving Magalies a thunderstorm started building in the distance. By my reckoning the closest safe port was the supermarket near Sterkfontein caves 15 km’s away. We rode like men possessed and only just made it to the supermarket before the heavens opened. A coke, small bag of crisps, a big bag of crisps and a bag of biscuits later the skies had cleared enough for us to venture out. The plan was to ride to a spazza shop 6 kms up the road and then ride a further 7 kms to a coffee shop and so on, one storm safe location at a time. By the time we got to the spazza shop the storm had swung around and made the coffee shop a bad choice so we changed direction and slogged up a hill. Chris decided there was little point in riding all the way around a residential game farm when his farm was on the other side so made a plan to gain access to take the short cut through the game farm. Sean and Chris then proceeded to “cheat” by taking the shortcut while I continued on the “honest" route :)

The competitive side of me kicked in and I decided I would ride hard and try beating them to Chris’s place. Things were going well until I started cutting through the bush to get to the farm. The earlier thunderstorm meant there was a bit of mud about but not enough to be too much nuisance – or so I thought! Rounding a corner on a footpath at speed I discovered a patch as slippery as snot and before I could say “Oh Dear” my front wheel washed out and I was unceremoniously dumped on the ground. It is my experience that crashing seldom hurts, it is the getting up afterwards that hurts. I closed my eyes and just lay there. It was a peaceful few seconds before I reckoned the longer I lay there the more it would hurt when I eventually started moving. The good news was that everything still worked. The bad news was my right shoulder hurt like crazy. I pedaled to Chris’s place struggling to carry my bike over one fence. I did get there before the other 2 so the effort was not wasted. As soon as they arrived I scuttled off to finish the 10 km’s home so that I could get in a nice hot bath. I knew that as soon as the shoulder got cold it would be worse. And worse it is. The only way I can use my right arm now is with the help of my friend Myprodol. A trip to the Doc tomorrow is probably not a bad idea.

5 riders started the day and 2 able bodied completed the distance. Not quiet true as Sean did get a lift home with Chris as he was running late ( ... or tired, depending on which version of the story you choose to believe).

Doug did his wrist, I did my shoulder, Sean was “running late” and Fiona got soft! At least Chris had a good day out!

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 consumed by our upcoming adventure and I for one am counting off the sleeps until we roll out of PMB on the 15th. Having gotten to Rhodes in ’07, I have some idea of what to expect but now going beyond and throwing the tandem into the mix means that there will be quite a few unknowns to factor in this time.

For one, most of our training has been done apart, as I live in Mpumalanga and Mike in JHB. I’ve been going through for training weekends every few weeks which has helped, as it has meant spending some ‘quality time’ on the tandem. ‘The Beast’ is not very forgiving if you’re feeling weak and although it rewards a determined effort with an exhilarating turn of speed, this comes at a price and is not sustainable for very long stretches. It’s a more powerful style of riding than what I’m used to, so I’ve been trying to get stronger and focus on recovery by doing things like intervals, hill repeats and sprints, together with the usual long grinds in the saddle. I’ve been doing all of this on my ‘tandem simulator,’ a 19kg freeride bike with a very similar setup and feel to the Beast. At least then when we do ride together, it doesn’t take me too long to feel comfortable on the tandem again.

So the training has been coming along steadily and we’ve got most of our kit sorted out. We even have a strategy of sorts (we are going to have fun and we are NOT going to fall off) but still many doubts surface and unanswered questions remain: will we get down into Hella Hella in one piece on the Beast?(the new route apparently has some steep, sketchy bits), will we be able to get over Lehana’s in less than a day? What happens when we don’t agree on the navigation? How are we going to drag ourselves and the bike through Stettynskloof?

Fortunately we have one thing going for us – we both have a real blast when we ride that tandem together and as we turn the cranks and shoot the breeze, the miles always tick over quicker than we think. All we have to do is keep moving (and NOT fall off).

Restless Nights

Uninterrupted nights of sleep are a distant memory. I just can't stop dreaming about the race. Judging from conversations with other entrants for this years race it seems to be a common problem. For the first timers the dreams are a bit generic as they have no idea what the route entails. Preceding the race in '07 I have weird dreams about riding around in some indistinct forest passing other competitors going in all directions. This years dreams are more vivid. I am now riding around lost in familiar looking country side - not familiar enough to know where I am but typical landscape for the various parts of the race. In one dream I am condemned to riding endlessly without ever stopping! We all wish we could ride forever until it is all you can ever do!

Glenn had a rest this past week owing to having a flu jab. His idleness had him resorting to a multitude of strategies conveyed via sms - "If we ride....... then we can.......... and be there in xx number of days!!" Thankfully his rest week came to an end before we had a chance to shake hands on a 3 day strategy to Capetown.

How long will it take? We have been asked by a few people how many days we expect it to take. Last time I finished on day 21. The record set that year ('07) was a day 17 finish. Tim James smashed that record last year by finishing on day 15. He did have at least 2 ordinary days (by his standard) so a day 14 finish should be easy enough for him this year. I suspect that he would not be satisfied with that and will be looking to finish on day 13. This is a huge undertaking but not out of reach of an athlete of his calibre. So how long will it take the Tandem Wranglers? To be quite honest we have no idea how we will stack up over the varied terrain. We know the bike is very fast over flattish undulating ground, such as the 170km stretch between Willowmore and Prince Albert. But, this speed does not come without a price. While we are able to rip across this type of terrain we do get rather tired. We have shown that we can ride technical stuff at a reasonable pace but cannot match competant solo riders. Portaging is another question mark. How fast can we move the beast up and over hard portages... we don't know.

It will come down to how long we can spend on the bike each day. Tim James in setting his 15 day record averaged 10km/h measured as distance covered each day from start to final stop. This is not that fast by normal standards but this is not your normal race. The tandem is tiring to ride as you are not at liberty to stand and pedal as on a solo bike. While pedalling you remain seated for 95% of the time. This is tiring on your butt, back and body in general.

Another problem is that everyone has bad days. You can also have good days which then have the effect of smoothing out your overall performance. 2 guys on a tandem having unsyncronized bad days and good days results in just loads of bad days. Loads of bad days = many days in the saddle.

So how long will it take? We would like to finish inside of my 21 day finish in '07. How much inside that time? Here is the dilemma. If we said 17 days and finished in 19 we will be viewed as having gone soft. If we say 20 and finish in 18 we will be over achievers. I think being an over achiever is better than being an underachiever so we hope to finish in just under the 26 day cut-off.

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 for the week. The best part is that it was generally hard riding. Yesterday, owing to a broken solo bike (see below), I took the tandem out for a solo ride. 25km's of ordinary terrain left me exhausted. Now I know that when I ride with Forest he is making some effort : )

On Saturday a broken chain resulted in not only a bust chain but the removal of the useful bits of my front derailleur. This can happen at anytime - just plain bad luck. As it was I didn't have any tools with me. Fortunately my brother had a chain breaker and a power link so we were up and running in a few minutes. Just before getting home I realised that I could still change up with the stubby remnants of the derailleur and a tap with the toe of my shoes would effect a change down. Good fun, as long as you have only 10-15km to get home.

While training with Andre in 2007 my chainring bolts fell out reducing me to frantically pedaling the last 50km back home. Imagine if this happened during the race! I carried spare chainring bolts in 2007 and the only thing that broke was my fork! Do I now take spare chainring bolts, a new fork and a spare derailleur? Clearly not, but it does highlight the fact that anything can go wrong on the race so one needs to get ones head around that and deal constructively with the issues as and when they occur.

As I was saying earlier, last week I was moaning about all the training. Today due to various irritating factors, such as having a job, I was unable to ride at all and that made me miserable. I am at the point in training where I need my daily dose of dust and blackjack seeds. When I don't ride I start getting aches and pains and become incredibly lethargic. Walking up and down the stairs at home becomes a real chore. But once my butt is in the saddle and my lid is firmly strapped on my head I can ride all day. The best part of riding at the moment is the perfect weather - clear skies with the mecury hovering in the mid to low 20's, it doesn't get better than this..... except this irritation called work!

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 5% of the way to the finish. Knowing how difficult it will be on the tandem has made me train even harder than my previous attempt. Since Jan this year I have shed 7kg - no diet plan just 4000km of training. That puts me currently 3 kg lighter than my starting weight in '07. I am trying to put in a minimum of 15 hours a week with peak weeks of 25 hours. Work does have a habit of getting in the way!

It is hard to stay focussed as you wind up and down the various trails. As I get further from home there are scores of routes to choose from but on the close-to-home outward and home bound routes it is the same boring stuff. Even Glenn commented the other day that he is sick and tired of the one dirt road we trickle home on. It is trafficless but does get monotonous.

The tandem is now requiring some attention as it is showing signs of wear and tear. The one BB needs replacing as do the hub bearings. I replaced the chains again. Have got new stuff to put on just before the race to get it back to "new" condition. This is one expensive bike to maintain.

Riding through a rocky section this past weekend we took one huge pedal strike which trashed both pedals on the left hand side. Was able to get one working again but the expensive one is toast! Careless riding on my part.

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 Challenge - Ride to Rhodes (R2R) 2008, a 600km, 6 day stage "race" that coincides with the RASA event. More of a non-competitive ride than anything. Still required long days of up to 13 hours on the bike to get it done.

I entered only 4 weeks before the event and had just a few weeks to coax a little endurance into my legs. Kind of worked. Rode really slowly finishing last every day in our start group. I found it really enjoyable, particularly since I only had to figure out a few bits of new navigation and after the previous event I had it more or less figured out.

2009 has me entered for the full RASA from Pietermaritzburg to Paarl (actually in Wellington next door to Paarl this year). As a twist I have entered with Glenn Harrison (Forest as we affectionately call him after his 2007 escapades) on a tandem. This will be the first tandem attempt on the route so will be interesting to see how we get along. I received the Tandem on the 18th Dec '08 and we headed out to the Maluti section of the trail the very next day and had 3 days of riding on "The Beast" as we call the tandem. With various stokers (the stoker is the person who sits on the back and just pedals) I have managed to crank out just over 3500km on the bike. It has been an interesting learning experience as tandem riding is a whole new kettle of fish. More to follow.....

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 says a word when the credits begin to role and the theme tune starts to play. It is only when the screen goes blank and the lights come on that everyone (normally there are not many people at movies that really touch you) silently makes their way to the exit. This race has been that kind of experience for me. I finished days ago but had to be there to see the last man home. Hanging on to the race until the last moment. Thinking through the experiences of the last 3 weeks and savouring the memory of every day. But the lights are now on and the show is truely over. This race now belongs to those who follow.

Talking of credits I have decided to give a snippet of my impressions of the people who rode the race around me.

Maarten, Tim, Hannele and Lee I didn't get to know but certainly enjoyed their antics from a distance. Well done guys (and gal)

Rohan - Started and ended the race with Rohan. We didn't spend everyday riding together in the beginning but overnighted at the same support stations. Once through Struishoek we spent the rest of the ride together as constant companions. He rode sections that I walked as his damaged shin made riding a lot less painful than walking. At the top of each climb he would flop down and wait for me. It was his drive that kept us moving forward.

Adam - An amazing man. Only 6 weeks training to do a 3 week ride! In the last few days when I was struggling he would drop back and walk with me not because he was tired but just to keep me company. When I lagged I would see him looking back often to make sure I was OK. Thanks Adam and well done on a spectacular achievement.

Jannie - Quiet but determined. At one stage during a miserable snow storm I joked that I was going to stop riding for the day and seek shelter until the weather improved. Jannie looked at me totally horrified and bolted for the door, got on his bike and headed off into the storm. Near the end we sensed he was like a tethered race horse and were happy to see him charge off with Xolani and chase down the group in front. His riding over the last few days was wonderful to watch. Will always recall fondly the time we got out my little cooker and had tea together at Mariazell Mission and his impromptu birthday tea in the bush.

Xolani - "Xolani the Navigator" Navigator he was not! Xolani was an absolute delight on the ride. He is strong and determined beyond belief for someone so young. When all of us were reduced to pushing our bikes Xolani would pedal on slowly waiting for us at the top. His simple explanation - "I hate walking." He could win this race if only he could navigate. His best miss was at Elandsberg. Emerging from a track at the end of a portage section we came out on a road 100 metres from the farm house. The lights were on and our only decision was to decide if the driveway to the house was on the left or the right. Xolani said he knew and started going right. After 50 metres we told him it wasn't the correct way and then turned around and rode back 100 metres into the sign posted driveway and the comforts of warm tea, food, bath and a bed. Xolani was right behind me when we turned around and was following me. Somehow he forgot to turn into the driveway (and it wasn't dark yet!) and was fetched 2 hours later many km's up the road by the farmer.

Andre - A powerhouse of a rider he would zoom past us on the climbs on his single speed, legs pumping like steam driven pistons. Incredibly generous with advice. Saw him during the early stages of the race spending time with the racers wanting to make a break, drawing them maps and explaining the scratchy bits to them so that they could charge on ahead.

Andy - As I have said before he was the Genuine Nice Guy. Early on we were riding in a big group and he got in before me. I arrived to find Andy there. He showed me where I could sleep, explained the location of the showers, food etc.. That's just who he is. Obstacles were faced with glee and mountains were made for riding down at speed - no track necessary. Andy has a love of life and a love of riding. He does however have reservations about the necessity of self navigation. After all it does interrupt the riding.

Earle - A strong and determined athlete who had to come to terms with a debilitating injury early in the race. He showed fierce determination and finished the race against the odds. Would spend time alone not because of the need to get away from us but the necessity to get his leg up and rested as much as possible. Quick to smile in spite of his pain. Hard not to really like someone like Earle.

Kevin - Spent a wonderful few hours wandering around lost in the dark, in a forest, in a thick fog with Kevin. At no time did it seems to faze him. Took it all in his stride. Shared many a cup of trail side brew with him. Kevin I will remember for the way he sat on his bed in Masakala poring over his maps with a perplexed look on his face. When I asked him what he was thinking about he said "We need a strategy!" I commented that I didn't really care about a strategy and that I was just going to stick with the group for a while. "That's it then!" said Kevin, "That's a strategy right there - I need a strategy, now I have one."

Steven - Unflappable, cheerful and there for the full experience. Steven once commented that 26 days seemed a little limiting and that he wouldn't mind spending twice as long to just suck in the richness of the whole experience. The look on his face last night showed that although he did "race" through the route he lapped it all up and found it entirely satisfying.

Dillon - Had an unfortunate fall on morning two but made a remarkable comeback. Incredibly independent and so didn't really engage with the group dynamic. He quietly exited the race and we never heard from him again.

Glenn - Forest as I like to call him after his first night spent sleeping on the forest floor completely lost. He got as far as Rhodes before illness got hold of him leaving him no option but withdraw from the race. However, that was not the last of him! He was well and truly out of the race but he still followed it constantly. I would get Sms's from him almost daily and then he magically appeared on the road near McGregor near the end. He had flown to Cape Town to meet the riders and welcome them to the finish. He did some shopping for us and spent the last night with our group at the last Support Station pampering to our needs. A quiet, humble and totally nice guy. The sort you want your daughters to bring home one day. Forest will be back in 2008 and will be a rider to watch.

Mike - Ordinary Cyclist basking in the satisfaction of completing the toughest expeditionary mountain bike race in the world!

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 of their last day. Not being fond of early rising (Kevin's 2 am "Lets get going" on day 2 seems out of character) it seems they started off a little before 7am and only just made the 8am start on the portage. The rules of the race state that Stettynskloof portage may only start between 4am-8am. I heard that Steven was under the impression that the portage could be completed in 6 hours - would have been a new record if they had achieved that. In practice it took them 9 hours. We hung around for hours waiting for news of their successful summitting of Stettynskloof. Zero cell phone coverage over the previous 24 hours meant we were uncertain as to their plans. They finally arrived at Ashanti in Paarl at 21h25.

Stettynskloof Revisited

Yesterday I returned to the top of Stettynskloof to wait for Andre, Andy and Earle to claw their way out. From the top it looks like an idyllic seting, the perfect valley. The reality of getting through it is entirely different. It is hard. For the uninitiated and the outside observer it may seem a cruel and unusual punishment, and it is. But it is not insurmountable - I did it and I know. The morning I set out for the kloof I was at my lowest physical point of the race. I have lost a lot of weight and something I ate in the previous day or two didn't agree with me. At the first sign of trouble I paused and reminded myself that I was not going to let this last experience cloud the memory of the race. When we found ourselves entombed in a 10 foot growth of man-swallowing proteas we laughed, clawed our way out inch by inch and regrouped and pressed on. When I fell headlong into a ravine landing chest first onto a rock I reminded myself that I was going to crest this kloof with my sense of humour intact.

Climbing to the top yesterday to get a view of the others coming up I marvelled at their ability to climb the near vertical face with their equipment and bikes strapped to their backs. I struggled to walk up a lesser incline armed only with a few cans of Coke. Yet the previous day I had done exactly the same as they were doing. As they came over the top they were elated. Completely exhausted but elated.

Waiting for them a bit later at the finish was a special moment. I relived my finish the day before. Less tired and more focused I was able to fully appreciate the enormity of what we all had achieved.

Andre was truely elated, Andy as always had a huge smile on his face and Earle said very little.

Andre had finally earned his blanket after illness forced him to withdraw last year and the challenges of bike problems this year. To compound his challenge he rode the race on a single speed, non-suspension bike. He is a strong determined man and I was glad to see him finish.

Andy, all-round nice guy, embraced the challenges of the race. When others said "Thank goodness that is behind us!" Andy would say "Wow!" At the top of Stettynskloof that is exactly what he said.

Earle damaged his ankle a few days into the race and has soldiered on ever since with the ankle getting worse by the day. Its not a pretty sight. It is with him that I identified the most with yesterday. He is stronger and more determined than I but pressing on with an injury of that magnitude was an enormous undertaking. This race seems to have taken its toll on him. Like me he has lost a lot of weight, but he has also endured a lot of pain. We rode a large part of the race together and only became separated when the difficulty of walking down a particularly long and gnarly poratage slowed him down. At the finish words were unnecessary. A clasp of the hands and a hug were all that were necessary to convey mutual respect. Well done buddy - job well done.

Before the race the question was asked "Should Stettynskloof remain?" There are both proponents and opponents. The answer is simply - Yes. The version of the kloof we rode through is a more sanitized version of what went before. The kloof of yesteryear that Ben, Cornell, Wessel, Amy-Jane, Xolani, Gerrit and others battled through has been made a lot easier through the cutting of the path that covers just over half its length. There is enough of its virgin state left to pose a serious challenge and make us appreciate the achievement of those who went before. It is a rite of passage that that makes you get to the end and wrap the finishers blanket around you with a sense of pride and unparallelled achievement.

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 came up. This morning, day 1 of life after the ride I woke up at 5am, as I have done for most mornings for the past 3 weeks, and found little joy at the prospect of staying under the covers for a few more hours. It has become a habit to get up early. However I can report that I did not miss my constant companion of the last few weeks - my bike. Left it in the van with David, don't know where it spent the night and quite frankly I don't care.

Got an early night last night as I went to bed feeling like I did before Stettynskloof, really nauseous. Today I plan to head back to the Kloof. Not to walk it again but to show my support for my fellow competitors, Andre, Andy and Earle, who will be passing that way this morning. Hope to able to go back tommorrow for the arrival of Kevin and Steven.

Blog is not done yet - stay tuned.

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 the portage for a 4am start. Woke at 2am to the sound of gentle rain - back to sleep. Finally got up at 3.30am and got going at 4.40. Was feeling a little nauseous when we left and it just got worse. Lost my breakfast half way to the start of the portage. Considered a retreat because of the demanding portage ahead and feeling fragile didn't help. Reasoned that I could get some more sleep and go up with the following group the next day. Bit the bullet and forged ahead. We got to the bottom of Stettynskloof at 6.00am. It was dark, drizzling slightly and there were plenty of clouds about. Adam led us through a rough track that had been cleared recently. The winding track crossed the river a few times. If your idea of fun is wading through rivers in the middle of a Cape winter in the dark with the thermometer in single digits then the Stettynskloof ramble has been designed specifically for you. If that is too tame for you then add a bike to your list of things to take with - along with your 10kg backpack. The first 6km went reasonably quickly, taking only 2h30. Then it got really interesting - the track ended! The next 6km took 5 hours! We followed the "Waddilove Line" for a short while - the odd bit a tape tied to a tree to show where the cut trail was supposed to go - apparently the work force gave up. At one stage it led us to a HUGE pile of rocks that looked like they had been quarried and then piled together. Rohan and Adam with bikes on shoulders just walked over them. I was not as brave and slowly hauled my way over. We went too far right and got stuck in the river growth. After about 20 minutes we had made about 20metres of headway only to discover that the Waddilove Line was on the other bank of the river. It took us nearly 30 minutes to cross back over. The density of the growth is staggering! You move forward inch by inch. At one stage we were over the river. We knew this because we could hear the water beneath us. As I stopped to contemplate how bizzare the situation was the "raft" beneath me gave way and I dropped into the river.

Eventually the Waddilove Line ended and we had to make our own route choices. At one stage my foot got stuck in the undergrowth and I fell head first into a ravine. Landed hard on a rock that has left a bruise and a few aching ribs over my heart. For the next few hours we plodded on eventually shouldering my bike for the last few km's and climbed out of the kloof. Adam, Rohan and I then sat down next to the track and brewed a celebratory cup of tea (always coffee for Adam) with my gas cooker. We wanted to celebrate our achievement, not only of the day but of the ride, without the intrusion of outsiders - we had done well. Getting back on our bikes we then spent the next 3 hours getting to the finish at Ashanti in Paarl. Our final time 20 Days, 9 hours and 50 minutes.

A short celebration and we were presented with our prize - a blanket.

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

“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 1 later replaced at Rhodes. A water bottle left behind at a support station and my fancy cell phone at Vuvu.
But, by far my greatest loss occurred today when I left a card my youngest daughter made for me before the race. It had the usual ‘best dad in the world’ stuff but the best part was a line about “you would also win at Ballet”. It has been on my map board since the start. A loss of unmeasurable value.

Day 20 – Montague- McGregor –Kasra – Trouthaven
Triple stage today.
158 km, 14h20m 1870m
Got in late this evening. Hard day but we are at the final hurdle. This race has become the sole focus of what we do day after day. Looking forward to other options!
We have cranked out nearly 550km in the last 4 days and it hasn’t gone unnoticed by our bodies.
A few hours sleep and we start the big one.

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 double today sets us up for an interesting finish. If we are strong tomorrow we can ride a triple stage and then finish on Sunday or if the wheels fall off we finish on Monday. Been an amazing journey so far. Tonight we dined in the local hotel. We don't have any fancy clothes so walked up the main street dressed in our cycling tights. Must look like a troupe of ballet dancers. Got some looks but we are past caring about that. Now off to get some sleep.

"Waddilove'isms"

Navigating is tricky enough without having to deal with David's rather interesting written instructions. One such recent incident was the instructions to get to the start of 'The Ladder' at the end of Die Hel. The instructions say "keeping the house on your left, head toward the river where you will see a stand of poplar trees". In practice the house must be kept on your right and you need to head toward a stream where there are two sad looking poplar trees and not a stand! By this stage of the race we have worked out that David is directionally challenged so are able to figure out what needs doing!

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 the population density is such that the cost per user is not viable for cell phone providers. We have gone days with little or no coverage. I write the Blog copy every day and then, when we get the odd freak coverage on a mountain top, I try get them off often without success.

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 their way into the valley and stayed. A tiny community then established itself. We stayed in a refurbished cottage that was the first house in the valley to have a black wood-fired stove and that was around 1954. It seems that provisions and goods could be transported to the edge of the valley and then dismantled and carried down in pieces, as was the stove. The track down is called "die leer" or in english "the ladder". Until a road was pushed through in 1962 from the opposite end of the valley the ladder was the way in and out. We climbed out via "the ladder" this morning. The 1km climb took me about 90 minutes and it was physically demanding. You need to carry your bike or manhandle it over the big obstructions. My legs and shoulders were shot. We were hoping to do 2 stages today but I hit a serious flat spot coming into Rouxpos (Vleiland support station) and we (Rohan, Adam and me) decided that pushing on was going to make the day far too demanding. I had a shower, bite to eat and then fell asleep for a few hours before dinner. Am expecting Andre, Andy and Earle to come in soon. Now 21h15 and no sign of them yet. Wind is a little into them so perhaps made the going a bit slow. Hope to see them at breakfast.
They have just arrived at 21h20. Looking a bit tired but they have done a good days ride.

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 sub zero temperatures waiting for the sun to come up. Hands and feet are permanently numb.
The first 70km saw us leave the Karoo. Reasonably flat riding but the corrugations and sand are brutal.
During army training (nearly 30 years ago!) we were involved in conventional warfare training and advanced day after day in torrential rain digging fox holes every night and then trying to get some sleep as they filled up with water. After a few days during a simulated attack, diving for cover, a friend dived on top of his rifle and broke a few ribs. He was stretchered from the battle ground sporting a huge grin. I tell this story to set the stage for a near race ending incident last night. We were barrelling along at about 25 km/h, down a boring stretch of farm road, well after dark and dropped into a small depression. I went from 25 to 0 in 2 seconds flat. I had ridden into a small soft gravel stream bed. Very nearly went over the handle bars. My state of mind at that stage was, "if I had fallen and broken something at least I could have withdrawn from the race with dignity".
After a cold miserable start this morning we rolled into Prince Albert, upon arriving at the guest house, were given a breakfast of muesli, yoghurt and fruit followed by eggs, bacon, toast, tomato, baked beans and mushrooms washed down with orange juice, coffee, tea and coke. A quick shower followed and we were off again.
A quick 8km road section was followed by a 7km section that gained 800 metres of altitude. Stunningly beautiful but having done it on a 1X2 would rather suggest a 4X4. A 35km section then saw us plummeting into the Gamkaaskloof Nature Reserve at Die Hel.

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 left ankle are protesting. Adam has a particularly sore knee and Rohan has a swollen and tender shin.
Jannie and Xolani left at around 1.00 am after only a few hours sleep and I think they knocked off about 250km today! We are at an intermediate station for the night somewhere between Willowmore and Prince Albert.
While I don't have saddle sores I do have saddle soreness. My butt and saddle are not on good terms right now. If they were a couple they would need serious reconciliation councilling.
Made good progress today but wonder if the physical demands were worth it. We started the day as crocks and today hasn't helped at all. But that's life and this is a race after all.
We know Andre, Earle and Andy are going to chase us down eventually but we just want to make it a bit more of a challenge!

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 are no longer viable as real incomes have been in serious decline. We are told that a study showed that a decade ago a bakkie cost 5 times less in stock value than today. Farms are being consolidated and the extra workforce is then redundant.
The upside of this is the quality of the veld is improving from the over-grazing of years past. There is also a natural increase in the number of buck. Many farms have also been consolidated and converted to game farms. This also results in lowered population levels.

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 encountered at least a dozen 4x4's.
We decided to do a single stage today as we realised that we are really tired. So much so that we have little energy left to enjoy the true majesty of the terrain we are passing through. Big climbs and fast descents characterised the first half of the ride followed by undulating roads into the stop.
Apparently there are buffalo and rhino in the area we rode through. At one stage a Parks Official stopped and asked us if we had seen his rhino. Pleased to say we hadn't, although we did see rhino and buffalo spoor on the road.
Conditions still a bit muddy under tyre which made tired legs a bit more wobbly. An early stop was really needed today. Anyone wondering how we do it every day must understand that it isn't easy. We spend every day on the brink of exhaustion. Within minutes of starting a day's ride you have had enough. Jannie muttered something yesterday that kind of sums it up - "robot mode".
I hear Lee's bike broke in half and is now held together with wire. He has been reduced to touring the event like our bunch which is a pity cause he made the race really interesting to follow.

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 moved to a cottage up the road. First impressions were not favourable. No electricity, no hot water, dingy and drafty. Its amazing how perceptions change. Got the donkey boiler going, fire started and kettle on for tea. We all had steaming hot baths and enjoyed sitting around the fire. The beds were the most comfortable and snug we have had. It started raining around midnight, which sounded lovely on the tin roof, pity we had to ride through it in the morning!
Morning found the rain still falling. Decided to leave at 7.00 because of the miserable weather. Spent the first 4 hours trying to scramble over a mountain and then climbed and climbed toward the Baviaanskloof in intermittent rain and through mud. We finished well after sunset. The Baviaanskloof is outstanding, however wading knee high through a dozen river crossings wasn't much fun.
Arrived near our overnight stop with no idea where we were supposed to stay so just went to the closest light and found an unoccupied house with food and our resupply boxes inside, very fortunate.
If you do the maths on our distance and time taken today you will appreciate how much walking we did. We reckoned we walked for at least 9 hours!
As an indication of the remoteness of the wilderness area we traversed today - we saw only 2 people as they drove past in the only vehicle of the day.

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 held and we got it exactly right. Today we came across a cafe and ordered coke, tea, pie and chips. Hardly remarkable except that it was the first place we have passed that sells coke in over 300km. Such is the routing of this race. Our group is currently only 5 riders being Adam, Rohan, Jannie, Xolani and I.
Xolani had a hard day today. Punctured within 1 km of the start and continued with puncture problems all day. He spent the whole day following our tracks and at one point went over the handle bars at speed. He has no rear brakes, his front disk brakes are almost dysfunctional and his derailleur stopped working. We all spent hours getting his bike back into some sort of order. His tyres were a mass of thorns as I guess ours are except that he is the only one not riding on tubeless. He arrived at the support station about an hour after us looking like he had been dragged through a bush backwards several times. He has gravel rash and a swollen lip as a momento of his fall. Hopefully things will improve for him tomorrow.
We stopped under a tree along the route and celebrated Jannie's birthday with cups of freshly brewed tea and a slab of chocolate.