Llewellyn Lloyd - Reblex Photography
The ride from Pearston to Toekomst on the banks of the Darlington dam is 80km. The first half, along district roads, was undemanding and was knocked off in just over 2 hours. The only minor hitch was when Roger started cramping which meant I had to ride on ahead all by myself while he suffered through the leg spasms. As I made my way up the rocky ridge behind the Karoopoort farmhouse I saw Roger had recovered and was weaving through the outbuildings a short distance behind.
From Karoopoort to the main entrance gate of Koedoeskop, which is how we exit the reserve, it's only 20km. Typically a 2 hour ride. It's slow but spectacular. The rock strewn jeep track behind the Karoopoort farmhouse is as gnarly as is gets. I scampered up there as quick as I could because I knew that the equally gnarly descent that followed would be slow for me but riding candy for Roger. I managed to get over the ridge before Roger caught up and was through the game fence into the back of Koedoeskop when I was finally joined by Roger. In the course of the day he had lost a water bottle so had stopped at the previous farmhouse to top up his remaining bottles.
The track through Kudoeskop threads along a valley floor hemmed in by steep sided cliffs. You could describe it as riding through a canyon carved out by the river that runs through it. It's a visual delight. Years back it was teaming with game. There followed a period when the game had been cleared out and only the occasional buck could be seen. It would seem that the new owners are restocking. On a ridge to our left a herd of giraffe watched as we rattled over rocks and snaked through sand pits toward the first of 4 river crossings. By the time I reached the river Roger was way ahead and out of sight. The river is wide but mostly dry so crossing it was a matter of riding over compact sand and stones and picking a line over what water there was. It was the first time in 14 years that I'd seen water in the river. Getting up and down the banks wasn't as simple. A recent flood had eroded the sandy banks so it was a bit of a push to get out.
As I approached to second river crossing Roger came riding back toward me. "That crossing's not great. Let's use the old one." The recent rains had altered the layout of the river resulting in the jeep tracks altering course to take advantage of better crossing points. We scrambled down the old disused and eroded track to discover why the track had been rerouted. A huge pool of water lay between us and the track on the far bank. We walked along the sandy bank and made our way over the rocks at the new crossing point.
As we approached the farmhouse that marked the end of our trip through the Koedoeskop Reserve we disturbed a large herd of giraffe that galloped off ahead of us. Although it's a gallop it looks like a movie played in slow motion. We backed off and watched as they weaved across the track ahead of us. They are odd but magnificent animals. As soon as they were well off the track they stopped and watched us pedal off.
Roger stopped to get water while I pushed on. It was already 16h17. If we wanted to keep to the scruffy till slip timetable we had to cover the next 16km to Toekomst in 43 minutes. The first few kilometres were easy enough and then the wind picked up.
When you're on a tight schedule a headwind is not a minor inconvenience, it's an flippin' annoyance. The hands of the clock don't tick any slower. We still had to make Bucklands by midnight and the gate by 1pm. These are immovable goals. The only option was to pedal harder.
As I turned into the driveway to the Toekomst farmhouse I started cramping in my left leg. I was so close to the farmhouse that I didn't want to stop. It had just gone 5pm and I needed to sign in as close to schedule as possible. I unclipped from the left pedal and used only my right leg to properly myself forward. 50 metres later the right leg started cramping. I wasn't going to stop so switched over to using my left leg which had settled a bit. The driveway is over 500m long and by alternating legs I was able to get to the gate and dismount just as Roger pulled in behind me.
We signed in at 17:08 which means we were running 8 minutes behind schedule.
Was getting to Toekomst at 5pm that critical? Yes and No. I'll discuss this and other time/performance issues in the next post.
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