Saturday, June 30, 2007

Drama, drama, drama..

When I spoke to Andre yesterday morning at 9:15am, he was sitting at a hotel in Craddock having breakfast and waiting for this blessed parts to arrive at the post office from Johannesburg. The lady at the post office said that parcels arrived at 10:30am so Andre was going to wait. Andre was in good spirits and said he had forgotten to charge his tracker so that's why we couldn't see him on Thursday but all was well yesterday morning and he was going to fix his bike and carry on riding. At this stage he was on his own.

The next time I heard from him was this morning and all is not well. The parts arrived, but they were wrong. So Andre rode yesterday on his "spinning" bike without having a chance to rest or coast....he has to keep pedalling.
So I got involved this morning and called a million people....!

First, Gerrit. Gerrit is the guy that Andre rode most of last years Freedom Challenge with until Andre had to pull out. Gerrit had been asking about the parts, so I phoned him first for advice.
Second, David, the organiser. I explained the situation and got advice from him.
Third, Olaf. I told Olaf the drama and he gave me some advice.
Fourth, Adele Tait, the editor of Ride Magazine. I explained what I needed and Adele helped me.
Fifth, 5 bike shops in PE, looking for parts. No luck at all at any of them.

So the situation is this....the part has been bought from Linden Cycles by Gerrit. Additional parts were bought from Olaf and Gerrit collected some more parts from my house this afternoon and from Olaf's house. Gerrit, our angel, is driving right now to a place nobody has ever heard of in their lives - Toekomst - to drop off the spare parts so Andre can fix his bike and continue.

Andre arrived in Toekomst at about 7pm and when I told him Gerrit was on his way, he literally couldn't speak. He was so overwhelmed and grateful and can't actually believe that Gerrit would drive 10 hours on his weekend to help Andre out. I can't believe it either and it just shows you how amazing people can be.

Thank you, Gerrit, you really are very special and you are our angel. Thank you for taking your time to help Andre and I hope one day you are as blessed as we feel today.

I can't update Andre's blog today because day 11's information didn't come through properly and I want to keep the sequence correct. As soon as I have it, I will do the post so everybody can be updated again. But for now, Andre is fine except his legs are starting to hurt from the very high cadence over the past few days!!!

9 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Andre
Hang in there I am sure Gerrit will be there by morning with your parts. You will be fine once "Chocolate Brownie" are fixed if that is still the name you are calling the bike right now.
We are looking forward to see your tracker flying again on Monday.
Regards Jan.

10:08 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Andre,
Hang in there- it will be so much easier soon when you can free wheel.

The only advice I can give is just keep doing the uphills and leave the downhills until later!
All the best.
Matthew

7:26 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Corrinne, this sounds like a great movie script. The suspense is killing us! Well done to you and the rest of you to keep Andre going. Jan Löffler

9:19 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Andre
Keep going man. Hope your new parts are OK and that you will be flying soon. Corrine/Andre, I am in Mossel Bay and in a day or two I will be able to meet up with Andre should he require any additional assistance. I will keep an eye on your postings.
Francois

11:40 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi ya!
Well thank God for Gerrit...that's what true friendships are really made of. Something I rarely experience here! That is truly the South African way and definately something I miss about SA. Keep up the good work boet you doing fantasically!!! Love you lots
Tanja

4:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Andre & Corrinne Remember that you two have been angels to so many of us!!!! Remember what I have always told you "whatever you do comes back to you" All love and all the best for the track ahead Andre!

Love Mom-in-law and Mike

5:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just want to thank my dear daughter-in-law for all the agro she was put through on this day. Also all the people that helped Corrinne get the bits and pieces that Andre needed, and to Gerrit for that race to Toucom (or WHERE.!)what a wonderful crowd of friends.
LOVE TO ALL
MOM BRITZ

7:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey my friend, you are doing really well too. Andre is not the only one suffering at the moment, is he? Take care of yourself and you be strong too. We love you lots. Lindsay and the kids.

9:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Andre
I know I am blond, but it's taken me 1300 km to realise that choclate brownie shares her initials with your wife, coincidence? By the way, seeing that you love the fixed gear thing so much, I have a road bike in the shed for you, she is pink and has no gears (or brakes). Have fun in baviaans.
Cheers
Olaf

9:28 PM  

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