The Freedom Trail Race

...Contrast cont. (The End of RASA2007)

2007-07-15T12:18:00.001+02:00

Something really different this year was the aspect of group riding. At times I rode alone, savouring the solitude that can only be experienced out there, at other times there were 10 of us together working our way through a difficult navigation section.

Mentally it is a lot easier doing the race with so many people around you, but then a whole new set of challenges are delivered to you. You have to deal with the pace of moving a bunch (which is slower, because you need to stop for each person's problems), interpersonal relationships, and fighting for a shower at the end of the day when 10 stinky cyclists pitch at the same time all wanting to get themselves sorted out as soon as possible.

The times I spent alone were an absolute pleasure - these are the times when you can truly admire the beauty of the trail. Once you move in your own world, you become much more receptive to the environment around you. That said, when riding alone you are much more susceptible to mental meltdown - there is no one to talk you out of your misery, tell a joke, or moan more than you!

It is quite strange how quickly strong friendships form in an event like this. Very early in the race I had already clicked with Andy and Earle, although I was not riding together with them all the time, but at the support stations we would share rooms together, and generally look out for each other on the trail. Little did we know on Day 2 that we would finish the race together. The bonds developed over the course of the race can be seen by Gerrit's actions when he brought me parts from Jhb. At many times later in the race I was planning on pushing on and try to finish earlier, but the thought of not finishing with Earle and Andy would hold me back, and in the end I finished with them, probably a lot more satisfied than if I had gone on alone.

Andy and Earle

I don't know how Earle finished the race - Myprodol, and a lion heart seemed to get him through everyday, sometimes comfortably, but in other times I could feel his pain. I think it was a struggle to put one foot in front of the other for him, after he tore ankle ligaments on the fifth day of the race. Luckily we had Andy, always smiling, always with something funny to say, and always positive. There was no time for moping in our little group. Andy was our morale, Earle was our inspiration, and I tried to keep us moving forward at a good pace.

And finally, personally - obviously this race has a major effect on one's outlook in life. The people you meet, and the generosity shown make you think twice about how you treat others. The race itself was "easier" this time. I was under no pressure to perform, all I had to do was finish. The bike, however silly, was a pleasure to ride - ride when you can, walk when you can't, no worries about trying to ride up steep hills, riding faster etc. All I did was ride what I could - easy.

My body held out exceptionally well - a slight sore throat after the snow in Molteno, sore ribs after a fall in the Baviaanskloof, and a sore ankle from the walk out of Stettynskloof. There were other aches and pains, but nothing to hamper the progress of the race. No sore hands, kidneys, legs, ass or other body parts from riding a rigid bike (Ass was a bit sore form riding fixed, but it soon recovered). The body is a fantastic thing - it soon adapts to what is thrown at it, and gets on with the job.

The only day I struggled was the long flat day from Willomore to Prince Albert, but that was more out of frustration of not being able to go faster, than fatigue. Every other day I would find something new about the trail, about my body, about my riding mates - at no stage was there any sense of boredom, although at the end I was dreaming of nice fresh clean clothes, and just being able to call Corrinne when I felt like it. Not being able to talk to her whenever I wanted was really hard again!

That's a brief summary of my race - so many more stories, opionions, and experiences, but these will come out over time every time I recount the race to someone new.

Next year? Sure - just have to work out how to up the challenge.... Tandem anyone?

How thick was the vegetation?

2007-07-15T10:37:00.001+02:00

Here's a pic that Earle sent to me. That's me, and you can just see Andy in front!

Contrast

2007-07-14T09:53:00.000+02:00

So, I've had a few days hanging around at home, and some time for contemplation. The thing that struck me most about the race this time was contrast - in everything about the race.

First of all there is the trail, the scenery, the country. We traversed so many different regions of the country in such a short space of time. Everyday something new would pop up - the land would have a different feel - from the high mountains of Lesotho, to the flatlands of the Great Karoo. Sometimes it was so steep and rugged that carrying your bike was the only option for hours on end, on other days you could coast a lot, as the flatness became almost monotonous, but that is South Africa. No one day was the same - each day offering up a new challenge, a new experience.

Andy dragging his bike up "Die Leer"

Welcome to the Karoo

The vegetation ranged from lush forests in the Baviaanskloof, and some areas of Natal to the sparse semi-desert of the Southern Cape - the small valley of desolation near the Addo Park still makes me nervous - I think there are lost souls walking around there! The grasslands of Natal were also a treat, allowing the construction of fantastic single track, and the ability to veer off the beaten track without too much pain, for some additoinal exploration.

The valley of desolation

Next, the cultures of the people we came across. It seems all cultures (except the culture of commercialism) have some sort of component based on generosity. It is strange that we got the most help and assistance from those that expected no money, and in some cases had no money. Those that needed money in return for service seemed to give the least (even though they had an open cheque book with us - we would've paid any amount for food).

It is truly inspiring to see how people manage to care for themselves in adverse conditions - although many of the population can be described as "unemployed", they are by no means under the breadline - the subsistence lifestyle keeps a basic meal on many tables, and that included us at some stages. When I see how they live I find it strange that there is this huge migration to the cities in search of the better life - I think they have the better life - relatively speaking of course (they don't have DSTV). Their generosity and respect for visitors is non-existent in modern city life!

Of some consternation is the commercial farming sector that we past through. In some cases 4th and 5th generation farmers are trying to stop their kids from continuing the legacy, as they believe that the commercial viability of farming is in a steady decline, and it will not possible to run the farms in years to come. Surprisingly this is not a result of politics, land-reclamation, weather or anything like that - it is the invasion of the recreational international farmer who is paying top $ for farms purely for occasional recreational use.

Speaking of the many genarations of farmers - wow - some of the farm houses have 200-300yr old furniture, pictures, and some have European heirlooms standing around that pre-date 1700. Next time I'm going with a lorry, not a bicycle. In some of the houses you feel like you are in a living museum!

It seems all cultures can bake good bread - we were so spoilt with the variations to the common loaf of bread, and fruit jam. mmmm....

Our accommodation at Masakala

Our accommodation varied from traiditional huts, to living in the houses of local communities, sharing farmhouses, luxury guesthouses, small hotels, a revamped ranger office in the middle of no where...Although we usually didn't care for the luxuries - as long as there was hot water for a shower, food, and a warm bed we were OK. Andy did have a fright when someone felt his hair in the middle of the night - he he - same place that I had them staring at my chest hair last year. Seems like the kids took the chance to feel our hair while we were sleeping, either that, or it was the tokolossie, but the beds were on bricks, so I think we were OK.

To be continued.....

Baviaanskloof

2007-07-11T10:55:00.000+02:00

Earle coming through a water crossing in Baviaanskloof

On top of the world

2007-07-10T17:17:00.000+02:00

Andre, Earle and Andy on top of Stettyns kloof

Thanks, thanks and more thanks

2007-07-10T17:01:00.000+02:00

To my army of supporters - I was not always able to get to my blog to see my messages, but when I did I was overwhelmed by the level of support given. Sometimes when things get tough, its good to have a big backing team urging you on - hard to give-up and disappoint so many.

To those that helped when my bike struggled, Gerrit, Olaf, Mike's bikes, Linden Cycles, Tim, everyone in and around Burgersdorp... eventually we got it right, without all off you it would've been the "Long Walk to Freedom".

There are hundreds of unnamed people along the route that feed, wash, service and make sure that we can live our dream - they are the angels of the Freedom Challenge. All they get is a "Thanks for everything", and we vanish into the early morning darkness. Also in this group are Stef and Wil Terblanche - I seem to be making a habit of using their kind hospilitality to the max - this is the second time I have spent an extra day with them in Molteno.

To my family, in-laws, out-laws and repossesions, its great that all of you support my passion, and it makes it so much more fun knowing you are all with me

And of course my love - Corrinne - many months of planning, training, discussing... you endure my obsession with enthusiasm, and allow me the freedom to do what I need to do. Thank you

PS.
Who is the "one arm bandit"?

Now I get it...

2007-07-10T16:16:00.000+02:00

Standing on top of Stettyns kloof, I got it.

I think there is a thing called the Spirit of the Freedom Challenge, and it seems to come to you when standing atop that Kloof. The completion of the race (experience) bonds us all at some spiritual level. There are no loud cheers, or big high-fives as we each complete - each one just finishes and understands.

Gerrit, I now know that I would do the same for someone needing my assistance to complete the race, but still, I am eternally greatful for your kindness. Many days I rode "with" you, and in later stages I was amazed at what you had achieved with your broken knees (Die Leer, Stettyns and other places). Your generosity and tenacity inspired me to complete the race - thank you.

Home, sweet home

2007-07-10T16:04:00.000+02:00

I am home again - one basotho blanket richer, healthy and happy. Over the next few days I will be doing general posts about my trip, trying to describe an indescribable experience.

Day 22 - The final frontier

2007-07-10T15:33:00.001+02:00

What a day! The dreaded Stettyns kloof loomed before us at 8am this morning (after an early puncture for Earle, and harnessing our bikes to our packs). To say it is inimidating from the bottom is an under-statement. The neck in the distance (5km or so) calls your name, but you know you are going to suffer to get there.

A path has been cut part way up the kloof, so the going is not too rough, occasional river crossings, and those darn bikes seem to hook onto every single bush. We were just starting to think about an easy day out when we came to a waterfall, which should have been my warning - just when things are going well this race is going to give you that smack against the back of the head again.

We could not find some markers, so decided we would just create our own path for a bit. Within 30 minutes, Andy and I were stuck in the middle of the thickest bush, and Earle was struggling to stay on his stuffed ankle. At one point I made the decision to go back and find the markers - should be easy enough, as I would just backtrack along the path I had just made. Not! When I turned round the path was gone, and I had to remake a path back.

Every now an then we would call each others names, and you would see bushes shaking were that person was. Funny in a strange kind of way. This was the first time I saw Andy lose his rag - I heard a loud kung-fu scream and saw the bushes around Andy rustling with great ferocity. With that one move Andy had manage to progress about 30cm - fantastic. In the end we got back on the right track and started moving again.

The last section out of the kloof was another bundu bash, and a really, really steep climb up onto the neck. We had learnt from our last experience, and all stuck together though this section, which allowed us to take turns at breaking ground (bush). I also found out why no one complains about "Die Leer" in The Hel - its note close to as difficult as this slog. Our legs were scratched to pieces by Hakia, dead ferns, and anything else that could hang on to us, each step forward was agony in some sections.

After so many km the kloof has a way of causing dispair - one moment we were walking along, the next we were being taken captive by the underbrush. We all reported feelings of "Never getting out of here". The fact was that we only lost about and hour messing around, before getting going again. The absolute relief we felt when standing in icy water with those painfully sore scratched legs was phenominal - instant gratification - until your feet go numb!

Once on the top, we were able to sit down an contemplate the Kloof. It is a fitting end to this race - it signifies everything that is the Freedom Challenge. I have no words to decribe the moment, other than maybe "peacefully content".

Day 20 & 21 - Almost there...

2007-07-10T15:15:00.000+02:00

The last two days have been really quiet, so I decided to blog them as one. On both days we decided to double up to make our goal of reaching Paarl by Monday. We are now silidly in the Western Cape - everything is green! The days have been glorious easy riding, we just seem to take evrything in our stride, and all focus is just to get us to the foot of the kloof that we need to climb before getting to Paarl.

It is quite amazing how the ride can be so different everyday. We climbed up the path under the power lines that Epic riders know so well - its hard to believe I actually rode most of that during the Epic - today I walked (stumbled) up, then it was into rolling wheat fields. At this time of the year they are bright green, and look like a well manicured lawn - such a change from the brown of the previous 3 weeks.

I stopped for lunch today on top of some remote hill, and was joined by Earle and Andy. Once we were settled, Andy hauled out his phone to check messages. After leaving a message for one of his mates, a car drives past with none other than the mate in question in it. Freaky! They drove past, then came back a few minutes later with wierd outfits, and waving banners. Earle and I were crying with laughter - Andy was over the moon.

We have got so used to being pampered (if that's what you can call it) by our hosts, that we had a bit of a disappointment at the McGregor stop. They treated us more like clients, than guests, food wasn't really enough, and they couldn't even organise us cereals for breakfast, as "We only do breakfast at 9am". But, every cloud has a silver lining. Andy called ahead to Kasra, which was our next stop, and arranged breakfast with them at 10am. When we arrived we were treated like kings. A full spread was laid out for us, and our food reserves were stocked up again - definitely made up for McGregor.

So we're at Dwarsberg now trying to work out how to rig bikes to our backpacks - tomorrow it the big day!

Day 19 - Recovery

2007-07-07T20:16:00.000+02:00

After our string of hard days we decided to take it easy and just do one stage today. The terrain was very easy - mostly jeep tracks and a steep road. Some sections were really sandy but we just got off and pushed these. No one eager to cause problems at this stage of the race - we all just want to finish.

We stopped for coffee with an old lady that lives in this really remote farm all alone - no workers or anybody for company. She was too happy to invite us in for coffee and tell us her life story. Shame, she blushed and got all shy when Andy wanted to take some photos of her.

The bike is running really well and the others are starting to have gear and brake problems. Brownie just keeps on going. We ran out of lube, so I just used cooking oil - haven't had to re lube in 4 days now. I do have half the Karoo hanging off my chain though - I suppose you can't have everything.

We have all got niggling injuries or pains but at this stage we don't really care - myprodol is our drug of choice.

Whoopee - 3 days to go!

Day 18 - Some things to do before you die

2007-07-07T18:08:00.000+02:00

Go to hell - or rather "Die Hell". Whether you walk, drive, ride or whatever, you should try and see this place. It is a secluded valley that is totally unspoilt and beautiful to behold. I'm not sure what you can do once there but just getting there is a load of fun.

We planned to double up again so we were on our way by 6am. The climb up the pass was brutal. I was still fascinated by the precision of the stone walling used to construct the pass. Builders in the city cannot build with that quality using rectangular bricks, never mind irregular shaped rocks. As usual the views were magnificent (where have I heard that before?)

On the top of the pass you drop into "Die Hell" - you don't actually drop into it, it undulates downwards then it drops - for anyone who watches the Tour de France, Alpe d'Heuz has nothing on these switchbacks. This is one of the fastest, hair raising downhills I have ever ridden. In Andy's words, "yyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaa"

Contrary to popular belief, there is an alternative way out of Die Hell. It's up a beast of a donkey track called Die Leer. I think regular hikers stay clear of this path as it is seriously steep and littered with loose rocks. You can't push a bike up - it must be carried. It took us about 75 minutes of carrying to get to the top. Many comments made about a certain race director when deciding on this route.

The rest of the day was a fairly straight forward road to the next support station that we made at 9:30pm. 15.5 hours of hard riding and 140km. A bonus for us was that the 3 guys that we were chasing we at the support station so we have finally bridged the gap. I think tomorrow will be a fairly easy day - only 90km or so to do.

Day 17 - Patience

2007-07-07T12:35:00.000+02:00

Any race claiming to be a race across South Africa would need at least one day of real Karoo riding. For us, that day was today. The landscape was flat with wide open spaces dotted with ankle high bushes and a few sheep. The roads are straight and corrugated and just to make things interesting, very sandy in places.

This is not the place to bring a single speed bike. Boy, did the guys with gears sort me out today. Andy arrived at our support station more than an hour before me and that's only in the last 3 hours of his riding. It was definitely a lesson in patience. I could do nothing more than turn the pedals as fast as I could and coast along until the bike slowed down enough to pedal again.

After a late night yesterday, we slept in a bit and had a full breakfast at the guest house and only left after 8 - quite decadent considering we were about to tackle the longest stage of the race. We worked our way to the lunch stop at about 2:30pm where some coffee and biscuits woke us up a bit.

Earl and Andy then upped the pace and I was left spinning along for the last 70km. The sunset was awesome over the Karoo where you get the longest shadows because everything is so flat. Just before I got here, I stopped and lay down in the road and stared up at the stars - the milky way is a thick, white band and there a few more stars than we see in Johannesburg. I cruised into the support station and had a nice, home-cooked supper.

We discussed our plans to the end and barring any bad fortune, we should be finished by Monday.

On that note - while I was flat on my back staring at the sky, Maarten finished the race in a new record time. Good for him!

Day 16 - Up, up and away

2007-07-04T21:03:00.000+02:00

As we were trying to double up, we left really early from Cambria towards the top of Baviaanskloof. This is a series of passes, big hills and small hills that need to be negotiated. The going was really hard at first but the views are indescribable. At one point I said to Earl and Andy that it's a pity that we cannot capture the whole experience and send it back home. My tubeless kit got damaged so I had to put on a new tyre and tubes so I will have to be on the lookout for thorns now - haven't had to do that for a while.

We had a delicious pasta dish at Damsedrif but immediately pushed on to Willowmore. There's not much to say about this stretch other than it was dark and cold.

There are no other guys here at Willowmore - they all left at 3pm this afternoon so we'll have to try and catch them some other time.

Day 15 - Into the Baviaanskloof

2007-07-04T20:47:00.000+02:00

What a fantastic day riding - the stretch from Bucklands to Cambria must surely rate as one of the hardest stages but is probably the most scenic.

Thanks to my boys Gerrit and Olaf back home I was able to take full advantage of all the downhills on offer which were many. Of course with each downhill there was a corresponding uphill but we were happy with the opportunity to walk. The difficulty of the day can be measured by the 90km that took 10.5 hours. Steve and Kevin are still out there and it's now 8:30pm.

The highlight of the day was the steepest, roughest technical downhill ever causing every muscle in your body to beg for mercy. The bottom of the jeep track drops into Utopia - a secluded valley with steep side walls and plenty of wildlife. We came face to face with a huge kudu bull as we entered the first river crossing. The path basically follows the course of the river - no where else to go so every now and then the river must be crossed. Luckily it is not too deep but in some cases the crossing is 100m long.

Today was definitely a major highlight of this years race - up there with the day 3 single tracking in Kwazulu Natal. The riding is very different to that, but equally rewarding.

Our stop is lovely house overlooking the bottom of the Baviaanskloof. The food took a while to arrive but once it was here we ploughed through it like there was no tomorrow. We will be doubling up tomorrow to try to get through to Willowmore and see if we can put some pressure on the other guys.

Day 14 - I am free (wheeling) again

2007-07-02T20:45:00.001+02:00

Gerrit left Joburg at 3pm and arrived at our support station at 1:30am on Sunday morning. I hadn't slept much until he arrived but once he was there I slept like a baby.

Kevin and Stephen also arrived after 11pm so we were all slow to get going and only had breakfast after 7am. I also had a lot of catching up to do with Gerrit so we sat drinking coffee for ages.

Then the moment of truth...was everything I needed in Gerrit's bag of tricks? I headed off to the workshop armed with spares, tools and bike. 30 minutes later, everything was reassembled and working as new. All the additional spares I loaded into my backpack so I have extra chains and gears if needed.

I am still overwhelmed by Gerrit's actions and I will need to find some way of returning the favour someday - Gerrit says, "pay it forward".

Eventually we said our goodbyes and left for the next stop. The route was through a valley of desolation with nasty thorn trees and difficult riding. After that, it was into real game farm country - high fences and lots of wildlife to see. At one stage I stopped to let 6 kudu cross the road in front of me.

The weather was real Cape weather - sometimes drizzling, sometimes raining, sometimes sunny and sometimes chilly. It just can't stick to one thing which makes clothing a problem.

I arrived at 5pm to find Andy and Earl here - they made a navigation mistake and lost touch with the big group so they took a shorter day and we will all travel together from here. Stephen and Kevin haven't arrived yet so it's another long day out for them.

Day 13 - I just don't get it

2007-07-01T19:09:00.000+02:00

After yesterdays disappointment about not getting the correct parts, I decided to sort myself out and just get on with the race - do what you gotta do.

We left at 7am for an early portage which had taken the race leaders about 9 hours to do in the snow. About 3 hours later I was sitting having coffee at the farm at the other side of the portage happy that I had no mishaps.

It was then that I was off on the long dirt road section (which I have learnt to dislike because my ass gets so sore) and was at the support station by 2:30pm. I picked up my box, had some food and drink and headed off to the next support station at Toekomst.

This section is one of my favourites on the trail. Last year we did it in the dark and had a ball. This year I managed to do it in the light - it was absolutely spectacular. The path is a slow downhill through a narrow valley. There's abundant wildlife and I saw plenty of buck near to the track. I was nearly taken out by a startled kudu. It's been a real treat this time - I have seen lots of wildlife close up all along the route.

I also went past the "holy shit, is this the main road?" point that amused Gerrit so much last year which brings me to the title of the post. Gerrit heard of my problem with the parts, got hold of Linden Cycles and Olaf and is currently driving here to deliver the parts. I have no idea what possessed him to do this but I am eternally grateful for his kindness. Not sure how I will ever be able to return the favour.

So I'm hoping that his efforts will get Chocolate back to normal again and I can pick up some speed. My legs are feeling fantastic and strangely enough my mind is also hanging tough. Just before arriving here, I sat on the side of some long-forgotten road and watched a once in a lifetime sunset that stretched right across the sky. I am truly privileged to have this opportunity to do this race. Sometimes it's hard but most times it's heaven.

Day 12 - Ups and downs

2007-07-01T18:49:00.000+02:00

Kevin and I left Long Acre farm quite early - Kevin wanted to double up and I wanted to get to the post office in Craddock as soon as possible.

The Craddock Hotel is owned by the same family that owns Long Acre farm so they suggested I stop for breakfast if I had time.

As it turned out the Johannesburg overnight only arrives at 10am so I went and had breakfast at the hotel which consisted of 3 fried eggs, a huge pile of scrambled eggs, 2 sausages, a pile of bacon, 6 slices of toast, a bowl of porridge, 2 croissants, 2 glasses of juice and 6 cups of coffee.

So in any case, I was feeling good after that and headed off to the post office hoping that my parcel would be there - it was! Off to the local exhaust repair shop to use their advice but alas - the part was wrong. Instead of moping around, I decided to ride to Cape Town to buy a part and left Craddock for the Zebra Park where I had lunch (2 hours after breakfast). I feel like a human dustbin - all I want is food.

While riding through the park, I saw loads of buck and was nearly taken out by one. I must have startled it and he bolted across the road in front of me.

The portage was easy and the downhill to the overnight stop difficult (remember I can only go as fast as I pedal). But I am here.

When I arrived, Steve was also here - he has been moving slowly as he has sore knees. He immediately called a mate in Cape Town so there are guys down there trying to find a solution to my gear problem. Everyone is so eager to help me - it blows my mind. I spent some time on my blog today reading comments - thanks to everybody for the support; it makes me more determined to finish this race.

Tomorrow I am going to double up again so that I can catch up with the big group in Baviaanskloof next week.

Day 11 - Just don't stop pedalling

2007-07-01T18:08:00.000+02:00

I've developed a new training program for cyclists of all levels. To use this program, you will need the following:
A single speed bicycle
Welding machine
Braveheart DVD
and a sense of humour!

In addition to this you will need 110km of mountain bike trail with the following components:
A small downhill mountain pass
Long flat sections
A long slow downhill section
and a technical single track section.

So now, first watch the video....notice how they charge into battle knowing they are about to be slaughtered. The title of the DVD can also be useful but this could also be replaced by Dumb and Dumber.

Now take the welding machine and weld the gears together so that wheels and the pedals turn together. If you pedal forward, the bike goes forward. If you pedal backwards, the bike goes backwards. If you stop pedalling, the bike stops. If you stop pedalling when the bike is at speed, then your legs get ripped off at the joints.

Now hop onto the bike and head off on a 10km warm up ride across snow covered roads. If the temperature is at -1C, then the puddles go crack instead of splash - an advantage of sub-zero riding.

On the mountain pass, try to ride downhill with your feet clipped into the pedals. Once you are up to 180 pedal strokes per minute (normal is 90 - 100) unclip your feet and hang them in midair away from the pedals which might hurt your ankles when they connect.

During this process, remember to balance and break - don't forget about the bumps to steer around as well. Your riding partner, whose name could be Kevin, will probably say that your riding style looks cute.

Now find a long flat road. This section is easy - just sit and pedal for 2 hours without stopping. Remember those hip joints.

Next onto the technical single track. You'll master the technique of pedalling while your rear wheel is in the air so that your pedals do not hit big rocks - normal bikes just backpedal to do this. This is the most difficult aspect to master. Do not feel bad if you need to dismount a few times. You can also learn to break by pedalling backwards.

Finally, find a long downhill stretch. You will now use all techniques described above to get down as fast as possible. This may be the first time that you are exhausted from riding downhill as the need to spin at 180 rpms, unclip your feet to get more speed and handle technical river crossings at speed is very tiring.

And that was my day of riding a fixed single speed. My sense of humour is still intact at least and I am making progress.

The scenery was spectacular - snow covered peaks followed by a drop into the Karoo when the world suddenly became flat again.

We skipped our official rest stop and pushed on a few more hours. We invited ourselves into a farm called Long Acre where our hosts Philip and Jen did a wonderful job looking after their surprise guests. I should get my parts tomorrow in Craddock.

Drama, drama, drama..

2007-06-30T21:16:00.000+02:00

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!!!

Day 10 - Everyone has a story...

2007-06-27T18:32:00.000+02:00

Before the race started, Mike told me that he was worried that he would not have a fantastic experience, as advertised by my blog last year. My reply to him was that it is virtually impossible to get through this race without something worthwhile happening. Needless to say, Mike ended up wlaking for 10 hours earlier in the race when his shock broke. Today was my chance.
We had an early morning portage planned, so we were going to leave at 6:30am. We slowly crawled out of our sleeping holes, to be greeted by hot coffee, and a shrug of the shoulders towards the kitchen window - the whole farmyard was covered in a blanket of thick snow, and it was still coming down. We quickly worked out an alternative route, that was mainly farm roads to our next stop, and the start was pushed out to 8:00am.
After many photos we left the farm, and started up the road. It was quite a novelty riding in the snow - not as difficult as it seems at first. The wheels cut through it quite easily, but boy does the snow clog up the derailleurs and gears. I was just starting to think what a good option the singlespeed was for this type of riding, when I lost all power to the backwheel - my back cog was stripped, and the bike was going nowhere. The rest of the guys were in front of me, so they continued without knowing my problem.
I made my way back to the farmhouse, where repairs were made, which failed, and after a few phonecalls some parts were found in a town about 60km away. David took me out there to pick up the new gear and a chain, which cost about R40 for the lot. i was a bit sceptial, but with no other choice we headed back to the farm, where I re-assembled my bike, and hit the road again.
5km and 4 broken chains later I turned round and made my way back again. I have now welded my old gear into a fix ( I can't stop pedalling - something like a spinning bike), and will attempt to move on again tomorrow, with Kevin who arrived this afternoon. Parts are being couriered to Craddock, so hopefully I will be back to normal again by the weekend.
This race does not take prisoners! Just when you let your guard down, it comes and slaps you on the back of the head. Many of the guys are saying that the race is far tougher than they ever expected - initial plans of racing, and records have become survival plans to just make the finish.
The Freedom Ride will bring out the best and worst in everyone!

Day 9 - Snow!

2007-06-26T21:07:00.001+02:00

During the Ride to Rhodes finishers' dinner, David mentioned how this race brings out true character. Today was one of those days that does it's best to do an impromptu character test.

Andy walked out the door this morning and said that it was spitting - I think he meant with rain. I started riding and realised that the spitting was in fact light snow. The possible wind nightmare that I mentioned yesterday gave way to an overcast cold day - the maximum temperature was 1C and the minimum was -1C. The day started as a normal cold Karoo day which gradually transitioned to a white winter wonderland.

I didn't know that there are different types of snow - it starts as big flaky drifting snow, then when the temperature drops a bit and the wind picks up you get horizontal sheets of ice which catches into into your face and into any exposed skin. The last type is the dreamy balls that is advertised in American movies -it really is like that and quite mesmerising.

All 3 types are really, really cold and my feet were so icy and sore. For the first time in the race, my mental resolve wavered but a hot cup of coffee and a chat to Corrinne put me back on the road.

Can't say much about the terrain today but the fields were white and the roads were muddy.

Our overnight stop is the same one that I stayed at when I was sick last year. Steph and Bill are looking after us like visiting royalty - washing is being done, bikes are washed and I am expecting a super meal. I don't know what the snow equivalent of an oasis is but this is it.

The guys all had a hard day but the spirit in the group is still good and we are progressing well. Apparently Kevin is quite close to catching up again but unfortunately Dillon has withdrawn.

Day 8 - Wind + 1 gear = ouch

2007-06-26T20:28:00.000+02:00

What a day! When you finish 2 portages at 12:30pm, then have to ride another 80km, then you know you are on the Freedom ride. I don't think many other races in the world have that element of toughness to them.

Our stop last night was fantastic - Lizzy, our host, managed to wait on all of us without a problem including a full cooked breakfast and packed lunches. The niceties stopped soon after leaving with a harsh hike-a-bike up an unused jeep track. Strangely enough all 9 of us suffered up the climb but not one person complained. All you heard was, "where to now?" as each person arrived at the top.

By mistake, luck or skill, our navigation was spot on for the first difficult section and we had completed this by 9am. We also had the luck of meeting a local farmer who gave us some tips for the second scratchy bit. This was also a major slog but once again we came out at exactly the right spot. It was at this point during lunch that we still had 80km to go. During the portages the wind was gale force but we hoped it would be better lower down. Sorry for us!
The entire 80km's to Boschofskraal had a hectic side wind and a number of us ended up in ditches on the side of the road. On rare occasions I was being blown uphill unable to pedal but most of the time it was really hard work. I rode most of the last 80km on my own as I could not ride as slow as the others. I would ride hard, then rest a while then do it again. 80km of interval training.

The views were awesome over the 2 portages with scenery all the way back to the Southern Drakensburg and on into the flatter portions of the Eastern Cape. The terrain is slowly becoming harsher and grasslands are slowly being replaced by Karoo bushes and some barren areas. Huge mountains are being replaced by dispersed mountain clusters and koppies.

Tomorrow is supposed to be an easier day but I think it will be a nightmare if this wind persists.

Xolani pitched up tonight after 2 nights out in the cold - he is unsure of where he was but seems none the worse for wear. Dillon's knees gave problems so he got picked up in a town before the support station so he will need to go back there if he wants to continue. He will lose the group but could link up with Kevin who is still trailing the group by a day.
I am feeling relatively better than the others everyday and with reports that some of the lead group are struggling, I'm considering a push, but we'll see.

Day 7 - Change of scenery

2007-06-26T07:39:00.000+02:00

The real Freedom Challenge started today. All the backup teams were pulled out as the ride to Rhodes is finished and we are now on our own. We have decided to ride together as a large group and try to push through to Cape Town together. Glen is withdrawing so we are with 10 riders leaving this morning. The guys left between 4am and 6am and by lunch we were all together bar 2. Kevin was sick and Jannie took a wrong turn and he's still out there somewhere.

Adam was sitting here when we arrived after zig zagging behind Xolani for a few days. He was constantly off course so there are 9 of us now. The riding today was chilly but pleasant - most of the terrain was very hilly but no big climbs, just short sharp bursts. It was hard going on the single speed but it seems everybody is starting to hurt so I don't feel too bad.

The valleys that we rode in are pretty deserted. It seems that the entire valley is bought out by one farmer who then farms all the remaining properties from one farm. We stopped at one of these farms for lunch; the guy has about 1000 caps hanging from the roof of his pub - the lunch was awesome, by the way.

Our portage for the day went really well with no problems and this guest house is top notch. We are being treated like kings. I am dead tired so bed for me. Tomorrow is a big day with 2 big portages and bad weather on the way.

P.S. Jannie has just arrived after 9pm.

Continuation problems....

2007-06-24T17:41:00.001+02:00

I waited anxiously for Andre's blog to be sent through to post for him which is why there was an absence of posts at the end of the week. Eventually Andre sms'd them to me as a voice recording but could only get Day 5 and 6 to me - Day 4 would have to wait for the mail.
I received it today and have posted Day 4 although it's now out of sync. Apologies for the confusion, but it should be resolved now. It still makes for fascinating reading!

Hearing Andre's voice is so bitter-sweet for me. It's wonderful to hear him so alive and happy and while I was typing out the blog while listening to his voice recording on the speaker phone, even the dog was whining! I miss him terribly though.
But it is nice to have the remote all to myself.

I have to wonder how my dear husband must be smelling at this stage....hmmm, I know he has a razor and a toothbrush but I definitely know that a can of deodorant weighed far too much for his precious cargo. When I asked him he simply said, "you don't want to know"! Lovely.
There are about 9 of them in the riding group today so you could probably smell them coming over the mountain loooong before you spotted them!

Thanks again for the awesome messages from everybody. It helps Andre tremendously and keeps him going.

Corrinne

Day 4 - Plain sailing

2007-06-24T17:22:00.000+02:00

Today was heaven once again - the plains around Matatiele are made for mountain biking. It is unfair that 90% of South Africa's singletrack is concentrated in such a small area. I was fortunate enough to get one of the local MTB gurus to mark my maps with as much singletrack as possible. Earle, Andy and I left after the main group at 7:30am and were immediately singletracking our way to our next stop at Malekholenyane.

For those who are not used to MTB terminology, singletrack is the be-all and end-all of most MTB fanatics (there are other breeds of animal that prefer steep downhills as well). The tracks are basically made by pedestrians and cattle walking across the veld, and are flat, flowing and as smooth as silk. At one stage we rode on a section that was smoother than tar!

So during the day we suddenly decided that even the marked maps were unnecessary, and just headed in basically the right direction, picking up any and every track we could find. We flew through villages amidst the "how are you" calls again, where there are no roads, just thin trails between the huts, wide enough for a bicycle or two. The different trail options were endless, allowing us to skip long sections of district roads and cruise along like there was no tomorrow.

In a day of 70km we did probably 5-10km of road, the rest was through villages or on track. Oh yes, and the temperature was -4degC this morning.

We had lunch at a place called Queens Mercy, where the shop owner told us about his life being detained in the late 70's by the old SA "regime". He has owned the shop for 34 years, and sat and told us many stories. Also in our stop was another mission station - Marizell, with a staircase carved out of solid stone, and awesome stained glass and murals. It amazes me how much effort goes into constructing these huge mission stations in the middle of nowhere, but they are exceptionally well maintained and good to look at.

I don't really have any info on the other riders, other than there are 7 of them a day ahead of us. Our GPS units are probably working properly now, so you'll be able to see us again on the web.

We're in for 2 really big days, then we're at Rhodes and then the fun can begin. Maybe there are a few racers that I can chase across the Karoo.

P.S. Anyone want to buy a Giant Anthem? (My old geared bike)

Day 6 - Decision confirmed

2007-06-23T20:43:00.000+02:00

Some carried, some pushed, some cried but in the end everyone made it over Leana pass. This is a 6km footpath over the mountains that took us about 3 - 4 hours to do.

After supper last night, we were all shipped off to various huts around the village and everyone reported that they'd slept warm even though the beds were a bit worn and 6 bricks high off the ground to ward off the tokoloshi!

Before sunrise we headed to the base of Leana pass and were slogging away at first light. The weather was clear but the wind was icy cold and blowing a gale - we hardly stopped to take photos - we just pushed on.

At the top we passed the spot where I turned around last year and then made our way to Tenahead lodge for coffee and coke. My decision to turn around last year was a good one as the navigation in this area was quite tricky and I would have been seriously lost.

So we are in Rhodes now where we have caught up with Glen who is sick and are watching Xolani and Adam chase off in the wrong direction. There are some minor ailments in the group but everyone is basically okay. I broke a bottle cage today and have nearly worn through the plastic water bottle but other than that, I am super healthy and Chocolate Brownie is going like a Boeing. Tomorrow we have a hard slog across to Rust de Winter.

Day 5 - Revenge is sweet

2007-06-23T20:19:00.000+02:00

But the Freedom Challenge gives nothing away for free. The section of trail that took 24 hours last year took me 4.5 hours this year. It's amazing how easy things are if no navigation errors are made and the single track entry points are located on first attempt.

I nearly sat down and cried when I got to the place called Black Fountain which I had struggled so hard to get to last year. But the riding was worth the effort. The track was 13km of downhill on a ridge - heaven. There were some slightly steep sections that I had to think twice about but other than that, I was in my element. I was alone at this stage because I wanted to try an alternative route that had not been used during the Freedom Ride last year. As I said earlier - nothing is for free. I got to the new section at 1pm and was soon up the creek without a paddle (as usual). I had mud squishing through my toes while crossing the river and the so called path was so overgrown that I decided to back out while the going was still good and I had light. I joined up with the official route and started a mean climb up to Vuvu.

I stopped at a shop where the shopkeeper looked after me last year and his first question was, "where is your blue bike?" He was so happy to see me and the little kid that had felt my hair the year before was back excited as hell to see me again.

The rest of the guys caught up with me at the shop so I managed to garner some business for Christopher, the shopkeeper, before heading to the support station at Vuvu. We have now had a hand shower and are using a classroom as our accommodation so things are quite elementary. The spirit of the group is great and the conversation is continuous. Hennie and Dillon arrived at about 7:30pm so it was a really long, hard day for them but they are here and safe. Mike's shock is broken and he is currently walking up a hill to here. Who knows how far he is but the new shock is on it's way - he just has to push through.

We are all off to sleep at huts around the village and then tomorrow we have a monster portage. Leana, here we come.

Lonely, oh so looooonnnnnnellllyyyyy.....

2007-06-21T18:39:00.000+02:00

I can't believe it's only day 4 when it feels like weeks and weeks. Everyday I keep my phone close just in case Andre calls but I have missed some of them. I didn't hear from him on Tuesday at all and tried to go onto the tracking site that is set up for the riders but it's a nightmare. It wasn't updated, looked like Andre wasn't moving and it's difficult to read. I can't read a map that has contour lines only either...I need something with street names and landmarks for it to be understandable!
But Andre called yesterday and said that the tracker site link had been removed from the Freedom site because it's inaccurate and causing too much drama for the families trying to track their riders. Apparently it is sorted out today and will be fully operational tomorrow. But that still doesn't help me with the contour lines.

Andre called this afternoon and is so joyfully happy. He is riding well with Earl and Andy and just loves the Chocolate Brownie! He asked me to put an ad in the paper for a Giant Anthem for sale.....hmmmm...I don't think so!
But he said that he had one of the best riding days ever today. They tackled single track for hours and did his famous, "I wonder where this path goes....." and had a absolute ball. They arrived at support station 4 at about 1:30pm and has been washing clothes, eating vetkoek by the dozen and chatting to all the other guys. He had to walk to a remote area about 60m away to get cell phone signal but got freezing standing in the chilly breeze.

So far, so good and Andre is in really good spirits. Thank you to everyone who has left messages of support and encouragement. Andre really does appreciate it.

Till next time,
Corrinne

Day 3 - Cat and Mouse

2007-06-20T18:46:00.000+02:00

Once again we had some early leavers trying to make the break again - Lee and Glenn have tried to get out of the Ntsikeni Reserve to catch the others who are pushing on to the 4th Support Station. We eventually caught them just before our coffee stop at Banchory. I have sort of teamed up with Andy and Earle, who seem to be riding a similar pace to me early in the day, and then later in the day I have been pushing on alone to the support station.
Today we started before dark with a navigation section and portage out of the nature reserve. It went surprisingly easily, and before long we were back onto district roads heading into the heart of the Eastern Cape. It is wonderful riding through the villages - we had kids cheering us on, and one guy claims to have been pushed up a hill! Time penalty?
The villages are alive, with the constant hum of chattering ladies, and kids playing soccer. Each person that we ride past calls out with a friendly wave and a "How are you", which seems to be the only english that they understand. Turqoise paint seems to be the fashion of the season, as all the houses seem to be painted in patterns with this blue paint. One thing that did concern me was that very few kids were at school at 11 in the morning - I hope it is school holiday!
Our stop today is a traditional guest house in a village, complete with black steel pots, singing ladies, and steam bread. Our room overlooks the local football pitch where we have had the wierdest game of soccer on the go. It seems there is a goalie, each person is his own team - if you have the ball you try to score, if you don't have the ball, you defend. You can join or leave the game whenever you want - sometimes there were 3 boys playing, sometimes 15.
Some of the guys I arrived here with have pushed on the the next stop, so the tactical game is really starting to hot up now. It appears that Tim and Hanelie have finally made the day break and are sleeping at the next support station. There are 5 guys chasing them down, and the stage is not too difficult, so there might be a surprise in store for those already at SS4. Ah yes, and Dillon, who hurt himself yesterday, and is a day behind now, but pushing on.
So the state of the race at the moment isHannelie and Tim at SS4Xolanai, Adam, Glenn and Lee on there way to SS4The rest of us are loafing here.

Day 2 - what a difference a year makes

2007-06-20T18:44:00.000+02:00

Waking up this morning, we got news that another 3 riders had gapped it in the early hours of the morning in an attempt to make up ground on those that had doubled-up the night before. It turned out to be a day of collapsed strategy.
The riding started with some good singletrack through tyhe neighbouring farms, and then we linked up with the Sani2C route, and did some of it in the opposite direction. (Note to self: Do Sani2C at some stage). There was some really tricky navigation, but a fair sized group decided to stick with Ian, who knew the trail really well. This was a good decision, as we soon caught up with the 3 early risers, and made up valuable time. Our lunch stop was at Centacow mission station, which was built pre-1920's - the stained glass windows, and murals are exquisite, and in pristine condition. I'll post some photos after the event.
From there our group split up a bit, and we went through towards the end in smaller groups of 3's and 4's. From this stage my past experience really paid off, as we quickly moved up to the big portage of the day. We passed one of the previous days breakaway riders, Glenn, who had spent a night in the forest - he did not look too happy, but was still moving and I expect another breakaway attempt from him soon.
I got a tactical advantage accidently by teaming up with Andrew, who can speak fluent zulu, so within minutes he had arranged a guide up the portage section for R10 and we were home free. The stop we're at is Ntsikeni, a nature reserve owned by the local community, where there is a wonderful guest house, and well worth a visit if you are in the area.
So that's all for tonight. Tomorrow we're going to start a bit earlier just to make sure that we get to Masakala in good time. No chance of doubling-up yet. The riding is too good in this area.
Earle says "Hi" to his fan club which is apparently quite extensive.

Day 1 - A journey of 1000 miles begines with a single step

2007-06-19T09:13:00.000+02:00

Hi Everybody,

Andre sent me the following post to be published but I can't remember what his password is (it's at home) so I have logged on as me for now...enjoy!

The clock struck 7, and nothing happened. The Freedom Challenge was waiting for the TV crews to finish their interviews, and finally amidst blaring sirens from a police escourt 16 Freedom Challenge riders and 6(?) Ride to Rhodes riders started the adventure of a lifetime.

There was plenty interest and chirps about my bike, but these were generally subdued once the guys picked it up and felt the weight of it. The variety of bikes and configurations was fantastic - from superlight backpack only setups, to paniers and bike mounted carriage options. It seems like it is important what you do have, not what you don't have - gas stoves, tackies, any thing you can think of will be loaded on one of the bikes if you look hard enough. Although I think that Allendale (our overnight stop) will have a year's supply od deodorant when we pull out of hear tomorrow.

We left Pietermaritzburg at about 7am and the group soon split up into tourists, and those pushing to double up on the first day - the rest of us somewhere in between. I rode with a group on the Ride 2 Rhodes route for the first few hours, which was stunning, up through plantations on logging roads and jeep tracks. We finally dropped down a new hardpack racing track down the side of a mountain to our lunch stop in the hamlet of Byrne. Yummies - butternut soup and bread rolls. From there we used a sneak through a little forest back to tar, and a long slow drag to the top of Hella Hella pass. It was here that I rode away from the group - not by choice, but just to keep moving.

Hella hella pass was not the nightmare that it was last year - the single speed actually makes things easier - just ride until you can't, then walk. No problem. So I finally arrived at about 3:45, which is about the same time as last year.

As I was arriving, Hannelie and Tim were leaving for the next stop, with Martin in hot pursuit. Glen left soon after to chase the whole lot down. I can see there are some itchy feet here, as some of the riders left behind were hoping to be with that lead bunch.

In terms of the single speed, it makes things really easy and stressless - just ride until you can't, then walk. In a short portage today I shot away from the others, so the lack of weight is definitely an advantage.

Tomorrow we're off to a place called Ntsikeni, which is a nice days riding provided you don't get lost. There is a portage late in the day, which might make things really interesting.

So far I am in much better condition than last year (mentally and physically), so I'm going to keep plugging away - Rhodes in 6 days. Then we'll see.

Day 0 and day 1

2007-06-18T20:44:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was very strange. I dropped Andre off at Mike's house at 9am since they were all travelling together from his house. By 9am we'd already had a tight word, a tense moment, a clenched jaw and an exasperated sigh. Tension has a funny way of coming out....

But I waved Andre goodbye with a lump in my throat. And then I went shopping!

Andre called last night to say that they had arrived, had finished the lasagne and the speeches for the evening and were getting ready to go to bed. He was in good spirits and very happy to almost be on the starting line.

Day 1 was a very good day for Andre. He called a little after 6 sounding relaxed and confident. He arrived at support station 1 at around 3:30pm - similar time to last year - and had an awesome ride. He forgot to set his tracker until about half way through the day and they have had problems with some of them. Hopefully all of them will be working tomorrow and then we can track exactly where in the world Andre is.

Andre said that he was very happy with his "silly bike" since there was no pressure to climb any mountains at any particular speed. He just rode until he couldn't anymore and then walked. He said that walked quicker than most people anyway so is in really good spirits. 4 riders have pushed on through to the next stage but Andre is happy to be sitting around the fire, eating up a storm and waiting for his just-washed-in-the-bath clothes to dry on his makeshift line. It's still a long way to go.....

As with last year, there is no deodrant this time. Andre says that that Allendale is going to have a years supply of deodrant as the first timers decide what it is they actually need. Personally, I think that's ALL that I would carry, but then again I am a girl who just doesn't get it!

Tomorrow they will travel to another unpronounceable place in KZN but it is sure to be another blissful day in heaven for Andre.

Until next time,

Corrinne

Ready, steady, go

2007-06-16T21:44:00.000+02:00

Everything is checked, checked again, and ready to go. I'll be leaving tomorrow morning with some of the other racers from around here. We're all travelling together in Mike's passion wagon, so there will be plenty time to spin a yarn or two, and get the others more nervous - all in good spirit of course.

Thanks to everyone who has wished me luck - I hope all of it adds up to give me a safe and successful race this year. The interest and support has been phenominal, and I hope it will inspire everyone to have a go at something that they always thought was impossible to achieve. It is good for your "head space" and gives a wonderful feeling of achievment. My mom always said, "If you don't try, you will never know"; I think she was refering to eating veggies at the time, after I said I didn't like the taste of any green food, but the idea stuck anyway.

For those that are around my wife, please give her lots of support - I know the next few weeks are really tough on her, but without her love and tolerance, I would not be able to follow my dreams and achieve the seemingly impossible. Many hours and sacrifices go into preparing for an adventure like this and she is always with me every step of the way -always with an encouraging word and a "Just be safe" to send me on my way.

Next time I post will be from somewhere in KZN after our first stage, and from there on in the fun begins.

PS. The security light is fixed.

2 more sleeps...

2007-06-15T20:48:00.000+02:00

2 more sleeps for me and 3 more sleeps for Andre until it all starts. I have been feeling anxious for a while but now that the bag is packed, the sunglass lenses have arrived and we are having our "farewell" breakfast with the parents tomorrow, I am really nervous.

I still can't believe Andre is doing this race on that silly bike. I mean really, it looks like a bike we used to have in standard 2 that we messed around on. The only difference is that this bikes brakes are activated from the handlebars and not by pushing the pedals backwards! But there really isn't much a wife/partner/supporter/whiner can do about it. Other than wish him luck and look forward to the occasional phone call and mms.

I am very proud of Andre and he has been like a kid looking forward to Christmas morning. The months and months of preparation and the hours of training will all be worth it when Andre starts off in PMB on Monday morning. I was initially going to take him to PMB but it hasn't quite worked out that way so I so goodbye on Sunday morning at 9am. Tomorrow will be spent with friends and family and I wonder if Andre will remember to change the security light globe before he goes....I doubt it!

I will be updating the blog for both of us over the next few weeks so be sure to check occasionally to catch the latest gossip, trials and tribulations and happenings in "Days of Andre's Lives and Wives"

Till next time,
Corrinne

Waiting, waiting, waiting....

2007-06-11T14:15:00.000+02:00

There is nothing else to do but think of worst case scenarios, or worry about things I haven't considered. Driving me nuts!

I went for a final test run this weekend, late at night, full pack with my bike set up as I will ride. The map board, which was my biggest concern seems to work fine, even at high speed. My new handelbar light is really nice, but it was vibrating a bit much, so I made some further modifications over the weekend and it should be OK now. The headlight is good enough to be used without the handlebar light if necessary, so I think my light planning is good this year.

Finally got all my kit together, and it seems like I'll have a total pack weight around 11kg, including food and water. That's pretty much the same as last year, but I have a lot more warm clothing this time, and also beefed up my emergency food department. I think I can comfortably deal with temparetures around -10 to -15degC this time, and I have enough food to spend a night out without worrying too much about nutrition.

I've also got all my spares with me - there are no extras waiting in my 2liter boxes.

Seems like the final count for the race is 16. I see Xolani, who raced last year, has appeared on the start list, so it looks like he is going to tackle it again - I really think he could challenge for the win (if he doesn't get too lost).

Does previous experience count? There have been quite an array of questions from the 13½ first timer's, many of which bothered me last year (the questions, not the riders), but this year have been non-issues for me. The questions have, however, stimulated some thought about certain topics, which has helped me refine my kit a bit more, and work on my race strategy. I am really hoping that knowledge of the route will be an advantage, and that my mental archives have not failed me. So in terms of the physical side of things, "Yes - experience counts".

Mentally - I don't know. After some one beats you with a baseball bat, do you go back and ask for more? Maybe the second time you think you can dodge the blows! At least with this race there are periods of ignorant bliss - days when real life takes a back seat, and with little else to clutter your mind, you can experience nature at its best. And then someone takes a crack at you with that bat again!

In some ways the mind is settled because the unknown component of the race is not that big, but in another sense, the mind is in revolt trying to persuade you not to put it through hell again. We'll have to see how it goes in the brain drain department.

Kevin is the ½ referred to above. He did Ride2Rhodes last year, so has a good idea of what can be expected

Final preparations

2007-06-06T17:31:00.000+02:00

Thanks to Mike, who's also competing, our 2 liter boxes have arrived in Cape Town and will hopefully end up at the correct support stations. The boxes have the following in:
Maps
Race food / drink
Restocks of soap / chamois cream
Batteries
Restocks of my emergency food
and a few other secret ingredients.

There are no bike spares in the boxes this time - I decided to carry everything that I might need from the start, but there's not too much stuff for the singlespeed - brake pads, spare cleats and a seatpost bolt.

Last year I gathered spares along the route, and probably had 2kg's more equipment at the end than the start (finished with 2 bicycle chains). Everything in this year's boxes can be dumped if not used, so I will know my pack contents from day 1.

Also made a map board this weekend, mmm... well my dad put most of it together - I just did the design. I'll put some pics on the blog when we're back, with comments about how well it worked. I modified my maps to work in conjunction with the board (I hope).

Other than the bike, a major change in equipment has been in the lighting department - the big handlebar lights were really fantastic last year, but they took too long to recharge, and as a result I had to ride using only a small headlamp on some nights. I have split my risk this year by getting a better headlamp, and downgrading the handlebar lights to a smaller unit with a quick recharge time. The handelbar light runs for 7hrs before it needs recharging, and the headlights have replaceable batteries, but does not last as long, so I think I have all my bases covered.

So now its down to the final packing - I'm really trying to go with the minimalist technique inspired by Cornel (Freedom Ride record holder). I think I can get my bike and kit to less than 20kg, which will make the many portages more bearable (also keeping in mind that I will probably need to walk more with the singlespeed). Of course I won't be dumping any critical clothing / kit, but I've seriously considered all non-essential and luxury items.

So now its just wait, wait wait until we hit the road in 2 weeks time. Once I've finalised my backpack I'll put more up about the kit I will be taking.

Refresher course: Freedom Trail Race 101

2007-06-04T12:00:00.001+02:00

As a refresher for those not sure how the race works here goes:

The race starts in Pietermaritzburg on 18 June 2007 and we have 24 days to complete the route, ending in Paarl near Cape Town, a distance of about 2200km. There are no marshals or route markings - navigation is done using 1:50 000 topographical maps, or 1:150 000 Map Studio maps. Most of the route is done on dirt roads, jeep track, hiking trail and what we like to call "Scratchy bits" (check the footnote)

Every 100km or so there is a Support Station, which is usually some sort of B&B, guest house or game farm. We can send a 2 liter container to each of the support stations with supplies for the next leg of the adventure. Each leg can take from about 5hrs for an easy leg to 20hrs+ for a difficult leg.

Participants can decide for themselves how far to ride each day, whether to sleep, or ride through the night. Sleeping out is common, as sometimes the support station cannot be reached - usually bad navigation, or bad weather results in this.

This year there are about 15 participants (including a lady who will probably kick our butts), but this number will change as we get closer to D-Day. It's a huge under-taking, and you only put your wheel on the startline if you are 100% confident in what you are doing. There are no teams or support vehicles - each participant is his/her own master and slave.

Scratchy bits:
This refers to any part of the trail that may once have been used by humans. David ( the race organiser) once walked within 50km of this point, which therefore makes it well used and perfectly suitable for mountain bike riding. The reward is usually a mgnificent view, fantastic downhill, or a good story once you find where you really are and get back to civilisation.

What?!

2007-05-30T12:41:00.000+02:00

"You're not doing it on the silly bike!?!"
"Yes, I am...", he says cringing under the sheets.
"But its only got one gear and its a silly bike!"
"mmm..., so?"
"You have a perfectly good, very expensive bicycle standing in the garage, so why use the silly bike?"

This is how the conversation went when I told Corrinne (my wife) that I was going to do the Freedom Ride on my singlespeed bike this year. It didn't get much better from there.

For those not familiar with cycling, normal Mountain Bikes have many gears - usually 27 - and suspension (front and sometimes rear). A singlespeed has ( surprise, surprise) - 1 gear. In addition to this mine has no suspension, other than a 5mm thick bit of padding on the saddle.

I got the idea last year, when I saw that there was a singlespeed record up for grabs. Its a nice way to set a record - be the first one to do it in that category - all you have to do is finish, and the record is yours....no problem. I hadn't really thought about it much more, and one day while out riding Olaf said,
"Why don't you ride the Freedom Challenge on your singlespeed?"
and that sealed the deal. So, blame Olaf.

The bike is my old Giant hardtail that I've converted into a singlespeed, then had repainted. The guys at the bike shop (Linden), have christened it "The Chocolate Brownie".

Chocolate Brownie

Inspiration

2007-05-10T18:17:00.000+02:00

Ha. I'm back! Ready to tackle this thing once again. This time I have changed my thinking somewhat and have decided to use this poster for inspiration. As you can see, the blog format has changed a bit, but all my old content is still down below if you can't remember what I got up to last year.

bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb

What now?

2006-07-06T13:34:00.000+02:00

Strangly enough, I'm not at all despondent or depressed about stopping. This race has definitely been about he journey, and not the destination.

I have spent 18 days on my bike - something I could only dream of before attempting this - never thought it was vaguely possible to do this. The continuous 12hr+ days are quite strenuous, but the body copes remarkably well with this (to a certain extent in my case). After a while the riding actually became secondary - you forget about the riding, and it becomes more about the whole experience, not just a MTB ride.

I have seen the most magnificent and varied scenery that I could imagine - the fact that we want to tour other countries to see fantastic scenery is beyond me - the variation and the grandeur of our country ranges from the rolling green hills of the Natal Midlands, the KZN bush of the Hela Hela pass area, the flood plains with extensive tracks norh west of Matatiele into the southern Maluti mountains. My initial preconception was that the Eastern Cape is flat - far from it, but there were a number of "wow" moments, when you come out of a mountain range to find a dead flat plain in front of you. The mountains eventually gave way to the rolling hills of Stormberg region, back to the Southern Cape mountain ranges with the extensive river valleys and gorges, and then finally to the flat Karoo that everyone knows.

The weather was fairly kind to us - good, clear days with no wind on most days. The most notable exceptions were the snowfalls when trying to cross the Drakensburg ( and the subsequent days riding in snow), and the night riding on Day 9, when we got rain and -10deg C temparetures. Trying to cope with frozen waterbottles during the mornings across the Eastern Cape became a daily issue - this area must surely qualify as one of the coldest areas in South Africa.

We were exposed to the daily living of a number of different cultures and regional grouping of people across the country - we stayed in their homes with them, ate with them, found out about their communities, economics and problems. This ranged from the Zulu cattle and sheep farmers of KZN, to the Xhosa and Sotho farmers of the Southern Maluti's, the sheep farmer of the eastern cape, the Game Farmer of the Southern cape, and then the produce farmers of the Southern Cape mountains. One thing that really struck me was the number of abandoned farm buildings that we encountered - more land is owned by less people, and apparently a lot of the stock farmers are switching to game / hunting farms, as a result of the better profits.

The common thread running through all peoples was generosity - throughout my trip I have been in need of assistance, and each time I though that I was finished, someone turned up to rescue my day. From the young shepherd boys who gave me a blanket, because that's all they had, to the Terblanche family that allowed me to stay with them while I recovered from my first bout of sickness, everyone gave what they could, without a desire for compensation, other than a word of thanks. At some stage every participant in the race spent a night with someone who knew nothing of the race, but were willing to keep us going. The farmers were an absolute menace though - each time you cross their land you've got to stop to chat and have a cup of coffee!

This is defintiley a great way to tour the country, and is well within the ability of most people - you can pack a bag with your necessities, work out a route, make your bookings, and go MTB touring. You travel quick enough to make some ground in a day, but slow enough to experience the environment around you. I think this is one of Dave's main objectives with this race, and it has definitely opened my eyes to the possibilities that exist.

To Cornel and Ben who went for the record and got it, well done - I don't know where you got the mental stamina to do it. To Gerrit and Xolani, my travelling companions, good luck - you will reach the end soon and finsih the wonderful journey. And to Dave the organiser - I have hated you and admired you, but in the end it has been the most fantastic adventure of my life - I'll probably be back to finish it one day. And thanks to all that followed my story and sent wishes - it was really encouraging to read these at night - maybe you'll all be inspired to stretch your limits a but - it's fun!

From me...over and out

Day 19 - The end of the road

2006-07-06T12:52:00.000+02:00

I didn't sleep much last night and spent the night nursing my stomach bug (if you can call it that). I woke up at the alarm (3am), and couldn't get myself out of bed to ride. Gerrit wasn't feeling well either, so he and Xolani left later than planned - not quite sure what time. I finally surfaced at 7am, bit was in no condition to ride for 150km across to Prince Albert.

I tried to keep breakfast in, then lunch, with no luck. I decided to abandon the race and keep my body a break - seems like it's going into meltdown. Manged to get a late bus from Willomore to Jhb, so I'm back home, and my race has come to an end.

Day 18 - Not a good day

2006-07-06T12:34:00.000+02:00

Today's stage was supposed to be a fairly easy ride from Sandvlakte in the upper (flatter) sections of Baviaanskloof to Willomore, with only on minor climb out of the kloof. We left the wonderful hospitality of Dam se Drif guest house at about 7:30am to the Baviaans Information center, where we were asked to stop for a cup off coffee (again).

I have been carrying a stomach bug for a few days, and last night it got a bit worse. My dinner passed straight through me and breakfast went the same way. Needless to say the coffee at the information center turned out to be a magnificent spread of homemade breads, biscuits, rusks, salami, lemonade and jams... so I was able to restock my body. If you are ever in this area, you must stop at the information center for a chat - lovely old couple with a really good knowledge of the area, as well as being owners of a cave B&B - didn't see it, bount sounds fascinating.

A few few kilos from this break I stopped to get rid of mid-morning breakfast, and I really struggled from there - 50km staring at Gerrit's wheel. Oh yes, somehow Xolani managed to rejoin us - something like 3 consectuve 17hr days to catch up - so he was also riding along but also fatigued. We eventually got to Willomore at 14:30 and I fell in to bed and slept - I couldn't keep anything in my system.

Supper has just gone the same way as the rest of the days food. Gerrit's knees are starting to hurt, so he went to the doctor for drugs - hope this doesn't ruin his race.

Not feeling good - bed.

Day 17 - Many passes

2006-07-03T19:43:00.000+02:00

Today was the first day that we had no navigation, portages or anything funny - amazing, considering that we have been riding for 16 days now. One dirt road to the next stop.

Now I'm not saying that the dirt road was easy! We had to ride a section of the Baviaanskloof, and the first 40km from Cambria is a series of passes - 1 major pass and about 5 smaller passes - really draining. Each pass did, however, have a good downhill, so there was some fun - the road surface was good, so we could hit 60km/h. The disc brakes were screaming.

After yesterday we were both a bit flat - Gerrit had no legs, and I was back to being as mentally strong as cheese. Not sure why. We plodded on and made it into the overnight stop at 16h00. We were give frshly brewed coffee, freshly baked rusks and banana bread - and suddenly we were both feeling fine again. Strange how it works.

The owners are doing some laundry for us, the bikes are clean, we are clean, so hopefully tomorrow will be a better stage, then onto the 150km to Prince Albert.

I'm missing Corrinne a lot, and Gerrit is missing Estelle (his wife). Thanks for all you messages and wishes - I do read them, and they do make a difference.

Day 16 - Knee deep in the ....

2006-07-03T19:19:00.001+02:00

Just when I thought I was getting to grips with this race, another curve ball. It was after dark and we were wading knee deep through a river - we had to cross it at least 10 times, some crossings being 100m long.

Today's stage from Bucklands to Cambria is not a particularly long one, but is definitely up there with the harder stages. 12hrs to do 80km gives some idea

Xolani did not come in last night, so Gerrit and I started with a nice eay ride out the back of Buclands, across a few farms then over a mountain called the Perdeberg. We engaged the help of of the locals to where the track started. His words wisdom were, "The path is undetectable, but you'll find it." - Duh! We found what could've been a path during the 1st Boer War, and use that - hard going as it was slippery slate.

After getting to to the top, the path vanished completely, but some good navigation by Gerrit got us back on track. Farmers have no respect for gradient or erosion, but this makes for the most fantastic downhills - rocky, slippery and super fast - you've got to be focus all the time, else you're off the edge. We exited this section at 11:15am with about 60km to go.

The dirt road to our next off-road excursion took us down a magnificent kloof - steep gradients, and lots of fast straights. Unfortunately the drops on the side where 300m straight down, so I wasn't that brave. At the bottom we stopped at a farm and were given some bread - the slices were the size of my hand, and the loaf at least 50cm long - never seen anything like it in my life before - thought I was in heaven - delicious!

The Ossewa (Oxwagon) jeep track was our next off-road trip. I thought it would be one long downhill, but it turned out to be a serious of ups and down's with one major drop at the end. I think the gradient is steeper than the Rhodes cement tracks - without the cement.

The final stretch of the day, in darkness, was a really nice winding section along a wide river, with very steep walls, towering over us - quite dramatic in the moonlight. We had to cross the river a few times, a bit cold, but luckily the tempareture tonight is quite pleasant, so it wasn't too much of an issue. In some places we could not see where the path exited the river, so we just waded until we found the spot. This took us to our overnight stop in Cambria.

We spent the day in the most magnificent mountain ranges, around the BAviaanskloof area. There is plenty of game - at dusk about 10 kudu crossed the path about 30-40m in front of us. The plantlife is varied, and there are lots of species of birds. This must be one of the best wilderness areas in the country - bring 4X4 though.

Tomorrow we will not double up as we originally planned - can be done later. We want to recover a it for the few big days to come especially 150km to Prince Albert. Also too scared to tackle a 180km stage!

Body feeling good, mind still strong - at no stage have I struggled to keep moving - each peddle stroke takes us closer to home.

Day 16 - Knee deep in the ....

2006-07-03T19:19:00.000+02:00

Day 15 - Xolani falls off the pace

2006-07-03T19:17:00.000+02:00

After arriving at 20:30 last night, Xolani passed out on the bed, without washing, eating or charging his cellphone. We tried to wake him with no success.

He found out his morning that this is not an option - within about 1km of starting this morning he fell off the pace (if that's what you can call it - 15km/h). We waited for him, but he kept falling back. With a long day to look forward to we decided to push on, and leave Xolani to pick up detailed route instructions from a lodge along the route.

The day started fast and flat, as we decide to do a longer (20km) detour to skip a very thorny section. It didn't take too long, , so we were OK with that - it did however push our mileage up to the 140km mark again.

The most rugged valley I have ever seen followed this. There were fist sized rocks everywhere, like every big rock had been smashed to pieces, long white thorn bushes and smaller cacti with short thick thorns - thats all - no grass or bushes, birds - nothing. The going was tough - weave around the rocks, dodge thorns, and push up the hills.

The rest of the day was fairly straight-forward - we saw some more kudu close to the road, this time a bull and a cow together. While Gerhard was fixing a pucture I counted 39 wet spots where thorns had penetrated my tyre, and still OK.

Its now 22:30 and Xolani is still not in.

Day 14 - Night Riding

2006-07-03T18:27:00.000+02:00

Andre here

Once again a generous stranger has come to our rescue. OUr overnight stop had problems accommodating us, so another farmer has opened up his home - really open - there is no bathroom door.

We left the game farm, with a big portage out the back of their farm, which took 2hrs, and another 3hrs down. We stumbled, crawled, carried, bush-wacked our way down a shaded kloof into the Karoo - another one of those "now you see it..." terrain changes. Now just flat scrubland!

It was arranged that our daily distance was increased, to decrease tomorrow's distance. This meant that we got to our original overnight stop (Van de Venterskraal) at 15h00, then pushed on for another 35km to Mentzdam. I thought we were in for a really long night. The 1st 4km after the farm took over an hour. We got to what was described as the "hoofpad" (main road). My only comment was "Holy sh!t, is this what they call a main road" - looked more like a goat track. We switched to cold weather gear and lights, and started our trip down the river valley. This section was some of the best night riding I have ever done - smooth, fast, sweeping and downhill. The only hold-up was a 8ft game fence that had to be scaled, but we're getting good at that now.

After about 20km of this we got to a district road and did 10km to our overnight stop. Just before the stop, a guy in a bakkie stopped us and told us we were staying at his farm, 5km back up the road - ouch. Xolani, who had coped well the whole day, fell apart at this stage - mental meltdown - he could hardly turn his pedals.

There is food here and a warm bed, so I am happy. Xolani has passed out without eating - bad news - we'll see how he does tomorrow.

Day 16 & 17

2006-07-03T11:41:00.000+02:00

After all the drama of the first 10 days, there really isn't anything exciting to report about day 16 and 17. While the race leaders are due to finish today or tomorrow (really fantastic stuff!) Andre and Gerrit are somewhere between Cambria and Sandvlakte...eh...anybody EVER heard of those towns/farms/settlements? They have probably completed nearly 1500km and they are still going strong. Andre mentioned this morning that mentally it's going to be really hard this week knowing that the leaders are already at home. But he still joked that it's a lot better being on the bike in the middle of nowhere than being at the office!
The hospitality and support from strangers in the Eastern Cape has been phenominal. Andre and Gerrit have slept in warm beds, had warm showers, had warm meals and warm welcomes. I'm a bit concerned about the state of the clothing since Andre hasn't mentioned much other than, "I can't really wash the clothes because they don't get dry by the monrning". Hmmmm....Andre has asked me to meet him in Cape Town at the finish, but I'm not sure I want to! I will probably smell him before I see him!!!
But everything is fine and only 1 week left to go. For me. And one week of bliss left for Andre.
Till next time,
Corrinne

Day 14 & 15

2006-07-01T17:17:00.000+02:00

It’s day 15 today and although it feels like week 15 for me, Andre is still enjoying every minute and can’t believe that tomorrow he would’ve done the equivalent of 2 consecutive Epic rides. Andre and Gerrit are on their way to Bucklands (anybody ever heard of it?) after an extended ride yesterday. The ride to van de Venterskraal was supposed to be 70km but the organizer (in consultation with the riders) decided to extend the route by 30km yesterday to make the route shorter today. Today’s route was going to be 150km which is a really long day but it will only be 120km due to extended riding yesterday.
Andre’s race report for yesterday was very short – he was strong, knees were holding up, good route and clear day. They only arrived at the station at 8pm-ish and were eating steaks the size of dinner plates at 10pm. They slept fitfully and this morning headed out towards Bucklands – they should arrive at about 6pm tonight.
Andre incorrectly reported earlier that Xolani had retired when in fact Greville had due to illness. Xolani is still in the race but Andre said that he was so broken yesterday that he arrived at the station and fell asleep immediately – without eating or cleaning (!). Needless to say he was stuffed this morning because he hadn’t replenished his body last night so he has stayed behind for a bit today to try and recuperate. Andre and Gerrit are happy, in good spirits and strong.
Thank you to everybody for all the special messages of support and encouragement – Andre really does appreciate it.
Till next time,
Corrinne

Day 13 - Mountain Zebra Park

2006-06-29T21:27:00.000+02:00

After meeting up with Gerrit at the last stop we decided to schedule some double-ups to try and get in before the cut-off on 11 July.

Today was a suitable double up, both stages being about 120km together. The first stretch was straight-forward run into the MOuntain Zebra Park near Craddock, followed by a portgae out the back of the park then an easy ride down the Small Fish River valley to the overnight stop.

We got underway on time after a quick basic breakfast. Godd progress was made until Gerrit had a puncture and a farmer caught us on his land - punishment - coffee and rusks. Gerrits BMX tubes were also a problem to fit onto MTB wheels (he he... he thinks I'm not going to tell anyone). The farmer did show us a more suitable route, and some time was made up. A little zig-zagging and we arrived at the Park, to a delicious omellette and coffee. During breakfast a monkey accosted us and stole some nougat - he saw us conming.

We were expecting a realy tough portage out of the back of the park, and on our way there were stopped by Karoo Cops, who stripped us down in the bush and did lots of test (See Karoo Guinea Pigs below - the guys doing their research).

The portage turned out to be fairly easy with only an 8 foot fence to scale which was done with the aid of a bungee cord. The downhill was awesome - I love downhills that give you cramps in your calves!

The rest of the ride went well with no issues, and arrived at the overnight stop. It is hunting lodge with fantastic decor - animals on the walls, zebra skin carpets, horns for table legs....

I am sold on tubeless and Stans. At one stage I went through a path of dubbeltjies(thorns), and ended up with at least 10 stuck in the front tyre alone, with no pressure loss. At long last - something that works!

T-Bone time for me. Cheers!

Day 12 - Abandonment

2006-06-29T21:21:00.000+02:00

I had the mental tenacity of a piece of feta cheese for the first 4hrs today. My knees were sore, my legs were dead, my lungs were collapsing, and at one stage I had triple pneumonia. I even knew how I would get from Cradock to Jhb, when I withdrew.

I left my gracious hosts at about 7:15am, after going back to fetch a forgotten map, then made my way to the days first portage. Thanks to some inside inofrmation from Wil (my host), this went without a hitch, except for huge amounts of mud on the downhill, so much so that I had to walk down hill! I learnt a new trick before walking - how to ride backwards down a mountain, then dismount (elegently). A long gradual uphill on district road followed, but the previous night's rain had turned this into sticky mud, and was exceptionally difficult.

I climbed over a neck and just like that, the mountains were gone. A vast plain lie before me - flat a pancake. After riding across this plain for a while, with the wind at my back, my mentality came back to normal (or what I call normal).

Cruised through a little town call Hofmeyer, stopped at the local tea room and chatted to the locals about the number of abandoned farm houses along the road. Because of the lack of landmarks, I had been navigating by farm names, but just about every house was abandoned and run-down. It seems the farmers need larger lands to sustain the same profits as years gone by, so they buy up the land, then leave the house to fall apart.

Seems there are also a lot of dinosaur bones in the area - didn't see any myself though.

Roade a nice hardpack through to the final navigation section of the day. A stunning rocky jeep track through a kloof, where I saw springbok and kudu.

Got to Grootfontien at 17:45 to find Gerrit still there. He had bike problems, then decided to wait for me - made my day. The tempareture is also picking up - mid-teens during the day.

In Jhb we sneak across farms so that you don't get shot - here you need to hide from the farmers as well 'cos they all want to chat & have coffee. During the day I lost 30 - 45 min chatting to farmers along the way. All exceptionally friendly and helpful. The best conversation was something like this. I ran into a bunch of hunters on the back of a bakkie - you know - the boys weekend away type - all rowdy and brave:

Them: Is jy velore? (Are you lost?)
Me (In all my spandex glory): Nee, ek ry Kaap toe. (No, I'm riding to Cape Town)
T: Is jy fokken mal? (Are you f%#king crazy?)
M: Nee, ek hou daarvan om viets te ry (No, I like riding my bike)
T: Jy is fokken mal. (You are f%#king crazy)
... and about another 5 minutes of abuse...

125km done today.

Thats me for today...

Day 11 - Farm Boy

2006-06-28T21:29:00.000+02:00

Slept, ate, slept, ate... feel better will carry on tomorrow. Thanks to Stephanie and Wil Terblance who looked after a total stranger.

Day 10 - Fever!

2006-06-26T14:49:00.001+02:00

Oh no! I woke up this morning with a raging fever - I was walking round the cottage in shorts and t-shirt, not feeling the cold, but I could see my breath. Gerrit basically sent me back to bed. I woke about 1.5hrs later feeling a lot better, packed and got going to try and haul the other two in. For about 200m.

Decided to get on the main tar road to the nearest town - only 50km away, to get to a doctor. I was doing about 10km/h, my lungs were bursting, and there was nothing in my legs. I was really struggling, especially out of concern of ruining my race by riding sick, but I had to get to the doctor. Lo and behold my guardian angel helped once again, and added another person to my list of generous people. We are so dependent on the help of others, considering that this is an un-supported race.

Stef owns the guest house where we are staying tonight, and was on the way to get a dress for her daughter - miles aways from where she lives. Justoutside of town she picked me up, took me to the doctor (who is a really good vet MTB racer), and after explaining to him how the race has been going so far, he sorted me out with drugs, and booked me off for a day. Rather lose a day than trash the race.

Stef then gave me a bakkie to drive to the farm with, where I met another MTB enthusiast (Wil the owner of the farm). Immediately showered and got clean - chatted for a while, and they kindly allowed me to use the computer to update all my blogs.

I'll be satying here for tomorrow, but my bike got a good clean, my clothes got a good clean, and I'm going to try and sleep this bug of now.

Day 9 - Don't follow someone elses tire tracks

2006-06-26T14:49:00.000+02:00

FUBAR is the key word for today - Google if you are not sure what this means.

Its now 00:20 and we still haven't got to bed. Gerrit is bathing, I'm eating (more), and Xolani has passed out. Not sure if he even had a proper supper. There is no elecricity here, so I can't charge light batteries, or my cell phone - but I haven't had a signal for 3 days, so doesn't really matter. There is, however, hot water and a huge log fire, so its not all bad. Boy is it cold here - I don't think we have had a tempareture higher than 10deg since my antics up in the drakensburg. We are learning to deal with frozen water bottles, and camelback pipes. We generally ride in full leggings, 2pr socks, and over about 4 layers of under-garments our all wether jackets - full gloves the whole day.

Today's route was 2 big navigation sections early in the day, followed by a dirt road grind to the next stop.

We did 2 the 2 navigation sections without becoming too unstuck - a little detour here and there, but we're used to that now. We picked up Ben and Cornel's tire tracks, which we followed - fatal. Unfortunately they took the wrong route, which made the trip about 30km longer. At our late-in-the-day pace, that's about 3hrs riding.

The dirt road to the town was a killer; 75km starting at 3:30 in the afternoon. No intermediate landmarks, rain, cold and windy - nothing to do but turn the legs. After night fall it got even worse. You cannot see if yuo are going uphill or downhill, just change gears till you feel comfortable.

We got here at about 11:30pm - shattered, but happy to be here.

Today's scenery was the best yet - we could see snow covered peaks back towards the Drakensburg, and ahead of us the apparently flat Eastern Cape region - we now know that it is not quite flat. While sitting on the top of one of the peaks Gerrit said, "We MTB for moments like these". Even the rivers look pretty - ice forms along the edges, and long ice crystals form on the reeds.

Tomorrow we'll leave a bit later, as there are no portage sections, and hopefully we'll get there before sun set.

My clothes need a good wash. My bike needs a good wash

I really miss talking to Corrinne when I feel like it - especially when days get a bit long - there is so much I want to share with her.

Day 8 - Forgotten vallies

2006-06-26T14:48:00.000+02:00

With the big mountains behind us, it was time to start the slog across the Eastern Cape into the Karoo. Gerrit & Xolani left at 5:30am,
to ensure that they got to the portage section before dark. Grev woke up sick, so stayed in Rhodes. We'll have to wait and see what happens to him. I carried on alone to the next stop Rus de Winter in the Barkly East Area.

I initially expected the terrain to be fairly flat, far from it actually - the climbs are shorter bu steeper, sapping your energy. We spent the day going up river vallies, over the neck, then down into the next valley. The roads generally meander along the river, occasionally climbing up on the slopes if the valley walls are too steep. There was still a lot of snow on the slopes, so the trip was quite spectacular - I even had time to nail Gerrit with a snowball. I had caught Gerrit and Xolani at about 11:30am. I have driven on the main road through this area before, and had no idea that these valleys even existed.

At one point I saw about 30 vultures sorting out a carcass, about 20m from the road - they are huge birds.

We travelled the rest of the way together, and ended the day with quite a harsh portage, over an unmarked neck - pick-up-and-carry for 4km after doing 90km. Ouch.

Rus de Winter is a huge old farmhouse, each room the size of a double garage. The food was excellent, and the hospitality top notch. Elizibeth, our host, came in at 5:30am to cook us a warm breakfast. We had a traditional Greek Bake for supper - nearly like a lasagne, but with a cinammon topping - if any one knows what this, please let me know.

Tomorrow we're of to Smutspas - the race organisers have redirected Xolani to go on district roads, so its just Gerhard and I.

Left Rhodes - 7:00am
Arrived Rus de Winter - 6:00pm
Distance - 112km

Day 7 - R&R

2006-06-26T14:46:00.000+02:00

Day 7 - R&R

After a good nights rest we did basic bike cleanups. The bikes were all frozen after spending a night outside, so we had to pour hot water onto the gears to get them working again. Thanks to Gerrit for cleaning my bike, while I was sorting out my saddle.

We hopped on bakkies and were taken back to the race route. We climbed Naude's neck pass, the highest road in South Africa, then cruised down into towm. I could see where I would have joined the route yesterday. It was sickening to see that I was only 1km or so from the road.

Spent the afternoon washing clothes, bikes and posting. A nice quiet day for a change.

The Ride to Rhodes team have finished their ride now, and will be heading home. They have had a tough 7 days, but have faired exceptionally well, considering they are mostly social riders, and have spent 12hrs+ on the bike every day. They are a tough bunch.

Tomorrow we start Karoo slogging - lots of dirt roads. Unfortunately Xolani has withdrawn, so it will be Grev, Gerrit and myself who will tackle the Karoo together. Ben and Cornel are 3/4 days ahead of us now, and doubling up frequently, so there is no hope of catching them.

Day 6 - Snow

2006-06-26T14:42:00.000+02:00

Got woken by the chiefs wife with a hot pot of tea, and some water to wash with. Left at first light for an 8km portage up Lahana pass. The going was hard, but I made good progress.

Stopped at a cairn about 3/4 of the way up and took a video. The sun was out, and the weather was good. I could see the top, and left with about 30 min to go. 20 minutes later I was in thick mist and it was snowing. I wqas becoming disoriented, so backtracked all the way down. At one point I took the wrong ridge down, but once I got below the mist line, could get back on track. The snow covers the pathways, so you just have to guess where to go - not good in the mountains, but I got out safely.

I then went up the alterantive longer route, but near the top was told by shepherds to rather go back down, as it was becoming too thick and I was likely to get lost. The snow was falling quite heavily at this stage. Back to the bottom again. I had few options left, so I decided to head to the nearest "town", about 30km away. Took me about 2hrs to get there along a "main" road. The mud on the road was like porridge, and sticky as hell - made for slow going. At one point I decided I was hungry, and stopped to eat 3 energy bars, 2 gels, and 4 small chocolates. That felt good. Nearer to town I stopped to chat to locals, and was then hit by a bakkie - went flying over my handlebars, and my saddle needs some work, but else I was OK. For his efforts the driver was nominated to take me into town.

At Mount Fletcher, I hopped off the bakkie - but this was the first time that I have felt threatened since starting the ride. 2 friendly Indian guys invited me into their shop, and gave me coffee, biscuits and a primus stove to warm myself up with. Phoned Corrinne to track David down, which she promptly did. She cried when she heard my story, but I was OK.

David arranged for a lift for me to a temporary overnight stop, where I was re-united with the rest of the gang - they also had a day in the snow, so a fun day was had by all.

I am humbled by the generosity of the people I have met along the route so far.
1. A school teacher who lent me her cell-phone to reach David. She would not take money, even thought she only had R3.90 of airtime.
2. The young shepherd biys who gave me a place to sleep.
3. Lehana village headman, who treated me like visiting royalty
4. Christoper, the shopkeeper, who made me feel at home, and fed me
5. The 2 Indian guys in the shop.
6. The family who picked me up in the cold and got me to the overnight stop safely.

My feet have got huge blisters, one of my nails is going to fall out, but I feel strong, my spirits are high, and I've had the adventure of my life - so far.

Sorry to everyone for the stress caused, but I tried to behave sensibly in all cases, and not put myself at risk.

WHAT A DAY!

Day 4 & 5 - A night out

2006-06-26T14:28:00.000+02:00

I left Masakala near Matatiele at 3am. Xolani wanted to join me, but as his map-reading skills are not to good I left him. Thank goodness, considering what was to come. It was a touch cold, and after a while I stopped to make Slush Puppies and an ice lolly (my water bottles froze up, and my camelback pipe was frozen solid). Other than that the route through to Marezel Mission station was uneventful, but again with the most glorius stretches of single-track. Arrived at the support station at 9am, and had a quick breakfast - omellete and steamed bread. Delicious!

Left for Vuvu at 10am. All went well until I could not find the entrance to one of the portage sections, and ended up crawling around the wrong kloof, instead of climbing onto a plateau. In the process I lost about 3 hours - shows what fatigue can do to your logical processes. I re-routed to an alternative, but longer route and rejoined the correct route later in the day. Darkness, however, caught up with me, and I was still up on the mountain on singletrack, and ill defined pathways. I heard a dog barking, and went towards it. It was guarding a shepherd's hut, where two youngsters were living (15 yrs and 19 yrs old). I was to spend the night with them. we played charades for a while (they could not speak english, and I could not speak Portuguese), and I passed out on their only bed (they insisted). Another 2 boys arrived, and the 4 of them heddled on the floor of the hut.

At first light I waited for them to have breakfast, then we left. They soon told me to leave my bicycle and follow them. I thought I was going to be part of tomorrow's supper, but they took me to the most exquisite Bushman paintings. There are apparently lots more, but I did not realy have time to explore. A sure-footed donkey lead the way down, and I was on a known road at about 9:30am.

Another big climb lead me up to a shop where our food supplies were left. I met Christopher the shopkeeper who gave me putu and chicken for lunch - food is tasting better and better as I go along. I also had a wash in a bowl, which caused some consternation, as some of the local kids had not seen a white person before, and even fewer had seen chest hair. After playing the Feely game with my chest hair for a while I got going to the nights official rest stop.

Upon arrival they knew nothing of our impending arriveal, so I continued in search of the elusive school. I finally got to a principal who has a school at the base of the pass I had to climb then next day, and he hooked me up with the area chief. He used to work on the mines, so can speak Fanakalo, so we chatted for ages about the state of the mining economy in South Africa, his kids, and the attitude of the locals to education - not good. He sleeps in his own hut seperate from the rest of the family, and I slept on his spare bed.

The last 2 days

2006-06-24T14:17:00.000+02:00

I know that everybody that is watching this blog has not seen any new postings from Andre or I over the past 2 days. That’s because I have been an emotional wife and wanted Andre to give his version of events over the last 2 days but he has been unable to post anything due to signal problems. Once the mail comes through from him, I will post his blog but in the mean time, let me give you an update from my point of view.
I had heard from Andre on Wednesday morning after he spent the night in the shepherd’s hut (he later told me that the shepherd boys wouldn’t let him leave without them showing him some bushman paintings – awesome, hey?). I started to get worried 24 hours later when I hadn’t heard from him but was relieved when my phone rang at 4:45pm on Thursday. The relief didn’t last long because the conversation went something like this:
Me: (no hello) Thank goodness, I was getting really worried :-)
Andre: Sorry babes, listen carefully. You have to get a pen because you are going to have to write this down. I had to turn around on the pass and come back down the mountain because it is snowing heavily and visibility is very poor.
Me: Oh God, are you okay?
Andre: My battery is going flat and I need you to call David (the race organizer) and ask him what I can do. I am freezing cold and can’t stay here tonight. David is staying at the Walkerbout Hotel in Rhodes (I heard Walk About Hotel and spent 15 minutes on the internet trying to find the number). I’m going to try and find shelter because I am standing under a Vodacom tower in the snow. Tell him that I am willing to take a time penalty, but I need to be collected.
Me: Okay, please try and find some electricity for your phone. I will call you back in a minute. Bye.
At this point my stomach tightened and my adrenalin was pumping.
I tried the municipality which was closed because I didn’t know where else to get the number. But then I got help from a guy in the office for some internet assistance and he managed to realize that I’d spelt the name incorrectly. I called the hotel. A lady answered and this is how the conversation went:
Me: Hi, please can I speak to David Waddilove?
Lady: He’s not here yet.
Me: Do you know where I can get hold of him please?
Lady: Oh, he’s with some riders in Vrederus.
Me: My husband is one of the riders and he’s stuck in the snow in Mount Fletcher and I need David to call him because he needs help.
Lady: Oh s***, that’s really bad. The other riders are all safe and sound in Vrederus.
Me: Okay, that doesn’t really help me…do you have a number please?
Lady: No, I don’t…hmmm…that’s bad. Hold on a minute….okay, please call the farm. Maybe they can help you. The number is (blah, blah, blah)
Me: Thank you. Bye

I got hold of the farm and the lady said that David was in a bungalow on the farm. I explained the situation and asked him to call me back urgently. 3 minutes later I called again and they told me David was in the shower and he would phone me back as soon as he was done. I didn’t care if he was on the toilet; I was just desperate to speak to him. I then spoke to Andre and he had found a shop where the very friendly locals gave him a packet of Lemon Creams, a cup of coffee, a heater and electricity. He was absolutely fine and I felt much better. David called me later to explain that Andre would be collected and would be brought to the farm and would be safe. It was then that I burst into tears – I got such a fright and was so relieved that he was going to be safe.
Andre called later to say that he had eaten and was safe again – his legs were sore, but he was going to have a bath. I asked him when last he had had a bath and he replied, “you don’t want to know”. The poor guy that fetched him!

Yesterday (Friday), Andre arrived safely in Rhodes at about lunch time. He found a washing machine, did some bike maintenance and got nourishment and rehydrated. He was in really good spirits though and had decided to stick with the group for few days. So watch this space and hold thumbs.

Till next time,
Corrinne

Andre didn't make the double shift

2006-06-21T20:23:00.000+02:00

I didn't hear from Andre last night and this morning I found out why. He didn't want to worry me and let me know that he didn't make it to the second stop that he had planned for yesterday. Andre got hopelessly lost in the Drakensberg and with the light fading fast, he didn't want to take any chances. So as night fell he found a shepherd's hut and knocked on the door. 4 shepherd boys let him in and in broken dialect insisted that Andre sleep on the one and only skinny single bed and they would sleep on the floor. Imagine riding the whole day and then having to sleep in all your kit because it's so cold...hmmmm.
Anyway, the boys gave Andre a blanket and he slept fitfully. This morning they boiled Andre some water so that he could eat some of his emergency food - Oatso Easy. They promised to show Andre the way down the mountain so that he could get onto the right road. Andre said he could see the mountain he was supposed to be on...but it wasn't close to the one he slept on!
The boys had never seen a camera before and were so excited to have their photo taken because then they could actually see themselves! Bless...
Andre said the day looked clear and he was positive and ready to start the day again. That was at 7 this morning and I haven't heard from him since then. Thank you for all the words of encouragement and support - Andre reads them all and really does appreciate them.
Till next time,
Corrinne

Day 3 - Singletrack heaven

2006-06-19T21:44:00.000+02:00

Typed up this whole post then lost it, so here it the short version.

Left at 5:45 and pushed, rode, carried out of the mountains for 4hrs - awesome scenery.

Rode away from Greville at this stage and continued alone. Ate dust on a district road for the next 2hrs - really difficult- big climbs, and a rocky road surface.

Was just starting to fade a bit when i got to some of the best singletrack. 50km/h through villages, dongas, across a plateau. Fast, flat and winding. 2hrs + of this. Thanks to battle and human feet.

Its now after 9. Grev, xolani and gerrit are still out. Must be lost.

Left at 5.45. Arrived at 15.20. 98km.

Leaving at 3am tomorrow - 2 stages 150 km. Expecting to be out for 18 hrs.

Will probably only post on wed. Thanks for the messages of encouragement-they really help. Cheers

My elated husband

2006-06-19T19:24:00.000+02:00

Today was day 3 for Andre and I spoke to an extremely elated, relaxed man tonight who is doing really well. Andre is very happy and is starting to eat more and sleep deeper. He arrived in Lesotho at 3pm today to dancing locals, important dignitries and even the mayor. He was a bit overwhelmed but managed to absorb all the attention, hold a conversation and eat not 1, not 2 but 7 vetkoek! He saw some snow on the Drakensberg mountains and has climbed more than he climbed on the Epic. Andre rode for hours on the most awesome single track he has ever been on and said that he rode for 3 hours without seeing a single person, car or animal. The mind boggles, I know, but he is in his absolute element. Andre has been encouraged with all the messages everybody had sent and I get the feeling he doesn't want to come home!
I wanted to know what he was wearing because he has a very important dinner with the locals tonight and not much of a wardrobe to choose from...he had on his cycling shoes (cos he ditched the takkies 2 days ago), a pair of socks, black cycling leggings, a pair of shorts he had packed, 2 jerseys, no deodorant and a beanie. Can you picture it? :-)
Tomorrow Andre is doubling up and will be doing 2 stages so I don't expect to hear from him until Wednesday. As soon as I do, I will keep everyone posted. Until then, please keep the words of encouragement coming because he really does appreciate the support.
Corrinne

Day 2 the first mishap

2006-06-18T19:26:00.000+02:00

Ride status: Cornel gone. Ben left at 2am. My spies along the route say that Cornel slept in a shepherd's hut and left this morning. So Ben is about 3hrs behind Cornel.

We (Greville, Gerrit, Xolani and I) left at about 7.30, then spent 2hrs looking for a pathway (you can't miss it). We just got going when Gerrit's shock broke. He is ok, but i'm not sure what he is going to do.

Then we cruised through Creighton and along some dirt road. Think there are lots of carbs and electrolytes in dust, 'cos i sure was eating a lot of it, and going really well. I soon left them and rode on my own. Went through a small town where i was cheered like a Tdf rider, then had a 10min discussion with 20 kids about straight or right. Then hopped off and tried to explain to them what I was doing. I think it went something like this:
Me in Fanakalo. Them in Chinese
Them: where you from?
Me: PMB to CT in 3 weeks.
T: are you stupid?
M: there are two horses coming at me from behind.
T: the white man is stupid. He probably drives a Volvo but he rides a bicycle.
Do you have sweets or money?
M: hamba kahle.

Continued on through a pine plantation then into a magnificent natural forest. Nearly fell off a few times cos i was looking up at the trees.

Came to the major portage of the day. Race director, "You will see 4 Huts. The path runs through the middle of them". The entire hill is dotted with huts! English is not a universal language - I would still be trying to find the huts if i asked. Just went on gut feel and maps and finally got here. Many others will be out in the dark.

Final note. Gerrit got a new shock and is on his way.

Rode 85km today. Climbed 1800m. 8hrs on the road.

Yesterday was 110km. Climbed 2200m. 8.5hrs riding.

Day 1....

2006-06-17T19:28:00.000+02:00

Day 1 is over in 8h30 and 110km. We arrived for registration in Maritzburg a little after 5 yesterday to find 1 anxious looking wife, 2 excited doctors taking samples (!) and boxes and boxes of fudge and nougat for the riders. The 5 riders we found had excitement, anxiety and nerves written all over their faces but they all had huge smiles. We had dinner and then a "race briefing" which involved guest speaker, Ian Player, last years winner, Wessel and the race organiser, David, all giving tips on when to ride, when to walk and when to resist more coffee at the stop overs. I must admit that I got nervous when David said he'd had meetings with the Chiefs in Lesotho and if the riders experienced any problems, they were just to ask for the Chief. Goodness.
It was an early night for all but after seeing others' bags only weighing 7kg, Andre only got 5 hours sleep after stressing over the what he had packed. He left some day 1 food and a shirt...and his deodrant. Hmm. But some guys said they weren't even taking toothpaste so I didn't feel so bad after that. Imagine when he gets back....!
We had breakfast early and got to the town hall (starting point) at 6:30am. The multitool was out to fix something or other before the wheels had even been put on.....hmmmm. Anyway, as the clock struck 7am, the group was off.
Andre has just called to say that he has already dumped his takkies and his MP3 player and charger because his backpack is just too heavy. He is now at Allandale farm near Cryton (?) and has been over Hella-Hella pass...he has christened it O'hell O'hell pass....
Andre is in good spirits, got lost for a bit but is feeling good. He says he has already eaten like a horse and the hospitality of the locals has been amazing. Cell phone signal is bad so I might not hear from him for a few days but do log onto the Freedom Challenge website for more updated information. As soon as I hear anything more, I will keep everybody posted.
Please send him comments if you like....he really does appreciate the support.
Corrinne

A word from the wife...

2006-06-14T22:11:00.000+02:00

Oh goodness, I thought the training part was hard to deal with but these pre-race nerves are much worse...eh....those are my pre-race nerves, not Andre's! With only 2 days to go, the tension at home has mounted slightly and tempers are a little shorter and sentences a little sharper. I'm a worried about the safety of my husband and of course how I will manage to remember to switch on the irrigation at the set times, how I will find the right globe for the right light in the right room and if I can find the dishwasher powder since I never use it.....! But I am very, very proud of Andre and it will be an awesome achievement for him. Good luck, love, I know you can do it. I will be thinking about you all the time and know you will do well. Take it easy out there, relax and remember that you are well prepared.
And if I'm stuck in a domestic crisis, there are many friends to call on....aren't there? Anybody?

A tight squeeze

2006-06-14T14:22:00.000+02:00

3 days to go and I finally managed to get all my stuff into the backpack.

The bag weighs about 9.7kg with a full load of water, so after I add the last odds and ends I'll probably get to 10kg. I'll be picking up my big light batteries at one of the support staions, which will add another 0.5kg, so I'll probably end up with around 10.5 - 11kg of kit. Not too bad for 3 weeks of riding - I'll probably have to throw most of the clothes away once I'm finished (or they'll leave on there own accord).

Thanks to everyone who left well-wishes. I'm amazed at how quickly the e-mail network can spread news - I only added the hit counter today, and its already taken 20 hits,

My trusty steed

2006-06-09T20:56:00.000+02:00

I recently sold my car, and bought a bike with the proceeds. I didn't have to pay in too much, so I reckon I got a good deal.

Click for big

It weighs just over 12kg, not that that matters much considering I'll be adding another 10-12kg in kit and food.

Many thanks to my two major sponsors for their contribution. Linden Cycles put the bike together, and gave me a really good "newspaper" price. My other sponsor was Corrinne who keeps working hard for bonusses - she paid the very good "newspaper" price.

I do very little to deserve this kindness, but it is much appreciated.

Mapping 101

2006-06-09T09:11:00.000+02:00

The course is not marked in any way. We are given 75+ topographical sheets with the route marked on them. From these we do our navigation to the support stations. Possible emergency stops, and a written description of the route is also provided, just to assist in the more diffcult sections.

The green hilite marks the route

Thank goodness I can read a map well, so I'm not too worried about that.

I reprinted a lot of the maps to make them smaller, and I've sent these down to each support station, so I only carry the the maps that are necessary for a particular section.

Guinea pigs in the Karoo

2006-06-08T16:59:00.001+02:00

Now we're being used for some scientific study - no not investigations on insanity / cuckoo-ness - something to do with the effects of multi-day sports on the human body. They're going to monitor our weight, hyrdation levels, fat percentage and calorie intake throughout the event. I tried to get them to investigate the effects of a daily massage on us. Sorry for me.

Someone asked me what I've sent down in my support station parcels. Mostly food - energy drinks, sportsbars and nuts. Also some bicycle chains, tubes, refills for toiletries, occasional fresh socks, batteries for my toys. And my maps.

What to pack when you need everything

2006-06-07T13:48:00.000+02:00

So, what do I carry with me - snow, darkness and a broken bike are the main considerations. And I have to carry it all with me, so weight does feature as well, but I'd rather hurt a bit carrying too much, than die of hypothermia, or breaking my neck trying to ride in the dark.

mmm...maybe not

Most of the kit I'm taking along is clothing - I'll follow the layered approach, which means I can progressively ride in temparetures from 35 down to about -5 (maybe a bit less). Then I'm stuffed. The only spare clothing I have is riding shorts, so that I can wash them, and not have to ride in wet kit.

I wish I could take a spare bike, but I've only got the basics - tubes, spokes, brake pads and some smaller bits and pieces. Haven't decided if I'm taking a spare tyre yet. I'll decide once I've packed everything and have an idea of the weight.

Big lights and a heavy battery - this is my only gamble. I really enjoy night riding with good lights, so I've packed these with the aim of doing a couple of night stages through the Karoo.

And a load of other crap - basic survival kit, first aid kit,and my gadgets (phone, mp3 player, camera...).

Haven't packed this lot yet, so I might be scaling down a bit, but that'll be the task for this weekend.

Ice-cream anyone?

2006-06-06T15:48:00.000+02:00

The aim is to race...mmm...ride from Pietermaritzburg to Paarl near Cape Town on a MTB (human powered device a.k.a. bicycle). The route is mostly off-road with very little tar. There are some hike-a-bike sections where riding is not possible - hopefully not too much of this. The total distance is about 2200km with 80km on tar.

There are support stations set up about 100km apart. I think David (the organiser) is no good at map reading, 'cos I see some stages that are 150km apart. Eish - I'll worry about that when I get there.

We can send a 2 lt ice-cream box to each support station with supplies for each stage. About 3 towns are encountered along the way, so most supplies must be sent to the support stations, carried with us, or stolen along the way (from Ben's report last year, this is an option - see http://www.crosskaroo.com/cat159.php?catID=160). In total I sent about 30kg of supplies down divided into 24 parcels.

PS. I have lots of ice-cream at home if anyone wants some. Many flavours to choose from.

Where in the world is Andre?

2006-06-05T18:19:00.000+02:00

Click on the route map for an enlarged view. You can save it to your PC for better view. The letters along the route are the same as my map sections. I'll refer to the letters in my posts, so you'll have an idea where I am (even though I might have no idea where I am!).

My new site

2006-06-05T06:22:00.000+02:00

Hi all,

Welcome to my Freedom Ride blogspot. I'll be trying to update this site during the Freedom Ride, so you'll all know what's happening. Corrinne will also post things that we chat about.

For those that haven't been into a blog before, there is a comments link at the bottom. You can leave abuse there, and I'll pick it up when I get a chance.