The ride to Rhodes

Sundays disaster day had left us dejected, exhausted and doubtful of our ability to navigate. Deon's achilles heel and Di's thumb were very painful - 1st time we tucked into the stash of miprodols and oxyflams.

Surprisingly we woke up relatively fresh and re-energised after a fitful 2 hours sleep. The riders to Rhodes ( a supported 550k event Deon & Di did in 2009 - see www.savetheworld.co.za) had left so we had the usual hearty breakfast of porridge, steam bread, boiled eggs, sausages, tomatoes. Tea made with diluted hot milk and we were ready to leave at the planned 9am.

Tim James had finally arrived and we were to ride together - a shortish and very beautiful ride with no navigational challenges. Hoorah! We were very chirpy, full tummies and rations replenished.

But it was not to be, as bad luck comes in threes. We were 10mins out when Di's freewheel gave in, leaving us sitting by the side of the road - we just didnt have the tools or knowhow for this. The prospect of sitting around for a couple of days waiting for a replacement wheel left us gloomy and dejected. The makeshift solution of cable- tying the cluster to the spokes so we can limp along so long didn't hold past the 1st bend.

I called my bike engineer (Shane from Bowmans Cycles back in Cpt) who told me that type of hub had a known problem that could be repaired without specialiased tools. Great, except there were only huts as far as the eye can see, the closest town many hours away.

But we managed to find a bucket of rusty old tools at a spaza shop and got to work (a hammer and pliers rusted solid were invovled, as well as a huge 19" crescent wrench and two vice grips. True African style.

Much grunting, head scratching and swearing later (boosted by tennis biscuits and fanta from the shop) we had it sorted. With Shane talking us through the finicky job of tweaking the spring to force the pawls to engage properly. 3 hours lost but elated to be mobile again, we charged off.

A 2 hour climb up to the 1st Drakensberg plateau with the bikes uncomfortably balanced on our packs, up very steep and scratchy sheep tracks. Then the most beautifull ride down to the next valley followed by the hectic Naude' neck pass, at 2500m the highest road in SA. Frozen waterfalls and iced over roads etc

By then the sun had set and temps plummeted to -2. Donning full snow gear, we set off down the treatcherous 35 ks to Rhodes. Icy hairpin bends and pitch darkness and we had some close calls. It took forever with Deon having to push up every hill bdue to the moggy achilles heel. Our hands were frozen and teeth chatering when we finally arrived at 9 to cosy fires, hearty stews and a glass of red wine! CivilizAtion!

We have decided to lie low today. Wash and dry all our cllothes, stock up and give the broken bodies some rest. So a 10am dept and an easy 5-6 hour ride to Chesneywold, an interim station en route to Slaapkrans our next compulsory stop. Apparently the mother of cold fronts will be hitting us Wed/Thu, oh dear. Watch this space.