Back to the karoo

The gamble paid off, we left Willowmore in a freezing early start for the long haul(185km) to Prince Albert. The dreaded headwinds had died down, so the long flat Karoo road was a breeze allowing us to maintain avg speeds approaching 16ks/hour and make good time.

Only problem was a bit of stomach bug troubles going around. Ricky was worst hit and left with no strength. Two bike tubes made a bungee hitch and Di was helping him maintain a bit of speed.

The road is also very sandy and badly corrugated in places, but the absence of the dreaded prevailing headwind made up and more for all this. As is traditional, local supporter Johan Rissik was waiting 30kms outside Prince Albert with flasks of coffee and rusks.

Tonight is one of the highlights of the race from an accommodation point of view. Ria from Dennehof is putting us up in 5* Karoo style incl gourmet food and luxury facilities. The same Johan is also a capable bike mechanic and our bikes got a good clean, technical once over and minor niggles sorted. What a treat!

Johann had gleefully pointed out the fresh sprinkling of snow covering the tops of the Swartberg in the distance on our approach and tomorrow we tackle the famously beautiful Swartberg pass en route to Gamkaskloof and Die Hell, with the notorious scramble up the Ladder to get out the other side. Johan has promised to drive up the pass to bring more coffee & rusks. Sigh, this adventure racing is tough stuff.

Hello Karoo

26June 2011
The last couple of days have been a bit of a blur. The Stormberg continued to bedevil us. After a meander through the historic battlefields of the Boer war, ala Vegkoppies, Moordenaarspoort and so on, we ended up stumbling around in the worse mud imaginable trying to find our way to Molteno. To add insult to injury it started snowing and Di's freewheel hub packed up again.

But some angels were looking out for us. Our hosts Will&Stephanie were worried and sent the teenagers in the bakkie to come look for us. Not long after that we were warming up at the Aga stove waiting for dinner. And they feed us well.

The next morning we got dropped off where we were pic0ked to complete the 3 hour home stretch of the previous night. Getting across the Aasvoelberg was touch and go with the snow, but things cleared and after another monster muddy hike a bike, we descended down 15 ks of verrry technical tracks down into the Karoo at last.Waiting in Hofmeyer were of course their legendary pies and a whole lot more comforts.

The weather improved dramatically, and today (my birthday) was the best day riding of the race so far. A big drop down the Elandsberg, and we're again well fed by Margaret,before riding over the Great Fish river to near the Mt Zebra Nat Pk outside Cradock.. The day did have sting in the tail when with only 20 ks left we ran into and had to cross two rivers that were flooding.Some locals helped us by showing us the best line which still didn't prevent me falling in but at least we were not washed down the raging waters.Let's hope the weather holds a bit longer.