tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50038966110337983542024-03-14T11:24:44.107+02:00Die omswerwings en ervarings van 'n Freedom ChallengerBeleef die dag vir dag ervarings en omswerwings van my gedurende 'n Freedom Challenge.....
" You have never lived until you have challenged life, and for those who have, life has a flavour the protected will never know " Marnitz Nienaber
" Make your journey count, make a difference " David Grier Miles for SmilesMarnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.comBlogger278125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-1584659312485013562017-07-10T13:10:00.001+02:002017-07-11T07:49:05.541+02:002017 Freedom Challenge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So sit ek bykans twee weke later en top oor die jaar se Challenge, my vinnigste tot op datum. Kyk vanjaar moes nie eers gewees het nie, as Handelaarshoof van Vredendal Toyota moet daar eers 'n paar goedjies in plek val en om 50+ mensies gelukkig te hou gebeur nie altyd so maklik nie, veral nie as jy in die voorafgaande maand 'n paar nuwe aanstellings maak nie. Die mensies moet mekaar eers vind en baie gelukkig is ek bevoorreg om 'n reg span mense saam met my te kan hê en het hulle mekaar gevind en baie goed presteer terwyl ek op my fietsie deur die land gereis het.<br />
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Om in Vredendal te oefen is nie maklik nie, dis nie plat nie en dan spring die kwik diep in die veertigs in, soms haal dit sommer vyftig, ek dink spesifiek aan een Sondag wat die beplanning was om 'n baie lange te doen, wel na 6 ure en 110 km het my rit ge-eindig teen 'n gemiddelde tempratuur van 48 Grade. Ek was gedihidreer en wou nie meer die lou water in my bottel drink nie, die Ingelsman gebel en gesmeek om my te kom haal, ek kon eenvoudig nie meer nie...... Die groot nadeel van die hitte is dat jy daaraan gewoont raak, op dit seker manier maak dit jou hard, maar as dit -11 word is daar bykans 'n verkil van 60 Grade en dan vrek jy van die koue. Ek het al nagte buite geslaap op die race, maar ek kan in alle eerlikheid sê, dis nog die koudste wat ek gekry het.<br />
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Dan het Vredendal storm winde, kyk in Klerksdorp waai die wind altyd, matigend, maar in Vredendal is daar tekens van Windwaaiers, hier Storm die wind, maal dit met slegte sand paaie en 40 Grade plus en skaap chops en brannewyn en coke saam met die gasvryheid van die kontrei en jy het 'n lekker resep om nie te oefen nie, wat dan ook so die geval was. Ek het myself met drawwery besig gehou in Desember, in Januarie so bietjie begin besighou met die fiets, maar eers werklik suutjies begin oefen toe ek oorslaan na oggend ry wanneer die nie so blaas nie. Ek was op 'n stadium heel uit die race, die min oefen, lang ure by die werk en die gasvryheid van die kontrei het net teveel geraak, ek het vir Meryl laat weet, wat dit net eenvoudig nie wou aanvaar nie.<br />
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En so gebalsem met die vetjies vind ek myself toe op die startline een vroeë oggend in Junie, meer en deels die gevolg van Meryl se hardnekkigheid, JT en Mike wat ek op die recce vergesel het, wat my aanhou por het om deel te neem. Moet sê die recce het ek as 'n toets van my fiksheid gesien en die krampe op die eerste dag het die werklikheid weergegee, maar ook die lus in my wakker gemaak en JT se woorde van pace jouself net het in my agterkop vasgesteek.<br />
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Moet erken die eerste paar dae het maar bars gegaan, vir my heeltyd gevoel of ek myself weer alleen op die tandem bevind het en ek moes myself maar baie mooi pace, my grootste voordeel was die roete kennis, een ding minder om oor te worry.<br />
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So het ek myself maar dag vir dag gepace in die hoop dat ek fiks sou wees wanneer ek in Rhodes sou aankom, ek moes maar ook op bolip byt wanneer daar agtervolgers in die omgewing was, gelukkig het die spekkies dit baie maklik gemaak.<br />
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Soos in 'n vorige jaar herenig ek en Tim weer in Slaapkranz, ek en die man, moet ek sê verstaan mekaar en ry bitter lekker saam, ons weet wanneer om te trap en wanneer om te praat, ek was seker fiks in Rhodes maar die koue het my teruggehou, maar van Slaapkranz kon ek voel ek het die tandem afgeskud, die Rush het spoed gesoek al was dit teen die wind, ek wou net jaag. Ek en Tim het 'n baie goeie verstandhouding, albei baie verstand en baie houding en ons het die kilo's opgerol, soms saam mekaar en soms alleen om dan net weer saam te ry. Dit was vir my 'n baie groot eer en voorreg om sy sewende kombers aan hom te oorhandig en ek glo hy het die gevoel gedeel met die oorhandiging van my kombers. Ons het dit eintlik een vroeë oggend in die Osseberg besluit en dit gestand gedoen, wat 'n voorreg om die race met my mentor te kon deel !!!<br />
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Ek wonder soms hoekom ek so vroeg in die middernagtelike ure weggetrek het en in die vriesende koue oggend ure ingery het, my plan was om deur die nag te ry en dan in die vroeë oggend ure hinderlaag te lê, wanner ek die support station vir myself het. Die oorsaak was tweeledig, ek het die eerste aan vroeg gestop by Centocow wat my van daar in 'n roetine gegooi het, dit en die feit dat die volmaan eers laatnag opgekom het. Die volmaan maak 'n baie groot verskil in nag navigasie en nadat die volmaan plek gemaak het vir donkermaan was ek reeds in 'n roetine van tuseen 2-3 ure slaap en dan opstaan en ry.<br />
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Daar is net twee maal van die 2-3 uur slaap roetine afgesien, eerste keer by Slaapkranz waar ek amper verkluim het oppad soontoe en die tweede keer in Gamkaskloof waar die visgraat maneuver my teruggehou het.<br />
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Die res van die tyd was dit maar net min slaap, maar 2-3 ure slaap verrig wondere en 'n 25 minute catnap iewers onder 'n bos, wat vir baie vermaaklikheid gesorg het tussen die ander manne, soveel te meer. Ek dink spesifiek aan 'n geval in die Perdepoort, Tim was so ent voor my en het 'n 25 minute dekking geneem in die sonnetjie langs die pad, met my verbykomslag het die sing van die wiele hom wakker gemaak, hy wou nog so bietjie rus, met die volgende paar wiele wat verbykom het hy opgestaan, die manne ingehaal en weer verbygegaan. So 10 km verder het ek dit nodig geag om dekking te slaan, Tim se wiele het my eerste wakker gemaak en daarna die span agtervolgers, wat so in die mou gelag het vir die sogenaamde racing snakes wat hulle elke nou en dan onder 'n boom vind.<br />
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Ja as 'n man moeg is, is 'n man moeg en as jy jou oge toemaak is die skakelaar af en dan slaap jy eensklaps, so maklik soos dit. Dit bring my by die baie spesiale mense langs die roete, die support stations, lugpunte in 'n baie donker nag, moet sê dis nou al familie, ek het my eie kamer in elke huis en ek kry nogal voordele wat almal seker nie kry nie. Daar is 'n paar van die plekke wat my race plan heer verongeluk, ek weet ek moet verby, maar steek altyd vas, ek weet ek moet slaap, maar gesels altyd te lekker en ek weet ek moet opstaan, maar geniet altyd die laaste greinstjie vrienskap. Vir 7 jaar doen ek al aan by hulle en vir 7 jaar dra hulle my op die hande, baie opvallend is hoe vinnig die kinders groei, ek onthou vir klein Andrètjie wat bal gespeel het met my eerste visgraat maneuver en nou is hy 'n groot man wat my inwag op 'n perd, Sandra en Diederik, Wil en Stephanie se pragtige dogters, daai tyd op skool, nou amper op trou. Tyd vlieg, ek voel nie ouer nie, die ouers lyk ook nie vir my ouer nie, maar die kinders word groot.......<br />
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My eie kinders ook, hulle belangstelling in die ondekkende race geprikkel deur my jare se ervarings word ook groter. Alison en Danielle wil die ervaring saam met hul Pa deel, en die dag se aanbreek is nie vêr nie, hopelik is ek uitgerus teen daai tyd. Dit sal vir my 'n groot voorreg wees om die ervaring met hulle te kan deel, twee taai meisiekinners daai.<br />
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Ondersteuning is baie belangrik op die race, die kleinste kortste boodskappie is goud werk en as jy so dan en wan nog 'n gesels ook kan inkry, soveel te beter. Dankie my wonderlike vrou, kinders, familie en vriende vir julle ondersteuning, dit was regtig lekker om so elke nou en dan in die seinlose wonder wêreld van julle te kon hoor.<br />
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Die Freedom Challenge is 'n nederige race, en as jy nie nederig is nie, sal die Liewe Vader jou op jou kniee dwing en sorg dat Moeder Natuur jou nederig maak. Die hele race selfs Modor is asemrowend mooi en soms is dit net nodig om vir 'n oomblik stil se sit en God se Almag te ervaar, en dis dit wat die race vir my so bitter spesiaal maak.....<br />
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Twee weke later nadat ek klaar gemaak het, is my vingerpunte en my toontjies steeds dood, die visgraat hak nogsteeds in my pens, seker nie gewoont aan die snaakse kos wat ek nou eet nie, ek is 8 kg ligter, die blaas op my hak het verander in 'n moerse eelt, my kniee glad nie meer seer nie, ek sweet nog so nou en dan in die nag, droom nie meer ek is iewers op die pad besig om te race nie en dan wonder ek so terwyl ek die sterre beskou gaan ek ooit weer ry ???<br />
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Ek en Tim het mekaar die oggend in die Osseberg belowe ons is nou klaar, net hierdie enetjie klaar maak, want 6 is die duiwel se getal en die race het duur geword, pepper duur, uitgelewer aan 'n paar bevoorregtes. Dis nie net jou inskrywing nie, dis jou klere, jou fiets, jou bokse, vliegkaartjies, verblyf aan die einde en nog 'n hele span jakalsies wat geld vreet. Dis 'n jammerte, want toe ek my sommetjies maak vir 'n dubbel inskrywing saam met een van my dogters, toe weet ek sommer die tyd om te begin spaar het nou aangebreek.<br />
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En tog ten spyte van die kostes, wonder ek reeds oor watter tipe dyno hub ek moet gebruik, watter skoene ek volgende keer kan gebruik en oor wanneer die volgende keer gaan wees, want jy sien elke jaar belowe ek, ek is klaar en dan kom die kat weer en vind ek myself weer op die startline......<br />
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<i>Success is totally dependent upon drive and persistence.</i></div>
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<i>The extra effort required to make another effort or try another approach is the secret of winning !!!!</i></div>
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<br />Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-61730611156768975542017-06-26T11:57:00.000+02:002017-07-08T12:31:32.242+02:00Trouthaven - Diemersfontein<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Die ander manne is vroeg op hulle wil 5H00 ry, Tim is nie lus om die heel dag met Stetteyns te stoei nie, safety in numbers soos hulle sê, ons is sewe en 'n paar gaan bosbrekers word, padmakers vir die ander. Theo het 'n roete oopgekap tot halfpad waar die moeilikheid begin. Ek wil alleen wees, ek wil alleen die laaste ervarings opslurp en alles in neem en ek talm, die ander manne val in die pad teen 5H00 en ek eers 'n half uur later so op my eentjie.<br />
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Oppad na die damwal besin ek oor my roete, ek speel tussen die Waterval en Theo se roete, indien ek die waterval roete vat, gaan ek hulp nodig hê om die fiets oor 'n paar kranse te kry, alleen gaan ek 'n tou nodig hê, iets wat ek nie het nie en daar verskyn 'n pak bakstene met banding straps en ek vat so twee van hulle, die besluit is geneem, die waterval roete....<br />
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Die Heyna haal die anner manne vinnig in ek sien hul liggies in die verte so kilometer voor my en hulle spook om voor te bly, portage is my ding en ek gaan die manne 'n ding of twee wys, last in en first out......<br />
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Dit word stadig lig toe ek die laaste nek voor die kloof en al sy almag homself voor my ontbloot, links van my lê Theo se lyn, voor my die kloof wat met hakia besaai lê en op die ingewing van die oomblik besluit ek op Theo se lyn, so vir 'n laaste keer en net ingeval ek myself dalk in die toekoms per ongeluk in die nag weer hier bevind.<br />
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Ek breek deur die stukkie hakia to by die rivier en begin met die moerse klim, in my kop speel Theo se getekende kaart, ek onthou ek moet aan die regterkant van die ridgeline hou, iets van 'n alleen boom en dan die stappers paaitjie, ek onthou ook dat Tim vir my gesê het dis moer hoog en glad nie plat as jy bo is nie, maar daar is nie hakia nie en so klim ek en klim ek......<br />
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Halfpad bo is ek gelyk met die nek waar die anner manne moet uit en ek vorder goed, kry die alleen boom oor die waterval stroompie en klim annnerkant uit, vind die stappers padjie en wonder waar die ander hulle bevind, maak 'n breek by die volgende stroompie, neem 'n pyl vir oulaas, wonder of ek weer gaan terugkom, oë soekend na teken van die ander manne, ek kan die jeeptrack sien vanwaar ek sit, asem elke laaste greintjie van die ervaring op en val in die pad na Diemersfontein.<br />
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Op die jeeptarck soek ek na spore enige tekens van die ander manne, en vind niks in die klipperige padjie, in my hart glo ek, ek is voor en ek jaag na die einde, sommer heeltyd uit die saal, net om by die einde te kom en hulle almal daar te vind. My roete was stadiger, maar verseker die moeite werd, ek ken nou nog 'n nuwe roete, iets wat punte sal tel as ek terugkom.<br />
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Die trane wel op in my, so ook die verlange, verlange na my vrou en my kinders, 'n knop kom op in my keel en in die stilligheid stort ek 'n traan, was dit my laaste keer ?<br />
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<br />Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-80110118290839508262017-06-25T10:47:00.000+02:002017-07-08T11:54:13.779+02:00Anysberg - Trouthaven<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Net na een val ons weer in die pad Tim nog nie heel lekker nie, ek so ent voor hom, sy liggie so ent terug vol my, by die Touws rivier herenig ons weer en so ent aan is dit weer tyd vir my vir 'n visgraat maneuver, wat nou 'n heel irriterende beweging word, ek moet die enjin voer, maar sodra ek iets sensitief voer wat blykbaar omtrent alles is moet dit uit. Tim nogsteeds net met sy voorbriek is bietjie versigtig vir Oubergpas, dis weer 2.Moer koud en net voor die pas begin vat ek 'n vinnige catnap net om die slaapmonsters te verjaag sodat ek wakker kan wees teen die afdraande.<br />
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Na so 25 minute in die snerpende koue vlieg ek op, my lyf opsoek na hitte, ek ry my soort van warm teen die laaste paar opdraandes en met 'n slaapmonster op die rug bevlieg ek die pas, slaap slaap snel ek verby Tim, dis 'n 30 kilometer afdraande waarvan die eerste 15 kilometer redelik steil af is. Traantjies vries weer op my gesig en asof dit nie genoeg is nie ry die slaapmonsters my ook bloots, die koppie knak en netso voor elke skep draai skrik ek myself wakker in die sewende hemel in, gooi 'n slaapmonster af, net om plek te maak vir die volgende een. Hierdie keer is ek gewapen met al my klere aan, reënjas galore, maar die koue, nou my vriend wat die slaapmonsters weghou, byt in my siel in, op 'n stadium weet ek nie wat erger is nie, die slaapmonsters of die koue wat my vingers weer heel van vooraf vries. Al wat oorbly is om te trap om by Mantagu uit te kom en net na 6 val ek by die Bath Hotel in waar ek vermoed ons bly. Ek vra uit oor waar die ander manne se fietse staan en dit tref my dat ons nie daar slaap nie, ons is stop is by die Bos so ent af in die straat. Ek kort Barone's vir energie en 'n pakkie twak om my vingers warm te maak en hulle beduie my na 'n kafee op in die straat en ek vat pad, los die fiets eers daar, en so dwaal ek van die een kafee na die volgende tot ek in die Spar eindig en my aankope maak.<br />
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Ek kry vir Tim in die straat en so herenig ons weer saam met die ander manne by die Bos, hulle is haastig oppad Trouthaven toe, ek moet batterye laai en spring eers onder 'n warm stort in net om lewe in die gebeendere te kry, so halfuur later val ek weer in die pad. Die huimwee pak my beet, is hierdie werklik my laaste Freedom Challenge en ek probeer elke laaste krieseltjie ervaring opraap.<br />
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Net na die rooibrug pak die moegheid my weer, daar's 'n lappie groen gras langs 'n huis en ek sak neer vir nog 'n catnap, sommer so langs die besige pad. Kyk as 'n man moeg is, is jy moeg en slaap kom maklik, dis soos 'n skakelaar wat jy afsit, jy hoor sommer hoe raak jy aan die slaap. Baie van die ander vra altyd hoe kry ons dit reg om so vinnig aan die slaap te raak, baie maklik as jy werklik moeg is maak jy net jou oë toe en slaap. So slaap ek vir 'n halfuurtjie of wat, tot 'n bakkie met 'n bekommerde vrou my wakker maak, is ek oraait, ja antwoord ek, rus net bietjie......<br />
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Dis toe sommer ook my que om in die pad te val, by McGregor aangekom word die batterye eerste gelaai, ek maak vir my 'n lekker boere ontbyt, die selfoon word ook gelaai, ek bel vir Melanie, hulle is al by Diemersfontein, wag vir my en ek sit en top of ek Stetteyns in die nag gaan aanval, om daarvoor te voorsien moet die batterye vol gelaai word en ek vat so 40 minute breek op die bed in die sonnetjie.<br />
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Dis nog 108 km na Trouthaven en 'n nuwe pad, gelukkig het ek myself bewapen met 'n gevalle makker se kaarte en aanwysings, Boet werrie het my verseker die pad is nie te moeilik nie, moet sê die nuwe deel is nogal mooi seker omdat dit 'n nuwe roete insluit. Net voor die Villiers pad stop 'n boer my en vra my of ek aan die Freedom Challenge, ene Els as ek reg kan onthou, ons raak aan die gesels oor die race, hy baie belangstellend, sê hy's te oud, 50 jaar is glad nie te oud nie antwoord ek dis net die regte ouderdom om te begin, hy bied koffie aan by sy huis so entjie terug, maar ek wil klaarmaak en val weer in die pad die donker nag in.<br />
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Naby Brandvlei bel Boet Werrie weer, kry wer die versekering dat ek goed doen, die ander manne het nou net by trouthaven ingetrek, gaan ek Stetteyns die nag aanval ? Ek is nog nie seker nie, Trouthaven sal bepaal, ek gaan of my waterval roete of Theo se roete vol die hakia roete wat Martin gevang het gaan ek te alle kostes vermy, al probleem is ek het eenmaal 'n handgetennde kaart van Theo onder oë gehad en ek is nie heeltemal seker oor die roete nie, die waterval roete is moerse steil en nie vir die nag bedoel nie. Ek kan die kans met Theo se roete vat, maar dan het ek ook al vir Tim sien rond dwaal in die nag op die roete, Trouthaven sal bepaal, dit en die hoeveelheid lig wat ek het, glad nie lus om sonder lig in die kloof gevang te word.<br />
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22H10 stap ek by Trouthaven se deur in, my gewone slaap plek op die bank is gereserveer, ek eet iets, drink twee koppies koffie en gee toe aan my bank, more maak ons klaar.......Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-13305373457550969422017-06-24T17:03:00.000+02:002017-07-08T10:46:02.481+02:00Gamkaskloof - Anysberg<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Die nagrus was so lank ek droom ek's klaar en spring verward op toe my horlosie alarm afgaan, Gerhard het vir my 'n lekker koppie Boeretroos gemaak, toe ons by die ander manne kom slaap hulle nog heel snoesig, ons trek toe maar so bietjie later as die beplande 5H00 weg, eintlik goedso want dis 'n mooi deel van die aarde die. Met eerste lig kry ek die geleentheid om vir Gerhard die leer in daglig te kan wys, dis 'n steil klimmetjie wat ons so 45 minute neem tot bo, ook maar goedso want toe knak my kniee en raak ek dringend opsoek na 'n bos......<br />
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Gelukkig is ek vandag gewapen met 'n rol witgoud, die visgraat maneuvers het my lam gelaat, die kraggies is maar min en ek bly maar bang om iets te eet, sip sip maar so aan die Game, ek en Gerhard gesels lekker en ek geniet die visterman van die Baai, dis 'n voorreg om 'n man se eerste ervaring op die Freedom te deel. By die selfoon sein punt bel Boet Werrie my, ons doen goed sê hy, my mening is die 13 dae beplanning is besig om stadig uit my hand te glip, maar nouja ek kan dit nog doen, gaan net 'n nagmars wees op in die kloof..... Tim het by die ou murasie net voor Sewe weeks kloof geslaap en as ek roer kan ek hom by Rouxpos vang, die man se maag was heelblyklik nog nie gesond nie en het hom vermoedelik terug gehou in die koue nag. Ek bel sommer ook vir Mel en die kinders, gaan 'n lang trek wees voor ek weer met hulle kan praat, Alison land more in die Kaap en ek wil bitter graag Sondag klaarmaak, ek weet dit gaan maar bars gaan, as ek net my maag intoom kan kry en krag in die bene in kan pomp en nie onder die bosse in nie.......<br />
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Die Rush se wiele sing weer, dis 'n lekker grondpad en ek klim sommer uit die saal teen die opdraandes, Gerhard is so entjie voor my en ek vang hom op die laaste opdraande by Horlosiekrans, kyk my pikante lyfie is mos nie gebou vir opdraandes nie, maar vir die platpad en afdraandes is hy heel geskik en dis dan wanneer 'n kombinasie van krag en gewig inskop. Ek vlieg verby Gerhard, mens kan gemaklik 70 km/h + haal teen die afdraande, maar vandag waai daar 'n windjie wat my bietjie terughou en ek aanvaar die 64km/h openhartig. By die Rouxpos afdraai groet mense ons vriendelik by die eerste huis, wil weet wie's die Hyena, 'n bynaam wat ek so paar jaar gelede gekry het, kyk die Hyena kom mos van agter en eet al die scrapies langs die pad tot hy voorkom. Ek het nie bokse nie, nie roete aanwysings nie en ook nie kaarte nie, die enigste kaart wat ek het is die een wat oor die jare in my peanut in ge-ets is en so nou en dan wenk ek ook maar af van die kaart......<br />
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Ander byname wat ek al oor die jare gekry het is Kommandant van die Boere komando in 2009 toe ons vir Alex die Ingelsman tot by die wenpaal gejaag het, daarna het ek die Nagapie geword, seker maar oor my grootoog deurnag ryery, Ivor het my Korporaal gedoop, seker maar omdat ek so kwaai was......<br />
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Hierdie jaar is ek blykbaar al die name, soveel manne wat weer ry oor verskillende jare en elkeen onthou 'n ander bynaam.<br />
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By Rouxpos geniet ons weer Tannie Ronel se lekker kerrie en ry en daai wafel en roomys, hulle vra my of ek weer volgende jaar gaan ry en ek antwoord soos elke jaar plegtig nee, maar die keer dink ek is dit regtig so, ek vat so 25 winks terwyl Gerhard sy fiets nagaan, eintlik gaan Gerhard sy fiets na omdat ek 'n 25 winks wil vat.<br />
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Ek en Gerhard val weer in die pad en die man is heel in vervoering oor die mooi stuk aarde waarheen ons nou ry, hy is ook heel verbaas oor hoe ek sonder kaarte en aanwysings ry, my peanut werk in landmerke en ek verbind net die landmerke met padjies aanmekaar, so maklik soos dit. Ons gesels oor alles, my vorige challenges, dat jy die race nie alleen kan aanpak nie, jy nodig jou Skepper en dan jou geliefdes, oor foute wat ek in die verlede gemaak het, oor hoe nederig die roete jou maak, my spesiale support station familie en oor David Waddilove se geniale visie om die roete uit te lê. Ek geniet die klong se geselskap, hy is 'n harde werker, lief vir sy vrou en kinders en avontuursoeker wat deur Hestelle van Damsedrift oortuig is om die race te doen. Hy neem hordes foto's soos wat dit hoort te wees en ek voel sleg oor die paartjies wat ek geneem het, snaaks hoe jy oor die jare verander, ek het die eerste jaar seker 500+ foto's geneem, nou soek ek elke dag net daai een spesiale foto wat my vorentoe beur.<br />
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19H15 val ons by Anysberg in, Bugs en die ander manne mik vir Montagu, my maag grom nog, Tim s'n ook, hy gaan oorslaap na die koue nag eskapades oppad na Rouxpos en eensklaps voel ek verplig om agter te bly. Ek skerts met Tim of ons die dubbelbed gaan deel, daars 'n dubbelbed en twee banke, ek soek nog 'n kombers vir my bank toe sê Tim ons kan die bed deel op voorwaarde ek gesels nie die heel nag nie, en so oomlike later betree ons rug aan rug droomland, eintlik nie droomland nie, daar's nie tyd vir droom nie, ons skakel net af, 1H00 sal ons weer in die pad val.<br />
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<br />Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-78179655836122542812017-06-23T16:36:00.000+02:002017-07-07T16:36:32.083+02:00Rondawel - Gamkaskloof Visgraat !!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Ons word die oggend vroeg wakker met die manne wat langsaan om die Breakfast tafel skarrel, hulle het ook 'n lang nag in die reën beleef, en so ontmoed ons vir Bugs, Andrew, Gavin en Gerhard om die tafel. Ek het dit voorheen al baie beleef wanneer ons sogenaamde racing snake die manne vorentoe van laat spaander hulle asof ons melaats is of dalk meet hulle hulself teen ons kragte, maar dit gebeur gewoonlik dat die manne jaag tot by die volgende stop en dan rus, ander as ons wat aanhou en aanhou.<br />
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Die manne doen ook hulle naam gestand en laat spaander, nie te lank nie toe vang ons hulle en ry mooi in gelit saam en toe tot my en Tim se verbasing pleeg hulle die visgraat maneuver, heel gesinkroniseerd een links een regs, en nog een links en nog een regs opsoek na sy eie boompie. Ek en Tim kyk verbaas na mekaar, kyk ek weet op die race kom jy na aan jou Skepper en Moeder Aarde en as jy die voorreg het om saam met iemand te ry skuur jy maar af aan mekaar, maar so gesinkroniseerde spulletjie het ek nog nie beleef nie.<br />
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Ook nie te lank nie toe ry die manne weer saam met ons en nie te lank daarna nie gebeur dieselfde gesinkronieseerde beweging een links en een regs, en nog een links en nog een regs, die keer nader aan die pad en met meer spoed, en ek dink so by myself my magtig maar die manne is op die bol, goed inge-oefende bewegings.<br />
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Vir die jonger geslag wat nou nie in die army was nie, 'n Visgraat Maneuver is 'n beweging wat jy uitvoer wanneer jy vyandig kontak slaan en dan soos 'n visgraat een links en een regs opeenvolgings versprei en dekking neem onder 'n boom, in die geval is dit vyandige kontak in jou maag wat teen hoë spoed moet uit om verligting te bring. Die probleem is net jy is op 'n fiets, jou maag gee eers 'n grom en maak dan so draai en dan spring jy af, los jou fiets net daar langs die pad, in die hol oppad na die bos raak jy ontslae van jou rugsak en dan begin jy met jou baadjie en die stoeipak en dan eers kies jy jou bos.......<br />
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Die eerste keer wat dit gebeur sien jy nog kans vir 'n ver bos, die volgende keer 'n nader bos en dan sommer hier teen die pad, skaamteloos word toiletpapier wat nou skielik baie waardevol geword het uitgeruil, tot op die punt waar jy jouself tot 'n paar blokkies beperk, omdat jy nie weet hoeveel blokkies jy nog gaan nodig kry tot by die volgende punt nie. Ek en Tim is baie geamusseerd met die gesinkroniseerde Visgraat maneuvers en tog te bly ons het nie van dieselfde water of kos ge-eet nie, want ons makeer absoluut niks nie.<br />
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By ons nommer een ondersteuner ene Kommandat Johann Rissik aangekom geniet ek sommer twee lekker koffies en 'n handvol beskuit, die ander manne is maar bang vir die koffie en beskuit. 'n Hele paar jaar gelede het ek vir die eerste keer vir Johann langs dieselfde pad ontmoet ook met 'n lekker koffie en bekuit, die man was nog net goed vir ons almal, Boeretroos vir die siel en mechanic vir ons moeë fietse. Ek en Tim val in die pad terwyl die ander manne Immodiums uitruil, gelukkig is my maag sterk ek het al dooie biologie projekte ge-eet en staan bekend as die kos stofsuier in die huis.<br />
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Ons eet soos konings by Ria en Lindsay van Dennehof, ons is bietjie laat vir Anysberg maar behoort Rouxpos te maak en nie te lank na ons aankoms verlaat ons die Koningshuis wees, ek moet sê met huimwee wat ek sou regtig daar wou oorbly, maar Diemersfontein wink.<br />
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So halfpad op teen die Swartbergpas grom my maag vir die eerste keer, heel moontlik omdat ek myself oorbedien het aan die koningsmaal wat vir my gedek was, Tim is so entjie voor my en ek kies 'n bos heel ver van die pad af naby die ou tronk, my gebruiklike ou plekkie vir ontlading. weer op die fiets beur ek vorentoe op die pas, Tim het ook verdwyn en vir hom 'n bossie uitgesoek en toe begin die meerkat dans en ons verval in die Visgraat Maneuver, julle het al seker 'n paar meerkaaie gesien dans ? Die een kyk staan mos pennetjies regop opsoek van ver weerlig terwyl die ander een op die grond rondskarrel en dan ruil hulle om, nouja so gaan dit met my en Tim dan staan hy en beloer die wêreld en ek skarrel al nader aan die pad onner 'n bos en dan loer ek die wêreld en hy skarrel onner 'n bos. Tim trek onder my uit en ek wonder of ek moet omdraai, want my witgoud is klaar en dis nie baie moeilik om om te draai nie veral nie na Dennehof toe nie, net toe my moed my amper begewe daag Gerhard Dreyer daar op en help my met 'n handvol witgoud, hy het vermoed ons kan dit dalk nodig kry en so skuit-skuit ons die bult uit.<br />
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Bugs vang ons netso voor die laaste klim, hoe loop die gesegde nou weer ? Wie laaste lag, lag die lekkerste....... Ek voel hoe die kraggies minder raak want as jy iets eet ontplot dit net nou, self water maak nou al 'n plofbare lading, gelukkig maak ons Gamkaskloof net na laaste lig en ek besluit om oor te slaap en 'n prop vir my maak te maak. Daar's twee huisies, ek en Gerhard deel die een en Bugs, Andrew en Gavin die ander. Ek sluk nog twee Immodiums so kan ek nie aangaan nie, ek gaan myself dooddra aan witgoud, voor ek my bord kos verorber, Tim is ook daar en wil aangaan, maar ek gaan stop, want om 'n stoeipak in die die donker uit te pluk en met jou bas in 'n doringbos te eindig in die stikdonker kan nie lekker wees nie. Pieter Joubert laai 'n lekker vrag hout by ons huisie af en ons maak 'n lekker vuurtjie, ek tap vir my 'n bad vol water en dryf soos 'n baba seekoei tot die bed my roep, hierie gaan 'n lang slaap wees amper 7 ure, heel ongehoort........Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-70823332689965501992017-06-22T15:16:00.000+02:002017-07-07T15:16:32.586+02:00Damsedrift - Rondawel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hestelle maak my wakker netso na 2H00, my horlosie het nie die job gedoen nie, as dit nie vir haar was nie het ek seker nou nog geslaap, want met twee, drie ure slaap 'n nag word 'n man maar lekker moeg. Ek het een van my armwarmers vermoedelik vir modor geskenk of iewers misgepak of baie die ingepak, gelukkig kon ek 'n plan maak met sykouse, sulke lekker dik swart skool sykouse wat Hestelle se dogter aan my afgestaan het en met 'n dubbel laag sykous op die een arm en 'n armwarmer op die ander pak ek die koue aan. Kort op my hakke is die lekker gesels slaapmonsters en so ent die kloof op oorval hulle my op 'n lekker leerbank by die baviaans Curio winkel en ek vat so 40 winks soos die ou mense gesê het. Bietjie meer wakker pak ek die volgende skof aan tot by Makedaats Grot, waar ek stop om 'n ietsie te peusel, eintlik opsoek na een van hulle lekker lemoene, ek vorder tot by die begin van Nuwekloof Pas waar ek weer deur die monsters platgetrek word, seker maar die gevolg van lekker gesels, ek het seker so 40 minute in die droë loop gedroom toe die eerste manne met hul fietse daar verbykom en my opwek.<br />
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Pak toe maar my goedjies en jaag hulle agterna, iemand het weer gesien ek's naby Willomore en die wind en reën knoppie aangesit, kyk in 7 jaar het ek nog nooit die stukkie aarde sonder 'n aardige wind beleef nie. Willomore is nog een van daai plekkies wat nie wil nader nie, jy kan hom amper sien, maar daar's altyd nog 'n draaitjie en nog 'n klimmetjie voor jy eers verby ry en dan die teer slaan, ek ry verby Willem WP se huis wat ek in my eerste Freedom ontmoet het, wonder of hy daar is en indien hy daar is of daar lekker koffie en musiek sal wees net om uit te vind hy's op die dorp. Die reën kom in sulke vlae neer, Runè het nogal gister gesê dit mag dalk reën nie dat hy enige voorspellings meer glo nie, maar dis nodig en dit sal hom glad nie pla as ons natreën nie, vir my ook nie, die aarde het water nodig en ek beur voort tot in Willomore, ek gaan verseker myself nie vermaak in die reën en wind nie, nie nog 'n keer nie, hier gaan ons eers halt roep.......<br />
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Ek kom sommer so half kwaad en nat gereën by die Willows in, sommer reguit na die kaggel, kry vir Shane Cycles die Britse toeris ook daar, lag 'n bietjie oor my catnap langs die pad, bly om te sien die man het eindelik kom ry. Kry 'n baie dringende boodskap van Tim, hy is in een van die huisies en ek moenie ry voor ek met hom gepraat het, ry, waarheen in die wind en die reën, ek gaan nêrens heen voor die wind nie bedaar nie. Kry Tim onder 'n warm stort, iets wat ek ook nodig het, hy het 'n voorstel, ons slaap tot 15H30 eet 16h00 en ry dan, die wind behoort dan minder te blaas, net soos wat ek ook gedink het. Ek plaas 'n bestelling vir 4 van daai uiters groot Barone's en 'n vars pakkie regte pyle want in die wind gaan mens dit nodig kry.........<br />
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Teen 16H15 wag ons nog taamlik ongeduldig vir ons kos, wat ons toe eers bietjie later kry, seker ook maar goed want teen 17H00 behoort die wind minder te waai, wat toe vir my teen die tyd nie so voel nie. Die vorige keer wat ek en Tim saam gery het in 2011 het ek agter Tim geskuil vir die wind, die keer is dit my beurt om die wind vir Tim te breek, op 'n stadium kla Tim ek ry te vinnig, seker maar omdat ek aan Vredendal se storms gewoont is, deels ook omdat ek gatvol is en graag so gou moontlik by Rondawel en daarna Prince Albert wil uitkom. Die plan is Prince Albert sodat ek in 13 dae kan klaarmaak en Tim in 12 dae, maar die wind en die nat paaie vetraag ons so bietjie, die laaste 40 km is my go weer uit, ek's moeg en ons sak neer vir 'n vinnige catnap en vat toe maar die nat pad na Rondawel. Ons moes Meryl die versekering gee dat ons nie net daar gaan opdaag nie, sodat die mense nie verniet die heel nag vir ons sit en wag nie, daarom kan ons nie net verby hou nie en net na 1H00 vind ons onself op Rondawel se stoep met wagtende mens met lekker en ek bedoel baie lekker pasta voor 'n warm kaggelvuur.<br />
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Ek en Tim geniet die warm vuur en skep vir ons sulke hompe van die lekker pasta, ons gaan eerder slaap en dan vroeg weer in die pad val.<br />
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Ek is bly ons het gestop, nog 'n uur en dan was ek 24 uur op die pad, Tim is reeds verby die 24 uur kerf en slaap kom sommer gou vir hom. Ek aan die annerkant geniet eers 'n pyl en beskou die sterrenag wat plek gemaak het vir die onweers wolke, eintlik is ek bly vir die wind wat die reën gebring het, want van hier af is dit moerse sinkplaat sandpaaie en die reën gaan die pad net makliker maak.<br />
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Ons moes eintlik vanaand in Prince Albert onder die wit duvet's geslaap het, maar op die Freedom Challenge verloop niks nooit volgens plan nie, ek sê altyd jy moet elke dag bank en as jy goed voel dan bank jy meer, more (eintlik vandag) moet ons in Anysberg eindig en daar lê nog 'n laaang pad voor om die 13 dae te maak en ek bank toe maar op nog 'n pyltjie terwyl ek wag vir Klaas Vakie.......Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-80914382150791558622017-06-21T11:26:00.000+02:002017-07-07T11:27:57.712+02:00Hadley - Damsedrift<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Ons vertrek netso voor 3H00 ek so ent voor Tim, hy sal my weer teen die klimme vang, ons ry teen tyd moet voor 13H00 by die Baviaans hek wees om begely te word vir die gevaarlike buffels, as die manne van die Baviaans maar net weet waar en tussen wat ons al alles deurgery het, maar nou ja dis vir ons eie veiligheid. As dit van my afhang het ek die hele deel uit die roete gesny, Modor is nie 'n lekker plek nie en dis so asof die katusse weet ons hou nie van die plek nie, want hulle word al meer......<br />
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Tim vang my teen die steil klim uit die Grootrivierpoort, ons ry so entjie in mekaar se spore tot by die volgende opdraande, ons doen weer die klere dans, trek aan, trek uit, trek weer aan en weer uit, snaakse weer, warm en vrek koud.<br />
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Dankie aan Expedition Africa se 160 spanne wat die Osseberg bietjie vir ons oopgetrap het, gewoonlik is die oorblyfsels van die jeeptrack so toegegroei dat jy meer teen die afdraande stoot as wat jy ry, ek is voor Tim met net sy voorbriek onder, ook maar net, sy handtering van 'n fiets met net 'n voorbriek spreek hoofstukke. oor die jare het ek al 'n weersin opgebou vir die stukkie aarde, die toegerankte oorblysels van 'n jeeptrack wat plek plek in 'n donga ontaard, die duisende dooie en lewendige doringbome wat die pad toegroei altyd gereed om jou 'n hou toe te dien, die riete soos die hakia in Stetteyns, altyd gereed om iets te gryp of te breek en die nuutste toevoeging die klou kaktus, die goedjies het die gewoonte om op te spring, jou 'n arsenaal brandende steke toe te dien en dan vir lewe en dood te klou, van die been na die hand na die anner hand en tussen dit alles ry jy tussen die wit beendere van Kudu karkasse wat seker van die kaktusse ge-eet het....<br />
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Onner gekom gaan sit ek op my gaai, pluk my laaste pyl uit en vat 'n lang teug, ek weet wat vir ons wag..... Ek en Tim bespreek die stukkie aarde en ja dis prentjie mooi as jy doodstil sit en nie 'n poging aanwend om enigsins te beweeg nie, ek wys vir Tim waar ek die vreesbevange Jill heel van koers tussen die riete gekry het, daai gesig die een van vrees wat oorskakel in blydskap sal ek nooit vergeet nie. Ons bespreek die uithaal van die lappie aarde en ek en Tim verskil, Tim wil die deel behou en sê dis uniek, noodsaaklik en deel van die race, waaroor praat jy wanneer jy eendag klaar is ? Ek moet toegee hy het 'n punt, maar dis nie 'n baie lekker deel nie, seker maar soos Stetteyns enigste verskil is by Stetteyns kan jy sien waar jy moet uit, dis net om daar te kom.......<br />
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Gelukkig en voordelig vir my en Tim weet ons waar om te gaan en 11H40 val ons in by Kudu Kaya, ons raak nou aan die voorkant van die race en die oorblyfsels wat die anner manne gelos het word al minder, ek maak vir my twee dik geroosterde kaas en heuning broodjies vir die pad, en ons deel die res van die oorblyfsels tussen ons. 13H00 is ons by die hek, Jacques moet ons begelei met 'n bakkie en ek en Tim moet bymekaar bly en ek weet dit gaan maar bars gaan teen die klimme, die sweet loop strome teen my af, ek werk nie net hard om by te bly nie, dis sommer ongehoort warm ook. Die salpeter slaan my uit en in 'n poging om die peanut af te koel hang ek my hemet op die handlebars, die nadeel is die sonnetjie brand my bollakop laat hy lyk soos cherry konfyt, en so ploeter ons voort tussen die kuku wrakke en die droë veld, smaak my die buffels vreet als op en al wat oorbly is verlate vlaktes. Jacques se bakkie hou my aan die beweeg ek moet voor die ding bly en hy moet agter my bly en al wat oorbly is om te trap om by die oorkantste hek.......<br />
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Laaste lig kom ons by die hek aan, dis nou ek en die agtervolger, Tim wat so ent voor my was het by die hekwagte se vuur homself wag gemaak, die son wat dooierus op ons gevat het maak nou dat ons skielik baie koud kry en ons vertoef so paar minute om die lekker vuur. Ek val in die pad na die volgende plekkie wat nooit naderkom nie, Damsedrift, dis moontlik die stikdonkerte en die moegheid wat veroorsaak dat Damsedrift nie nader wil kom nie. Dis 'n grenslose sinkplaatpad en die Rush soek weer alkant 'n gelyk stukkie aarde op die hobbelpad, ek is uit die saal uit, gatvol soekend vir Studis Polies Stasie se ligte, want as ek die ligte kan sien weet ek is ek amper daar.<br />
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21H40 is ek daar, Tim het besluit om eers so ent verby te ry op die eentonige pad, Runè het vir ons vuur gemaak, Estelle die lekkerste kos en ek raak aan die gesels, Tim praat iets van middernag ry, maar ek gesels te lekker, Hestelle moet eers 'n doring val 'n val seker twee dae gelede uit my duim verwyder. Lekker plek die Damsedrift, naby aan my hart, my pyle is op en ek vra wetend dat niemand hier rook nie vir 'n pyl en Runè kom te vore met 'n verlore pakkie wat een van sy vriende gelos het en pyl vir pyl gesels ons 'n hond uit 'n bos uit. Runè vra my op 'n stadium of ek nie moet slaap nie en ek antwoord : Ek en Tim het vandag besluit dis ons laaste Freedom en daarom gaan ek die kuier geniet, want volgende keer gaan dit nie met 'n fiets wees nie, ek klim na die lekker kuier na aan middernag in die bed in, ongeveer dieselfde tyd as wat Tim my weer verlaat.<br />
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My selfoon het ek moertoe geval in die dubbele plaaskoop aksie naby Koedoeskop en is onbruikbaar verklaar vir alarm doeleindes, ek stel dis my horlosie en hoop om 2h00 deur hom opgewek te word....Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-45447570406188172112017-06-20T17:08:00.000+02:002017-07-06T17:54:17.308+02:00Gegun - Hadley<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Middernag val ons in die pad, dis snaaks warm, ons het skaars 'n paar kilometers gery toe begin ons uittrek, snaakse weer wat ons het. Ek en Tim maak goeie vordering en in 'n oogwink groet die klipperige Jeeptrack van Karoopoort ons, dis 'n steil klim en dan 'n moerse gevaarlike klipperige afdraande, iets wat jy nie met kaal hande aanvat nie. Ek en die die 29er verstaan mekaar nog nie heel so goed nie, gewoond aan my klein nippie 26er, maar ek moet sê op die plat is die 29er 'n sneltrein.<br />
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My wiel het 'n klip opgegooi terwyl Tim in my slip gesit het oppad Kranskop toe, die moedswillige klip het sy agterbriek se brakeline heel onnodiglik morsaf geslaan, nodeloos om te sê, van daar het Tim geen agterbrieke nie en ek is nogal gespanne of Tim dit net met die voor briek heel op die fiets gaan afmaak tot onder, stap sal seker die beter opsie wees....<br />
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Ek dink nog so aan Tim toe donner ek die eerste keer neer op die klippe, staan heel verbaas op oor my sleg hantering en ry toe verder net om vir 'n tweede keer ordentlik neer te donner, amper so geval toe Ivor laas saam my gery het en ek 'n stuk aarde in Koedoeskop net so kilometer of wat verder gekoop het. Ek lê onder die getroue Rush wat bo op sy Baas tot stilstand gekom het teen 'n skuinste. Ek skop my ysterperd van my af, nou glad nie meer tevrede met my hantering nie, van onder vra Tim of ek okay is en ek antwoord in Spaans, Tim antwoord terug Aah no man.<br />
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Onder gekom draai ons links, Tim vertel myiemand het die grond gekoop en is aan die regmaak, ons vind 'n vreemde hek wat ons van geen kant ken nie, draai om want ons moes die afdraai na JD Ross gemis het, ry te ver terug, draai weer om, ek kan iets onthou van 'n kilometer in die pad af en ons soek die pad waar ons ingekom het wat nou net spoorloos in die donker nag verdwyn het, na 'n moerse gesoek kry ons die pad en ek met 'n kilo af, kom weer voor die vreemde hek te staan, klim bo oor en vind die afdraai na JD Ross nie eers 200m verder nie.<br />
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5H10 stap ons by Toekomst se deur in en 'n halfuur later weer daar uit, kry van die anner manne oppad uit wat by Koedoeskop geslaap het, op die lang entonige pad na Darlingtondam vat ons 'n vinnige 25 minute catnap en ligdag val ons die Gwaas aan, dit wil wil reën, snaakse weer. Ek los weer vir Tim die vinniger klimmer, ek weet die plan is Hadley vir my, Tim wil eintlik in die stikdonker nag Modor betree, maar ek is nie so lus vir sukkel nie. By Koffielaagte gewaar ek 'n paar fietse wat seker kom koffie drink het, ek is nie baie lus vir gesels en tydmors nie en hou verby tot ek skuiling van die wind kry oppad na Perdepoort, stop vir 'n rukkie, nuttig 'n pyl en 'n broodjie en val weer in die pad.<br />
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Met die afgaan slag gewaar ek iemand wat 'n catnap vat, lyk vir my soos Tim, wat beteken dat ek nou voor hom is en iewers ook 'n catnap kan nuttig, wat waarheid word by die Kleinpoort afdraai, nie te lank nie toe daag Tim op, sy plan nogsteeds Modor in die stik donker en ek laat hom gaan, die ander manne kom ook al laggend verby, baie snaaks die racing snakes wat verby jaag en dan onder 'n bos neerdonner, 'n rukkie slaap en dan weer verby donner.<br />
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Die pad van Kleinpoort na Bucklands is belaglik swak, ek en my Rush is die hele pad vol opsoek na 'n gelyk stukkie, om dit te vererger is daar 'n hewige headwind wat dinge verder vertraag, Bucklands soos Rhodes, Willomore en nog 'n paar plekkies is een van daai plekkies wat ook nooit nader kom nie, jy gee jou alles maar die plek kom net nie nader nie. 15H40 val ek by Bucklands se deur in, Hannes is nie daar nie, maar ek en sy wederhelf gesels lekker, haar dogter is bevriend met 'n jongman wat ek baie goed ken, so tussen die gesels deur hap ek aan iets om net 'n halfuur later weer die tog aan te pak na Hadley, 'n plekkie waar ek nog nooit 'n voet neergesit het, ek het 'n idee waar dit is maar die onsekerheid wel op in my, waqt gebeur as ek verby donner, wel dan donner ek maar aan tot in Modor sal seker vir Tim iewers daar vind.<br />
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'n Bakkie kom verby, toevallig 'n buurman van Oom Bennie, dis soo plus minus11km aan, afdraai regs die berg in en ek ploeter voort tot ek die afdraai kry, snaaks ek het die plek altyd voorgestel as 'n rondawel met 'n kers en hier bevind ek my by die vriendelikste mense, by 'n huis met krag omring met die mooiste sterre en Tim se fiets op die stoep. Tim het besluit om Modor is in die nag te los, ons kan 3H00 ry en dan behoort ons dit te maak, wat 'n welkome gedagte !!!!Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-38966419672533692772017-06-19T15:34:00.000+02:002017-07-06T17:07:35.153+02:00Elandsberg - Gegun<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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3H00 val ek weer in die pad, dis 'n lekker lang afdraande na die Visrivier, ek is agter my 2014 race, die keer het ek in 'n skaapstoor netvoor Tam Safari's getiep, het ook eers in die vroeë oggen ure daar uitgekom en toe in 'n paar Buffels by die oorkantste hek vasgeloop. Die bene voel goed maar die slaapmonsters pla en by dieslfde stoor sak ek weer op 'n paar skaapwolle neer vir 'n vinnige 25 minute catnap, in die donkernag vlieg ek weer op, ek moet inhaal op myself. Vir die dot watchers en buitestaanders lyk dit baie keer of ons iemand jaag, maar dis nie altyd die geval nie, meeste van die tyd jaag mens 'n persoonlike doelwit en soms jaag ek die odd Ingelsman veral as jy sy sweet kan ruik.<br />
Moet eerlik sê ek sal daarvan hou as ek weer vir Tim kan vang, maar dan hunker Mike Potgieter vir my en dis goeie aansporing.<br />
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Ek hou die splits dop by Newlands, Mike, Fjord en Tim is net 'n paar ure voor my en ek is bykans op dieselfde tyd as 2014, moet nou net my gat roer dan kan ek dalk 13 dae doen, Boet werrie bel my op die lang opdraande na Newlands, vertel my ek lyk goed en moet netso aanhou dan vang ek hulle nou-nou. Ek vlieg verby Rockdale en Oom Gawie die Schufteberg uit, jaag na Jakkalsfontein en vat gelukkig die afdraai regs, as Boet Werrie my nie per toeval ingelig het van die regs swenk nie kon ek dalk 'n baie langer paaitjie links geneem het. Die Cannondale Rush is lus vir jaag, wil net vinniger en vinniger, ek is eindelik racefit en die pad is of plat of afdraande met 'n matige wind van voor, ek sê matig want in Vredendal waar ek bietjie ge-oefen het waai die wind bedonnerd. Die Rush sing die pad af ek hou hom bo 40km/h en spoedig klim ek die berg uit by Tollie's Safari's, die manne se spore lê nou vars in die grond, ek maak Struishoek ligdag en ek weet ek is voor my 2014 persoonlike beste.<br />
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Struishoek portage en dis presies wat dit is, 'n moerse lang klip besaaide afdraande waarteen jy afboender met jou fiets op jou rug terwyl jy die wit gekalkte klippe volg wat Oom David se volk vir ons geverf het volg sodat jy nie verdwaal nie. Laaste lig is ek onder en sonder om te aarsel klop ek aan Oom David en Tannie Verity se voordeur, hier moet 'n man groet, baie spesiale mense wat al baie spesiale dinge vir my gedoen het.<br />
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Ons groet soos lank verlore familie, vra mekaar uit oor hoe dit gaan, Tim soos ek hom ken het ook kom groet, ek tap vir my water gee 'n stywe handruk en boere druk en val weer in die pad, ek is nou amptelik voor my persoonlike beste, seker maar omdat ek afstand gedoen het van die oorblywende pakkie pyle in Elandsberg. Ek vat die teerpad, my sweeties en choccies is op en ek wonder hoe Pearston lyk, net 'n kilometer verder van die afdraai en ek besluit om my nuuskierigheid te bevredig en te gaan kyk en wat sal ek vind ? 'n Raserige dorpie met 'n indringer kafee, koop vir my 'n pakkie Simba, 'n Coke en twee Barone's en so wragtig hulle het Pietie Stywestaan Blou, my smaak en daar swik ek en koop 'n pakkie, geniet 'n pyl op die voorstoep en sluk die simba af met 'n koue coke, terwyl ek die baie vrae antwoord : Wat's my naam, van waar kom ek, waantoe gaan ek en dan die beste : Is jy Mal ?<br />
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Dis so 35km of wat na Gegun en ek vang wrede spoed, die Rush soek pad, dan links, dan regs, dan in die middel, anders as die ander plekke werk MTN verbasend, maar hul padskrapers verseker nie, my nekspiere is gedaan en ek sukkel om die peanut bo te hou, loer maar so onder deur die hemet.<br />
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8H40 by Gegun herenig ek weer met Tim, baie trots op myself, jaag gou iets deur die pens, sluk 'n koffie of twee en bewonder die sterre met 'n pyl in die hand, Tim wil middernag wegtrek en ek moet saam, hy sal my wakker maak, nie tyd vir stort nie net vir slaap en ek stem heelhartig in......Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-18432789461552932542017-06-18T15:33:00.000+02:002017-07-06T15:33:35.256+02:00Brostelea - Elandsberg<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In die snerpende koue val ek 2H00 weer in die pad, die sinkplaatpad help darem vir ekstra warmte met die geskuttery, ek wonder hoe koud dit is, want ek voel die koue wil byt, vandag het ek darem sommer my reënjas ook aan, iets wat ek nou die dag in my koue nag vergeet het. Ek wonder oor waar Tim is, het hy by Pierre Cloete gaan slaap, ek het Pierre se nommer vir hom gegee, Pierre het my laas ingenooi vir 'n braai en 'n paar biere en amper oorrompel om te slaap, dalk het Tim in die Blokhuis gaan slaap of dalk iewers in 'n ou murasie, my oë al soekend in die donker nag na Tim. Moet sê ek en Tim geniet mekaar se geselskap en dis altyd lekker om saam te ry, ons stop gewoonlik op dieselfde tyd, mors nie mekaar se tyd nie, praat nie wanneer dit nie nodig is nie en motiveer mekaar om aan te hou wanneer dit nodig is.<br />
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My gedagtes bly dwaal in die stikdonker maanlose nag, ek verlang na Melanie en die kinders, Danielle se borrelende laggie, nog 'n opgewende hopballetjie soos Martin, ek verlang na Alison wat my elke dag motiveer met 'n dagstukkie en Melanie se warmte wat my dryf na hoër prestasies. Die verlange wel in my op, ek wil graag bel, maar MTN is dood, so dood soos my vingers, dit lyk werklik of hulle ontrek het. My gedagte woel oor die boere oorlog, jy weet geskiedenis op skool is mos 'n onding, wat wil ons nou weet van wat ons voorvaders aangevang het, en dan ry jy die Freedom Challenge deur Stormberg, en jy slaap in die Ingelse Blokhuis en jy koop 'n boek oor die Boereoorlog en jy lees Denys Reitz se storie oor 'n bitter koue nag in die reën, Boere geklee in streepsakke of wat hul kon vind, perde dooi van die koue, manne bibber en beef van die koue, Ingelse op hul spoor beur hul voor die koue in en dan ervaar jy dit.........Dit bly donners koud, nie dat dit in die winter nie iets anners is in die geweste word nie, en ek die Boer, die Boer is altyd op 'n Ingelsman se spoor, of daar is 'n Ingelsman op my spoor.........<br />
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Ek het nog nooit by die Ingelse monument gestop by Vegkoppies waar die Boere die Ingelse op hul moer gegee het nie, ek het al gelees en gegoogle oor waar dit is, die lig breek net betyds en in die verte sien ek iets wat vir my soos 'n monument lyk en ek vind die pad en ek gaan kyk en ek beleef die hele slag weer, van die Ingelse wat die verkeerde pad vat, by die opstal amok maak en hul posisie verraai en die Boere gereed maak vir die aanslag en ek is bly ek het die boek gelees...<br />
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Die geruipte pad vertel 'n storie, Tim is agter my of ver voor my, want dis net my spoor wat ek los, die verlange woel weer op in my en ek wonder of Molteno se MTN nog bestaan, daar altyd sein op die teerpad. Selfoon in die hand snel ek die teerpad op soekende na sein, 'n bakkie kom in die mistigheid verby, my moeë oë wil nie lekker fokus nie, lyk vir my soos Glenn se bakkie.<br />
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Die bakkie stop, dit is Glenn, hy vra my hoe dit gaan, neem 'n foto van my heel meer stream line karkas, ek vra oor sein en Glenn sê daar is gewoonlik by die afdraai, maar lyk my nie vandag nie, die koue val my weer aan en ek val in die pad en wonder bo wonder kom die boodskappe op my foon deur, sein Haluluja !!!!<br />
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Ek bel vir Mel gesels 'n hond uit 'n bos uit, die verlange is groot, Danielle verlang ook en sê ek moet roer, die koue byt, Tim is voor my, nou-nou net by Romansfontein aangekom en ek is bly ek het nie die ysige koue nag aangedurf nie. Vol nuwe krag en warmte jaag ek Romansfontein toe vir 'n blitsige stop ek wil graag vir Tim vang ek sien weer sy Maxxis Crossmark spoor voor my, hy het ook amper verkluim, 6 bakkies yogurt ge eet en toe weer in die pad geval.<br />
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Onder Aasvoëlberg moet brieke ruil, die langpad Vlekvlakte is 'n eentonige klim en ek jaag om ligdag Elandsberg te haal, met laaste lig land ek in Hofmeyer, koop vir my 'n Coke, Asyn Simba chippies, twee Barones en 'n vars pakkie pyle, hulle hou nie my smaak aan nie, maar na bykans 4 dae van niks sal enigiets doen en Kent is die ding. By Karoobos neem ek stelling in, pyl in die hand, coke in die ander hand wat afwissel met 'n asyn chippie, Boet Werrie bel, Mike Potgieter is besig om rond te neuk in die Elandsberg en ek wonder so vir 'n oomblik of ek dit ook gaan doen.<br />
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So uur of wat later vind ek myself voor dieselfde kruispad, jy volg 'n jeeptrack tot by 'n draad, klim die draad en mik dan vir 'n nek tussen Elandsberg aan die linkerkant en drie koppies aan die regterkant en tel dan 'n jeeptrack op wat jou na Elandsberg lei. Die truuk is daar is twee jeeptracks, die eerste een neuk die berg in en die tweede een is die pad na Elandsberg, in die dag heel maklik herkenbaar maar nie in 'n maanlose donkernag nie. Ek vind 'n jeeptrack, weet nie of dit die regte een is nie, maar albei begin dieselfde en na so ent weet ek dis die verkeerde een en al wat oorbly is om die kompas wat ek vir my aangeskaf het by Malekholonyane uit te haal, Suid-Oos te bepaal omdat ek nie die Suiderkruis kan sien nie en oor die klippe aan te donner tot ek die regte jeeptrack kry.<br />
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Vind die regte jeeptrack en netso na 10 val ek by Elandsberg se deur in, en ek wonder of ek nou moet aanploeter na Newlands en of ek moet slaap, met my tweede Freedom Challenge het ek die 26 uur aanmekaar ry fout gemaak, dis okay as dit in die laaste deel van die race gebeur, maar nie voor die Baviaans nie en ek besluit op 'n drie uur slaap sal more Tim probeer inhaal, hy slaap verseker in Newlands......<br />
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<br />Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-77900917704530594302017-06-17T07:59:00.000+02:002017-07-06T13:52:13.867+02:00Slaapkranz - Brostelea<div class="mobile-photo">
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Tim vra my om saam met hom te ry, ek kry die briefie en 'n omkoop chocolate van hom toe ek wakker word. Om vir Tim nee te sê bestaan in my woordeskad nie, en my hoop was mos eintlik dat ons saam moet ry, ons het nou mos al in die verlede van Slaapkranz saam klaargemaak.<br />
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Tim praat my gou gou in 'n 12 dae klaarmaak in, heel malligheid in my oë, maar nouja die plan is om Romansfontein te haal voor die aand draai. <br />
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Ons vorder goed, my spekkies is nou al amper heel uitgebrand, maar die ligter Tim klim steeds beter as ek, ek los hom maar teen die steiltes en vang hom maar net weer op die plat. Nege ure later groet Danie van Moordernaarspoort ons met sy welbekende butternut sop. Ek en Tim wonder nou nog oor hoe die manne dit in 5 ure doen, want dis nie asof ons gespeel het of verdwaal het in die donker nie, maar nou ja sommige ouens is vinniger as ander....<br />
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Tim praat my in die 12 dae ding in, maar dan moet ons Romansfontein vandag maak, ek stem in, maar oppad na Brostelea verander my wysie, dit was net nou die dag -11 oppad na Chesneyworld, Molteno was -16 op dieselfde dag, ons kry vir Ingrid langs die pad, haar skoene is gaar soos twee jaar gelede se Freedom Challenge skoene en sy kry nuwes en moet 'n daylight penalty uitsit by die volgende stop. Net na 19h00 is ons by Brostelea en die 82km na Romansfontein in die donker op moeë bene kan gou 9 ure se trap raak, indien ons, ons gatte roer en nie met moeë bene trap nie en ook nie rond tas in die donker nie, behoort ons teen 3H00 / 4H00 daar te wees.<br />
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Dis klaar 2.vrek koud, die nuwe koorsblare vorm nog vars in my mond, ek onthou nog te goed hoe 'n 5 uur skof in 'n 9 uur skof vrrander het en ek besluit ek het mie lus om vir 25 ure+ te ry, waarvan 8 in 2.Moer koue omstandighede gaan wees. Ek kan liewers warm slaap en more vroeg laat waai en breakfast saam met Tim geniet....<br />
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Tim aarsel so oomblik, wonder oor warm koffie en val toe maar in die pad, ek dink dis 'n groot fout want dis reeds koud, maar Tim is 'n aanhouer, ons ien mekaar af, dis half sleg vir my want dis lekker om te ry, maar my gevriesde vingers van twee dae gelede laat my hunker na warmte en ek kies die pad na 'n warm stort en Tim die koue nag in, hopelik sien ek hom more iewers........<br />
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Sent from my Sony Xperia™ smartphoneMarnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-51952443749317016482017-06-16T12:27:00.000+02:002017-07-06T12:28:11.871+02:00Rhodes - Slaapkranz<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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En so begin ons trap teen 1H00, ek het my kleertjies gewas en voor 'n lekker kaggel gepak wat alles droog en warm gelaat het, die vroeë oggend luggies is koel tot snepend, gelukkig is die pad uit Rhodes nie heeltemal plat nie en die klimme bring warm bloed na die tone en die vingers......<br />
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Maar o wee daar's 'n moerse afdraande wat wag na die afdraai na Bokspruit, jy sak af tot heel onner waar die gevriesde riviertjie en wit gerypde velde vir jou wag en eensklaps smaak dit my ry ek in Antartika in, dis vrek koud, eintlik 2.Moer koud, ek stap sommer die opdraandes net om weer bloed in die tone te kry, met die arms maak ek wawiele, klap die hande om hitte te genereer, maar dit bly koud en so stappende armswaaiende wawiele ploeter ek voort tot by die Sterkspruit afdraai. Nog 'n afdraande wat my verder opvries, traanjies vries op my gesig na die afdraande, die Buff voor my mond wat die koue lug moet uithou vries, Sterkspruit is vriesend en al wat oorbly is om aan die beweeg te bly, anners vries ek regtig......<br />
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So halfpad op die Sterkspruit pad kan ek dit nie meer hou nie, my vingers voel soos gevriesde pere, dooie goed wat in my handskoene hang, my tone is dood, wawiele en stap help nie meer nie, my waterbottel en camelback is gevries en ek soek 'n warm plekkie wat baie skaars is, nêrens brand 'n liggie nie, dis vroeg oggend en ek sou ook seker in 'n warm kooi vir die koue weggekruip het.<br />
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Ek kry 'n ou stal, maak vir my 'n bed van teff en spring met geweld in my bivvy, iets moet ek doen om warm te word, na 15 minute vries ek in my bivvy, doen so slaapsak hardloop in die bivvy, wil nie warm word nie, al wat oorbly is beweeg, klim toe maar uit en beweeg stadig op die fiets tot ek 'n rokie gewaar by een van die plaaswerkers huisies. Sonder om te aarsel draai ek dadelik af, klop hammer aan die deur, iets van :"Ek sien julle het vuur, ek wil inkom, ek vrek van die koue.....<br />
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Die duur swaai oop en ek storm in, pyl reguit na die konkavuur in die hoek van die kamer, ek omhels omtrent die skoorsteen, lyk behoorlik of ek die konka aanbid soos ek myself om die vuur probeer vou, alles is koud, my hande dreig om die koorsteen te gryp, groot oë staar my aan van die bed se kant, "Die Baas kry koud nê" en ek prewel iets in Spaans van "Ja fokken koud" en so aanbid ek die vuur al omhelsend in 'n poging om die laaste bietjie hitte aan te trek. In stilte waardeer ons die vuur en toe ek dink ek is warm genoeg toe val ek maar weer in die pad, dis die koue nag se laaste stuipe en die son behoort binne die volgende uur of wat sy kop uit te steek, maar dit smaak my dit word ne koue, al die stroompies langs die pad is hard gevries.<br />
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Na sewe ure in die koue hel word dit lig, die son steek nie sy kop uit nie, want ons is in 'n gevriesde vallei, in die verte sien ek die opdraande na die Bottelnek afdraai, warm sonstrale glinster by die afdraai en ek was nog nooit bly om die opdraande te klim nie. Bogekom pluk ek my handskoene uit rig die gevriesde blou pêre na bo in poging om warm sonstrale te bereik, die lewe keer terug in my vingers, ek wil skree en toe skree ek maar van die pyn en toe daar lewe is vat ek pad na Chesneyworld se warm Aga stoof.<br />
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Na nege ure strompel ek die deur in by Chesneyworld, van in 'n aanbiddende houding langs die stoof neer, dis - 11 gewees en dis nou 10H00 die oggend en die pype is nog gevries, ek is hipotermies, praat nie lekke nie en heel van balans af. Ek moet warm word en Minky se ma boender my die stort in en stadig ontdooi die straaltjie warm water my weer tot mens, my voetjies en my hande nog dood, maar ek kan alweer praat, JT en Leon het ook in die vroeë oggend ure heel gevries daar aangekom, hulle is nou-nou in die sonlig daar weg. Gewoonlik spandeer ek net 'n halfuur by 'n support station, maar nie vanoggend nie, eers nadat ek weer heel ontdooi het val ek weer in die pad.<br />
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klein Andrè van Slaapkranz begroet my te perd naby die Spitskoppe en so deel ons die pad na Slaapkranz, klein Andrè en sy Oom Marnitz, by Slaapkranz aangekom te 15H00 besluit ek om van Andrè en Joyce se gasvryheid gebruik te maak, ek het vanoggend naby aan verkluim gekom en in my ou kamer sak ek neer onder die warm donskombers, ek het hitte en rus nodig tewyl my kleurtjies gewas word, eintlik hoop ek Tim daag daar op en dat ons saam kan ry.....<br />
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Boet Werrie bel my later die aand op die landlyn, Tim is blykbaar oppad maar kan dalk oorslaap by Chesneyworld, my beplanning is om middernag te ry, Melanie bel my ook later heel onstoke omdat ek al 3 uur die middag gestop het en niks laat weet nie, selfone werk nie in die geweste nie en ek het amper verkluim probeer ek verduidelik en sy praqat iets van ek kan dit netsowel los as ek 3uur die middag wil stop. Ek besef Melanie se woorde, hulle is baie trots op my en wat ek vermag en wil graag net die beste hê, ek besef my slapgatgeit en dat ek myself moet regruk en begin fokus, van more af sal ek ry........Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-10672426177223727312017-06-15T01:47:00.000+02:002017-07-05T16:57:39.798+02:00DAG 4 Malekholonyane -Rhodes<div class="mobile-photo">
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My plan is om 2H00 weg te trek, JT en Leon wil hê ek moet saam ry, maar ek is nog te swaar in die broek, hulle los my by Ongeluksnek, my dif trek nog swaar.... </div>
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Op Blackfountain vang ek hulle weer, hulle het so bietjie van 'n klein Picasso gemaak, vinnig is ons weer op koers. Blackfountain bly maar 'n bliksem in die donker en 5 ure later trek ons by Tinana in.</div>
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Hulle besluit op die alternatiewe roete uit, dis weer 'n moerse klim en my diff wil, wil olie lek en hulle trek weer onder my uit, op 'n stadium weet ek nie of ek voor of agter die manne is nie, op my beste vermoed ek toe mar ek is voor hulle net om teen 11h25 te herenig in Vuvu. Ek het die tygerline gevat, want tydens ons recce het JT bevestig dis vinniger, hulle het natuurlik die kontoerpad gevat, wat niie klaar was tydens die recce nie en toe voor my ge-eindig by Vuvu</div>
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Ek besluit om die Vuvu hoendertjies te los die keer, julle weet natuurlik dat hulle honde gebruik om die hoendertjies te jaag en lekker taai te maak....</div>
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Op Lehanas pak my diff op, nie genoeg ge-eet nie, moes dalk 'n taai hoendertjie in die keel afgegooi het, ek besluit om nie die Tygerline te vat alhowel ek beplan om in Rhodes te slaap nie Smaak my Afriski het hul sneeu masjien aan vergeet, dit voel of ek in 'n vrieskas inklim. Ek begin bewe soos 'n riet, sukkel om my skoene aan te trek, gee sulke lang vloeke wat niemand hoor nie, dis flippen koud, my hande is gevries en die son skyn nog.</div>
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Rhodes is een van daai plekkies wat nooit nader kom nie, deels omdat jou bene moertoe is en deels omdat die plekkie wegsteek is en min huise se ligte brand. Daar is 'n moerse afdraande, net om jou heeltemal te vries en dan daag die laaste 10 km op, en Rhodes wil net nie gebeur nie, seker maar omdat al die olie uit my dif is...</div>
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Kom donker by Rhodes aan, net om JT en Leon aan die etenstafel te vind, wil ek saam, hulle gaan Chesneyworld toe ? JT oortuig my amper, maar ek besluit op 'n warm stort, dis mal koud en die oorblyfsels is maar min, Alex het sy bokse vir my gegee, maar die manne het sy boks klaar verskeur.....</div>
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Ek koop 'n coke of twee, my rooklus neem oor en ek bedel 'n pyl of twee by die kroegman, wat my met verwondering aankyk, hulle verkoop nie pyle nie, was toe my gaai en rook toe sommer albei pyle, dit wil vir my voorkom of more nogal koellerig kan wees......</div>
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Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-24725272222868114462017-06-14T08:02:00.000+02:002017-07-05T16:43:06.626+02:00Dag 3 Glen Edward - Malekholonyane<div class="mobile-photo">
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Martin wil of kan nie slaap nie, ek hoor die man skarrel in die vroeë oggend ure, hy is soos 'n opgewende hop balletjie met rooimiere, kan nie stil nie. ek staan toe maar op terwyl hy so skarrel.</div>
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Hy moet ry vertel hy my, iets jaag hom, is opsoek na die sleutel van die hek, ons vind dit en hy val in die pad sonder dat ek 'n tree saam hom gestap het.......prewel iets van Alex, JT en Leon</div>
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Ek het self 'n belofte aan JT, my raadgewer gemaak, iets van hy kan my dalk sien of nie sien nie, ou grootbek en stellig na 'n boere breakfast val ek ook in die pad met 'n dringendheid, kyk heeltyd terug soekend na hul liggies in die donker nag.</div>
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weet nie of ek hallusineer nie, maar elke nou en dan gewwr ek liggies wat my agtervol en dan trap ek om voor te kom, vroeg oggend by Masakala, grou weer deur die oorblyfsels om iets voetsaams te vind, laai gou die ligte en die foon, nie dat dit nodig is om die foon te laai nie, want smaak my MTN het heeltemal ontrek uit die geweste. Jaag gou 'n bord marog en opgekookte hoender deur my keel en val in pad, ek moet voor die jaers bly.</div>
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So jaag ek tot by ons Coke stop net voor Mpharane, koop 'n coke, 'n melkie en dink 'n sleg verskoning uit vir 'n pakkie Stywestaan Rooi, hier gebruik die manne net sterk goed en dan nog sterker omkyk twakkies wat ek nie wil probeer nie. Die rokery pla my, en ek los die pakkie Stywestaan, het nog so pyl of wat oor, eintlik hou dit my terug, maar as 'n man verslaaf is dink jy mos altyd baie goeie redes uit hoekom jy moet aanhou......</div>
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Op Mparane ridge rook ek my laaste pyl, neem die besluit om op te hou, hopelik kan ek aanhou ophou, die tyd sal leer, eintlik is ek seker maar net baie vir Lehana's........</div>
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Ek ry lekker en is weer laaste lig op my merke op Malekholonyane se stoep, kry vir Anton Wood en makkers daar, grou weer deur die oorblyfsels vir iets om te eet en kom op 'n kompas af, nie die eet tipe nie, die rigting tipe en ek het nou mos al in my moer verdwaal omdat ek nie die belangrige item byderhand gehad het nie, neem hom toe maar saam met so hand vol neute en sweeties wat al die kinders soek. Nie te lank daarna nie daag JT en Leon op, hulle het my en lig my in dat Alex uitgeval het. Die race bly 'n bliksem, maak nie saak wie jy is nie, hy bekruip jou en sluk jou heel in as jy nie op jou hoede is nie, dit al te veel gesien in die verlede en ek wonder so by myself wanneer word ek gesluk.</div>
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JT en Leon voel goed, lyk goed en is lus vir jaar, hulle sal 'n kamer met my deel en more saam my in die pad val, dis nou te sê as ek nie snork nie, wat toe nou nie die geval was nie, JT was toe die snorker....</div>
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Die spekkies brand en dit wil wil voel of ek sterker word, gelukkig teen die tyd wat ek in Rhodes aankom, behoort ek weer so sterk soos die ou Rusland te wees, ek is agter op my beste tyd, moes vanaand in Tenana geslaap het, gelukkig nie baie ver agter nie</div>
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Melanie en die kinders, wil graag hê ek moet jaag, ek voel ook soms so, maar die bene nog nie heeltemal nie.</div>
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More mik ek vir Rhodes, laat ons maar sien hoe die geveg hom uitwoed.</div>
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Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-73427590278996729712017-06-13T15:17:00.000+02:002017-07-05T16:01:19.794+02:00Dag 2 Centocow - Glen Edward<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">3H00 val ek in die pad op geheue en vorige Freedom Challenge ervarings, nie lank nie toe maak ek my eerste fout, speedo in my waansin gestel op gemiddeld en ek draai te vroeg. Die pad lyk nie baie bekend nie, maar dit gaan styl op, ek soek my huis met die bome wat nêrens te vinde is nie. Baie dinge kan verander in twee jaar en al wat tel is dat die pad styl opgaan, ek kom my fout agter toe die pad die kontoer vat, draai heel bedonnerd om nadat ek 'n halfuur gemors het net om die regte pad 'n kilometer verder te vind.</span><br />
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Dis 'n styl pad en vordering vir 'n vet seuntjie is maar stadig darem nie te lank nie toe is ek bo en in die donker nag jaag ek af na die afdraai van Bushelweni, weet ek moet iewers oor 'n bruggie en dan links in die padjie. Kinders oppad skool toe sweets-sweets die donker nag in oppad skool toe, ek maak of ek Duits is en verstaan niks opsoek na die afdraai. Weet nie of dit die sweets-sweets, chocolates-chocolates is wat my na vrede soek en 'n afdraai te vroeg vat, kan dalk maar net onnoselgeit ook wees. My tweede foutjie maak ek toe oppad na Boshelweni, draai te vroeg al soekend na die plantasie, dwaal bietjie doelloos tot vermaak van die dot watchers, die Suiderkruis kom tot my reddig, maar my oë bedonner my, want waar 'n Bloekombos moet wees is kaal aarde en so sal ek uitvind dat die bos afgesaag en weggery is om papier of pale te maak.....ek ry nog so kring om die kaal bos net so vir die lekker tot ek my bearings kry.<br />
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Die vraggie liqued energy wat ek saam my ry, hou my maar terug, dit en die feit dat my saal nogsteeds stadig sak, ek lees iewers iets op twitter waar die manne en dames kla oor 'n omgeploegde pad en neem aan dis by Politique, sal maar sien wat daar aangaan......<br />
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Maak Ntsikeni so teen middag ete, nuttig 'n bord ordentlike kragsop, grou in die oorblyfsels wat die vorige manne in hulle bokse gelaat het en kies so ietsie om aan te pesel vir die pad na Glen Edward, die geploegde pad bly in my kop en om myself 'n gatskud van vormaat te spaar kies ek die Tygerline en sny so 3km, moet sê die Tygerline is styl maar die moeite werd om die geploegde pad te mis.<br />
<br />
Die boer ene Clark as ek dit reg het, het besluit om die pad vir 15 km op te kerf, die Vader allen weet hoekom, seker maar om sy beeste se enkeltjies sterker te maak, of dalk hou hy daarvan om sy trekkertjie uit te toets, verseker nie omdat hy erosie op sy plaas wil bevorder nie.......<br />
<br style="background-color: white;" />Aan die einde van die gekerfde pad ontmoed te toe vir Clarke, hy het dit nodig ge-ag om 'n brandbaan te brand, die rook borrel oor die pad en ek ploeg die rook in, vir my stop jy nie met rook nie, ek like dit en soos dit is, is dit eers ligte rook en dan digte rook en ek kan nie meer my asem ophou nie en vat sulke groot happe gebrande gras. Dit word warm en dan donners warm, die rook brand my oë en my longe en net toe ek wil donner toe ry ek onder die rook uit binne in die vriendelike Clark vas wat my vertel van die kortpad deur sy land. Ek groet maar vriendelik en beduie ek vat sommer die lang pad, kyk voorbrand is belangrik en dis uiters noodsaaklik, want in die geweste word alles mos afgebrand. Ek het op 'n slag bietjie navorsig gedoen oor die afbrand van alles en daar is aan my verduidelik dat hulle skoonmaak......<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HXUcRHxOA58/WVzvweNOgnI/AAAAAAAAB5c/dQkx7wMEGAMjwl6HS3YuZF3-LV8jeiyAQCLcBGAs/s1600/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="935" data-original-width="526" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HXUcRHxOA58/WVzvweNOgnI/AAAAAAAAB5c/dQkx7wMEGAMjwl6HS3YuZF3-LV8jeiyAQCLcBGAs/s400/unnamed.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
Met laaste lig val ek by Glen Edward in, pyl in die hand is my eerste vraag: wie de dooner kerf 'n goeie pad op vir die lekker sonder goeie rede en die antwoord vriendelike Clarke. Charles vertel my dat die man werlik vriendelik en 'n uiwerige boer is, een sleg donner het 'n hek oopgelos en die man se beeste het deurmekaar geraak en aan die teel gegaan en dis moerse skade. Clarke ek vra dus nederig om verskoning vir wat die man 2 jaar gelede aangevang het, gelukkig het Johann Rissik bruggies gebou en dus nou glad nie meer nodig om enige hekke oop te maak nie, gelukkig is daar bees padjies langs die gekerfde pad en wanneer jy die gekerfde pad moet vat is dit baie goeie voorbereiding vir die gatskud wat nog wag.<br />
<br />
Dis altyd 'n voorreg om by Charles en Shiela tuis te gaan, ons het nou al die Nienaber kamer, ek hoor Ingrid het ook haar eie Olifantjies kamer.<br />
<br />
Ek smul aan die kospotte van Kanaan, baie trots op myself dat ek nog nie teruggesak het op my plan nie, later die aand val Martin Dreyer by die deur in, boorelend nederig soos altyd, vra hoe laat ek in die pad gaan val en besluit toe ook om saam te gaan terwyl ek ook vroeg wil gaan, ek glo ons sal seker so 15m saam ry......<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZcTTyFU_LIY/WVzxBgqQ0WI/AAAAAAAAB5g/f8HAYai_Q_EH5G4SeijEkTjnEVyZVX9ogCLcBGAs/s1600/unnamed%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="901" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZcTTyFU_LIY/WVzxBgqQ0WI/AAAAAAAAB5g/f8HAYai_Q_EH5G4SeijEkTjnEVyZVX9ogCLcBGAs/s640/unnamed%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br style="background-color: white;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" />Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-21401524668366674732017-06-12T22:50:00.001+02:002017-07-05T15:05:25.229+02:00Dag 1 PMB tot CentocowBlybaar nie 'n dag vir foto's nie, ook nie vir 'n vet seuntjie nie, gelukkig dink ek daar is nou net 6kg oor van die spekkies liquid energy. Wonder bo wonder het ek ook nie gekramp nie, dis 'n eerste vir my. Ek het gedink ek gaan soos 'n riet bewe wat die rittel dans doen.....<br />
<br />
Maar dat ek vandag gesuffer het is 'n feit soos 'n koei, dit het maar baie moeilik gegaan, was ook nie baie lekker om heel agter, en ek bedoel baie ver agter almal te ry nie. Die krummels en die spore wat die manne vir my gelos het is lakal toegewaai en om die tog vir my swaarder te maak het my seat post clamp besluit om my saal stadig te laat sak, dink toe maar 'n Boerepatent uit so in die sakkery, sy 'n lee coke bottel en maak vir my 'n spacer en siedaar bly die saal bo.<br />
<br />
Die Umkomaas is weer in vloed, ek wil nie omry nie, dis teen my beginsels, die koue water is goed vir my moë spiere en vandag is weer vrek warm, niemand is nog deur nie en ek soek 'n plek, maar dit lyk nie goed nie. Ek kry sulke terugflitse van 2011 toe die rivier my amper vrek gemaak het toe die waters my onder 'n doringboom vasdruk en besluit toe maar op die ompad, al soekend na 'n deurkom plek sonder sukses. Maak my water vol by Hela-Hela want ek weet dit gaan 'n lang tog wees tot bo en bloed sweet gaan daar baie wees, wonder bo wonder ry ek nogal 'n groot deel, maaaar toe ek begin stoot toe stoot ek bloed tot bo.<br />
<br />
Na 16h00 val ek by Dana van Allandale in, baie later as gewoonlik maar ek is daar sonder krampe, spietwit van die salpeter uitgeslaan, heel aan die tam kant, ek wonder so vlugtig of ek nie dalk moet oorslaap nie, gelukkig net vlugtig. Ek val weer in die pad netso voor donker, dit het al met die tandem gebeur toe ons ook in die donker weggetrek het, gelukkig is my kennis van die roete goed en die sterre lei my in die regte rigting, met so klein draaitjie natuurlik, maar in die regte rigting.<br />
<br />
By Donnybrook koop ek vir my 'n coke en 'n melkie en toe 'n pakkie Pieter Stywestaan, ek rook gewoonlik nie op die Challenge nie, maar gewoonlik is ek fiks en vinniger, en gewoonlik rus ek nie so baie nie en nou soek ek sommer net verskonings om die pakkie twak te gekoop het, feit is ek is verslaaf, swak en lus vir 'n sigaret en ek het nou 20 van die pyle....<br />
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Met 'n pyl in die hand loer ek die sterre en die liggies van Centocow in die verte, regtig nie gedink ek gaan die liggies op die eerste dag sien nie, maar nouja daar staan ek en loer vir hulle en net so voor 10 val ek by die deur in, die hele plek net vir myself.<br />
<br />
Die feit dat ek nie gekramp het nie kan ek seker toe skruif aan die goeie raad wat ek gekry het, pace jouself, wel my pace het baie loop en stoot ingesluit, Hela Hela se 1000m klim bly 'n bliksem en ek het vandag amper die hele helse ding uitgestoot.<br />
<br />
More is nog 'n spekkie brand dag, hopelik brand ek al die spekkies op voor Rhodes, dan kan ek dalk begin race....<br />
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Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-71588697125286424682017-06-11T10:13:00.000+02:002017-06-11T10:14:05.769+02:00Freedom Challenge 2017<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bFPrOsDk1UA/WTz7zkWFy2I/AAAAAAAAB3o/YaaYqk995DYFK0VcIncgxFDoxEHS4a2WwCK4B/s1600/IMG-20170610-WA0000-745770.jpg"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bFPrOsDk1UA/WTz7zkWFy2I/AAAAAAAAB3o/YaaYqk995DYFK0VcIncgxFDoxEHS4a2WwCK4B/s320/IMG-20170610-WA0000-745770.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6430291231326456674" /></a></p><br>Ek voel soos 'n opgewonde hop balletjie met 'n hele span bottervlieë in my pens. My palm nat gesweet, my maag al werkend, wonder ek wat vir my voorlê, nie dat ek nie presies weet nie....<br><br>Hierdie Freedom Challenge weet ek al 'n jaar van, oefen ek as jy dit oefen kan noem al van Desember, eintlik Januarie. Dis 'n roller-coaster voorbereiding gewees, want dan ry ek en dan nie, 'n maand gelede het ek vir Meryl ingelig dat ek dit verseker nie gaan maak nie. Haar woorde aan my was dat sy my op los tot die dag wat ek moet wegtrek, maar in my kop het ek klaar afskeid geneem, ek gaan nie ry nie. Ek was in 'n stormagtige see, wat die een duining na die ander op my gestoomroller het, 'n Kaptein spring nooit van sy skip en los sy verwarde bemanning in 'n onstuiming see nie, jy doen dit nie!!! <br><br>Die recce saam met Mike en Jacques het weer die kweinende hungerende flammetjie aangesteek, tog het ek bloed geweet, gekramp soos 'n bewende riet, my kop het my bly vertel dat ek nie reg is nie, maar die hunkerende vlammetjie het al duileliker begin brand. Ek het die Here gevra vir 'n teken en Hy het dit vir my gegee, ek moet ry.<br><br>En hier is ek 7 kilo's swaarder as my ideale gewig, met 'n fiets wat op 99 aan mekaar gevlans is, sonder broodjie bokse. Ek weet nog nie hoekom ek moet ry nie, maar ek weet ek moet ry, en dat ek die eerste paar dae bloed gaan sweet is 'n feit soos 'n koei....<br><br>Sent from my Sony Xperia™ smartphoneMarnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-65674549558879387642017-04-19T11:21:00.003+02:002017-04-19T11:21:48.546+02:00Boet Werrie June 26 Day 16: Trouthaven to Diemersfontein<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span lang="EN-ZA">All Freedom Challengers have heard the
horror stories of Stettynskloof – “the kloof that shall not be named”. The route to Diemers is only about 50km long,
but takes the most part of the day – that is in normal weather. Generally the plan is to leave very early to
do the climb to the dam wall and the first 3 km to the inlet of the dam in the
dark (it takes about 2-3hours). When the
other 3 woke us up at 4:30am, it was clear that the storm was still raging
outside. Us 4 that were caught in the
storm the previous day were very lethargic – everything happened slowly. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-ZA">When the others left at 5:30am, we were
still getting ready. We raided others
boxes for as much food as we can get. We
ate breakfast at 4:30, and are not going to get food again until we
finish. Many riders make the mistake of
not taking enough food for this day. As
we walked out the door (around 6:30am) our Scotty stopped us. He wanted to say
a prayer for us for this day – Leon started off this habit where we held hands
and prayed at breakfast, lunch and dinner stops. This was the 1<sup>st</sup> time that Scotty
asked to lead the prayer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">We made very good time to the inlet of the
dam, where we got stuck. The narratives
said that we had to cross the stream.
The stream however was a raging river with all the rain that fell the
night before. JT and I wanted to cross,
Leon and Scott had more sense. They picked out a route higher up the right side
of the valley. Because of the dense
foliage, it’s impossible to try to follow the river up the valley. It was the right choice of route under the
circumstances. However, it was slow
going to get down the small cliffs and thru the washed away rocky streams (like
big dongas).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">We caught up to the other 3 near the
Schakleton crash site – the plane crashed here in 1960, killing all people on
board. Pieces of the plane wreck are
spread over a very large area. It’s
still there as if it just happened yesterday – a bit eerie. There is a small bronze plague erected in
memory of those who died. The normal
route goes around a rocky outcrop below this plague. The plague, however, were way below us. I noticed this and mentioned it to the
others. They were reluctant to go
down. </span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">My mind work in pictures, once I’ve been at
a place, I’ll remember it in fairly good detail. I’ve done Stettyns a year before. A few minutes later I spotted some green grey
builders down near the river – where the path goes over. Because the route we followed was terribly
slow, I announced that I’m going down to where the path is and started climbing
down. I’m not sure if it was my
confidence, the crap route we were trying to follow, or the cold numbness of
the persistent driving rain, but everybody followed me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">When we eventually got to the builders, I
found a stacked stone cairn. This was
put there by previous year’s riders.
This is the path that we had to follow.
Scotty took control of the path finding – he had the amazing ability to
spot these stacked stone cairns. Closer
to the end of the valley we lost the path, but that is Stettyns. Sometimes you just had to barge thru the
foliage. The last 300m, you’re crawling
on all fours, grabbing hold of whatever you can, whilst balancing your bike on
your back.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-ZA">A the top you can admire the beauty of the
kloof, the water falls, ridges, vegetation, everything. However, your body feels and looks like it’s
been in the ring with Mike Tyson, armed with an axe and a hammer for 10
rounds. Blood is seeping out everywhere
on your legs and your body feels properly battered. And you wonder how a place of such beauty can
hold so much suffering.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">The demand of this race on your body, day
in and day out, never ceases. You have
to continually manage your abilities, your mental state of mind, your energy
levels and your general physical state of well being to keep going.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">The rest of the route goes thru the
picturesque Fisantekraal, up the Du Toits Kloof Pass and then it’s downhill to
Diemersfontein. Du Toits Kloof Pass
gives you time for reflection on this race.
On what a great adventure you’ve been privileged to experience. On how great life is. And how important your
family and friends are in life.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">As we dropped down into the estate, Marnitz
was waiting at the top gate. It was dark
and my bike light stopped working – I didn’t recognise him until JT told me
later. Earlier in the day Leon warned JT
that he and I will get emotional at the finish.
JT was having none of it, but mentioned that it would be ok to cry only
if it rains. Well as we rode the last
couple hundred meters, it started to rain softly. </span></div>
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But the raw emotions of relief, happiness
and accomplishment never fully took over.
The kids gathered just in front of the finish. As we rode past, Hanno (my youngest) screamed:
“Pappa! Pappa!” Grabbed my hand off the handlebar and held on for dear
life! The next moment Luann (my oldest)
and Danielle (Marnitz’a daughter) were on the other side. I had my emotional moment for about 4
seconds, before I got doused with champagne and then it was just people and
photos and hugs and questions and phone calls.
It was overwhelming.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Apparently the very lively Brackenfellars
(and everybody else) waited the whole afternoon for us, and made a big dent in
the Diemersfontein red wine stock doing so.
I was thankful for the reception I got.
It was good to see so many happy people together. But, I would have like it, if the 4 of us,
with our families could have sat around the table for one last time. We’ve been thru a lot together, it would have
been fun. But there were so many people
and everybody wanted their share of our (and their) experience. Leon’s and my family had breakfast together
the next morning where we had some reminiscence.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
The last funnies that happened later the
evening.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Things were a bit hectic in the restaurant,
and I was still dripping wet and cold. I
told Elitza that I needed to go for a shower and off we went to our
cottage. As we walked there I was
feeling very miserable, with my body shivering and teeth clattering. I told Elitza that if I ever want to do this
race again, she must shoot me. She just
laughed at me, and said you’re a Nienaber, you will never change, we’ll talk
again in the morning. After the hot
shower and some food in the belly, I was already contemplating what I would do
different for next year… I suppose, after living together for more than half
our lives, she knows me way too well.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Marnitz and I were standing outside the
restaurant having a chat, when one of Leon’s fellow Brakkenfellars came walking
out on his way home. He said goodbye to
me (calling me Werner), and mentioned that there were so many people that
excitedly followed me with all my adventures.
He then turned to Marnitz to say goodbye, but he forgot his name. He said: “You’re famous man, don’t tell me
your name. Ag man, I know it. You’re Werner’s brother!” We both had a good chuckle about this,
because throughout the whole race, everywhere I went, I was called you’re
Marnitz’s bother.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sEG9yR51OOc/WPcp5v1LtyI/AAAAAAAAB3A/m1S176UZgwEEVdFiZLwG7QXYljVDpy45gCEw/s1600/unnamed%2B%25285%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sEG9yR51OOc/WPcp5v1LtyI/AAAAAAAAB3A/m1S176UZgwEEVdFiZLwG7QXYljVDpy45gCEw/s400/unnamed%2B%25285%2529.jpg" width="298" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-ZA">What
I’ve learned:</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">This race breaks you down to the raw fibres
of who you really are. If you don’t pray
already, it teaches you to pray. It
teaches you to appreciate the very special moments you have in life.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">South Africa is beautiful and it’s filled
with incredible people. You just have to
choose to see the beauty surrounding you.
The journey was just that – an incredible journey of self-discovery and
experiences, meeting incredible people and beautiful places.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">As in life, you’re going to fall of your
bike (or break it). You have to be brave
enough to get up and get going again. Failure doesn’t mean you’ve given up on
your dreams. You have to plan and
prepare better to get it done. All the
pain and suffering of the past failures, gave way to an emotional elation that
I followed a dream (started off by Marnitz).
I failed twice before, but came back and finished it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">And in Clint le Roux’s words: “This race is
hard on your mind, your body and your soul.
It’s uplifting at times. It’s
frustrating too. It motivates you, but
it also breaks you. This race teaches
you things you have forgotten about yourself, as well as new things that need
to be learned. Most of all it humbles
you.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">A lot of the terrain covered is brutal to
say the least. Spectators following our
dots on Google Earth see a jeep track.
We are seeing and riding a rock garden.
Spectators see what they believe to be a flat district road. We ride a 20 km ascent, littered with
drainage mounds, with no reprieve. There
are many different variables and perceptions of what is actually being
experienced vs what the spectators think is going on. I’ve been on both sides of this experience.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Weather changes everything in this race.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">And I suppose that my race is pretty much
the same struggle autistic kids experience every day. You need a proper support system around you
to help you get thru life. You need a
lot of prayers and a bit of luck. And
with a bit of vasbyt, you’ll get to shine your light in life.</span></div>
Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-39058044944993075552017-04-19T11:06:00.000+02:002017-04-19T11:06:40.326+02:00Boet Werrie June 25 Day 15: Anysberg to Trouthaven<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">This was going to be my toughest day on a
bike ever, not that I knew it at the begining.
It’s about 230km to Trouthaven, with over 2,000m ascent. A long day in normal circumstances, starting
it with sleep deprived and tired bodies, it’s going to be even more
challenging. But we were up for it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">We started off a bit later than we wanted,
due to the self-catering issue. Luckily
the normal early morning banter got us quickly thru to a cold & misty
Montagu. The support station was at a
new venue called De Bos where we got breakfast.
Leon and JT dropped a lot of kit there to lighten their bikes for the
Stettynskloof portage. It is allowed by
the race office. But Scotty and I
stubbornly chose not to – call me old fashion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">The punishment of the Freedom route has
started to take its toll on my bike. The
big chainring was worn to a stage where I could no longer put any pressure
whilst pedalling. I had to either resort
to spinning in the small ring or pedalling very lightly in the big ring. This meant that I was mostly moving a lot
slower than the others. They waited a
lot for me, where after I changed my strategy to just keep pedalling non-stop,
even when they had snack stops. This
helped us all moving at a better pace.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">We got to Pony’s Cottage in Mcgregor in
good time, our 2<sup>nd</sup> last support station. Scotty promptly made us an awesome salad
whilst we heated some Bobotie. Scotty’s
other responsibility was to make us sandwiches at every interim stop,
preferably with either cheese (rocket fuel) or peanut butter and jam – the joys
of being the youngest! Just before we
got rolling the mother of all storms kicked up, blowing all our bikes
over. We nervously looked at each other,
we still had some 110km to go in the day.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">At the start the storm winds were
manageable and it was strangely warm. I
was riding only in my short sleeve cycling shirt. Not having the big blade to my disposal was
detriment to fighting this wind. I had
to resort to only the small blade and the 10 gears at the back. This obviously put a lot of strain on the
chain and smaller cassettes. Leon put
together a strategy of riding for 14km and then taking a break of 5min – this
worked well. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">As the fight went on during the afternoon,
the wind just got stronger and stronger.
At some stage as we climbed up Gannaberg pass, I was surprised to see
that the others have fallen way behind.
Watching them whilst taking a quick break, it dawned on me that they’re
taking much more strain than me. Being
over 90kg I kept my bike mostly on the road, only every now and then I got
blown off the road. The light weights on
the other hand were having a torrid time at it.
They didn’t just get blown off the road, they got completely flattened a
few times!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">At the top of Gannaberg we took a break at
the Amathunzi Lodge entrance to wait for our Scotty. As he neared we got onto our bikes and
immediately something snapped on my frame.
I couldn’t pedal at all, with the down pipe chaffing against the rear
tyre. My top tube broke thru completely. I calmly informed Leon and JT about this and
again said my good byes (Scotty only found out later). They had a storm to fight and I did not want
to be the reason for them being out in the storm for any longer than needed –
the last day is tremendously tough, they’re going to need all the energy they
can spare.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">When they rode off into the distance, I
lost it a bit. I had my moment of
propped up anger. I couldn’t believe it,
didn’t want to believe it. Just like the
previous brake, the area that surrounded me, was devoid of trees. This is fynbos country, nothing higher than
hip height grows here. My map indicated
a farm house about 14km in front of me, and another about 9km behind me. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">The lodge was out of bounds. Then I had my 2<sup>nd</sup> tiff…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">I decided to walk back to the lodge
entrance. There at least was a wall
where I could hide from the wind and there was cell phone reception. I had to inform the race office and needed to
eat something. I also informed Elitza
about it. She and the kids had already
booked the flights for the next day, to be at the finish. I assured her, that it doesn’t matter what it
takes, I’ll be at the finish the next day.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Whilst having something to eat, I asked
Marnitz what the weather forecast was going to be like for the next 2
days. His response: ”It’s going to blow
for the next 2 days and rain is on the way. </span><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">JJJ</span><span lang="EN-ZA">”. At the time he obviously
did not know in what predicament I was, and did not understand the
ferociousness of the storm. This however
did not cross my mind, and his enjoyment about the storm really pissed me
off. I was 70km away from Trouthaven,
120km from Diemersfontein – I would have walked the last bloody bit. But I did not want to do it that way, I
wanted to enjoy the final moments of the race.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">After the phone formalities, it was getting
a bit cooler. So I fished my waterproof
jacket out of the saddlebag, and discovered the forgotten Wrap-Tech
packet. With a smile on my face about my
good luck, I feverishly read through the instructions. Without being able to stuff something inside
the top tube to keep it in place, I carefully lined the top tube up and then
wrapped the Pratley Putty around the break.
I poured my last water into the foil packet with the bandage
inside. After a minute I started
wrapping the bandage around the top tube and worked it as per the instructions.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Fi-Uur5A7o0/WPcmOSiJroI/AAAAAAAAB2c/x1sp6OZJFgUAqKEy65ImhLjvfxdFadm2QCEw/s1600/20160626_160528.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Fi-Uur5A7o0/WPcmOSiJroI/AAAAAAAAB2c/x1sp6OZJFgUAqKEy65ImhLjvfxdFadm2QCEw/s320/20160626_160528.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Wrap-Tech instructions say that the
bandage fix should be done after 20min.
Not wanting to loose time I got back onto the road pushing my bike. After 30min, I decided that I’ll give it some
more time. I did not want to take any
chances messing up the fix. I decided to
walk for another 20min. I eventually
found a sizable stick that I broke in 2 and duck taped it around the
break. Just before I decided to get onto
the bike, I prayed. Then started
pedalling. It was nerve wracking! After a couple of meters I checked the fix.
It held! I immediately send Leon an sms:
“Please keep some dinner for me aside, I’m on my way, I’ll get there very late”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">I was going downhill into the wind of
Gannaberg. I was flying at 20 km/h and as
I rode around a corner, I was presented with the most beautiful sunset I’ve
witnessed during the race. To me it was
the Lord letting me know that He’s looking after me, that He’ll carry me over
the finish line. I must just stop
worrying about it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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The wind however did not let up. It was a miserable fight, where youhad to
give everything to gain a just little bit.
It didn’t matter in which direction you turned the wind was there in
your face. Every time a car approached,
I stopped and held onto both brakes, just to make sure that the wind doesn’t
blow me in front of the car. At some
stage I thought it started to rain.
However I was riding about 100m away from a dam!<div>
<br /><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Earlier in the evening I got sand blasted a
few times, but the sand storm at the Brandvlei kloof was just murderess. I had to pull my buff over my eyes and walked
as fast as I could on this section.
Whilst walking, I got almost blown over a couple of times. It was insane not being able to even walk the
bike. I got really angry the last time
it happened, something snapped. I
screamed to no one in particular: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">“IS THIS ALL YOU GOT? IS THIS YOUR BEST? F*** YOU!
F*** YOU!” And I promptly got
blown over the road into a ditch next to the road. I was lying there with my bike on top of me
and started giggling. Well that showed
me who’s the boss. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">The giggle turned into an uncontrollable
laugh, with tears rolling down my cheeks.
I so much needed that. That laugh
released the much needed feel good endorphins to get me thru to Trouthaven.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0MMbYhoSZ_k/WPcmObzilQI/AAAAAAAAB2g/HxYsgi6DAcUaI8Z1G6LlRddiI6mrEagbgCEw/s1600/20160626_163645.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0MMbYhoSZ_k/WPcmObzilQI/AAAAAAAAB2g/HxYsgi6DAcUaI8Z1G6LlRddiI6mrEagbgCEw/s320/20160626_163645.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">I continued thru to the Brandvlei prison
where I got water. About 20min later
when I got to the prison gate, I queried from the guards if the water is safe
to drink. He told me that if it’s got a
funny taste it’s no good. To a parched
throat any water tastes awesome! Luckily
it didn’t affect my stomach.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">I dreaded the last 12km climb up the kloof
to Trouthaven, because that was the direction the wind was blowing from. As I truned into the kloof, much to my relief
the wind was blowing more over the right shoulder from behind. I literally flew up the climb. On this last climb it’s the last time that
you have reception until you get to the finish. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"> My phone rang, it was Marnitz. He
followed my slow progress during the evening – it was close to 11pm. He said: “Bliksem Boetie, I am so proud of
you, well done” and then went on to discuss other details and what we had to do
the next day. He is my older brother,
watching out for me – he’s been there; stuck in snow storms, he understood the
battle I was fighting. That was a very
special moment.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">When I eventually got into Trouthaven rain
was bucketing down. I sent the following
check-in message to the race office: “In Trouthaven 11pm Werner, horribly,
horribly beaten, but not yet broken”.
The race office only received the message when I dropped down to
Diemersfontein the next day.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">When I walked into the house, everybody
just fell silent. There were 3 other
riders as well, and they knew about my adventures with the frames. The stares on their face were of pure amazement. Leon called me to the table and put his
dinner (that he just warmed up) in front of me, what a friend! He said that he just knew I was going to get
it fixed. The riders just shook their
heads when they saw the frame. JT was
having a shower when he heard me speaking.
He couldn’t believe that it was me, so he stopped mid shower to get out
seeing if his ears were betraying him or not.
The entire moment was priceless.
After all the excitement of making it to Trouthaven and passing war
stories, we all got to bed after midnight.
I slept on a couch under a blanket.
It was probably the happiest I slept all trip – I felt invincible.</span></div>
</div>
Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-75627916799692212522017-04-19T10:41:00.000+02:002017-04-19T10:41:17.013+02:00Boet Werrie June 24 Day 14: Prince Albert to Anysberg<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">This is a big day. Only about 180km, but close to 4,000m
ascent. It also includes the Swartberg
Pass, “Die Leer” and the Buffelspoort portage.
After about 4 hours of sleep, we got riding at 2 am. The full moon was up and Leon had the novel
idea that we need to switch all our lights off.
It was surreal. We rode the full
14km of the Swartberg Pass with only the moon guiding us. We could see everything! The water falls, the streams, the mountains,
everything. That experience will stay
with me forever.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Turning off to “Die Hel”, people generally
make the mistake thinking the road drops down into Gamkaskloof. Unfortunately you have to climb 2 more passes
before the final drop down. We made very
good time and dawn arrived just before we dropped down the new pass into the
kloof. The new pass is something
spectacular. The 3 boertjies have seen
it before and have taken plenty photos, this time it was our Scotty’s turn.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">There was a wet coldness in the air, it was
bone chilling and flying down the pass didn’t help at all. When we got to Ouma Sannie se Winkel, our
support station, we asked Pieter to make us a fire so that we can heat up a
bit. He just brushed us off. 4 cups of steaming coffee could not heat me
up. I eventually found a blanket, pulled
it over my head and took a nap on an old couch.
This did the trick.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Die Leer is the original route into and out
of Gamkaskloof. The climb is about 1.5km
long with a 600m vertical ascent. After
you’ve crossed a stream at the bottom of the climb, you basically, chuck your
bike on your back and hike up the side of the mountain. It takes about an hour. The views from the top are breath-taking.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Prammetjie jeep track at the top of the
mountain, could just as well be another portage. It’s very tough going. When you do eventually drop down into the
Klein Swartberg River valley, it’s like riding into the different world. It’s warm fruit and grape growing country.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_64" o:spid="_x0000_i1029"
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<br /></div>
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o:title=""/>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
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visibility:visible'>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Rouxpos is a charming old Cape Dutch farm
house, with a green lawn and a border collie in front of the house. Pretty as a picture. Aunt Ronel treated us to waffles and ice cream
for dessert. Wow! I had a very pleasant stay over at Rouxpos
the previous year and would have loved to stay over again, but Elitza and the
kids would be waiting at the finish in 2 days’ time. So we had to get to Anysberg that night.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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visibility:visible'>
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\Jaco\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image017.jpg"
o:title=""/>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RRqYk0YLPTM/WPcfxBMyrGI/AAAAAAAAB2M/j4Gp-tvYavIpLPsbinfvTUu9s6v4JtwYgCLcB/s1600/20160625_163217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RRqYk0YLPTM/WPcfxBMyrGI/AAAAAAAAB2M/j4Gp-tvYavIpLPsbinfvTUu9s6v4JtwYgCLcB/s320/20160625_163217.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Leaving Rouxpos, our Scotty was in fine
tourist form, shooting off into the distance without looking at any maps or
narratives. He completely missed the
turn-off to the Buffels River. Leon had
to ride after him to fetch him. Our poor
Scotty must have received a proper lecture from the Brackenfeller, because for
the rest of the time he was riding at the back.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape
id="Picture_x0020_69" o:spid="_x0000_i1034" type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:446.25pt;
height:251.25pt;visibility:visible'>
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\Jaco\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image019.jpg"
o:title=""/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">We flew thru the Kromkloof portage and
eventually got into the Anysberg Nature Reserve in complete darkness. I was riding at the front when something
suddenly attacked me from the right side of the dirt road. I almost fell of my bike trying to get away
from the thing. It turned out to be a
rabbit, to the detriment of me, and the entertainment of the others. The jokes kept us going for quite a while.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">We got into Anysberg around 8:30pm. This is a self-catering support station. As the others took turns to shower, I
prepared us a meal of canned sardines on biscuits, some pasta with canned
meatballs and there were some chocolate bars in the raided ice-cream tubs. There were plenty steri-stumpies to get the
food down. Not bad at all.</span></div>
Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-9036166259802563662017-04-19T10:18:00.000+02:002017-04-19T10:20:28.654+02:00Boet Werrie June 23 Day 13 Willowmore to Prince Albert<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">As we were having breakfast at 4:30 am, in
walked Brad vd Westhuizen. He broke away
from his group, he needed time alone.
That’s the Freedom for you. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Prince Albert is about 170km away and it’s
the only stretch in the Freedom that is flat (only 800m of ascent). As we rode out of Willowmore, Leon, riding at
the back, got pulled over by the local police for suspicious behaviour…
Brackenfellar! It was good to know that
the police are very diligent in this part of the country.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ee2wa0YHzbw/WPcTOgTa16I/AAAAAAAAB1k/exlR_d9r8OItan6QzPlKN7TXzrKbdcCTACLcB/s1600/20160624_071416.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ee2wa0YHzbw/WPcTOgTa16I/AAAAAAAAB1k/exlR_d9r8OItan6QzPlKN7TXzrKbdcCTACLcB/s320/20160624_071416.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_58" o:spid="_x0000_i1026"
type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:446.25pt;height:251.25pt;visibility:visible'>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">We were making very good time early on and
started thinking of maybe pushing thru to Gamkaskloof. We started off a bit too late in the morning,
but the seeds were planted. There was no
headwind in the day, so we motored, only stopping every now and then to lube
our chains and eat something. I rode
some time with Scotty and got all his background. It turns out that I’ve met quite a lot of his
family and friends. Small world.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">There are only 7 farm houses on this
stretch. And to keep us from getting too
bored, a bit of sand or corrugation is chucked in every now and then. At Rondawel we met the newest arrival of
Karien, only 1 week old. The tame Black
Backed Jackal was however nowhere to be seen.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_59" o:spid="_x0000_i1027"
type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:446.25pt;height:251.25pt;visibility:visible'>
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o:title=""/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">The road after Rondawel is a little more up
and down. At some stage I stopped to
lube my chain. Because I was the
stronger rider during that stretch, I told the other to keep going, I’ll catch
up later. When I got to the top of the
hill, I couldn’t see the other riders, so I gunned it. At the top of the next hill, I still couldn’t
see them. So I decided that I’ll take it
a bit easier – they’ll have to stop sometime.
About 20 min later, I heard some giggling going on behind me, and there
were the 3 buggers. They played hide and
seek with me…</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I2GUdmyySY4/WPccyUymYSI/AAAAAAAAB10/P8216XoAsNUWqBsqrQaE2OcyzplqQIV3ACLcB/s1600/20160624_095729.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I2GUdmyySY4/WPccyUymYSI/AAAAAAAAB10/P8216XoAsNUWqBsqrQaE2OcyzplqQIV3ACLcB/s400/20160624_095729.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_60" o:spid="_x0000_i1028"
type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:446.25pt;height:251.25pt;visibility:visible'>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">We kept the pace up a bit and took turns at
the front. All to make up time to push
thru to Gamkaskloof. The headwind picked
up a bit, and made us work hard when up front.
The people to take their turn at the front did not include our
Scotty. With about 10km to go, we
mentioned it to our Scotty. He promptly
took his turn up front and sprinted off into the sunset… Bike ethics!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">In the last part of section Leon got a rear
tyre puncture. I took a nap whilst he
was fixing it, and got woken up by a baboon, like the normal one walking on
four legs. I’m not sure who got the
biggest fright, but boy that baboon disappeared in a dust cloud. And obviously nobody saw it! More banter followed. A little later on I broke a spoke in the rear
tyre. Were these omens for us having to
stay over at Prince Albert?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">We lost some time with the above
mechanicals and only got in at 4pm. I
still had to replace the spoke and needed some proper bike tools to remove the
cassette. I had to do the fix at
Dennehof, because there are no tools at Gamkaskloof. You sleep there in a caravan. In the end we decided to stay and enjoy the hospitality
of Lindsey and Ria, and the 300g percale duvets…</span></div>
Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-13614744563285521972016-09-21T15:13:00.003+02:002016-09-21T15:27:11.906+02:00Boet Werrie June 22 Day 12: Dam se Drift to Willowmore<div class="MsoNormal">
We planned to ride thru to the Rondawel
farm house (an interim stop) almost 190km away.
We still had to climb out of the kloof to Willowmore. Another long day in the saddle. Scott told us the evening before that he’ll
only ride to Willowmore – he planned to leave at 7am. Leon was on alarm duties for the day. We wanted to get up at 4am to get into the
road at 5am, but were only woken up at 5am.
He accidently set his alarm an hour later.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">We got stuck around the breakfast table,
with lots of laughter and friendly banter.
The whole pink panther story was relayed to Hestelle. And with tears rolling down everybody’s
cheeks, in walked Scotty. He was much
surprized to still find us at breakfast – we should have been long gone. He almost appeared disappointed to find us
still there. When we left around 6 am,
he told us that he’ll take off around 8am.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p79Mq8F-rS8/V-KI73C9gyI/AAAAAAAAB0Y/WmoORYnkX6Irjk9HyJdFwX3VgFYLKrAMgCLcB/s1600/20160623_075255.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p79Mq8F-rS8/V-KI73C9gyI/AAAAAAAAB0Y/WmoORYnkX6Irjk9HyJdFwX3VgFYLKrAMgCLcB/s400/20160623_075255.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BODwyetOCTU/V-KI79I6KMI/AAAAAAAAB0c/C8v1t8A663YbwTcz_21oeiBjWsBdth0twCLcB/s1600/20160623_102231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BODwyetOCTU/V-KI79I6KMI/AAAAAAAAB0c/C8v1t8A663YbwTcz_21oeiBjWsBdth0twCLcB/s400/20160623_102231.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 12.2667px;">On the way to Nuwe Kloo</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Riding out of the kloof, I was feeling very
weak. I suppose the previous 3 days hard
effort caught up with me. My mind was
also wavering a bit on the effort to keep up with Leon and JT. They waited a lot for me. At one such stop they decided to stop at the
Baviaans Curio Shop for coffee. I was
grateful for the break. As we were
having coffee, Scotty rode down the road. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">His 1<sup>st</sup> reaction was to not see us, but the 3 boertjie waived
him over, ordered some more coffee and made him pay for everything… That will teach him some bike ethics, more on
that later.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_55" o:spid="_x0000_i1027"
type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:446.25pt;height:251.25pt;visibility:visible'>
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\Jaco\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image005.jpg"
o:title=""/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">He gave up riding on his own, and decided
to join us all the way to Willowmore. I
was still battling to stay with the group and whilst going up the Nuwe Kloof
pass, decided that I’ll go as far as Willowmore. I couldn’t tell the others because they were
too far ahead of me and thought that I’ll send them a message once I got some
cell reception again. I stopped
frequently to take in the scenery (and some photos). I needed to get the fun factor back.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_56" o:spid="_x0000_i1028"
type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:446.25pt;height:251.25pt;visibility:visible'>
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\Jaco\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image007.jpg"
o:title=""/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Great was my surprize when I found Leon, JT
and Scotty sleeping next to the road at the top of the 2<sup>nd</sup> climb
out. They also decided that they’ll only
ride to Willowmore – they also needed to find their fun factor. Leon did send me a message earlier, but I
only got the message once back in Willowmore.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">We got into Willowmore and stopped at the 1<sup>st</sup>
coffee shop we saw. As we were ordering
food, a gentleman walked up to us, introducing himself as Paul Moult. He drove through from George to give me a
product to fix my bike! It’s called
Wrap-Tech. He handed me two packets of
the product and explained in much detail how it works. The packet only weighs about 100g and
consists out of a small piece of steel Pratley Putty and a small bandage with
some bonding agent in it. He offered to
put it on the broken piece of frame, but the food arrived and I said to him
that I’ll do it later in the day and send him the pictures.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">I never fixed the frame and felt very
guilty about it. When we arrived at the
Willow Hotel, I phoned Elitza to tell her about the last few days and the
change in plans. I must have sounded
like crap, because it was a short chat.
I slept the whole afternoon. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Everybody caught up on some much needed
sleep that afternoon. We all sounded
much better around the dinner table and were treated to the biggest T-bone I
have ever seen. I wolfed it down in only
a few of minutes. The rest and dinner
must have revitalized me, I had a lot nicer chat with Elitza later on.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">We planned to leave around 3 am the next
morning, but Glenn (race director) told us that there’s no need, because we
only wanted to go to Prince Albert. It
normally only takes about 12 hours to get there. So we changed to leave at 5am.</span></div>
Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-33145792208459168122016-09-21T15:13:00.002+02:002016-09-21T15:16:09.818+02:00Bowet Werrie June 21 Day 11: Hadley to Dam se Drift<div class="MsoNormal">
We got going at 4am, JT… need I say
more? We picked up another rider, Scott
Rutherfoord, a very quiet, confident person.
He grew up in Mkuze, not too far from Richards Bay. Whilst we climbed up the Osseberg I mentioned
to Scotty that if the Freedom has not yet broken him, we 3 will. He’ll have to take all comments in his
stride. He just nodded and off he went.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HXhjw-YfKYc/V-J-1HVHsxI/AAAAAAAABzk/aWlfBTEc9F4tYCyMjoMjhvO0YRGg-JM_wCLcB/s1600/20160622_061917.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HXhjw-YfKYc/V-J-1HVHsxI/AAAAAAAABzk/aWlfBTEc9F4tYCyMjoMjhvO0YRGg-JM_wCLcB/s400/20160622_061917.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 12.2667px;">The 3 boetjies reunited again</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">As the dear man rode up the berg in front
of me, I saw something very disturbing.
Scotty’s long pants showed pink in my bike light and to make matters
worse it appeared that he was wearing a thick black j-string. That was unsettling to say the very
least. This became a big point of
discussion between the 3 boertjies. Every time we cracked a joke on the Pink Panther, he just smiled, which
unsettled us even more. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ln5XeMAJtIQ/V-J_cMZy_FI/AAAAAAAABzo/7nFwJhESkcQixCjzqgFtqrAh05weOrufwCLcB/s1600/20160622_071049.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ln5XeMAJtIQ/V-J_cMZy_FI/AAAAAAAABzo/7nFwJhESkcQixCjzqgFtqrAh05weOrufwCLcB/s400/20160622_071049.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QXj03C89bHk/V-J_cPlvTjI/AAAAAAAABzs/3eatzLHjF1kn2xNe6xB26IQI-2StRn1CwCLcB/s1600/20160622_072450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QXj03C89bHk/V-J_cPlvTjI/AAAAAAAABzs/3eatzLHjF1kn2xNe6xB26IQI-2StRn1CwCLcB/s400/20160622_072450.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 12.2667px;">The Osseberg portage</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_38"
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">I was forced to take it slow down the other
side of the Osseberg protage, because my brakes started failing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">The Pink Panther took 3 tumbles on the way
down, the 1<sup>st</sup> tumble we nearly lost him – he just about saved
himself going over a cliff. Everything
was frozen when we eventually got to the bottom. It was light, but the sun was not up yet, and
anyway the sunrays will not reach the bottom until closer to noon. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">We all reluctantly took off our warm clothes,
but were thankful for the Pink Panther to return to Scotty – the verdict on him
was still very much undecided.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">You have to cross the Groot River 10 times
whilst trying to find a very overgrown osse trail out of the kloof. As explained to Brad and the newbies, when
you get to the river, don’t hesitate, pick your bike up and just cross it. The river is about chest high deep and very
overgrown with reeds. The 3 boetjies
crossed without incident, and were battling to get out the other side when we
heard someone use the holy cape flats phrase:” Ahh P***”. We were just in time to see our Scotty and
his bike going for a swim downstream.
Scotty! That word shalt not be
uttered anymore.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7BnyKa1vwdQ/V-KAOMPM3II/AAAAAAAABz0/PyQcK8riDscnpIBB_n8BhUBhSJS7ivnHACLcB/s1600/20160622_082224.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7BnyKa1vwdQ/V-KAOMPM3II/AAAAAAAABz0/PyQcK8riDscnpIBB_n8BhUBhSJS7ivnHACLcB/s640/20160622_082224.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 12.2667px;">The Groot River portage – there is a river there in between those reeds</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">We were utterly confused by the
situation. So we did what we know best,
find the trail and continue downstream.
We nailed the portage and got into Kudu Kaya around noon. We had at least 2 hours to get to the boom
gate, which is only about 20 min away.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">The conundrum of Scotty’s, err, situation
got the better of Leon, and the Brackenfeller in him took over. He approach Scotty very direct :”Scott, not
that I’ve got any problems with it, but are you gay?” Scott’s response was a very quiet, no – he’s
got a wife and 3 kids. The Brackenfeller
was however very persistent: ”So you have not yet came out of the closet…” Poor Scotty was a confused man, but responded
in the best way possible:” F*** off man, you got me there! You’re funny!”. There was a very audible collective sigh of
relieve</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">To our surprize and my luck, the Kamp
Kommandant was in at the support station.
He gave our trackers new batteries, and he had enough tools to fix my
brakes. A quick topping up of brake
fluid did the trick. I was very
concerned about going down the Bergplaas pass without brakes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">As if the boom gate curfew was not enough,
the Baviaans Kloof bureaucracy thought it a good idea to force the race office
to have someone riding behind us through the conservancy – its 60km long that
include 3 proper climbs. The beauty of
the Baviaans is tainted by this. We always
felt under pressure to ride as fast as we can.
The engine noise rumbled away all piece and quite of the Kloof. I tried to stop every now and then to take
everything in, but it just was not the same.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">The Baviaans Kloof is a very special,
beautiful place. It’s very lush and
there are streams everywhere that you cross.
There are photo opportunities around every corner, if you care to linger
a bit. We did none of that. We spent a lot of energy to get to the other
boom gate as fast as possible. When we
did get to the other gate, we were a broken bunch. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1s8J313BOq8/V-KGRccrymI/AAAAAAAAB0M/SN2TzH47e40Z0hY46cV5E2LJ9J3DR72wwCEw/s1600/20160622_142108.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1s8J313BOq8/V-KGRccrymI/AAAAAAAAB0M/SN2TzH47e40Z0hY46cV5E2LJ9J3DR72wwCEw/s400/20160622_142108.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="text-align: center;">After the bakkie left, we just sat there on
the ground, eating whatever we still had left on us. I remember being very amused when I saw water
trickling out of the top of my shoes.
I’ve got Gore-Tex Winter boots, which is supposed to be water
proof. But I suppose crossing the river
10 times in the morning, without taking off my shoes filled them up to the
brim. It was now 8pm and I’ve carried
the water all the way to this spot.</span><br />
<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6GUQyvJ6pvM/V-KGRYf9epI/AAAAAAAAB0I/cYYvIBOzptAhd17GYaJzXeHPfrKIcFPJACEw/s1600/20160622_142115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6GUQyvJ6pvM/V-KGRYf9epI/AAAAAAAAB0I/cYYvIBOzptAhd17GYaJzXeHPfrKIcFPJACEw/s400/20160622_142115.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
The sleep monsters took proper control of
us riding the last 26km to the support station.
Concentrating on the light in front of the bike did not help. So I decided to chat to JT about his
life. He is a very private person, but
was so tired that he told me a fair amount.
He’s CV is very impressive. He
got a lot of drive in him, once he has made up his mind. And in his words, he also had some luck on
the way. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7pILAiPekBM/V-KGRfz5X1I/AAAAAAAAB0Q/RAuDeDH8xMkdn9wVD52OvFtNf7vbtqEaQCEw/s1600/20160622_135353.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7pILAiPekBM/V-KGRfz5X1I/AAAAAAAAB0Q/RAuDeDH8xMkdn9wVD52OvFtNf7vbtqEaQCEw/s400/20160622_135353.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">After a while Leon and JT spoke Russian to
each other – we called it Russian, but its gibberish due to being so
tired. They continued with this for a
long time, amusing Scotty and I. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">At
least no one fell asleep whilst riding, which has happened to me before.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">At Dam se Drift there were 2 sheep on the
front lawn. When I went thru the gate
they walked up to me and greeted me like dogs.
According Hestelle that is just the case, they grew up with dogs and are
totally confused. I didn’t mind them at
all, especially when they were standing around my legs, I was covered in fluffy
warm wool.</span></div>
Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-40341036048011931912016-09-21T14:34:00.001+02:002016-09-21T14:34:01.812+02:00Boet Werrie June 20 Day 10: Toekomst to Hadley<div class="MsoNormal">
Due to the long day before we decided to
only get up at 5:30am, but thanks to JT we only started rolling after 7am. We planned to ride thru to Hadley today
(about 170km) to set us up to catch the boom gate at the entrance of the
Baviaans Kloof open in time. This is new
on the Freedom trail, something the Baviaans Kloof bureaucracy forced upon the
race office.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ttrvrvYOBVk/V-Jz6eqfr3I/AAAAAAAABzA/x4uvP370I0M3n2Olh76Iu5Xi9tAdi56bQCLcB/s1600/20160621_082010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ttrvrvYOBVk/V-Jz6eqfr3I/AAAAAAAABzA/x4uvP370I0M3n2Olh76Iu5Xi9tAdi56bQCLcB/s400/20160621_082010.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 12.2667px;">On the way to Addo.</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We started off riding through the
Darlington Dam section of the Addo Elephant National Park. A place I always wanted to see, and saw a lot
of wild life – no elephants though. On
the way down from the dam wall, we flew over a low water bridge and heard a
“kink” sound. We could not see that we
dropped anything so carried on.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PzKMJKU0cHw/V-J0oKoWOGI/AAAAAAAABzE/sCU6ECrY5hkywnxOixrzi7QIwdvw1c_oQCLcB/s1600/20160621_100353.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PzKMJKU0cHw/V-J0oKoWOGI/AAAAAAAABzE/sCU6ECrY5hkywnxOixrzi7QIwdvw1c_oQCLcB/s400/20160621_100353.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 12.2667px;">The start of the Gwaas valley</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_4"
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R1416N_71AQ/V-J05kXJvqI/AAAAAAAABzI/O3VxaWDIwkMGCEgGlS57xJzaKMtGE7Z6gCLcB/s1600/20160621_104218.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R1416N_71AQ/V-J05kXJvqI/AAAAAAAABzI/O3VxaWDIwkMGCEgGlS57xJzaKMtGE7Z6gCLcB/s400/20160621_104218.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 12.2667px;">Riding thru the Gwaas valley</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whilst riding up the Gwaas valley, I
struggled to get into a rhythm and my knees started to hurt. My saddle bag kept on chaffing on the rear
tyre, no matter how many times I stopped to tighten the straps. Eventually when we went through the
Perdepoort the chaffing got so bad that I got off the bike to properly inspect
it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was then that I saw the broken
frame – I rode about 30km on a broken frame!
I was furious and dejected.
Another broken frame! It’s not
possible!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">We were about 12km from Kleinpoort (a
settlement of about 20 houses). I said
my goodbyes to Leon and JT. Leon wanted
to stay, but I refused. This is an
individual race, I had no idea how long it’s going to take me to fix it and
they had to get to Hadley, else they’ll miss the Baviaans boom gate. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Reluctantly they left. </span>This is the Karoo, there are only hip
height bushes around. Not much that I
could do but to get to Kleinpoort and see if I can sort it out then. I resorted to a fast walk on the hills and
putting as much weight as possible on the handle bar riding on the flats and
downhill. When I got some cell
reception, I contacted the Kamp Kommandant, and send a message on the Whatsapp
group. I also phoned Elitza about the ordeal. I assured her that I will finish the race,
come hell or high water.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">I couldn’t get any help at first at
Kleinpoort. So I went to the local
padstal to get something to eat. The
padstal owner told me that I needed to find the general dealer owner,
Willem. If there is anybody that can
help, he’ll be the person. Willem was very
interested in finding out why the frame broke and inspected it from all
sides. When I told him about my previous
fix, he shoved both me and the bike onto his bakkie and took off to his house
about 7km away where he apparently had a small workshop.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">When we arrived I saw a fair size
engineering workshop. It only took a few
minutes to find a suitable stainless steel pipe, cut it to the right length and
hammer it inside the down pipe. Willem
was a little bit enthusiastic on the repair job, and hammered it in a bit too
much, thereby cracking the bottom part of the down pipe and lifting the top
part by about 2cm. We had to cut my seat
post stem so that my feet could touch the pedals again. I tested the bike and everything seemed fine.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3GhDP_dbz20/V-J2ndrbKLI/AAAAAAAABzQ/_oB6QjolUi8QMOlyncyGAO1bWGY9sNQ0QCLcB/s1600/20160621_154443.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3GhDP_dbz20/V-J2ndrbKLI/AAAAAAAABzQ/_oB6QjolUi8QMOlyncyGAO1bWGY9sNQ0QCLcB/s400/20160621_154443.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 12.2667px;">The fixed 2<sup>nd</sup> frame – stainless steel pipe right down its throat</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Willem dropped me off at front of his shop
and with a friendly handshake wished me luck.
He joked that if the frame held he wanted patent rights. What a man!
I informed the race office of the bike fix, they informed me that Ollie
form PYGA has flown a frame down to Port Elizabeth, and that I’ll be able to
pick it up at Kudu Kaya (Cambria) the next day.
I declined the offer, having full faith in the fixed frame.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">I also gave Elitza a ring informing her
that I’m a relieved, happy rider again.
It was 4pm I had to get going properly to get to Bucklands. Marnitz phoned me, according him it’s about a
3 hour ride to Bucklands, and a 5 hour ride to Hadley. At that pace I would have been in at midnight
in Hadley – I decided to go for it.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">I got to Buklands 5:15pm! When I got there, I slurped down the soup,
whilst explaining to Hannes how we fix the frame. His wife, Rinni, replaced the soup with the
most delicious kudu mince bolognaise. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"> Kudus hunted on their farm. That
stuff was rocket fuel. They explained
the route out of the farm in detail. I
recited the route twice and then had to go to the cottage to sign in and out of
the race register. </span>There I met up with Brad vd Westhuizen (aka
Engelsman) and his troops. He knew I’ve
done the Osseberg and Groot river portage before and I had to explain in detail
what to look for and how to tackle it. I
wasted a bit of daylight minutes, but the Groot river portage is not known as
Mordor for nothing. They are all newbies
and would need all the help they can get fighting thru it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">I got going at 6pm, after I forgot my
helmet in the main house. Hannes’s
detailed route descriptions were spot on and I raced along climbing slightly
out of the valley. At the speed I was
going, I suspect that there was a slight tail wind, but every time I stopped to
open and close a gate I didn’t feel anything.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">An hour and a half later, higher up in the Baviaans Mountains the rocket fuel ran out.
I had about another 10km to go and the sleep monsters where taking hold
of me. It was a proper fight. I was imagining all kinds of things, even
seeing the devil, with shining eyes and horns at some stage. It turned out to be a cow.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">The reaction of my riding buddies when I
walked into the Hadley farm house was priceless. I rode these sections in a little under 4
hours, it normally takes riders about 8 hours.
I gave my all and was feeling it properly. I immediately went for a shower to get the
cold out of my bones. Then I got shoved
in front of the huge coal stove by Anine.
She fed me a lot of food, and then some more. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Bennie informed me that Marnitz will phone me
on the landline in 20min. Cell phones
stopped working just before Bucklands, and we’ll have very little reception all
the way until we got near Willowmore. My
concerned older boet wanted to know how the body was acting up, how’s the frame
and then resorted to give advice on tomorrow’s section, especially what time to
leave. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">He was fairly adamant that we had
to leave at 3am.</span></div>
Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003896611033798354.post-41019629102261812132016-09-21T13:46:00.002+02:002016-09-21T13:46:36.705+02:00Boet Werrie June 19 Day 9: Newlands to Toekomst<div class="MsoNormal">
We wanted to leave at 2am, but only got
going at 3am – thanks JT. There was a
good reason why we wanted to push thru to Rockdale the evening before. The next day would have been 28km
shorter. That 28km took us 3 hours to
ride. You climb for 26km to get into the
Mountain Zebra national park.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D1lV2BnVD2k/V-Jve_n3r5I/AAAAAAAAByc/1mW_5x9xk3gege5u6GzCAAo9RD3TVC3ZACLcB/s1600/20160620_062409.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D1lV2BnVD2k/V-Jve_n3r5I/AAAAAAAAByc/1mW_5x9xk3gege5u6GzCAAo9RD3TVC3ZACLcB/s400/20160620_062409.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">When we eventually got to Rockdale we were
very happy about sleeping over at Newlands.
Rockdale is an old dilapidated farmhouse. There were only a few mattresses and 2
sleeping bags, no hot water and no electricity, only a primus stove. The house was very cold, although it did
shade us from the rain. We made a few
mugs of coffee before taking on the Schufteberg portage. It’s not very challenging navigation wise,
but the soft mud underfoot made for slow going.
And it was snot freezing cold, so the descent on the other side was very not enjoyable. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">I would like to do the
downhill on a warm day again, because I think you can go completely bonkers and
will have one of the bigger smiles on your face when you do eventually get to
the bottom of it!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">It’s a long stretch of farm roads to
Grootdam. Grootdam is pleasantly warm
bushveld country. It’s only about 25km
(as the crow flies) from Schufteberg, but it’s a totally different world. I was only riding with my short sleeve shirt
on. We had a delicious brunch of thick
soup, and vetkoek and mince. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">We were
ready to tackle the Struishoek portage, or so we thought…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">A mountain bikers’ worst nightmare is not
to work your butt of going up a long climb. It is to <b>not be able</b> to enjoy the fruits of your hard work going up that
long climb. Struishoek is basically a
15km long climb on a rock strewn jeep track, interspersed ever 50m by drainage
mounds. It takes about 2h30m to get to
the nek. You breathe a sigh of relieve
and ride a total of 500m on flat ground, when a confused look appear on all
newbies’ faces.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">The local farmer has painted some rocks
white to show the route down the beautiful valley. If not for these white rocks, you would not
believe that you have to go down this nightmare. It takes about 2 hours carrying your bike
down the 5.6km. Uhmmm, all part of the
adventure I suppose. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Leon suffered from
shin splints – he did not enjoy this particular section one little bit. I took in the beautiful scenery, some photos
and had a quiet chuckle about this little piece of heaven. This is how the trail should be.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O2emQR1dKaM/V-Jwl_4ObDI/AAAAAAAAByg/Rra-IMHHoUcxgEZ08EXArxcau3n3eKwvwCLcB/s1600/20160620_144007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-O2emQR1dKaM/V-Jwl_4ObDI/AAAAAAAAByg/Rra-IMHHoUcxgEZ08EXArxcau3n3eKwvwCLcB/s640/20160620_144007.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 12.2667px;">The Struishoek decsent – at the top</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">We made good time to the Gegun farmstead and had a quick dinner of frozen farmer style curry & rice. For once we were in and out in 30min – with JT nogal hurrying me to get going. And then the night adventure to Toekomst started. We took a little detour to the Van Deventer’s farmstead, because I made a 200m miss calculation. Only a couple km of extra riding, no harm done.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-og-_ZRU7lg0/V-Jw2ixUoxI/AAAAAAAAByk/QRD840wMB30m5dj82d3j8A0j70zuS6uwACLcB/s1600/20160620_144635.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-og-_ZRU7lg0/V-Jw2ixUoxI/AAAAAAAAByk/QRD840wMB30m5dj82d3j8A0j70zuS6uwACLcB/s400/20160620_144635.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 12.2667px;">Struishoek portage – on the way down</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CbsSlnsGr2Q/V-JxPbaOHTI/AAAAAAAAByo/gD_3EzZlyoAtBdGVqNzTdMy9DPW42UViwCLcB/s1600/20160620_155022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CbsSlnsGr2Q/V-JxPbaOHTI/AAAAAAAAByo/gD_3EzZlyoAtBdGVqNzTdMy9DPW42UViwCLcB/s400/20160620_155022.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 12.2667px;">Struishoek portage – when you eventually get to the bottom.</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">We entered the Koedoeskop Game Farm, where
there are a tremendous amount of jeep tracks to follow. And we spent some time following a few of
them. This must be a really beautiful
place to see in daylight. We eventually
got onto the right track and made good time up to the electrified game
fence. The gate was locked, but the
narratives indicate that there is a place in a stream where you can crawl under
the fence. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">Leon thought he punctured his rear tyre and
we promptly got out some tyre sealant to fix the problem. Leon used his specialized pump, but it
broke. So I got my pump out. After inflating his tyre, the sealant was
pouring out of the valve near the rim.
So we took the tyre off and replaced the valve, poured more sealant in
and tried to inflate the tyre using the pump.
The tyre did not want to seal, so we used a CO2 canister (bomb) to get
air quickly into the tyre. It’s not a
good idea to inflate tyres with sealant, with a CO2 bomb, because the CO2
reacts with the sealant and the sealant is then not very effective. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">After a couple more attempts to get the
tyre to seal, we saw that the rim tape inside the valve got damaged. Nothing we could do but put in a tube. However this is camel thorn country, and
thorns and tubes don’t go well together.
It was cold, we were tired and it was past midnight. First Leon double checked his tyre to remove
all old thorns still stuck in it. But he
rushed the job a bit and pinched his tube putting it into the tyre. Filled the tube with slime and attempted to
inflate it, without success. Throughout
this ordeal JT, decided to take a snooze right in the middle of operation tyre
fix. He was snoring within 10 seconds of
curling up. We unfortunately had to wake
him to get a spare tube from him.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1d3XK-Iezn8/V-JyO4TxaYI/AAAAAAAAByw/5ZaIUjCOotAG6FDuiF9RzUkHFlNS72NdQCLcB/s1600/20160620_224236.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1d3XK-Iezn8/V-JyO4TxaYI/AAAAAAAAByw/5ZaIUjCOotAG6FDuiF9RzUkHFlNS72NdQCLcB/s640/20160620_224236.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 12.2667px;">Fixing a puncture in the dead of the night</span></i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_45" o:spid="_x0000_i1030"
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<div class="MsoNormal">
We were out of bombs, had 1 last tube of
slime and JT’s spare tube. We went about
fixing this tyre very diligently and it held!
Needless to say we took it very easy riding out of this valley, with
Leon riding right at the back so that if there are any thorns on the jeep track
either me or JT would pick it up. .We had a special moment where we rode into a
few giraffe. They were very inquisitive,
up to a point where they were only 5m away.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-ZA">We eventually got to Toekomst at about
1:30am. It was a 230km, 24hour day. At least we had some nice war stories. As we got to the farm house mansion,
delirious JT thought it a good idea to ring the doorbell. And the farm owner (Philip) promptly welcomed
us at the door dressed in his nighties! We were showed our room
and then fed. If this happened at my
house, JT would have been shot…</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-ZA"><br /></span></div>
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Marnitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05704268753006398461noreply@blogger.com0