Because we are not the fastest cyclists, Keith, Leon and I decided to start this extra long stretch early in the morning. 160km of corrugation and sand. You have to endure to reach the dream places. We had breakfast at 3am and were on our way at 3:30.
We decided to stop every 5km to check that everyone was still fine. It is quite easy to loose somebody in the dark. You see their light behind you and the next minute they are gone, fallen in soft sand, tyre problems etc. By day break we had covered already 45km and we felt good. Bring on the kms!
By midmorning the mood had change somewhat. We covered 75km but wasn't even halfway. Sand, sand, sand....bouncing around on saddles through non stop corrugations. The scenery didn't bring joy either, some place called Tarka. Low growing bushes, no birds, not even sheep, kilometres of sand.
At some stage I decided to do a pitstop to check my mind and to eat something. The guys decided to push on. Eventually I caught up with them, both were sleeping in the sun on the side of the road.
We did arrive in the little hamlet of Prince Albert-eventually. Beautiful, and what wonderful hosts.
But the absolute bonus is a man named Johan Rissik who immediately took our bikes from us, clean them, sorted problems, all with a smile and lots of story telling. Thanks to my backup team, Rodney, my bike has a brand new rear tyre, ready to roll into Gamkaskloof tomorrow.
1 comment:
Gerda, It was a pleasure to meet you. And fitting one tyre is really a small way to salute what you have achieved. Enjoy the last bits to Diemersfontein.
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