I've been reading the blog at wwwmfreedomchallenge.org.za, specifically Mike's blog (he's riding tandem with Glenn). Have a read, the Freedom Challenge is exceptionally tough!
I'm sure Carine will agree with you Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you! -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:53:33 To: <[email protected]> Subject: [DarknDirty] Re: ride2rhodes Sound like I should do this first before attempting the Freedom ride ? > wow, what a ride ... 60-+ hours in the saddle (including interpreting the > maps, crossing rivers and climbing mountains) to cycle 509.4 kilometers to > rhodes. > > a magical ride, some of the BEST (and toughest) riding i've done. > > day 1: pmb - minerva - hella-hella - mackenzie; about 11 hours with 2616 m > vertical ascent > Cycle to the townhall, some fodies, wait for the clock to strike 6, and > off > you go. > Mild distric road, chatting, bantering, mild cycle, first turn-off, a > loong > climb on forest tracks and later singletrack into minerva, rewarded with > soup and bread, yum. in a tracktor and farm-implement-musuem :) > > Then a steep downhill, more downhill, a rivercrossing or 2, map > interpretations and more map interpretations, a very steep climb up > hella-hella, followed by the BEST toasted sarmies and carrotcake EVER in > the > mackenzie country club. Hot showers, great food (lots of it) and chocolate > eclairs :) > > day 2: mackenzie - centacow - ntsikeni; just under 12 hours; 2658 m > vertical > ascent > Starting in the dark, lots of map-interpretations and discussions, totally > wrong route, arriving in Donnybrook via a huge detour, them a stunning bit > of forest-cycling (inlcuding some very nice downhills) into centacow. more > stunning cycling along distric road and then offroad on cattletracks - the > last bit of uphill cycling on cattletracks to ntsikeni in the dark, with a > rivercrossing to get the feet wet right at the end. A huge logfire in the > most beautiful cottage in the mountain, with bright bright stars and hot > water for the showers. Soup, bread, supper, clean white linen, and no > snoring (the snorers were in the other cottage) > > day 3: ntsikeni - masekala in just over 12 hours with 1756 m vertical > ascent > A rude awakening over grass and wetlands, took us 3 hours to do the first > 13 > kays. There were some rewarding downhills, though, a few kays on a > district > road with a headwind, some excellent soup, rolls and bananas in a > farmhouse, > and then a long climb over a ridge, with an apple-stop at the top. A > downhill to match, more downhill, and finally some navigation in the dark > to > get to Masekala where there was no running water :( > > day 4: masekala - queens mercy - malekonyane in 9 hours with 1016 of > vertical ascent > The prettiest day of all ... into a massive plain and then downwards on > whatever tracks you could find. Lettuce sandwiches at queen's mercy > (supplemented with 2 cm of peanut butter and filtercoffee), then a > stunning > climb through villages, and up, up, up, and then lots more > map-interpreting, > some investigation down a valley, but back up, and finally DOWN to a > farmhouse on an exhilirating downhill, and onwards to malekonyane, with a > sharp steep climb, hot showers, vetkoek, a visit to the mission station. > > day 5: malekonyane, tinana, vuvu in over 12 hours; 1976 of vertical ascent > starting in the dark with muddy singletrack, then district road, a climb, > some downs, then off into the mountains for more singletrack, up to black > fountain on cattle tracks, and then ... it looks like a bikepark up there > ... wide playgorounds where cattle dragged wood ... lots of > map-interpretation ansd searching for bicyclce-tracks, a very technical > downhille (which the trance loved) and then onwards to tinana mission for > a > snack-attack of note: cheese-and-peanut-sandwiches, doughnuts, coke. > followed by a climb on district road, and then 20-something of cobblestone > winding up-down never-ending district road. arriving in the dark, was glad > to see the school! interesting shower-thingy, and then sleeping in huts. > > *day 6*: vuvu-lehana-rhodes in just over 9 hours (including about 2 hours > of > stops, but it was the last day, we had to make the most of it) 1546 m > vertical ascent > starting in the dark, a downhill from vuvu, with the most stunning view of > bicycle silhouettes against a red sky ... then up into lehana, lots of it > ridable ... a few picnics on the way up - then more upwards around the > corner, and downhill to the tenahead lodge for some tea and sarmies. > onwards > down to the top of naudes neck, ehtn down, and a loooong climb before > finally a long sweet downhill, and then rolling hills into rhodes, with > hot > showers, food and clean white linen. > > the rasa-guys cleaned their bikes and washed their clothes while the > r2r-ers > spent the time in the pub :) > woke up at 4 to see the rasa-people off, and then promptly back to bed, to > wake up to a late breakfast. will be back next year! > > > > ------------------------------------------- South Africas premier free email service - www.webmail.co.za ------------------------------------------------------------------ For super low premiums, click here http://home.webmail.co.za/dd.pwm --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DarkAndDirty" group. 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