dirty, you can do the whole ride, there's nothing you can't do! (heck, you've done desert dash solo!!!!) next year will be a leave issue for you, though, 'cos you might have to use up 3 weeks' worth of leave cycling to everest basecamp to go cheer for powergirl when she's climbing that other little mountain. but if you can afford another 3 weeks, then go for it - i'll cheer you on all the way, but PLEASE just update your blog daily, it's really frustrating to not know where you are ... it must be an incredible experience to cycle all the way!
we had perfect weather while we were out there, but it is not playing nicely any more. it is scary to read on the website about all the people who are pulling out - i have cycled with some of them, and trained with some other, and know how strong they are :( 2009/6/23 <[email protected]> > > 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 > > > > > -- http://cyclingwith.blogspot.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DarkAndDirty" group. 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