“Looks like we made it
look how far we’ve come my
baby
Might have took the long way
But I know we’d get there
some day….”
Shania Twain kept me company
in a manner of speaking.
That was long and hard. I dug really deep. I “mantra’d” up a storm. I was slow and sometimes not so steady. There were times when I swore A LOT. There were times when I soothed myself with
gentle humming. There were moments when
I sang really loud. I talked to
myself. I cajoled and encouraged me. I wept a few times. I laughed a little.
I spent a lot of time by
myself and enjoyed my company. I was out
of my depth with the navigation on the portages and hugely grateful that Fiona
stayed with me for those.
The days are pretty blurry –
I can’t really separate out the descents and long dirt roads and jeep tracks.
I started so strong and
steady. Fi and I started at 5am – a very
low key start.
I just kept peddling and
enjoying the crisp clean air and the breaking dawn.
 |
| Rhodes start - 5am |
 |
| Fi taking in some R & R |
I got into the lunch stop – Chesneywold – at
just before 11 – having done 68 kms.
As I was leaving Fi
arrived. She came in pretty broken and
was struggling a lot. She ate lunch and
stablised out the sugar levels and we spent the rest of the day together – and
the next 3.5 days together.
We got into Slaapkrantz at
about 4:15. There were 3 gorgeous
dogs there – 1 collie and 2 retrievers and they were so sweet and
welcoming. I sat on the grass with my
recovery drink and .... well recovered!
Day 2 - Slaapkrantz - Moodenaarspoort (58km) - Krantzkop (38km)
There was a serious rude
awakening the next morning on the Slaapkranz portage. We missioned around a little in the dark
getting to the start of the portage but not for long. The portage is very steep and is a narrow
path in the bushes. I fell down a couple
of times, dropped the bike and generally really struggled up the mountain. I can’t imagine what that is like if there is
rain. Shoo I really swore my way up that
thing. The guys came up and joined us at
the top having caught up. The difference
in men and women strength was very apparent to me that morning. They were a fun bunch of guys – 2 farmers
from the Eastern Cape – Adowan and Jac – and 4 Natalians – Trevor, Russel,
Chris and John.
 |
| Smiling after recovering at the top |
 |
| Photobomb - top of Slaapkrantz |
Everyone was faster than
me on the descents but then again I am used to that.
I just made sure I stayed steady and in control. There were 2 portages close together so it
took a long time to do 20kms – I guess 4 hours or so.
 |
| Overlooking descent in Bontehoek Farm |
We got into the lunch stop at around 2
pm. I really struggled with getting the
soup into me and gave up after 2 bites of roll.
I cooled my legs down in the pool.
It was 30kms to the end but it was a really long 30kms and I was quite
tearful near the end and pretty wiped out.
It was a 96 km day.
We stayed in Krantzkop that
night. It is accommodation away from the
farm and the farmer dropped off the dinner.
Venison pie and veggies – again such a huge struggle to get the food in
me. I sat there like a naughty kid at
the table eating "met baaie lang tan"de!
I went to bed dreading the
next day which was 130kms.
I whiled away the time on the
bike staying as focused as possible on the present. I would not think about the next day or too far ahead. It was too easy to get so overwhelmed then by
the milage and by the huge effort required and the long hours on the
saddle. I would calculate how many kms
we had done. Then I would promptly
forget the figure so as I completed another km I would start all over again
working out the milage. I tell you this
went on for days!! I am generally quite easy to entertain.
I had put tape on my bum to
see if I could stop the chafing. Every
night or morning I would add another layer.
My backside was getting more and more painful. There was always the bruising factor but the
chafing is seriously crap and sore.
I chugged along during the
day. I focused on getting into a rhythm
and staying in one. I constantly
encouraged me and I felt a little better
than I thought I would. We stopped at
such a pretty farm for lunch - Brosterlea. I left my
juice bottle behind stupidly!
 |
| Stormberg - beginning of the portage. Fresh cold water |
 |
| Stormberg portage |
About
15kms from the end I stopped to wait for Fi and stumbled as I un-cleated. I hyper-extended my knee and fell to the
floor in agony. I was behaving like a
soccer player rolling around and wailing.
Poor Fi had nothing in her and sat behind me asking if I was ok. I walked a bit and got back on the bike - it
was so damn sore. My eyes kept
leaking. There was a crappy headwind
which was really not aiding anything. I had also completely run out of
liquids. We slowly slowly made out way
to Romansfontein and got in just as it got dark.
I was frozen. The guys were eating dinner when we got
in. Stefanie bustled around us and got
us sorted. I went into a bit of shock
and started hyper ventilating and shaking. Someone mixed up my recovery drink and I held
the glass with 2 hands trying to get it in me.
Gosh what a dramatic entrance. I
was sad I couldn’t get a slice of corn bread and butter in me but managed some
dinner. Fi was feeling pretty low. She said to me that I may need to consider
some options if I couldn’t cycle. She
suggested that we do 2 half days but then we would not be official
finishers. I said to her that I WANTED that
windmill and was going to give it my best shot.
But I also said that she did not need to wait for me and could go
on. She did say that she had thoughts of
not finishing and I could also go on without her. We agreed to see what the next day would bring.
One of the racers from the
guys behind us, Jacque, caught up to us in Romansfontein – he also brought my bottle to
me from the lunch stop. First I called
him crazy for riding so fast and then I kissed him on the cheek for bringing my
bottle. Not much in the way of filters
for me at that stage.
The bed was soft and warm. I had borrowed socks from Stefanie and was so grateful to be in a safe comfortable restful space.
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