The race has taken its toll on racers again and it has been carnage on the bikes. We left Vuvu and travelled up Lehanna to Rhodes and made good time, although cold it was a sunny day, tough !!! At Rhodes my coughing started to bring up blood and I decided to withdraw from that race after discussing it with Tim at 03h00 in the morning.
Tim left for Slaapkranz with the PE boys and Travis and Burton at 04H00 and were hit with the mud along the route. Burton bust his front wheel on a downhill and had to wait for a spare to be delivered, he really looked tiered from the fall when we delivered a spare from a farm bike. Tim and the guys arrived at Slaapkranz at 16h15 that afternoon. The guys decided to leave for the Bontehoek portages at 06h00. The rain and wind arrived and it was according to Tim a really tough day, the mud was horrific and they had to push their bikes and carry them all day. The guys arrived at Moodenaarspoort late in the afternoon early evening and stayed there that night. The weather forecast was not getting any better and the roads were clogged with mud.
The ride from Moodenaarspoort to Vaalbank is 60km and this took the guys over 8 hours of pushing, walking and carrying the bikes again, all of the group managed to stay together and include Allen Sharp and Kiwi fart, on arrival at Vaalbank they were all fed by Sandra and her husband and they decided to leave at 12 that night to try and get under the weather and hoping that the mud was frozen.
The ride was again hard and wet, with Allen, Tim and Kiwi fart arriving at Romanasfontien late in the afternoon, the PE boys got to Brosterlea and called it a day. Today the 25th Tim left for the portage down to Hoffmeyer and got a bit lost at the top and eventually has found his was down to the pie shop at Hoffmyer and I suspect he will stop at Elandsfontien tonight before he starts to increase his pace. The two PE boys were in a vehicle heading for PE to try and sort themselves out and may rejoin the race tomorrow. allen was last seen chasing Tweetie along the road to the pie shop.
As far as I can tell 14 people have left the race since the beginning, several bikes have had to be replaced, chains are lasting less than 900 km before needing to be replaced and the cold, wet, and muddy conditions are taking their toll on morale. The race upfront is hotting up with Alex chasing Martin, and Tweetie Bird is just behind them, its a tough but fascinating race.
This Blog was set up for Tim and I to keep a record of our 2011 freedom Challenge story and for our friends to be able to have somewhere to read what we were doing, we have decided to carry the blog on as we are still doing stupid things that people may want to know about, or not ? So the Two Old Farts will continue.
Monday 25 June 2012
Chaos and Carnage !!!
The race has taken its toll on racers again and it has been carnage on the bikes. We left Vuvu and travelled up Lehanna to Rhodes and made good time, although cold it was a sunny day, tough !!! At Rhodes my coughing started to bring up blood and I decided to withdraw from that race after discussing it with Tim at 03h00 in the morning.
Tim left for Slaapkranz with the PE boys and Travis and Burton at 04H00 and were hit with the mud along the route. Burton bust his front wheel on a downhill and had to wait for a spare to be delivered, he really looked tiered from the fall when we delivered a spare from a farm bike. Tim and the guys arrived at Slaapkranz at 16h15 that afternoon. The guys decided to leave for the Bontehoek portages at 06h00. The rain and wind arrived and it was according to Tim a really tough day, the mud was horrific and they had to push their bikes and carry them all day. The guys arrived at Moodenaarspoort late in the afternoon early evening and stayed there that night. The weather forecast was not getting any better and the roads were clogged with mud.
The ride from Moodenaarspoort to Vaalbank is 60km and this took the guys over 8 hours of pushing, walking and carrying the bikes again, all of the group managed to stay together and include Allen Sharp and Kiwi fart, on arrival at Vaalbank they were all fed by Sandra and her husband and they decided to leave at 12 that night to try and get under the weather and hoping that the mud was frozen.
The ride was again hard and wet, with Allen, Tim and Kiwi fart arriving at Romanasfontien late in the afternoon, the PE boys got to Brosterlea and called it a day. Today the 25th Tim left for the portage down to Hoffmeyer and got a bit lost at the top and eventually has found his was down to the pie shop at Hoffmyer and I suspect he will stop at Elandsfontien tonight before he starts to increase his pace. The two PE boys were in a vehicle heading for PE to try and sort themselves out and may rejoin the race tomorrow. allen was last seen chasing Tweetie along the road to the pie shop.
As far as I can tell 14 people have left the race since the beginning, several bikes have had to be replaced, chains are lasting less than 900 km before needing to be replaced and the cold, wet, and muddy conditions are taking their toll on morale. The race upfront is hotting up with Alex chasing Martin, and Tweetie Bird is just behind them, its a tough but fascinating race.
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