We got up at 04:20, had breakfast at 04:45 and left for the city hall at 05:30. At the stick of 06:00 we were off. Any thoughts I had of pushing through to Centacow disappeared in the first 500 meters as the Woolnaugh brothers set a blistering pace and disappeared into the distance. That was another blessing in disguise. The rest of us set about riding at a reasonable pace. A couple of groups started forming with myself in the third group. This became the forth group with me on my own when we hit a long climb and the RTR guys with their lighter packed surged ahead. At the Bynesfield turnoff I stopped for some pictures and George joined me. We then road together for the next 60 km.
The route was all I expected. It really is amazing scenery. We rode on some district roads and forestry tracks but also some road where very few cars ever come. This took us trough some villages onto a jeep track that turned into a concrete road do to the steepness. Fortunately it was downhill. Mostly at between 25-20%, but I think I once saw 33%! When we reached the end and I let go of my front brakes, I heard a "funny". When I tried to break again, there was no front brakes. Fortunately they came back within the next couple of kilometers. When then had to go down to the Umkmaas river and find our way along the river bank. We also had to scramble over some rocks, but the narrative was quiet clear and we found the route. Then we hit Hela Hela! What a hill. We must have climbed 800 meter in 8 km and whenever you think you are at the top, there is another hill. Arrived at Allendale at 17:05. 107km in 11 hrs 5 min with over 2,000 m of climbing and 6,872 calories burnt.
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