Freedom Challenge RASA day 20

FCRASA day 20

The end is in sight, but with the Freedom Challenge you must never start celebrating before crossing the finish line! There have been cases of guys giving up on the last stage. Last year Jacques Tattersall survived by finding late night refuse in the Mountain Club hut and in 2916, Martin Dryer, a multiply winner, nearly succumbed to the cold when he fell into the river at night and had to survive until daylight before getting out of the kloof. It probably cost him an additional 6 hours onto his winning time and still best time of 10 days 12 hours. RG du Toit, who finished on Saturday, had two attempts in getting through and stated that if he did not meet up with Jacques Tattersall this year, he would have given up!

We decided to get going at 05:00. At this point Leon and his companions, were still sleeping, but we were sure that they would overtake us through the kloof.  In 2014 it took me and George Wienekus 12 hours to cover the last 54 kilometres, so on that basis we should finish by 17:00. I did recci the first part, by foot, with Leon at the beginning of May so had a good idea where we should go and what the state of the growth in the kloof is. Johan Radcliffe, Francis Bradford, Charles Hughes and myself set-off together. Charles has done the race before and also knew the way, but I was given the responsibility to do the initial leading due to my recent knowledge of the trail. The first 4 kilometres is a fairly well worm footpath and it is quite easy following, even in the dark., but the terrain is such that the going is slow. From the dam wall there also is no change of riding. You either have to psh or carry your bicycle. Francis and Charles who are 58 and 63, respectively have caught up with us Kudukaya and we have shared part of the day since then, but generally they were faster and pulled away from us. Johan could easily have gone with them but decided that he likes my pace and have been keeping me company all the way. So it was no surpise when they left us behind after about 2 kilometres after the dam wall. While I struggled along, Johan was going at a good pace, waiting for every so often. We finally reached the sight where the Shackleton crashed on 8 August 1963 killing all 13 crew members (according to Google and not 1960 as per the narratives). At the next ridge we had to cross down to the river to get around a rocky outcrop. The narrative state that we should we look for a rocky scree and follow that up to the left, go up the dry to semi-dry riverbed and find a distinct path through the undergrowth and out the other side. I have three times before. 2010 when I recced the course, 2014 when I did the race and in may with Leon and never had a problem. We now had the problem that it rained quite a bit during the days preceding our arrival and the riverbed was a knee to thigh high river! As this was the way I knew, I decided that this is the way to go! We managed to get through without getting too wet and found the path on the other side. A few guys were surpise at our antics and one our two followed us. When I looked at the map afterwards, I saw that indicates a right and dryer exit from the rocky scree! Beyond the path through the undergrowth, the terrain opens up, but the path tends to disappear. All you can do is to follow some rocks mounted on one anther every now and then! There also are quite a number of ridges still to cross. The under growth consists of rocks and grass, so progress is difficult and slow. Finding secure footing is not always possible and losing your balance is a real problem. To exacerbate the problem, it is difficult to stay up straight when you lose your balance with a bicycle on your back. The result is multiply falls, getting out form underneath your bike and starting over again! At one point Johan suggested that we take the saddlebag, in which I kept some spares, my rain jacket and a warm jacket all weighing about 5 kilograms, off and add it to his rucksack. This help lighten the weight of the bike I had to carry! A real show of kindness from his side and something, without which I am doubtful if I would have made it out of the kloof! We continued until we reached the point where we had to cross the river again and exit the kloof up a insanely steep hill. Here I really started to struggle. The route I always took to get up this hill was so over grown that we could not get up there. Johan discovered an alternative and we stared up that. After a while he left his bike higher up, came down to collect my bike and carry that to where his bike was while I crawled up the hill! Another saw of amasing care and kindness. This guy was determined to get this old man to finish this race with him! Unbelievable! As we were halfway up the hill, we saw somebody at the top shouting directions to us. After awhile I realised that it was Leon. He stated that if he catches me before the end and is in no position to better the record time, then he will finish with. This was now becoming a reality! A little further up the slope Leon came down and collected my bike and carried it to the top. There he offered me his rucksack, which was about half the weight of mine and I took his. With the help of Johan and Leon, doubt if would have managed to get up the hill before dark and maybe not even at all! 

We now had 11.5 kilometres to the Du Toitskloof tunnel, of which at least 4 or 5 involved heavy climbing. With at bike, without the weight of a saddlebag and a lighter rucksack on my back, my climbing was above expectation and i managed to ride up all the hills up to the tunnel and also the 6.8 kilometres to the top of the Du Toitskloof Pass, which we reach just before 19:00. All that remained was 13 downhill kilometres to the finish but all in darkness. As fate would have it, we missed a right turn on the way down and soon realised we are on the wrong track! We studied the map, managed to find where we were, saw and alternative and finally got onto the correct track. Finally we could start relaxing and experience the joy of the end being in sight. We found the entrance gate to the Diemersfontein Estate, where Chris Fisher was waiting for us and made our way down to the restaurant, around the dam, up the final hill and then over the finshline, where we were met by a joyous crowd after nearly 14 hours! What a delight, what a relieve! A amasing feeling of achievement and satisfaction.