RASA Day 18

RASA Day 18
We decided to go for a 04:00 start again and actually managed to get going at 04:15. Willowmore was covered in mist, which made the first 10 km quite tricky, but it was not too cold. The road to the first turnoff was as straight as a dye and in a good condition. After 16 km we turned right to go through Leeukloof and onto Strydomvlei. It looked like a road that is not well used with mostly only two tracks being visible, but the surface was excellent and we were able to maintain a good pace. The next turnoff was after 45 km and we covered that in less than 2:45. Here we took a left turn for 7 km and then right for 41 km. Suddenly the temperature dropped to a minimum of -5.5, but it felt like -15! I have never in my life been this cold. Due to this our average speed also dropped because it was just too cold to go fast. At 08:00 the temperature was still at -4.8. By 09:00 it moved into positive territory. With that our average speed also picked up. We reached our halfway stop after 86 km at 10:20. Here we had a nice pasta dish and freshly backed "vetkoek". Total stoppage time was 51 minutes.

The balance of the day's ride to Prince Albert was over reasonably good roads with the odd patch of sand and a fair number corrugations.  We still managed a good pace and pulled into Dennehof Guest House at 14:55.

Total distance:162.4 km; total time: 10:39:55; elevation gain: 1,010 meters; elevation loss: 1,194 meters