RASA Day 16
The night out in the bush was quite pleasant. I remarked to George that I had quite a good sleep and he remarked back"I could here that"! The sun woke us just before 07:00 and we got our things together and went to look for the track again. George then noticed the orange tape on one of the reeds and that was a sure sign that we were on the right track. I visit did some scouting and noticed that as I went down the stream last night, I should have just crossed the river. So, we were on our way. The old jeep track was clearly visible and we followed it until it disappeared again. After some scouting we found the track through the reeds and across the river. This carried for the next two hours until we reached the final climb out of the river. We stopped and put on our dry riding shoes again and dis some riding again. That was until we encountered the river again. We studied the maps and confirmed that we had to cross it again. Off we the shoes and this time I went through bare feet. The track appeared and disappeared on a regular basis. After about 2 hours 30 minutes, we finally reached the 3 meter high fence we had to get over. That done we were onto a reasonable jeep track until we got to the river again. Shoes off, through, dry feet with bicycle wash towel, shoes on and going. A little on and we finally got to the public road that would take us through to Kudu Khaya. After some discussion, we decided to remain there for the day so that we can recuperate for for the final push through to Diemersfontein.
We had last night supper for an early lunch, got washing done, showered, serviced bikes and "chilled" for the rest of the afternoon.
Total distance: 03:35:18; total distance: 15.19 km; total ascent: 402 meters; total descent: 357 meters.
Vrydag 27 Junie 2014
RASA Day 15
RASA Day 15
We left Bucklands at 06:38 and had a very pleasant ride over farm roads for about 12 km after which we joined up with the district road which would take us through Hottentotspoort and onto the beginning of the Osseberg Pass. Along the way we stopped for coffee and "beskuit" at Hadlee. I also managed to book an entry for the 2015 Attakwas, which opened at the beginning of the week and was filling rapidly.
We road from Hadlee to the Grootriver currently is a bit of a construction site as they are busy laying a water pipe from the valley floor to Streylerville. We encountered lots of construction vehicles and in places the road turned into a powdery dust. Generally the surface was good and we had a good journey into the awesome Grootriver valley.
The scenes from the road made one aware of the might power of the Lord in creating this beautiful world. The ascent on the other side is mostly unridable for mere mortals like we and we pushed our bike up the hill. The work George did on his rear wheel at Bucklands was holding up well and he did not have to pump it again.
We stopped at a Nature Reserve dwelling just before the top of the watershed for some fresh water, but could not find any outside taps and the building was locked with no one at home. I managed to get water here when I recci-ed the route from Kleinpoort to Montague in 2010.
We reached the entrance to the Osseberg at 14:00 and had a little refreshment stop after we crossed the "No Entry" sign, which the beginning. The first couple of hundred meters was completely unridable, but as we moved along we encountered more and more ridable sections. We also had some scary down hills and George managed to "loose it" on one of these, fortunately with more injury to his pride than to the body!
It took us 3:00:53 to cover the 21.86 km to the old neglected camp site, which signaled the beginning off our river crossings.
From here the trail became a "hit and miss" affair with some of the trail clearly visible and the next it just disappears! We took off our riding shoes and put on shoe brought specially for this. I had my doubts about my R79,99 Pep Stores slip-ons and really cursed myself for mot opting for shoes with laces. The shoes did the job, but I had to retrieve them a number of times when they got stuck and my foot slipped out! The going was very difficult, but we were moving along reasonably well. Every now and then we picked up, what obviously was the right track just to come to a dead end again after a while. Nightfall was busy catching us, but we regularly picked up other cycle tracks and obvious thorough fares through the reeds. By about 20:00 we picked up a nice track, which was correct and made good progress again until we came to some reeds again. I went ahead and scouted the route and found what I thought was the correct path. At this point we were under the impression that we were further along the route than where actually were. This resulted in lots of discussions and more scoutings. After a long while, we agreed that we should go through the reeds, but this time I could not find the path I did previously! Back to the entry again! We had more discussions and more scouts until we decided to call it a day and spend the night at the foot of the Osseberg. In the meantime a light drizzle started. We looked for some reasonable cover, got our space blankets out and settled in for the night. There were no cell phone reception so we could not let anybody know where we were. By now we realised that we were quite a bit further back in the trail than what we thought originally. We got to rest at 23:05. The weather was pleasant with the drizzle falling, but our space blankets was keeping us dry.
Total distance: 83.52 km; total time: 14:51:46; total ascent: 2,072 meters; total descent: 2,244 meters.
We left Bucklands at 06:38 and had a very pleasant ride over farm roads for about 12 km after which we joined up with the district road which would take us through Hottentotspoort and onto the beginning of the Osseberg Pass. Along the way we stopped for coffee and "beskuit" at Hadlee. I also managed to book an entry for the 2015 Attakwas, which opened at the beginning of the week and was filling rapidly.
We road from Hadlee to the Grootriver currently is a bit of a construction site as they are busy laying a water pipe from the valley floor to Streylerville. We encountered lots of construction vehicles and in places the road turned into a powdery dust. Generally the surface was good and we had a good journey into the awesome Grootriver valley.
We stopped at a Nature Reserve dwelling just before the top of the watershed for some fresh water, but could not find any outside taps and the building was locked with no one at home. I managed to get water here when I recci-ed the route from Kleinpoort to Montague in 2010.
We reached the entrance to the Osseberg at 14:00 and had a little refreshment stop after we crossed the "No Entry" sign, which the beginning. The first couple of hundred meters was completely unridable, but as we moved along we encountered more and more ridable sections. We also had some scary down hills and George managed to "loose it" on one of these, fortunately with more injury to his pride than to the body!
From here the trail became a "hit and miss" affair with some of the trail clearly visible and the next it just disappears! We took off our riding shoes and put on shoe brought specially for this. I had my doubts about my R79,99 Pep Stores slip-ons and really cursed myself for mot opting for shoes with laces. The shoes did the job, but I had to retrieve them a number of times when they got stuck and my foot slipped out! The going was very difficult, but we were moving along reasonably well. Every now and then we picked up, what obviously was the right track just to come to a dead end again after a while. Nightfall was busy catching us, but we regularly picked up other cycle tracks and obvious thorough fares through the reeds. By about 20:00 we picked up a nice track, which was correct and made good progress again until we came to some reeds again. I went ahead and scouted the route and found what I thought was the correct path. At this point we were under the impression that we were further along the route than where actually were. This resulted in lots of discussions and more scoutings. After a long while, we agreed that we should go through the reeds, but this time I could not find the path I did previously! Back to the entry again! We had more discussions and more scouts until we decided to call it a day and spend the night at the foot of the Osseberg. In the meantime a light drizzle started. We looked for some reasonable cover, got our space blankets out and settled in for the night. There were no cell phone reception so we could not let anybody know where we were. By now we realised that we were quite a bit further back in the trail than what we thought originally. We got to rest at 23:05. The weather was pleasant with the drizzle falling, but our space blankets was keeping us dry.
Total distance: 83.52 km; total time: 14:51:46; total ascent: 2,072 meters; total descent: 2,244 meters.
RASA Day 14
RASA Day 14
Toekomst to Bucklands. Today was a relatively easy day with no major obstacles. After some district roads we had go navigate our way around the Darlington Dam. There were number of "dicy" turns we had to find, but we got through without too much trouble.
This was followed by a journey down the Gwaas valley. The road started off as a good farm, then it became a rough jeep track and then it turned into a journey up a dry river bed. This was "spiced" with some very rough sections where one just went up the valley. We eventually reached a game fence, after which the road improved significantly. Most of the traveling was up hill and after the previous long day, we found this very energy sapping. George's rear tyre was still playing up and we had to stop every 20 km so that he could pump it.
The Gwaas valley linked up with the district road running through the Perdekloof and we enjoyed a nice downhill leading up to another uphill and the turnoff to Kleinpoort. At Kleinpoort we stopped at the shop for some refreshments. While sitting their, Patrick Gruer walking in. He is the landlord of the Kleinpoort over night stop. We did not even realise that there was an official stop with supplies for the riders! We declined as we have bought some refreshments all ready and needed go push on to Bucklands.
The journey to Bucklands was pleasant, being mostly down hill and we made good time into Bucklands, arriving there at 18:00.
After supper George resealed his rear wheel, putting in new tape and a patch were the broken spoke was.
For some reason my trip meter lost all the data for the day!
Toekomst to Bucklands. Today was a relatively easy day with no major obstacles. After some district roads we had go navigate our way around the Darlington Dam. There were number of "dicy" turns we had to find, but we got through without too much trouble.
This was followed by a journey down the Gwaas valley. The road started off as a good farm, then it became a rough jeep track and then it turned into a journey up a dry river bed. This was "spiced" with some very rough sections where one just went up the valley. We eventually reached a game fence, after which the road improved significantly. Most of the traveling was up hill and after the previous long day, we found this very energy sapping. George's rear tyre was still playing up and we had to stop every 20 km so that he could pump it.
The Gwaas valley linked up with the district road running through the Perdekloof and we enjoyed a nice downhill leading up to another uphill and the turnoff to Kleinpoort. At Kleinpoort we stopped at the shop for some refreshments. While sitting their, Patrick Gruer walking in. He is the landlord of the Kleinpoort over night stop. We did not even realise that there was an official stop with supplies for the riders! We declined as we have bought some refreshments all ready and needed go push on to Bucklands.
The journey to Bucklands was pleasant, being mostly down hill and we made good time into Bucklands, arriving there at 18:00.
After supper George resealed his rear wheel, putting in new tape and a patch were the broken spoke was.
For some reason my trip meter lost all the data for the day!
Donderdag 26 Junie 2014
RASA Day 13
RASA Day 13
13 has a stigma of bad luck stuck to it and that applied to us on out 13th day. We did pretty well with the navigation and found all the right turn offs, but George's rear tyre probably cost between an hour and two hours. I will get back to that later.
We got the wheels rolling at 05:30. The first couple of kilometers was district roads and we found all the right turn offs in the dark to arrive at the Thatched gate of the game farm where our journey through the veld started. We initially had some difficulty find the right track because we went through the wrong gate. Once we found the right gate, and saw cycle tracks, we were going. We encountered a steam we had to cross. There was a number of boulders we could step on the get through without getting our feet wet, but there was a small gap so we proceeded to through some big rocks into the gap and managed to complete our "bridge". The temperature did go down to -3.5 From there we had a long "slog" up a jeep track to get over the mountain. Down the other side it was a reasonable ride until we got to the Stuishoek portage. Now this farmer is very supportive and have marked the route with white stones. The actual portage consists of moving down a gorge similar to Skeleton Gorge, but this one is 5.6 km long. This is real hard work. At the bottom we had an easy ride up to the Pearston tar road. From there we had a nice ride down a gravel road until we turned West and had to ride into a headwind. This took us to our halfway stop at Gegun.
After a quick lunch, we were back against the wind for about 7 km up to the Karoopoort turn off. Along the way this road, we were passed by Merle of Karoopoort. She invited us in for coffee and fresh water in our bottles. We then had to go over the mountain behind the farm house. While we were on this, two of the "racing snakes", Graham Bird and Glen Harrison came past.
We managed to get over the mountain and down the other side before it got dark, but with still 20 km to go, we were caught by the dark. The route down the valley was quite quick but fairly rough. Something which can be quite scary at night.
Our biggest problem for the whole day was that George's rear wheel had a slow puncture, with the result that he had to pump it every so often. Have way down this valley he decided he has had enough and put in a tube. This lasted for about 2 km before it was flat too! We tried another tube, which was brand new, but this was leaking even before we put it in. We then decided to go the tubeless option again. All of this must gave taken more than 45 minutes and on the end we only reached our destination for the day at 21:00. That was a long day in the saddle!
Total time: 15:24:18; 129.92 km; total ascent: 1,599 meters; total descent: 2,369 meters.
13 has a stigma of bad luck stuck to it and that applied to us on out 13th day. We did pretty well with the navigation and found all the right turn offs, but George's rear tyre probably cost between an hour and two hours. I will get back to that later.
We got the wheels rolling at 05:30. The first couple of kilometers was district roads and we found all the right turn offs in the dark to arrive at the Thatched gate of the game farm where our journey through the veld started. We initially had some difficulty find the right track because we went through the wrong gate. Once we found the right gate, and saw cycle tracks, we were going. We encountered a steam we had to cross. There was a number of boulders we could step on the get through without getting our feet wet, but there was a small gap so we proceeded to through some big rocks into the gap and managed to complete our "bridge". The temperature did go down to -3.5 From there we had a long "slog" up a jeep track to get over the mountain. Down the other side it was a reasonable ride until we got to the Stuishoek portage. Now this farmer is very supportive and have marked the route with white stones. The actual portage consists of moving down a gorge similar to Skeleton Gorge, but this one is 5.6 km long. This is real hard work. At the bottom we had an easy ride up to the Pearston tar road. From there we had a nice ride down a gravel road until we turned West and had to ride into a headwind. This took us to our halfway stop at Gegun.
After a quick lunch, we were back against the wind for about 7 km up to the Karoopoort turn off. Along the way this road, we were passed by Merle of Karoopoort. She invited us in for coffee and fresh water in our bottles. We then had to go over the mountain behind the farm house. While we were on this, two of the "racing snakes", Graham Bird and Glen Harrison came past.
Our biggest problem for the whole day was that George's rear wheel had a slow puncture, with the result that he had to pump it every so often. Have way down this valley he decided he has had enough and put in a tube. This lasted for about 2 km before it was flat too! We tried another tube, which was brand new, but this was leaking even before we put it in. We then decided to go the tubeless option again. All of this must gave taken more than 45 minutes and on the end we only reached our destination for the day at 21:00. That was a long day in the saddle!
Total time: 15:24:18; 129.92 km; total ascent: 1,599 meters; total descent: 2,369 meters.
Woensdag 25 Junie 2014
RASA Day 12
RASA Day 12
The distance for the day was scheduled to be more than 120 km, so we decided to go for a 05:00 start. In the end we managed to get going at 05:21.
The district road outside Elandsberg was the best we have encountered to date. Our average speed for the first hour was more than 20 kph and that was in the dark! The navigation through to Stuttgart, the halfway stop was fairly easy as long as one kept to the narratives and read them correctly. After the initial euphoria if the good road and high speed, we did encounter some hills and covered the 68.57 km to Stuttgart in 4:54:19. On the way there we passed the farm where my dad grew up. Our "lunch" stop lasted 48 minutes.
The first 17 km was reasonable district roads, but then we were back onto rough jeep tracks, which culminated in an unbelievable climb up Schurfteberg and an equally unbelievable descent on the other side.
Past the Schurteberg farmstead, we were on good farm tracks and district roads again until we got to the Grootdam turnoff. Yhe last 10 km was very rough jeep tracks through the Grootdam farm and game reserve where we had to go through 9 gates, four of which we had to climb over and one game reserve gate, which was 3 meters high, but fortunately had a special small gate on the middle specially made for cyclists to get our bikes through. We reached the overnight stop at 17:15, just before sunset.
Total riding time: 11:55:13; total distance: 132.15 km; total ascent: 1,838 meters; total descent: 2,012 meters.
The distance for the day was scheduled to be more than 120 km, so we decided to go for a 05:00 start. In the end we managed to get going at 05:21.
The district road outside Elandsberg was the best we have encountered to date. Our average speed for the first hour was more than 20 kph and that was in the dark! The navigation through to Stuttgart, the halfway stop was fairly easy as long as one kept to the narratives and read them correctly. After the initial euphoria if the good road and high speed, we did encounter some hills and covered the 68.57 km to Stuttgart in 4:54:19. On the way there we passed the farm where my dad grew up. Our "lunch" stop lasted 48 minutes.
The first 17 km was reasonable district roads, but then we were back onto rough jeep tracks, which culminated in an unbelievable climb up Schurfteberg and an equally unbelievable descent on the other side.
Total riding time: 11:55:13; total distance: 132.15 km; total ascent: 1,838 meters; total descent: 2,012 meters.
Maandag 23 Junie 2014
RASA Day 11
RASA Day11
We managed to get going at 06:20. The previous evening the host showed us the track over his farm to link up with the district road. That was a great help. Like usual it was pretty cold and we did see -9.5 on thermometer. We checked our distances carefully, but did managed to miss a crucial turnoff after about 15 km. George said he did notice it, but ignored it because the distance was incorrect. Fortunately we had lots of people praying for us and the Lord sent an Angle in the form of Erhart from one of the local farms, to stop us and redirect us. Due to his diligence we were back on track without loosing any time. Once we linked up with the correct route, we started with the climb up Aasvoëlberg.
It took us 4:24 from leaving Romansfontein until we reached the farm road on the otherside. During this time we covered 30.47 km and ascended 641 meters and descended 930 meters. The ride from Romansfontein to the beginning of Aasvoëlberg was about 13 km which took us 45 minutes. The rest was spent on Aasvoëlberg. The descend, which down the route used for the annual 100 mile horse race, was something else. It was very rough and very steep, but we did managed to ride most of it.
We then joined the Tarkastad/Hofmeyr main road, and what a road. In some places it looked like a farm track! The other nasty bit about it was that the first 11 km was uphill. The incline was not much, but the constant grinding was energy sapping. Once over the top the road was more "reasonable" and we rolled into Hofmeyr at 13:45. We had some of Hofmeyr's legendary pies and coffee. The "roosterkoek", which came with the pies was the best!
The 24 km was easy riding, but then we started the Elandsberg portage. The "road" was an old disused wagon trail, which later totally disappeared and was replaced by "hike a bike" through the veld, which eventually linked up with an obscure and faint jeep track. Our navigation did not let is down and we rolled into Elandsberg at 18:15.
Total riding time 11:52:58; total distance 115,96 km; total ascent 1,442 meters; total descent 1,895 meters.
We managed to get going at 06:20. The previous evening the host showed us the track over his farm to link up with the district road. That was a great help. Like usual it was pretty cold and we did see -9.5 on thermometer. We checked our distances carefully, but did managed to miss a crucial turnoff after about 15 km. George said he did notice it, but ignored it because the distance was incorrect. Fortunately we had lots of people praying for us and the Lord sent an Angle in the form of Erhart from one of the local farms, to stop us and redirect us. Due to his diligence we were back on track without loosing any time. Once we linked up with the correct route, we started with the climb up Aasvoëlberg.
We then joined the Tarkastad/Hofmeyr main road, and what a road. In some places it looked like a farm track! The other nasty bit about it was that the first 11 km was uphill. The incline was not much, but the constant grinding was energy sapping. Once over the top the road was more "reasonable" and we rolled into Hofmeyr at 13:45. We had some of Hofmeyr's legendary pies and coffee. The "roosterkoek", which came with the pies was the best!
The 24 km was easy riding, but then we started the Elandsberg portage. The "road" was an old disused wagon trail, which later totally disappeared and was replaced by "hike a bike" through the veld, which eventually linked up with an obscure and faint jeep track. Our navigation did not let is down and we rolled into Elandsberg at 18:15.
Total riding time 11:52:58; total distance 115,96 km; total ascent 1,442 meters; total descent 1,895 meters.
Sondag 22 Junie 2014
RASA Day 10
RASA Day 10
George's dad brought him a new tyre from Queenstown and we managed to get it fitted properly on the second attempt. That was a great relieve for George.
The Stormberg area is well for low temperatures and were prepared for a cold start. We managed to get going at 06:20 and the first 20 km was on good district roads with mo major climbs. We covered this in 1:45 and measured a temperature of -11.5! We them turned onto some local farm tracks and had a wonderful time just enjoying the ride through the "veld" on good farm tracks. This was a really beautiful morning and we had a ball. This eventually led us to the track up to Stromberg, a site of one of the major Anglo/Boer War battles. We lost our way a little towards the top where the track disappears, but found our way to the block house where we arrived at 10:15.
From the block house we travelled through the actual area where the battle took place and then onto the R56 for a short while before getting onto another gravel road heading SW some farms to the farm De Rust, where we picked up s farm track again. On this road we encountered a most peculiar sight. At 12:34 in the afternoon there were icicles hanging from the fence and the surrounding bushes. This was because some sprayers were running and the water must have frozen when it came into contact with the fence and bushes. A most amazing sight.
From De Rust we travelled around some "koppies" before reaching a district road, which took us to our next support station at Romansfontein.
Total time: 8:23:47; total distance: 86.05 km; total climbing: 902 meters.
George's dad brought him a new tyre from Queenstown and we managed to get it fitted properly on the second attempt. That was a great relieve for George.
The Stormberg area is well for low temperatures and were prepared for a cold start. We managed to get going at 06:20 and the first 20 km was on good district roads with mo major climbs. We covered this in 1:45 and measured a temperature of -11.5! We them turned onto some local farm tracks and had a wonderful time just enjoying the ride through the "veld" on good farm tracks. This was a really beautiful morning and we had a ball. This eventually led us to the track up to Stromberg, a site of one of the major Anglo/Boer War battles. We lost our way a little towards the top where the track disappears, but found our way to the block house where we arrived at 10:15.
From De Rust we travelled around some "koppies" before reaching a district road, which took us to our next support station at Romansfontein.
Total time: 8:23:47; total distance: 86.05 km; total climbing: 902 meters.
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