BB2BB Day 29

It turned out to be quite an interesting day, although I did not think so after 12 hours in the saddle, but more about that later.

I did managed to get going at 04:20 in the hope of beating the wind! My hope did not materialise as there was s breeze going as I left. Initially I made good time, but once I got to the turn off take me west, the climbing started and the breeze was in my face. The wind was not too bad and once I got to the top of the climb, I managed to maintain an average speed of around 14 kph. This continued for the first 30 km.

When I started, I could see a number of stars, but there were some clouds in the sky. Once dawn broke, I noticed that the bad weather tended to move to my left. This did not last and eventually the rain caught me. it did not rain that hard and my windbreaker and warm top kept most of the wetness off my body.

I had my first stop at sunrise (07:07) and was not disappointed. It was quite spectacular! I had my second stop at Patatstivier, out of the wind after 5 and a half hours riding. The rain was coming and going, but never became a real problem. The wind was in my face, but not too strong. My average speed came down to about 12 kph. During this time I had to negotiate a number of gates. The Patatsrivier then linked up with a large, well kept district road.

The going on this initially was good, but then the wind picked up and I was labouring along at 8-10 kph. To make matters worse, the road had a steady incline. This continued from km 86 to 121  when I turned right on the R355. Now the wind was on mu back and I was crusing along at between 20-30 kph. The 11 km to the Kareekloof turn off was completed in no time.

My brother arranged for me to stay with Karel and Susan at Kareekloof. On my way to Kareekloof, I passed the dwelling of Rooifontein. Further up the road was a rock with Kareekloof written on it. Next to it was a board indicating Uitkyk. I continued up this road, which went up and up and up! There were no houses, but the scenery was breath taking. After quite a while some unoccupied dwelling appeared. In the meantime the road continued to climb. Eventually I got to the last house where a 4x4 was standing in the yard. A guy came out of the house and I said I am looking for Karel. He informed me that Karel was in the first house as I came up from the R355! I therefore rode about 7 km up some very steep inclines, to be informed that I have passed the hone if my hosts more than an hour ago! I had no option but to go back. Along the way I met Ross from Rondebosh, who was out on his mountain bike, exploring the local jeep tracks! He agreed to take me to Karel's house. The ride down was much easier and also considerably quicker. This ride added about 2 hours to my days riding time, but the beauty of going up this valley more than made up for the extra time spend out on my bike. Ross took a selfie of us and was on his way back to Commando, one of the cottages let by Karel. I finally arrived at my hosts after a ride of more than 13 hours!

Data for the day: started 04:20; time 13:08:47; distance 151.72; average speed 11.54; total ascent 1,309 meters; descent 1,247 meters.

What a day! It also what a human being is capable off. When I turned off the R355, I was exhausted and ready to turn off at the first house. In the end I spent another two hours on my bike, riding an additional 14 km and climbing nearly double of what I did during the rest if the day, during this little "excursion"!

Total distance after 29 days: 3,023 km.

Môre is my enigste rusdag aan gesien ek een dag voor skedule is. Hennie de Clercq en Mike Smitvkan eers 2 Mei saam met my ry, dus bly ek twee dae oor op Rooifontein(Karee Kloof). Indien my gewasde firtsry klere betyds droog raak, nag ek by die Tankwa Padstal 'n draai gaan maak.

BB2BB Day 28

I had oats and coffee for breakfast. Daniel boiled eggs for the road and made two egg and mayonnaise sandwiches for each of us and after we bid fair well to our hosts, we got going at 05:10.

The road out of Prince Albert was in an excellent condition and we constantly lost elevation with the result that result that we made very good time for the first hour and a half. We then left the main road and had to continue on farm roads, some of which were just two faint tracks through the veld.  We also encountered lots of sandy patches, with the result that our average speed reduced markedly. Sunrise was due at 07:03 and we stopped for some beautiful photos. Although the road was a farm track through the veld, I did downloaded it from Track4Africa and there were telephone poles, with lines, next to it. So this must have been a well used road.

After a while I noticed that correspond 100% with the track, but it was along side and we were following the poles! It then started moving away and we realised that we needed to move left. This relatively easy in the Karoo and after half an hour we were back on track. In this little excursion my front wheel got stuck, I lost my balance  and fell over. Nothing serious. When we got back on track I noticed something peculiar with my rear brake lever. It seems as though something broke. It was still working but I had to keep it in place with my hand. I later managed to keep it in place by putting my wrist band around the lever assembly.

Yesterday the wind came up at 10:30. Today it came up at 08:50! The elevation of the road also did not count in our favour. The general direction was up. The hills were not very steep, riding up an incline against a wind is not conducive fir a good average speed, which came down to 10.2 kph. Poena Jordaan, a farmer from De Doorns came past and stopped for a chat, commenting "julle ouens ry darem lekker"! I thought afterwards that our ride against the wind was not that pleasant!

We eventually reached a district road and noticed a sign indicating 53. I realised that we had 53 km to the R329 tar road to Lainsburg. This was quite a taxing road. It had umpteen hills followed by a small dip and another hill, a dip and another hill and so it went on. With each hill we were also gaining elevation. With wind and these elevations, we were traveling at between 8-10 kph! This continued up to the point that there was 23 km left. We then encountered our first reasonable down hill. We thought(hoped) that this would continue up to Lainsburg, but no such luck. The hills continued, but at least they were now followed by nice down hills.

We passed below the dam wall of the Floriskraal dam and had to go up the steepest hill of the day. Still it was not the end but due to the good descents, we were making good time and our average speed was moving up to over 11 kph. We eventually reached the tar road, only to be confronted by another little monster and when we hit a flat section, the wind tried to blow us off the road!

Olof de Villiers agreed to pick Hoffie, who had to be in Cape Town on 29 April, up in Lainsburg and take him back home. He came looking for us and found us about 8 km out of Lainsburg. He waited for us on the edge of town and showed us the way to the guest house where I wad booked in. We spent some time chatting, he went to get us something to eat and drink while Hoffie disassembled his bicycle to get it into the back of Olof's vehicle. Once Olof was back with our refreshments, Hoffie loaded his bicycle and shortly afterwards they left for Cape Town.



I settled into my room, had a shower, oiled the chain, arranged a breakfast pack for the morning, settled my bill and went for supper at Cafe Hart, the restaurant of the Lainsburg Country Hotel. One of the items on the menu was "lamb afval" and I just could not resist the temptation to order it, with vegetables. The meal was good and I was back in my room at 20:00.

I think I will start a little earlier in the morning to get more riding time without wind. The weather do not look to promising for tomorrow with a 50% chance  of rain. I will be North of the N1 abc can only hope and prayer that I encounter the dry 50%!

Data for the day: start 05:20; time 11:31:55; distance 130.01 km; average speed 11.28 kph; ascent 1,671 meters; descent 1,580 meters.

Total distance after 28 days: 2,871 km

BB2BB Day 27

We had a good supper at The Willows Historical Guest House and they provided us with breakfast/lunch packs which contained two boiled eggs, a bacon and egg sandwich, a peanut butter and jam sandwich, a pear, a fruit juice and a bottle of water.  

Our alarm woke us at 04:00 and we got going at 04:54. The ride out of town was reasonable. It was mostly at a small incline, therefore it was difficult to maintain a good average speed. After 15 km we turned right and went through Leeukloof. Unfortunately is was still dark do we could not really appreciate the beauty of the the kloof, but even in the darkness it looked awesome. Once we emerged from the kloof the road leveled out and we started to pick up speed.

The road surface was good and our average creeped up to 17 kph. We turned left towards Strydomsvlei and 5 km later right towards Prince Albert. We made our first rest stop of the morning here. During this period we also came across about 10 bonte buck grasing about 50 meters from the road. They looked at us and then continued grasing. We continued up to the turn off which would take us past Rondawel, one of the Freedom Challenge lunch/emergency stops. After 5 hours we covered 85 km and then the wind came up! We decided to stop at Rondawel to replenish our water supply. Only the cleaner and gardener were at home, but the lady offered us coffee. We had the rest of our sandwiches and then set off the face the wind.

The wind really picked up and the road tended to go up, which made it difficult to maintain any form of reasonable pace. We also encountered lots of corrugations and sandy patches. All we could do was to grind it out. In no time our average speed first dropped to 15 kph and then to just below 14! After 9 hours of riding we took a rest at the Groot Sleutelfontein gate. Our average speed for the last 4 hours, which included two rest stops, was 10.25!

The road sort of leveled out and we managed to increase our average speed. After passing through a second Groot Sleutelfontein gate, we eventually reached the Prince Albert/Beaufort West gravel road. When I rode this road with my car in 2012, it was in an excellent condition. Today it was a minor disaster! It was either corrugated or sandy, which made going very difficult. I was also expecting the road to go down towards Prince Albert! In stead, we were gaining altitude. This continued most of the way towards Prince Albert. There were a number of down hills, generally we were going up or maintaining our altitude with the typical Karoo "dips" followed by another incline.

We finally reached Prince Albert after 12 hours of riding. While we covered the first 85 km if 5 hours, it took is 7 hours for the last 78 km, largely due to the strong headwind. Some of the locals directed us to Hoffie's cousin's house in Meiring Street, where we were welcomed by our host waiting in the road for us.

Daniel and Marlene Hugo opened there house for us and provided us with a bed, a warm shower, rinsed our clothes and gave  us an excellent supper. We hope to get going again the morning at about 05:00 heading for Lainsburg, a distance of 144, only 19 km less than today!

Data for the day: started 04:54; time 12:02:46; distance 163.22 km; average speed 13.55 kph; total ascent 1,320 meters; total descent 1,513 meters.

I have now done 2,741 km in 27 days.

BB2BB Day 26

We had a wonderful stay with Lucia and Martin Dorfling at Marlu. As the stage to Willowmore was only about 70 km, we decided to have breakfast with our hosts at 08:00 and leave there after.

We got going at 08:32. The road surface was quite good and we covered the 20 km go Fullerton in 1:12. We turned left zbc about 2 km down the road right to follow the flow of the Grootriver and then onto Willowmore. The road surface continued to be good and we it was easy to maintain a pace of 16-22 kph. The rock formations of the mountains was quite phenomenal. It looked as though the rocks were pressed together in a giant press. We stopped for a break and something to eat and rest after 2:30, having maintained an average speed of 17.7 kph.

The road had some interesting twists, making the ride quite enjoyable. The last 20 km was fairly straight and level leading us onto the single lane cement road. When reached Willowmore, we decided to first have a relaxing light lunch at Sophie's Choice before we book in at The Willows. Hoffie had a milkshake and a chicken salad and I had an Americano and a Greek salad. We spent an hour just relaxing and having our meal. We finally arrived at The Willows just after 14:00. I asked Lucia to make the booking for us and she indicated that we would pay R500. On enquiry and checking back on her WhatsApp, it was R500 for the room including breakfast. What a bargain! We had our showers, rinsed our cycling gear and spent the afternoon relaxing for tomorrow's big ride. We plan to hit the road at 05:00.

Data for the day: start 08:32; time 05:29:38; distance 72.56 km; average speed, including stoppages 13.58 kph; total ascent 603 meters and total descent 289 meters.

BB2BB Day 25

For the information of those who read yesterday's blog before I amended it, I duplicate the last paragraph here:

Yesterday afternoon I mentioned to Garth, Elsa's husband, that I will pay somebody to come from Graaff-Reinet to the farm if they can bring a shock pump with a release valve. He then "disappeared" and returned three hours later. He went to his farm in Aberdeen district and came back with a shock pump that works! So I am back with a working rear shock. I nearly kissed him!

Garth had to get up at 04:30 to assist with a fox hunt and fitted in very well with our timing schedule and we agreed to leave at 05:00. Elsa gave us Jungle Oats for breakfast, made us sandwiches and gave us two of her delightful "energy bars" come "crunchies" for the road.

We actually got going at 05:14 and made good time for the first hour. We were surprised by a number mud puddles in the dark resulting in lots of mud on our bikes. The last bit to Aberdeen Road was at a slight incline making it difficult to maintain anything above 12 kph. We turned left at Aberdeen Road towards Klipplaat. We stopped on a hill to capture the beauty of the sunrise. The road towards Klipplaat was fairly straight, but the road surface was excellent and there was some variation in the elevation, making the ride quite enjoyable.

We stopped at the still closed Charles Hotel for a bite and Hoffie replenished his water supply. Just outside Klipplaat we took the turn off to Kamferpoort. This little used road was in quite good condition and the shrubbery was typical Karoo with some mountain ranges thrown in for good measure.

The ride through Kamferpoort was something special. My brother-in-law come up from Kirkwood with Nelis Meiring, the owner of Kamferpoort, to unlock the gate for us. We stopped at Nelis' house in the Poort for a chat and some tea. This pleasure little sojourn took us 40 minutes.

My original plan was to do Allemanskraal to Prins Albert in two days. Fortunately sanity prevailed and I changed it to a three day ride. This resulted in today being quite a bit shorter than originally planned. So the ride from Kamferpoort to Marlu was shorter than anticipated and we arrived at our destination just after 13:45.

Data for the day: left 05:14; riding time 07:14:19; distance 106.86; average speed 13.9 kph; climb 759; descent 879 meters.

Total distance to date in 25 days: 2,505 km.

BB2BB Day 24

We had a wonderful evening with Francois and Ina. Francois went to tremendous length to try and help me with the rear shock. He welded some pieces of a valve and cap together and we managed ti get some extra air into the shock. It still is not right, but it is better.

I decided to use an alternative entry to the Elandskloof/Erasmuskloof trail and we therefore decided to leave at such a time that we reach the turn off at first light., so we started moving at 06:07. We found the turn off without any problem. The weather forecast indicated that the minimum temperature would be 5 degrees Celsius. My GPS confirmed that about one kilometer into the trail, but then it started to drop further and in no time I noticed -1.8! I was freezing and looked with fore long eyes towards the mountains to see if the sun would not poke its head above the horison to heat things up a bit, but at this point my hope was in vain. My body and feet were fine, but my hands were freezing. It was not until after about when we started climbing some hills, that the temperature reached normal levels again. For once I was looking forward to the hills because the extra effort generated some additional body heat.

The first part of the road through this trial was in superb condition and we were making good time. The scenery was also something to behold. We also the restored house where Andries Pretorius lived before he joined "The Great Trek". The trail then climbed up a very steep neck, where the surface was also washed away in places. By the time we reached the top the temperature rose to about 8 degrees. A little while later we stopped for our morning break and to get rid of our warm clothes.

The climb continued for a while, but as steep as the first part. We then started our descent. This carried on for quite most of the rest of the trail up to Erasmuskloof. Here the road leveled off as we made our way past sone steep cliffs. Once again the scenery was exquisite! We finally reach the  Graaff-Reinet/Middelburg tar road and cycled into Graaff-Reinet having covered 82 km in 4 hours 30 minutes.

We stopped for water and continued onto Allemanskraal where my second cousin, Elsa Featherstone lives and where we were going to spend the night. The road from Adendorp to Kendrew was a real ordeal. The surface was bad with lots of corrugations and very boring straight sections. It was endless! We were really glad when we took the right turn to Marais Siding. The road surface improved and the direction of the road had some variation which made the ride a little more interesting.

It really was sad to see what have become of Marais Siding. There are no roofs on or windows in any of the buildings! The platform is covered in weeds. It is only about 5 km from here to the farm and we arrived there at about 15:30. It was a good day's riding.

Data: started at 06:07; time 08:24:05; distance 138 km; average speed 16.45 kph; climbed 857 meters; descended 1,621 meters.

I have now covered 2,398 kilometers. I also managed to weigh myself! My normal weight is 71-72 kg. I now weigh 68 kg!

Garth, Elsa's husband went to his farm in Aberdeen district and came back with a shock pump that works! So I am back with a working rear shock. I nearly kissed him!

BB2BB Day 23

The stay at Karoobos Lodge was pleasant. Supper was hood and the breakfast was worth the value.

We got  going at 05:00. The road out of Hofmeyr was sublime! The surface very smooth and the elevation was zero. We were really moving along at a good pace. We covered 29 km in the first hour an a half. We had our early morning stop at Conway after covering 50 km in just under 3 hours.

The road surface suddenly deteriorated to the opposite of what we just had. Too make matters worse we were now riding into a head wind and had to deal with those familiar Karoo inclines. Our average speed dropped immediately. It really became a slog, toddling along at a steady 13-17 kph. By the time we got to the R61 tar road from Cradock through to the Graaff-Reinet/Middelburg tar road, our average have droppedi rr to 15 kph.

We now had to negotiate the Wapadsberg Pass. A climb of 400 meters over a distance of approximately 9 km. The incline was not too severe and we maintained a steady 5.5-6.5 kph all the way. The view from the top was really breathtaking. On the way down it was just about down hill all the the T-junction. Here we turned right and then left on the Owl House road (Nieu Bethesda). My second cousin, Elsa and Francois Botha, with whom we are staying over tonight, is 7 km up this road. The up is just enough to make it difficult. We maintained a steady 11-13 kph.

Elsa informed me that they would not be home and if we got in early we had to make ourselves at home. We did that, had a shower, made some coffee and watched sport until they got home.

Data for the day: started 05:00; time 09:14:43; distance 126.89 km; 13.72 kph; ascent 1,275; descent 1,079 meters. We have descent more than 700 meters in the last two days! Total distance to date 2,260 km.