2013 Freedom Challenge Updates

[smara]

Good base layer essential - maybe even wool. Thereafter as many layers as you need to keep warm, with a 100% waterproof and windproof on top of all of that.

 

Some considerations:

• front pockets are great - you can get stuff out of them
  
• back pockets and those located where your backpack straps or waistband are - these are useless as the straps sit close to them
  
• sealskinz socks and gloves - the absolute warmest you can find
  
• buffs and balaclavas - the thermal ones
  

to test - put your hand in a freezer for 5 mins, then try and put the gloves on quickly and take them off quickly and put them on again, then try and thread anything like a lace or a strap through a buckle or if you really want to be silly try and use your cellphone - you should then have a good idea of your capability and kit needs.

 

Thanks tubed, very informative and must say, loving your updates and regular information on this most amazing challenge, thank you!

[Warren911]

Thanks for the continued updates. Can also recommended Glenn's blog for some good reading

Edited June 25, 2013 by Warren911

[tubed]

brilliant - thats Elandsberg - looks like Jasper the hound is chasing him

 

Funny story here on Guy - those shoes..... http://glennharrisonsa.blogspot.com/

 

Last year one of the guys went haring off early one morning with some else's shoes on - not quite sure how they were reunited - but that really does add insult to injury when suddenly you find yourself having to chase down an oke to get your shoes back.

 

(PS: imagine wearing the same pair of shoes for 20 days in a row, through rivers, snow, mud, cow dung - they have no real chance to dry or get washed - so at the end most shoes go in the bin)

[tubed]

Day 17:

 

The now all familiar link to Glenn’s race report of late last night here:

 

http://glennharrisonsa.blogspot.com/

 

My summary of the ‘race’ is this there are now only really three groups to follow in terms of the overall race, the rest provide the entertainment and fascination, the three groupings are:

 

1. The Dreyers – left WIllowmore for Prince Albert and beyond this morning.

2. Charles Mansfield, Christo van den Heever and Scott James – left WIllowmore for Prince Albert this morning.

3. Marnitz Nienaber – last seen at Cambria in the Baviaanskloof – he can’t sit still so will pop up soon

 

So we have the Dreyers going head to head with the three guys, wonder who was watching who last night and if someone did a sneaky move out of WIllowmore?

 

Then Marnitz likes nothing better than to be the underdog/ chaser and he won’t give up – especially as he has all sorts of adversity – he is also riding for a children’s charity so he needs no more motivation.

 

Other point of interest is that today a large group of riders cross from the Eastern Cape into the Western Cape, this happens between WIllowmore and Prince Albert – psychologically this is a big milestone, added to this is the Great Karoo is a welcoming place and there is no more fighting the vegetation of the Baviaanskloof – but the wind will be their companion.

 

To acknowledge some of the riders now riding alone – Robbie Mac is enjoying his ride immensely, but boy does he wander – a novice that needs to get to grips with the navigation. Gaeren seems to have had some issues and is pushing on well. My mate Eric who is spent with tummy issues and is limping along – hanging in there – its really hard to get texts from a guy in trouble on his own – HTFU just shows you have no idea of his state and meaningless words of encouragement don’t help much either. I see he on the move again this morn, that’s all one can do – keep moving. Roy – what an inspiration, 70+ and doing it his way.

 

Avril has my admiration – she went into the Osseberg and Baviaans on her own last night and hasn't been heard of since – the trackers don’t work down there, so she is on her own and out of comms – we can just wait until she emerges – but it looks like she has the stuff.

 

Finally, today should provide us with a good idea of the strength of the racers as they head into the wind and there is no place to hide, it’s a very long haul across the flat Great Karoo to Prince Albert – the strongest may rewrite the leader board in some way today.

[TrailWarrior]

These guys really have my respect! Rooting for Charles who is riding on off with Christo.....go for it mate! Nearly there! Thanks for the feedback Tubes!!

[tubed]

talk about sneaky moves out of Willowmore - Ansa and Sarel slinked out at 01:45 am!, the rest trailed out over the next couple of wee hours with the last leaving at 5am

 

Johann Rissik is reportedly still in the kontrei - last seen with a monster brew of coffee and a toolbox - looks like he might get half his allocation of needy riders for 2013 in one day

 

Dennehof bracing itself

[tubed]

“Boer maak n plan”

 

Bucklands is a typical Eastern Cape farm for many reasons, it has a farming couple, Hannes and Rienie, who farm sheep and angora goats, they are absolutely committed to farming under very difficult circumstances, government policy and labour laws have meant that they have had to adapt, there have been unintended consequences for all.

Besides this some things don’t change on these farms – the hospitality, the resolve to make things work and the commitment to this country.

 

When it comes to making things work, my crank had been falling off due to my not inserting the simple little plastic screw in thing on the non-drive side crank – this little bit of lateral pressure is enough to hold the crank on the spindle and then the two allan key bolts on the crank do the rest, in the absence of the plastic cap it works loose and falls off.

 

So into Hannes’ shed we go, there is a new Toyota bakkie and a half repaired 1960’s Land Rover – immediately things are looking up – Land Rovers go on forever and it must have taken years of maintenance to keep that series on the go – so there must be tools and parts around.

 

After much consultation, Japanese precision engineering meets Afrikaner ingenuity and we have a threaded bolt, two fashioned/ adapted rubber washers from an old shock absorber, two flat washers and two locknuts, see pics.

 

It held to Prince Albert where Johann Rissik took one look at it, asked if it works, I said “like a dream” and we saw no reason to remove it until Paarl. And so it stayed.

[TrailWarrior]

“Boer maak n plan”

 

Bucklands is a typical Eastern Cape farm for many reasons, it has a farming couple, Hannes and Rienie, who farm sheep and angora goats, they are absolutely committed to farming under very difficult circumstances, government policy and labour laws have meant that they have had to adapt, there have been unintended consequences for all.

Besides this some things don’t change on these farms – the hospitality, the resolve to make things work and the commitment to this country.

 

When it comes to making things work, my crank had been falling off due to my not inserting the simple little plastic screw in thing on the non-drive side crank – this little bit of lateral pressure is enough to hold the crank on the spindle and then the two allan key bolts on the crank do the rest, in the absence of the plastic cap it works loose and falls off.

 

So into Hannes’ shed we go, there is a new Toyota bakkie and a half repaired 1960’s Land Rover – immediately things are looking up – Land Rovers go on forever and it must have taken years of maintenance to keep that series on the go – so there must be tools and parts around.

 

After much consultation, Japanese precision engineering meets Afrikaner ingenuity and we have a threaded bolt, two fashioned/ adapted rubber washers from an old shock absorber, two flat washers and two locknuts, see pics.

 

It held to Prince Albert where Johann Rissik took one look at it, asked if it works, I said “like a dream” and we saw no reason to remove it until Paarl. And so it stayed.

 

Incredible!!! WOW!

[tubed]

Day 18:

 

Going to try and let some of the pics tell the story tonight, but first some brief comments:

 

Avril Metelerkamp emerged from the Baviaans Kloof after spending the night in there alone - RESPECT.

 

The Dreyers marched right through Prince Albert in the late aft, up the Swartberg Pass and into the Hel - RELENTLESS

 

There have been no abandons in the last couple of days - even though some of the lone riders were hurting a lot - RESOLVE

 

Without a a doubt the party is at Dennehof in P.Albert tonight after Willowmore last night, but bear in mind these guys rode 165 odd km to get there into the wind and over corrugated roads, so the party is short and sharp, they will be in bed by 9pm or earlier - its all a bit weird.

 

Ok the photos:

 

Kudu in the overgrown Baviaans

 

Jeannie not needing to show how manly she is and unnecessarily climb over every fence - just slide under Martin!

 

The party getting started last night in WIllowmore.

 

The roadside sunrise in the Karoo this morn - this is a special moment each day.

 

The dinner party in Dennehof PAlbert - that's people looking for a lot of calories to replace.

Edited June 26, 2013 by tubed

[tubed]

the last two pics above are from Andy Masters - here is his brief report from today of his blog - great ride Andy

 

Today was the big day of 165km from Willowmore to Prince Albert. We left at 01h30 and arrived at 16h15. It was a long day, we left early to get under the head wind that was forecast for the day, and we managed to keep away from the wind until about 10h00 then we were hit with a head wind straight into us for the rest of the day. We were overtaken by the other batch riders like we were stood still, they were really motoring this morning and working well together. Then Jeanne and Martin Dreyer overtook me just before lunch at Rondawel. As I was walking at the time the Dreyers took the time to have a walk and chat to me, one must put this in context, they are the race leaders, and are serious speed merchants but they make the time to chat and help all the other riders in the field, very worthy champions and really nice people. And it's Jeanne calling the shots on the race not Martin, she is racing her race, it's amazing what she has achieved so far. Anyway lunch was brilliant and so glad we stopped at Rondawel, highly recommend it. Then we pushed on to Prince Albert where Peter and I have ended up in a very comfortable cottage near the main support station. We are all off to the Gammaskloof tommorow and decisions are being made as to how many days to the finish and where people want to stop. Peter and I will take it a day at a time until we get to the end. At the moment we are about 15 riders at the support station, it must be one of the largest groups in Freedom Challenge history, and we hear that there are several large groups behind us. Whilst this brings logistical problems it has also brought a lot of laughs as well. If to sleep now it's been a very long day !!

 

http://twofartstwobikes.blogspot.com/2013/06/prince-albert.html

[Shebeen]

So I managed to sneak into prince albert today as i was driving across the country and it's not thaaat far from the N1.

 

there's a massive bunch of riders in this group, but I don't think they'll ride all the way into the finish in a bunch. i expect a bit of a split tomorrow as quite a few will hang around in die hel and others will do a double up day.

 

die hel is rather famous for its portage up die leer. think we're going to hear quite a bit about this one as the race director has rolled his sleeves up and will be doing it tonight. saw him jump in a bakkie with a bunch of sandwiches and a pair of sealskins socks scaled off some rider. fun times!

 

all in all the race is rolling along quite smoothly. martin and jeannie are looking fairly fresh considering what they've been doing. they've got some nice weather to ride in to the finish too, but who knows how much they'll really push as there is no pressure on them being over a day ahead of the next closest rider.

 

some pics of my own. jumped up on a water reservoir to try and get an interesting view.

https://twitter.com/sburnettza/status/349985585336827904/photo/1

 

 

martin dreyer. yes that is the way to wear your assos and still be able to vang a veldtie without removing them.

https://twitter.com/sburnettza/status/349988007522226176/photo/1

[tubed]

Shebeen,

 

Great! - some action from the frontlines - nice pics, post some more please if you have

Edited June 26, 2013 by tubed

[Shebeen]

Shebeen,

 

Great! - some action from the frontlines - nice pics, post some more please if you have

just grabbed the camera in a rush..didn't take anymore. got there on a real action day. was in town for 2 hours and saw 12 riders!

[straatvark]

How do one know the exact route that the riders will ride? Can I look at the pink route marked on this 1:5000 maps?: http://www.freedomchallenge.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=52&Itemid=100016

 

(It seems the pink route don't go over the Swartberg pass?)

[johannrissik]

Drama in Gamkaskloof today....

David and I were unlawfully arrested by the son of one of the landowners for attempting to make use of a public route.

We were detained by this young fellow for over 4 hours.

We were released at approximately 21h45, David rode on up Die Leer, I drove back to PA to report on the situation to Race Office (no comms in the valley).

Suffice to say that these landowners have erected an electrified fence and locked gate across a public route, they also chose to festoon the base of Die Leer with razor wire.

DWK fencing pliers were useful.

 

I met Martin and Jeannie down in the kloof at 22h15.

[tubed]

*slowbee edit: access discussion here https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/127765-freedom-challenge-2013-route-access-issues/*

 

Pic is looking back into the kloof from the top entrance to the leer and the public right of access pathway.