Prep for 2015 Freedom Challenge / Race to Rhodes

[Monark]

He seems to have found a new lease on life... am holding thumbs!

[Slowbee]

common guys need some news here .....

[Shebeen]

just had a look at the rider progress sheet. As of 8pm last night at the romansfontein dinner table.

 

the race clock had been ticking for 134 hours.

Tim had spent 31hours in support stations(essentially rest)

Andrew Barnes had 55.

 

basically the rest of the time is spent riding, BUT tim could have used up some of that time on the side of the road.

[cat-i]

common guys need some news here .....

 

All trackers into GrootDam disappeared 2 kms short of the support station. Pierre must be there already. Shebeen / Dusty / Tracks - how does he look for cut-off at Willowmore? 4 more days to get there, is that right?

 

Andrew stopped at Stuttgard, Tim continuing. From Dirty's speed earlier today it looks like  portage for Tim tonight? He could be in at Grootdam tonight by midnight?

 

 

Sjoe - those support station people probably get very little sleep this time of the year with hungry tired riders appearing any time of the day or night!

[Trackz]

All trackers into GrootDam disappeared 2 kms short of the support station. Pierre must be there already. Shebeen / Dusty / Tracks - how does he look for cut-off at Willowmore? 4 more days to get there, is that right?

 

Andrew stopped at Stuttgard, Tim continuing. From Dirty's speed earlier today it looks like  portage for Tim tonight? He could be in at Grootdam tonight by midnight?

 

 

Sjoe - those support station people probably get very little sleep this time of the year with hungry tired riders appearing any time of the day or night!

 

Re Dirtrider

Pierre staying at Grootdam. Needs to do +-500km in 4 days to make Willowmore cutoff. He could do:

22/6 Grootdam-Toekomst  136km

23/6 Toekomst-Bucklands 104km

24/6 Bucklands-Cambria 96km (incl nasty Osseberg, 3am start needed)

25/6 Cambria-Willowmore 162km (Baviaanskloof reverse)

 

Re Tim

Correct, portage is up Schurfteberg. Not too difficult nav and a bit of pushing up the switchbacks. Tim did it at night/storm/mist during R2Cradock in March so he''ll be fine. Can only speculate as to Tim reaching Grootdam but Tim is very smart and calculating so if he thinks he can reach Grootdam by midnight he'll probably try, get a good sleep in a bed and do his usual 3/4am start. If he thinks he won't reach, he'll get his 11-3am sleep en route and be at Grootdam for breakfast. Tim is a legend because of his ability to just carry on and on and on, he has an incredible ability to just keep pushing himself despite conditions & circumstances.

 

Re Support Stations. As you know, it's very special for the hosts, they pull out all the stops. Also very isolated so its a special time for them to be part of a special event.

 

PS: I see you are also at Kalahari Challenge this weekend. Plenty of conversation guaranteed. OBS/Red Wine on pack list  :-).

[tubed]

Re Dirtrider

Pierre staying at Grootdam. Needs to do +-500km in 4 days to make Willowmore cutoff. He could do:

22/6 Grootdam-Toekomst  136km

23/6 Toekomst-Bucklands 104km

24/6 Bucklands-Cambria 96km (incl nasty Osseberg, 3am start needed)

25/6 Cambria-Willowmore 162km (Baviaanskloof reverse)

 

Re Tim

Correct, portage is up Schurfteberg. Not too difficult nav and a bit of pushing up the switchbacks. Tim did it at night/storm/mist during R2Cradock in March so he''ll be fine. Can only speculate as to Tim reaching Grootdam but Tim is very smart and calculating so if he thinks he can reach Grootdam by midnight he'll probably try, get a good sleep in a bed and do his usual 3/4am start. If he thinks he won't reach, he'll get his 11-3am sleep en route and be at Grootdam for breakfast. Tim is a legend because of his ability to just carry on and on and on, he has an incredible ability to just keep pushing himself despite conditions & circumstances.

 

Re Support Stations. As you know, it's very special for the hosts, they pull out all the stops. Also very isolated so its a special time for them to be part of a special event.

 

PS: I see you are also at Kalahari Challenge this weekend. Plenty of conversation guaranteed. OBS/Red Wine on pack list  :-).

great post

[cat-i]

PS: I see you are also at Kalahari Challenge this weekend. Plenty of conversation guaranteed. OBS/Red Wine on pack list  :-).

 

 

[cat-i]

Re Dirtrider

Pierre staying at Grootdam. Needs to do +-500km in 4 days to make Willowmore cutoff. He could do:

22/6 Grootdam-Toekomst  136km

23/6 Toekomst-Bucklands 104km

24/6 Bucklands-Cambria 96km (incl nasty Osseberg, 3am start needed)

25/6 Cambria-Willowmore 162km (Baviaanskloof reverse)

 

 

Great - now we must just get this to Dirty so he can stay with the program .... doesn't help that he lost his phone earlier. Hope he goes to bed early tonight - looks like there's a big party where he's sleeping tonight.

[Sepia]

Many thanks all for the informative updates.

[Dusty]

Re Dirtrider

Pierre staying at Grootdam. Needs to do +-500km in 4 days to make Willowmore cutoff. He could do:

22/6 Grootdam-Toekomst  136km

23/6 Toekomst-Bucklands 104km

24/6 Bucklands-Cambria 96km (incl nasty Osseberg, 3am start needed)

25/6 Cambria-Willowmore 162km (Baviaanskloof reverse)

 

 

dirt-rider is going to have to dig very deep to make this cutoff. Very doable, but there is a huge amount of climbing on these days and not idealy suited to his SS.

 

He has till Sat morning at 6, if my calculations are correct to get to Willowmore(started on the 8th at 6am with a 19 day cutoff?), so if nothing goes wrong for him up to Willowmore (mechanicals/lost/extreme weather etc) and he can either start very, very early on Friday morning or ride late into the night, he can make it to the home stretch of the race. The Cambria/Willowmore double is big, but all district road so it can be done in the dark. It would be a huge pity for him not to make this cutoff as he is just about there!

 

His biggest risk I would think is if he has to tackle the river crossing sections into the Baviaans on his own. It's nightmarish down there from a navigation point of view. Being in a group will help him immensly and he will be a whole lot less likely to sleep out. 

 

Hold thumbs.

[cat-i]

Thx for the update, Dusty!  Holding all my thumbs ... 

 

There's a whole lot of trackers awol this morning - including Pierre's and Tim's. Very impatiently waiting for them to appear again!

[RocknRolla]

This thread is great.

 

Must say, technology has really advanced this thread into being able to share the excitement, perils and awesomeness of this ride.

[SwissVan]

dirt-rider is going to have to dig very deep to make this cutoff. Very doable, but there is a huge amount of climbing on these days and not idealy suited to his SS.

 

He has till Sat morning at 6, if my calculations are correct to get to Willowmore(started on the 8th at 6am with a 19 day cutoff?), so if nothing goes wrong for him up to Willowmore (mechanicals/lost/extreme weather etc) and he can either start very, very early on Friday morning or ride late into the night, he can make it to the home stretch of the race. The Cambria/Willowmore double is big, but all district road so it can be done in the dark. It would be a huge pity for him not to make this cutoff as he is just about there!

 

His biggest risk I would think is if he has to tackle the river crossing sections into the Baviaans on his own. It's nightmarish down there from a navigation point of view. Being in a group will help him immensly and he will be a whole lot less likely to sleep out. 

 

Hold thumbs.

 

Bloody nutcase doing this on a SS

I hope someone has a straightjacket and camera ready and waiting for him....just as a joke of course...so we can see his face when they put him in it...

 

[Dibles]

Dirt-rider told me that he is not afraid to tackle the Baviaans in the dark. He has ridden that section at night before.

[Shebeen]

Today could be a moving day for the guys upfront....it all comes down to the Osseberg 4x4 track, which is the descent into the baviaanskloof. It has become a rof trail of note. we don't have much info on what the state of it is this year, should hear wild stories soon if it's the case. You want to do it in the day (back in my day, you were pretty much told not to try it at night!). if nothing else than for the view.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_h-Tx835tV_g/SKLgR1gCE9I/AAAAAAAABK0/c8LMlj2aTdQ/s1600/IMG_1833+(Large).JPG

 

You cross the river 11 times i think, so it's really slow going at night.

moving back from there. at 5am this morning - Tim was 279km from Hadley, which is the intermediate SS before the start of it. Barnes was 346km. The best setup is to get to hadley in the evening and then leave about 2/3am in order to hit the top at first light. if you're feeling good willowmore is 170km up the road.

 

Barnes will probably do it in some combination over two days, or maybe stop 42km earlier at bucklands(which makes willowmore a bit too far in one day).

If tim rides at a really good pace and continues to forgo rest, he will still hit it at night. i think this would play back into andrew's hand.

[Dusty]

Dirt-rider told me that he is not afraid to tackle the Baviaans in the dark. He has ridden that section at night before.

The Baviaans itself is fine as it is just dirt road, it's the Ossewa Pad (see Shebeen above) into the Baviaans Kloof that has been bad since the 2011 floods. It is no longer used by 4x4 vehicles as there is no road(it got washed away). It's predominantly a bushwack. If DR has reccied it, maybe he'll have a chance in the dark, but Trans Baviaans it aint.

 

You will notice how the vast majority of riders leave from Hadley which is not far from the start of the Ossewa track or leave very early from Bucklands to ensure that they have enough daylight doing all of these river crossings.