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2017 Freedom Challenge RASA & RTR


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Posted

Looks like Floris' tracker has died. He was pretty close to Marnitz at the time, so I'm hoping that Marnitz took him under his wing into Hofmeyr.

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Posted

Such a shame that they both pulled out!

Well done for entering, trying and giving it your best shot.

Sad you had to go. Must be good reasons and only those who try this will know.

Respect!

Posted

Endless pages on tyre choices for Epic.

 

Martin: Chaoyang tyres please

YES!

 

i was going to say that too, but then started googling cannondales and got sidetracked!

 

AFAIK, he has done it on a hardtail before. So either he is getting a bit older, or just rides the bike he's got.

Posted

John meanwhile was plugging along on his own and I kept on wondering why he was moving so slowly....he eventually walked in at about 04h00. Walked in the moonlight because his light didn't last the night. 

 

So, to whoever unplugged John's light fom the charger at Kranskop, ....thank you. You gave him a night he won't forget in a hurry. 

 

I'm going to wade in here, not specifically at John because I don't know the precisely what happened to him, but just at this point because it is pertinent to all who are following this and could be planning in future.

 

Having a light that needs to be charged each night is a massive luxury. There's probably more charging points than when I did it in 2008 (in the R2R section it was very limited). We did it with ring ring phones that would last 2/3 days and only a handful had any sort of light that required anything but AAA or AA batteries.

 

I know you can get a magicshine for about R1000 these days that will give you 1200 lumens and scare the bejesus out of any springhasie you startle along the way. That is the machine for 3 hours of singletrack. I now use one of these types for adventure racing, but drip the light on low for 90% of the time, and only for fast downhills actually turn it onto medium. We also keep backup batteries between a team of four and transitions means you can swap out to a fresh charged one. You still need one on your head, to read maps.

 

My point is you do not need that much light. You're not doing black diamond singletrack at night, it's provincial roads mostly. I did it with a 2005 Petzl Myo XP on my helmet. Took 3 AA batteries and pushed out 50lumens. I had a spare Petzl Tikka in my backpack that I never needed. That pushed out 30lumens, and that is the light that Matt Botha used to finish 3rd in that year. That's basically a R120 energizer light you get at the pick n pay tillpoint. While i don't recommend this, it's possible!

Posted

I'm going to wade in here, not specifically at John because I don't know the precisely what happened to him, but just at this point because it is pertinent to all who are following this and could be planning in future.

 

Having a light that needs to be charged each night is a massive luxury. There's probably more charging points than when I did it in 2008 (in the R2R section it was very limited). We did it with ring ring phones that would last 2/3 days and only a handful had any sort of light that required anything but AAA or AA batteries.

 

I know you can get a magicshine for about R1000 these days that will give you 1200 lumens and scare the bejesus out of any springhasie you startle along the way. That is the machine for 3 hours of singletrack. I now use one of these types for adventure racing, but drip the light on low for 90% of the time, and only for fast downhills actually turn it onto medium. We also keep backup batteries between a team of four and transitions means you can swap out to a fresh charged one. You still need one on your head, to read maps.

 

My point is you do not need that much light. You're not doing black diamond singletrack at night, it's provincial roads mostly. I did it with a 2005 Petzl Myo XP on my helmet. Took 3 AA batteries and pushed out 50lumens. I had a spare Petzl Tikka in my backpack that I never needed. That pushed out 30lumens, and that is the light that Matt Botha used to finish 3rd in that year. That's basically a R120 energizer light you get at the pick n pay tillpoint. While i don't recommend this, it's possible!

Steve, I think you're missing the point.

Someone pulled out his charger which he had plugged in when he went to sleep.

This, if it was done intentionally is unacceptable behaviour. 

You're making assumptions about his light needing charging every night, it doesn't

And yes, we know you don't need the landing lights off a C130. This is some basic light.

Posted

It's unacceptable disconnecting another riders charging light.

 

And talking about lights, if you are going to do be doing a good proportion of night time riding, then in my opinion, you need a hub powered dynamo light.

 

All these new fancy 1200+ lumen lights are extremely fickle and I wouldn't rely on it getting to Wellington. I bought a brand new light prior to my R2R last year (with a spare battery) and although it was great for illuminating singletrack, the connector between the light and battery broke coming out of Vuvu on the last morning. Yes, it was warrantied and I got a replacement but I've since had to replace the replacement!! 

 

Martin had a great ride through the night and Mordor didn't present any issues. He'll have a couple of hours rest at Cambria before heading into the Baviaans.

Posted

I agree with Rider . Most of the times a helmet light works fine , it's only when you start looking for a nice camping spot at night that you wish you had a 10000 lumen light . 

 

And i think the unplugging of his light wasn't intentional  , long hours on the bike makes you do things without really thinking . 

Posted

Its tough to see John, Philippa and Floris pull out - they all really battled hard and should be proud of their efforts. It just emphasises the point of how tough this ride is and while its been bitterly cold, the conditions haven't been overly taxing.

 

I think it does emphasize the point that for most people one of the shorter rides would be a good intro to the trail and give them some insight into what they are in for.

 

I do know that John had been on the trail before and I am sure the others were prepared - but I think its worth a first look at via one of the short rides to see what its about, test your resolve, test your fitness for this type of adventure and your equipment too.

Posted

Steve, I think you're missing the point.

Someone pulled out his charger which he had plugged in when he went to sleep.

This, if it was done intentionally is unacceptable behaviour. 

You're making assumptions about his light needing charging every night, it doesn't

And yes, we know you don't need the landing lights off a C130. This is some basic light.

My post wasn't directed at John specifically, which I tried to outline in my first sentence. BUT because of the timing, I can see how it could have been construed that way. My point was that you don't need lumens, you need reliability - and if that means adding in a bit of redundancy then so be it. Either way, there are many things that can go wrong, it took some serious vasbyt to get to Romansfontein from him and it's a pity that this probably contributed to him pulling out - sorry to hear this.

Posted

Quite amazing that last month, countless AR teams got lost trying to get through Mordor, yet Martin, easily navigated straight through in the middle of the night!

Posted

Quite amazing that last month, countless AR teams got lost trying to get through Mordor, yet Martin, easily navigated straight through in the middle of the night!

 

Yip and all alone .  

Posted

Quite amazing that last month, countless AR teams got lost trying to get through Mordor, yet Martin, easily navigated straight through in the middle of the night!

It's much easier when you walk on water  ;)

Posted

Quite amazing that last month, countless AR teams got lost trying to get through Mordor, yet Martin, easily navigated straight through in the middle of the night!

Not quite middle of the night, he would have had sunrise at about the 3rd of the 9 river crossings.

 

plus he was going the other way, downriver. so clearly easier!

Posted

It's much easier when you walk on water  ;)

ha ha, i did actually ask david once if that was an option.

 

Bucklands to cambria is only about 20kms by the grootriver. you can just pump up a lilo and float down. he said as long as it could fit in a 2l ice cream container, i could go for it!

Posted

Quite amazing that last month, countless AR teams got lost trying to get through Mordor, yet Martin, easily navigated straight through in the middle of the night!

 

160 odd people trampled the paths clear a few weeks back which helps a bit.

He has also done the section before and I think it makes a huge difference, once you have done it which most of the AR teams had never, we managed fine with no prior experience and we did most of it in the dark.

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