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Interesting move this afternoon from RG du Toit, left the group he has been riding with and pushed on past Rhodes to what looks like a stop at Chesneywold. Riding alone and at night, thankfully its all on roads, so no portages....yet.

 

Its bitterly cold there at the moment and there is no moonlight. So far his night navigation looks spot on.

 

From a strategy perspective I can't figure it, because he is unlikely to catch the group ahead tonight/ tomorrow and he appeared comfortable to Rhodes with the group who stopped there.

 

Freedom_Challenge any insight?

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Interesting move this afternoon from RG du Toit, left the group he has been riding with and pushed on past Rhodes to what looks like a stop at Chesneywold. Riding alone and at night, thankfully its all on roads, so no portages....yet.

 

Its bitterly cold there at the moment and there is no moonlight. So far his night navigation looks spot on.

 

From a strategy perspective I can't figure it, because he is unlikely to catch the group ahead tonight/ tomorrow and he appeared comfortable to Rhodes with the group who stopped there.

 

Freedom_Challenge any insight?

Someone who has enjoyed Chesneywold hospitality and food would understand immediately ;)

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Interesting move this afternoon from RG du Toit, left the group he has been riding with and pushed on past Rhodes to what looks like a stop at Chesneywold. Riding alone and at night, thankfully its all on roads, so no portages....yet.

 

Its bitterly cold there at the moment and there is no moonlight. So far his night navigation looks spot on.

 

From a strategy perspective I can't figure it, because he is unlikely to catch the group ahead tonight/ tomorrow and he appeared comfortable to Rhodes with the group who stopped there.

 

Freedom_Challenge any insight?

a little strange as he was riding with a group as planned together before race but rumour has it he has limited leave so may have to get a move on to get back to his patients... he is an orthopaedic surgeon. 

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most interesting move of the day was Anthony Avidon, permanent number 54, so a seasoned veteran who tiger-lined from amok river crossing straight up to hella hella hairpin. prob not quicker but he wins the tough guy prize!

 

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most interesting move of the day was Anthony Avidon, permanent number 54, so a seasoned veteran who tiger-lined from amok river crossing straight up to hella hella hairpin. prob not quicker but he wins the tough guy prize!

 
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Thanks for the comments.

 

Here's my take on it, purely speculative, highly tongue in cheek and to be taken very lightly:

 

Anthony is being guided from home by Ingrid, she saw this as an early chance to get back at him for some of his route suggestions last year, she sent him up there to give him a taste of what she has in store for him over the next 2 weeks.

 

Ergee the Dr from Hermanus has been seen having coffee with the adventurer from Hermanus Richmond McIntyre, Richmond has plenty of trail experience and was often seen taking a skrik for niks approach (which I guess if you google makes sense, sort of 'the older, the braver approach'). As you point out, Minkie's Aga stove and breakfast has captured him this morning, he's better get out that door soon into the ice box if he wants to get over all the portages today.

 

The group dynamics are a bit like a game of Survivor, either you love the okes you are riding with and form lifetime bonds on the way to Wellington, or you keep wondering if you can catch the people in front or if there are others coming from behind who you are more suited to riding with. Or you enjoy just riding alone.

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If there is an opportunity, what would be really cool is we could get some pics of the overall contenders bikes as they have been prepped. 

 

Besides the spectacular vista's, the inner bike geek in many of us would love to get an idea of what detail the guys are doing to their bikes to be in that batch.

 

Gawie's bike pics were super - he has a very unique approach - which even the manne took time to debate.

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Interesting route to Vuvu this morning. Have Charles and Francis perhaps decided to forego the wonderful hospitality and head for Rhodes?

Edited by novice forever
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And the big guns are off. Time to Allandale..........?

Martin got there at 12:10 in 2017. I don’t expect him to repeat that time this year. I’m expecting the front guys to make Allendale by 12:45-13:00.

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What's up with Scott James and Gawie. Still at Masakala, are they on a time penalty?

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Martin got there at 12:10 in 2017. I don’t expect him to repeat that time this year. I’m expecting the front guys to make Allendale by 12:45-13:00.

Thanks for sharing about your ride on FB etc, besides the inspiration, there's always lots to learn from the guys that push the boundaries.

 

Chuffed to see that the wry smile is back after late last year's experience.

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What's up with Scott James and Gawie. Still at Masakala, are they on a time penalty?

wondering the same, quite few trackers seem to be sketchy today

 

(otherwise Gawie convinced Scott to open a few Zamaleks last night - Aussies no longer used to strong beers)

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Interesting move this afternoon from RG du Toit, left the group he has been riding with and pushed on past Rhodes to what looks like a stop at Chesneywold. Riding alone and at night, thankfully its all on roads, so no portages....yet.

 

Its bitterly cold there at the moment and there is no moonlight. So far his night navigation looks spot on.

 

From a strategy perspective I can't figure it, because he is unlikely to catch the group ahead tonight/ tomorrow and he appeared comfortable to Rhodes with the group who stopped there.

 

Freedom_Challenge any insight?

Three options to speculate on.

 

a)He wanted to get the bontehoek portages done in the day, and that is possible starting from Chesneywould. The group he left pulled in at Slaapkranz. Batch 4 have done the same move.

 

b)he has done RTC and RTW, so now past Rhodes feels a bit more comfortable going out on his own

 

c)okes in his grouped snored, and he wanted some alone time.

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c)okes in his grouped snored, and he wanted some alone time.

 

Seriously, this is a major reason I prefer to be flexible, last year I got to Elandsberg after everybody was well set for the night, there was some heavy breathing to put it mildly, a few hours later I was happy to find Newlands almost empty and a room to myself. Its the one thing I really struggle with, weird I know.

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