Cycling from PTA to Mosselbay - Opinions Wanted

[Pieter Henning]

This past weeekend I rode from Pretoria to Sun City on Friday, and then all the way back on Sunday after the MTB race. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found out I quite like the idea of riding from one destination to another. I also heard Paul and Phil telling the story numerous times during the Tour de France of how team Columbia's Adam Hansen rode 2000km along the coast to the Barrier Reef and another 2000km on the way back one December, with only a credit card and a pair of swim trunks stuffed into an empty water bottle.

So now I'm playing with the idea of riding from Pretoria to Diaz, where my folks will be on holiday this December. I'm really not sure whether it is a good idea to attempt this, so I would like some input from you guys to help me decide.

 

Is this feasible? Is this too dangerous? How do I go about choosing my routes and sleep over destinations? Etc. Etc Etc...

 

Hubbers help! Please!

Phen2008-08-29 03:45:55

[Conti]

just you?

get a mate/mates, dont think its a good idea to do it alone

[Pieter Henning]

Preferably just myself (it feels awesome to ride so far on your own), or maybe one or two other riders. Don't really want to have a big group or a support car - too much organisation.

[Conti]

at least 3, won't advice you to do it single.support car is nice to have but the distances between "dorpies" is not that big.

[NC_lurker]

Yup, agree with Conti. 3 would be a good number, solo might not be very safe. Try stay off the National roads during Dec, will also be more scenic on the back roads. You'll probably need to ride with a small backpack, but given the time of the year you shouldn't need much. If your folks are driving down, try organise that you leave before them, so that you can meet up after a few days & swap clothes etc. Will minimise some of the effort. Good luck!

[Pieter Henning]

Good plan. Will keep that in mind. Yup, I definitely just wanna ride on the back roads and avoid national roads wherever possible. Looking at doing about 180km per day on average. Small back pack I have.

[Conti]

you can even use the post office, beforehand send a parcel with kit/clothes to a place where you are sleeping over. and post the dirty/used stuff from there  to MB

[Piernas Flacas]

I think it is possible to do it by yourself. Look at Riaan Manser cycling around Africa. He mentions in his book bumping into people doing similar things by themselves, even females. If you decide to do it I wish you good luck!

[Conti]

yes it is possible, but why take that risk.

Africa and South Africa is not the same.

[NC_lurker]

you can even use the post office' date=' beforehand send a parcel with kit/clothes to a place where you are sleeping over. and post the dirty/used stuff from there  to MB[/quote']

Yup, you address it to "Post Residente" (sp?) or something like that.

Chat to Shebeen, he used that system during the Freedom Challenge.

Much easier to just use the folks

[Pieter Henning]

Any idea of roughly what the distance will ba on back roads? My mom has a Garmin in her car, I'll check the distance on it later, but that will be via main roads.

For spares, naturally tubes and puncture kit should be packed. What else? A broken chain is probably the biggest/most likely problem that can happen, so an extra chain and chain breaker.

[Conti]

poste restante

[Piernas Flacas]

yes it is possible' date=' but why take that risk.

Africa and South Africa is not the same.

[/quote']

 

Because that's what it is about, imo.

[Conti]

good torch and rechargeable batteries, good toolset and what you have mentioned

[loneranger]

We (2 of us) have done exactly that last year Desember.. PTA - Dannabay without a backup vehicle. And I would agree with the others, try not to do it alone! If you go at it without a backup I would advise you to get yourself panniers and pannier bags!! a backpack on your back is not very comfortable on day 5! and some days (only some days) you will wish for a backup vehicle!

 

We planned our route according to which towns we knew people in and what places we would like to see. And it was a MTB friendly route!! (PM your email adress and I can forward our route to you) If you have limmited time be prepared to do +- 100km a day, some days 140km!

 

PS: We will be at it again this year after the Sabie Experience!!

 

 

[Pieter Henning]

good torch and rechargeable batteries' date=' good toolset and what you have mentioned[/quote']

 

Don't plan on riding in the dark but I suppose it's a good safety measure, just in case

 

 

We (2 of us) have done exactly that last year Desember.. PTA - Dannabay without a backup vehicle. And I would agree with the others' date=' try not to do it alone! If you go at it without a backup I would advise you to get yourself panniers and pannier bags!! a backpack on your back is not very comfortable on day 5! and some days (only some days) you will wish for a backup vehicle!

We planned our route according to which towns we knew people in and what places we would like to see. And it was a MTB friendly route!! (PM your email adress and I can forward our route to you) If you have limmited time be prepared to do +- 100km a day, some days 140km!

PS: We will be at it again this year after the Sabie Experience!!

[/quote']

 

Awesome! Will PM you my e-mail address. I prefer the road to the dirt, but will be great to see your route, and I'm sure it will help me a lot. I'm keen on doing 180-200km a day (possibly with a rest day in a nice place on around day 4 or 5). I normally average 30-33km/h on my long rides.