Day 21 Hermanus to Stellenbosch
Distance 83 km; average speed 17.5 km/hr
Good idea: Joburg to Cape Town – on average, all downhill. Less good idea: Joburg to Cape Town via George – hills, hills, hills at the end of the trip. Not one but two mountain passes mean it is our hilliest day of the tour. Houwhoek is the first of the day, we see it rising up in the far distance and anticipate some walking. Somehow, we manage to creep up to the top without pushing. Continue reading
Day 18 Riversdale to Swellendam
Distance 91 km; average speed 18.1 km/hr
Last night’s dinner – gourmet baked beans on toast
Up early to try beat the predicted heat. The Cape Epic is on not too far away and the organisers have shortened the day’s stage to avoid the worst of the 38 degree plus predicted temperature. We get our earliest start of the trip although it is already 23 degrees at 6:30am. Continue reading
Day 14 Aberdeen to Willowmore
Distance 95 km; average speed 17.4 km/hr
Awoke after an excellent night’s sleep at Pagel House https://www.pagelhouse.co.za/, followed by one of the best English breakfasts I’ve had in a long time. It keeps us well fueled until our customary lunch break at 65 km. Thank you, Lyn! I highly recommend this B&B if you are ever in Aberdeen. Continue reading
Day 11 Middelburg to Nieu Bethesda
Distance 66 km; average speed 14.9 km/hr
We had to take a portage to Middelburg from Steynsburg yesterday because I was in need of a pharmacy. The benefits of being a doctor, one can write one’s own scripts. To bring you up to speed, I have been suffering with salivary gland swelling for the last few days which isn’t improving. I suspect an impacted stone which I can do little about except control the symptoms and hope it pops out at some point. Eating is a painful chore presently but on the bright side, my ability to drink beer is unaffected. Continue reading
Day 8 Bloemfontein to Trompsberg
Distance 104 km; average speed 17.9 km/hr
Due to me having to fly back to Joburg for the night (cats! She said, vaguely) we ended up staying three nights at Amanzi, so we portage to the south of Bloemfontein for the start of the next leg. I have to hit the pharmacy so we end up only leaving at 10am. We make good speed despite it, mostly on decent dirt road until Edenburg.
Quiet dirt road on the way to Edenburg
Due to a personal issue, Bianca had to fly back to Joburg from Bloem, hence only a 50km group ride (although Maggie was glad to join in the cycling for a change). Personal issue was resolved so back to Brandfort the following day, which was then a mandatory rest day. We have some catching up to do now, distance wise. 
Continue reading
Day 3 Parys to Kroonstad
Distance: 97 km, average speed: 18.1 km/hr
Sunrise in Parys
Very uneventful day of cycling. A bit of climbing to get out of Parys into Vredefort but then all flat from there. We also (for once) have a tailwind. Continue reading
Day 1: Edenvale to Sasolburg
Distance: 110km, average speed 17.3km/hr
Up early to head to our departure point at Subaru Johannesburg in Modderfontein. By, “up early”, I mean we somehow drag ourselves out of bed at 5am despite having too much wine and a midnight bed time. Thanks to Beverly at Subaru for supporting our trip. We are taking along Grafix Reloaded’s trusty Subaru XV along as the support vehicle, having served admirably on 9 Peaks Tour previously.
Subaru Johannesburg
A few minutes behind schedule, we head off into the weekend Edenvale traffic, taking mostly back roads and doing a fair bit of climbing in the first 30km. We meet up with Maggie in Alberton again and head south. We’ve previously done the same route to Parys on our Triple Challenge so navigating doesn’t present much of a hassle. Most of the peril comes from reckless drivers and distracted pedestrians in Vereeniging CBD. Continue reading
For the second leg of the Triple Challenge, which we had to derive in haste following the cancellation of the Thaba Trails 24 hour, we drew inspiration from our first cycling challenge many years ago, 1000km in 10 day on R10 a day. This time, we would be riding our Buffalo bikes 100km a day on a budget of R100 each for food and cycling drinks. Sign of the times that we didn’t think we would be able to replicate the original budget of R10 a day! As per the back to basics rules, we would be eating no processed foods and drinking only our homemade sugar-salt solution while out on the bicycles. We made our own peanut butter, jam and bread. We decided to ride to Parys and back from Bianca’s home in Alberton, with a ride around Parys on day 2. In addition to Colin and Bianca riding the full days on their Buffalo bikes as always, we would have company as Maggie, Lene and Shaun would be joining us for variable distances of cycling (but weren’t joining us on our strict food budget). Continue reading
Van Gaalen’s 24 Hour MTB Race – 2016
The first stage of our ER Consulting Triple Challenge was the 24 hour mountainbike race in the Magaliesburg.
This was Bianca’s and my second attempt at 24 houring. Last year, at the same event, Bianca completed 19 laps and 250 km for third lady home. I shuffled round for 17 laps and 224 km for 11th place in the solo men’s field.
Just looking at the above statement one can see that new targets immediately standout for this year. Bianca decides a win is possible with the right bike ( she rode single speed in 2015 ) and more training. I just hate 11th place.
Rain upon arrival at the campsite