Expedition Africa
500km Unsupported Expedition Adventure Race
(well for some it was a race…. for others…. it was a journey!)
Without sounding too deep, my time at Expedition Africa was a journey not only to the many wonderful places that Stephan and Heidi laid out as the course, but also many to new places in my mind and heart!
When I first heard of Expedition Africa, I was really excited at the prospect that maybe this time, I would be able to take part as I’d had to sit the Bull of Africa race out due to having a rather large stomach…. Which incidentally choose to make an appearance into the world whilst Hanno was racing the Bull of Africa!
But as life would have it, it clashed with another awesome event that I had already committed to, the Eden to Addo Mega Adventure, so once again, it seemed that I would be missing out on the chance to test my endurance and resolve in a 500km adventure race.
In February, the news that the Eden to Addo event was being postponed came through, and I was sorely disappointed, but at least now I was free to do other stuff….. like Expedition Africa. I hadn’t really thought about it much and then whilst going through mails in our inbox I found a mail from a team looking for a team mate. Then I found another from the same team saying they had found a team mate… bummer. Then…. I found another saying they were looking for a team mate AGAIN! Was this a sign?
Before giving it too much thought (like – can I actually do 500km!), I mailed asking if they had found someone. Man, it wasn’t even 10min later and a reply came back…. “are you keen?”
“holy crap!” I thought. What have I gotten myself into?
My reply started something like this:
“It’s a bit like a fish nibbling on a tasty hook.....it could potentially be really enjoyable, but it also has its painful side! It’s all about the challenge!”
Needless to say, I obviously said the right thing because they chose me! (might also have something to do with the fact that I could speak English and that I was married to Hanno!) but I prefer to think it was because of my lovely personality and good looks!
And so the preparation began. Not having months to train, I decided to do as much as I could and try to avoid injury, a swearword to any potential athlete. Having a toddler meant that finding time to train was another challenge all on its own, but I managed to sneak in sessions here and there during the week and of course over the weekend.
It is at this point that I must thank various friends for their undying belief in my ability! Even those who had absolutely no idea what I would be putting myself through, were encouraging, probably because they had no idea, but it helped! Nothing like having ones ego polished when trying to convince yourself you can do something!
I was terrified of disappointing my team mates, of not having what it takes to finish a 500km nonstop expedition race! I was terrified I would not like them, or even worse that they would not like me!
But of everything, I think what terrified me the most of all, was the possibility of disappointing myself.
As race day loomed, I started to feel a lot more at ease about my team-mates. We had enjoyed a lot of e-mail bantering and joking and if nothing else, I knew that we would definitely have a couple of good laughs en-route!
One of the biggest challenges I think of Adventure Racing, is getting all four team members to the start healthy and getting all the equipment needed by those four team members to the start in one piece and without forgetting anything vital!
Now before I continue any further, let me explain the inn’s and out’s of adventure racing, so that those who are not too aufe’ with the sport will understand what it is all about.
Each race is run in a different place, no two races are ever run over the same route (except for races like Eden Duo or Wartrail which are staged races and run on the same route each year). The route is not marked and teams have to use maps (normally 1:50000 topographical) and a compass to navigate. No GPS is allowed. Teams are required to visit check points en-route which are regulated by either a marshal where teams have to sign in, or a passport which has to be clipped. The race is nonstop so teams decide when and where they sleep. The longer races tend to have a compulsory stop midway, normally around 5hrs, where teams get a chance to recharge, sort out maps if necessary and have a good feed!
Teams consist of 4 members, of which at least one member must be of the opposite sex. Teams must finish with all their members having done the whole route, collecting all the check points, to finish officially. The team to complete the course officially in the fasted time, wins!
Disciplines normally include biking, running/trekking, swimming, paddling, kloofing, rope-work (abseiling, ascending etc); sometimes other disciplines like horse-riding, sailing and in-line skating are included.
So now that you have an idea what it is all about, let me tell you all about Expedition Africa.
Being the slightly more organized member of the Mr & Mrs Smit family, I decided to do my kit sorting and packing during the Easter week as we were closed. My massage bed suffered an identity crisis as I continued to dump stuff onto it each time I walked past! Needless to say that by the end of the week, I had a good selection of stuff to chose from!
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| nutella at the start......still looking clean and spritely! |
Luckily for me, I scored a couple of hand-me-downs so had some awesome technical clothing to take with. Very important when you are stuck up on a mountain in the rain and mist at 2am!
Once my compulsory gear was packed, it was time to sort out race clothing! I had learnt from some previous shorter races that I that I tended to keep on whatever was on top for the duration of the race, except if it was soaked and change whatever was on the bottom to suite the disciplines.
At last all my gear was packed, now it was a case of trying to stay injury free for the remaining week leading up to the race! Taking my rather frequent close encounters with snakes that I seem to have been having lately into account, this could prove to be a challenge!
12 days before the race, I did something REALLY stupid whilst riding my bike in the forest behind us which resulted in me flying over the handle-bars and colliding head first with the ground! A little shaken, bruised and scratched I climbed back on and rode home! Luckily nothing broken…… except my helmet, which I did not notice until I was packing my cycling gear a couple of days later!
Eventually departure day arrived and with Molly (my bike) serviced and ready to go, my bags packed and Daniel organized, tweet picked us up and we were off to Hermanus, the registration and race village venue for the race.
Suddenly, with nothing to do other than think about the next week, the reality of it all started to sink in! I won’t repeat some of the words that went through my mind, but they weren’t pretty! Was I off my rocker? Here I was about to do a 500km nonstop race, with people that I did not know from a bar of soap! I was suddenly really nervous about meeting them!
We arrived in Sandbaai and spent the night at Lofty’s parents (Tatum’s husband and in-laws) which was where Hanno and his team would be staying in the days leading up to the race along with lofty and his team and the camera crew that were going to be filming Hanno’s team. Things were going to be VERY crammed. Luckily a good friend of mine who lives in Sandbaai came to my rescue. His in-laws had a house just around the corner from the race village in Onrus, which they rent out…. Team Kubusi were suddenly going to be staying in style!
My team mates eventually arrived to collect me. All fears were very quickly dispelled and I realized with great relief that I had picked a winning combination of personalities to do the race with!
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| fort rock checkpoint in hermanus |
We collected our bike and gear boxes in the afternoon and spent the rest of the day assembling them and packing our bikes. Suddenly I had to make some serious choices about clothing etc as all my clothing and other equipment that I was taking with for the race, was going in my bike box. We also had to pack our kayak bags for the kayaking legs. I found it really hard to focus on what was needed. Needless to say, although I had everything I would need, I still did not pack very sensibly. It took the entire race for me to eventually get it right!
Saturday night was briefing night. It would also be the first time that all the teams would be together. After all of the teams had a chance to introduce themselves, and briefing was over, we received our race maps. We copied the CP’s off the master maps and headed home to do some plotting. This done, we hit the sack for some much need sleep time!
Sunday morning we had kit check at 09:30. This done we went back home and finalized the packing of our bike boxes and food bins, which had to be dropped off during the course of the day. This was the tricky part as I had to ensure that whatever I would need for the first 3 legs of the race, I had with me! Something that I didn’t quite get right, but luckily I did not need anything serious, just food!
Once our boxes were delivered, we spent the rest of the day lazing in front of the TV! At one stage I lay there thinking that for the next few days I would probably be dreaming about lying in front of the TV!
05:00 Monday 9th May
I could not believe it when my alarm went off! I can’t really explain how I felt when I woke up, but what I can say is that I was nervous as hell! It was here, no turning back now!
Once at the start, we were loaded up into taxies and transported to the Old Harbour in Hermanus. Due to the strong winds, the organizer had decided to cut out the sea paddle. I was part disappointed, but also part happy as I did not fancy paddling those bath tub boats into a head wind on the sea! Once everyone was assembled and after a short period of silence for everyone to ponder and contemplate what we were about to take on, it was game on and everyone scrambled at various paces back up the slope to start leg of the 2011 Expedition Africa.
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| view towards betty's bay |
Once on the path, we made our way to front of the mountain overlooking Hermanus and back down a steep zigzag path to the beach. Here we collected our boats and after a VERY smelly walk to the water’s edge (man, there was some SERIOUSLY dodge stuff amongst the seaweed, far too similar to the stuff we tend to flush down the loo) we started what was to be a rather windy and wet paddle.
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| john on top of the mountain |
We made good headway, and our navigation was pretty spot on. James seemed to have forgotten at some stage during the paddle that we were actually doing a race as every time I looked at him and Jenny, he seemed to be lounging in the back, paddle up, enjoying the ride! John took great glee in punching through the waves, leaving me soaked and spluttering for air whilst desperately trying to spit out the dodgy water of Stanford Lagoon. Memories of Dusi came flooding back…
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| at the start of the zigzag descent |
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| on the beach at the start of the paddle |
Eventually we hit the corner of the bay and then it was just a hop-skip and a jump to the Transition…. Well, that is how it was on paper! Our progress to the next CP was slow. We had to find a beach path, eventually after some bundu-bashing on my part, I found the path and then it was vasbyt the last few km to the transition. It took us nearly 3hrs to cover the last 5km, things were not good! It was at this point that James broke the news that he was not going to carry on. Naturally I was disappointed and although we tried desperately to convince him to rethink after a rest at the transition, he was adamant, and I must say that I also fully understood how he felt and told him that I respected whatever decision he made.
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| before the wind! |
Whilst lying shivering on my mattress, John came in, climbed into his sleeping bag (nice of him to share!) and was asleep. Then the snoring started. I lay there thinking all kinds of lovely words, and then eventually decided that my sleep was also important and said: “john, roll over!” man, instant reaction and the snoring stopped. Clearly this is something that he hears on a regular basis from his wife!
My sleep didn’t improve and after probably about 3omin of fit-full shivering sleep, it was time to get up. The sight of James warmly wrapped up in his sleeping bag was almost unbearable!
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| john before the beach |
Dressed in just about everything I had packed, we headed off on the bikes. We were now heading inland and after about 2hrs on the bike, the sleep monster came to visit and wasn’t very interested in going away! I really had to concentrate hard in keeping my eyes open, always a good idea when going downhill and around corners! But I can’t say that I was altogether successful as I found myself doing some unplanned investigating of the side of the road a couple of times, and at one point had a rather close up encounter with a bush! At about 3am at a junction, John said he needed to have a little rest, so we all climbed off our bikes and lay down in the sloot next to the road. Within minutes there was familiar snoring from John and shivering from myself and Jenny. 15min later we were on the bikes again only to be confronted by an immediate uphill! Why we hadn’t stopped at the top of the incline where it would no doubt have been warmer, no-one knows!
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| early morning bike stop |
Our route now took us back down towards the coast where we would collect some CP’s at Walker Point. Once at the coast, I started to feel right at home as we now turned off the gravel and hit a very sandy jeep track, which we rode on all the way to the light house. I think I was the only person to actually enjoy this section as most of my riding at home is on sandy plantation roads! When we got to the lighthouse, I exclaimed with great glee…… “that was fun!” I had a giggle at the response from Laura De Haast, a fellow competitor – “you have got to be kidding right?” she did NOT enjoy the sand… at all!
We caught up to a few more teams on this section and then stopped at the “holiday resort” at the start of the gravel road. Here we had a bit of a picnic and Jenny did some fabulous nursing to my very painful hand. The gash that I had picked up the day before was in the exact spot where my hand rested on the handle bar, making riding very painful indeed!
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| Jen on the mountain |
Sadly, his hurling continued through the night and next few days, so he was not able to carry on. In the early hours of the morning, the three of us set off across the fields to tackle the 2nd of our long trekking legs. This leg was the one that scared me the most, 47km over three mountains! I was really worried about my ITB and really hoped that it would hold up!
We had spoken to the local farmer the night before about the best route up the mountain, and armed with some local info we headed off. Initially everything went well, and then we made a bit of a blunder, heading up a little early! We found ourselves in a wattle jungle. The thin trees were so dense that if Jenny or James was more than 2m in front me; I could no longer see them despite the light from their headlamps! After spending close on an hour climbing over and through the jungle and only covering about 100m, we eventually got out and then made good speed up the side of the mountain to the tower at the top! Once at the top, we easily found the path and made our way to the next check point. Soon we joined up with a road and sped off down towards Napier. Initially we had plotted a route along the mountains to the next check point, after some unnecessary time wasting trying to find the route, we realized that the mountains was not an option we really wanted to tackle as there were a number of gorges between us and the next check point. At some point I said to the other two, “why don’t we just go on the road?” We looked at the map and saw that it would only be a shortish hike up the mountain to the next check point from the road and we would end up saving a lot of time. At this stage, I was also starting to feel a rather niggling pain in my left heal and calf. I mentioned this to the others and my concerns as to what it would develop into. Jenny suggesting strapping it so we stopped and did this. Once we got going again we made good speed, first across some farm land and then we met up with the main district road. We had been looking out for some fresh water, but had not had any luck so far. It was now starting to warm up considerably and we were all starting to feel a little parched. Suddenly we found ourselves eyeing out the puddles on the side of road, which due to some rain the night before were plentiful. However, none of them looked particularly appetizing, in fact they looked really dodge! James kept talking about a river that we would cross at some stage, but it certainly seemed to take its time. Eventually the river arrived….. what river? So we trudged along even further and eventually came across some relatively “clean” water. All I can say is, it is amazing what you will drink when you are desperate!After filling our bottles it wasn’t long before we caught up to some teams in front of us. Once off the district road we went along a jeep track back up into the mountains. The views were really stunning, but the temperature was also starting to drop. We met up with a number of other teams at the trig beacon check point and enjoyed a bit of a catch up, I suddenly felt a lot better despite my now VERY painful Achilles as there were many other team members looking A LOT worse than I did! But I can’t say that I was relishing the thought of walking back down the mountain as that was what really hurt! My feet were really tender by now as well so after some foot maintenance (blue steel anti chafe lube is the BEST!) we headed off. The nav was pretty easy and it wasn’t long before we hit the next district road. Once at the road, we had a look at the map and decided to stick to the road and not head into the mountain. The light was beginning to fade and there was thick mist up in the mountains. Nav was going to be a nightmare and although it was longer on the road, it would be quicker. By now, I was also hobbling and I all I can say is thank you to my team-mates for being compassionate and patient! James has estimated that we had about 15km to the next transition, which was also the half way compulsory 5 hour stop. I cannot tell you how long this section was for me. Normally, 15km would be a doddle, but with very sore feet and an Achilles that felt like it was exploding with each step, it was going be a long long way!
The downhills were the worst. Even the slightest down hurt. Without realizing I started to compensate and obviously this caused other things to start hurting. James and Jenny were amazing! They kept up the spirit and James kept telling his really bad jokes! – only kidding! With the light almost gone, we started to see all kinds of things in the road (probably a little bit of the sleepmonster issue creeping in) coupled with the fact that we had seen a night adder in the road earlier, we had some good laughs as each of us in turn would leap into the air or off the road because of something we had “seen” in the road. The best was jenny getting a huge fright at a reflection/shadow of the handle of her hiking pole in the road….
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| heading off the mountain |
When we thought we were about 4km from the transition, we met up with a team who had just left the transition on their bikes; they told us it was bout another 9km….. man I nearly cried. This news just crushed me. I had psyched myself up for each km, now I suddenly had to do more. I couldn’t bare it! But somehow I just put one foot in front of the other and kept going in my now very funny little hobble/walk. I was desperate to stop and rest my feet and Achilles, but it was excruciating trying to get going again once I did stop, so I tried to pace these stops to when I really could not bear it anymore! All I can say is: thank goodness for hiking poles, although in my case they were not being used as hiking poles, but more like crutches. We had looked at various possible short cut options but realized that none of them would be advisable.
When we were about 4km from the transition, James stopped and had a look at the map and declared that we could take a short cut across some fields to our right, but he wasn’t too sure if there was a river between us and our intended destination. Man, at that stage, I was ready to scale an electrified game fence wearing nothing but a pink feather boa if it meant shortening the agony!
What I hadn’t bargained on, was the effect that walking across a ploughed field, knee deep in grass would have on my feet and Achilles, suddenly the pain of the last few hours was nothing compared to what it was now! The knowledge that it was only for a short section was what kept me going. I could now see the lights of Beloftebos, our intended destination. We came across a dam in the middle of the field and were greeted by the flutter and squawking of hundreds of flamingos. This did a lot to lift my spirits. Not long to go.
At the bottom of the field, just 30m or so from the transition, we encountered the river. After bundu bashing through the reeds, we hit the bank. It wasn’t very wide, but it was deep. James was sure there was a way across, a bridge or something or at least an area where it was shallower, I did not care, I was ready to strip off and swim across. We were now 15m from the tent. After wandering up and down through the thick bush, James did indeed find a “bridge” and before we knew it, were greeted by big smiles and a huge hug from John (that was the bestest hug I could have had…. From the heart – thanks!). Man was I glad to be there!
Just to sit, take my shoes off.
Here we would get our next set of maps. We quickly unpacked our bikes and tried to sort out our kit – challenging when one feels totally brain dead, not to mention body dead. But the fabulous meal supplied by the organizers certainly did a lot to revive one.
We decided to do the maps after a nap and we headed off to our respective tents. Despite the fact that I had a few days grime and sweat now almost permanently engrained into my skin, I wasn’t going to make use of the lovely showers they had, my sleeping bag was far more attractive!
It felt like I had only just fallen asleep and it was time to get up again. At least my feet were a little less sore than when I had gone to sleep, and although my Achilles was still making its presence known, it had also settled down somewhat!
The first half hour on the bike was absolutely freezing. I could hardly peddle my body was shaking so much, but slowly I started to warm up. We rode the section of road we had missed out on the way in and suddenly I was very grateful for the shortcut across the field. We met up with a couple of other teams doing what we had done, skip the mountain and take to the road. Reports had come through that one team had somehow mislaid one of their members somewhere up on the mountain in the mist, but luckily the mislaid member had met up with another team so was not alone…. Suddenly we were glad to have opted for the road. (we later heard that teams that were with us at the start of that last mountain section came in some 6 hours behind us at the midway camp)
Our nav was pretty sharp to begin with and then we hit a glitch. After some debate as to where we actually were, we decided that no matter which road we took, we would end up at the main tar road, which was essentially where we wanted to be! Once on the tar we headed west for a short bit and then turned off onto district road again. We stopped at a crossroads, surrounded by farmland to eat some breakfast just as the sun was starting to make an appearance. It was very misty and visibility was limited to only a few meters. It was still bitterly cold, making it hard to get going again. The scenery was very pretty and the roads undulating. Luckily no major climbs which would definitely had added insult to injury. My legs having warmed up started a feel a little better, but by no means pain free! We stopped once or twice en-route to snack and take in our surrounds, these we generally tried to tie in with a map change.
Slowly the sun started to burn away the mist and the heat started to become a factor. The many layers of clothing started to come off and we found ourselves hunting for patches of shade! Eventually we arrived in the very pretty town of Greyton. Once we located our CP, we headed off in search of something cold and wet. We ended up at the local farmers co-op and to many odd looks from various farmers and employees of the co-op, camped out in the front yard gulping down cokes and sifting through our munchies bags (which by now were very unappetizing and very boring!) we then hit Genadendal which could not be more different from Greyton if it tried…. I will not comment any further for fear of using some very unladylike words!
The road from there to our next transition was thankfully very flat as we were all by this stage feeling a little wilted. I started to feel the effects of not eating enough or drinking enough and my Achilles had definitely woken up again and suddenly the knees started to complain about all the compensating and generally it wasn’t very comfortable and I started to wonder for the first time why I had actually paid to do this to myself? Every pedal stroke hurt, and the entrance to the big fruit farm where the transition was, didn’t come a moment too soon!
Once off my bike and inside the shed where our gear and bike boxes were, my body seemed to go into shock and I started to get uncontrollable shakes. I felt a little better after eating and drinking something and then wrapped up warmly (even though it was warm outside) and lay down on one of the mattresses provided. I had serious doubts about the next 28km hike. I could hardly walk my Achilles and knees were so sore. I desperately wanted to finish, but I also didn’t know how much more pain I could endure! I asked the others to give me an hour or two to rehydrate and try to recover a bit, which they were both happy to do. Once I got up, despite still having the shakes, I felt like a new person. We packed up our bikes and headed off up into the mountain once again. The first section took us through some apple orchards. Looking up it looked like we could cut out a big loop in the road and decided to take the short cut up the side as the road looked to zig zag quite a bit in the beginning….. big mistake. We ended up coming to a dead-end (well we could have carried on but would have ended up scrambling through thorn bushes and getting very wet!) so we turned around, and headed back down onto safer territory, the road! The climb seemed to go on forever. The views were beautiful and we were treated to a magical sunset. It was going to be cold and by the looks of it misty. We had decided at the start of the hike to skip the kloof. So far the mountains were proving to be very misty at night and negotiating the kloof section in those conditions we decided was going to be too risky. I was also very glad about this decision as I didn’t know how I was going to make it to the next transition on a road, let alone a kloof! Once over the top the temperature dropped radically. We skirted around the dams and headed on our own route which would eventually take us to the Theewaterskloof dam, our next CP. We arrived at a settlement of houses near the dams and decided to ask one of the locals if he knew of any shortcuts. As we went into the yard I said to Jenny, “I hope there are not viscous dogs at this house”, upon which the words had hardly left my mouth and we heard barking. “oh crap” I thought, now we’re stuffed, but luckily the dog that came around the corner was not too agro. We called hoping to get a person, which had the desired result, but also summoned another dog; this one was not at all friendly or excited about these uninvited guests! The owner, a young guy, ushered us out the yard very quickly and once safely on the other side of the fence, told us of a great short cut a few km down the road.
Down the road we trundled in a steady rhythm. I don’t think that my walking can really be described as walking, more like a rolling waddle. Things were starting to get a little painful again!
We found the short cut easily enough and before we knew it we were on the tar road headed for the yacht club. At one point a bakkie went passed and then turned around, stopping to ask if we’re ok! We must have been a sight!
The road to the yacht club turn off seemed to go on forever. I constantly find it amazing how the last 5-8km always seems to feel and take the longest!
Eventually we hit the turn off to the yacht club. I have lost count of the time, and I was suffering from a serious case of the nods! I made a point of walking in the middle of the road on the white line so that I would not go off into the bushes…. It didn’t really help much, I still found myself wandering off the edge of the road every now and again. I was hating the tar. I found the uneven terrain of the mountain jeep track far easier on the joints and muscles than the monotony of the tar and gravel road. It started to hurt again, a lot, even more than the night before! Once again I found myself asking myself when on earth I was actually paying money to do this! But in a warped way, I must have still been enjoying it as I wasn’t going to give up…. I couldn’t!
Finally the gate the yacht club came into view. We almost got lost trying to find the club house, and after ambling around the boat park, we eventually find the entrance. We were greeted like heroes by the marshals who fussed around us making us coffee and tea. We chatted to another team who were about to go out on the paddle and I had a little giggle to myself as only in adventure racing can one person say to another “man you look like crap” and know that it is meant with the utmost empathy and that no-one will be offended! These were the words uttered to me by Lara de Haast of Pure Adventures…… she wasn’t far wrong…. I FELT like crap. I had the shakes again and I wasn’t even doing a rolling waddle anymore…. I don’t what to call it!
I climbed into my sleeping bag, sipped my tea and tried to sleep. Thank goodness for my ear plugs! When I woke up, I felt even worse than when I had gone to sleep. I felt like I had been punched in the face. I had huge bags under my eyes and my face was really puffy. I felt like I had swallowed a blow fish. The real shock however was saved for when I looked in the mirror…… I looked like I had swallowed a blow fish!
Shaking uncontrollably, I unpacked my bike. I was really struggling to function at this stage. I honestly did not know how I was going to walk to the bathroom, let alone cycle another 80km to the finish! I seemed to take forever to get my stuff together. Eventually I got it right and we were on the bikes headed back toward Hermanus. We would miss the paddle due to only being three members, and the boats were doubles, I was not going to paddle that bathtub on my own!
The first part of the cycle I felt like I wanted to curl up and die. It was very very cold, my body ached, I could not keep my eyes open and I kept seeing things that weren’t there. It was very misty and the lights from James and Jenny where were riding behind me formed a shadow of me in the mist in front of me, constantly giving me the illusion that there was someone walking in the front in front of me, I kept swerving only to discover it was my own shadow. After a while I got used to this “phenomenon” and stopped swerving… that is until I rode into some poor guy walking to walk!
At a junction we turned off the main road and headed towards Botriver via Die van der stel pas! My heart sank. I just did not have it in me or my legs to climb any mountain passes! I rode every km downhill with dread in my heart. What goes down, must go up! I kept waiting for the big climb back up, but it never seemed to come. We rode through beautiful valley with fruit trees as the sun started to peak over the mountains. It was freezing! I had all my clothes on and was still frozen. Going downhill did not help. Jenny was great; she helped me a lot on the little climbs as every time I moved my foot in my shoe I felt like my Achilles was exploding! I eventually resorted to taking a strong painkiller. It took a while to kick in, but boy did it help!
We arrived in Botrivier and ordered a sandwich from a little local general dealer. Was it the tastiest toasted samie ever! We headed out into farmland straight away and once over the N2 hit a jeep track across some more farm land. Once back on the district road we saw a familiar looking Landrover heading towards us. It was Adrian Saffey and his team, and with them was John. They had driven out to find us and to drop John off. Adrian had kindly offered his bike to John (even though there is about 2ft height different between them) so that he could finish the race with us! (thanks AD!) It was fab to have John back with us.
By now, my painkillers had kicked in properly and I felt like a million dollars! I don’t think I had felt so good the entire race and I suddenly realized that my body was actually coping fine with the distance etc, and was amazed at what a profound effect pain has on ones performance and mental state!
After a rather long but gentle climb, James started to look a little off colour. Jenny realized that not all was well in camp James when he started to talk more nonsense than was normal for him. We stopped on the side of the road and gave him some water and something to eat. We were running seriously low on liquid and after about 5min; I remembered I had a red bull in my bag which had been there for a few days as I hadn’t been able to stomach even the thought of drinking it. I offered it to James adding that it would give him wings to fly to the finish…… after about 30sec he came out with the following reply: “new freedom pads, they come with wings” at which point we all knew that he was back on track!
Suddenly we were flying down the hill and Hamilton Russell wine estate appeared on our left. This was where the final run leg was to take place. It was a 7km orienteering run around the vineyards. Sadly I was not going to be running (or walking for that matter) anywhere fast. We decided to ride in and have a look at the estate (which is beautiful) and possibly buy a bottle or two or wine to celebrate our arrival in Hermanus. We left James under a tree near the entrance to the vineyard and headed off to the wine cellar. Here we were greeted by team Cyanosis who had fresh oranges and cokes for us. It was a real treat and it was great to see the front teams coming out to meet the back markers and cheer them along. After a bit of a chat (and buying some not so cheap wine) we headed back in search of James who upon our arrival had a camera stuck in his face and was being interviewed (not sure if the interviewer actually got any sense out of him). It took quite an effort to get him back on his bike and facing the right direction for what was to be the last 7km of the race.
The last section was fast and it felt really odd to be riding amongst the traffic into Onrus. Although I was relieved it was almost over, I was also sad as it had definitely been a wonderful journey of not only self discovery, but also of new and beautiful places!
When we rode under the finish arch we were greeted by a huge amount of people and to enormous cheers. Hanno and his team were in the front line and it was great to see them there. Everyone was hugging everyone, but one person stood out and made finishing the race even more special to me (other than my husband of course) and that was Tatum. I will never forget the look of pride on her face at seeing me cross that finish line. Normally it is me waiting vigil for them to finish, now it was my turn. It suddenly made all the pain of the past few days seem so very unimportant and distant! She just kept hugging me and telling me how very proud she was of what we had achieved! It was amazing! Thank you Hobbit!
I was so chuffed that I had stuck it out and I was so chuffed that I’d had the team mates that I’d had. They were absolutely amazing and although we did not complete the whole route as a team, it was an amazing time spent with truly amazing people and I would do it again with them in a heartbeat! Thanks Jenny for helping me when it hurt and for being patient and understanding! You are an amazing woman and it was a real priviledge to not only be able to race with you, but to get to know you as well! The team would not have been complete without John and James, whose company I really enjoyed and who certainly kept the nights and days entertaining! I look forward to many more adventures with all of you!
NUTELLA – make sure you use the right hand!
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