Day 9-JoBerg2c, Jolivet to Scottburgh. 84km , 1550m down 850m up
Andy’s Adventure Concludes…
We Rode the Beloved Country!
7am start and we were all excited to get this thing going. We again were in group G, so we got American and jumped into group E. 2 minute gaps for each group. Today I had the best legs of the week. I knew in five minutes I had gusto. Caught the back of D in no time, hooked into C (where we should be)
Today we flew. Josh warmed up and we hammered a constant pace on a mixture of sandy double and singletrack. We spent much of our day in the sugar cane fields, with the leaves slapping us as we pedaled mostly downhill.
Again the crest top ores were amazing, but mostly today was about getting to the Indian Ocean at Scottburgh.
As usual the 20km last push in the wind seemed to take forever. The final segment always comes, this time a 600m floating bridge across the lagoon, 1m wide, and the whole thing moved with the wind.
We were down in about 4hrs 20m
So what to make of this event? Every part of the experience is hard- from the riding to the cold to the hauling of bags each day, basics like showers and toilets become an art of timing. Would I do it again? Ask me tomorrow:)
A note on South Africa and the people. What a warm, enthusiastic show for life here, even though there is an underlying sense that not all is well politically or socially. So much potential, but time will tell how the riches of this country (place and people) are realized. In every town we were greeted by friendly Afrikaans, Anglos, and tribal people. All showed such warmth and interest in us and our journey. I am pleased to have met all if them. Even the ones that can’t go downhill, ride tech uphill, cross rivers it ride mud:);
