30th of November - Caledon to Cape Town (Day 6)

Written by Jack Russell (aka Selwyn Bron):

Much anticipation for the last day….once again an early start and the promise of
the longest distance yet…180kms. The route was to the coast, then along the
coastal road…windy as hell…drivers from hell, and a hellova long way…Oh hell
what the hell…it’s a hellova good thing that’s being done. There are very few hills
today, much to the relief of the cyclists. I still hadn’t battled on a hill apart from
having to hold the Beemer back to 15k/hr. All that power and not able to use it!

We finished the day at Sea Point with a local band playing and the other
tradition.......every cyclist and support crew member has to run into the
sea….bliksem it was cold!

We all got together for the “Grand Dinner” and certificate awards evening at the
Protea in Sea Point, where every person received a certificate and a badge, and
some people even managed to get quite “vrot”.

I decided that it was time to tell the cyclists the real reason that I kept shouting
“Keep Left”….if they stayed left I could stay close to them and give traffic a
chance to pass…it was my safety I was worried about, not theirs!

29th November - Heidelburg to Caledon (day 5)

On the bikes by 7am and heading for Caledon - staying at the Casino Hotel there. There was light sprinkle of rain and enough chill in the air to make cry for your bed.

This was the hardest day of the ride and snapped a couple of us, none more than yours truly. The total distance was about 170kms of which I only did about 80kms and slept on bus the rest. My legs and mind was porridge to steal a President Wilson comment. Les also joined me on the bus for a little while.

The uphills were killer (total climb was 1.5kms up) and the downhills were too short to recover. The legends stood out massively - Kelvin for Matrona, Dean Hahn about 10 of us, Mike for Channon, Kevin for the UK girls, Ian Wilson for a bunch of people, The Bullet Thorpedo for a few people (especially at camera time) and Henry for Mike. Cesar led from the from the front breaking the headwind for the peloton.

All the top riders commented that this was one of the hardest days they had ever ridden. Strong headwind, big uphills, pushing the newbies and fatties (me) at the back and rain toward the end. It takes serious mental strength to push through the kind of pain that was delivered to the crew by mother nature.

Lawrence and Kim had organised massuers at the hotel. We were all over them like fat kids on cupcakes. Chas even tried to go for seconds the cheeky porra.

Then to dinner, fines and bed. Apparently someone was snoring so badly it sounded like they were chopping down trees - poor roommate.

28th November - George to Heidelburg (Day 4)

Eugene came up with another cracker today on the bike: "Having a friend like Antonio is like having a hoare for a mother... you dont tell anyone".

We had the tan walk-off tonight... The Pro (mike vilojeon) won with probably the best cycling badge in the world - the obligatory arms and legs but coup de grace was the sock tan - wicked. Runner up was Charelene from vector logistics, third Julian Bryant, Odelle fourth and kelvin fifth. My man of the match was Chas (Antonio) in nothing but his Ed Hardy undies that are ornated with a huge angry Tiger on the front... right where the privates are located. The icing on the cake was the cowboy boots that adorned his peddlars (feet).

Today we did 170 odd kms. 10 hours on the bike. Einah.

The star of todays ride, by everyone's account was "The Notcha". It is an Australian term for what is medically know as the perineum, but to Aussies it is that part that is "notcha balls, notcha bum". Today was long and hard like Chinese algebra (did you know that there are over 1400 characters in their alphabet?).

Everyone is happy to be off the bike and amped to get some shut eye before the 6am start tomorrow.

27th November - Storms River Valley to George (Day 3)

Form the Jack Russell (Selly Bron):

Day three saw an early start…departure at 7am, with the promise of many hours in the saddle. It was to be a long leg…about 160kms to George. There were a few stops along the way, and also a few hills…rolling hills is the expression, but the consensus was that they rolled in the wrong direction…only uphill. The evening was spent waiting for dinner…the restaurant was very busy, and they were really in the kak timing-wise. When the food did arrive, it was pretty good, but by then, everyone was exhausted, and they faded pretty quickly…not even time for the fines…I had to store them for the next evening. The day saw lots of “Keep Lefts”, lots of zooming up next riders with the BMW, and also the use of cyclist language…index finger raised above your head…meaning “Single File”

From Blade (the fat ozzie):
This started off as a great day. Slightly overcast, not too hot gradual undulating hills. Nothing too tough until the last third of the ride. Before that, we pulled into our first two stops with not much pain. From there though the ride got tough climbing out of Kynsna, then out of Plett (thanks Deano, even though you were a little late - had to ride my fat ass up two thirds of that hill with a headwind - einah!), and then the coup de grace, kaaimans river pass.

F**k me that was a ball breaker to say the least. I looked at this thing after doing 150 kms and said "not a f**k"... thanks to the King of George he talked me into doing it, helping me up the first two thirds of the hill with our diminutive leader picking me up for the last third of the hill.

To put this into context - he weighs 70kgs and I weigh a feather-lite 100kgs! Cesar was pushing almost 50% of his body weight EXTRA up the hardest climb of the entire ride from PE to CTN. (Dean and Cesar - send me your bank details!)

When I eventually got to the top I almost up-chucked and couldnt really see much. I had properly snapped in two (admittedly large pieces). Luckily the rest of the ride was only another 5kms of flat into Dean's restaurant.

Again Foxy and Cesar presented the message to Dean's staff, with Deano pitching in with his leadership qaulities. It was clear to many of us that The King of George commanded much respect from his cheering staff.

We finished off with a dinner at some Italian restaurant. Great food just a pity both us and the Dimension Data riders hit the tables at the same time meaning looong waits for chow. The Silent Assasain (Laurence Morriss) and I sat and gut-wrenched laughed (yet again) at Chas and The Tracer Bullet trade verbal barbs and funnies. We chowed down and then Bullet started giving me bedroom eyes again so went back to sleep...