MY 2010 FREEDOM CHALLENGE RIDE TO RHODES
(By Dawn Bell, Rider No. 106)
Several people (family, friends, race office) have asked for a rundown/write-up/detailed account of my Ride to Rhodes experience. After mulling it over in my head for some time and not entirely sure how to go about it, I eventually decided to “just do it”. So here goes…..
How it all started:
The decision to take part did not happen overnight. I can trace it all back to December 2008 when Dave came home with info about the Freedom Challenge and his intention to do Ride to Rhodes in 2009. Cool, show me the details, can I join you…. Sub zero temperatures, snow… umm or NOT! And so it was that Dave did Ride to Rhodes with my blessing but without my presence. As he returned home after each training ride with details of the great ride, nice people etc so a small desire started to grow. By the time I met him in Rhodes at the finish, it was a done deal, I was going to do R2R in 2010! I have to mention at this point that those sub zero temperatures and snow I’d feared so much did not materialize and he experienced gloriously warm weather.
Training Stats:
And the training started. At this point in time I had reached an all time low in my fitness and other than 30 to 40 second sprints at dog agility shows I was not doing any exercise. Dave was a real gem and patiently rode at my pace, encouraging me all the time. I remember some of those first rides. An MTB orienteering event, with Carine – a sum total of 20km and I was shattered. The first early morning group ride with Ben and Anja – I couldn’t keep up, my legs and lungs burning the entire way. Also a distance of only about 30km. We set a few short-term goals of races. In September 2009 I did my first stage race – 3 days and a total of about 200km. I was now totally hooked on multi-day, long distance riding and just rode and rode and rode.
From July 2009 to end of May 2010, including races I rode 5,404.68 km and spent 355 hours doing it (that’s moving time – I lost track of total time).
The longest ride we ever did was 116km and the longest time spent was about 9 hours.
I also spent about 2 to 3 hours a week (split into 2 to 3 sessions) in the gym doing a little running on the treadmill (not more than 4 or 5km), core strengthening exercises, upper body and legs.
The weekly totals fluctuated according to our work commitments, how early we got to bed and just generally how our bodies felt. Rest is an important part of training.
The Bike & Kit:
The bike I invested in is a Trek Fuel Ex7. I upgraded the front shock to Reba Rox Shock (thanks Uncle Butch) and put on Tubeless Maverick Rims (Thanks Dave). And changed the tyres to Maxxis Larsens.
Before the ride I put on XTR cables, a new BB, Chain, and brake pads. The cassette had been replaced with the new wheels in January.
I also paid a visit to Arran Brown for a full bike set-up, soon after purchasing the bike. A very worthwhile exercise.
Clothes starting from the bottom up:
Shoes – ladies specific Shimano SPD cycling shoes. These are great. They are comfortable for cycling in and also a good comfortable shoe for trail walking. And stood up to the abuse of the harsh conditions beautifully.
My Sealskinz socks and thermal liners really came to the party and kept my feet dry through many river crossings and reasonably warm in some rather icy conditions.
Shorts – these I’ve had trouble with. I took 3 pairs of shorts with me.
Addidas Ladies racing short. Seriously comfortable, but the short legs made me feel a bit over exposed. A pair of gym tights worn over the top solved that problem and provided an extra layer of warmth.
Cape Storm Ladies Matrix shorts. Very disappointing. These were never particularly comfortable using them in the training and two hours into the day on my R2R they started chaffing – so I did not wear them again!
First Ascent ladies ignition shorts. Very comfortable but the lycra stretches and the shorts lose their snug fit very quickly. Still they have remained comfortable.
I also had a couple of pairs of First Ascent Thermal Leg warmers – toasty!
As a base layer I wore Mr Price Sports long sleeve compression shirts. Very comfortable. This was topped by an ordinary short sleeved cycling short.
I had two jackets. A First Ascent Shell – you know the bright yellow ones!
And a waterproof Low Alpine jacket. Not a cycling specific jacket but warm, windproof and waterproof (although I never got to test the waterproof part).
I had two pairs of gloves. A very old pair of long fingered cycling gloves – no name type brand!
A pair of Sealskinz gloves. I mostly wore the Sealskinz and they worked perfectly!
I had a variety of Buffs, including some rudimentary home-made ones. All of which worked fine. My favourite was the “Original Thermal Buff”.
Lighting for early mornings and riding into the night was supplied by a Hope1 light – very good value for money. I used Lithium batteries. On my helmet I secured an ordinary slimeline torch with cable ties.
I have a Venture Bell helmet – just so that I can remember who I am!
I used the “Blowfish” Hydrapack, 15l capacity. Comfortable, with ample space.
Food:
You can not believe how much food you can consume when doing an event like this. I had the following snacks: dried apricots, fruit dainties, crispy coated peanuts, salted giant peanuts, raisins, slivered almonds, trail mix, PVM energy bars, Pronutro bars and an absolute essential for any ride Ferrera Rochia Pocket Esspresso. And of course several slabs of chocolate!
I also had as an emergency a variety of gel sachets.
I had USN Cyto Power in my juice bottle and plain water in my hydration pack.
And USN Recover Max which I drank in the evenings.
The food provided was delicious, heart-warming and nutirious!
Breakfasts consisted of porridge, eggs, bread, bananas, tomato, viennas
Lunches were sandwiches, fruit, chips, biltong, noodles, home-made soup.
Dinner most evenings consisted of home-made soup on arrival followed later by meat (quite often chicken), potato, rice, pap and veges. And of course Bread. There was always plenty to re-fuel your tired body.
And always tea and coffee and some places hot chocolate was freely available.
Getting to the Start:
We opted to catch the Greyhound bus two days before our start day. We left home in Midrand at 8.00am and were collected at the bus stop in Pinetown at 8.00pm that night - a rather long day. But the trip was reasonably comfortable. The bikes were boxed in second hand bike boxes, kindly supplied by Solomons. They were carefully wrapped in bubble wrap. We were able to have the boxes put in the trailer, standing upright, with no other luggage on top.
The next day the bikes were re-assembled and tested. Final bits checked and re-checked. We then caught a lift with a family member to Aintree Lodge in Pietermaritzburg that afternoon.
We got ourselves registered, collected our ‘race’ number and Freedom Challenge Puffadder. And I got my 80L Bag. (As Dave was doing Race Across South Africa (RASA) he had to carry all his kit in his backpack!)
You could feel the excitement and tension in the air as everyone waited for dinner and the pre-ride briefing. Some acting confident, others clearly very nervous. The first batch had started that morning and news of their progress was also filtering through.
Our Ride to Rhodes group consisted of husband and wife Mark & Nicky, Graeme, Barry, Brian, Brothers Ian & Craig.
And Dave (my hubby), Chris, Brendan and Paddy doing RASA.
And the two most important people the Ride to Rhodes Guardians Sean & Yolanda!!
Dinner was served and the briefing began. Last minute instructions and directions, tips and hints were given.
Then it was off to bed early.
Sunday, 13 June 2010
At last the long awaited and much planned for day has arrived! Breakfast was served from 4.45am. Normally I wake up hungry and can consume large amounts of food even at that early hour but nerves and anxiety of what lay ahead took away my appetite completely. I force fed myself, knowing that it was a long day ahead and I needed the nutrition.
With the bags packed and delivered to Sean’s vehicle we were now ready to start. We left Aintree Lodge at 5.30am and made our way through the streets of Pietermaritzburg, with our vehicle escorts to the City Hall. There was much excitement here. There were lots of people, not only the riders but also family and friends. Hugh, a previous R2R participant and his wife also arrived to see us all off. A passer by asked me what we were doing. Yo Yo Yo was the response!!! . Photos were taken and final good-byes said, as the town hall clock struck 6.
And off we went….
Again we had a vehicle escort to see us through the streets as we made our way to Bizely Nature Reserve. This first section in the reserve was a bit scary with big construction trucks racing back and forth along the dirt road. But this was only for a short while and soon we were riding along quiet roads and track and surrounded by bush. Our first official stop was at Minerva Nature Reserve. We were fed with some delicious soup and bread. Re-filled our water supplies. It had warmed up considerably by this stage and some of the extra layers were stripped off. We had a bit of trouble with our navigation through the village of Byrne
Then the fun really started as we descended into the Umkomaas valley. Known as a tricky section to navigate. Chris had done some exploring on foot the day before and made sure of the correct way through to cross the river. As we were negotiating our way through the valley, Dave’s seat post snapped clean off. There is no cellphone reception in the valley so he had to ride with his seat rather low. A lot of this section is not really rideable so it wasn’t too much of a problem. We reached the place to cross the Umkomaas river without further incident. There on the other side was Sean & Yolanda, Hugh and his wife. They had ice cold coke and biscuits for us – Yum!!! Crossing the river had to be done with care - the water was icy cold (about knee deep) and the river bed rocky and slippery.
After a short rest and snack it was time to hit Hella Hella – a very loooooong and steep dirt road. Just when you think it’s going to flatten out, another steep section rises before you. Along the way we stopped to make a few calls to try and source a replacement seatpost for Dave. Sean had also made some calls for him. Next thing along comes Ian Waddilove with a seatpost. A friend who was visiting had a bike on his car with the right seatpost AND was prepared to part with it! Thank you Rob! And Thank you Ian for delivering it!
We continued up Hella Hella, now much happier that Dave had a new seatpost. The group had now spread out a lot and I ended up with the 3 RASA guys.
We continued on at a steady pace, carefully trying to navigate our way to Allandale Farm. Perhaps it was the long day, perhaps it was the hunger and cold setting in, perhaps it was the fading light but we missed a turn-off and a few km’s along realized we were ‘lost’. But after a call to Sean we were soon back-on track. We eventually arrived at Allandale Farm at about 6.00pm. My trip counter said 124.45km.
We were very warmly welcomed by our hosts Ian and Dana Waddilove, as we literally invaded their lovely home. Hot soup was served immediately and went down very well, as did the cup of tea that Nicky kindly made for me. Chris, Dave & I were allocated a cosy and comfortable zozo hut room outside. We had a gorgeous zozo hut bathroom, which supplied a much needed hot shower.
Supper was served. You’d think after such a long day I’d have been ravenous, and Dana’s meal was delicious but the fatigue started to set in and I really battled through my plate of food. I sat at the table somewhat shell shocked and went through the paces of eating. It was then early to bed. It was a comfy and warm bed for which I was most grateful. Sleep was slow in coming, as my mind raced through the day’s events.
Monday, 14 June
All too soon the alarm was ringing and it was time to start day 2. Again nerves caused havoc and eating was a challenge – such a shame when you are presented with such good food!! But I did manage to eat a reasonable amount.
Mark had kindly agreed to slow his pace slightly and to lead the group out through the more interesting singletack. Mark’s slow pace is my fast pace and this section is a blur, as I chased along the track, in the dark, terrified I’d be left behind! But I managed to keep up and actually enjoyed most of the track. We re-grouped and Mark pointed out the saddle we were headed for, through the forest and into Donnybrook. Sounded simple enough. And he, Nicky and Chris disappeared into the distance. The rest of us carefully navigated our way, chatting and getting to know each other.
Ian tells me that my friend Elspeth says ‘hello’. He’d been telling her about this ride he was planning to do and she told him that a lady from her Embroidery class was doing the same thing. To which Ian told her, that it couldn’t possibly be someone from her embroidery class!! Ha ha ha!!!
Somewhere after Gqumeni Forest
The short but very very steep climb up to the mission was just torture! But soon we could see Sean & Yolanda, armed with tea, coffee and lunch. Yum! It was a little easier to eat this time and Dana’s sarmies were delicious! Stops are kept as short as possible so as not to waste too much daylight time. Soon we were on our way again. Now to take on another very very long hill. At least this hill flattened out from time to time to give some relief. We again encountered some navigational issues but Graeme and Dave (both having done R2R) last year got us onto the right track, after a little bundu bashing.
At last we reached the fence of Ntsikeni Nature Reseve. Yay we must be almost there, narrative says 5km to the first lodge and another 5km on to May lodge. How long can that take? Well it didn’t take that long, I suppose, but it felt like an eternity. The sun disappeared and the temperature plummeted and we continued on into the darkness. At least Graeme & Dave were confident that we were heading in the right direction.
A very welcome sight were the lights from Sean’s vehicle and their encouragement that we were almost there. We eventually arrive at May lodge at about 6.25pm. My trip counter read 112.26km.
Again we were very warmly welcomed by our host Jim and his assistants. We were fed some delicious food (again), my appetite was now starting to improve. Dave & I were given our own very comfortable bungalow. Jim very kindly let me use his en suite bathroom, instead of the rather breezy communal showers. I was extremely grateful as it was really really cold out there. Early to bed again, sleep came a bit quicker this night.
Tuesday, 15 June
Again that pesky alarm was ringing way too soon and it was time to get moving. Brr it was cold. Weather predictions were for it to be a bit colder than the previous 2 days but nothing too hectic. Cold front due the following day!
Again Mark had agreed to guide us through the flood planes out of Ntsikeni, another section known for being a bit tricky to navigate. Departure time 6.00am – be ready.
Another delicious meal, but again nerves made eating difficult and required some force feeding.
6.00am and off we went. I don’t think everyone was ready as after a short distance we realized that there were only 5 of us in the group – Mark, Nicky, Chris, Dave & myself. We pressed on as the others were nowhere in sight and waiting around in cold conditions is not clever!
We came over a rise and stopped….ahead was the cold front arriving!! We added an extra layer and continued on. It was spectacular as the sun rose over the mountains, casting orange and purple light across them. What’s this floating down from the sky – it’s SNOW!!! Yes, it was snowing and it was COLD. But oh, so beautiful. The riding here was quite tricky but heaps of fun, Mark knew exactly where to find good tracks to ride. After climbing for some time we now started to descend and it was bitterly cold with an icy headwind blowing straight into our faces. Nicky’s hands and fingers were totally frozen, my feet and toes were totally frozen. We were starting to feel very very cold and just a little miserable. We then came past a farmhouse. Mark knew the surname of the farmer and rang the bell at the gate, introduced himself and asked if we could go in for some warmth. The gate opened and we were warmly welcomed into Sherry & Clark Ratray’s home. We were invited into the warm lounge, despite being a bit damp and dirty! We warmed our frozen hands and feet next to a big fire, Sherry served us tea and toast and soon we were starting to feel human again. We let Sean know where we were and a few minutes later he and Yolanda arrived to check on us. And also to ask for assistance for Barry. The rest of the group were a bit behind us and his rear hub had frozen! No problem, Sherry phoned Clark and soon he arrived and was getting directions to where to find Barry to assist him. I found the hospitality and willingness of people to get involved and help mind blowing! Thank you Sherry for the warmth, tea and toast.
The Guest house is warm and cozy and several ladies were very busy in the kitchen cooking up a delicious meal. We gave the bikes a bit of a clean and had a hot shower. Again Dave & I had a room to ourselves, also warm with comfy beds. The arrival snack was delicious home-made bread and honey – mmmmm. Not too much later the rest of the group arrived. Another delicious meal and now the appetite was growing. Having spent 3 days together the group was starting to get to know each other and there was much chatter and banter over supper.
The kind ladies who prepared our food then headed off into the night and we all crashed into our beds. Brendan had not kept up with the group and as yet had not arrived. I lay there in my warm comfy bed thinking of him trying to find his way in the cold and dark, all on his own. Although Brendan was doing RASA and was not his responsibility Sean still took time out to find Brendan and give him some navigational guidance. Brendan eventually arrived at about 9.45pm – wow what perseverance!
Wednesday, 16 June
We got to sleep in a bit this morning, as it is a short day. Mark again agreed to guide us through the tricky navigational section of the flood planes into Queens Mercy. A 7.15am start – hey it was light, but not warmer!
Today’s riding was a lot flatter, not so many huge big climbs, well first thing anyway. The flood planes were a criss-cross of tracks and I can see how easily one could get lost. But we had an excellent guide in Mark and made good progress and thoroughly enjoyed the riding. There across the planes we could see Sean & Yolanda waiting with our lunch. But first to get across this tricky donga running right across our path. It was at this stage that Barry by assisting Nicky & I (the rest of the guys went off ahead) was welcomed into the sisterhood as an honorary sister. Thanks for helping us get across that donga Barry!
Our Guardian Angels were there with our lunch packs, tea, coffee and other snacks, including some of the best biltong I’ve ever eaten. After enjoying our break and food we continued on. I was rather tired today and had to work hard to keep up. The day really is something of a blur and I can only remember snippets. Fortunately it was a short day and we arrived at Malekholonyane Lodge at 1.15pm, 58.26km. Some delicious vetkoek was our welcoming snack here. We also had nougat and a coke on our pillows – compliments of Sean & Yolanda. They really spoiled us. It was bitterly cold here, with an icy wind blowing. Our washing was done for us and after a hot shower I climbed into bed for an afternoon snooze. Yolanda brought us hot chocolate in bed!!! But it was oh soooo cold and I could not warm up. There was heating in the dinning room and so we congregated there, to discuss the next day’s navigation and eat another delicious meal. The meal was enjoyed with much laughter and chatter. By the time we went to bed we were nicely warmed (inside and out) and managed to stay that way for the night. Chris, Dave & I shared a room.
In the night we heard vuvuzelas being blown and wondered if Bafana Bafana had won their soccer match!?
Thursday, 17 June
That pesky alarm awoke us again, for a 6.00am start. This day is known for being long and again with some tricky navigation. I started off feeling a little weary today, despite the short day and afternoon rest the day before. As a result a lot of this day is also a bit of a blur. Riding in a group is very useful and thanks to the group working together and looking out for each other, I was able to keep up and was well looked after. Thanks guys! We made very good progress and got to the turn-off well in time to negotiate the Vuvu valley rather than have to go around on a rather nasty gravel road. The instructions were to keep right and follow the river. Which we managed to do successfully and with only one wobbly as to whether we were on track. It was quite a long slog through this valley, riding a little, pushing a lot. Eventually there up on the hill we saw the famous Vuvu cellphone tower – Yay!! It was a bit of a climb to get out of the valley but just knowing we were almost there gave us that extra bit of energy. A short ride through the village and we arrived at the Vuvu School
Sean was full of compliments at what excellent progress we’d made – arriving in daylight!
The Vuvu experience is always a bit different from the other stops and for most of us anticipated with a little apprehension. Totally unnecessary though. We had a classroom to put our bikes and bags and another classroom was set up with a table for meals. Round the back Sean had set up an outdoor shower for us. So the water was wonderfully hot but the air was very cold! Still it was great to be able to clean up. We used the staff toilets – two long drops (one for the ladies, one for the gents). And toilet paper was supplied specially – a luxury not readily available to the average person in this part of the world! Again we were fed a delicious meal. The one thing about this meal that really stuck in my mind was the delicious vegetables. The unique part of Vuvu is that we get to stay the night with the local people. We were split up into two’s and three’s and allocated a host. Chris, Dave & I were grouped together and we were introduced to our host, Jafta (spelling?), a very distinguished and well spoken gentleman. He carefully led us across the road, down a path, up a road and into a small settlement. It was enclosed by fencing and had about 2 or 3 buildings, a kraal with some very healthy looking sheep and the “toilet” some way down a path. His wife and some children and a few dogs were outside to greet us. We were taken to the first building, which was about 4m x 4m, the walls were painted a pale green (inside and out) and it had a flat tin roof. Lighting was supplied by a single long-life globe drawing power from a battery. In the room were 2 single beds and a double bed, a wardrobe, a bookshelf, a chest of drawers and a table and chairs (plastic). On the table was a paraffin lamp for “just in case the electric light failed”. The room was very neat, clean & tidy. Our host left us and we went straight to bed. The beds were piled with blankets and we were warm and comfortable.
Friday, 18 June
It was an early start this morning as Dave & Chris were going on past Rhodes and wanted to be on their way. The inside of the roof in our room was completely frosted over! I felt so terribly rude just leaving without saying goodbye. As we quietly made our way out through the “gate” and passed along the fence, there were the dogs from the night before all cuddled together in the grass. They did not even so much as stir, let alone bark at us.
We carefully made our way back to the school in the dark. Dave & Chris quickly got themselves ready and were on their way by 5.30am. I decided to stay and ride with the rest of the group, our departure was set for 6.30am. It was again very cold! We set out along the nasty gravel road towards the last challenge of our ride – Lehana’s pass. We passed a black dog with white frost across his back! Several busses came from the other direction. After about an hour we reached the turnoff, where Sean and Yolanda were parked to make sure we went into the right valley. We had to cross a small stream to get there and the broken ice looked like shards of glass scattered on the road. As we turned off the road to make our way towards the pass, I heard Sean make a quiet comment that the temperature was -4 degrees C!!! Brrrrr….
And so the long slog started. Way in the distance a container (some kind of border control point) which looked the size of a matchbox was pointed out – we were to pass just under this point. 3 members of the group took a slightly lower path and the rest of us headed for a much higher path. We eventually met up along the ridge. It’s so hard to explain this ‘climb’. It’s quite steep, but there are places that are actually rideable. There is a path of sorts to follow the whole way. Towards the higher sections, the ground was totally covered in snow – knee deep in some places but mostly only ankle deep. How could we pass through that without a snowball fight! I throw like a girl!! Oh, yes I am a girl! And so we trudged along, up, up and up. My shoulders ached, as the path on this last stretch was simply not wide enough to push our bikes, we had to carry them! Slowly the container got a little bigger and closer. And then we had reached the high point and there not too far in the distance was the jeep track (sleep-pad) we had to get onto. Riding down across a snow covered hill is interesting to say the least and just a little scary! Once on the wider track it became a little easier to ride and we were confident of being on the right track as we could see Dave & Chris’s tyre tracks in the snow. Again we had to cross a few streams, again covered in a thick layer of ice. What a beautiful sight when we came round the corner and there not too far away was Tina Head Lodge – a very up market hotel. Despite being a little damp and dirty we were allowed in to warm next to the fire and have coffee and toasted sandwiches. Everyone was on a buzz we’d made it over Lehana’s pass and it was only 30km odd to Rhodes. But what an unbelievably loooong 30km’s. From Tina Head we went down to Naude’s Nek pass – the highest road pass in SA. The first part of this ride was somewhat treacherous, the snow having become a bit slushy from vehicles driving over it. I took this section somewhat cautiously having made it this far without any serious falls, I wanted to keep it that way. Dave had taken my cycling computer as a backup for his, so I had no idea of the distance we’d covered and the road seemed to go on endlessly. The group slowly spread out more and more and I lagged further and further behind. But Graeme and Brian would not leave me entirely on my own and patiently waited and encouraged me along. Totally unnecessary but much appreciated. I was now really tired and had a whole mixture of emotions running through me – a measure of sadness that the ride was all but over, a measure of relief that it was all but over, elation that I’d “done it”, when would this 30km ever end…..
Eventually it did end (it was 14h40) and there before me was the Rhodes Hotel and the rest of the group all in very good cheer at having finished. It was a lovely sunny afternoon and we sat at the outside tables consuming hot soup and scones and talking non-stop. Then it was off to our rooms and time to clean up. Everyone and their bikes were covered in mud from the road coming down Naude’s Nek. I was very grateful to hand my bike and shoes over to some guys working at the hotel and the cleaned everything up for me. Unfortunately there was a problem with the gas and I had no hot water in my room, after waiting an hour I eventually used the shower in the room next door. It was good to get cleaned up and warm again.
I joined the crowd in the pub which was buzzing with the excitement of our achievements. We were served a delicious meal and Sean presented each person with their whip. And so my 2010 Ride to Rhodes was a done deal!
Will I do it again – ABSOLUTELY!! One of the very best adventures I’ve ever been on.
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