The Next Big Adventure is the Freedom Challenge Race Across South Africa. Starting in Pietermaritzburg on 14 June 2010, the race is self-supported single stage mountain biking challenge of 2350km across South Africa and ending in Paarl. There is a cut-off of 26 days, but Zane and I will be aiming closer to the record time of around 13.5 days.

Check out the ‘live tracking’ section on the Freedom Challenge website to follow our progress using the satellite transmitters we will be carrying.

We crossed the Orange River and entered South Africa a few kilometers from our last rest day of the tour. The final six days would take us through the Namaqualand, past towns that feature more in ‘van der merwe’ jokes than on holiday itineraries, past fishing villages on the West Coast and finally to the waterfront in Cape Town.

The first five days were very cold with loads of rain and long distances. On a very windy fifth day we rolled in Yzerfontein, about 90km from Cape Town and the last campsite before arriving at the Waterfront. Many of us had friends and family come out and join us for the last riding day from Yzerfontein. On 15 May the weather finally cleared up and we had great weather as we came into Bloubergstrand for our lunch stop and a photo shoot. From there, a 40km convoy through Cape Town to a very busy Waterfront.

All of a sudden it was over. Hours later, when we gathered for the awards dinner, everyone looked clean and civilized again. Haircuts, clean-shaven faces and new clothes masked what earlier that day had been a group of cyclists that had spent 4 months together. After one last assault (on Long Street this time, not mountain passes or deserts) we started going our separate ways back to wherever in the world we once belonged, taking unforgettable memories, external hard drives full of photos and a day called Dinder that will always remind us of the group of once crossed Africa.

 Leaving Maun we headed to the last bush camp of the tour. Across Namibia and South Africa we would be staying at campsites and hotel grounds – that means showers and cokes every day! To keep ourselves busy in the afternoons, Sunil and Dave created the TDA Decathlon…10 TDA related events, one each afternoon, where teams of 3 could compete off the bike as well. I decided that the best strategy would be to create a team with the event organisers – we called the team “Team Conflict of Interests.”

The first event took place in the rain at the final bush camp. The objective was to dig a toilet-hole as quick as possible, return the shovel to the truck and wash your hands. Since my team mates where involved in judging hole-depth, I represented Team Conflict of Interests in the first event. Using what became known as the “windmill method” of hole-digging I set an event winning time of 1:08!

The longest day of TDA 2010, 207km, took us to the border of Namibia. It was another Mando day (one of the tougher days of the tour, with a 30 minute time bonus for the winner.) Marcel came out of racing-retirement and we worked together for the first 200km, building a sizeable lead on the rest of the racers. Then the team-work stopped and we took turns trying to sprint away from each other, neither with any success. It came down to a sprint at the finish line and I managed to pull it off and win the longest day of the tour! The win and time bonus also secured my third section win – the section from Vic Falls to Windhoek.

The next event in the Decathlon was small single-track obstacle course. I unlocked my forks and represented the team. This time there were bonus points for finding bicycle parts along the route, and although I set the fastest time on the course, I failed to find any of the hidden items. Team Conflict of Interests slipped out of first place in the Decathlon. Dave and Sunil took responsibility for the coke and PVM energy bar-downing event, the last event of the Decathlon before we reached Windhoek.

I spent the rest day in Windhoek with Carol checking out their awesome farm. Namibia and Windhoek have (surprisingly) been some of the most interesting parts of the trip, and I’ll certainly be back at Carol’s place soon!

During the last week we’ve travelled South from Windhoek near the coast, passing Soussesvlei, the Fish River Canyon, loads of mountains and even more wide open desert spaces. This is the last bit of dirt road of the trip and it has been quite rough in places, with days of over 150km in the sand, corrugations and rain. There have been a few more Decathlon events, including stone-throwing at cut-out Ethiopian kids, locker-packing and cycling in a circle.

We are now enjoying our last rest day at an overland campsite on the Orange River, looking across at South Africa!

We will be arriving with a big ceremony at the Waterfront on Saturday afternoon (15 May)…all welcome!

After a much needed rest day in Lusaka we faced a somewhat flat section of around 500km in 3 days to Livingstone. Long flat days were about to become the norm – the average day now is around 160km with seldom more than 300m of ascent or descent across the entire stage. Pure roadie stuff! However, with a new set of slicks delivered by Team Jethro in Iringa, the right attitude and some roadie style riding (i.e. riding in groups – usually smaller ones when I’m done laying the smack down) I won the Zambezi Zone section (Lilongwe to Livingstone) and showed the roadies that mountain bikes aren’t only for the dirt roads!  

We spent two rest days in Livingstone. Other than three days in Arusha, this is the only time on the tour that we get more than one day off the bike. The first night most of the group joined an all-you-can-eat/drink sunset booze cruise…I don’t think a large group of hungry cyclists will be welcome back on that cruise any time soon! And with two days off to follow, there was no holding back on the all-you-can drink either.

During the rest days I hit Steers as often as I could and squeezed in a trip to Vic Falls too. That’s one kickass waterfall! 

As rested as we could be, we left Livingstone on a very short (80km) day to the Botswana border and took a ferry across from Zambia into Botswana at Kazungula. Getting into camp early gave us the opportunity to spend the afternoon cruising on the Chobe River. There’s tons of wildlife in Botswana – in a couple hours we saw lion chasing down impala, crocs, elephants, hippos and loads of other stuff.

During the next 4 days we saw more wildlife, this time from our tents or bicycles and not safely from a river cruise. A couple jackals crossed the road in front of me yesterday, giraffe have been grazing on the side of the road a few times (one crossed the road meters from our camp) and there are elephants everywhere. The locals think we are crazy to be cycling and camping out there. In the last few days I have seen only two locals on the side of the road outside of towns – one was carrying an axe, the other a rifle. I won’t be wondering off too far from camp in the night!

We arrived in Maun yesterday and have a rest day here today. Last night we celebrated the birthday of the oldest rider on TDA 2010 – Riner turned 69 yesterday and sponsored a generous bar tab! With the exception of a couple weeks off following an accident, he has cycled almost every inch from Cairo to here…he is hardcore.

Tomorrow we aim towards the Namibian border and look forward to the longest day of the tour – 207km!   

Leaving Iringa we began then 1071 km section that would take us from Tanzania to Lilongwe in the south of Malawi. Riding out of Iringa with my parents and Jane, we quickly became known as Team Jethro amongst the other TDA riders. The 120km day was one of the best so far – after completing it with the rest of Team Jethro, we spent the night in an awesome forest camp and I received my section plate for winning the previous section. The next few days were quite relaxed with rolling hills and great views of Tanzania. On the fourth day we dropped down into the Rift Valley (2300m of descent that day!) and crossed the border into Malawi.

One day of riding a stone throw away from Lake Malawi took us to one of the best rest days so far – Chitimba Beach…beer, food and beach! On the rest day a couple of pigs we put on a spit braai and we swam in Lake Malawi. The last time we swam at a beach was on day 4 of the trip in the Red
Sea!

Leaving Chitimba beach we faced a 10km climb and over 800m of ascent – I just couldn’t resist the urge to race that stage. Climbing the switchbacks up alongside Lake Malawi with extreme humidity and a scorching sun at 8am, while dropping the rest of the group one-by-one and going over the summit solo was fully awesome! That got me hooked on the race again and I’ve been making a habit of winning stages since then, and plan to do so until Cape Town.

A few more days of rolling hills took us to the end of the section in Lilongwe. The best thing about Lilongwe is Steers! I lost count of how many Steers burgers and milkshakes I put away there. The second best thing about Lilongwe is Nando’s! Need I say more?

Unfortunately, Team Jethro had to be disassembled in Lilongwe. The rest of the team flew back to South Africa from there, while I rode on to the Zambian border. The 5 day stretch from Lilongwe to Lusaka (where I am now) has been one of the largest mileage sections. We’ve had a 197km day and a couple 150km+ days, all with rolling hills and one with some serious climbing. Zambia started off quite unspectacular and boring, but has become much more scenic and exciting closer to Lusaka.

In Lusaka we’re having a brief transition back to the western world – steaks, real beer (that is also cold), movies and even an Irish pub! It’s strange going from waking up in the Zambian bush, to doing a stage of the TDA and ending up watching some crappy American movie with smarties and coke. It’s going to be tough when this ends in Cape Town.

I won the last section! The section from Nairobi to Iringa started off with 2 days of hilly road riding; after winning both of these and looking forward to a 7 day stretch off-road with no rest days, I decided to go for a section win.

The off-road stages were tough (some up to 120km), but I felt strong everyday and the scenery and cycling were awesome, so I kept doing well. After a couple more stage wins and staying consistently in the top 4 each day I found myself over and hour ahead of 2nd place going into the last day. Day 7 of the section was a 20km uphill time trial (it was also raining.) Although tired from racing the previous days, and only needing to complete the TT to take the section win,  I went out climbing as fast as my lactic acid-marinaded legs would allow, and enjoyed every second of the muddy 20km!

15km after securing the stage win, I found my parents and aunt cycling out   to meet me! They entered the next section (Iringa to Lilongwe) and got in a couple days early. After rolling into Iringa yesterday afternoon we hit the champagne and red wine hard! Today is a rest day and tomorrow we head out towards Malawi.

Thanks for all the comments on the blog! I’ll put up some more pics up soon (my camera hit the road at 41km/hr and got cycled over; I’ll have to hijack some pics)

Three rest days at the half-way point of TDA 2010 and I have eaten and rested so much I have only enough time for one sentence here and some pics!

Back in the Southern Hemisphere! In Nairobi now, 2 days south of the Equator and all is going very well. I checked that Orion’s belt is now upside down, just to confirm that all is as it should be and that the ‘Equator’ sign we cycled past wasn’t lying. Mount Kenya made a brief appearance between the rain, wind and clouds three days ago as we navigated our way around it.

The past week has taken us through the Northern parts of Kenya and on some of the toughest roads the Tour has to offer. Hundreds of kilometers of mud, rocks and tears (I left bits of my elbow and leg on a particularly rocky section – but I took awesome memories) took us from the Ethiopian border down to the tarred road just outside of Nairobi. While very challenging, it has also been one of the most desolate and amazing parts of Africa that we have cycled through.

A rest day in Nairobi today is much-needed to repair bicycles, remove mud, dry everything and re-load the legs with some carbs. Then its 2 days ride to Arusha (past Kilimanjaro) for a coupe days of rest at the half-way point.

Check this article: http://www.adventurecalendar.co.za/news/index.php?news_id=1396

Fortunately, the first few days heading south from Addis Ababa were relatively easy and flat, with a couple days around 100-120km and I took them easy while recovering from being sick. Just when we headed back into the mountains for the last time in Ethiopia, I felt good again and could do a few days of racing, grabbing another 2 stage wins to wrap up country number 3.

Earlier this week we arrived at the Kenyan border town of Moyale. The piece of rope hanging across the road marked not only the border between two countries, but the beginning of a very different experience. The tarred road ended and the dirt “road” began, the people got a lot friendlier, there were suddenly no stone throwing kids and the landscape opened up in all directions.

Three days (including “The most difficult day of the tour” – TDA staff) took us from Moyale, about 240km south over sand, corrugations and loose lava rocks, to Marsabit. Today is a rest day in Marsabit and there is serious rain coming down. We need a 4×4 to get from camp 3km into town. If the rain keeps up, the next 3 days until we get back to tarred roads may well be more difficult than “the most difficult day.” Let it rain!

After 3 more days of African roads we get back to tar roads and the roadies that are still alive may be able to force a smile over the following 3 days as we roll into Nairobi.

Finally a good enough internet connection to upload some pics from the last few weeks…

Another awesome week in the Ethiopian mountains! After much needed rest (and a few beers) in Gondar, I was ready to hit the climbs hard again. And hit them hard I did! I got my first stage win on a 117km day leaving Gondar. The day started with a fast descent from the hotel, followed by some rolling hills and a good climb just before lunch. After a very quick lunch I set out solo for the remaining 57km a one big climb to the finish line. Just the right combination of Queen, Metallica, Paul van Dijk, lactic acid and Ethiopian switchbacks got me up to the finish line fast enough to claim my first stage win! Check out the race results for stage 23 on the TDA website.

The next day we cycled into the town of Bahadar for another rest day, and a big party! Bahadar lies on the shore of the third largest lake in Africa, Laka Tana. On the rest day (after a serious breakfast) we did a boat trip on lake Tana and checked out some of the monastries on the islands.

From Bahadar it has been five amazing days of cycling through Ethiopian mountains to reach Addis Ababa, where we are now enjoying a rest day. This strech included the spectacular Blue Nile Gorge and the highest point on the entire tour (around 3300m). The second time trial of the trip was over the 20km climb from the bridge over the Blue Nile, over 1300m up to the top of the Gorge. This was a hardcore climb and a very exciting time trial (I did it in 1:46, coming in 5th for the TT and 2nd for the stage.) Unfortunately, after too many days of going too hard, it all cathes up and all sorts of problems set in simultaneously. Diahorrea, flu, saddle sores, headaches all came to crash my party over the last few days. I’m recovering well though, and after this rest day and possibly a couple days in survival mode, I’ll be able to stop being sick and be awesome instead, once again!

Tommorrow we head south from Addis Ababa, and look forward to a few more days in the mountains before reaching Kenya. Lots of photos coming in Kenya, internet connections in Ethiopia suck! Check the TDA website for some pics for now, and the blog post about my stage win. Thanks for all the comments and emails, cheers.