Freedom Challenge, Day 4

Short day. Spent more time bumbling around and looking at maps than riding bikes. Frustrated but what a beautiful spot to stop.

Trang here, blogging for Beat since he's gone off for the weekend to run the Bryce 100. I spoke to Liehann this morning shortly after they finished day 4. While it was a short day, it was probably not as short as they would have hoped. Liehann and Jill are now riding with Di and Steve, who have done Freedom Challenge twice before and also started on this year's race on the same day as Jill and Liehann. (We ought to give them a team name.) All of the other folks who started with them but who were only going to Rhodes are now long gone - those riders seemed pretty familiar with the route and also didn't sleep much.

There's been a lot of walking in the past two days and that's taking a physical toll on Liehann and the others, but Jill is a machine and still going strong. I think Jill's running fitness is a distinct advantage in this case. Navigation continues to be a challenge, as the cue sheet sometimes contradicts the map and cattle trails are hard to spot when you're as little as 10ft away from them. In light of the navigation challenges and the added difficulties of navigating at night, J/L are giving second thoughts to their race plan and may not double up on as many days as originally planned. But, the riding should get easier after they get past Rhodes, so they'll play it by ear.

Liehann continues to have a plethora of gear issues out there. The recent casualties being a winter sock that was melted when it was being dried too close to the fire. It was his warmest pair, so he's a little bummed, but will hopefully manage with the other 3 pairs he has left. He's also blown out one of his bike light chargers. Fortunately he had two, so for now he can still charge his lights - he just has to do it one at a time. This may pose a problem if they have to ride longer nights, but for now it's ok.

Tomorrow should be a tough day - distance-wise it's not so bad, but navigation will be tough and it'll be more climby than today. J/L are trying to pack it in early tonight to catch up on some sleep.

Freedom Challenge, Day 3

Day 3 took Jill and Liehann from Ntsikeni to Masakala, through a nature preserve via lengthy stretches of off-trail cross-country bike-hiking. They had a rough start (Liehann got very brief cell reception and confirmed some specs for his shock (which is now leaking oil, but is still rideable) with me, and added

F*d morning. Tough nav
Slow!!!!

Throughout the day they seemed to move somewhat slowly, and partially off the path, as it turns out they indeed missed some jeep roads and hiked in parallel cross-country. But they made it in the dark. Jill reported seeing wildebeest and antelopes and having to track around another gorge. They had to race the daylight to get at least off the cross-country section. Weather seems good, though cold, with mornings below freezing. Jill is also enjoying the atmosphere of the checkpoints, farmer's houses and village community centers - it actually sounds a bit like the Iditarod!

Tomorrow should be a short day, only 60km. While it would be tempting to skip a checkpoint, the section right before the following checkpoint involves some more very tricky navigation, and in the darkness it would be very difficult. So far though they still move according to the original race plan.

Freedom Challenge, Day 2

"Tough nav day. Stumble through morning. Beats device awesome through forest road maze. Brilliant sunset moon. Big gate climb"

"Nav still tough and some hard terrain but beautiful"  

"This is not easy but i love it."

No cell reception at today's overnight stop, so only a little information is available via our sat texting messenger. Looking at the maze of trails/forest roads early on I worried about their navigation, but everything seemed to go ok, including crossing one of the infamous high (as in higher than a person) fences. Trang and I anxiously watched them stop at a house after 3 hours - maybe they got a brunch offered, we won't know until later. Turns out watching such an event is more exhausting than riding it!
After some technical issues with my little turn-reminder device (it occasionally gets into a funky state) it seems to have been quite useful and worked well today.

Unfortunately Liehann's shock isn't doing great apparently, as Trang, Liehann's dad and I scrambled this morning to get specifications for a replacement shock for Liehann's bike, after Liehann asked his Dad to look into that. It looks like that will be possible as we had the relevant specs, and a Freedom Challenge organizer will be driving down and deliver the shock in Rhodes if I'm not mistaken, which is still quite far away.