From the ends of the Earth

Re-entry into the real world after three weeks of single focus and nearly complete disconnection is always a difficult adjustment. I promised Beat an update on my own blog so I'm attempting a quick post. My friend Liehann and I finished the Race Across South Africa just after 10 p.m. on Tuesday, July 1, after 21 days of riding, pushing, shoving, and carrying our bikes along the rugged contours of the country. It was an incredible experience to explore South Africa in depth and visit corners that very few people see. The route was brilliantly and sometimes diabolically devised to keep riders as far off the beaten path as possible, and for an American in South Africa even the beaten path feels far away. It was culturally dynamic and physically challenging in ways I didn't expect. Our days were generally (but not always) shorter than I'd become accustomed to in past multi-day endurance events, but the daily challenges were more mentally strenuous and sometimes brushed against the limits of my physical abilities. Not working on upper body strength or practicing carrying my bike up steep, loose terrain was the biggest mistake I made in preparing for this event.

Liehann was a great riding partner, usually upbeat and patient with me in the areas where I struggled the most, which were (unsurprisingly) navigation pressure and fear of being lost in a foreign country, and (quite surprisingly to me at least) the hiking portages. The middle segment of the route featured a seemingly endless string of three-meter-high game fences to hoist our bikes over, and for that and many other reasons there is no way I could have completed this route without his help.

The Freedom Challenge is well organized and makes it possible to ride this remote route with fantastic support from Native villagers, farm houses, and a few hotels. We met many wonderful people and spent time in fascinating places, one of the most unique being a night spent in the village of Vuvu inside one of the villager's huts. Commercial services are few and this route would be a difficult thing to complete fully self-supported, so the race organization has created a great opportunity with this tour.

And of course Beat was at home monitoring the tracking page and updating my blog. His support from afar was fantastic and his device worked great. Although it couldn't help much on the many cow paths, farm road mazes and off-trail bushwhacking, the gadget was consistently accurate at gauging intersections on even small dirt roads, which was frequently reassuring.

I've been off the grid for so long I'm not even sure where or how to begin re-entry. I'm in the Cape Town area for a few more days, hopefully enough time to visit the coast and see a penguin, and then it's back to California finally on July 5. I'm looking forward to coming home.

There will be more to come. Thanks for checking in. 

Freedom Challenge - Hadley to Willowmore

As explained by a commenter on the previous blog post, the section from Hadley to Cambria, while short, is one of the hardest and most rewarding of the race. Jill and Liehann only got to Cambria late in the day. The section was even more difficult to navigate than anticipated as there was flooding that had moved trees and debris across the trail which was at times impossible to find. They got very lucky as a faster racer caught up with them and guided them through the section. He deliberately stuck with them as he apparently had, in a previous year, left someone behind who ended up spending the night in this section, about which he had felt quite bad.
Steve and Di, the couple with which Jill and Liehann rode for quite a while earlier, also caught up with them.
The way from Cambria to Willowmore was on good roads with very clear navigation which, despite being a long day with over 100 miles, according to Jill felt "easy". The views must have been spectacular as we got this message:

Baviaanskloof one of the most beautiful places i have ridden a bike.

 They got to Willowmore a bit late, but have another long day tomorrow ahead. Steve and Di stopped at the checkpoint before Willowmore for the night (or at least that was their plan).

Otherwise everything is working well, and there seem to be no issues, physical or mechanical.

Freedom Challenge - Hadley

Just got off the phone with Jill. They had a few pretty good days, mostly through game reserves with some pretty cool views. After Jill had turned her ankle somewhat badly when a concrete step broke off at a lunch stop(!), it seems that they are doing physically better with both Jill's ankle and Liehann's shin improving (presumably due to more riding). They've also put in a few shorter days, mostly because the sections they are at right now don't really lend themselves to navigating at night. They pulled ahead of Steve and Di a few days back, though they anticipate they might catch back up, which would provide some good company anyways.
Lots of the past trail has been through game reserves and farms, with many10ft fences to climb. Jill is reporting improved upper body strength after some harrowing days. On the other hand, she said the terrain now really feels like "Africa" and doesn't resemble anything she knows from over here, with sightings of Giraffes, Wildebeest, Kudu. The weather has gotten significantly warmer, with daytime temps in the "hot" territory by now. So far they were extremely lucky with the weather having had no rain whatsoever (which is great because Jill was able to use her good non-waterproof camera to take pictures!).
Navigation continues to be the major challenge. Between ensuring being on the right path and some very rough rocky trails (Jill even got a saddle sore, which she was fortunately able to treat) they average only about 5.5-6mph. Looking at the satellite views though it seems better roads are coming up (along with longer distances between checkpoints).
They took a very short day today, as the coming section has a very difficult to navigate river gorge at the end, with the trail meandering for ~2 miles along a river (which might have some Alligators in it!) in jungle terrain - the race director advised against attempting it at night.
Other than that they are in great spirits.
Liehann's girlfriend Trang should by now be in South Africa herself (along with a friend). Liehann feels a bit pressed to make up the lost day, though we'll see if this is possible. I will keep checking the route via satellite view to see if night navigation is possible (it's amazing how much detail you get). The absolute limit for them is 25 days, because that's when they fly back!