Wow, what a day we had yesterday-it definitely tested us all mentally and physically! We joined up with James and Helghart and cycled down Transvaal road out of Kimberley. We noticed the headwind immediately and it only got worse, blowing at 40kms/hr. It was going to be a very long day! Our first town outside of Kimberley was Warrenton which was 80kms away. Unfortunately, we got a puncture on our back wheel while climbing a hill so while the boys changed it, I found some sun flowers on the side of the road and took lots of photos for Lize-Mari as I know its her favourite flower.
Back on our bikes, we passed through Warrenton which was a sad little place but today seemed like the day for punctures as Helghart got a piece of glass in his tire. It was about 8am and I could already feel the sun burning on my legs and arms. We rode another 40kms to Christiana with the wind literally blowing us all over the road. We took it in turns to sit in front to protect each other from the hot headwind but it was such hard work to even maintain 22kms/hr!
Jaco was finding it difficult to steer as there were lots of roadworks and absolutely no hard shoulder to work with and trucks and cars were trying to pass us, while the wind was blowing us around. We got another puncture while trying to be smart - we saw this lovely new road next to us which was still closed to cars but thought it better to get out of the way of the traffic and carried our bikes over a piece of veldt and have the new road all to ourselves! It was great but not the puncture as a result.
Our worry now was not having enough water so luckily we found a little garage outside Christiana and plonked ourselves down in the shade while having dust and sand blowing into our eyes, water bottles and any sweaty place on us. A real low point knowing that we had another 60kms to go to Bloemhof where we were staying for the night. We had to muster up all our strength and will to climb back on our bikes and get going.
It seemed like forever but eventually at 2pm we arrived at the town: 9hrs after leaving Kimberley!! Our hungry prayers were answered with the appearance of a Steers in town and we scoffed down burgers and chips happily! The B&B we were staying at had a balcony overlooking the Vaal River with stunning views of sunset and we were glad to jump in their pool after such a long day! Another awesome sight was a thunder storm rolling in during the afternoon and it was almost a strange sound to hear the rain outside while we fell into a deep afternoon sleep.
Today's Stats:
Total distance: 175kms
Average temperature: 31 degrees (notice I said average and not max!)
Max temperature: 43 degrees
Climbing: 500m
Average heart rate: 130 (Jaco), no info for Christie (I think my heart rate monitor kicked the bucket due to the heat!)
KCalories: 3200 (Jaco)
Jaco's highlight:
Absolutely nothing
Jaco's lowlight:
An 18 wheeler almost pushed us off the road as it tried to squeeze past us and the oncoming traffic.
Christie's highlight:
Absolutely nothing
Christie's lowlight:
A ridiculously bright red helmut strap burn on the side of my neck! They don't call me a rooinek for nothing!
We would luv to say thank you to everyone who has sent us messages of encouragement during the Cancer Fighting Journey-you don't even know how your belief in us has lifted our belief in ourselves! We look forward to receiving your sms's everyday while we riding!
Thank you also to Plek Vanni Visarend who sponsored us accommodation in Bloemhof-it was definitely one of the best places we stayed at!
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