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| TRANSBAVIAANS 2011 What an adventure!! It all started four days before the Trans-Baviaans, when the race organizers informed us that they were changing the route, this was due to worsening conditions and a few 1.6m plus river crossings. This new route ,dubbed ”LANGSBAVIAANS” took us on a northern bypass through the kloof, crossing the On our arrival in Willowmore, we were greeted by the very enthusiastic locals who clearly only see this amount of cyclists / people once a year! It is really great to see how such an event brings the community together. After registration and with the pre-race briefing over, reality started kicking-in. Nerves and butterflies started to get the better of us. At camp, comments “…did you pack…” , “….are you going to take….” and ‘….do you think we will….’’ could be heard all night. This was in stark contrast to the evenings before laughter and light banter! Also carbo-loading on beer did not seem such a good idea any more! Morning arrived faster than anyone of us would have liked, but there was at least excitement in the air. Also present was the howl of the wind, with much theory on would the wind be against us or not. Conclusion could not be reached, but we all did agree that NO wind would be better. After the seventeenth visit to the bathroom,[nerves and not aging bladders?!] the crack of the starters gun could be heard. This was it, no turning back , and after months of preparation the 2011 TRANSBAVIAANS was upon us. Within in the very first hour we realized that the wind was from behind, a Blessing nonetheless!! , and with the adrenalin pumping and our spirits high, the first six or seven hours flashed by. Laughter and an inordinate amount of jokes could be heard from the other cyclists at this point. Checkpoint one, and later two , arrived a lot faster than anyone of us thought. As the sun was setting [a few great photo’s could be had] and with our bikes looking like “pimped-up” rides with the huge variety of bicycle lights , we entered the descent into the kloof. It was, it must be said, a little demoralizing to see all those little red lights string-out ahead of us into the distance, serving only to confirm how FAR we still had to go. A glance behind us, at the long string of white lights, was quite satisfactory though!! The darkness was accompanied with absolute silence from the other riders, all concentrating hard on seeing where they were going! Those spots of darkness did not guarantee the presence of road! At the bottom of the kloof, the only major river crossing under the revised route waited. Now water, it seems, brings the different characters of cyclists to bore, with some just wading in, whilst others pausing to calculate if it is at all possible NOT to get the feet wet! Those who did manage to keep their shoes dry, were soon to regret, as the next 15m involved much walking in ankle deep mud. It was after this crossing, where the comments from the other cyclists turned from silence into load outburst of frustration. In reality, it was very tough going, with moments ON the bicycle lasting only a few hundred meters , before climbing off to walk, AGAIN! The mud had turned into our enemy with “chain-suck” and loss of momentum breaking our progress!! At checkpoint 3 we received a welcome break from our cycling [or walking!], serving to energize us for the last half of the route. All too quickly we were on the bikes again, staring into the distance at the very long string of little red lights. With the moon above our heads, and the blinking of stars, time seemed to pass by very quickly, it was as if you loose all reference to the passing of the hours. Meeting-up with our support/back-up team in the early hours of the morning was extremely motivating. It was cold, in the dark of the morning, and yet all our support had smiles on their faces. Thanks Chris, Charmaine and Ilse! As we rode out into the dark distance, comments from the cyclists were clearly divided into two camps: those who now had enough and those trying to lift the mood of their downbeat teammates with words of encouragement. Some of these “comments of encouragement” did include the odd bit of false information such as “….this is the last uphill….’ and “….the end is around the corner”! All we had on our minds was the last section named “The Never Ender”, and how long is “never end” anyway! Well it turns out that “never end’ is most definitely a long period of time,….or rather road! As we peaked the last hill, the lights from Jeffreys could be seen, and unlike most race ends the last section of 30km was downhill. It was at this point that the reality of completing the event played with the tiredness of our muscles to give us a much needed boost! In a blink, we were entering the finish line, with emotions high! A BIG thank you to all those who supported us in this endeavor. The kind words, best wishes, prayers and support from all made this event one to remember! Furthermore, thank you to all those who made donations for our project, this is after all why we rode!
PRO VERITAS TEAM: Dirk, Sarel, Chris , William, Ben, Jan and Klaas Vir foto's, volg hierdie skakel:
Volg hierdie skakel na foto's van die fietsren (op facebook) http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=253790191306014&set=pu.181778495173851&type=1&theater Volg hierdie skakel na foto's van ds Louis se ontvangs en intreepreek Klik hieronder om te gaan na foto's van ds Loius en Hanlie se ontvangs op Vrydagaand 12 Augustus (Facebook)
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