So many thoughts

I found this posting in my phone which never got delivered. So here is a little more from the trail. I think I wrote this at Slaapkrantz which was our next SS after Rhodes.

Today was the first day with mostly riding. This means there is a lot of time to think.

We started in spitting rain and spent a lot of the first four hours putting on wet weather gear and taking it off. It works well.

I spent quite a bit of time riding on my own enjoying the space and beautiful eastern cape scenery.

My knee started again but in a new spot! This is so frustrating and for a couple of hours, my day was ruined. But this junkie resorted to painkillers which is not where I want to be.

Lunch was at Chesneywold and a full hot meal was served - such hospitality from the Botha family. Four hours later we arrived at Slaapkrantz just before the rain set in again.

But I thought I would list the things they don't tell you about: (I had a lot of time to mull this)

• The hard physical labour- I must have trebled my upper body strength never mind my leg strength
• Hiking the equivalent of a Drakensburg Pass with about 25 kgs on your back in a howling gale
• The puffy eyes every morning which take hours to clear. I have an asian look about me most days
• The bum that on some days cannot sit on the saddle
• The fine balance of packing your bag - an extra bar can change the weight dynamics
• The restless nights when you are dog tired and toss and turn
• The perpetual motion of ride, eat, sleep and too tired for anything else
• The shampoo flavoured everything in my box...and I mean everything gets impregnated with the smell
• The niggles and bruises and general battering of ones body
• The snotty nose and sinus and streaming eyes every day
• That of the total 2300km, I will probably walk a couple of hundred either pushing or carrying my bike

This isn't a negative commentary, it is just the way it is.


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