We have just secured an anonymous sponsor

…who will be taking both stages! They are so many kinds of extremely generous, altruistic and unbelievably philanthropicous (its a real word…look it up) – we wish we could make an absolute fuss about them but the nature of their business is such that they need to protect the anonymity of their clients. But let me just tell you that they awesome!

I always believed that no act can be truly altruistic – you always get something out of it for yourself  (even if only the satisfaction of having given and the acknowledgement of your contribution) – but this act is bordering on truly selfless.

Thank you Amazing Anonymous!

Anyone else out there keen to match the contribution? As we effectively still have the  2 stages up for grabs; you could help us satisfy our desperate desire to make fuss of people who donate to this incredible cause!?

Donate to this cause

You thought that I would have got a big boy bike by now! Well I just can’t seem to let go of the single speed dream that is a simple bike with no hangups. The BMX from BMX direct that I was sponsored gave me just one puncture in the entire journey from Cape Town to Joburg last year. One puncture! that was it! Not a single other problem. I could have chucked that bike in the pool for a week, pulled it out and carried on riding to Cairo. There is too much complication in riding these days. Too much to think about. People have to have all the latest tech in their bike and most advanced gear before going out on a leisurely ride. They spend obscene amounts of money to gain a weight advantage they could have derived from eating one less pie leading up to their race. There is no substitute for good old training; just get on a bike, any bike…and ride! With all the gears, shifters, Shimano this, Shram that, Carbon Shmarbonness that goes on these days I am not overly excited about upgrading. In fact, in act of defiance I am resurrecting One Gear!

I am going to ride a 55 km Mountain bike race and follow that up with a 95 km road race one week later…all on the same BMX that I completed the 1500 km journey on last year. If you are riding in either of the 94.7 cycle challenge events in November you better not let me beat you or I may just prove that the only thing you can blame on poor performance is your own lack of commitment and a little crutch called consumerism.

This is me challenging you

I will once again be doing things in conjunction with the Cows and as much as I might be challenging the cycling status quo, these 2 rides are going to be done to try raise funds and create awareness for CHOC. So please donate!

We are also going to offer up the 2 stages (mountain bike ride and road ride) as sponsorship opportunities to 2 companies at R5000 per stage. With the interest and following that we managed to generate from the Ride last year the returns in exposure and marketing will well exceed your contribution. So grab the opportunity quickly before someone else does!

Funds raised so far

Only 2 days to go! Help us raise even more! Let’s ring the absolute most out of One Gear. I rode 1500 km on a single speed BMX for children’s sake!

Donate to this cause

We have just extended the One Gear donation period. For all those that have committed to contributing to the cause but have not yet done so, you now have no excuse!

You know who you are – get on it people!!!

Funds raised so far

Donate to this cause

A selection of pictures from Stage 6 taken by Trigger Monkey Photography:

Mooooooo

Check how well that cow is camouflaged

Udders out, eyes closed

Not so succulent Karoo

Land of the long shadow (not really...just made that up)

Just ride through that scarce commodity

Yesterday we rode further than planned and ended up doing about 80 km of dirt in order to eat away at today’s required distance. The plan was to turn today into a chilled stage and get some extra rest in… it didn’t happen! It was super hot and dusty yesterday and the sun threatened comfort. Today, in direct contrast, wind, cold and altitude had their way with us. Today we ascended 750 meters in about 15 km up Verlaterkloof pass and although our riding time and Km’s covered is nothing to write home about I exerted more effort on that ride than I have on any other in my life. A gusty and cold North Easter relentlessly smashed us in the face all the way up the pass. The road grew steeper and steeper until it felt like a tar wall – it never let up, it just kept on going and going and near the top steepened just a bit more in final defiance. I was seriously pushed close to my limit and almost got off but with extremely heavy pedal strokes (just enough to keep moving forward) I did summit and scream in triumph (more accurately I swore repeatedly at the pass).

The bottom (as is ass) of Verlaterkloof pass

I was told on numerous occasions before we left that this initiative would test my abilities and limits and that I would learn about my physical and mental boundaries like never before. Today was my first real test. Being only day 05 out of 23 I am now certain that this is only the first of more tests to come – there is no way that we can get ahead of ourselves yet!

The pass takes you up to the small town of Sutherland known for the South African Large Telescope (SALT) that is up here. It is a cool little town and Kambro-Kind BnB where we are staying is absolutely incredible. It is genuinely one of the best and most interesting places I have stayed in. The quality linen and puffy pillows are doing there best right now to distract me from finishing this post.

Kambro-Kind BnB

Check out the GPS track for the dirt road we did yesterday. The lack of signal has prevented me from recording all the rides and in fact will continue to limit us for the next couple of days. We may fall off the map again for a while as we head in the direction of Fraserburg (we hit the dirt again tomorrow and will be on it for at least another 200 km). Keep checking the blog and FB page though – we will post as soon as we can.

stay classy my peeps

A selection of pictures taken by Trigger Monkey Photography during stage 4:

Leaving Sadawa - what a cool place

Did I tell you the Skies were big out here?

A windmill - a few of those in the Karoo

Check how that road goes on forever

Gat

Rapido

I am getting fit and making sure that I am strong enough to complete the grueling 1500km but if a bike part were to fail and that ended up being the reason the One Gear dream was not realised it would be very sad. BMX direct to the rescue! The guys at BMX direct will be supplying us with a brand new 2013 bike with all the necessary parts that may ‘fail’ along the way; spare tyres, tubes, patch kit, chain, grips, brake cable, pedals…They are also on call 24/7 if we require any technical assistance. Amazing stuff!

Check out the Bike (and yes we will be raising the seat!):

BMX Direct

RN1_2013

They say you can multiply the off road KM’s ridden by 2 to get the equivalent on road distance (obviously – so if you do the math this was a 93.64 KM training ride – Just saying! And yes “they” are the scientific community and its all very scientific and…stuff.