Full Moon Adventure Race - Team Please wait for us!

Event: Kinetic Full Moon Adventure Race

Team: Please wait for us! (Part of the Lickety Split adventure racing team)

Members: William Cairns, Sue Belcher, Bruce Barker

 

A race report never does true justice to the actual race. I really really enjoyed the Full Moon race. Overall it was an easy race, no physically or navigationally difficult sections. I was also properly prepared mentally for the race which always helps to make a race more enjoyable.

 

Sue and I have been racing together for about a year now. Our normal 3rd team mate Mike is currently suffering from a broken collar bone so we invited Bruce to join us for the race. As his first ever AR experience it was maybe being thrown into the deep end.

 

Between us we had all the required gear - except PFDs, fortunately Sue knows lots of people and could organise some - but they were at the Bronkhorstspruit dam and we had to rush there before the race to collect them. At the race start we met up with Bruce and tried giving him all sorts of advice on kit choices - more than likely confused him rather than helped him.

 

Leg 1 - 14km Paddle, with a bit of a run

 

Due to the paddling practise from a few weeks ago we knew that the fastest way to paddle was by not using the seats in the bath tub, but rather to make our own, therfor we arrived at the start with extra pillows to sit on and fitted neatly into the boat. At the start there was the normal rush by everyone to get the boats into the water, which we stood around and watched - rather confusing Stefan who asked us if everything was OK. At CP1 I was elected to do the run while Bruce and Sue paddled up the river. I was close behind 3 other runners when we went past the check point - all three of the others missed the check point - I was kind enough to tell my fellow Lickety Split team member the answer but the other had to go back about a kilometer to fetch the point....

 

Leg 2 - 10km Cycle

 

The cycle leg was uneventful, however I quickly realised how unfit I really was because the hill from the Transition area out of the main gate made me walk.

 

Leg 3 - 13km Hike

 

The weakest part of my navigation is going directly across country where I cannot see the end point of my route. For this reason I decided to go the long way around and kept on the roads. Probably about 1.5km longer, and 15minutes longer in time, but less hardship on feet and legs. We had no problems finding the point and then the biggest navigational challenge of the route was to go across country and find the checkpoint on the "small dam wall" - somehow, probably mostly by luck - I hit the point dead on after hiking the 3kms in the veld - not even 10m off.

After that it was over the hill follow the road. We found the next check point quite easily - and while punching another two teams caught up - not wanting to spoil the fun we quickly left, and strangely one of the other teams followed us instead of clipping the point first. After a few 100 meters they realised their error and had to return.

 

Leg 4 - 30km Cycle

 

Rather straight forward, and most surprisingly exactly 30kms. Poor Bruce was struggling during this leg, the previous week he had done his first long cycling training, and his tender rear end had not yet recovered enough to ride again. This leg was where it really started to get cold. When we reached the Transition at the end of the cycle the marshal "kindly" told us that the current temperature was -3. So -3 seemed to be rather cold, but the real impact of it only struck when we reached our boat and found that it was frozen over, picking up the PFDs made a crunching sound as the Ice broke.

 

Leg 5 - 3km Paddle

 

Both Bruce and I struggled to paddle, my right arm kept cramping as I paddled on the right hand side. Poor Sue probably did 60% of the effort to get us to the next transition. Now if you realise Sue is half Bruce's height and probably half my weight (and a 3rd of Bruce's) that’s quiet an achievement.

 

When we reached the other end Bruce had had enough and decided to drop out. It was quite comical seeing his face when Sue and I said "OK, bye" and marched out to do the orienteering. Maybe if he knew that dropping out would not stop us continuing he would not have felt so bad...

 

Leg 6 - 7km Orienteering

 

The many locked gates, no access zones and a map without enough detail made this leg a little frustrating. We decide to do 5,6,7 in that order but the access gates between 5 and 6 were locked so we had to take the long way around 5,7,6. After that we came back toward point 5, took a short cut under a few wooded white fences. And here I got confused. At one point I thought North was in the East and therefore could not Orientate my map properly. For about the first time ever the compass helped in getting my bearing correct and we discovered we had walked straight past OP3 Earlier in the evening. I also made a bad route choice choosing to do

OP1 before OP2 making us walk back up a steep hill we had just walked down.

 

Leg 7 - 3km Paddle

 

In all honesty I cannot remember this leg. I think the sleepy monster was getting his claws into me. I can remember the finish and realising our packs had been moved. Then getting to the bikes and finding them frozen. Also here we once again saw Lickety Split and Con admitted to not having plotted the last Hike - so I lent him my map to plot from - This must rate in the same category as taking a tube with a hole in it on an AR....

 

Leg 8 - 50km Cycle

 

We went peddling off, getting our legs going after the frozen paddle was quite tough but we slowly got going. A minor navigational mistake took us down the wrong road to the main road and resulted in us backtracking a kilometer or so to collect the point. Back down the main road and left off into the dark. Most of the cycle my Odometer was showing a cycling speed of 14km/hr, suddenly i looked down and it said 11km/h so I peddled harder and it dropped to 10km/h. I then realised I was peddling with my eyes closed, one eye open to check where I was going. Suddenly I fell asleep on my bike and just caught it before it fell. We pitched camp in the grass next to the side of the road and caught 20minutes sleep.

 

When we woke the sunrise had started and we peddled off at about 16km/h - quickly making up the time lost. We were cycling "so fast" that I missed the next check point and we had to again backtrack to collect it. The morning quickly warmed up and slowly layers of clothing were removed. Soon we were at the transition.

 

Leg 9 - 7km Hike

 

We strolled over the grasslands to the next checkpoints. All were found with minimal effort and we reached the abseil. We quickly decended and hiked off down the valley. It was quite interesting chatting cheerfully to all the people busy climbing on the cliffs. Many of them were quite interested in the race.

 

Leg 10 - 2km Paddle

 

Paddling the bathtub at this point in the race was like asking us to climb Everest. Even Sue was getting tired and was taking rests on the way back. Coming toward the finish the first person we saw was team mate Mike which was great - and then everyone came out of the Marque to cheer us in. The best time to finish a race is during prize giving, you then get the most cheers!

 

Equipment:

Socks - due to the cold weather we had bought ourselves waterproof socks (seal skinz). Even though my socks became wet inside I think that my feet stayed warm all the time compared to not having the waterproof windproof socks on.

Cellphone - I have been regularly buying myself a new phone as each race I go on I seem to get my phone wet, it has never mattered what waterproofing I put around it. A while ago I upgraded to a Sonim XP3 Quest. A waterproof and impact proof phone. I did the whole race with the phone pushed into the back pocket of my cycling top - it remained working right throughout and proved to be as waterproof as promised.

 

Big thanks go to Stefan, Heidi and their marshal team. I think their approach in supplying boats, staging unsupported races is a great way of growing and maintaining the sport of AR in our area.

 

Full Moon A Race

The Full Moon Adventure Race will be remembered for the huge yellow moon which laughed at us all night - and the extreme cold! We believed we had prepared ourselves for it, by rushing out last weekend and buying all manner of warm clothing and waterproofing. By 10 o’clock that night, we all wished we had more to put on, but all survived without loss of limb.




Pre-race preparation was leisurely, we arrived hours before the start and floated around digging out numerous pairs of gloves and warm tops, not yet knowing what order the race would take. The weather warm and beautiful - giving no inkling of what was in store for us.

Route handout and race briefing took place and sooner that you thought, we were lined up next to the kayaks for our first loooong 14km paddle to CP1, 2 and 3. We decided to let the rush go first, before getting into the kayak at our leisure and set off in our prepared positions. Bruce on the stern, William in the middle and myself with legs hanging over the bow

Plugging along, we found ourselves overtaking several teams which had not rehearsed positions the previous weekend. Skip the rest......and we were back at the bank a couple of hours later, only to find that it was actually winter and were all frozen to the marrow, upon getting out of the boat! Here we were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves only 1 boat behind Lickety Split, exchanged “Hi’s” and when I looked around next - they were gone! Very quick transition Lickety Split! We spent time changing clothes and getting warm for a MTB leg which could run into dusk, then set off up the steepest slope imaginable. Cold muscles screaming at the torture! William easily navigated us to the next transition at the farmhouse, where we added more layers for a hike leg of 13kms, into the dark.

At this point we were around a third of the way down the field and had also met up with Lickety Split just leaving as we arrived. This hike leg, we decided to go the long easier way around on the road, rather than directly cross-country over the hill and through tall grass. Once again William navigated us straight to the CP, with only a small amount of time spent looking for a dam wall, which looked more like an earth embankment to me. At this point the team was still going strong. William singing “Happy Birthday tooo meee”. He protesting that it is the only song he knows!

Now without sunlight, we headed out up the valley navigating by the stars. This placed an unexpected hill in front of us, but undaunted we summited that and found the expected road below....only to discover we had added some extra mileage to our trip. Talking of ‘trip’ this is where Bruce managed to begin his first of several spectacular ankle-twisting trips. To his credit, he gritted his teeth and pushed on for the cause.
Passing a couple of teams returning by the light of the moon, we were warned that the ‘locals’ were not friendly and made a rough detour high up the hill to avoid the soccer crowd in the shacks below. Finding the CP just as 2 other teams approached, we hussled back down the hill, surprised to be followed by a couple of them who had completely missed the ‘river junction’ CP and maybe thought we were members of their team?

At the farmhouse, we added another layer, enjoyed a cold supper with hot mugs of tea and logged out for another MTB leg. Here starts the ‘real’ adventure racing! The temperature had dropped below freezing and the low ground near water, was exactly like cycling in a deepfreeze.....air gasping out of us in white clouds. Hands and feet burning and hurting. Still William kept us up to date on expected twists and turns in the road and we found CP after CP exactly where they were meant to be! Boy was it cold though! You pull your beanie down over your ears, buff up to your eyes, icicle of snot hanging from your frozen nose and cycle on - wrapped in a bubble of discomfort! Feet could not be ignored as they screamed for attention.....burning and then frozen solid. Expensive waterproof/windproof socks and shoe covers were not proof against the cold and wet. Determination had nothing on us though....we pushed through and met the Red Ants team passing in the opposite direction, having already done 2 kayak legs and an orienteering leg. Go Guys!

Kayaking back to the marquee only remarkable in that it was more of the same....ice everywhere....cold.....cold! Bruce was starting to wilt and finally conceded defeat now that he was back near his car, on solid ground, hot drinks and huge bonfires all around. William and I had both experienced unfinished races before and were both steely determined to see this one through to the bitter end. I was feeling remarkably well and the orienteering leg was in front of us, lit up by the moon and street lamps in the housing estate, but the hour was late - the graveyard shift.....12 hours down and more of the same to come. William and I began a bit of a ramble around the estate....the most efficient routes seemed to evade us, though we were still working somewhat within a schedule which we had worked out would bring us into the finish by around 10 the next morning. Exchanged “hello’s” with Lickety Split once again! The air crisp, clear and cold....we stopped for a second, to admire a torrent of icy water gushing over the dam wall.

Coming back to the marquee, we were lucky enough to see The Red Ants finish - they had already completed a kayak, MTB, Hike, Abseil and kayak, which we had still to face! They looked absolutely frozen, which made me feel warmer and stronger. The feeling soon wore off, the kayaking left my fingers in such pain that I was jumping around on the bank crying and flapping until my warm, dry gloves rescued my frozen fingers. A quick change of shoes, check to see that my frozen chain would still turn, rub ice off my saddle, exchange greetings with Lickety Split who were huddled by the fire....and we were off! The night was long and solitary. Plenty of time for introspection, while waiting for William who was slowing down.....and finally we both realised....asleep on his bike....only his forward momentum keeping him upright! So we hunkered down in the grass for 40 winks at 5.30am in our space blankets. Chilly, cold moon still chuckling above us.

Daybreak and we were off, slowly at first and then faster as we warmed. Stops to remove clothing as the sun rose....picking up more checkpoints.....tired now after 20 hours on the road. Transition at another farmhouse....change shoes for the last time....swop beanie for peak cap.....chat to Heidi who was full of enthusiasm and promises of breakfast awaiting us in camp. Off wading through the tall grass.....sloshing through the mushy ground.....up the koppie to the abseil with friendly faces and happy chatter. Dangling on the line as my abseil turns into a bungie jump....quick plod over the hill to the kayaks for the last leg. An olympic entry into the water.....20 minutes to the marquee....will we be in time for prize giving? Hey, there’s Mike and Trish waiting for us on the bank.....what a fantastic surprise! Yells of “Hi Mike” bringing the whole crowd out of the marquee to welcome us in! Wow, what a finish - and we get a trophy too! Final word - Yes it’s worth the pain to finish.
Post-race - surprised to find that I have no sore muscles, just feel heavily hung-over from lack of sleep .....and boy are my lips CHAPPED!
High point: Completing a 140km race and collecting all the CP’s, coming in to a crowd of welcoming teams, clapping and happy faces.
Low point: Frozen frostbitten hands after kayaking at 3am. The pain!
Race Review: Fantastic organization by Heidi and Stephan, CP’s well placed, great support and facilities, distances realistic, lucky draw prizes....as usual amazing! Thanks go to Urban Kinetic for a memorable event.

Nooo Shooos as tested at the Winter Trail Series - 20 June

I thought I should mention my upgrade from XA Pro's to "Wings" Reason being the difference is remarkable! They stick to rocks like glue! I mean when I bought the XA Pro's I thought that they would be like Windows XP. Reliable, hard working and indestructible.......right? Wrong! The XA's after 3 years of being 'out there' are looking decidedly shabby and road-weary. So when I spotted last year's Wings model heavily discounted, I forked over (still a king's ransom) and tested them out today on the long Trail. Distance: 14.something kms, elevation gain - challenging! To my delight, they performed in a far superior manner to those shoes worn by everyone around me. What goes up, must come down again and we slithered and scrambled down dozens of hairy, loose bouldered descents - me as sure footed as the proverbial mountain goat! What a treat! And they are comfortable too! Not a rub or blister in sight.

The race itself was well attended and decidedly challenging, a good outing for anyone training for next weekend's Full Moon race. Not too chilly in the morning and comfortably warm later on.

I should also mention another purchase - touted as the secret weapon of the Lickety Split team for sub-zero, wet nights spent paddling around Bronkhorstspruit. Sue's 'walking' model Seal Skin socks. I wore them around the house most of yesterday and though my feet were not totally toasty, I did not feel cold floors and a session with the hose-pipe watering plants outside, did not leave me with cold wet feet from the leaks, which usually leave me wetter than the plants!

Needless to say, I'm sure that by this time next Sunday, some 7 new pairs of Seal Skins will be well and truly tested by the Lickety Split team!

Well done Nando - Comrades 2010

Well done Nando on your Bronze medal at the 2010 Comrades marathon!!

Magalies Monster - Race Report

So we woke up nice and early. With just over an hour to get ready... We had a peaceful bath, enjoyed a hearty breakfast and were ready to leave – a little late but it was not that bad... well so we thought until we climbed into the car and the GPS told me I was 45minutes late for registration. So I drove fast...

Anyway I was only 24 minutes late for registration – which left me 35mins to register, fix my bike as the brakes were not working, lube all four bikes, check tires for everyone. Ohhh and Yolande left my cycling shoes at home so I had to do the whole race in takkies while I had mentally prepared to use my cleets...

So I got to the start with about 5 minutes to spare, right at the back – about where I felt I should be. Off we went into the orange orchards, and I looked back to see nobody behind me. Yes I was stone last not really as planned. So I pedalled a little faster and flew down the hill, overtaking a person or two on the way. But I was struggling, tired, sort, really didn’t feel like doing 75km on my bike for the day. So I struggled up the next hill, chatted to the girl next to me, and carried on. I looked at my cycling computer and saw that I was averaging about 10km per hour.

There was one really fun downhill at about the 20km mark – very rocky but fast. I was doing about 30km per hour down the path, overtaking a few of the 45km riders who had earlier come past me.

At the 75/45 km split I went peddling up the long flat grassy path to get to the start of the monster. At about this time I was peddling in granny’s big brother (Granny, her big sister then her big brother are the three lowest gears...) I stopped and rested in the road, I told everyone it was to stop them hitting a rock in the middle of the road. And then pushed up the hill – I do push a bike quite well and overtook about 10 people on the way up.

At the top of the hill there was a girl in bright yellow MTN colours, with navy tights, who interestingly enough had a bright yellow butterfly on her bum – which I told her instead of saying good morning.

I missed the half way cut off by 5mins...

So I rushed off down the other side of Breedt’s nek – which had really terrible erosion. At some spots I nearly had to push. One guy just in front of me came off and seriously winded himself. I helped him up and carried on while his friend tried to revive him.

After Breedt’s Nek the route was a little uninteresting but I was picking up a little speed, and started feeling better, or so I thought until Butterfly Bum girl came flying past me as if I was standing still (ok I was but I was having 4^th breakfast). I quickly packed up and tried to catch up but she was actually going faster than me, until her derailer broke and I helped convert the bike to a single speed – which by the way I could not get right until someone who had better tools than me arrived 5 minutes later. So with butterfly bum lady sorted out I went sailing into the sunset again.

It is amazing how much stronger I get toward the end of a race. Toward the end of the race I was starting to ride the uphills again, riding in a proper gear.

I finished in 7:40 – 40mins after final cutoff, so I was an unofficial finisher but I did actually finish. I never saw butterfly bum lady finish, but I hope she did.

Yolande, Loreley and Kaylen all rode the 20km race. Loreley was officially the last finished of the 20km race, but she did win her age group section and got lots of prizes.

Balele Tracks - Scouting

Brief photo report from Sue – possible race clues removed.

For those of you who were not there.

Home away from home!

 

The Lickety Split squatter camp. (Hot water, kettle, fridge, unlimited wood, etc)

The nights got VERY cold!

Luckily Con kept the fire going.........  Chopping wood.

But the days were cool and dry.

Pancakes at the Birthday Party for Lolly.

Site of Con’s new checkpoint. Fantastic view over the escarpment into Natal. (Through the mist!)

 Port a bike........ Hike a bike!

William somewhere up  there in the tall grass.......

Looking for another of Con’s checkpoints? How to get through all that thick bush & trees....

Found it! But will anybody else ever find it?

The climb up .........   William says the GPS reports it’s a 1 in 3 climb

Lost in Da Bush

'Twas adventure racing time again, this time with one of my favourite teams, Lickety Split.

The weekend started with a fuel tanker that blocked the highway out of jozi, and Con swearing to never ever EVER go away on a weekend again.

But that was soon forgotten when we hit the open road and Adri took out pizza, cinnabon-ised muffins and cookies.

We arrived just in time for race briefing - then set up camp in Mankele's camp site.

Race started early on Saturday morning with a quick run to a mini-waterfall - would have been quicker if the mankele singletrack was plotted on the maps, though ...



We than transitioned on a cycle-leg that took us on some of mankele's sweetest singletrack, hike-a-biking up koppies and bundu-bashing through Lantanas. Here's the team (sans the photographer) discussing route options before we left the tar ...



We found controls 3 & 4 quickly. Here's Adri and Will dragging a bike up to control 4.


Control 5 was easy to spot - the paths leading there, less so. Here's Con & Adri running up to the control.


It was a bit of hike-a-biking up to control 6.



We couldn't find control 6 anywhere (we later found out it was about a kilometer off where it was supposed to be) so we took a picture to proof that we were there:


On to control 7, but that one was also misplaced. We heard afterwards that some teams phone the organiser, who directed them to the correct control. Here's some bikes of other teams also searching for the control:



K, so by this time we lost a little enthusiasm and decided that while we're unofficial anyway, we might as well just go for the 'cool' controls. We purified some river water, then headed off to 7. Found it quickly (and where it was supposed to be) and then on to 8 via a sweet singletrack-detour.

Here's will taking a nap at the top of the mountain, just before we clipped control 8.


And then it was a serious downhill that left the bikes with scorching hot disks at the bottom.



The we searched a parking lot for a control that ended up being in a tree about 50 m from the parking lot :(

Here's Adri at the river crossing (where we heard that the last cycle leg was cancelled)



A quick cycle to the transition, and on to the next hiking leg. We decided to go for a finish and a braai, rather than collecting all the points - so only collected one next to a river, and one at the top of the downhill course. Here's the view from the top of the world:


... and here's the whole team at teh finish - just before the sprint to the swimming pool.

Posted by William on behalf of Carine who raced as part of Team Lickety Split. (Carine was part of Lickety Split on our first ever races - it was great having her back for this race)

Easter Sunday Ride

So we had a couple of RSVP’s for the proposed Sunday ride at Groenkloof at 2h30. Allowing ample time for a good ride before sunset and eat/drink at Moyo afterwards. Carine confirms she’s in Afrikaansstad and already did a ride at Groenkloof in the morning with some others. Oh ofcourse… Joburg2C training. Leaving Randburg already late and hot, I pack ice water, sunscreen and a baking tray with hot cinnabuns (which made me late). The sky towards Afrikaa… Pretoria looks rather grey and the closer I get to Centurion Carine confirms its rather wet. We can deal with wet…already had 2 wet& muddy rides. But looking in the direction of Groenkloof, it’s a dense grey and not long before I enter a heavy rainfall accompanied by cinnamon flavoured steaming windows. Remember the storm-chasers in the movie “Tornado”?

Towards Eufees offramp the water is now really pouring down and traffic slows down to cross the river making its way trough the half-built bridges and construction, all the way to Fountains. We agree to go to Café 41 for coffee until the rain’s passed. (Will I really drive 60kms for a coffee?) Deekay’s also at the Groenkloof entrance, but no-one can go in or out because of the little stream now twenty times its size and taking everything not anchored to mother earth with it. A drenched duck… mountainbiker confirms looootsa water inside the park. Carine’s already inside, and now trying other exists out of the reserve. Everyone out, Carine, Deekay and myself make our way to Café 41 to wait for the torrential rain to go north, hoping to still sqeeeeze in a ride. In the parking area I share the cinnabun-joy with the others. We order hot drinks and already the skies are in our favour. Brilliant, coz for 60kms here the mega-cappucino could at least have had decent foam on it. No worries, as we are going to play now.

Get to the Fountains entrance we are asked if we’re sure we wanna go cycle now.. there’s lotsa water. YES, thankyou. Driving around to Groenkloof… there it is: water and water and more water. The parking area not accessible from either sides as its non-existing. It’s a river with some pine trees not even interrupting its mighty flow! Wow. And wow again. Water is surely not to be underestimated or challenged. Touché. We park on the side of the road, about a 100 metres from the usual parking spot, take a couple of photographs and gear-up for an interesting ride A park-officer and also mountainbiker parks next to us and confirms we can circle the Northeastern part of the reserve without trouble, but crossing to the other side in the valley is a no-go as the Limpopo is surely getting its fire from this side today. Sure, and we head off. It stopped raining… except for under the trees, of course. Deekay, who often sweeps for the DnD rides leads us onto the first track and admits he’s forgotten what a single track looks like. Within seconds our chests open and faces light up. Yea… this is the joy. The joy that makes 60kms and a cappucino-with-no-foam worth it. Single track decorated with mud, slippery bends, rocky ups & downs, tall & wet grass, spider webs aiming for a smaller catch and a 100 different after-the-rain smells. The wooden bridge next to the fence was kind today and the 3-in-a-row climbs next to the road reminding us to be kinder to our bodies.

At the top we enter the snaking playground of short bends now slipperytoo and we are short for words to duly describe the joy of riding on the footprints of only rain. Our single track soon became the obvious path for little streams making their way down to the mighty one. I caught myself laughing like I haven’t done since allowed to write with a ballpoint pen. A long downhill dirt road leads us to the banks of a once shy little river, now scarily impressive. Against the advice received earlier: we’re crossing it. Hike-a-bike-style aware of every little step through knee-deep water. Deekay in, Adri in, Carine taking pics. Deekay out and then coming back for my bike. I was feeling unsteady with my bike and now even shakier without the extra weight (note-made-to-self). Out the other side we slot our now-2kg-cleats into the pedals and make our way up the other side spotting a couple giraffes graciously making their way down the dirt road.

“Good day sir” as we meet up with another courteous giraffe standing tall about 15 meters in front of us. He must be nr 4 and far too relaxed to be the sweeper. We know there are 8 giraffes in the park, so looking back we examine the surrounds for the entourage. And yes, there she comes, straight towards us. Nr 5. Has anyone ever been trampled by a giraffe? Coz this one is walking-with-a-purpose! Heehee! And then it passes slightly left we are in awe of these impressive animals. What a privilege. Right on our doorstep. On just another Sunday afternoon. My white-skinned sacred Sunday afternoon nap is forever outweighed.

The last of the clouds now make sunset seem a little closer and we agree to head round to the fast & endless single track. Blessed again as we meet nr 6, 7 and 8. One sir and two teenagers. Wow again. Mik-en-druk a couple of times and we head off. Left into the anticipated single tra…river! Whahooooo!!!! Left, right, left, right, left, left…. More and more… if this is what eternal life is like, I can go now. Tell my family I love them, and this was great. Oke, not now then… right, left, water, right, left, swoosh, and some more wet bends and sadly the end nears. We take a breather, recollect and decide the route for the ride home: next to the stream with the river crossings. And again we are amazed to see the course the water had taken a couple of hours before. Flattening most of the bushes. The trees next to the fairytale stream garnished with 40c-plastic-bags, a bright orange roadworks beacon, a BIC lighter, lunchboxes and the rest nhhof our streets. About another kilometer and sadly… it is over. But wow, the best ride in a long time. Heading back to the cars the established parking area is still under water, but the tar road next to it negotiable and soon proving to be an excellent bike wash too. Thank you Deekay & Carine for taking up an uncertain challenge with a certain reward! Carine, please follow up with some of your inspiring photographs!

Taking stock in the car on the way home was done with tenderness as the Easter Message has now taken full circle. Scarlet skies greet the day and grace like rain fall down on me. You have set my feet upon a rock that is not moving. Life and life in abundance because He is risen and now lives inside of me. Through Your love we are endless.

May we chase the storms again.

TshwaneARclub : Yster Vark en Lekker Race

After Nando had run 1km to fetch our punch cards, we set off up the hill on our mountain bikes, all shiny new and matching in our clean and bright nifty new shirts with special reflective branding, determined to win the race. After about 200 meters Williams’s chain snapped, dropping us to last place. Only 15 minutes of dextrous ingenuity by Con with a bread knife and sticky tape saw us roar off again into the night, determined to catch up with the less experienced. Lessons learnt: Carry spares for 8 and 9 speed chains. About 4km downhill to a muddy stream under a road culvert, Nando bravely stepped up to his middle in s(t)inking mud, and had to be hauled out by brute force. Lessons learnt: Read Dr Foster from Gloucester. 23:30 and now second last because another team had got lost, we roared off back up the hill past the starting camp ground, burning our excess calories with enthusiasm. Con was setting a nifty pace, determined to edge past any laggards or lazy. Suddenly Nando stopped, checked the 103 pockets of his race gear 3 times, emptied the contents of his backpack on the road, said words I claim never to have heard before, and announced he must have dropped the punch card when we left transition 1, 4km back. At this point Con mumbled that he hated AR and we cycled back down the hill to retrieve the lost card.....thanks Gerrard and Nicky for waiting patiently for us! Lessons learnt: Don’t litter. As we set off up the hill again William called us back with a flat tyre. William changed the flat by using an old punctured tyre from his previous race. Lessons learnt: Do the bleeding obvious …William. Another tyre change, two gas cartridges and 25 minutes and we were on our way… again. It was about this time that Con became grumpy. Up past the camp ground and onto endless undulating farm roads. Downhill… and uphill. The race instructions warn “Danger in the dark” what would that be, Crocodiles… no, just a very rocky dirt road that you shouldn’t ride at speed. No problem, its two in the morning, I’m just experimenting with sleeping and cycling at the same time. Close eyes just enough to see Con’s taillight. He’s keeping ahead of the pack, navigating with no rest stops, up a farm track to transition. Change into hiking shoes, eat salami and ham buns, and then off along the river, collecting checkpoints. Next check point is up the hill, above the treeline, but the trees are everywhere. Bush babies look at us, there big baby eyes reflecting from our high beams. Eventually it seems if all the teams are combing the rocky mountain ridge for that obscure checkpoint, fanned out in search mode, not even a rock rabbit could hide. Eventually, after what could be two hours of searching the checkpoint is sighted and we rush to get it, thinking we’re back in the race.


Then it’s downhill to the camp where a rock pool awaits us, a 4:30 AM jump from 6 meter cliffs into the water. It’s madness in the dark, stripping down to only a lifejacket, helmet, and cycling shorts...thanks Mandy and Nico for the long wait and inspiring us to go for it!....though it was really scary!. Then, before the shivering starts its back on with the kit, and soon the hiking warms us up. A checkpoint in the caravan park, a fruitless search through the dense undergrowth for a path back, a Jack Russel companion with endless energy keeping us company. We called him Boetie2. We can’t find a way through so we backtrack, over the top of the rocky mountain as dawn breaks, and light spreads its familiarity. Cons grumpiness eases with realization it was fun anyway, even if we are not going to win. Back to the bikes, a cycle to the MTB track, a swim in the dam to dive down a rope tied to a barrel to see what its anchor is, a bicycle rim, very appropriate.
Nando and Con need to be back by midday, we can’t do the 4 hour hike to the big dam and the swim. We decide to short course and do some cycling back to the start caravan park. As soon as we stop tiredness overtakes us. It was good. Driving home a real challenge to then catch up on a well deserved sleep!
Thanks Hardy and the team for putting on such a memorable event. With Mandy’s photos as evidence...thanks!.. we will never forget this awesome AR experience!
CHEERS!...from Mike (the reporter), Nando (the CP runner and report editor), Con (the grumpy navigator), William (captain and 2nd navigator)

Race Report written by Mike, mailed by Nando.

Sighting of Lance Armstrong at Lourensford Estate

Look out for our new Lickety Split apparel - Like everything else, its an adventure!

Yster vARk en Lekker - AR

BREAKING NEWS!!!

On Friday 12th March Team Lickety Split will be racing in their new, custom designed and printed racing gear. The Adventure Racing motif was custom designed by the team for the team.

Overall we have to say, Team Lickety split is going to look fantastic on Friday night. Photos to follow....