Amidst our travels we got to one particularly steep hill. No space to get momentum and almost no traction. Every time you get some hope you will spin out and fall or almost do. There was a camber and the rear will come out instantly. We had to push the bikes up. Or pull, pulling them worked better. We really struggled a lot here so there is not a lot of pics, it was all hands on deck. One had to ride, one had to push and two was pulling. Tying a tow rope to one side on the crashbars and the other end on the other side two guys could be teamed up like oxen and pull with all their weight. It worked brilliantly and exhaustingly.
Video clip is of me riding Tinus's bike. He had a rough time just before this incline where he already had to work very hard to pic up the bike so he was catching his breath still. The intercom between us was working at the time and we thought he was dying, it sounded like the blood curdling sound a man would make at his last moments!
[youtube]https://youtu.be/Ko7zIeuHAJk[/youtube]
Pic is of henk again deadlifting on the first still rideable half of the incline. 2nd pic we were on top, myself minus a mirror.
After this we were a bit behind schedule but rode on. Again doing some single track I came over a heap of sand when I saw there was a chunk cut out of it and taking the wrong line could end up in nasty spill. (Typing this I am feeling guilty here for not stopping and warning the others, apologies guys). We rode on in and out of the river with some sand patches when we realised we were only 3. Tinus was missing.
Henk rode back, expecting another flat and found Tinus where he had had a slight off, but had also had enough. He was turning back. I actully still dont know what triggered hin to call it a day, guessing it was just genereral fatigue or was it the sand.... Tinus? Pic 3 was what I saw, he had almost fallen in aforementioned hole.
In hindsight we shoukd also have turned around there...
We rode on on terrain getting progressively more difficult. Confidence between us 3 was high and we were doing well untill it got tougher and tougher and tougher. There was a very steep incline to do with some challenging rocks inbetween the locals' houses where we were halted. There wasnt really any way to get through it plus the locals were putting up a scene on how we were off route. Sure enough, gps confirmed it and we had to turn back.
Turning back we climbed back on the route but did not find it much better. We continued on and made super slow progress and again found we were slightly off track. We had some spills and big oh shit moments. I fell twice further than 90degrees and really believed for a moment that either myself or the bike would break something important at any moment. Back on track a few meters further on we again were faced with a big and extremely rocky climb. It was not going to happen and we set off on a slight detour to get around it where this time Johann fell quite dramatically further than 90 degrees. We were not in a good space and the bike was stuck in first with a bend handguard. It was stuck on a very steep hill and the clutch couldnt be pulled in. Henk joined in stripping and balancing the bike and it was soon sorted.
We decided here to turn back. Pic 4 is the only one I have here and it says nothing, a few paces backwards from where Johann's bike is standing is where it was stuck in first after the tumble.
For all we know there was a huge rock cljmb still to do and we couldnt really trust the locals on how long it was, we were entertainment for them so they did not care much how much we suffered.
We turned around and took tar home.
That night was camping time. Again there was coldish showers but we had a good time. I must say again, for my part, I was very happy to have the support guys doing the braai and generally just being helpfull. Tinus was struggling to sort something on his intercom...or finishing the day's ride or something...
