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Latest in Freedom Challenger Blogs

My Year in Sport Stats
Adventures of an Ordinary Cyclist Dec 21, 2020 | 04:13 am
Each December Strava sends its members an email extolling their sporting achievements for the year. It's pretty cool to see the number of kilometres ridden, accumulated vertical ascent, hours in the saddle, etc..I've got a few thousand kilometres, hundreds of hours in the saddle and a chunk of ascent missing. Most of that for the sections of the Freedom Trail that I rode this year. If you want to talk about your riding achievements then make it about what you did between pedal strokes and not about the stats. The stats are a blunt measure of achievement. They should be merely[…]
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Race to Cradock 2020
Adventures of an Ordinary Cyclist Nov 17, 2020 | 14:15 pm
For those who like to crunch data I've listed my times for this years race. The time in brackets (...) are the times I posted before the race to indicated what it would take to achieve a sub-48 hour finish. It was close. At one point I thought I could have finished at least 2 hours faster but the wind on the second afternoon, particularly heading south along the Fish River near Cradock was brutal and then there was heavy fog coming off Schurfteberg that cost me at least another hour.I crested the Schurfteberg just before midnight which means I[…]
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RASA 2020 the Final Night
Adventures of an Ordinary Cyclist Oct 25, 2020 | 18:38 pm
I had finally made it out of Stettynskloof. It hadn't been easy. With only 13 minutes sleep in the last 42 hours my thinking had become clouded. I'd made a few bad route choices coming through the Kloof and it had cost me valuable time and energy. My final line out of the valley had me faced with an unscalable cliff face hemmed in by an impenetrable wall of Hakea — an invasive species of needlewood with the emphasis on needle. I sat on the mountainside for 10 minutes gathering my thoughts trying to figure out how to free myself[…]
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Ultra Endurance Cycling - The What, How and Why
Adventures of an Ordinary Cyclist Oct 9, 2020 | 13:59 pm
The sleet stings my exposed fingers which is odd as I've lost most of the feeling in my hands. I crouch over the handlebars sheltering the brake lever from the wet as I wind the insulation tape around the twig. It'd be easier if I could get it dry. The effort of getting up the mountain has my inner layers soaked in sweat and then the storm front that pounced on me toward the top of the pass has finished the job. I've got the stick wedged in tightly and the tape is holding it in place. I twist my head[…]
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The cockerel didn’t crow this year
Adventures of an Ordinary Cyclist Oct 6, 2020 | 07:14 am
If I said it was a weird year I'm fairly sure there wouldn't be any dissenting opinions. 2020 is a year that will go down as a watershed for the world as we knew it. The rise of authoritarianism across the globe dressed up as concern for the well being of global citizens juxtaposed against the acceleration of the "age of outrage" as I like to call it has left us questioning our stance amidst these tsunamic onslaughts—I'm not sure if that's an actual word but I was reaching for a word that did justice to these particular facets of 2020 life. I'm[…]
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Atlas Mountain Race - Registration
Adventures of an Ordinary Cyclist Mar 5, 2020 | 06:33 am
Registration for the race takes place at the Mogador Kasbah Hotel and Spa. That's 5km's from our accommodation. Practically speaking it would have been easier to have stayed at the Mogador but it was only identified as the race start venue after we had booked at Riad Bousskri. Roger tried changing it. He sent an email asking the Riad if they would waive the cancellation fee. Their response was immediate and emphatic—They deducted the full amount for our stay from his credit card. Later he got a message to the effect, "It's low season we need the money". As it turns[…]
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Atlas Mountain Race - Mystical Marrakech
Adventures of an Ordinary Cyclist Mar 3, 2020 | 18:39 pm
Our Riad is exactly that—a townhouse with a central courtyard and a fountain. In pride of place in the centre of the courtyard is an orange tree laden with ripening oranges. Real ones not plastic —we check. Once through the front door the glumness of the area is instantly forgotten. The place inside is a comfortable haven. It is a scenario that will play out over and over during our trek across Morocco—the outside of buildings often appear neglected in contrast to the inside that is tidy and homely.Ghislain welcomes us and we have the first of many cups of[…]
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Atlas Mountain Race - Welcome to Marrakech
Adventures of an Ordinary Cyclist Mar 1, 2020 | 17:41 pm
The wing dips as we make our final turn into Marrakech Ménara Airport in Morocco. I've got a window seat and all I can see is an endless expanse of desolate brown. As we descend I see occasional patches of green that look like orchards. Olive trees I guess. Then there're huge expanses of plastic clad structures which I assume are green houses surrounded by barren ground. The town of Marrakech looms. It's unspectacular. The brown tones of sprawl melt into the featureless landscape. It's flat, dry, brown and completely underwhelming. Is this mystical Marrakech I ask myself? From the air[…]
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The HeidelBay 545 - Part 5
Adventures of an Ordinary Cyclist Feb 5, 2020 | 21:41 pm
It's 2am. We've eaten our toasted sandwiches and had coffee awful enough to ward off the most resilient of sleep monsters. The ride out of Vryheid is fast. Before long we are adjacent the rail line that runs from the coal fields in Ermelo to Richards Bay. The first train passes us. It's in a cutting below us and it's dark so we can't see it. I've no idea of how fast it's going or even in which direction. It seems this line is different from the one we followed to Volksrust. The coaches roll past smoothly and they go[…]
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The HeidelBay 545 - Part 4
Adventures of an Ordinary Cyclist Feb 3, 2020 | 20:05 pm
The ride to Vryheid takes us away from the train track which has been our lodestar. We'll be riding district roads for this leg. We've done the first 60km's previously albeit in terrible conditions. Beyond that it's all new and we don't know what to expect. We make good progress out of Volksrust to Groenvlei and begin the climb up to the highest point of our route. A third of the way up we stop to eat the remains of the dinner we bought in Volksrust. Now that it's cooler we have regained the appetites that were MIA earlier. There's evidence[…]
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