Full day on the bike

19 Oct - Mbotyi River Lodge to Hole In The Wall
The day starts off with two groups being formed, the high road & the low road.
Ros, arms still sore from yesterday's hard ride, went for the high road. The group rode through scenic tarmac road, with long sweeping curves. Smooth debris-less road felt like such luxury! And time to take pics too.

For the morning low road, Seung went thru single track in the forest, while having more chances to try out stream crossings and managing to simply ride to the crest of any nearby hill. There was a forest section with tight single track climb, culminating in shallow plateau.

We converged for lunch & continued the day together on the technical route. Then the drama....
Having made his way successfully up steep rocky steps, Seung was so relieved, got off the bike & took off his helmet to help the rest of the riders up, only to step forward & miss his footing falling flat on his face! Battle scars now marked. ;(

News spread fast & Seung was nominated as "spirit of the day" award. All 90 riders heard of his infamous story...


18 Oct - Durban to Mbotyi River Lodge
7am breakfast, 8am ride off! After 5km of tarmac section, we head straight into off road with river crossings, steep downhills, off camber traverse on grassy slopes. At times we felt like kids riding thru a monster sized playground with no rules! Choose where u want to go and just whack! Somemore got spare bike by the organiser.


Then came the tough bit! We were made to ride up a 30% incline that was strewn with cabbage sized rocks. Ros fell three times while i fell once... All falls were at low speed, so we flopped harmlessly onto the thick grass, while fellow bikers came to rescue. Followed by a whole afternoon of roaming the rolling hills with grassy plains, horses, cows, and villagers strewn all over the slopes. What do they do for a living? Lining the tracks were scatterings of villagers and the kids waving hello. Where were the adults? Surreal... We ended by a scenic stop at Magwa Gorge and spent the night at Mboyti River Lodge .