This will be a very short report and sticking to the main salient points of the day. The ride moved at such a fast pace and therefore it stands to reason that this report will be very brief. However worry not, it will cover all the critical points of day!
The 7th day is meant to be a rest day but it wasn’t to be for this parlotone; there was anticipation in the air even for those not from the EC, you could feel it, we were going to cross the magical boundary between EC and Freestate, the brown Orange River.
The day started off very slow at around 9am with the usual photo at the start of the day at Mountain View Lodge in Zastron. The cyclists departed and about 5kms another stop was made and all the cyclists had to get off and take more photos??!!
Our first stop was roughly around 25kms and we got there quite quickly as the pace was electric from the word go. There was no serious fatigue. The entire group was relaxed, just taking photos. We soon departed from this first stop as the words of Tony “At the top you can unleash your demons” were ringing in our heads. As we got to the top the racing snakes with full permission did what they love best. Conclusively the demons were indeed released.
Unfortunately this blistering pace led to a very rare disease being diagnosed in one of our members, Mr.Kaya Malotana. Our much loved Kaya showed all the symptoms of Hilltopiosis. The symptoms of this disease click in at the foot of each hill. The severity of the symptoms depend on the gradient observed from a distance.
The racing snakes who had learnt from Tony’s admonitions in the past, decided to slow down and regroup the parlotone. We are not sure if they truly wanted to regroup, or just recover? Only they know.
Everyone caught up to the fully rested racing snakes and about 8kms away we could see the town of Rouxville. We joined the N6 and passed the town in a blink of an eye. A reasonable pace was maintained from here to the second stop of the day.
It seems like all these fast rivers in the front hadn’t quite recovered, because as soon we got to the second stop, they were all on their bums. Some throwing their legs on the air and some reclining on the legs in the air?!
At this stop the second rare disease was discovered, non other than Medicamania. It is a condition where a Medic has a lapse in concentration which could result in anguish on those impacted upon.
Two bikes that had been placed in front of the ambulance were barely retrieved in time as the ambulance rolled slowly forward. J9 was overheard to remark “Lauren is usually a nice person but if her bike was damaged we might have seen another side of her????.
At this stop the Deputy Mayor (Setu Skepe) was very active finalising the escort plan with the traffic and emergency services. The convoy set off towards Aliwal North town. However, there was a compulsory and very essential stop, the Eastern Cape sign board. We had reached our provincial destination. Right here it was discovered that her majesty’s coach had a flat tire. Her Royal highness gave permission for the convoy to proceed and she would enter town accompanying the CSO(Nathi Tyembile).
Ambulances and police vehicle sirens brought the town to a standstill. Our own Medic, Jords, a man never missing in action, whether directing traffic, sounding a siren, fixing bicycles, attending to medical ailments or leading the crazy 8 gang well into the early hours, was part of it all. What a Man!!! He really goes beyond the call of duty.
Many of the other public vehicles joined in the fun until we arrived at our first stop in town which was Toyota Aliwal. Tony handed out last year’s ride coffee table book to management and the Skepe and Sishuba families joined us, much to jubilation of the two Dyobists.
We soon departed for our overnight stop at Umtali Country Inn. At the end of lunch, a suggestion of the usual end of ride stretch didn’t get the 2/3 majority vote and was therefore abandoned. It was at this point that Kaya informed the group of his inability to stretch on a full stomach as further support for the lack of enthusiasm.
The afternoon was spent fixing bikes, procuring sanitiser (alcohol) and sourcing various drugs from the local pharmacy.
At dinner we met Nick and Lindy, his wife. Nick Matriculated in the class of 1965 with Tony. We were also joined by Edrich who matriculated in 2018 from Hangklip. It is great to have them join us on this portion of the ride.
A great dinner started promptly at 6pm followed by the usual Ta Morra stats of the day which again confirmed that it’s all downhill to Queenstown. Kush ended with a quote from a sugar sachet which says “When you get to the top of the hill, you will see that there are many more to climb”. Is this something that cyclists want to hear ahead of a 110km Aliwal to Hazelmere ride?
So the end of Day 7.
Her Royal Highness Jan and Lungisa.
