After being warned of wet weather for most of the tour, we experienced a midnight thunderstorm which had us worried about what weather today would bring. We need not have been concerned – the day dawned crisp, with a few clouds. The wet roads dried quickly and the sun shone warmly as we were whisked along by a gentle breeze at our backs.

Our first stop was at Life Suikerbosrand Hospital – one of our key sponsors since the beginning. The team there welcomed us with a yummy breakfast to give us our first boost and say our last goodbyes to everyone who came to send us off.

After a quick photo, our 100km (or 99km ride for those of us mature enough to not need to do the extra 1 kilometre for Strava) began. We got the initial hiccups out of the way and were thankful for our trusty bikes that have taken us on many rides in preparation for today – unless you are like Morris whose bike saw its second ride ever today.

The day just flew by as we looked at the pink and white cosmos and mielies on the side of the road. The road itself wasn’t too bad apart from stretches where it was almost as if we had to warn each other when there was no pothole and that was when we wished we had Lungisa’s off-road bike. But we continued without any punctures or falls.

We ended the day at one of our favourite overnight BnBs – Niki’s Stonehouse – where we were greeted by friendly and helpful staff and served a delicious Mongolian barbecue lunch, followed by more delicious food for dinner.

The group is well-matched this year with most of us cycling at a good pace and we ended the day on an average speed of 22,6km per hour.

As we don’t have a support driver this year, Tony, Jen and Ash are sharing the task. Tony and Jen did the support driving today; Ashley will have her turn tomorrow.

Fines for the day went to:

  • Morris who decided a good time to pump his tires would be as we were about to depart
  • Ale for thinking a u turn in the middle of the road would not raise shouts of concern and a rebuke from Jen
  • Jan for forgetting to clasp her helmet after a tea stop – and splitting the ‘parlotone’. It took a long time to catch up to the rest of the group

The Most Valued Person of the Day award went to Sigqibo Sishuba, for demonstrating the Ride values of care and support when it was needed most.

Ashley and Alessandra