1965Ride 2025 Day 3 Friday 18 April (Good Friday) Reitz to Valuta Farm, Fouriesburg.
We covered 123.6km in a traveling time of 6hrs, with a total time of 9 hrs
The day dawned gray and cold as predicted, but the sun was trying hard to break through as we made a slightly delayed start from Poelanies Guest House after a good breakfast. The enthusiasm and dedicated support of the Dirty Chain contingent which had left Johannesburg at 4am to join us for the day certainly warmed things up. To try and reach his previous goal, (5 punctures in one tour) Sili had his first puncture of the tour. Pumping it up with a bomb failed to solve the problem, and a little further down the road he had to change the tube. At the first tea stop along the way Annies brandy fruitcake was devoured with loud approval. And then the Dirty Chains brought out a huge tray of savoury snacks and a cool box of Vita drinks!! All were much appreciated.
Features of the day were the scenic sandstone cliffs, the hills all around, the pink and white Cosmos, fields of dried mealies, yellow Canola and sunflowers, barley and sorghum. In coping with Easter weekend traffic and numerous potholes our enlarged “parlotone” varied between riding in single file, 2×2 formation and occasional relaxed sections. At the Roadside Diner we had a long stop for buns and water and Lunga and Sigqibo headed into town to get some extra mugs. Tony thanked the Jim Mbela, the traffic officer who had also escorted us, and Chief Gerrard Mokoena, for their valued support on every tour. Sigqibo arrived back with Lunga shortly after the “parlotone” had departed. Undeterred, he jumped onto his bike and managed to catch up after about 5km, with many of the team not even being aware of this as he is such a quiet, unassuming fellow. Bravo Sigqibo!!! The next tea stop was supplemented by KFC, courtesy of the Dirty Chains and the whole bucket was soon empty – thanks Dirty Chains!!!
On the puncture record, Tony went into competition with Sili and the end of the day saw Tony leading 2-1. Lunga did us proud with his siren on the navigation through Bethlehem, traffic police were present, and lunch was enjoyed at the Plaasstoep Grill and Restaurant and then the team knew it was 21km to go.
The pace increased in anticipation of reaching our destination and we overshot the turnoff to Farm Valuta which was not quite clearly enough marked for fast moving cyclists! But on arrival everybody was soon allocated to rooms, and we enjoyed an excellent dinner prepared by Petra and her assistants. This is a lovely 120-year-old farmhouse and this evening it was filled with warmth and cheer.
The day ended with much hilarity during the presentation of the fines, of which there were many recorded by Lungisa, and then the customary and detailed Stats by Tamoooora. Morris was nominated as MVP of the day and Chanelle was nominated as Chief Judge for Fines for the following day. The team wishes to record a vote of thanks to Jen for her huge input in the organization of this whole venture, and is now also doing support, driving and setting up for tea on many of the days.
Jan & Edrich
