GT with a difference
10 Nov 2015 16:13 #65745
by ghaznavid
Replied by ghaznavid on topic GT with a difference
Did you notice those temperatures? 41C at 1PM 
My guess is that he will overnight in Mokhotlong, and the road should be pretty good from there through to Sani. Google Maps rates it is about 67km to the top of Sani. I wonder if he will cycle the Giants Cup Trail on Thursday, he could skip day 4 of the trail and cycle on the road through to Swiman Hut, shouldn't be too hard.
My guess is that he will overnight in Mokhotlong, and the road should be pretty good from there through to Sani. Google Maps rates it is about 67km to the top of Sani. I wonder if he will cycle the Giants Cup Trail on Thursday, he could skip day 4 of the trail and cycle on the road through to Swiman Hut, shouldn't be too hard.
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17 Nov 2015 10:51 #65805
by Grandeur
Replied by Grandeur on topic GT with a difference
I think this GT is great!
Well done to Andrew for trying something different, sticking with it and making it work.
We need more pioneers like him (and Ryno and Ryan etc).
So what is next Andrew - pogo stick?
Well done to Andrew for trying something different, sticking with it and making it work.
We need more pioneers like him (and Ryno and Ryan etc).
So what is next Andrew - pogo stick?
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23 Nov 2015 20:43 #65879
by AndrewP
Replied by AndrewP on topic GT with a difference
@Grandeur: my final design project in Mechanical Engineering was to design a petrol powered pogo stick. Please do not tempt me to build something that I know will not work!
Somewhere on one of the days hiking with Jonathan subsequent to the cycle GT, I actually thought back to do the maths.
At school, where it was the easiest means of transport, I cycled a fair amount. I recall once getting in 104km in a day split across 4 trips, as a maximum distance in a day. Since then, I estimate that I have covered about 300km total for about 20 years. I just do not have time to run and climb and cycle and work, and as much as I try to get out of work, cycling just never gets in.
It thus goes without saying that I tried this without any idea of what would happen. I simply did not know. I knew of course that I would have to push the bike a lot, but figured that a bit of cycling would even things out. I know the route really well, and estimated I could cycle 50% of the distance, especially as it is now the end of a long winter with very short grass.
I did not do the maths that says:
If you push 1km in 100 minutes and then cycle 1km in 10 minutes, then your average speed is bascially 1km/hr. Big time fail!
Part 1: The great push
I started out about midday with a vague idea of trying to get to RatHole cave. I figured it would be fun to work out if the bike fits in the cave.
Somewhere along the path underneath the north face of Sentinel, I fell off the bike. My balnce was such that I fell down not up. It took a good 20 seconds of very inelegant and unbalanced motion for both me and bike to end up 5m below the path. That cleared the ice an I figured it was at least safe to ride a bike on a path with some exposure.
Luck held out and as I reached the chain ladders, I saw some tourists. I promptly handed them my camera which saved me the effort and danger of having to try to take a selfie with one hand while holding the bike in the other hand. How many people die from selfies a year?
My rules were simple: I will follow the speed GT rules and thus hauled the bike up Mont-aux-Sources. Not easy, but it did give some good pics.
About sunset, I saw a bright yellow tent ahead, as I was exiting the Khubedu valley. I was going to try suggest camping near them anyway, but it was so much easier to find a friend, Tristan. He was doing a guiding trip and had already eaten, but he joined me while I cooked my dinner.
That distracted me enough to not notice the dew which settled on my sleeping bag. I know from past experience that if I get into my bivvy bag with any dampness about, the condensation makes things worse and I had a thin +5 degree bag so the night ahead was clearly going to be long and wet. The early hours of the morning gave me plenty of time to consider my options.
Some sneaky route finding allowed me to cycle a lot more than expected, but even so, by the time I reached the start of the Mnweni Cutback the answer was obvious. I would bivvy in the open somewhere behind Cockade and the next morning I would take about 3 hours to drag the effing bike over Cleft Peak. I simply had to reach Bushmans Nek to do the GT with Ghaz, so I needed a plan B.
I found a sunny spot that had cell phone signal and used about 30 minutes to simultaneously send messages to home and Ghaz as well as to dry out my sleeping bag. Plan B was simple - the new objective would be to cycle the Sengu valley as far as the A1. I know people have followed the valley before (probably both on foot and canoe) but do not know any specifics. Great adventure ahead
I used the rest of the day to explore the Mnweni cutback, nab Tony's mystery khulu, collect water and get the bike and myself into Mponjwane Cave. I chose this rather than Ledgers because I knew I could get a few cool pics if I approached the cave from above rather than the lower approach from Rockeries Pass.
Part 2: The Great Escape
In theory, the A1 runs parallel to the escarpment about 20km away. A useful trick to remember if everything else falls apart is to just head down the valleys until you hit the road. Obviously the river will meander a bit, but how can it actually take 80km to hit said road?
I set off with 3 known facts:
- all kraals will be on the left side of the river;
- vague paths will become better paths;
- eventually the path will become a road.
I did not need the 3cm x 3cm GPS screen to tell me this. It is common sense once you know how the shepards chose a place to build a kraal, and equally common sense of how an undeveloped country works - a good road has side roads which taper into paths a certain distance away.
The first 20km or so went well: a bit of pushing over steep or rocky ground, but plenty of cycling on flat ground. I crossed the river many times to make full use of the flat ground inside a meander.
The first true villages caught me off guard, Instead of aiming for the warmest slopes, you are now low enough to aim for cooler slopes. I was of course by now 100m vertical above the river and had a good grind ahead to get to the other side. Chickens do this kind of thing.
About here, I saw the first trees!
But, the river was still a trickle. As it turned out, even 70km down the valley, the Senqu consisted of a few random pools connected by feint trickles. We need some rain!
The only points worth highlighting on the eventual road itself are:
- a found a cafe that sold Coke. Apparently my tracker was recording 30+ degrees at the time, and as I was a long way above the river, Coke was the way forward. The shops there will not sell a glass bottle unless you first hand over an empty, but they were happy to let me drink it on the spot and give empty bottle back. As if I wanted to drag an empty 1 litre glass bottle about;
- I finally saw Mokotlong ahead. It is actually rather small, maybe covering an area of 3km by 1km;
As I entered the town, I was struck with a typical scene of 100's of school kids walking home, vendors all over the place and a general 3rd world scene of how to get things done.
I stopped for another coke and while finishing it off, life made sense. I could spend a miserable night somewhere next to the road, or I could find a place to sleep here. The shop keeper suggested a spot called FTC (farmers trading council), which is on the outskirts of town. It cost me a mere R80 for a room for myself and a warm shower.
Part 3: The yellow brick road
Next morning needed about 10km of easy cycling on a tar road to reach the A1. It turns out that the road from here to the top of Sani Pass is tarred 100% of the way. You can now drive to Sani Top in a normal car.
The valley leading up to Black Mountain Pass is beautiful, but rather sploit by having a road up it. I cycled the tar bits and pushed the bits of 1:6 gradient which had a concrete surface. The road looks good for now. There is obviously some damage to the landscape, but that is in truth inevitable in the name of progress, and there has been a genuine effort to build those "rocks held in wire mesh" walls, and the erosion thus far is probably not any worse than if you had just widdened the dirt road for example.
While waiting for a burger at Sani Top, I looked at the map and realised I had missed a trick. I should have followed the A3 south into the Senqu valley and eventually hauled my arse over a single ridge to reach the plains near the summit of Thomatu Pass. Too late!
Sani Pass on a bicyle that has old school brakes of rubber pads directy against the wheel rim is with hindsight decidely stupid. But, I did not know that at the time and promptly set off. I could smell burning rubber at times and often used the view as an excuse to let the brakes pads cool down. Life was easy because in the early afternoon, very few vehicles are going up the pass, and no vehicle will go as fast down the pass as an uncontrolled bike.
Once again, maths let me down and it took over 130km for the day to get to Silverstreams. Those final 30km or so were gastly - the seat was hard, the road had corrugations which meant I had to go slowly both up- and down-hill and of course I was now tired.
Somewhere on one of the days hiking with Jonathan subsequent to the cycle GT, I actually thought back to do the maths.
At school, where it was the easiest means of transport, I cycled a fair amount. I recall once getting in 104km in a day split across 4 trips, as a maximum distance in a day. Since then, I estimate that I have covered about 300km total for about 20 years. I just do not have time to run and climb and cycle and work, and as much as I try to get out of work, cycling just never gets in.
It thus goes without saying that I tried this without any idea of what would happen. I simply did not know. I knew of course that I would have to push the bike a lot, but figured that a bit of cycling would even things out. I know the route really well, and estimated I could cycle 50% of the distance, especially as it is now the end of a long winter with very short grass.
I did not do the maths that says:
If you push 1km in 100 minutes and then cycle 1km in 10 minutes, then your average speed is bascially 1km/hr. Big time fail!
Part 1: The great push
I started out about midday with a vague idea of trying to get to RatHole cave. I figured it would be fun to work out if the bike fits in the cave.
Somewhere along the path underneath the north face of Sentinel, I fell off the bike. My balnce was such that I fell down not up. It took a good 20 seconds of very inelegant and unbalanced motion for both me and bike to end up 5m below the path. That cleared the ice an I figured it was at least safe to ride a bike on a path with some exposure.
Luck held out and as I reached the chain ladders, I saw some tourists. I promptly handed them my camera which saved me the effort and danger of having to try to take a selfie with one hand while holding the bike in the other hand. How many people die from selfies a year?
My rules were simple: I will follow the speed GT rules and thus hauled the bike up Mont-aux-Sources. Not easy, but it did give some good pics.
About sunset, I saw a bright yellow tent ahead, as I was exiting the Khubedu valley. I was going to try suggest camping near them anyway, but it was so much easier to find a friend, Tristan. He was doing a guiding trip and had already eaten, but he joined me while I cooked my dinner.
That distracted me enough to not notice the dew which settled on my sleeping bag. I know from past experience that if I get into my bivvy bag with any dampness about, the condensation makes things worse and I had a thin +5 degree bag so the night ahead was clearly going to be long and wet. The early hours of the morning gave me plenty of time to consider my options.
Some sneaky route finding allowed me to cycle a lot more than expected, but even so, by the time I reached the start of the Mnweni Cutback the answer was obvious. I would bivvy in the open somewhere behind Cockade and the next morning I would take about 3 hours to drag the effing bike over Cleft Peak. I simply had to reach Bushmans Nek to do the GT with Ghaz, so I needed a plan B.
I found a sunny spot that had cell phone signal and used about 30 minutes to simultaneously send messages to home and Ghaz as well as to dry out my sleeping bag. Plan B was simple - the new objective would be to cycle the Sengu valley as far as the A1. I know people have followed the valley before (probably both on foot and canoe) but do not know any specifics. Great adventure ahead
I used the rest of the day to explore the Mnweni cutback, nab Tony's mystery khulu, collect water and get the bike and myself into Mponjwane Cave. I chose this rather than Ledgers because I knew I could get a few cool pics if I approached the cave from above rather than the lower approach from Rockeries Pass.
Part 2: The Great Escape
In theory, the A1 runs parallel to the escarpment about 20km away. A useful trick to remember if everything else falls apart is to just head down the valleys until you hit the road. Obviously the river will meander a bit, but how can it actually take 80km to hit said road?
I set off with 3 known facts:
- all kraals will be on the left side of the river;
- vague paths will become better paths;
- eventually the path will become a road.
I did not need the 3cm x 3cm GPS screen to tell me this. It is common sense once you know how the shepards chose a place to build a kraal, and equally common sense of how an undeveloped country works - a good road has side roads which taper into paths a certain distance away.
The first 20km or so went well: a bit of pushing over steep or rocky ground, but plenty of cycling on flat ground. I crossed the river many times to make full use of the flat ground inside a meander.
The first true villages caught me off guard, Instead of aiming for the warmest slopes, you are now low enough to aim for cooler slopes. I was of course by now 100m vertical above the river and had a good grind ahead to get to the other side. Chickens do this kind of thing.
About here, I saw the first trees!
But, the river was still a trickle. As it turned out, even 70km down the valley, the Senqu consisted of a few random pools connected by feint trickles. We need some rain!
The only points worth highlighting on the eventual road itself are:
- a found a cafe that sold Coke. Apparently my tracker was recording 30+ degrees at the time, and as I was a long way above the river, Coke was the way forward. The shops there will not sell a glass bottle unless you first hand over an empty, but they were happy to let me drink it on the spot and give empty bottle back. As if I wanted to drag an empty 1 litre glass bottle about;
- I finally saw Mokotlong ahead. It is actually rather small, maybe covering an area of 3km by 1km;
As I entered the town, I was struck with a typical scene of 100's of school kids walking home, vendors all over the place and a general 3rd world scene of how to get things done.
I stopped for another coke and while finishing it off, life made sense. I could spend a miserable night somewhere next to the road, or I could find a place to sleep here. The shop keeper suggested a spot called FTC (farmers trading council), which is on the outskirts of town. It cost me a mere R80 for a room for myself and a warm shower.
Part 3: The yellow brick road
Next morning needed about 10km of easy cycling on a tar road to reach the A1. It turns out that the road from here to the top of Sani Pass is tarred 100% of the way. You can now drive to Sani Top in a normal car.
The valley leading up to Black Mountain Pass is beautiful, but rather sploit by having a road up it. I cycled the tar bits and pushed the bits of 1:6 gradient which had a concrete surface. The road looks good for now. There is obviously some damage to the landscape, but that is in truth inevitable in the name of progress, and there has been a genuine effort to build those "rocks held in wire mesh" walls, and the erosion thus far is probably not any worse than if you had just widdened the dirt road for example.
While waiting for a burger at Sani Top, I looked at the map and realised I had missed a trick. I should have followed the A3 south into the Senqu valley and eventually hauled my arse over a single ridge to reach the plains near the summit of Thomatu Pass. Too late!
Sani Pass on a bicyle that has old school brakes of rubber pads directy against the wheel rim is with hindsight decidely stupid. But, I did not know that at the time and promptly set off. I could smell burning rubber at times and often used the view as an excuse to let the brakes pads cool down. Life was easy because in the early afternoon, very few vehicles are going up the pass, and no vehicle will go as fast down the pass as an uncontrolled bike.
Once again, maths let me down and it took over 130km for the day to get to Silverstreams. Those final 30km or so were gastly - the seat was hard, the road had corrugations which meant I had to go slowly both up- and down-hill and of course I was now tired.
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23 Nov 2015 22:40 - 23 Nov 2015 22:46 #65883
by AndrewP
A welcome sight!
Nope, I cannot cycle that. Faster to push
I am not going to try that baby on a bike
Wish the cave comforts photo comp was still open
Been there, done that? 2 weeks worth of GPS tracks in the area above Rockeries/Mnweni Passes
Replied by AndrewP on topic GT with a difference
A welcome sight!
Nope, I cannot cycle that. Faster to push
I am not going to try that baby on a bike
Wish the cave comforts photo comp was still open
Been there, done that? 2 weeks worth of GPS tracks in the area above Rockeries/Mnweni Passes
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