Just to give you some idea of the weather we experienced today, Ingrid took this picture at the top of the first climb. At this point we had completed about 75km which left around another 35km until we reached the town of Ceres but I am going back to 0830 this morning to explain how our day went.
After an awesome nights sleep we got up to overcast skies, following a great breakfast the mood was still upbeat despite the the bad weather. Leaving Reibek West the weather started to take a serious turn for the worst, within 6km we were in the most horrific weather I have ever had the misfortune of riding in. Today topped last years first day from Plett to George where we also got soaked but nothing compared to today. For 111km we rode in freezing, driving, rain and sleet which was being pushed at us with ridiculously strong winds from all angles making riding very interesting to say the least.
We reached Wellington and stopped at a small coffee shop where the staff who were fantastic, rustled up Coffee, toast, muffins, scones and fudge, this stop was a welcome break from the nasty weather but in hindsight I think stopping was probably the worst thing to do, as getting back on the bike again took a lot of effort.
We left the coffee shop and started the big climb up Baines Kloof pass, if we had ridden this hill in normal weather it would have been great, it was a good climb on a good road but the weather being what it was made the climb hard, what came after was something I do not want to repeat in a rush.
I do not often get nervous or scared on a ride but, the decent from Baines Kloof was the single most outrageously cold, nasty part of any ride I have ever done. Deon, John and I came down the hill so slowly due to the amount of water on the road, add in the wind factor, the traffic and the fact we were so cold, made it unpleasant and almost brought on hypothermia in a number of the riders.
Getting over the decent we then hit a 10km stretch of road which also was not the most safe part of the ride, no hard shoulder, trucks, lots of wind and rain had a number of us making unexpected detours off the road into the sand while the trucks flew past us. Luckily the rest of the ride once we hit Mitchell's pass, was safe with a wide hard shoulder and the wind at our backs which brought the end to the ride and our arrival at Ceres.
I think I speak on behalf of all the team today that we all took strain, learnt some amazing new swear words and for most of us spent a lot of time today getting to know ourselves. We have all come out of this a lot stronger having completed the hardest day of riding I know I have ever done.
The weather report for tomorrow is slightly better with only a 30% chance of rain. Lets hold thumbs there is an improvement.
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