Day 1-2: Lets Ride!!! Bloubergstrand to Saladahna, or as I like to call it, 'WTF was I thinking riding so far on day one!!!'

I woke up feeling tired as I didn’t get much sleep. That sucked. I’m sure having a good nights sleep is important if you are planning on starting something as physical as cycling around your country. I guess my body and mental state had other plans, but I wasnt that suprised to be honest. I've always lacked the abillity to sleep the night before a big event of some kind. Curse you I thought. So that is pretty much what I felt like in general that morning whilst in the flat. There was no overwhelming excitement like some may think. No “Yeah!! I’m finally doing this! None of that was there, just let me first get some food in my stomach, followed by some coffee to keep me awake.

I welcomed my friend Greer in who came over slightly earlier than I expected. She was there to document this beginning part of the trip on her video camera. I like to think of it as me in my pyjamas wishing I had slept better. I think she was feeling more excited about this trip than I was. I’m sure the video will say the same thing. Haha. So I ate my breakfast and changed then welcomed my brother Michael and Hannah into the flat as I would be handing over the keys since our mom was away working on a cruise ship again. Greer also interviewed them. They could see I wasn’t properly packed. Something my brother made a joke about regarding us ‘Joneses and leaving packing to the last minute.’ Well, once I was packed I loaded everything onto the bike for the first time, (always wait for the day you do something to test something out) and realized that holy shit, this is actually a bit heavy!!! I could tell from the back tyre bulging. I can’t recall if I took everything off and pumped the tyre a little more just to be safe.

It was almost 8:30am and it was time to go. So we headed out the flat. Keys were handed over and some last minute photos were taken. I said goodbye, the gate was open and out I rode. I almost fell over going up that damn hilly driveway not being used to the weight.

Cheers Hannah

Cheers Greer

Cheers Mike.

This was finally happening I thought. I turned onto the beach road and away I was, going out of Blouberg. It was a good day to ride with the weather being perfect. I got onto the R27, stopped by the padstal or garage in Melkbos for a pee as I think that second cup of coffee was now working its way through my system.

So the journey began. I had a lot of ground to cover on day one as I was aiming for Saldahna where I had a place to stay thanks to my friends Adam and Pavarni.  They had organised with friends of theirs that side which coincided with the first ‘stop’ I had outlined on my map. My first little ‘fun’ event was finding a porno dvd on the side of the road just past Atlantis. The aptly named ‘Hustle and Blow’. This just made me laugh. I regret not taking a picture as proof but hey, you can imagine your own scenes that were printed on the disc. So I left 'Hustle and Blow' on the side of the road looking forward to all sorts of other ‘fun’ and ‘random’ things the road would throw at me.

The road was generally flat with some minor up and down sections. Seeing as this was the first day I also found myself keeping hydrated by taking 3 sips of energy juice every 10 –15 mins whether I was thirsty or not. It’s not a bad plan to keep yourself being constantly hydrated as you don’t want to actually get hydrated then treat it. So I just kept at it though I realized that looking at my clock was kinda monotonous. Eating was also spread out every 1 or 2 hours I think. I had packed some proper food for the first day. Boiled potatoes in a tub with tuna. Energy bars and fruit. Plus sandwiches I think. Plenty food for the first day.

So I rode and rode and after a couple hours round about midday I started having these incredible doubts and questions flying through my head. What the hell was I doing? Can I do this? Am I gonna think all these kak questions all the time the whole way home? I hoped not, as this was only day one. I focused myself by just letting them be and by singing along with my music. This was first time jitters. I’m sure anyone else would go through the same thing doing something like this for the first time. I had to remind myself of the fact that yes I was actually doing it, and that I had to do it one day at a time, one peddle at a time. That would be the only way. The scope of this trip was quite an undertaking when looking at it in its totality but by breaking it down, it became more manageable.  Plus with the experience and distance I built up as the trip progressed, all those nagging thoughts disappeared quite quickly.

One of many rest stops that day. Haha, plus the only damn photo I took. That look? What the hell was I doing?

I think it was about 3:30pm when I was outside the West Coast National Park when I messaged Sue whom I would be staying with to actually say hello and tell her where I was. Plus to give her an approximate time of my arrival. I was hoping for 5 or 6 maybe. I was now beginning to feel overall fatigue and part of me was hoping to just to get to the West Coast Engen garage which I knew was in the area but it wasn’t as close as I'd wanted it to be. I was also starting to feel an incredible numbness from the contact made between my groin area and my seat. I would try to alleviate this by standing on the pedals in order to get the blood flowing in those parts.

I eventually reached the Engen garage at about 7pm so it was almost sunset. It was way further than I thought with the idea being that if it was closer I would have just camped there for the night then pushed into Saldahna the next day. But I was so far I decided stuff it, let me just finish this first day as planned. I refueled myself and let Sue know I was on my way. I headed towards Langebaan before taking the Saldahna turn. It was now dark and I had my reflector vest on with my head torch which provided just enough light to see. As much as I was determined now get to my destination, I found it incredibly soothing to be riding at night. My mind was at ease (probably fatigue Jones?) and I enjoyed the silence of it all. Also the lights from whatever buildings shone quite nicely in the distance. Cycling at night some more on this trip would have been quite peaceful I aimagine, but I would have missed all the scenery. Plus its just plain dodgy riding at night sometimes. I finally arrived at about 8:30pm after about 12hours on the road, day one complete. And I was completely broken! I was tired. I was stiff. My groin was numb and sore. But I was just so relieved to finally have it done with. It was a pleasure meeting Sue and her husband Toni. They showed me the room I would stay in. I carried all my stuff in and just sat down in the chair in my room. Sue gave me a cup of juice, apple I think which I relished right away. She offered me some bananas and pitas filled with cheese for supper which I quickly wolfed down whilst chatting with them a bit. They then let me settle down and wash up. Felt so good to shower. I couldn’t believe how stiff and sore I was. So out came some deapheat to the rescue. This was day one! WTF! How the hell was I going to carry on tomorrow? I thanked them and said goodnight as I was so looking forward to lying down. I climbed into bed and waited to fall asleep. It didn’t come as quickly as I had hoped but it did.

Distance: 130kms (all distances are esitmates as far as I can remember after checking the clock after each ride)

Day 2: Saldahna to Vredenburg and back.

The first of many wonderful pets I would meet along the way.

I had gotton the ok to spend another day at Sue and Tonis place the night before seeing as I was so broken. I couldn’t help but feel a little weird that I was already resting a whole day and it was only the second day. Would it be like this in the future? I hoped not. I was also really worried about erectile dysfunction (ED) seeing as my groin area was still quite numb.  Had I damaged myself so badly that it was irreversible? WTF Jones?!?! I hoped not. Only time would tell. I spent a little time googling stuff on my blackberry regarding ED and cycling and found out about different seats and such, and knew I had to get a new one asap. If I was gonna be sitting on my ass for as long as it would take to do complete this journey, I needed a new seat as I sure as hell didn’t want to add or cause any more unnecessary or permanent damage to what I was feeling.   

Seeing as I didn’t want to lie around all day and I was a little bit rested, I took my bike out after breakfast and rode to Vredenburg which is roughly 12kms north of Saldahna. It was also good to give the muscles a little workout to help with the stiffness. I was told about a bike shop there and that is where I went. I got a new softer seat for half price by trading in my other one. I was so stupid to ride so far yesterday with it being at the wrong angle but I was super glad about the new one, correctly fitted of course. I also got a battery operated reflector light seeing as I had ridden the night before just in case that was to happen again. Also some ‘bombs’ which are small canisters of compressed CO2 for quick tube inflation, and the connecting device. I had also left my bike lock behind (always got to forget something right, prolly because of the last minute pack hey?) so the owner made me one in his cable workshop, the one he runs next to his bike shop. Happy with my new equipment I bought a lock at the local hardware store then headed back to Saldahna. On the way back I saw a cross beside the road with my name on it shared by someone else who had passed away for some reason. Made me pause and think about my journey a little bit. I hoped this wouldn’t happen to me.

RIP

Got back and chilled a bit before heading out to the local spar to get some supplies for the next day. I then began to read War and Peace. I had thought that such a long book would be nice to read on the road as I would have plenty time in my tent or wherever. I read 6 chapters and decided to leave it behind. Little less weight but the fact is that War and Peace aint a travelling book at all (well to me it isnt) so I’ll read it when I get back. Then we had a delicious dinner of curried fish and salad which Sue cooked up. Man it was so tasty. Then I went to bed.

Distance: 28kms