Day 16 Matobo Kwezi - Mpoengs 88km We froze. Freezing temperatures after midnight we were so cold Bots cried. Even my Arctic sleeping bag rated to -16degrees was no match for the icy air coming off the Simukwe river bed. Obert did try to tell us, and my dad and everyone else who knows anything about camping....It was a very miserable team that met at the fire for coffee which thankfully had been lit by Gareth who is always the first up in the morning. We had established that we would have another day without the cars so we loaded up the water, took some money and headed off across the river. We hit the no track straight away and got off to an easy slow start winding along game trails and occasionally no trails until the no trails became the predominance. Our slow start became slower and then came to a complete halt as we found ourselves in thickets of vag-nbitjie bushes. These are the meanest of the Matabele thorns, the tree also known as the hook thorn and which completely entrapped us within its clutches and ripped our clothes and legs to shreds. It took 3 hrs to cover 16km and minus lots of skin we finally found our track and continued along the Shashe river. We had a beautiful 45km of pure single track. ....a route that any Mtb event in the world would be proud to own, how Ashley found it from outer space (Google Earth!) we have no idea. We made the mistake of not checking our camel baks before we left and were gutted to find that we did not have much food. We admit we have been spoiled from a nutritional perspective but became a bit concerned when we had eaten everything in our packs by 11a.m. We consoled ourselves with the thought of finding a local store on the reserve later and getting a coke and bun although we still had a few hours to get there! By 1pm we were tired and definitely underfed. We stopped to eat the few remaining nuts and then continued. A note here that 1p.m has become our witching hour. By 1p.m we are either within our target mileage, just out of reach but able to meet it if we ride til dark or hopelessly outside and needing to make some serious decisions about the night stop. Sometimes, like Tuli, we refuse to accept that we will not make it until the terrain or the legs or simply the setting sun insist that we wont. ...these days are the worst but luckily there have only been a few of them. In any case, by 1pm we usually know! By 1p.m we had cycled 54km which was pretty good considering the slow start but we were hungry and thirsty and stopped to ask an inquisitive motorist where the nearest coke store was. He assured us it was less than a km so on we went. 4km later we asked again and were told yes, there indeed was a coke store, only a km away! We were told this twice more before we finally found it !! Elated we piled into the small shop and began eating. The store owners eyes got bigger and bigger as we ate and drank our way through 10 cokes and 3 packets of cheap biscuits. ....happy at last we took a photo of Wayne the store owner and off we went. At this point Botton told me we had 43km to go. I thought that was cool and saddled up. Graham couldnt believe my reaction. ...there was actually only 23km to go but really its all the same to us. 23k means off bikes by 3pm, 43k means more like 4.30p.m but actually these are just numbers. ... there is a job to be done and we do it. 10km later I wanted to be sick. The complete sugar rush kicked in and I felt so ill I didnt know what to do. I called a stop thinking I would be sick and discovered Ash felt exactly the same! It was awful. We have been on very low carb nutrition and no sugar at all apart from in the fruit but our reaction to a belly full of sugar was not good! We made the Mpoengs border post just after 3 and decided to back track a few km to make camp. No river beds tonight and a sheepish Zimboundary team..... Umbakwe Mission and the Bradnicks tomorrow, cant wait, and also Botton s last day. We will miss him terribly (but dont tell him I said that! ). Good night. Lin xx
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 12:25:19 +0000
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