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Swartberg Pass Riding into the pass, not steep yet, almost at tweede water. |
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Swartberg Pass Coen goes flying by in the early morning light. |
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Swartberg Pass Coen and Andrew pass us again after assisting Nic with a deflated tyre. |
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Swartberg Pass James drifts past effortlessly. |
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Swartberg Pass. View of cyclists coming up the switchbacks and this is only about half way up. Getting photos later which show the scale is a little difficult. |
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Swartberg Pass. The top of the pass from Prince Albert side, yes there is another top which we will see four days later. Sean, Sandra and Chel take a break for a photo. See the road way below. |
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Die Hel turn off. Dave shows the way, look at the time and distance ! |
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Die Hel turn off. Chel and Nic, glad to reach this point, Nic dissappeared into the distance from here. |
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On the road to Hell. A well deserved rest at the top of one of the many uphills. Next in line - Elandspad, a 4km push for us. |
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Otto du Plessis Pass Chel stands at the top of the pass, a helter skelter of locked brakes, skidding wheels and flying stones, 4km downhill. The Hell lies below. |
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The Devils Kitchen James dreams of riding something with more power. |
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Gamka low water bridge. Sandra took off her shoes to do this crossing, the water was freezing and the causway slippery. |
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Road to "The Ladder" Chel rides in the early morning through the doctors'farms. |
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River Crossing. Coen and Andrew blast pass Sandra as she carefully negotiates another crossing. |
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Approaching Klienberg. The last little hill lies just ahead of Nic before he meets the challenge of "The Ladder". |
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Puncture Queen. Sandra rides towards Klienberg Nek, a very steep hill before "The Ladder". |
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Coen de Bruin. Yet again Coen was first to the top of a challenge even with his slippery cleats. See how proud he looks. |
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The Ladder. Chel nearing the top of the climb. This section flattens out a bit but it is still very hard work. |
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The Ladder. On my way down to collect my bike I met Andrew toiling towards the last section. |
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The Ladder. Sandra just over the brink of the krantz, note the rugged mountains behind her. |
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The Ladder. Nic also just over the brink of the krantz toting his bike on his shoulders. There is no other way to get the bikes to the top. |
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The Ladder. James takes a short break on the way up. |
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Sean Delport. "I am buggered!" Sean has a rest before his second trip up "The Ladder" with his bike. He had already taken Sandra's to the top. |
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The Ladder Sean coming up the very steep rocky section. |
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The Ladder. Sean poses at the sign - "The Ladder". This was his second portage. |
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The Ladder. That's me after my second portage, now we had to catch Chel and Sandra who had 75 minutes start on us. |
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To Hell 'n Gone. This is the entrance to reserve from the Boschluiskloof road. |
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Road to Vleiland. Chel pushes up another hill. This road is typical of the good roads we rode on. Others were not so friendly. |
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Rouxpos valley. Andrew and Coen with an early breakaway. |
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Rouxpos valley. Sean rides out the valley. |
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Rouxpos valley. James rides out while Chel gives the last section a push. |
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Rouxpos valley. Nic rides out of the early morning sunrise. |
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Klein Swartberg river. Sandra and Chel going through the river bed on the way to Buffeslpoort. |
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Buffelspoort. This is the entrance to Buffelspoort where the Klein Swartberg and Buffels meet. |
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Buffelspoort. The scale is immense, my camera couldn't capture the full picture so I took this one where I could see the top of a small section. |
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Buffelspoort. This poort is flooded 3 times a year from the Floriskraal dam. This is the driest period, thank goodness. |
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Buffelspoort. Lunch stop. |
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Buffelspoort. Another crossing with Sean, Chel and Sandra. |
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Groenfontein to Matjies river. This morning was cold and raining but fortunately it didn't last long. My pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. |
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Swartberg Pass. This is from the Oudtshoorn side, most everyone pushed. |
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Top of Pass. Chel shattered but pleased to have got to the top. From 480m elev. to 1573m, quite a climb. |
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Group at Karoo lodge. That is our whole group, we had lots of fun and made new friends. Nic, Andrew, Sean, Peter, Dave, Coen and James with Sandra and Chel sitting. |