Prince Albert to Calitzdorp

Tuesday 31 July 2007

Hit the snooze button a few times too many, so I stepped out into the crisp morning air at about 05:30 instead of 05:00 and headed down the sleepy main street of Prince Albert. The road leading up to the beginning of the pass was longer than I remembered it to be, but it was a welcome warm-up to what I knew was waiting patiently for me up ahead. The scene around me was breathtakingly beautiful. I rode deep and dark through the narrow base of the kloof, while above me the unseen moon illuminated the massive western wall like a giant neon spotlight. I felt rather small among the splendor.

Faced with a detour around a section of the pass that had been washed away, I decided to porter through the river, only to find that my cleats had completely disappeared under a thick layer of insta-dry mud! The only tool that proved adequate in gouging the stuff out was a broken bottleneck I found conveniently lying on the side of the road. (Thank goodness there are some people who still believe in littering, even in this day and age of environmental ethics and earth consciousness!)

Soon after the detour, a landrover edged past me, and it was fascinating (and slightly alarming) to watch the headlights stitching their way through the hairpins higher and higher till they finally disappeared over the ridge at an impossible height above me. Mountains are funny, the further away you are from them, the more impossible they appear, but the closer you get to them, the more they appear to level out, and before you know it, you're half way up.... and only then ... do they nail you!

It was a fantastic climb, and I enjoyed every bend. I also realized that I have climbed this pass

three times in the past three years; twice in the Freedom Challenge and now on this trip. Maybe I should keep up the tradition; it is after all one of the most spectacular passes in the country.

I arrived at the first 'top' just after the sun had risen. Words cannot describe how beautiful it was up there. I lay on my back with the Karoo stretching away to the Nuweveld Mountains in the distance. It was also a little sad, as if I was reading the final chapters of an amazing book.

I still had some climbing to do as I passed the Gamkaskloof turnoff, and headed further up to the watershed overlooking the Little Karoo.

The sign 'Die Top' made me suspect that I had in fact reached the point after which I would descend, probably quite rapidly. The wind was blasting through the neck, as I took some photos and drank the last of my coffee. With a final glance to the north, I turned my back on the Kalahari, Bushmanland, the Great Karoo, and headed down towards the Little Karoo below, and the Langeberg Mountains in the distance.

I blessed my hydraulic disc brakes as I white-knuckled it down the pass towards the green fields drinking from the Maatjiesrivier far below me. The road to Calitzdorp followed the base of the Swartberg, with green fields and quaint farm houses lining the road, overshadowed on the north by the snow-capped mountains -- memories of the cold front that recently passed that way.

For some reason, I had completely run out of energy, and I really struggled through the last 30 or 40km to Calitzdorp.

My intention was to push on through to Vanwyksdorp, but I just didn't feel that I had the energy to get over the Rooiberg Pass. So after having lunch in the town, I booked in at the local backpacker and spent the afternoon relaxing, servicing my bike and organising things for the next day.

I bought some food at the local supermarket and made a huge meal of pasta and mince. I thought I wouldn't get through half of it, but as 7de Laan finished, so did the food! I realised that my body was obviously crying out for fuel, hence the lack of energy I had experienced during the day. The problem with relying on eating at restaurants and B&Bs, is that you seldom get enough food volume to meet your body's nutritional needs for this type of riding.

I fell asleep with a full stomach and mixed emotions at the realization that tomorrow would be the last day of my trip.

Day 8: Prince Albert to Calitzdorp
Distance: 90.72km
Time: 7hrs 30mins (05h30 – 13h00)
Average riding speed: 15.77.km\h