The Mother-in-Law of all stages

It’s been a very tough day on the bike. Today was the Queen Stage, the route that rules them all. So just on the paper alone, riders knew that today would test their true characters. But throw in a Lesotho cold front, with icy cold and wet conditions, and...

Jan’s Story – Day 3

Highs and lows. A theme written into the ground and into the unfolding of today’s events. Referring to it as a low is over exaggerated but if compared to Day One and Two’s experience it did not carry the same level of euphoria. As I mull over it, the day feels as...

Jan’s Story – Day 2

Stage 2 – Ramabanta Trading Post Lodge to Roma Trading Post Lodge (with a couple of local lodges along the way too, ?. I am not far off the mark in all seriousness. At the top of one of the climbs, I complimented a gent standing alongside his house on the view...

Ramabanta Loop: Got hair on your teeth?

In southern Africa people have a saying: “He’s got hair on his teeth.” It’s a saying with German roots and it means that someone is not scared of anything. It is also used to describe something difficult that lies ahead: “You gotta have...

Jan’s Story – Day 1

Jan Withaar and teammate Grant Usher ride for Team 24/7 Security Services. They finished 3rd overall on Day 1. This is Jan’s account of the day. The past week was an act in trying to recover from traveling induced poor sleeping patterns and muscle fatigue....