Philip Erasmus (1966) het vanjaar vir ‘n tweede keer die uitdagende FRCASA-wedren voltooi en sodoende die eerste 70-jarige geword om dit reg te kry. Die eerste keer was in 2014 kort nadat sy vrou, Sue, gediagnoseer is met borskanker, wat sy oorkom het. Hy het ook vanjaar die wedren aangepak ter nagedagtenis aan sy seun Adré, wat in ‘n fietsry-ongeluk in Januarie 2015 oorlede is.
The race takes place in June/July each year. It is a 2300 km, non-stop, self-navigated mountain bike race starting in Pietermaritzburg KZN and ending in Wellington near Cape Town. Riders are allowed a maximum of 26 days to complete the ride.
Maar wat laat Philip eerder self vertel:
A Giant Challenge: Reflections on FCRASA 2019
So what do you say after such an epic journey? The Freedom Challenge motto of “Adventure Guaranteed” was achieved. This was a journey that was very adventurous and I enjoyed it as such. My expectation from the race was fulfilled. Having done it before in 2014, I knew what I was letting myself in for and this time was even better. This year my aim was to be the first 70-year-old to complete this challenge.
My original plan was to ride 19 and half days, and I managed to keep to that schedule all the way. I was greatly helped in achieving this objective by the people of Group Two, with whom I departed from Pietermaritzburg on 18 June. Up to Rhodes we rode as a unit, and although there were some splits towards the end of some of the days, we always gathered together again at the end of the day and planned the next day’s start as a unit. This was reduced to six as Sarah was always only going as far as Rhodes and RG du Toit had a plane to catch!
From Rhodes the six of us stuck together up to Jakkalsfontein, where cracks started to appear. My schedule had the next stop as Toekomst, but some of the people in the group wanted a shorter day. Willem Kamstra also decided to follow his own strategy and left us. Johan Radcliffe and myself decided to split from the other three after Struishoek and had a fantastic ride together from there on.
What can I say about Johan Radcliffe! This guy, who made it very clear at the briefing that we do not share the same religious beliefs, did more for me during the rest of the journey than anybody could expect from his best and most loyal friend, and we only met on 17 June for the first time!
Our relationship started forging when we were the only two who decided to go around and cross the Umkomaas on the bridge and not get our feet wet by walking through the river. He is 20 years younger than me and could have left me whenever he felt like it, but he liked this “old man’s” race schedule and strategy and decided to stick with me. Every now and then he would leave me and skittle up a hill or down the road, only to wait for me to catch up again a little later.
When we encountered head winds, he would spend more time in front, but we also worked together quite well on several occasions by rotating every kilometre. Sometimes I did not know where the strength came from, but I managed to do my share. We had a wonderful time together, stopping for snacks and chatting as we cycled along.
Johan is great conversationist and loves talking. I tend to listen more, but we gelled! He would share his mussels or sardines with me and I would share my biltong and droëwors with him. We became a great team and I really enjoyed his company!
Then came Stettyns. I had my doubts and fears about getting up the last hill of Stettyns and as it turned out, it was not unfounded. By this stage, my strength was low and I really had trouble getting up that hill. A while before we got to that point, Johan saw that I was struggling with carrying my bike. He then suggested that I take my saddlebag, which weighed about 5 kg (probably the same weight as Johan’s rucksack), off and he stuffed it into his rucksack and carried it for the rest of the way.
During the first half of the final hill, Johan would carry his bike some way up the hill, leave it there and then come back and take my bike up to his bike, while I struggle up the hill. This carried on until we were half way up, when Leon Erasmus, my brother’s son and a racing snake who joined us at 02:00 that morning, appeared on top of the hill. He directed us, but seeing how I was struggling, came down and carried my bike up the rest of the way. I am not sure if I would have made it up that hill without this help!
Leon said that he would stay with me once he caught up with me and was true to his word. It is a bit of a shame that it only happened at the top of Stettyns as I would have loved to spend more time in his company, but it was a great joy to do the last number of kilometres in one another’s company and cross the finish line together. It must also have been a great feeling for my brother to be able to witness and experience this.
The low point of my journey was when I crashed on the hill down towards Killian Pass just before Rossouw. That could have ended my race, but I came through with only a grazed knee and no headlight. Here I must thank Harko de Boer, who lent me his second light for the rest of the journey.
At the end of something as mammoth as this, there must be some thankyou’s! The first must go to my wonderful wife Sue, who was at the other end of the line every night when we had cell phone or wi-fi and we could phone her. Initially she was not too keen on me doing this gruelling race again, but after I completed it, she said she was glad I did it and that she was proud of what I achieved! Her encouragement carried me daily.
Also, all the people on my WhatsApp Group with their positive comments! That helped me to make sure I do not disappoint them.
Lastly, the race organisers for putting up an excellent event again. We were blessed with the most wonderful weather! We had a number of difficult days with the wind, but generally the weather was just about perfect. There were a number of days when I just had to hang in there and give my best to survive! My motto then was “we shall prevail” and prevailed we did!
I must also thank the Lord Jesus Christ for giving me the strength; faith and self believe to achieve this journey. I worked out a schedule and in spite of some very difficult days, managed to keep to it right to the end.
Total time: 19 days 13 hours 55 minutes; total riding time: 247 hours 34 minutes; total distance: 2,168 kilometers which included 33,195 meters of climbing; average speed: 8.74 km/h with 11.92 km/h on the fastest day from Willowmore to Prince Albert and 3.62 km/h on the slowest day 3,62 from Trouthaven to Diemersfontein via Stettynskloof; longest distance per day: 170 km from Kudukaya, Cambria to Willowmore; the shortest distance per day: Hadley to Kudukaya via the Osseberg and Grootriver at 48 km, which was also the second slowest day; the longest day in time: 16 hours 28 minutes from Prince Albert to Rouxpos via Gamkaskloof and the Ladder; the shortest day in time: 8 hours 9 minutes from Vuvu to Rhodes via Mcambalala and Naude’s Nek Pass.
For more photos and blog entries of the race, also on Philip’s preparation for this race, see his blog on: http://philipler17.blogspot.com/.
