Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 77, December 2015 | Page 51

Apart from a rather large spider in
someone’s bathroom, and the inevitable
“fines ceremony”, that stop-over was
relatively peaceful and the next morning
found us rested and perhaps anxiously
awaiting the next stage.

First team home were the
cyclists from Team Phakisa

The start from the Engen in the centre of
the town was pretty uneventful, as was the
slog all the way past Clarens and into the
Golden Gate National Park. The scenery
of this national gem made up for the pain
experienced on some of the steepest hills of
the whole tour. And the cherry on the top,
this stage also included some of the gnarliest
descents of the tour too.
It was the descent from Golden Gate
National Park towards
Witsieshook which caused
a bit of an upset in the
ranks as our Olympic
swimmer clocked
107km/h, qualifying
himself for a fine during
that evening’s fine
ceremony.
Unfortunately, a “few”
kilometres after that a
road works detour saw
most of the “cleverer”
teams scrambling into
support vehicles and
skipping the misfortune of
a couple of kilometres of
gashed tyres, tar-stained
up tubes and general mayhem.
Back on the bikes again and we went over
the top, passed the Windmill – where we’d
spend the night – and helter skelter down
the slopes of the Drakensburg to that stage’s
end point. A four way stop in the middle of
nowhere.
After checking into the Windmill – and
cleaning the bikes after the dusty detour
and 300-odd kilometres of general abuse
– the fines evening was hosted in Little
Switzerland’s pub.
The next morning, after we were transported
to that strange intersection in the middle of
nowhere, stage three’s 120-odd kilometres
began. The rolling hills of KwaZul H