Selati Stage 5

Selati Stage 5

 

We are past the halfway point and heading home.  Only 3 stages to go but this one between Lydenburg and Blyde River was a biggie…  124km long with Robbers pass and the infamous Bonnet to get over.  The stage started with a nice drop of 200m over the first 37km’s.  There was a bit of a side wind in this section and having a tandem with us made the ride fairly fast.  Neil and I sat in the bunch and even though the terrain was fairly gentle the bunch had been whittled down quite a bit by the time we hit Robbers.  Robbers is a great climb that reminds me a lot of the top part of Du Toits.  It goes on for 12km’s but the gradient is never very serious averaging out at about 4%.  We took the climb very steady but even still we didn’t actually lose much time to the front of the bunch. 

 

The side of robbers that we climbed might not have been very steep but the other side was, with lots of sharp hairpins.  The decent was awesome.  The marshals had closed the road so we could use the whole width to weave our way down the pass.  At the bottom of this pass lies Pilgrim’s Rest.  No time for sightseeing but we did allow ourselves some time to stop at the waterpoints.  The ladies there were always happy to see us stop as we were usually the first people in the race to do so, and stopping meant we didn’t rip bottles out of their hands while flying past at 40km/h.  

 

Straight after the waterpoint came Bonnet.  This climb put some serious wear into the granny. (Neil had a super granny riding a 26!)

 

Ok it is now 5pm, this post will have to be continued on Monday, sorry wait Tuesday.  It is a long weekend!!!!!!!!!!!  Hope you all have a great one!