The count down clock on the website shows that there are 3 days 23 hours and 30 minutes left until the start of the 2nd edition of this race.
At this stage of the game it is all about the Team staying healthy and banking hours of sleep. Cyberspace is alive with requests for late replacements and one of the international teams have lost a member through injury at this late stage. South Africa's Merrel Adventure Addicts lost old hand Hano Smit to a broken collar bone and Cynosis lost Clint Macintosh to injury a couple of weeks ago also to injury.Team Kubusi lost one of the Williamson brothers to a sky diving injury so the old adage of " the hardest thing in an adventure race is getting 4 members to the start line" is really being substantiated this year.
I have packed my race food and on the table it looks like a great pile of treats with trail mix (filled with cranberries and goi goi berries) , droewors, Future Life and the full range of GU Energy products (Gels, Brew,Recovery Brew Chomps and the new Electrolyte fizzy tabs). Packed into a couple of Ziploc bags it looks like what it is . A pile of food that I am going to force feed myself for 4 to 6 days.To my mother it doesn't look like enough but I know already it will be to much but I go on the shot gun approach and hope something will taste nice after two days of no sleep.
The compulsory Team kit of safety equipment is all sorted. Hopefully all that stays in its Ziploc after the compulsory kit check on Sunday. We really don't want to be trying to camp for too long under a shelter the size of a single bed covered in the irritating rustle of a space blanket or two.
The information that we have on the race is this
The total distance will be 500km, divided up as follows- 300km mountain biking,125 km on foot, 75km paddling. Also included is a 52 m high abseil and a Tyrolean Traverses ( a foofy slide type thing). The route starts with a series of hike paddle legs and it looks like it will be a full day before we see our bikes. With only 4 bike legs and the last leg being short it looks like we could be in for a couple of really long bike hauls. We will finish in Port Alfred but more than likely be bused to the start as all the teams will be in Port Alfred for the days leading up to the start.
The paddling legs will be on rivers as well as maybe one paddle on the sea. The sea paddle could be very interesting as the Fluid Kayaks that we paddle are not know for their wave riding abilities. Let's hope all the sharks that have been spotted here in Plett will stay here for a couple more weeks.
In terms of the country side we will cover my guess is that it will be all tough ranging from the massive sand dunes of Boknes to the spekboom of the Addo and Grahamstown area.The organiser has put some scouting pictures up and there are some great shots including some wild life so we could be going though some of the many private game farms in the area.Another plus is that next week is full moon so one gets to see more of the landscape at night and from a navigation point of view at least there is an horizon to work on.
All the rest will be revealed on Saturday night when we are given our maps and route books to study for 36 hours before we actually start at 7 on Monday morning.
Kinetic the organisers have imported great tracking devices so the race will be easy to follow live so go to the website and follow the links from Monday morning. If you are a face booker you can also see pictures on their face book page and maybe even send us a message out in the field.
http://www.facebook.com/Kineticgear and http://www.kineticgear.co.za/tabid/15885/Default.aspx
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