We did it - 1,000kms on our bikes in 51hours and 30 minutes. We started at 03h06 on Saturday morning, and finished this morning (Monday), 2 full days and 2 full nights later, at 06h30 

 

This kind of achievement is a team one - Ed / Pat / August / Paul and I with the support crew, the new-found friends who cycled with us, our families who sacrificed many family hours in training as well as showed all the love and support to the event possible and the corporate and private sponsors who enabled us to surpass R100k and keep Nceduluntu Sanctuary running, and the young children there loved and cared for. 

 

Saturday we did pretty well, running ahead of the 48 hours schedule, on a sunny and low wind day. The support crew had all the gear loaded and ready for 3am (and were amazing all the way through the 2 days - enabling the cyclists to stress only about oursleves and not whether we had everything etc). August, a God send to us for this event in every way, started with us and kept us chatting and laughing as we did laps 1 and 2 before the Sanctuary visit.  We arrived at the Sanctuary mid-morning, to singing and dancing, and immediately felt our hearts yanked with emotion. The cutest of children, standing only a few feet high, were wearing their tiny Cyclists for Change event t shirts, and looking somewhat confused at all that was going on. We talked to them, sat them on our bikes and put them on our shoulders as we took on the purpose of the centre itself - to provide love, care, protection, warmth and growth for 32 children aged 0-6. Before we left, they sang hymns to wish us a safe journey and to bless us for what we were doing , which was enough to get us all teary eyed and emotional. Time to get on the bikes before we were useless quivering wrecks! August led us out and we returned to the 67km circuits.  Throughout the rest of the day cyclists both new and know, joined us so that we always had 1 or 2 others with us, which helped so much, and without which we would not have finished the event. 

 

Saturday night was tough to get through, with the whole night of cycling and no sleep, but the team had Paul to help us through - an amazing friend who met us at 11pm and left us at c.7am. It was tough because we hadnt done that many miles and so the total seemed to go down so so slowly!  August had wrecked his knee on his recent Kili to Cape Town sponsored cycle, but stayed with the event and provided vehicle support along with Reenen and his wife Ulandi.  

 

On Sunday, it was even warmer, and we were feeling so lucky as friends and people we hardly knew, turned up and did a lap or 2 (67kms per lap) to help us. By the end, we had only 1 and a third of a lap as the 3 man team only. The wind started to pick up on Sunday night and was a gale by the time we hit the 13th lap, such that we decided to avoid heading back nearer the coast, where it was at it's worst, and do a smaller out and back near Stellenbosch. The 3 of us who'd set out to complete the full 1,000kms were really struggling with sleep deprivation, and started to lose seconds on concentration as we cycled along, which is obviously very dangerous. We had to force ourselves repeatedly to focus focus focus - and repeatedly failed as our sleep hungry minds and bodies kept trying to shut down. The knowledge that we had 175kms to go, rather then inspiring us because we were so close, just seemed such a huge number when on every kilometre, we were fighting ourselves so hard. We were also aching all over from sitting in an abnormal position for over c.40 hours. 

 

This is the longest any of us has ever cycled, or spent on a single stage event. It's also the toughest thing any of us has done, and we are quite simply exhausted. Mentally totally fatigued and physically running on empty. We will however remember this weekend for many many years, and perhaps forever, as a weekend when we put ourselves aside and did a little good to a few others who deserve the chance to be loved, to feel protected, safe and secure, and to be given the opportunity to grow. None of us knows what will happen tomorrow - even to ourselves never mind anyone else - but we can make a difference today to someone, and perhaps it will be sustainable, it will grow and it will be paid forwards, and in so doing, we have played an active part in making the world a better place. 

 

Thanks for your support, love, words of encouragement and prayers. I promise you they all mattered, and wityhout which I am sure, we would not have succeeded in achiving this team triumph for 32 most amazing children!

Cheers

Cyclists for Change