Define lessons learned: "A Lesson-Learned is knowledge gained
through experience, which if shared, would benefit the effort of others."
Let me share with you what knowledge I have gained during my
8 days of insane fun.
From the pre race dinner at Aintree Lodge I noticed that all
the participants share the same goal in the sense of peddling whilst having
fun. Referring now to Batch A members,
not the exact same idée from the racing snakes. LOL. Never less did we know
that from day one we will share a bond that could not be described in words nor
be explained to any “non MTB cyclist”, it’s a gene thing. It’s like best
friends.......you do not have to say a word to one another, still we communicated
and form a MTB family for we knew, we only had one another for a unknown period,
exposed to all the elements and mysterious environments.
Packing and unpacking at SS. I have not had the privilege of
being in the army but I’m pretty sure it was similar to the way we unpacked and
packed. Day one I was the slowest due to my packing skills and that was the
trend until the last day. I even repacked my hiking shoes at the
starting point at PMB thanks to David Waddilove who noticed that I AM! Going to
loos them the way they were tied. I soon picked up the normal routine, Stop at
SS, charge your tracker and lights, if major maintenance is needed you attend
to it first, then hit the shower or bucket of hot water, get your clothes to
the washing, pack your bag for tomorrow and then off to eat, after dinner you
study your maps & narratives for the next day. Off to sleep then. The next
morning, wash your breath, repack your bag if you were me, breakfast is served,
make some take away samies and then hit the road. If I missed something it’s just because I didn't
do it.
Now to the road; I learned two new words on the FC namely,
·
Portage (The carrying of mountain bikes and
supplies overland between two waterways or around an obstacle to navigation)
WTF? And
·
Spur (A spur is a long, gently-sloping 'tongue'
of ground that runs down from a hill to lower round. Spurs often provide
access to and from the high ground, for walkers, for roads, etc.) Still
looking for the Spur sign thought!
Another interesting fact that I learned is that “my fiets stoooot dem lekker”.
Of course I had the ultimate hiking shoes for stooting my steed,
specially imported from Italy.......think it was Lacosts or something. LOL it was part of the NO!!! grip edition.
Please
ensure that you have the proper hiking clip on shoes, it’s worth it. And not to
mention the super MR Price sock.....man those were so hot! Not even Jack Norris
could freeze my toes, or not. I was an inch away from frostbite (as a matter of
fact I think I did sustain a little bit of frost bite but it went to my head
and caused brain freeze or something☺)
Lesson; get Sealskinz socks, it’s the thing to have, especially in wet
conditions. It will help you fit in as well (anders voel jy soos n weeskind)
Back to the portage, I noticed that mountain bikers and mountain sheep
are from the same origin, at the top of Lehanas pass, I never saw a
sheep looking that confused.
 |
| Really?? |
And that’s about it, simple innocent fun. Real people looking for real
adventure, living the real life.
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