By Richard Arderne

St Francis has some very fit cyclists: Roly, Jacques, Trevor, Juan, Jonny, Tony, Phil and quite a few more.

I’m not one of them.

I’m not even in the B team …. I only cycle our 25km MTB route about twice a month. My excuse for not cycling more is that I have to walk my dog.

So when I was invited to cycle the 220km Baviaans from Willowmore to Patensie in October, I was more than a bit anxious.

The very tough Trans Baviaans cyclists complete this in one day, but our trip was to be over four days, so I thought I just might be able to manage.

But then the forecast was for some 35 degree days, so I was really panicking.

And then the big decision: to ebike or not to ebike??

I am fortunate to have a regular bike and an ebike, but my ebike is very entry level, cost me a fraction of most of the others in town.

To suffer exhaustion or loss of pride??

So Gary the organiser said “Bring both bikes”

It was a beautiful sunny but not too hot morning when we set off from Willowmore Main Street, so I thought I would start on my old regular bike.

And, due to the patience of the other eight much fitter cyclists, I surprisingly never even offloaded my ebike from the rack on the back of our bakkie for the entire trip.

More about the route

I can highly recommend this cycling adventure, which isn’t too taxing, even on a regular bike, and is easy for anyone to organise, with a variety of overnight options.

Our trip from Willowmore to Patensie went like this:

Day 1: 50km to Makkadaat Caves

Day 2: 50km to Zandvlake

Day 3: 70km (over the “Mother”) to Kudu Kaya

Day 4: 40km to Tolbos, Patensie

With four days, we had time to enjoy the beauty, although it was still a huge challenge for me, this being the longest ride I’ve ever done. We had beautiful late afternoon walks at the three stopovers, not that we needed the exercise.

Early starts helped us avoid the heat, although it was probably never much over 30 degrees. The encouragement from the other cyclists, all from East London, somehow got me over the “Mother” and the other lesser obstacles, without much walking.

What a very lekker four days, arranged by the one and only Gary Atkinson and Janine Atkinsonteam.

Highlights 😀

• Sleeping in a cave
• ⁠Swimming in pools next to the road, and at Zandvlakte, and up the Kudu Kaya kloof
• Cycling through so many river crossings, deliciously cooling, and only falling once (at Langwater, but no one saw it, so it doesn’t count)
• ⁠The farm tour with farmer Piet Kruger at Zandvlakte, including sundowners and a talk about the merits of Spekboom
• ⁠A very lekker group
• ⁠The buffalo right next to the road at Bergplaas
• ⁠Surviving the very steep 8km “Mother” climb with hardly any walking, encouraged by my old mate and “coach” Steve Keet
• ⁠Janey cycling the last day (Kudu Kaya, Cambria to Tolbos at Patensie)

There’s The Ambulance! Baviaans Video Highlights.