Just Pensive

I know I should be doing all those last minute bits and pieces just to ensure that I've covered all the bases for the journey, but I just don't feel like it at the moment because I'm strangely pensive about Sunday's 6am start to my 2300km adventure. Excited and sad perhaps.

The journey to this point has been quite short, a mere 6 months. Well maybe a little longer, but the last 6 months have been the most intense in many respects, no doubt giving rise in part to my present state of mind. The race will signal for me the end of an adventure where wonderful new friendships were made and the start of another adventure where the road will be long and winding and which will test my fitness, skills, wits and tenacity to the limit.

My blog posts and antics out on the trail have been quite gung ho, tongue in cheek and maybe even a little blaze at times, however I have never lost sight of the goal - having that Basotho blanket draped over my shoulders at the end at Diemersfontein Country House in recognition of my Freedom Challenge achievement.

To that end I have prepared myself physically and mentally for a mountain biking challenge of a lifetime. Hundreds of hours, literally thousands of cycling miles and the shedding of 22kg's of unnecessary weight has provided me with what I hope will be the required level of physical endurance. I have overhauled my bike completely because circumstance has prevented me from purchasing a new one and in that I have gained significantly - a considerable body of mountain bike knowledge.

The preparation stage has been incredibly rewarding on many levels and I have had the privilege of sharing it with a fantastic group of mountain bikers including my faithful friend of 27 years David. Sharing idea's, advice, encouragement and fun has marked our journey of a few thousand miles to this point and I guess it's for those reasons that I have mixed feelings about us not all starting on the same day.

Here then at the end of this chapter the Freedom Challenge beckons me ever onwards, to the start of a new day....