Glorious weather for the weekend

Teams have already started arriving at Ebb and Flow and the weather is looking great! Blue skies warm sunshine, and the same is expected tomorrow... wohoo!

Some teams have already hit Vic Bay for a bit of a dip in the ocean, so all in all things are looking like a great weekend!

As they say - "wish you were here" if you are sitting in the concrete jungle reading this!

Weather and land owner check

It's getting hotter, from 22 we have gone up to 25.

The little "peninsula between the Swartvlei and Karatara River can now legally be crossed without fear that the farmer will be shooting to kill :-) He said he found the channel the other day so it is possible paddle all the way - but you need to know where to look.

Well, not sure if I will get the chance to post again so if's this is the last post before the race - see you at registration, I am putting CP's out tomorrow, I really do hope they don't get stolen...

I will make a point to take a photo of each one I put out there! So at least there is evidence if they "disappear"

Ciao
G

Wednesday weather

The temperature has dropped by 1 ° to a cool 22 ° C. Still cloudy, a 20 km /h wind blowing, might cause a few waves on the Swartvlei paddle later in the afternoon.

It looks like it just could be the perfect weather. There might be some mist / fog in the early morning / evening, but that may serve to make things a little more interesting. There may also be some fog / mist on the higher parts of the mountain hike near Tierkop.

What constitutes the N2

For the purposes of the event, the whole road reserve of the N2 is out of bounds, this includes a strip of land 20 m either side of the centreline of the road. The only time you are allowed to be closer to the centreline of the road is when you go under the road under the various bridges.

If you do end up going on the N2, irrespective of whether you get caught or not, you do so COMPLETELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Except for the tar road section on the Old 7 Passes Road and a bit of tar roads in Saasveld and at Swartvlei Caravan Park, you should not have to go on any tar roads.

If you want to take part in tar road events, do the Iron Man, Argus or 2-Oceans.

Tuesday's Weather Update

The terrain under foot was wet and slippery last night, but by the looks of it, things will dry out a bit by Saturday.

The temperature stays the same, but you will see less of the sun in today's weather forecast.

Race Day Weather Forecast

I had a look at Weather SA's website, it will be rainy this week, but race day should be dry - at least the atmosphere that is, the ground may be wet and muddy underfoot (or tyre) at some places. So it should make for some slippery situations. The 23 ° C is nice and cool, if it was 31 ° C you would really be suffering!

I will post updates daily, last year for the Outeniqua Traverse the Monday forecast looked good, but by Friday it had changed completely so don't get too excited yet.

Fireflies, porcupine and bushbuck!

On Monday nights, a few of us George runners regularly go for a trail run. This last Monday we decided to run some of the singletrack around Saasveld, and my what a great time we had!

First off we entered the "Root Farm" and after a few minutes we noticed some fireflies, so we switched our headlamps for a few seconds and enjoyed the light show. It was really beautiful!

Then off we went again, the next singletrack section being named "The Bog", we crossed a few wooden pallets laid across what is probably wet muddy bog, but at the moment everything is bone dry! A few minutes later there was a heart stopping scruryring in the bushes, and the pine trees didn't look as if they were practically climbable, but upon closer inspection, we spotted a small porcupine looking for supper. Phew, I was glad it wasn't a family of angry bushpigs! A little later we spotted some bushbuck along the trail.

It was a great run, and it is tough to decide which is better, running the singletrack or riding it with a MTB. Both are great and demand a high level of concetration. Both also demand more physical input than riding / running on plain gravel roads, so, make a note of it to come and run this section one day!

Getting to the Karatara Bridge

I have had a few reports that finding the channel that goes up to the Karatara Bridge is quite tricky, so if you are not keen to get lost in the reeds, the best option might be a short portage as indicated on the image bellow. I haven't managed to contact the owner of the property you would be portaging across, so if you go for that option, please don't get caught!!! Hopefully I can make contact with the guy soon.

Cheers
G

VAALIES ON THE MOVE!

The two Vaalies are getting ready for the MERREL EDEN DUO.

The info that we as participants receive is great. It keeps us motivated and we've been looking forward to the event for some time now.

We look forward to the cape and seeing the ocean again(typical vaalies), to racing and to making new friends.

Thanx to everyone for helping us out. Garth, Lisa, Ryno, doitnow.co.za, Outeniqua paddling club...

See you guys soon!

Team Gijima

www.gijima.wordpress.com

Kaaimens Mouth

On our recce recently, we decided that going down next to the train bridge is just to risky (especially if there is a bottleneck and people are being pressured by those behind them).

So there is a revision in the route at the Kaaimens mouth.

You will notice on the picture that after coming through the old tunnel, you go past Kaaimens Grotto and then about 100 m further there is a gully that goes up to the old broken house below the N2. THE N2 STRICTLY OUT OF BOUNDS AT ALL TIMES DURING THE RACE! YOU ARE ALSO NOT ALLOWED TO GO DOWN NEXT TO THE RAILWAY BRIDGE - THIS AREA IS OUT OF BONDS. You pass through the house and almost run under the N2 before turning left down another gully that takes you back to the Kaaimens River.

Time flies when you are busy!

It is now about a week and half to go until the race gets going.

I hope your training has gone well, it is now almost too late to do anything about it if you haven't put in the long hours.

Note: For some of the top teams, the Merrell Eden Duo IS training!

Feel free to post something if you have a spare moment, or just come and read what the other folks have to say about their race build up.

G