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4. RV3 (Loxton) to RV4 (Sutherland)

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RV3 (Loxton) to RV4 (Sutherland) RV3 - km614 - 03:15 - 07:45 - 4,5hrs stopped WP7 - km668 - 10:45 - 11:10 - 25mins stopped WP8 - km789 - 19:10 - 20:30 - 80mins stopped RV4 - km827 - 22:40 photo credit: Jack Black from Gravel and Tour I left Jakhalsdans in good spirits after a brief but sufficient stop for the night. The day before had been a long day; just about 21 hours out on the bike but I did have some decent breaks at the various water points and excellent sustenance at Jakhalsdans (again that venison pie!) with a very comfy room for my short stay. I couldn’t afford to mess around anymore by stopping for ELEVEN hours at a race village, so I got up, had some coffee and a slice of freshly baked farm bread, made myself 2 sarmies with said farm bread for the road, and then I headed out. I was on the R356, a district dirt road leading all the way from Loxton through Fraserburg to Sutherland. The road surface was excellent and the going was good with no real wind yet to speak of and the
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3. RV2 (Britstown) to RV3 (Loxton)

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RV2 (Britstown) to RV3 (Loxton) RV2 - km408 - 20:00 - 07:00 - 11hrs stopped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WP5 - km472 - 12:20 - 14:10 - 110mins stopped WP6 - km542 - 18:50 - 21:30 - 160mins stopped RV3 - km614 - 03:15 photo credit: Jack Black from Gravel and Tour The stop at Britstown was long… way too long! Let me try and explain why: When Harko and I checked in the night before, we were informed that all of the single rooms were taken and they only had double rooms available. We agreed to share a room as we had struck up a good repour in the short time we rode together on the way to RV2. During our dinner conversation, Harko mentioned that he was going to get up at 01:00 in order to ride out when it is cooler. I said that I’m ok riding in the heat and I wanted to get going at sunrise. After dinner he went ahead to shower and get ready for bed while I went to the mechanics to make sure my bike was being lubed and cleaned (if possible). After that I went up to the room and went for a shower w
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2. RV1 (Vanderkloof) to RV2 (Britstown)

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RV1 (Vanderkloof) to RV2 (Britstown) RV1 - km229 - 02:30 - 06:30 - 4hrs stopped WP3 - km308 - 12:30 - 13:30 - 60mins stopped WP4 - km347 - 15:45 - 16:45 - 60mins stopped RV2 - km408 - 20:00 photo credit: Jack Black from Gravel and Tour I arose from my slumber around 6:00, not that I had really slept much. I was just lying there semi-conscious making sure that my Garmin and my phone was charging, every now and then drifting off for a couple of minutes. Seeing as though my mattress was close to an open door, I could hear and see that it was a beautiful morning outside after the rain had subsided some time in the early hours of the morning. I got up having “slept” in my cycling kit, put on my shoes, brushed my teeth, applied some sun cream and went off to find a cup of coffee and something to eat. I am a bad morning eater - at home I usually have 2 flat whites with an extra espresso shot from my fancy pants coffee machine and then I will have some weetbix an hour or so later - but I
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1. Windmill Casino to RV1 (Vanderkloof)

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Start (Windmill Casino) to RV1 (Vanderkloof) Start - km0 - 12:00 WP1 - km60 - 15:00 - 15:10 - 10mins stopped WP2 - km171 - 21:20 - 22:10 - 50mins stopped RV1 - km229 - 02:30 photo credit: Jack Black from Gravel and Tour The start at Windmill Casino was a rollercoaster of emotions. I was bouncing between absolute fear and tremendous excitement. Fear because my longest ride leading up to the Munga was a 235km training ride and I have never done any form of stage racing or ultra-endurance riding and I wasn't sure how my body would react to spending an insane amount of time sitting in the saddle. Excitement, well, because I was finally at the start line, something that I had planned and trained for for an entire year. Was my 8000km/340hrs of training going to be sufficient? When the gun went off at 12:00, the time for wondering was finally over and we set off. I was at the front leading the 150 odd riders through the neutral section. I did this on purpose, mainly to avoid tripping over
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