April 24

Last night we camped at Weisenfels farm.  I talked with the owner and he told me about the wildlife in the area.  They have springboks, kudu, oryx, leopards, cheetahs and zebras.  He has about 140 head of horses and some crops.  He talked about the zebras in a negative way.  He said the farmers and ranchers in the area look upon zebras as a nuisance animal.  He told me they knock down fences, eat crops and decimate the food stock for his horses.  But you need to get a permit to shoot a zebra and you can only take 10 a month.  There is a herd of over 600 on his property and growing.  That and he says zebra meat tastes bad. The locals eat it so he gives them away.  He also has a rogue leopard that is downing his stock.  Six kills so far this month.  He needs to get the neighbors dogs that are bred for tracking and treeing cats.  It was interesting hearing his take on the area.

Now on to today's ride.  Let me start off by saying...  I HATE RIDING OFF ROAD!

There I got that out of the way.  I think I did that yesterday as well.  :)  Today was not much better just longer.  Someone commented that the roads don't look so bad.  Well let me tell you...  riding these roads is like being strapped to a washing machine whose load is out of balance.  And those are the good sections.  The rougher section is more akin to riding a mechanical bull.  :(

When there is not deep corrugation there is sand and/or loose dirt.  It is usually 2-3 inches deep and either pulls your wheel one way or the other, or slows if not stops your bike.  You have to pay attention to the road and read the holes, the corrugation, the sand for depths or hidden rocks.  You can look around at the scenery only very infrequently.  Because if you look away for too long one of the hazards will have you down.  I have been more exhausted riding 77 miles on this stuff than when I rode 106 and 117 miles.  I can hardly close my hands and make a fist because of the weakness and pain from holding the handlebars through this stuff.

But now let me touch on some of the highlights of today:

We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn today!

We rode through some rough terrain and up through a pass.  Once over the top we were treated to the most amazing view I have ever seen...

The Namib Desert just laid out across the valley.  This picture doesn't even come close to what I saw.  It was a "Oh My God" moment!  I have never seen anything like it in my life.  As other riders came up over the pass they all said the same thing...  Oh my god!!!

It seemed to go on for a hundred miles.  It looked like you could film a movie that was set on another planet right there in the desert.  It looked so other worldly.

And lastly, here was the sunset over the mountains and the Namib Desert...

Lest I forget... tomorrow is the naked mile bike through the desert.  Yes, you read that right.