I have been visiting South Africa for almost a decade and today was possibly my first glimpse of real Africa!

We lined up on the grid in third position, two minutes behind Subaru Team 1 (the overall leaders) and a further two minutes behind Subaru Team 2. Today we had to dig deep. We knew this on the start line. The plan from the start in The Haven was to ride hard, which we did down the first fire road and then up the other side. We just hammered on this fire road and following that on the singe track section and onto our first beach. My Stumpjumper just eased over all of the bumps and ruts. It felt totally at home with everything that was thrown it’s way. We kept looking into the distance to see Subaru Team 2, but they were out of sight. They must have been flying, because we were cranking!

There were no sharks that I knew of, or Rhinos for that matter today, but lots of cattle roaming around. They stuck me as very lazy cattle cause they weren’t too bothered by us as we whizzed past. They were more focused on eating grass! About half through after plenty of walking sections, we hit the first of these villages, where the locals live in these dome like mud huts. It was an unreal experience to catch this type of glimpse of Africa. It’s makes you realize how others live. The people here are very friendly. You know the race is called Imana. As we passed through I was asking the kids, which way do we go and they just kept saying Imana. Dan and I although riding hard also laugh hard. I was like Dan maybe they don’t understand me or Imana might mean left or right!! We had a chuckle!

After these little villages and the lazy cattle, we started to climb high up the steep coastal edges. It was like the most beautiful spots on Ireland’s west coast, only almost more breath taking, which is a big statement. It was here that the wind started to pick up. Dan almost got blown off coming around an open left hander, while all 93kg’s of my Irish Muscle (!!) managed to keep the two tires planted, but the wind was so strong only barely! The last 11km on open fire roads were tough with a howling wind, Irish Rain and low temperatures, there was a chill and the climbs were never ending. We made the finish though in just over 2.5 hours once again in third position. Subaru Team 2 caught Team 1 so there’s an interesting battle on tomorrow’s final day, which is also going to be the longest! We might back off the gas tomorrow given the longer day and also the fact that we are secure in third with little hope of moving up the GC.

It’s 10pm so time for bed …. Night night!