Junior (My son) Bronze Roof report.
When I got back to SA, I was all focused to get packed and ready to hit the road on the Monday 2nd to Lesotho.
I had quite a few things to do, trailer license disc renewal and upgrade the Cruisers breaks to my newly purchased “power brake” pads and discs.
We hit the road on Monday morning at about 5am in convoy of another Droomers Yamaha teammate. The road up was quiet, but the wind was pumping! We arrived in Bloem at about 3.30 in the afternoon.
Everyone relaxed by the pool with a few cold ones and kids played in the pool.
Dinner time we went to the local steak house, Long Horn…..food was great! Each one packed a serious steak away.
Next morning, we took it easy, late breakfast and went to the shops before we left for Maseru. Boarder control was a breeze, SA and Lesotho side.
Wednesday morning, we took the bike for documentation control and scrutinizing. Evening was riders briefing and dropping off of fuel drums, for the unassisted fuel stops.
Thursday morning was the usual round the house’s entertainment.
We fitted Juniors Yami with a spare rim with a hard tire and moose, which he managed to finish it. He enjoyed it and managed to stay in one piece and on the bike. The bike also handled the abuse.
When finished, we headed out to the main starting point for time trials.
End of the day, he managed to finish 35, after starting off last row in the first group.
Friday we all were lucky, overcast but no rain.
The day was long, DSP and viewpoints where difficult. I managed to get to the Refuel point just in-time but did not give Junior a new pair of goggles. One of the pit crew used a cloth with something on the spoilt the inside and Junior could not use them for the rest of the second half of the race. He finished 32 at the end of the day. (I took the blame for that…)
Saturday, Junior was ready, he said that today is his day. There is a 16km straight up mountain section before the main DSP. It’s the make or break section.
I did not stay for the start, as I opted to go to one of the viewpoints and then straight to the refueling DSP.
When the Bronze riders started coming past, I was keeping count. Well that did not help. As within those 5km from start, Junior made up 10 places. So, I missed taking pictures as he surprised me when he raced by.
We left for the refueling DSP. This was a mission on its own!
Finally arrived there and had all the sweets, energy drinks and bars ready, AND the spare set of goggles.
We could not track the riders as the cellphone reception was shitty and data limited. My daughter tracked Junior and kept me updated via sms. Which was not good news at that point in time, she said that the team (three riders) are all bunched together 16km from DSP. For us it meant that everyone was stuck in the bottleneck. The updates showed very little movement. After about an hour, still not much of an update, Junior came racing into the pits, without a shirt, just body armor on. Face red and eyes like fire balls.
He said that all the Yami’s are having a problem with airlocks. He took his breather pipe off the filler cap and was working. When he got to his teammate, he opened up his fuel tank, but got spayed with fuel in the face and all over his neck. He used his shirt and water to wash it off.
This was an issue with a non-return valve in the breather pipe, which blocked up on high altitude. With his mechanical background he managed to assist himself and fellow teammates.
With this sportsmanship and care for fellow teammates will get him quite far in life. Maybe not being first on the podium, but first in my books.
We changed hydro bladder, new shirt, bike fueled and off he left.
The last section of the day, he pinned it all the way!
He managed to finish the day in 6th.
:thumleft:13th Overall for the Roof of Africa 2019 Bronze class.
Next year it will be silver.
Topic: Roof of Africa 2019 (Read 6458 times)
