Bit of a re-hash of my previous #T2T write-up below, but I feel it still very much captures the essence of this amazing #Karoo #crank!

Good news is that @yolande de Villiers is on the mend, with a positive prognosis from the surgeon and a second operation today in the private hospital in Queenstown. At this stage, it seems she will be able to head home by Friday, and with a 2-week period before being able to really put pressure on the leg (which will be in a moon-boot). Jy’s ‘n yster, Yolandi, en ons almal hou duim vas!

Loved spending time with Rohan Germishuys, Fleur van Eeden, Rudolf Botha and @ozone.africa partner Zane Schmahl … could not wish for a better team of people to work with. You guys feel like family, and I cannot wait for our next adventures, including the soon-to-be-announced #Trail2Teebus ????????

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I’m an #OosKaap boytjie, so odds were always high I would enjoy #Trek2Teebus and the #steynsburg region. I never realised how much I’ve been missing the #EasternCape, though …

In a way, it was like coming home, I suppose. The Baviaans River Conservancy where I grew up is less than a couple of hours away, and I felt like a 56yr old kid let loose within a familiar outdoor playground. Rooigras seeds in your socks, the Lego jumble of ysterklip koppies, the whistle of wild rheebuck in the highland ridges, the smell of the fertile red soil … it all felt comfortably familiar.

Then there’s the people, a gravelly mix of rough diamond boertjies and Tannies who’s hands stand wrong for nothing. They live a hard, but beautifully real life, operating close to the land, and the conversations reminded me of 50yrs or so ago, when I sat near the Bloemhof Farm hearth, listening to my grandparents discussing farm life by the light of Coleman oil lanterns. I also got to speak proper Gcaleka Xhosa again.

The #BuildIt #Trek2Teebus 3day MTB Karoo Adventure itself was a #mountainbiking feast of note, with gritty off-piste riding along everything from wilderness tracks to fast, flowy gravel roads. This is so much more than an event, and you should only come here if you want the full package of Karoo culture, cuisine, scenery and cranking. Neither the food nor the trails or the people are perfectly groomed (you can get that at tame-and-lame events anywhere in the Western Cape) but that’s what makes it unique and exhilarating.

Ons wag: kom speel saam volgende jaar!

Click here to view the pics