Joberg2C Day 6

What a day! Only 93km to cover with some big climbs (1900m), but going across the Loteni river (walking) into the Giant's Cup area of the 'berg is incredibly beautiful.
Progress was very slow as my partner wasn't sure he should even get on the bike, and we started at the back despite a good batch seeding. 5km along and he started talking of waiting for the sweep vehicle, he was that finished. But after a chat we decide to aim for the first waterpoint and take it from there. At the top of a long 7km climb on good dirt road, it would help warm the body and assess the real status. Confidence grew in him as he plodded away on the peddles while others around us gasped, wheezed and stopped to walk. Stopping wasn't really an option as it hurt him too much to get on and off the bike. So he bit the bullet. And don't mention pushing or towing, we agreed neither of us wanted to be tugged to the finish beforehand.
I took the opportunity to take tons of photos of the beautiful scenery. The first waterpoint at 40km down in a relaxed time, we could now see the cutoff would not be a threat if we just kept going, so off we went, descending for 14km into the Loteni Valley. Again many pics, across the river, with a quick splash in the icy water in the process, and then up 8km of steep technical climb that had many walk most of the way up, only to be cut and swept at the waterpoint. We had about 1:30 to spare, and my partner, having gotten some pain pills from another rider, was starting to feel more upbeat, and we took on the final climb of the day with more gusto and made up some time in the process, just unfortunately demoralising some backmarkers in the process.
The trick for the day was definately to stop at the top of a climb and look back, the views of the berg around us were incredible!
After nearly 9h we finally got to the finish, hungry, but with Jan feeling better we hope to still have a chance to finish the event. Despite all the climbing my Achilles tendon that has been so inflamed that I could hardly walk seems to have benefitted from the relaxed pace and is much less painfull today. Well, the medics did say R&R is the only treatment for it :-)
In summary a gobsmackingly beautiful day, and Day 7 sees the start of the Sani2C route, so I can hardly wait! Sani Pass, here we come!