Enduro Africa 2010: Thursday 7 October "Today is going to be a good day

Welcome!

Hi, I am Stuart Redcliffe. I am 54 , grey haired, a tad overweight and unfit but this October I am taking part in EnduroAfrica 2010 and will be riding a trials bike, mainly off-road, for 1,500 kilometres from Port Elizabeth to Port Edward along the Wild Coast of South Africa. My aim is to survive in one piece and raise a lot of money for four amazing charities which do incredible work in South Africa. UNICEF, Sentebale, Nelson Mandela Children’s Charity and Touch Africa work tirelessly to provide health care, education, clean water, care and support for children, families and orphans and much, much more. Most of the work is done by dedicated volunteers and they never have enough money to tackle all the problems they face in this poor and underdeveloped region of South Africa.

Taking part in Enduro Africa could be simply be viewed as the latest episode in my ongoing mid-life crisis but I prefer to see it as a huge and potentially life changing challenge that will raise money for very worthwhile causes in return for a few saddle sores.

Each participant in Enduro Africa aims to raise a minimum of £5,000 for the named charities but many raise much more and continue their fund-raising long after the bike ride is over. The trials bikes we use for the trip all stay in South Africa after the event and are donated to provide volunteers and health care workers with much needed transport in areas with few roads and poor transport links. The Enduro Africa bikes make a real difference to local communities so I will try to make sure I get mine to Port Edward in good shape!

I signed up for Enduro last year and thought I had loads of time to get fit, remember how to ride a bike and raise money. Now it is May and I only have five months to do all the above! I have started with trying to get fit. For the first time in years I have joined a gym here in Marrakech, where I live, and I am sweating away on the treadmill almost every day. I’m also trying to shed a few pounds but not too many – I might need the padding when I fall off my bike! I bought my Yamaha trials bike 20 years ago but never got round to riding it much because life was just too busy. The bike has come along with me as we moved from England to France, then to Switzerland. It finally came home to England last May and when I took it to the local dealer for a service they were amazed to see a 1989 Yamaha in showroom condition with only 3000 miles on the clock. I also discovered I needed a new helmet because my old one was cracked and the visor had been broken off. Ah yes, now I remember why I stopped riding my bike! I am planning to take an off-road course during the summer to learn how to deal with the difficult terrain and many obstacles I will face in South Africa.

However, the biggest challenge will be getting people to sponsor me. So many fund raising events, so many good causes. Why should you give your money to me and Enduro Africa? Please, please look at the websites for each of the four charities supported by Enduro to see just what they do. From AIDS education to orphanages, their work is impressive, far reaching and very humbling.

When I first heard that my application to join Enduro Africa 2010 had been accepted I was wildly excited about the adventure to come. Then I sat down and viewed the DVD that came with the information pack and felt a bit sick. It was the most gruelling off road biking I’d ever seen – and I was expected to be able to do that! For sure, the landscapes were amazing, the people along the way were inspirational and the riders were a great bunch but all I saw was how many times people fell off their bikes in river beds or on steep narrow tracks. I had a moment of doubt that maybe I had bitten off more than I could chew and my Enduro experience might come to swift end on the first bit of rough terrain. Now I have had a chance to calm down and realise that plenty of other participants are almost novices and even the most hardened bikers are feeling a bit apprehensive. Spending up to 10 hours a day in the saddle is bad enough on good roads but Enduro doesn’t use roads at all!

Take a look at the Enduro Africa website for the full itinerary, movies, photos, testimonials and details about how the money will be spent. The event is now in its fourth year and has gone from strength to strength. Princes William and Harry have both completed Enduro, spurred on by the wonderful work their mother did in South Africa. They are big supporters of Sentebale - a charity linked to the Princes Trust which focuses on helping children and orphanages in the Lesotho region. This year the response to Enduro has been so great the organisers have had to set up two trips to accommodate the growing numbers of participants.

The first group departs on 2 October and returns on 13 October and I will be among their number!

Wednesday, 20 October 2010

Thursday 7 October "Today is going to be a good day - a good day to die"

That's how we started today - being told by our Team Leaders that "Today is going to be a good day - a good day to die" !

Great motivational talk from Dave, and, for one of us, it came pretty close!

We left a very damp Morgan's Bay Hotel at 7.00am in the morning and shortly after crossed the River Kei on a typically makeshift ferry. We then embarked on an 85 kilometre journey which, we were promised, would take us at least 8 hours - as it turned out, it was more like 10 hours.

This is now the Wild Coast and wild is a very good definition of the ride we were going to undertake today. Lots of river crossings, lots of hills and descents and all pretty "technical" as we saw it or "treats" as our illustrious team leader Dave put it.

It was today that I realised how lucky I was to be in the Orange Team - we were, quite simply, superb. We are the most together of all the teams, always looking out for each other and, in the main, sticking together (unlike certain other teams I won't mention). Our Team Leader, Dave and our Sweep, Rob are just the best. Dave is always laughing (particularly when someone falls off) and is always getting us lost - but is a great rider and I am convinced he is really looking out for us despite all the evidence to the contrary. Rob is just a really great guy and more quiet but a hugely reassuring presence behind the team at all times - he makes sure that we have all got through the bad bits and is always there to pick us up we we haven't. He is a lovely guy and a great friend.

The Orange Team are a very mixed bunch - all ages and all backgrounds - some quite surprising. The youngest amongst us is Thomas (in his 20's I think) who is a student of architecture and the oldest, quite horrifyingly to my surprise, is me at age 54!
In between, we have Corinne (our one only and cherished female member of the team) in her early 20's, Ian, a thoroughly nice guy in IT in his early 30's and great to ride with, Ted, a Psychiatric nurse from the Midlands who had some very interesting stories to tell, Nick, an orthopaedic surgeon from Liverpool, Martin, a structural engineer from Manchester, Julian, a furniture importer (who was the subject of the hill climb video earlier in the blog), Simon, a lovely guy from Biggin Hill who is not only an upholsterer but also a tatooist, Mark, who grew up in Chingford in East London like me and is now the owner of a roofing company in Ingatestone in Essex, John a banker with Deutsche Bank from London, Dale, a sub sea engineer in Aberdeen and Barry who is in the RAF and works on air sea rescue (from a helicopter). They are a great bunch and I was always very glad to be in their company on this trip.

Anyway, back to the trip and, not long after the ferry trip we were on a hill and we pulled up alongside my room mate, Kevin, from the Green Team. He realised pretty quickly that he was not a member of the Orange Team and knew that he had to catch up with the Greens. So on this grassy, and rather slippery slope, he gave it a bit too much throttle and did a wheelie. Not a good nor intentional one though and he put his left leg out to re-balance - the result of which was the bike fell on him and he broke his leg (as it turned out) in 3 places. I ran to his aid and offered what little assistance I could but he was in bad way and we were told to move on and leave him to the medics - not easy to so when it was your room mate concerned. More about that later.

I can't remember exactly how many "technical" sections or "treats"we had been through before we met our main challenge of the day but it certainly felt like a lot. In the heart of the Transkei Region and home to the Xhosa people (some of whom we met on the way - sometimes in the most unlikely of places) we were to meet the main "treat" of the day - the crossing of the mighty Qora Gorge - a 1000 foot descent to cross the Qora River and then the inevitable ascent the other side. The memories of this section have been burned into mind for the rest of my life ! I was nervous before the descent and then hugely relieved when it was over, then delighted to make the river crossing without falling off - but when we reached the first part of the ascent, I was feeling decidedly unwell and this was not helped by the fact that just as I was about to start the climb, I was overtaken very rudely by the whole of the Blue (novice) Team !

In the event, I still made this climb without falling until I reached the top and then the elation of making it took over and I fell off ! (see video). Two more severe ascents followed without too much incident and then a nice quiet end to the day arriving at the Kob Inn on the coast at about 5.00pm. A lot of hugging and congratulations from each other on our arrival. The Team immediately retired to the bar and Dave bought us all beers and we toasted each other right on the edge of the magnificent Indian Ocean.