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Friday, June 20, 2014

Day 3: Masakala to Ongeluksnek

By Julia 

Similar to last night Chris is not able to pedal with his right leg. Over the last three days we have been trying everything we could think of, changing cleat position every which way, adjusting saddle height, massage, stretching, rolling, strapping, heating, you name it. Only thing now is that walking is also painful and riding consistently makes it worse. Things are not looking good for team Fisher.  


Keeping the pace low and allowing the distraction of the beautiful scenery to help us on our way we trundled from village to village along cattle tracks and footpaths. The riding between Masakala and Ongeluksnek is awesome with lots of rolling singletrack and the Drakensberg mountains as a backdrop.


With Chris' knee still deteriating we were starting to realize that this would likely be our last day on the trail this year so we WERE SOAKING IT UP! Taking lots of pictures and savoring the sweeping downhills. 

What a privilege to ride through Marizell, the mission school that the Freedom Scholarship fund supports. This is really what it's about, people. We stopped and chatted to some well spoken grade 12 students who told us a bit about their school life. We admired the very neat veggie garden and loved the sound of singing voices coming out of a class room. 


It was like an oasis of hope and promise relative other schools we had past. The sun was low, giving everything a golden glow. This moment on the Freedom trail, sick and sore, we realized the bigger picture clearer than before. 'It is what it is' and people are what really matter. 


This journey that we had been preparing so long for, was coming to a premature end and perhaps that is what was needed to teach us this lesson.

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