So we’ve arrived. Stepping off the aeroplane after a night time 12-hour flight, during which we all managed to get very little sleep, we were greeted by a wall of heat and deep blue cloud free skies flanked by mountains in the far distance, clouds lazily hugging their contours.

After being picked up by Rudolf, the South African Mule Bar distributor, we made our way to his house where we first started with the mission of unpacking the bikes. Thankfully, all were in fine working order and we made short work of cobbling them back together. Tubeless tyres and latex, an essential for the event, were installed on all bikes.

Even despite our best preparation, a quick trip to the local bike shop was required for some last minute essentials. As well as stocking up on inner tubes and latex (just in case we need more), we had a nice chat with the shop owners and got a chance to suss out the scale and interest of the local mountain bike scene. And also spotted a 2000 Dean titanium hardtail propped up in the rafters…

Tomorrow we take the bikes out for a spin around the local hills, to make sure everything is setup and bolted on properly before the event starts this weekend. Shock and tyre pressures will be tweaked with in this pre-event ride. And it’ll be a chance to begin acclimatising to the extreme heat!