“Quartermilers”,,,i.e. 250 Milers (400km)…are a potentially cool long weekend ride for many of us who lack the time that a full (1,000) “Miler” requires.
So while we were plotting the Parys Le Cap 1,000 Miler, it dawned upon us that the Parys to Kimberley section of this ride, with a distance of 480.9km made a nice “Quartermiler”…being within our 400-500km range to be classified as such, albeit on the long side nearer to the 500km upper limit. And so the Diamond Dash came into being, and Matthew Myburgh became the 1st rider to complete the route over the weekend of 24/25 February 2024 in a time of 42 hours and 50 minutes. He reached the end point at Kimberley War Memorial at around 20h50 on the Sunday evening, after a 2h00 start from Parys on the Saturday morning.
He did however afford himself the luxury of a sleepover at Bloemhof, as he passed by Bloemhof Dam, SA’s 7th largest dam.
This ride was as part of Matt’s planned full Parys Le Cap ride to Cape Town, but a swollen wrist put paid to that plan at Prieska, some way after he had completed the Diamond Dash to Kimberley.
For company on the route, he had yours truly…the poor guy. My own plan was a long weekend ride to Kimberley to check out the route and see how long it takes, returning to work in Joburg on the Monday. As it happened, my time ran a bit short, and I ended my ride at Boshof, the town before Kimberley, which at the 412.7km mark was already within the “Quartermiler” range. We reached Boshof in approximately 37 hours (3pm on Sunday afternoon).
Click on link below for video:
https://youtu.be/cdrFh_H_m04?si=IzUGBb3AVr4xLxlI
Kimberley is a city famous for its Big Hole, the man-made hole created after diamonds were discovered. The hole is believed to be the largest hand dug hole in the world.
Kimberley was also the 1st South African and Southern Hemisphere town to get street lights…another interesting bit of trivia.
But a key feature of the ride is a trip through the Vredefort Dome area shortly after leaving Parys, a mountainous area create around the edge the biggest known meteor impact crater in the world, as the meteor hit earth rather a long time ago. Unfortunately, an early Saturday morning start meant that this scenic part of the ride was done in the dark…and by sunrise we were already exiting the mountainous area of the Dome.
The area is something of a breadbasket, with Mielie and sunflower farming…and some cattle in between…as far as the eye can see.
The route was extremely quiet for the most part, with very few vehicles passing us except on the odd tar road bits near towns.
And while the area is perhaps not celebrated for scenic beauty, the peaceful riding was very pleasant, and a few little wildlife delights were on display….from the buck on the game farms, bird life around the dams, the mandatory tortoise or 2, and the odd impressive-looking pufadder lying on the road. I didn’t hang around photographing pufadders though.
The gravel roads were in decent condition for much of the way. However, the significant rain that is typical for February, and given that the route is so flat I guess, created significant mud for us in parts, especially in the few hours late on the 1st day as we approached the overnight town of Bloemhof, slowing us down considerably.
The ride is thus likely to be faster in the dry winter months, but the cold in those months requires a little more warm clothing to be taken along. The muddy water puddles did however prove useful for drinking when we ran out of water at one stage.
The odd old tar road that we found ourselves on was often fairly free of cars, often because of the poor condition, in some parts making it difficult to see that the road actually was a tar road once upon a time. It happens quite frequently in the Free State that its dirt roads are in better condition than the tar ones, but not always. We did run into the odd heavily rutted gravel road section between Christiana and Boshoff.
We had to do a reroute at a point prior to Blomhof, losing significant time, as our plotted route ran into a closed gate. Such are the hazards of riding in such rural farming areas even is the routes are on Google Maps. But that’s all sorted and the route has been replotted so as to be completely on one public roads.
The towns along the route ….Viljoenskroon, Bothaville, Bloemhof, Christiana and Boshoff….are generally in a sorry state, but did pleasantly surprise with cuisine. Many small Free State towns don’t have any famous brands in them, but we did get treated to a KFC breakfast in Viljoenskroon, while in Bothaville we were surprised to actually even see a Mugg and Bean.
It probably goes without saying that this ride was hot, as expected at this time of year, but unlike many areas in the Karoo, shade was often available for breaks.
Matt and I parted company on the Sunday afternoon in the main street of Boshoff, as he headed on to Kimberley and I packed up to head home..
Matt completed his Diamond Dash at the Kimberley War Memorial shortly before 21h00 on the Sunday evening. The ride doesn’t finish there for any particular reason other than that the memorial is very central on a large traffic circle where a few major routes in and out of Kimberley converge.
If you have more time, and arrive earlier in the day in Kimberley, a treat might be a stay at the historic Kimberley Club, once frequented by Cecil John Rhodes and other illustrious magnates.
The route is 480.9.km in distance with 2,162m of vertical ascent and 2,310m of vertical descent. You’re unlikely to need your spare set of brake pads on this one.
For the route map and GPX file download, click on the link below
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/45477454
ROUTE DISTANCES BETWEEN TOWNS
Parys to Viljoenskroon - 100.2km (100.2km from the start)
Viljoenskroon to Bothaville - 45.6km (145.8km from the start)
Bothaville to Bloemhof - 133.6km (279.4km from the start)
Bloemhof to Christiana - 58.1km (337.5 km from the start)
Christiana to Boshoff - 75.2km (412.7km from the start)
Boshoff to Kimberley - 67.3km (480.7km from the start)
