Gabriel's Freedom Challenge rig

"The Freedom Challenge is a 2300 km Ultra Endurance MTB event that takes place during the heart of the winter in South Africa. During the event you need to carry all your own clothing, spare parts, toiletries, food for the day and emergency supplies. No GPS allowed, so you'll only get to use 1:50 000/1:150 000 maps, narratives and a compass to finish in 26 days. You can either carry all this on your back (8-10kg) or spread the load using a rack. But the nature of this Freedom Challenge is not kind to ordinary racks as I can confess after having broken my Topeak rack not even half way to the finish. This year my training and preparation has been focused on keeping the back pack light and let the bike do the work with the aim of breaking the Single Speed record. There will be a lady (Ezanda Grobler) gunning for the Womans record using a Freeload rack as well. To follow us during the race please go to www.freedomchallenge.org.za and track us live. Our starting date is 18 June 2012."

Gabriel du Plessis