On this date in 1994, in South Africa, the first post-apartheid elections were held and the new constitution was introduced. The elections were the first national elections where everyone of any race over 18 was allowed to vote. The date is now celebrated as Freedom Day, a public holiday. It reminds South Africans of the sacrifices made by individuals and nations to break them away from the chains of segregation by a select few. I've been reading and thinking lately about people who speak up and take action against unjust power, even when it puts them in danger of their freedom or their very lives. Nelson Mandela was only one of many people who risk everything to change South Africa completely. Now, I think of South Africa as an example of what people can accomplish if they're willing to risk everything. I doubt I'm that brave. Credit: https://w.wiki/MJv6 Photo: Paul Weinberg, Public Domain per Wikipedia https://w.wiki/MJud I'm glad to have another metric century in the books, this one with almost twice the climbing as the metric century two weeks ago. I'm more and more confident I can complete the Wine Country Century, with 4.9K of climbing, with the two biggest climbs in the first third of the route. I have a "bail out" route prepared, but there aren't many ways to cut a lot. I'll look at the 100K route for ideas. After my shivering two days ago, today I carried extra layers, and it helped. It was 44 degrees at one point on Empire Grade, and I was sweaty. So, at the Lockheed Gate, I stripped to the waist and replaced my base layer with one that was dry and thicker. And a dry jacket. I had warm, long pants, but I left them in the seat bag. That helped a lot! I was only a bit cold on the descent, and the Swanton out and back was no problem. The tailwind coming back on southbound PCH was a little less than two weeks ago, but it helped a lot. I should have worn those long pants and a thicker base layer to start and still carried the extra layers. I'm not accustomed to riding in such cold weather, so I'm still learning. We'll see what the Wine Country brings. At least it wasn't raining this time! But another rider told me they got rained on today. Bummer.