The Amazing Adventures of an Average Actuarial Cyclist

I have never won a bicycle race before. I actually came close a few times, but even on the " platteland kerkbasaar " races there are always that one up-and-coming talented youngster. The one who respectfully greets you with:  "More Oom. Oom trap lekker sterk vanoggend!" before disappearing ahead of you on the first big climb. Or that one local farmer who used to be a pro-cyclist and now dominate all the races and Strava segments in the district. Posing in front of Graaff-Reinet The Lormar Endurance Sheep Trail is hosted in the platteland near Middelburg in the Eastern Cape but is certainly no " kerkbasaar " race, about 250 riders from all over the country travelled to Fairview Farm for the 3 day stage race. Joining me were 7 fellow FAW riders. Also coming along to support were my family , Lormar being one of the few races where "non-riding" family members have the option to be part of the race village. We made a road trip of our j

Mark Cavendish - circa 2012 The Knysna Cycle Tour (coinciding with the annual Knysna Oyster Festival) is one of the iconic events on the annual western cape cycling calendar. My first attempt was back in 2012 in my first year of cycling. I was on a 26er in a replica Team Sky jersey. I don't remember much of the race other than that it was really cold, wet and muddy and one guy cheered me on as Mark Cavendish. I finished the 80km race in just over 4 hours which I thought at the time was not too shabby for a new cyclist. One year later I was back again, and again Knysna was cold, wet & muddy, I was again riding in my Team Sky replica kit, this time on a shiny new 29er, much fitter more experienced and hence with high expectations of improving the previous year's time - and I promptly rode a half an hour slower than the last attempt (Must be the reason I can find no entry of that year's race in my blog) Our booked Brenton-on-sea accomodation 4 years late

I promised my wife I wouldn't do something stupid like this again, and I meant it at the time... But memories fade and when Neil posted the new 2017 FAW route on Strava late in 2016 I just couldn't resist the call to again be involved in this crazy adventure(If only because the last time I forgot to start my Garmin until we were 10km into the ride and if the whole ride is not on strava the 480km ride never happened!) It is after all a special opportunity to raise money for a good cause, us cyclists pay our own way and all the money raised go towards the sterilisation of dogs at the Fisantekraal settlement. Having survived the 2016 version I had some confidence in my ability to do it again, my biggest worry were the cold Karoo night as temperatures around zero degrees were predicted (I hate cycling in the cold) The Crew looking fresh at the start So on 8h00 Saturday morning, 26 riders set off from Oudtshoorn to Melkbos on a 480km journey. The first 30km were ridin

2014 Cape Argus I managed my first sub-3. 2015 Argus was halved due to raging fires and everyone got sub-3's 2016 Argus, now the Cape Town Cycle Tour (CTCT) I fell ill the night before the race and could not ride. 2017 CTCT was now supposed to be my first attempt at a proper sub-3 in 4 years. After the Attakwas early in January I managed to keep on training and keep doing races, my seeding looked good after the Stellenbosch Cycle Tour so everything was falling in place for a proper sub-3 assault. Then in the lead-up to the big day things started going wrong... First there were reports of fires in Hout Bay Then rumours started spreading about social unrest along the route at Masiphumelele near Kommetjie. Then the night before the race organisers sent us the following text message: Things weren't looking good but the Sunday morning I arrived in Cape Town ready to handle whatever the conditions, fires and protesters throw at me.  Initially th

One of those races that leads to memory loss, this would be my second stab at the "Hell of the South" - the Attakwas Extreme MTB Challenge. In 2016 I missed my goal of a sub 7 by 17 minutes. Preparations went well over the December holidays with lots of riding on the gravel roads of Stilbaai and in mid-January I lined up again at the Chandelier Game Reserve with 1000 other riders for the first big race of 2017. SAS still has no intention of giving me an actual useful seeding so again I lined up in Group D, at least this time I made sure I arrived at the start early so I did not have to work my way through the rest of the group in the first 30 kilometers, saving a lot of energy that would be sorely needed later on. As described in the 2016 blog entry the race can be divided in 3 parts. On the first & easy 45kms my time was more or less on par with last year, I passed a number of familiar faces on-route as this is a must-do "training ride" for many Cape

2011 Burger Cycle Tour up "old" Helz My first Burger Cycle Tour was back in 2011 on a mountain bike with slicks, starting off with a climb over the old Helshoogte Pass. 6 years later this is now my 5th attempt, the race is now called the Stellenbosch Cycle Tour and the old Helshoogte Pass has been replaced by the new Helshoogte Pass, other than that everything is still exactly the same. This would be my first serious attempt at this race since the  2013 race . STCT 2014 was a go-slow due to illness and STCT 2015 was a no-go due to illness. Luckily this time round I was healthy but for the first time since 2013 I was not seeded with the elite ladies. I  had to drop back to 1A - I had a bit of to work to do to move up in the seedings again! With me in the starting chute was Bernie Stopforth, one of the best climbers of our BP Kenridge Training group. With the Helshoogte climb right at the start of the race this is one of the few races I make the effort to properly warm-