The Amazing Adventures of an Average Actuarial Cyclist

Fisantekraal Animal Welfare (FAW) is a volunteer organisation doing amazing work in the Fisantekraal township helping people to care for their dogs, giving advice and providing free animal sterilisations. Neil van Tonder, a fellow rider at our BP Kenridge cycling group & organiser of the local Durbie Dash race and his wife Belinda organised a cycling event to raise money for FAW. Neil came up with the idea a few years ago doing the Cape Pioneer Trek. In his own words: While repairing a puncture, in the middle of nowhere, between Vanwyksdorp and Oudshoorn, we came across a Border Collie, neglected, but eager to make contact. I logged the GPS co-ordinates and contacted Border Collie Rescue, who went out and found the dog. They traced the owner, educated him and informed him that they will do follow-up visits to check on progress. I have never forgotten this dog. For this reason, Belinda and myself decided to trace my foot steps – or, rather, tyre tracks while raising ...

My support team braves the cold weather 5h30, 30 April 2016 my support team and I arrived at Kaleo, Ceres for my second Trans Karoo Up Ride. The day before a cold front swept through the Western Cape, by now the rain clouds had passed but the freezing temperatures still lingered. There were about 120 other riders at the start point, the numbers a bit down from previous years. My training partner & companion on the 2014 up-ride Dewald was also there to keep me company, the plan was that we would stick together for the first 200 km to Ouberg and then each do the climb at their own pace. Dewald & I At 7h00 we were were off, weather was still frosty in the Koue Bokkeveld and the road wet from the previous night's rain. Dewald & I started right at the back of the small field, riding at our own mellow pace not hooking up to any of the little groups that formed at the start. The field quickly spread out and the first few kilometers were easy going, after about 30km...

Disappointment. A non starter for me this year. A sneaky summer cold crept up on me in the days leading up to the race and robbed me of the opportunity to try for consecutive sub-3's. Oh well, that's life, you never know quite what to expect. Hopefully I will get another opportunity in 2017, the new registration venue was nice, and that is all I can say about the 2016 Cape Town Cycle Tour. Now for another stab at the Trans Karoo, giving that Ouberg-monster-of-a-pass another try, how I will hate myself on 30 April!

After ticking off Karoo2Coast in 2014 and Trans Baviaans in 2015, the Attakwas was the only major Southern Cape mtb race that I haven't conquered yet. The problem is that this race usually falls right in the middle of my employer's financial year-end valuations, during which time a weekend trip to Oudtshoorn is less than ideal, however in 2016 the race was at the start of the valuation period so I had time to slip out to attempt my first Atta! The Attakwas is billed as the toughest single stage race in Southern Africa, and apparently it is similar to a Queen stage of the Cape Epic. You have to be properly fit and a little bit crazy to attempt the 120km race between Oudtshoorn and Groot Brak over the historic Attakwaskloof pass (nowadays merely a 4x4 jeep track over the mountains). I left work a bit earlier on Friday afternoon, made the trip to Oudtshoorn where I registered and then camped out for the night at Kleinplaas which was filled with fellow cyclists all attempting...

Hell & Back is the original stage race in South Africa. This race started way back in 1995 before I even knew something like mtb'ing existed, celebrating it's 21st anniversary in 2015.   According to the old timers in my training group this race used to be even more popular but with the glut of stage races to choose from on the calendar and being nestled in between high profile races like Wines2Whales and the Double Century the Hell&Back is flying slightly below the radar nowadays. Back in 2012 this was my first attempt at a stage race. My goal then was to do the 120km (60 in & 60 out) in 7h00 and maybe sneak into the top 50. I failed at both.... 3 years later I had a chance to try again. This time I would be a bit older but the flipside I was now fitter, rode a 29er instead of a 26er and had the benefit of more experience. Which would count most on the day? Day 1 The 60km stages are easy to underestimate given the relatively short distances, but along wit...

Hell&Back was supposed to be next, but someone with a W2W entry had an unexpected wedding to attend, team Racemiere had an unwanted 2016 Sani2C entry. then there was a swop transaction and suddenly team Racemiere had a W2W Adventure 2015 entry! My Transbaviaans suffering provided the base training and as I was preparing for Hell & Back anyway this was an opportunity not to be missed. My fellow Racemier flew down from Joburg and we met up with my cousin George and his W2W partner Tiaan at the Lourensford registration, these 2 & friends would provide good company the weekend. The one problem with W2W is that it is in October and in the Western Cape October weather is a lottery. You can get anything from heatwaves to storms to snow depending on the wims of the weather gods. Rain was predicted for the W2W weekend but when we arrived at Lourensford on Friday morning the sun was shining (for now..) Day 1 The organisers broke Team Racemiere's sequence of 4 group C see...

Since inception the Trans Baviaans used the slogan "The longest single stage MTB event in the world!". But then the Trans Karoo (240km) and 36One (361km!)  joined the cycling calender and the organisers Ecobound were forced to come up with a less measurable but equally impressive catch phrase - so they settled on "The  toughest single stage MTB event in the world!". I am not convinced that claim is 100% true, but it is as far as I know the most popular long distance mtb event on the calendar with people from all over the country flocking to Willowmore to do the annual 230km ride to Jeffreys through the beautiful Baviaanskloof. This year it was my turn to give this ride a go and I teamed up with my old W2W-partner, Dewald for the 2015 event. However, my post-Sani winter training program would qualify for a thesis on how not to prepare for an ultra distance cycling event, as I stumbled from one mishap to the next, with rain, flu, cold, holidays, darkness ...