back in victoria and racing

After a super long journey back to Canada i decided to do one of the local road races, the format was a hilly criterium. Jetlag is still making my legs feel like lead so we decided to ride in the B class, the Triple Shot guys had teamed up against Tom last week so there was some revenge to be had. Aaron, Alex, Tom and I managed 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th so all in all it went well.

The short hilly course was pretty tough by the last few laps.

results

Tom and I at the front


me catching my breath at the end


I think we need some more Pro City team mates for the next race...

Mountain Biking in Botswana

Paul and I went out on the MTB's today for a couple of hours in the Botswanan bush. Lots of sand (some early season cross practice!) and some pretty crazy thorn bushes. I have managed to get some good cuts on my arms and legs.



We found some super nice singletrack. It had been marked out for a local race and there were plenty of mtb tracks on it.

here is the bike i had the honor of riding


thorns like this lined the route. As the single track was almost all sand, mistakes were easy to make and resulted in big scratches!


some interesting trail landmarks, a large termite mound


Almost the whole ride was this sand

Argus Race Results

There are a couple of different ways to look at the results, the one I've decided suits me best is how i did in my start group, 3rd out of 479, however...

Over all i was 1874th that is still ok i think though out of 28817 finishers, and over 30,000 starters.

results

Cape Argus race day

Here is the route


What an amazing ride/race. Definitely an inspiration to try some more exotic races. There were thousands of locals all along the 109km route shouting encouragement, made me feel like a proper racer.

As it was my first time at this race my seeding was low so we started way back, i have definitely never overtaken so many people in one ride! It turned out to be pretty much a time trial with very little sharing of work at the front of any of the groups we caught up to or created.

Here are a few pictures of the route, the wind and the riders.

taken from the route when we pre-drove it, on the day it was perfect sunshine.


View on to the finish


Race day, there was certainly a lot of wind


Lance racing


Paul and I, too quick for the camera!


tan lines


Sunset, Cape Town trip over

Signing on day

We had an early start today so we could do a ride before the weather got too warm. We rode up along some of the route we'll be doing on Sunday, up to a place called Chapman's peak. It was the most amazing route, loads of spectacular views. Afterwards we went into town to sign onto the race and have a browse around the expo, lots of goodies to be had, i escaped lightly, only buying some Oakleys a cycling top and a water bottle cage.

After that we had some lunch, while we were ordering our food we saw Lance ride by, very cool.

some of the Argus route


at the top


the Expo


and i couldn't help but take some shots at the beach and of the sunset

waves


some of the Twelve Apostles


down goes the sun


we made it out on two rides today, one in the morning, up to Chapman's peak:


and one into town to take a look at the seafront and the new football stadium:

Arrived in Cape Town

After a super long journey we have arrived at our villa by the sea in Cape Town. It is pretty nice, you can see table mountain fro the pool.

Here are a few photos from the journey and getting the bike together, should get out on a ride this evening.

the car for the ride from Jo'burgh to cape Town


Sundown in Africa


Thunderstorm


Bike in bag on arrival


View of Table mountain from the pool


Built and ready to ride, no damage from the journey


We made it out on the bikes in the evening, her is a link to the route map

Leckhampton hill ride

I went out for a ride with a friend Paul from the UK. We did a quick muddy loop that we used to ride when i lived over here.



These are Paul's two bikes, i got to borrow the Trek fuel ex





We are now packing the road bikes for the trip to Cape Town tomorrow.

packed and ready

ready forthe first leg of the trip. 9 hour flight to london, should be able to get some mtb riding in on the one day we are there.

Got my new bike ready for the trip to South Africa, it's my first road race and Lance happens to be in it too! all good.