Author: Rob Walker

7th November 2016

A faint trail of dust rises up behind the bakkie, depositing a fine coating on frames, saddles and bars of our bikes, before swirling across the arid landscape and fading out completely. It’s somewhere after 7am, and the morning air is fresh and crisp as I step out to open one of last gates as we leave the farm behind us and head back to civilization, family, jobs, and lives where something other than cycling takes centre stage. Continue reading “Climbing a South African icon”

Bentonville, Arkansas, 6th October 2016

Business travel can be a chore, but it becomes significantly more interesting when one’s destination is new. Not only had I never been to Arkansas before, I’d never ventured into the southern US states either. I must confess, our destination of Bentonville, Arkansas was a complete surprise. I’m not really sure what I expected, but it certainly wasn’t a hipster cafe society vibe – complete with uber-trendy coffee shops and art galleries. It was easy to forget we’d actually swapped from our regular venue in Sausalito, California. But this was not just Arkansas, it was “North West Arkansas” – a subtle but important difference which we were reminded of more than once. Continue reading “Running doesn’t suck”

10th September 2016, Cape 300km

I’d already resigned myself to the fact that in all likelihood I would be riding most of this 300 alone. In fact I’d said as much to Yoli the evening before. Neither Gerhard nor Theunis were riding, and everyone on the signup sheet was a faster rider than me. So it came as no surprise to see the blinking tail lights of the main group slowly shrinking ahead of me as the gap between us widened. It was 4am, and I was completely alone in the dark – the civilization of Franschhoek was still 15 or 20 minutes riding ahead. I reminded myself that this would be my reality for two whole weeks if I take on TCR next year, so I’d better get used to it. Continue reading “Assumptions and Angels”

The impossible dream, spoken in a south-east London accent by Del Boy to his younger brother across countless episodes of the BBC hit TV series Only Fools and Horses. Something they’ll probably never attain, until of course almost by accident they actually do (albeit briefly). It’s pretty much how I feel about the Trans Continental as I sit at my PC watching all those dots edging their way across the map towards Turkey in this year’s edition. As much as I say to myself I’m going to be there next year, it seems just as far fetched as those words to Rodney.

Continue reading “By this time next year Rodney …”

“Indoor training is boring”

Yep. It certainly can be. But then anything has the potential to become boring – even the most positive outlook can struggle to find interest in mundane tasks done repeatedly. So why willingly submit yourself to possibly the least interesting form of cycling? This is a question I am often asked by guys I ride with who see Strava updates from me regularly cataloguing some recent bout of indoor torture. In a probably long winded and roundabout way, I’m going to attempt to answer that question in better fashion than I usually manage whilst gasping for breath trying to keep up with the person who asked it. Continue reading “Dream Factory”

It’s always risky leaving it too long before writing a ride report, and with one of the rides of this entry being more than a month ago it’s entirely possible I’ve forgotten or overlooked some important details.

The calm – 28th May 2016

Evita se Audax is a ride we’ve ridden often, and it’s “just a 200”, so is there really much left of interest worth writing about? Luckily, it turns out rather a lot – although the ride was the same, the circumstances were not. On a personal level, it was my first Audax since the crash, and the first ride where the extent of my healing would be properly tested. How much endurance fitness had been lost in the weeks off the bike? How much discomfort was I going to suffer after more than eight hours on the bike? The route was well worn, but how I’d hold up to tackling it was a complete unknown. Continue reading “A tale of two 200s”

A GHOST re-born – 8th June 2016

Chronologically speaking, this entry should cover the first ride of our Cape Audax Winter series which took place a couple of weekends back, especially since the actual topic of this piece references one of the outcomes of that ride. But therein lies my problem, that outcome involves two of my favorite things: a new adventure; which of course creates an excuse for a new bike. Needless to say, those thoughts have become significantly obsessive and time consuming that I need to get them down on paper … or at least digital paper anyhow. Continue reading “It really is all about the bike”

A somewhat overdue drivers-eye view of the inaugral Cape 1,000km – hereafter to be know as The Cape Beast.

Cape 1,000 – 26th April 2016

Sitting alone in the St Andrew’s bar of The Lord Charles Hotel with a pizza and beer in front of me, it was impossible not reflect on what might have been. A handful of weeks back, lying in Constantiaberg hospital after crashing out of the Argus, I already knew my role in the Cape 1,000 would not be as a rider. But some part of me held onto the remote possibility that maybe I’d recover in time. My first 100km club ride back with the Wednesday group finally banished that notion. I survived, barely, and mostly by latching on to every wheel I was offered. By the end I was beyond exhausted – my legs were like jelly. Even if I’d felt stronger, the answer to whether I’d ride would still have been a resounding “no“. Sitting on the bike for four hours was tolerably uncomfortable,  but 50 hours? Not a chance! But this wasn’t an evening to dwell on my own misfortune, riders and supporters were beginning to trickle in and we had an Audax to make happen. Riding, or helping out, all of us were there to take part in a little piece of Audax history – the first ever 1,000km BRM held in South Africa. Continue reading “A little piece of history”