Author: Rob Walker

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Qualified

Once again, I find myself re-hashing the official AudaxSA ride report, but on this occasion it does give a somewhat more descriptive account than usual.

I was jumpy and on edge as we gathered for this year’s Cape 300km ride. It’s not the longest or toughest of the local brevets, and we completed last year’s edition with relative ease despite mechanicals and a relaxed social pace. But the nerves that often plague me ahead of important races and events were back with a vengeance. Continue reading “Qualified”

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Shortest of the qualifiers

I’m cheating again somewhat by recycling the report I wrote for Audax SA on the Cape BRM 200km. I’m already 2 blog entries behind, and this weekend is both the Junior Argus and the main Argus rides (more on that later). So some shortcuts are needed to avoid falling even further behind by next Rather than just regurgitating the official account though, I’ll start with some thoughts and observations of my own. Continue reading “Shortest of the qualifiers”

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The distance of dreams

Three year’s ago the madness started. Despite knowing almost nothing about Audaxing, or long distance cycling for that matter, the thought stuck in my head that I wanted to take part in Paris-Brest-Paris – the world’s oldest organised bike ride. At a distance of 13 times further than I’d ever ridden, it was a preposterous idea really. As the clock ticked past midnight and 2015 rolled in, we are officially in a PBP year – the once distant dream is now just 7 month’s and 16 days away.

Continue reading “The distance of dreams”

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‘Round Midnight

As with the previous Cape Audax, an official ride report was created. But rather than be lazy two entries in a row, I have also written a personal account of the ride. It was after all the first full PBP qualifier of our SR series.

It’s rather an odd feeling to finally be gathering to ride an event which you and a handful friends have created. OK, that statement would be equally true of the last Cape Audaxes in September and October too, but a few things were different in this case. Continue reading “‘Round Midnight”

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Home

Before we get into this one an apology is needed, because I’ll be leaving the main route here for a short diversion. As will be obvious from the cake pictured left, this last week has seen the arrival of a fairly major life event for me. Like the Arrivee of a good audax, a landmark that at one stage seemed impossibly distant has come and gone. Not one measured in kilometres this time though but years, a haf century of them. Continue reading “Home”

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Not quite an Athlete

Those who have been reading this blog from it’s early days will be aware of my irrational discomfort with certain names and terms. For some time this held me back from joining my cycling club, the Wannabees, simply because I was hung up over their name. There has been a recurrence of my foolishness over names more recently. On several occasions in the past few weeks I have been referred to as an ‘athlete’ in conversation. Hearing that word in reference to me quite literally makes me cringe – worse even than the sound of nails scraping down a blackboard. It seems such a disservice to those who  actually are athletes to use it to describe someone who spent 25 years sat at a desk in front of a computer screen and then accidentally chose to take up cycling. The term MAMIL (middle aged man in Lycra) seems far more apt in my case, even if it’s harsh accuracy makes me just as uncomfortable.

Continue reading “Not quite an Athlete”