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”
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.
Tip of Africa 600
Writing multiple pieces on our Cape Audax rides is becoming a bit of a habit. Yet again I find myself updating the blog after already creating reports for the Audax SA web site and my club newsletter. The latter is copied in below at the foot of this entry, and the former can be found here.
‘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”
Cape BRM 300
I’ve been a little tardy in updating the blog of late. There are a couple of reasons for me getting behind. The first is that I’ve been heavily involved in planning our Cape SR Series. It’s actually been a lot of fun devising the routes, but also quite a lot more work than I’d have ever expected – Continue reading “Cape BRM 300”
Not riding 200km
After an unbroken run of entries sticking to the topic of cycling, I’m going to fail for the 2nd time in succession. I’m going to write about not riding. But at least in this case, the not riding part is still at least relevant to cycling. Continue reading “Not riding 200km”
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”
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.
For the rest of you, it’s an adventure …
“Just look back at the trailer every now and then to check all the bikes are still on“
And with those words from Laurence’s we pulled away from his drive, bikes, kit and team of five all loaded. Five because as well as riders, our team also included Laurence’s son, Thomas, who had volunteered as our team support driver. Or maybe he had been volunteered, either way he was an enthusiastic and welcome addition to the team. Continue reading “For the rest of you, it’s an adventure …”
A bit of a Monster
Somehow, throughout the whole year so far I’ve completely forgotten to even mention a ride that has established itself as one of my main objectives for the year. In fact it’s a significant bucket list ride in it’s own right too, making it’s omission from this journal an even greater oversight. So to avoid next week’s blog entry appearing totally out of context, and the whole story of how came into being remaining untold, it’s time for a rapid catchup.
Continue reading “A bit of a Monster”