The second running of the West Coast 400km Cape Audax certainly wasn’t lacking in variety – although when it came to weather, not all of that was good news, especially earlier on in the day. Continue reading “Below par”
Below par
Sub-two
The picture left may resemble one I snapped a couple of years ago whilst waiting to enter my Argus (now Cape Town Cycle Tour) start chute, but the event we were gathering for would be a very different experience. Bush fires had ravaged the Cape Peninsula for more than a week, and in some places were still raging. The damage to hillsides surrounding the route, and the need to keep access roads open for emergency services had left the ride organizers few choices: cancel the event; or drastically alter the route. The latter option posed problems of it’s own – the usual standby route over Ou Kaapse Weg was also extensively burnt, with ash and smoke still lingering in places over the pass. Even if it had been totally safe to ride, it would not have been pleasant sucking down lungfuls of acrid smelling with every pedal stroke as we battled up the long climb.
What a difference a year makes
“I’ll be too scared to do the yellow one – can’t Mummy run with me next year too”
Driving out of the car park last year after his first Junior Argus, Ben had been adamant that he didn’t want to ride the next one with Daddy. In a way, he turned out to be right. We weren’t riding in the yellow (2.5km) group. Continue reading “What a difference a year makes”
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”
ToS 2015
Seems that in all the Audax activity, I totally forgot to make any mention of this year’s Tour of Sufferlandria. The formula was pretty much identical to the past two years – 9 stages over 9 days. As before, I opted to participate using Trainer Road to keep me honest and track my progress through the tour.
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”
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”