Cycle Day 6 Cape Town Argus

Well al I can say is I’ve never seen anything like it.

When we went to bed last night we were aware that there was a high winds warning. We had discussed our options and decided we would make a decision at our relevant start time. We woke at about 4am and you could hear the wind howling outside and the trees were rocking and rolling about a fair bit.

As we got up at 6 it was clear it was very windy but there were loads of cyclists arriving in the start shoots outside our hotel so we decided we’d crack on with it. We got dressed and went down for breakfast where we met Louise who had been out to see the opening ceremony and she told us she could only just about stand up and that the Elite riders and Tandems had had a devil of a Job getting started with some of them being blown over.

About 10 minutes later news filtered into the hotel that a large number of the elite riders had been blown over after about 3km and at that point the organisers had called it all off as they were getting gusts of up to 100km/h (55/60mph) being registered.

At first we were very much disappointed but after a quick trip outside we realised how dangerous it would have been. There was very soon a number of videos on YouTube showing rider flying about and Porta-loos being blown down the street so clearly it was unsafe.

So there was nothing else for it but to get dressed into rough gear and start packing the bikes away before we went for a second breakfast.

Martin’s wife had by this time arrived and so he soon went off to meet her whilst Liam, one of the tour staff, treated Cat and I to a day out in his car driving the route of the race.  There is no doubt it would have been insane to try to ride it, although some did try, as it was still very very windy several hours later.

We managed to see some Penguins at Boulder Beach and watch some nutters kite and wind surfing in the still very strong winds and then had a nice lunch.

It’s a great course with some stunning scenery, plenty of climbs and long descents with views that are hard to beat so if I get the chance I’d love to come back and give it a crack.

Mid afternoon we met Martin and his wife for a few beers on the Waterside. It was a lively pub with live music so we had good laugh before heading back to the hotel to shower before going out for dinner.

Dinner tonight was at an African Themed restaurant, it had all the trimmings with a great, but very noisy, band/singers but it was hard not to start jigging about to the rhythm. 

So thats it really, hopefully tomorrow Cat and I will manage to get up Table Mountain wind allowing and then we're off to the airport for the 9:40pm flight home.

Sadly No Stats today.

Cycle Day 5 Hermanis to Cape Town

A lazy day today but not short on scenery.

A gentle start in the van was order of the day today as we eased up ready for the big event tomorrow. After a short drive we stopped for a coffee and a couple of riders got out to do a 20km section through the countryside whilst the rest stayed on the bus and chose to meet them down the road and cycle along the scenic coast road to Gordons Bay for about 20km or so.

The scenery was fantastic as we cycled along the False Bay Area with Dolphins, Baboons and numerous sea birds all over the place plus a view across the bay to Cape Town and Table Mountain shrouded in mist.

We arrived in Gordons Bay and once we’d dumped the bikes I had a lovely fish lunch overlooking the harbour and then we drove for about 40 minutes or so into Cape Town to the Football Stadium to collect out riding packing have quick look around the bike stalls before heading to the hotel.

Cape Town is a bit of a shock after the countryside. The Townships seem to go on for mile after and look horrible with shanty style buildings everywhere. The centre of town is much cleaner and our hotel is ok and positioned about 500m from the start of tomorrows ride.

We had a bit of a cock up upon arrival though as the driver, who is new to us as Steve and Liam have had to leave us to pick up another tour, drove off with all our bags in the trailer. It took a while to get them back so that scuppered any walkabout we had planned before the England V Scotland rugby started.

Martin and I have just spent about an hour getting the bikes ready for tomorrow and now he’s getting all excited about the West Ham football match on the TV.

I’m off to shower and then we'll hit the bar for the rugby, hopefully.

So the touring bit is over as such and I would highly recommend it to anyone. Now we just have the small matter of tomorrow sportive with 38000 other cyclists and an extreme wind warning to deal with.

Lets hope all goes well.

Dinner is in the Hotel tonight.

Today’s Stats. 14 miles and minimal climbing.

Cycle Day 4 Hartenbos to Hermanus

Cycle Day 4 Hartenbos to Hermanus

As planned we were on the go very early with a 6am breakfast and then onto the bus for a 3 hour drive west. 

It’s not the most comfortable bus and even at that time of day it was quite warm warm but it was nice to see the scenery changing from a different prospective. Today we have seen cattle farms, cereal farms and wineries in the space of 150 miles or so. Its getting much drier as we head towards Cape Town where Im told they are currently in drought.

After about an hour and half we stopped for coffee and the locals were all excited about us taking part in the ride on Sunday, it’s clearly a big thing in South Africa and they all say we will have a fantastic time.

We got off the bus about 40 miles east of tonight’s destination with a promise of rolling roads and a tail wind but what actually transpired was a series of quite testing climbs followed by very steep descents as we headed  towards the coast. What we didn’t account for was we were gradually climbing all the way until the last 10 miles or so. However the tail wind was not quite as predicted as the road curved its way across the various valleys and at times we were either side on or into it and as it was blowing a fair lick it was quite a challenge to stay upright at times.

Cat and I had headed off together as Martin wasn’t feeling too good and at the first water station we found him in the van having been sick at the side of the road. He was gutted as its the first time in all of his trips he’s had to ride on the bus.

Today has been the hottest day so far, my Garmin was telling me it was 91 Degs so if you add on the heat generated by the reflection from new tarmac etc it was officially “bloody hot”. At one point my drinks were like warm tap water, not very pleasant but you have to keep drinking or you’ll just run out of gas.

After about 33 miles we stopped for a nice buffet lunch at a roadside garden shop/restaurant and then we finished off the last 8 or so miles in pretty short order, although the last 3 were directly into the wind.

The hotel today is on the coast with beautiful cliff top views across the bay. Its an old asylum so I guess its suited to us.

Martin has gone to bed, which is about 6 inches from my bed so tonight should be interesting! I’ll catch up with my admin and do my charging etc and then head into town for a look around before dinner.

We have all agreed to cut down tomorrow’s distance as a few of us have felt the heat a bit today. The thinking is we’ll be fresher for Sunday and it will also give us more time at the Expo in Cape Town tomorrow evening.

Todays Stats 41miles 3800ft climbing…..hot and very windy.

Cycle Day 3 Knysna to Hartenbos

Day 3 continued the high standards set by day 1 and 2 in terms of route food and hotel.

The day started with what the guides described as the South African version or Roubaix. I would describe it as a dirt road. Sadly it had rained last night so that not only was it filthy the road was soft and difficult to ride on. My bike got absolutely filthy, the chain was squeaking, the brakes screeching which didn’t please me a great deal.

After about 2 miles we were back on decent roads, I tried to clean it up a bit by squirting it with my water bottles but it didn’t work too well and I had to send the next 20km trying hard to ignore various noises.

After a couple of really nice technical descents and climbs I got to the first water stop and managed to give it a bit of a clean. I wasn’t completely successful but at least it stopped the worst of the noise.

After drinks we set off and soon began the main climb of the day, a 10 mile ascent with a steady 7% slope. It took me about an our to complete and I was quite pleased as I was the first to the top. After a few photos we headed back down stopping for a regroup half way down then dropping into the valley where we stopped for coffee and a toastie.

After lunch we pretty much rode as a group along some rolling roads with some strong winds helping and hindering at various points along the way. We saw some beautiful coastal towns today and were treated to some lovely views and I even managed to see some SpringBok and an Elephant with her young family. (Sadly it was plastic)

About 5km form our hotel we came across a field of Ostrich which was a bit weird as they ran towards us hoping we’d feed them.

The Hotel tonight in set aside a sea inlet with a lovely pool and bar facilities with beer a pound a go, I’ve got my own room tonight which is massive and would sleep a family of four.

As I sit here typing the crew are washing my bike! They are bloody brilliant, nothing is too much trouble.

Dinner tonight is in the hotel.

Stats today 62miles and 6000ft of climbing

Cycle Day 2 Storms River to Knysna

Day 2 didn’t disappoint. After a decent nights sleep and a hearty breakfast we set off knowing there were some decent climbing to do today.

Sadly my GoPro decided to have a melt down so all I had was 15 seconds of film until after the two main events however it can't detract from what was a beautiful morning ride.

After a gentle and flat warm up along the main road we turned off and started to gently climb into the hills. About 20km later we plunged down into river gorge on an old closed road. Nature has recovered some of it so you had to be careful to avoid cracks in the road and low branches as well as the odd group of Baboons sauntering about.

The decent was really technical with difficult bends and variable slopes and light so you had to concentrate. At one point I was escorted by a Baboon family for a few hundred yards but they soon got bored and peeled off.

At the bottom the first real climb of the day started and it turned into fairly hard one with slopes up to 10% over a distance of about 5km. It was very similar to the Alps in terms of the hairpin bends etc but I managed to spin up it fairly comfortably and we regrouped at the top.

After a quick water break we moved off again and about 5km we descended the second river gorge through a set of road works. Towards the bottom I underestimated my speed, I cant get used toKM’s, and very nearly got collected by the "Road Closed" gate as it emerged from around a blind bend, only avoiding it after a 30m rear wheel skid and a sideways slip stopping about 3 inches from the wire gate. The attendant was quite impressed I had survived actually so I made it look like I’d done it on purpose and carried on down the rest of the hill hoping my rear tyre wouldn't pop!

What goes down has to go up so we were very soon climbing the other side of the gorge for about 4km which was bit tougher than the first but I managed to get up it without too many problems.

At the top we stopped for Coffee and I managed to sort out an SD card for my GoPro and we carried on.

After a few more miles we turned into a head wind that was to dog us for the rest of the ride.

The remaining days efforts was a slog to be honest, though some lovely countryside and seaside towns but a slog never the less due to the 20mph headwind.

Lunch was eventually reached at about 2pm after 20Km of steady climbing into the headwind and then we managed to get rolling again for about 20km into the coastal town of Knysna where we all called a halt to proceedings and headed to a bar for a beer before getting onto the support bus and driving to our hotel.

Dinner tonight has been a nice Italian meal

Stas today 71mile 1400m climbing.,

Cycle Day 1 Jeffreys Bay to Storm River

Cycle Day 1 Jeffreys Bay to Storm River

Today has been most enjoyable. I awoke to a beautiful sunrise over a calm sea and blue skies above. Breakfast was very nice and we were ready to role at 8am as planned.

The first couple of miles were through Jeffreys Bay with a couple of small but steep climbs but nothing too taxing. My legs were a bit heavy and I’m still suffering from slightly swollen feet from the flight, hopefully by tomorrow they should be back to normal.

After the first water stop the traffic thinned out a bit and we started to just roll up and down some fairly gentle hills through some fabulous countryside.

It was fairly similar to parts of northern NSW with farms and dry fields interspersed with irrigated cattle farms etc. I get the impression that without irrigation it would be very dusty around here. In the distance and to our right we have been flanked by some rather impressive looking hills of a couple of thousand feet or so, all in all a beautiful place to be riding.

There were a couple of cheeky little hills into and out of river valleys which focussed the mind a little but they weren’t too taxing and we just eased our way up them knowing that there was much stiffer challenges ahead in the trip.

Half way up the second little climb I could see a snake slithering its way across the road ahead of me, thankfully it was going away from me so I tried to take a photos of it but as I did so it got ran over by a car and splattered! 

This second water spot was in the middle of nowhere with a little group of Monkeys messing about in the trees above us. It was getting hot by this time so we were getting though quite a lot of water.

After a few nuts etc we set off again with 30km to go until a local farm shop. The road was still gently rolling and we were able to get a fair lick on and soon rolled into the farm shop for tea and a toastie which went down really well. At this point we were only 30km or so from the end of todays ride so we had a decent rest and I managed to entertain a group of German tourists by falling flat on my back when I slipped on the floor in my cycle shoes. To be fair I think it was worth a good 5.8 for artistic impression as I mangled no only to save the two water bottles I was carrying but miss the display of local jams etc that was next to me as I fell.

After the break we cycled about 25 km to the Storms River Road bridge where we stopped to admire the huge gorge it was crossing complete with Peregrine Falcons flying about below us. It was fairly impressive structure and I could only imangine how long it would have taken to get down into the alley and back up again if the bridge wasn’t there. 

After a few photos we knocked off the last 5Km or so to the Hotel TsiTsiKamma Village in Storms Village which resembled  an old colonial hotel complete with beautiful gardens and multicoloured apartment buildings that dates back to the late 1800’s.

Upon arrival we had a late lunch of Broccoli and Hake Lasagne with a salad and then there was time to get kit sorted and go for a swim before we have to eat again tonight.

Mileage today was 66miles with a bout 3000ft of climbing. A lovely way to start the trip, tomorrow is billed as being a bit tougher in terms of other the climbs and the distance with an option to do a 100 miles route if time/heat allows.

The Journey South

The Journey South

After a lazy start and a very wet dog walk I  found myself loitering around the house and failing to find things to do to occupy my time so at about 11:30 I hit the road. 

Saying goodbye is never easy and although I was exited to be heading off I was really sad that I wasn't able to be bring Zoë with me. Despite all the bravado I miss her and the kids a great deal when I'm away. Hopefully once she's retired we can do more of this together. 

The journey to Heathrow was pain free and I met up with Louise and Cat in plenty of time to check in and get through security. Martin was a bit behind us and he met us in Wagamama in the departure lounge. He'd decided to upgrade his seat to Premium but we still talked to him. Pre flight was pleasant enough and we only took off a few minutes behind schedule. Our seats aren't too bad. I didn't have anyone in front of me and Louise moved to an aisle seat so I ended up with no one next to me either and I was able to stretch out quite well. After a couple of drinks, dinner and a film or two I tried to get some sleep. 

11 hours later we arrived tired and a tad stiff in Johannesburg. I only managed a couple of hours of kip so wasn't feeling too perky. We then had to clear immigration collect out luggage, clear customs and recheck our luggage for the flight into Port Elizabeth.  

It all went quite smoothly and then we had to kill a couple of hours waiting for the next flight. We managed to get within about 2 minutes of boarding the wrong plane at one point as we got sucked into the wrong queue but thankfully we avoided that and set off for our next stop without further incident. 

Upon arrival at PE we were met by the tour crew. A frantic bike building took place so that we could send the bike boxes off to Cape Town rather than carry them on the bus. 

A quick bus trip and we arrived in Jeffrey's Bay to find our hotel was even better than we had imagined. Martin an I have a beach view and as I type I'm watching the surfers doing their thing, it's a stunning location. 

We've fine tuned the bikes ready for tomorrow and plans are in hand for a Greek Taverna dinner tonight.