We'll start things off nice and easy, with a picture - the now obligatory mid-ride selfie. Whether a selfie-stick will make the pack list or not is still out for discussion...
We were supposed to be entertaining Friday night, so had Sunday as the cycling date given my anticipation of that evil scourge of body and mind - the hangover. As it turns out we didn't have people over - but plenty of beers and a curry took care of feeling rubbish on Saturday comfortably. Luckily England mauling the old Hairy Backs at Twickenham aided my recovery and by Saturday night I was quite excited at my first 'proper' cycle on Tina. I wanted to try and get a day's worth of distance in, and see how long it would take me. If you're a cyclist in Joburg, it's typical to just drive to a place called 'The Cradle of Humankind' and just do laps there. Think of it as a hotter, hillier Richmond park, where the game is fenced in rather than free range.
Anyway, the Cradle is a loop of about 30km, so the plan was for me to cycle from home (about 35km) and to meet Chloe at the Cradle where we'd do 2 laps together, have some grub at a biker cafe (the lycra rather than leather type) and then put the bikes on the back of the truck and drive home. I did a pre-cycle weigh in, and the bike came in at a rather daunting 36kg packed. So, I instructed Chloe to meet me at the cradle in 1,5 hour's time. We live quite high in Joburg, so it's a fairly downhill run to the Cradle, although it's not really flat anywhere in Gauteng. I would describe it as pleasantly undulating. My best run in on the racer is 36km/h so I was budgeting around 25km/h on Tina. I managed 23,6km/h to the meeting spot - not a bad start. I was expecting my reputation as a decent climber to be left in tatters, and my ignominy at being overtaken peaking at agonising levels. Thus, as I approached the last uphill into the cradle, generally where things start to get busy, and two okes on racers and full lycra, passed me on the downhill I wasn't too happy. One was on a Pinarello (which I hate) so all thoughts of not over-doing it and just keeping a steady pace went out the window; getting mugged off by a Pinarello is simply out of the question in my books. Anyway, I got on their wheels and stuck it out to the top, earning an "You're an inspiration" for my efforts. Bit gay, but I'll take it I guess. The second bit of excitement (and unfortunately Chloe wasn't about to confirm this) was some guy following me up the hill. I thought it was a bit of a dick move drafting someone on a tourer and 25kg of luggage when he was on a racer, and I was about to call him out on it when he said, "Are you that Guy from Carte Blanche?". I had no idea what he was talking about but thought, 'Yeh, I do what I want most of the time, in a carte blanche style'. Anyway, he thought I was some famous touring cyclist who was interviewed on CB (it's a TV programme) who had cycled all round the world. I toyed with the idea of assuming a world famous tourer (if there is such a thing) but details were very sparse so figured I would be found out quite quickly on that count. Such was his enthusiasm I felt pretty bad informing him that my celebrity status is only burgeoning, rather than fully fledged. Roadkill count for the 95km: 1 dog. A disappointing haul in many ways, but worthy of a photo. It was a rather stinky and strange photoshoot (I had to wait until lap 2 as a car was parked by it watching me on the first one). I then proceeded to meet Chloe and we set off on our ride. She hadn't cycled since the 94,7 in November, so she was quite brave (or I suspect foolish as she isn't great at judging distances) to take on 60km without any previous riding in the legs. She did very well, and we spent a fair while tootling along. Initially I was worried she might be stronger than me on the hills, which would have been a big problem for me, but luckily such apprehension was misplaced! I'm a proud man, and it was pleasant to be able to keep an eye on her in the wingmirror instead. She did call me a freak, which wasn't very nice - at best a very back-handed compliment - but better suffering slander on the hills that than losing going up them. We'd ride together until I found some mug who wanted to race, and then I'd sneak in behind them for a while. I pissed off a couple of Triathlon guys doing this, much to my glee. But these Tri guys are pretty useless on the hills, so not a bonafide feather in my cap to be honest.
I got heckled a fair bit, and it was quite fun to say 'Nairobi' when they were shouting at me where I was going with so much stuff. It's also nice to go at a more sociable pace and enjoy things a bit more. The first lap went fine, and following some gentle persuasion Chloe agreed to a second lap. In hindsight this was probably a mistake as the grumbles starting to set in. This wasn't helped by the heat (it was in the low 30s by now) and then she failed to unclip when stopping and fell over. This amused me rather a lot, but unfortunately the same could not be said for Chloe. I regret to inform you that I didn't get a picture, but as it was things were a bit frosty for a few kilometres, and I'm quite sure a picture would have extended the cold front! As fatigue set in, Chloe began to converse less, and in the end I took the hint and fed her the only snack to pass muster - a delicious custard tart. It wasn't terribly gratefully received, but it disappeared rather quickly. However, it seemed to have the desired restorative effect, and after being asked how much further, and how many hills were left (here I told her a few white lies) I left her to it as that way I could add some extra kms in. In the end Chloe had done a very commendable 60km and I managed just shy of 95km in 4 hours. It went pretty well and it gave me a good benchmark for route planning. I now know that, as long as the roads are decent, I'll be able to knock off 200km in a day if I have to, or fulfill my quota in half a day and chill for the rest. It'll all depend on where I'm heading and what's inbetween but it gives the option of a long day followed by relaxation and sightseeing rather than pedalling every single day.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorSam Brook - A mildly Africanised Pom about to cycle from Joburg to Nairobi. Archives
August 2017
Categories |