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On March 14th, 1999, I took part in the Argus, Pick-and-Pay (the two major sponsors) Cycle Tour, a 106km road race which involves circumnavigating the Cape Peninsula. There were 36,000 entries, making this the biggest timed bicycle event in the world. My time was 3 hrs. and 27 minutes, placing me 4375th.
Here's a copy of a letter I sent to family, following completion of the race.
Well, the Argus is over and today I have again resolved to do nothing too strenuous. Jimmy is off for the week, so the men will be dropping the pants and putting on aprons .... Jimmy will be doing housework and I'll cook dinner tonight. I realized that without rice featuring prominently on the menu, I'm having a hard time coming up with an inspirational dinner offering. Much to my suprise, Jimmy said that rice is OK (I'm sure he's lying but I'll take him up on it) so tonight will be vegetarian stir-fry and rice. :-)
Yesterday's ride was truly tubendicular. I could feel the adrenalin building the minute we arrived at the start, even though it was still a full hour before out group was to be let loose. The organizers release a letter group every 5 minutes; about 700-800 riders per letter group. By the time our group was on the start line, I was pumped. It's amazing what a little group motivation will do for one's physical performance. After the race, I am still amazed at my time .... never in a million years would I have been able to do that time if I was by myself, tooling along, watering trees, communing with nature.
The first 10kms of the course involves quite a fair bit of climbing out of town, and half way up the eastern boulevard, near the top of Hospital Bend, I realized I was breathing as hard as a race horse, clearly pushing harder then I would ever push myself if I was by myself. The climb up Edinburgh drive, the first true climb came quicker then I expected and was steeper than I expected. It was here, near the top of the climb that I took my first spectator shots. Lots of feedback here, as spectators seemed to cheer up at the sight of a cyclist taking photos of them. Once on the Blue Route, a long flat stretch, I joined a pack moving pretty damn fast. At one time I looked down at my speedo and it told me we were doing 35MPH (== 56km/h) again much faster than I would be doing on my own .... and I was hanging on (!!!!!) though at times my low gearing was a handicap. And of course being a fair minded fellow, I tried to take my turn at the head, though pulling a bunch at 35MPH isn't something I can maintain for quite long and I would quickly be overtaken again by the lead riders in the bunch.
Near Simonstown I came across the infamous "Energade girls", blue-and-white outfitted cheerleaders doing their thing. They became quite energized when I pointed my camera at them. :-)
The climb up Smitswinkel was fun, with the azure ocean on the left, the mountain on the right and the road snaking up the side ahead.
I don't remember much of the route between Smitswinkel and Noordhoek (literally an ass-up, head-down type of ride) except for Misty Cliffs which is appropriately named.
The climb up Chapman's peak was pleasantly shaded which was a godsend at 10am ... the sun was very much up at this time and was warming up those poor 35,000 suckers out there.
And then came the epitome of the ride, the climb up Suikerbossie ("Suikerbossie ek will jou he ......." was going thru my head the whole way down Chapman's Peak :-)). Spectators on either side of the road had crowded the road down to a single lane, cheering riders on. It was quite an exhilirating feeling. And then came the *very* fast descent down Llandudno pass, thru Camp's Bay (more wild spectators) and into Maiden's cove and thru the "timing point". 3 minutes under 3-and-a-half hours .... not bad.
Trying to drive out of Greenpoint and back home (the night before we had parked the combie at the finish) was a serious pain and Jimmy's combie overheated. So we parked it, extracted our bikes and rode the remaining 2kms back into town to the start where Jana had left Pipsqueak in the morning.
Truly a marvelous experience. I'd burned thru a whole roll of film, and could easily have used up more had I been able to figure out how to reload without stopping. There were no serious accidents in any of the bunches which I was in, though at one point a guy 2 bikes ahead of me locked up his backwheel, fishtailed, ..... (forcing me to almost shit my pants as I wasn't too keen on going down in a bunch moving at 50km/s ..... roasties would be the smallest of your worries as a 100 riders would then run into you, some trying to bunnyhop, misjudging and landing on top of you, etc. etc.) and the swearing started. Apparently someone in front on him had cut in front. Riding in a pack moving at 50km/h is quite a feeling. There is very little wind and all one can hear is the whiring of wheels .... like a swarm of locusts. Riding within inches of neighbours' handlebars requires a little bit of cooperative communication, and hand signals are very much appreciated .... riders will gladly let you into a bunch if you signal your intent. Cornering in a bunch at speed is still something I have to work on, since it's very difficult to "keep a line" and retain personal control while cornering.
Jana and I were talking after the race about how we have the necessary
power and stamina to remain "competitive", but given our age will probably
never be race-class riders. Imagine where we could be if we'd been "allowed"
to ride bicycles when we were growing up.