Big ride Wrap up

What a country

It’s been two weeks since I finished my cycling adventure and the long hills and endless roads have been replaced with fond memories of  the magnificent route, our beautiful country, the emotional experience of giving to people in need and the team spirit that developed on the way.

As we rode into Cape Town on the last of 14 days and 1600km of riding I was overwhelmed by the moment, seeing family and friends there to welcome us in and to share in the celebration of our success.



Three days later was the Cape Town Argus Cycle Race around the Cape Peninsula and I completed the 110km route in just over 4 hours; a puncture and very sore legs slowing my time and resulting in me missing my goal of completing the race in less than 4 hours. After riding 1600km without incident I managed to get a puncture 2 km from the start of the race…maybe I should have paid a bit more attention to my bike after the big ride?



Caitlin and Vaughan at the Argus start




Vaughan and Caitlin both rode the race as well, for Caitlin it was her first time and what a celebration when she finished in just over 6 hours! Vaughan was 10 minutes behind me, his goal of beating me still not achieved, but it won’t be long now! Don, my cousin and room mate, also battled through the race, our bodies definitely needed more time to recover. Robert, who joined us in Port Elizabeth finished the best in our family with a time of 3 hours 45 minutes just beating my brother Dave who finishing in 3 hours 50 minutes. Robert’s and Don’s father had a fantastic ride and finished 8^th in the 70 to 79 age group category with a time of 4 hours and 40 minutes. Our 2 friends from Jakarta, Kelly and Curtis, both enjoyed the ride and finished in time to collect their medals, although Kelly did say at times that she hated me for persuading her to do the race.

Back to our big ride, 7 cyclists made it the whole way, not bad for a bunch of old guys, our average age was 55 years old. Our target was to ride 1700km but we lost 100km on the way due to road works and heavy traffic. In all we were on the bikes for a total of 65 hours and I burnt just under 80,000 calories. On route we raised R550,000 (80,000 dollars) and with our personal sponsorships included it is estimated that we will have raised a total of  R800,000 (117,000 dollars). I was personally able to raise R120,000 (17,500 dollars), thanks a million to all of my Sponsors.

Before the trip I did not really understand how the daily fundraising activities worked and these became the highlight of the trip for me. I have a special memory of the donation on Day 2 of the ride when the recipients were a center for homeless children and the small kids came along to participate in the donation handover.


Donation in Dundee, KwaZulu Natal Day 2



The most spectacular part of the trip was riding next to the Lesotho Mountains in the Free State and the last day riding along the coast from Hermanus to Cape Town. We had a saying “It’s not a race it’s a ride” which was used whenever we were pushing ourselves and not appreciating the fantastic countryside around us.



Breakfast, my favourite - boiled egg, bread with honey and peanut butter and a cuppa tea

 There were hard days when I wanted to pack it all in, the worst of these were Day 3 when we pedaled through Golden Gate in the Drakensburg Mountains. The landscape was stunning but the hills were ridiculous and the day never seemed to end, hill after hill.

 On Day 12 we the rode down to Cape Agulhas, the southern most tip of Africa, and had to ride into a 40km headwind for miles, we eventually sought refuge behind the support vehicle. It was no good complaining to the locals about the wind, they said it was normal and we were lucky it was not blowing harder! Day 9 was the day I really hit the wall and probably the day I was closest to giving the whole thing up. The day before we had enjoyed a great ride and finished early and has gone to a local pub and watched the rugby; as a result I did not feel myself the next morning. We had a bunch of local riders joining us on that day so the pace was a little faster than usual, throw in a couple of really steep hills and the result was a really difficult day. Amazingly enough, after a good night’s sleep and a little motivational talk to myself I was on top form again the next day.

Would I do it again? I am not sure I would. But I definitely need these sorts of goals to motivate me to keep fit and active. I have not looked at my bike since we finished the Argus and have no desire to do anything strenuous, my plan is to spend the last 2 weeks of my holiday thinking about what the next challenge will be.

Thanks to Rotary Club of Empangeni, all the Organizers, fellow Team Mates, especially Don my roommate for the great ride.


Don and me leading the pack


A special thanks to my darling wife and family who had to put up with all the training, preparation and worry while we were on the road.

I am not sure what will happen to the blog from here onwards, I will keep you posted!

Thank you so much for all your support, knowing that there were people out there thinking about me and wishing me well kept me motivated on one of the biggest adventures of my life.





 



A happy group at the end



Day 14. All over

Hi everyone, we arrived in Cape ToWn at 10.45 this morning, what an emotional moment with Shona, VaugHan and Caitlin there to greet me. There is so much more to tell, it has really be an experience of a lifetime for me but tonight I need a long sleep and no 4am wake up. Tomorrow I will make a big posting. To all that have supported me, my sincere thanks, you have been fantastic.

Day 13

What a great ride today from Agulhas to Hermanus, Shona and our friends Kelly and Curtis were at the Engen Service Station in Hermanus to meet us. It was so great to see my darling wife again after 2 weeks and what a pleasure to have a ride on fantastic roads with no wind and glorious cool weather. Everyone's spirits are high although there is the little matter of a 60km ride to Somerset West tomorrow and the great finish in Cape Town. I still do not comprehend that it will all be over tomorrow and that I have basically ridden across South Africa in the last 2 weeks. The memory is already filtering out the bad bits and leaving the uplifting and fun times for me to remember. The back slapping and well domes have already started and we drank a little bit more than has usually been the case tonight. We were invited to a glorious vineyard outside Hermanus for dinner tonight and we witnessed the most magnificent sunset over Walker Bay in Hermanus.
That's all for tonight as it is a little late but I will provide a final posting of all the going on's after the finish. Then it is the Argus race, I'm really looking forward to that.

Day 12, two to go

Cycling is a sport that is affected by many variables, bike problems, road conditions, weather especially wind and for us now, fatigue. We woke up quite chirpy this morning, an easy 87km ahead, an early finish and relaxing afternoon. Well that was not to be, firstly the first 50km was a series of dips and steeps hills, one after the next so it was very difficult to get into any sort of rhythm. Then came the wind, the dreaded Cape South Easter which was head on to us. So the easy 87km'er turning into a nightmare ride for us all and we arrived in Agulhus battered by the wind after nearly 4 hours in the saddle. After the usual routine of shower, washing and snooze my spirits did lift again and I went for a fantastic walk To the point and sat on a rock watched the sea at the Southern most tip of Africa. Very soon my energy returned and attitude changed and I took a bit of time to reflect over the last 12 days. It has been an amazing experience for me but probably something I would never do again. I need to try and put my thoughts and feelings down on paper but I really do not believe I will be able to capture the experience. Probably the biggest impact on me is the Experience of the donations and really understanding that there is so much not right in our country, we have such a beautiful country and modern infrastructure but we are neglecting our people and the most distressing part is that it is the children that are suffering the most.
Tomorrow morning I will try and write more, it is late now and who knows what tomorrow will throw at us.

Day 11

The end is in sight, we just finished our last long ride today, 136km in just over 5 hours, we ended it with a donation handover at the Engen Service Station to a home for the aged in Riversdale. From here forward we have 3 days left with rides of about 90km per day for the next 2 days and 60km on the last day. We will have a grand finish at Cape Town Waterfront, apparently escorted in by motorbike police. So let me recap the last 3 days, if you have been reading my blog or facebook you will know that I have had a difficult last couple of days to say the least. It all really started when we had the day off on Friday and I slept during the day then couldn't sleep that night. The next day was a good ride from Humansdorp to Plettenburg Bay but it was hot and long, 152km. When we got to Plet we did not sleep but went out and watched rugby. I ate too much and was exhausted by dinner time so I skipped dinner but still did not sleep properly. As a result I really battled every meter yesterday, it was cold and windy and I really was not in the zone and had no energy. We also had a number of riders joining us from towns along the way so we tended to ride faster than usual. We rode through Knynsa and the beautiful Wilderness but what comes with the beauty is hills, some really wicked ones too. I battled more and more as the ride went on and was absolutely relieved to arrive in George. We had a great donation there, the Engen owner was generous and the donation went to two needy childcare shelters in George. The African ladies who received the donations were so grateful and explained to us what they did, these people are unsung heroes who have dedicated their lives to helping these poor kids, I could not help but being re-energized by them and I felt my mood and attitude starting to change. My darling wife then put me on a strict dose of tissue salts for the rest of the day and I drank a huge amount of water as well. I had an afternoon snooze and we went for a early dinner and early to bed. This morning I woke up a different person and had a great ride today and am feeling great this afternoon, so my spirits are high and I and raring to go for the last 3 days.
Today we rode from George to Riversdale passing Mosselbay on the way. We had a great tail wind and the hills were few and far between. There was a little rain but it was warm and the road in good condition. 4 more riders from Empangeni Rotary joined us this morning for the last 4 days so we have a good sized group on 11 riders now. We really have had no real dramas so far, touch wood, I think there has only been 2 punctures, 1 wheel problem and a couple of gear and chain related issues. I am not sure if I mentioned it previousily but I had to get a new chain in Plettenburg bay because mine had stretched so much during the ride. The local bike shop owner was the an absolute star, he can to the Engen Service station, picked up my bike, changed the chain and returned it in 30 minutes, after hours as well.
We had an amusing incident at a Toll Plaza between Humansdorp and Plettenburg Bay, some of the guys rode into the Toll so were expected to pay. They ignored the shouts from the operators and rode on only to set off massive alarms. Anyway everything calmed down and we were on our way again without having to pay. I had forgotten how beautiful the garden route is, the road runs between mountains on one side and the sea on the other and crosses numerous huge gorges, one of the most rewarding things of this ride have been that every day we have experienced awesome countryside.
I need to mention my room mate Don again, he is one of the most tolerant people I have ever met but I do reckon he Is really looking forward to Thursday night when he will not have to share a room with me. I brought far too much stuff with me and spread myself all over the place. We have had lots of laughs and moans and the arrival of Robert has added further fun for the cousins. Robert is had the nickname Vic since before I can remember but for this ride he has been renamed Hammer, due to the fact that all his cycle kit and energy drinks are made by Hammer and have their logos all over them.
Tonight dinner is at the B&B which is really cool because I can go to bed when I want to.

Day 10

Today I hit the wall, I did not sleep well last night, crummy bed. Also ate too much and was generally uncomfortable. 5.30 start, misty and cold and I really did not want to be there. Anyway got through the ride but I will discuss more tomorrow, sorry about the short post but i need every minute sleep i can get. Tomorrow's posting should be better - 4 days to go

Day 9 and back on the road again.

It was great to have the day off yesterday, I relaxed, had my tooth fixed, picked up Robert from the airport and slept. The sleep probably was not the best idea because I landed up not being able to sleep last night which resulted in me being tired this morning and being absolutely exhausted now at 7.45pm tonight.

We had a big ride today, it started at Humansdorp, 90km outside Port Elizabeth. We started off by making a donation to the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), it was quite amusing that 3 of us riders have had to receive help from NSRI at some time. After that we headed for Plettenburg Bay, a ride of 150km. Although there were not many hills to climb the combination of the distance and the sun took toll on me and I was relieved to see The end of the day's ride 5 hours 20 minutes later. My chain has stretched over the last week, I was fortunate to find a very helpful bike shop to take care of it. The guy came and picked the bike up when we finished the ride and had delivered it back before the second donation was finished. We made a donation to a home for physically handicapped children and then headed to our B&B just in time to catch the last 30 minutes of the sharks rugby game. As the afternoon progressed I became more and more exhausted and am packed and ready for tomorrow so it's early bed for me.



Donation in Queenstown to local Old Age Home

                       



Donation to Center for abused and abandoned children in Vryheid





Riding into Queenstown



Another hill

A break before Golden Gate

We handed out toys to a pre-primary school and the kids sang for us

A nice long flat stretch, beautiful countryside





Taken from my bike cam

another from bike cam

early morning

Day 7/8

Well today is rest day after 7 days of riding, there was some administrative problem with my blog yesterday so I was unable to post anything, sorry about that. Since my last posting we have made 2 donations, 1 in Grahamstown to Hosipce and then yesterday to Missiondale care center in Port Elizabeth. This care center was set up by a Missionary, Sister Ethel Normoyle 23 years ago and is dedicated to uplifting the lives of the people of Missiondale. She has done amazing work in teaching people skills to enable them to get work and support their families. I reckon her greatest attribute is persuading you to part with your money to help her care center. Her unselfishness and dedication to her cause reminds me our my own Grandmother who spend much of her life helping others in need.
On Wednesday night we enjoyed a good meal at the Rat and Parrot in Grahamstown and it was great to have a beer with my nephew Matthew who is at University there.

5am yesterday morning we began our ride from Grahamstown to Port Elizabeth, a beautiful warm early morning climbing slowly out of Grahamstowm huddled in a bunch with our head and tail lights indicating our progress. The sun rose 30 minutes later as we were climbing the first of many hills for the day. As both Vaughan and Caitlin were at university in Grahamstown I considered myself an authority and subject matter expert on the area and announced on numerous occasions the night before and during the morning preparation that after a short climb outside Grahamstown the route was either flat or downhill to Port Elizabeth. How wrong I was, in the past I have driven the route in a car and have not noticed the many hills en route to Port Elizabeth, hills that are insignificant in a car are major on a bicycle. After the 3rd or 4th steep climb the chirping from the rest of the group started and for the rest of the day I took a tremendious amount of flak. I had discussed the route previously with my son Vaughan and he was of the same opinion as me about the ride but as it turned out it was one of the hardest rides we have done. I am still due a big fine for my innaccurate information and expect to have to drink something aweful at dinner tonight.
Anyway after 5 hours riding and 122km we arrived at the Engen service station in Port Elizabeth.
So our stats so far are
745km complete
31.5 hours on the road
37,500 calories burnt
10,000 meters climbed in total.
We are now back on the coast and will pretty much stick to it all the way to Cape Town
As today is rest day, everyone is attending to chores and catching with emails, organising washing, cleaning bikes etc. A couple of the bikes at at the local repair shop getting little problems sorted out, so far my bike has been great, lets hope that continues to Cape Town.
Last night we had dinner in the Greek community center next to their beautiful church in Port Elizabeth. One of the riders is Greek and organised the dinner for us, it was interesting to see how they work to hold their community together. All the plans to go out for a couple of drinks afterwards quickly faded as everyone realised how exhausted they were, so after a soft serve ice cream at the local Engen service station we headed for bed. This morning I was able to have the greasy breakfast I was after, unfortunately no where near as good as the home cooked one, no matter thats something I can look for to when we arrive in Cape Town.
We off to pick Robert, Dons brother at the airport, he is joining us for there remainder of the ride.

Day 6
We had a fantastic ride today, 110km from Aliwal North to Queenstown. We rode on a national road so the road condition was good. We climbed for the first 45km and then had a series of great downhills and flat roads so finished the ride in under 4 hours. We donated R10,000 to a local old age home in Queenstown and enjoyed chicken pieces and sandwiches provided by the Service Station Owner. We then packed up the bikes and are now driving to Grahamstown to make another donation and sleep the night. Then it is a 115km ride to Port Elizabeth and a day off on Friday, what bliss. I will need to find a Dentist as I broke a crown on one of my back teeth. This seems to be a standard occurrence whenever I am riding my bike in a major event, two years ago I lost one of my front teeth trying to open an energy bar while riding the Argus Cycle race.
I am also looking forward to a good greasy breakfast, we leave early in the morning so breakfast is not an option. We stop for something to eat after riding 50 or so km, my standard meal is a peanut and honey sandwich and a mug of tea. For the rest of the day it's energy bars, expensive replenishment drinks and the odd sandwich at the donation handover.

Well we almost at Grahamstown, it's 42 degrees outside and we are very happy to be driving in a car and not cycling. Don and I have a massage booked, looking forward to that.

Day 5.
Another day complete and I am feeling stronger than ever. Today we rode 86km, we were hampered by extensive roadworks, poor road surfaces with many potholes, our country's roads really need urgent attention. On the charity side we donated secondhand toys collected by Rotary to small children at a pre-primary school, their little faces lit up as they received their toys. They then sang us two songs which I have on Video but our accommodation does not have Internet so no pictures or videos today. Our second donation was with Engen to a local pre-primary school in the town where we are staying. These schools rely on donations as grants from Government are very low and they would not be able to operate their schools on the grants alone. It is really a concern, our children are not been given the opportunity to receive the education they need.
Today we crossed the Orange River, the provincial border between the Free State and the Eastern Cape Province. We are staying in the town called Aliwal North and tomorrow we ride toward Queenstown, 160km away. We have donations to make along the way so will probably ride 120km of the 160km. Tomorrow night we sleep in Grahamstown, the home of Caitlin and Vaughan's (our children) university. I will make Vaughan very jealous by taking the cyclists for a beer at his favourite pub, the Rat and Parrot.
Aliwal North and me share a common name, my second name is Aliwal. The town was given it's unusual name by a gentleman called Sir Harry Smith, the Governor of the Cape who named it Aliwal North to commemorate the famous battle in which he defeated the Sikhs of India in 1846. Now how is that linked to my name? In 1849 our ancestors arrived in South Africa from The UK as Burne Settlers on a ship called the Aliwal,the ship was named after the same battle in India. My Great Grandfather was born on that ship as it arrived in Durban and was given the name Aliwal. The name has stayed in the family since and both myself and my Cousin Robert Voysey, who joins the ride in Port Elizabeth, have Aliwal as our second name.
Well that's all for today, hopefully I can include pictures in tomorrow's update.

Day 4, we making progress.
Each night we stay at local Bed and breakfasts in the town where we complete our ride. I share a room with my cousin, Don Voysey, the guy that got me into this thing. Although we were big mates when we were young we kind of drifted apart as the years went past and only met up again 2 years ago at My mother's 80th birthday. On that day 11 of the extended family agreed to ride the Argus Cycle Tour in Cape Town in 2010. So my brothers and my son, Donald's brothers and his Dad and another cousin all completed the race that year. After the race Don told us about this ride from Empangeni to Cape Town each year organised by the local Rotary Club and in a moment of madness we made a pact to do it. Robert, Don's elder brother, will join us in Port Elizabeth and ride the last 600km with us. I have not shared a hotel room with anyone but my wife Shona for many years and it is really amusing to see how Don and I co-exist. To be very honest Don is worse off because I cannot live out of bags and am not able to keep my things tidy. Also I tend to lose stuff so Don spends much of his time helping me locate the missing items.

Anyway back to the ride today. Our routine is now established, up at 4.30am, start cycling at 5.30, ride for 5 to 6 hours, make some donations, arrive at our over night stop, wash our clothes, fill our bottles for the next day, rest for an hour or 2, go to dinner, in bed by 8.30pm and finally doing my blog. Today we rode 135km, 5 and a half hours. not as tough as yesterday as the hills were less steep. The countryside was as magnificient as before and the sun was soon doing it's bit to sap our energy. Last night I was convinced I would be in no physical state to ride but with a good nights sleep the body had recovered enough to get me going. So our stats so far are.
Distance - 430km
Time on the road - 18 hours 45 minutes
Calories burnt - 21,850
Tomorrow we ride 115km and make 1 donation.

Day 3 on my big ride.
Wow today was tough, it's 8.15in the evening and I can barely keep my eyes open. We are staying in a guest house just outside the town of Clarens, for those who know, it is a beautiful part of the world near the Drakensburg mountains. Today we basically rode over the Northern Drakensburg up a pass I forget the name of and through the Golden Gate National Park. I have some great photos by still do not have access to the Internet except for an iPad, which cannot upload photos on to the blog. Anyway if you have never been to Golden Gate in the Drakensburg, google it, it is really a special part of the country. As i said it'a National park and on occasions we were riding and enjoying watching herds of buck, zebra and wilderbeest. At one stage it seemed like they were attracted by us and 100's of animal ran in the same direction as us for a while, the general view of the riders is that they were attracted to the warning flags or our bright yellow jersey's.
Back to the tough day, we started in the early mist and soon were gunning along enjoying the magnificent scenery and the crisp morning air. We stopped for breakfast on the side of the road then set off to climb what is called the "Mother in law" climb, you can work out for yourself why it called that. The climb over this pass was the most difficult I have ever done, much worse than day one, and harder than anything I could have imagined. For those of you know about hill grades the maximum we rode was 20%, which is 8% higher than the hardest hill I trained on up in Sentul in Jakarta. At one stage it was impossible to peddle and I had to walk 300 or 400m, some of the others did as well thank goodness. At the top we were 2100m above sea level and on top of the world..
So summary so far is we have completed 300km, climbed at total of 3500m and donated close to 30,000 USD. My legs are sore, we have 145km to ride tomorrow and I must thank a friend of mine who recommended I buy a Brooks saddle, they are amazing.

Day 2, Vryheid to Ladysmith.
What a great ride we had, a chilly early morning start, some mist to contend with and some challenging hills. We rode 65km before our first stop in the Town of Dundee. We handed over R40,000 to the local crisis center and enjoyed a great breakfast of yoghurt and muffins prepared by the Dundee Rotary Club. Another 55km saw us arrive in Ladysmith and a donation of R6,000 to a youth center. After that we checked into the local Royal Hotel together with a big African wedding, a rather noisy afternoon to say the least. Now we having a quiet beer and watching the sharks playing rugby against the Auckland Blues.
So just to explain how the whole fundraising works, the donations are a combination of what the cyclists have collected and Engen South Africa (Mobil to you international guys). At every town we ride through the Local Engen Service station pledges an amount of money and Engen South Africa matches the amount, the Service Station gets to nominates the recipient of their choice. I cannot say enough times how thankful these recipients are, there is so much needed and so little support. Thanks again for everyone' generosity.
Tomorrow is a massive day, we ride up a mountain pass and through Golden Gate in the Drakensburg mountains, it will be spectacular and hard at the same time.

Day 3, day 1 of big ride

This is now the 3rd attempt at my daily update. The rather dodgy hotel we staying does not have any form of Internet and my 3G card is barely making a connection. So this will be a quick update, tomorrow we arrive at our overnight stop mid morning so I can give my update a full go, pictures and all.
The 4am alarm jolted me out a very pleasant sleep and the gear all laid out reminded we that this was the first day of an epic adventure that I have been waiting and training for. After the usual last minute preparation and a boring energy bar for breakfast we headed for the start. Good lucks and safe riding wishes complete we rode 1,5hours into the spectacular morning country side arriving at the dreaded Melmoth pass that everyone talks about. The mother of a hill lived up to it's legendary reputation; 10km of the sleepiest climbing I have ever done, but heads down and determined peddling saw us reach the top and to our first official stop, a donation to a struggling pre-primary school. The thankful staff and prepared sandwiches for us which we gladly accepted before riding on to the local Engen Service station to hand over a donation to a shelter for abused children. Back on the bikes we arrived in Vryheid and made two more donations, one to an old age home, all the old dears were out to thank us and then to our final donation, a home for abandoned and abused children, most HIV positive. The kids csme along to the presentation making it quite an emotional affair. I realized there and then how privileged I was to be involved, thank you all soo much for your generous contributions, your money is making a real difference to these poor people and children.
So 85km and 4 donations later day 1 had ended, what a wonderful experience and a tired bunch of riders head for an early bed in anticipation of the 120km ride tomorrow.

Day 2 - my car trip to the start

1 day to go until we on the road.
I woke up this morning with big expectations, a nice quiet drive from Johannesburg to Empangeni in time for the opening speech and a ceremonial ride around the town. I didn't factor in 250km oF road works and lengthly delays where only single lane traffic was allowed. I would think it would be logical to fix 20km of road at a time instead of ploughing up 250km but I clearly do not understand the finer process of road repair. Anyway all this resulted in me arriving 20 minutes late and missing all the formalities. This was no big issue as I was still able to meet some of the other cyclists and introduce myself. Tonight we celebrated my cousin Donald's 50th, a quiet affair as both of us are rather nervous about the big day tomorrow.
Final bike adjustments are done, juice bottles filled and gear all laid out. My cycle shirt is a little small but should fit in 14 days time. We have to be at the start at 50am so the alarm is set for 4.
I am really looking forward to posting my first big day tomorrow, hopefully complete with some good action pictures.

Day 1 in Johannesburg

Bike Sent to Cycle Lab,http://www.cyclelab.co.za/, for Full Service and new Tyres....

Unwrapped new camera, ATC 9K Action Camera, for Bike, so that I can take pictures and film while riding...










Leave early tomorrow morning for Empangeni for the official start tomorrow afternoon...

BIG Ride starts at 5am on Friday morning.