We've done it!

We've done it! I mean the gym has done it! I mean Abri and Kie did it!

What??!!

They came 1st in the tandem race on the 35km lap race around the Union Buildings. Congratulations! To all of you who doesn't know, Abri is one of the spinning instructors here at the gym.

Talking about winning, or almost winning......so close for Robbie Hunter at the last stage of the Tour de France. He still came second in the sprinters jersey. To all the fans, Robbie Hunter will be at Cyclelab on 2nd August from about 9:00 to autograph a 1000 shirts at R100 a shirt. The money will go to a cycling development programme which will be run by Robbie Hunter.

The 9th of August is a public holiday, so no spinning classes because everyone I know is cycling the Carousel. You have entered, of course?

The Baviaans Mountain bike marathon is getting closer and the gym is sending a delegation down to be part of this news worthy event. Christo has strike it big in that he has been sponsored by a company to be part of their team. The other team is Bulla Team, Rodney, Gerda and Renzo with Elzet and Maggie as support. The gym will therefore be closed on 16 and 17 August as well as 20 and 21 August. We will however make up for the loss of classes by giving you a full report of the event as well as loads of pictures to drool over.

The weather is getting more favourable, meaning Spring is almost here. If you haven't done anything in the gym during the winter time it is now a perfect time to start training for the 94.7 or just to get fit and to live healthy.

Lots of news!

Lots of news with what is happening with Barlowworld team at the tour de France, our own ride at The Cradle and more news from the market place.

Firstly, isn't it just amazing to see Robbie Hunter and team managing podium finishes?! Wonderful to say the least.

To go back to our wonderful ride at The Cradle of Mankind, a wonderful ride with about 18 participants. Also a well deserved lunch at the end at The Teaspoon and Tankard. The weather was mild and we all set off at not too hectic a pace as we had to wait for a flat to be fixed at the start. And off we went, uphill! A clear break came between the roadies and mountain bikers. As hard as the mountain bikers peddled, the roadies still pulled away.

There were lots of hills to deal with, out of breath hills, not so long hills and koppies. We managed them all. Here Anthon and Ivin are dealing with the "out of breath" koppie

Janine doing the "smiling uphill"

And the beautiful winding, open road.

The support vehicle was an absolute blessing as we were helped with punctures, cramp pills, something to eat and just moral support all the way. We all agreed that the next ride is not to be missed.

A very interesting website has been brought under my attention by Silke. http://www.escapecycletours.com/. Would you like to go on a biking holiday? They have a really great holiday selection to choose from. 6 Days mountain biking from Knysna to Gordon's Bay. I liked the mountain biking on a Karoo farm, but to extend the holiday and go further to the coast at Port Elizabeth. Another amazing tour is a 3Night/4Day Baobab tour at Mapungubwe. Go to the new poll and tell us what you think, would you like to go on a cycling holiday. We might just organise something like that.

Now if you thought that the Baviaans Mountain bike Marathon is a challenge, go to http://www.freedomchallenge.org.za/ and see what that is all about. Just a short peep tells you about 2300km from Pietermaritzburg to Cape Town in 26 days. You have to carry all your stuff on your back. You only get a map to navigate, and you have to peddle, carry your bike, peddle, peddle and peddle. Go read the full story on http://www.cyclelab.co.za/ "Freedom Challenge Report" of Hannele Steyn Kotze who came 3rd overall in the race. Her story is about endurance, about a mind, about finding your deeper soul. Really amazing stuff. By the way, the Baviaans mountain bike route forms part of the freedom challenge route. Incredible! Go read it.

Next weekend is the Tshwane lap race around the Union Buildings. Hope you've entered!

In the Market Place

In my surfing on the Internet, I've found some weird and wonderful sites and thought it might be something different to share with you. Go see, go shop and tell me what you think. Maybe you have also sites that you think might be interesting to share.

Try this one if you would like to do a different kind of ride. "Ride the tide" they say, in other words, ride fast enough to be home and dry before the tide comes in. Go see http://www.wildride.co.za/. It is all happening on the Wild Coast-Transkei.

Illovo stands for sugar, but also for it seems like, looks like, a beautiful country ride. It is among the sugar plantations at the Eston Club in KZN. About 20min from Pietermaritzburg,just off the N3. It is all happening on the 5th Aug and not too late to enter. Remember the weather in KZN in August is marvelous, not cold. Looks like great fun, go try it or go look http://www.illovo.co.za/ Click on Mountain bike challenge.

How about this one:
http://www.nationalindoorrowingchallenge.com/ Wow! A mouth full. It is all happening on the 23 September and it looks like a mighty good event. If you don't want to participate, to just go and have a peep. If rowing is your other sport, the challenge is on!

I found the most amazingly little sunscreen wipes the other day at Bruce Reyneke Cycles. Absolutely handy little sachet. Tear it open and viola! your little sunscreen Factor 30 wipe inside. Wipe your face and all other sun-exposed parts. No more creams, oils or messy half used sunscreen bottles. Oh!Zone is the product name and it is from the Wellbeing Company. The website is http://www.zonerange.com/ but seems to be out of range.

A whole new range of sports wear has come onto the market and it really looks superb. It is smart designing, combined with technical fabrics which will definitely improve your performance. It is not a brand for all sports but concentrates on swim wear, cycling and triathlon wear. Good bye to the baggy cycling shirts and not so nicely fitting shorts. Go try, go see, go shop at http://www.slick.co.za/.

An Internet sport site just for girls. The site was developed by Kass Naidoo and her husband Ryk Meiring. Kass, Kass, Kass, I hear you saying. Yes, Kass the woman cricket commentator, awards handing overer, man of the match announcer. Aaah, that Kass. Go woman, go sport, go http://www.gsport.co.za/. The site will be one year old in September with their first sport's woman of the year award, I think coming up in August.

Well that is it for now. Let me know of any other, site sport wise or otherwise you think is worth looking into.

Central Gauteng Cycling

Just to go back a few paces-For the last race we entered (The Winter Challenge), we all had to pay in an extra R30 for a temporary licence so we could participate in the cycle race. Now we all know that is the way it works when you're a runner. But, we are not runners and therefore it came as a nasty shock to us all to have to pay up, when we thought we have paid up!

It didn't come as a pre-warning, no, just slam bang, pay or no ride!

So I have done some homework and this is what I've found:

"To monitor and manage cyclists in Gauteng all cyclists need to be licensed to participate in all sanctioned events, such as the Pick n Pay 94.7 Cycle Challenge as from January 2007. The following licences are valid for entry into any sanctioned events and are available as stated.

Temporary Licenses will be issued to cyclists by Central Gauteng Cycling who wish to participate on an ad hoc basis in sanctioned events. A Temporary Licence holder may be seeded in the event based on their seeding index. Only TWO Temporary Licenses will be issued to any cyclist during the course of the year. The cost of a temporary license is R. 30.00 and once again please contact Gail Heuvel at 011 707-2734."

Download a full copy of the letter here.

It looks like we will have to pay up and I think pay up before the race would be the better option, otherwise we will have to stand in queues at race registration and fill in forms and pay up then. As they do mention the 94.7, pay up now. By the way, the end of 94.7 will be again at the Equestrian Estate, meaning we will end with an uphill again and race registration is again at Sandton Convention centre. OOHH NOOO! You do remember last year when everyone quickly left the office to go register, just to find them hours later still on the escalators leading into the registration hall. Maybe they will still change it, but check the latest on www.highveld.co.za

Gauteng North Cycling is yet to say anything or something. Try not to go to their website as I think the last entry has been made in 2005. Let sleeping dogs lie.

The Middle of Winter Ride

I think one can say that the 15th July is the middle of Winter. One and a half months before, brings one to the 1st June and one and half months after, brings one to end of August. How's that for shortening winter for you.

To shorten it even more and to bring a little spring into your step, we're organising a fun ride again. It is going to happen on Sunday 15th July, and you can decide how much riding you would like to do, about 30km or about 70km. The route is a very safe route with a broad yellow line to cycle in, and yellow bicycles painted on the road so as to warn motorists to keep out of our lane. To make it even safer we are having a sweeper vehicle traveling with us, to keep in touch with everyone and if you do, for some or other reason struggle a bit, the vehicle will be there for you to get on, or to get help from.

Where: At the Kromdraai area. We will park our cars at the entrance of the road leading to the Glenburn Lodge.

Time: We will be leaving at 8:30. If you're not sure how to get there, be at the gym by 7:30 and follow us.

Here is the map of the area. The cycling route is marked in orange.

We will be starting at nr C12on the map, which is the entrance of the road leading to Glenburn Lodge. We will then go in the direction of C11 and turn left at the T-junction. Follow this road all the way to the next T-junction, turn left again. Just past the Lion and Rhino park we will turn left again. You will now get to a circle. At the circle you can opt to do a longer route and turn right, or the shorter route and go straight on till you get to where you have parked your car.

The longer route will now go through Mulders Drift, under the N14 Highway bridge until you get to the M5 road. Turn left onto the M5 and keep on straight doing a second lap of the first part of the route. Here you have once again a choice of doing a shorter route by turning left at the Kromdraai turn off. For the die hards, keep going, you are now doing your second lap. Just after the Lion and Rhino park we will turn left and then at the circle go straight ahead to where we have parked the cars.

Sounds just like cycling and nothing else? Never, not when you go with Bulla. The best part is still to come. Nr C11 on the map is Pete-Z-Area restaurant where we will have a fantastic lunch and beers and lots of talks. Here you will be able to build your own pizza with a big enough selection of toppings to add and in whichever quantities you would like to add. They will bake it in their wood ovens and wheelbarrowed it to your table. Sounds good, doesn't it. Well it is definitely going to happen. I will have to make reservations at the restaurant for us so I will need to know by Friday 6th July if you are going or not. Don't think about it, just do it. It's going to be fun.

OK, so your family would like to join you for lunch but would like to skip the exercise part. Our cycling route forms part of the Crocodile Ramble in the Cradle of Humankind and there are tons to go to and see, from tea gardens, plant parks, crafts and art. So they can ramble around while you cycle and meet up with you for lunch. Sounds like a mighty good idea. http://www.theramble.co.za/ is the site to go to and check it all out.