Argus 2010

And so, after lots of training and racing, we were as ready as ever to tackle the Argus 2010. The weather was beautiful, the restaurants deliciously evil, the wines better than ever, and the wind........on race day.......... almost as bad as in 2009. Sigh......

But we, the Bulla Team don't worry about the wind. We had a good time. Campsbay was the Head Quarters and we started off with a delicious breakfast, enjoying the scenery and watching the people passing by. Friends dropped in at HQ and we just had to celebrate that.

Breakfast turned slowly into lunch while the 12 apostles were frowning on our eating habits.

More friends dropped in at HQ and we had to lift a glass of wine in their honour.

We ate some more, and watch as the day drew to a close with the most beautiful sunsets. If you missed out this year on the Argus, just make up your mind not to miss it again. How could you with a sunset like this.

The next morning we got confronted by the howling South Easter. I tried not to think about the wind, but rather concentrated on the people around me, like these jockeys.

I still don't like Boyes Drive, and was swearing under my breath about uncompleted road works. The rest of the route with the beautiful scenery made up for it. The end was a bit like a construction site and we had to go from here to there to here to there to here. I'm sure next year will be a total different end with the stadium at Greenpoint completed. At the end we got welcomed by the rest of the Bulla Team already in.   

The huge beer tent was crowded, loud, boisterous, filled with tired cyclists, sweaty cyclists and grinning family members. Some fairies also came in.......... 

We ended this wonderfully jam-packed day with a scrumptious meal and get-together at the Brass Bell. All the stories were told and retold accompanied by more eating and more wine. Will I do it again? What a question. See you next year!

Sunday 11th March 2007

At last it was happening. The Argus Cycle Tour! We trained for it, we dreamt about it and it was real. Our wishes became true as the weather stayed favourable and we had a glorious ride.

Look at the results , pinch yourself, it happened, personal bests for most of the riders and for those riding their first Argus a fantastic welcome to the event.

We were lucky that none of our riders had a fall. With huge groups of over 800-900 per group, and no wind to slow them down, high speeds were the order of the day. All the groups from Group J onwards were delayed by 15min. The delay was caused by an accident in the H group. At the notorious Hospital Bend one of the cyclists clipped one of the road cones with his pedal. He didn't come down but the cone flew up and landed slam bang in the middle of the peleton with the effect that 44 cyclists came down. Needless to say they needed some time to clear the road of fallen riders and bike debris. Photographs in the local newspapers showed cyclists and bikes strewn across the road, with one of the cyclist on his back, his bike right up in the air and with his cleats still in his pedals. Luckily none of the victims got hurt too seriously, and most did complete the tour.

We met at the beer tent at the end, and as they came in one by one, their smiling faces were already telling the story. "Better than last year" and "it was great" and "I thought it was going to be worse" (obviously from a first timer) .

Now, the only thing we are still looking for is "Smits Winkel" ( winkel: Afrikaans for shop)

I forgot to tell the first timers that Smitswinkel was indeed a mountain pass and not a shop.

Until next year! In the meantime we will keep on training for the wonderful Cape Argus Cycle Tour.

PS. I really like the Bulla shirt!