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| This year I participated in the Cape Argus bike tour, which is the largest timed bike ride in the world... with 35,000 riders! | This race goes around the Cape for 110km (65 miles); made more difficult by wind & heat. I figured my time would be 4hrs 45mins. | This chart above shows the hills which needed to be climbed, but my legs think they forgot some; I had practiced only the last two. |
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| I got a bike and my ticket (very hard to get) from Hans Peter. | With no stick pins I had to use the Canada pins (from Valery). | I had never done a race before and tried to practice a bit before. |
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| My group started at 10:01 am; behind 30 other groups. The first group started already at 6:30 am! | My group had about 500 eager riders. We gathered and queued in a "pen" like cattle for an hour. | We were then led to the starting point; groups left about every 5 minutes; it was well organized! |
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| I didn't have the "normal" bike suit and decided to wear
long- sleeves for sun protection. |
This was the view from the starting gate looking forward; I had a pretty good starting spot. | This is looking backwards; everyone was in good spirits and looked ready for the race. |
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| They played some loud music to get us excited (Queen) and then the gun sounded. | We were off ... to join the other racers. The slower people kept left to allow for passing. | The temperature was hot (32C / 84F ) and strong winds were predicted around the cape; yikes! |
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| At Simons Town (40k or 33%), I got settled into a pace and got the camera back out. | The earlier hills were tougher than I thought;
by this time I was already quite tired. |
The road was closed to cars, which was great for us; it's too bad they can't do it more often. |
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| The beautiful ocean views made me forget the cramp in my leg and that I had a long way to go. | The winds were not as bad as predicted, so this part of the trip turned out to be very enjoyable. | I usually stopped to take pictures, but I took this while moving; just aiming behind me. |
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| After Simon's Town we cut across the cape; we had to go up the 3rd biggest hill on the race. |
The sun was strong/hot and I was glad to see a water stop near the top. We were now half way! |
From the top of the hill we could see Hout Bay (nice) and the two largest hills looming ahead (bad). |
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| The inland route (Nordhoek) was quite boring; periodically we saw groups clapping for us! | Without much wind and high heat, many people took a long break at the next stop. | They served water, powerade and coke; sometimes they had bannanas and candy bars. |
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| The route had fantastic views and I enjoyed them all; the serious racers could not do that. | At the 80k (66%) point we started up Chapman's Peak, the first of the two biggest hills. | The first bend was very pretty; but lost it's allure when we saw the long uphill road ahead. |
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| We then entered an area which was closed for 5 years, due to rock slides. | In one area they constructed a ledge to protect the road from constant rock slides. | In other areas they put up extensive series of nets to catch the rocks... what a difficult task! |
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| As I looked backwards, the views were stunning. | You could see the steady stream of bikes coming behind us. | This area was beautiful, unless you were too tired to enjoy it. |
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| Towards the top, many people started
walking; to the point that a traffic jam occurred. |
I walked for 15 mins. before I got by everyone (the break felt good); I then came over the top. | From that point it was down to Houts Bay (yeah) and then up the biggest hill (yuk!). |
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| Climbing the big Suikerbossiel hill was tiring, but the view at Llandando made it worth it. | With the biggest hill behind me, it was just pure cruising from this point ( or so I thought). |
A cool sea-breeze kicked up as I entered the resort town of Camps Bay; it was very quiet! |
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| After Camps Bay we came to an unexpected hill; painful! | At Clifton it flattened out and the views were stunning again. |
As I shot back, you could see our "route along the sea". |
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| Upon entering Cape Town we were greeting by many people. | As we came down the final stretch the pace picked up. | The finish line! My time was a disappointing 5hrs & 15mins. |
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| Afterwards I was
amazed when I saw the local stadium set up as a gigantic bike parking lot. |
I then made my way to
the beer tent; I met with some friends and traded race stories. |
The was a band playing and most people were celebrating; a few were suffering though! |
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| I enjoyed my first Cape Argus Bike Tour. |
I did not suffer any injuries and even got a medal! |
Will there be a chance to repeat in coming years?? |
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