CHOC Cows 2014 Post #3 Bainbridge Believe Choc Cows 6Hr MTB

Well I have to thank Frikkie, Chris and Dylan for joining me on this little challenge Frikkie and I formed a team "Phantom Rune Riders" which is supposed to be an anagram of our surnames (pointer, rushmer) but there is  an additional letter or three that somehow crept in if you can figure out what the extra letters are you'll not get a prize or anything maybe just a slight nod of recognition :-P. Chris and Dylan were team "Tommy Martin GM", cos thats who they work for.  In the pictures you might get confused because Frikkie wears Tommy Martins kit and Dylan doesn't ,let's just say Dylan ha(d|s)n't earned his stripes yet although after gritting his teeth on this ride and pushing through he should be close.

In the 6hr Category some oke called Robert Walker took the solo honours however he must have snuck past after the cutoff as he did 11 of the 12km laps in 6h27 kudos to him, I think he missed the prize giving as he was still out on the track.  After him were the 2 teams represented by the four of us getting in 10 laps per team or 60Km per person. Phantom Rune Riders finishing before Tommy Martins GM who we must also thank for the transport vehicle. 

Here is a photo of the memorabilia:

To those who went for 12 hours all I can say is "good on you" it was really cold and to ride those last few hours must have taken some determination.

To the organizers Bainbridge Believe well done on a great event but I think next time definitely a bit earlier in the year to missthe cold spell I really hope lots of MOO-la was raised. 

Please don't forget to visit my GivenGain page and dig deep into those pockets for CHOC there are many children with cancer who benefit from the services and facilities that are provided by CHOC.

So here are pictures of each of us, thanks Byron Poson, Calvin May and Ken Gerrard, they all have high res versions for purchase proceeds will go to CHOC  

For more photos visit Calvin Way's album or Ken Jerrard's album  or Byron Posons album

Me

Frikkie

Chris

Dylan

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CHOC Cows 2014 Post #2 A HORN in your flesh

Hey all my Friends, Colleagues, Family, and other acquaintances it's that horn in your flesh again.

In case you don't get the reference the title is a play on Paul's THORN in the flesh  (2 Corinthians 12:7-10) which in a paradoxical manner was a good thing. 

I will be riding a 6 hour MTB race (http://www.believeproject.co.za/2014/02/17/239/) in my cow kit on Saturday 7 June 2014. This race is completely for the benefit of CHOC  http://www.choc.org.za/ , so if you have time and inclination please come and support the riders and cheer us all on.

Please also remember I'm trying to raise R20,000 for CHOC by riding the 2014 94.7 in cow suit please donate here: http://www.givengain.com/activist/103478/projects/7179/ 

Oh if you don't know the difference between COW KIT and COW SUIT
Here is me in COW KIT

Here is one of the other aMOOzing cows Richard Laskey @RichLask who just ran the comrades in his COW SUIT (He also does lot's of other things in his COW SUIT)

I'm not fit enough to be one of these (Apocolypse cows) ... yet, they have to be able to complete first 'lap' of the 94.7 in under 3 hours and stronger ones do a second lap.

So go ahead please donate  http://www.givengain.com/activist/103478/projects/7179/ and subscribe to my blog for more info and news.

CHOC Cows 2014 Post #1

Well it seems I've been a bit tardy on the updates... I could say busy but that is a little bit of an excuse, most of my 'spare' time I've been out pounding the kilometres on the pedals.

In case you haven't been following I plan to do all events I do in cow garb this year, and I say garb deliberately because I've decided that since I'm starting to need a new wardrobe because most of my clothes are too big for me I might as well upgrade my CHOC Cow clothing as well so if you all can help raise the funds I'll do 94.7 in a COW SUIT. That means we need to raise R20,000.00 for CHOC by November. I know we can do it but I need your help. Here is the link to the project **CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW**  for my CHOC fundraising efforts this year, please support this worthy cause which you can read more about here: http://www.thecows.co.za/ and here: http://www.choc.org.za/. If anyone has any suggestions for raising the funds I'm all ears, if you can help out by doing some organising even better.

So I mentioned my tardiness part of which was raising funds on the Argus which I did ride in COW kit. I finished in 3h58, here is a photo from the climb up Suikerbossie.

And another on of me at the finish.

Just for fun here is another picture of some other cows at a photo shoot in the cradle (I'm not in it cos I took it), watch out for the CHOC Cows branded Meadow Feeds tanker trucks on the road and in the media.

For those wondering how my 'training' is going well all I can say is I seem to be improving bit by bit.. still not far from the back on most Strava segments but continually improving on personal best times, just yesterday I did PR's on 19 segments, and got 2nd bests on another 5. If you are interested and aren't on facebook or strava my latest rides are shown in this blog (top right). I have set a target of 150Km per week which I have been achieving, if things go well I will probably up that to 200Km in the next few weeks, just need to fit in some more commuting.

CHOC Cows 2014 Blog #0

Amongst other things I'm a programmer so numbering starts at 0, of course we could start at -∞ but then it would just take too long to get anywhere noticeable -∞+1 is still -∞ for most intents and purposes.

So I realized looking at my blog that I forgot to update and post the final results of my 94.7 CHOC Cows fund raising ride, I must say I was pleasantly surprised at the giving towards this project and exceeded the goal, here is a snippet from the project page with the details (as a reminder the target was R6000).

Jermworm's 2013 94.7 CHOC COW project

ZAR 8,533 raised (142% of target)

Unfortunately I didn't get many good photos of me riding in the kit (I was pulling some strange faces), but here are a couple of shots the photographers did manage to get of me.

 

I finished the ride in 3:45:39 which, as usual puts me almost slap bang in the middle of the finishers at position 8803/20743 so you have to know I am an average rider.

So I hope you are not bored yet, I have made my mind up that every event I ride this year will be in CHOC Cow Kit (unless we get to the point, R20,000.00, where a suit is earned). Keep in mind this is a year long project but please don't wait to the last minute to start sending your donations. If you have ideas for fundraising events or competitions, let me know, I'm not the best fundraiser myself, but I have decided to try and do something for those in need, maybe you can too.

Details of how to donate will follow I still need to confirm some final details with The Cows.

In the meantime to show that I'm working hard at getting a decent time (I'm aiming for a sub 4h00) here is a snapshot of the fitness graph from fittrack, which thanks to the Rapha Strava 500 challenge shows me above where I need to be, I'm hoping to maintain that.

I've also dropped a few KG in the last couple of months and the trend is down by almost 1KG a week I might just get back to that slimmer okie from 23 years ago (okay that's maybe a bit of a stretch) and no I won't be growing my hair like that again.

So that's enough for now, please consider giving and perhaps squeezing something out of your budget, I know it's tough but probably not as tough as it is for Children with Cancer and their families.

Strava Rapha 500Km in 8 Days Festive Challenge

For those that don't already know, for the last eight days I have been accumulating 500Km to complete this challenge (click here for more info)  it was enjoyable although not easy.

Day 1 (24 Dec) I was working in the morning so in the afternoon after I got home I went for a 57Km ride on one of the regular routes through Sterkfontein Farm estates.

Day 2 (25 Dec) Being Christmas and a busy day I left the house in the dark and managed to get 44Km in before coming home to open the prezzies, the kids only started rustling a few minutes after I got back.

I had wanted to use the road bike to get some of the long miles in but the hanger on the derailleur broke, so that got turned into SS for the time being (sliced my finger getting the chain apart)

Day 3 (26 Dec) Saw me umming and aahing how to get in some decent mileage in the end I decided to invest R30 at Northern Farms and spent a few hours first doing a 46Km loop (mixture of black and red tracks) and a 20Km loop (blue track) Came home sat around a few hours and did another 15Km around the dorp on the now SS'd road bike.

Day 4 (27 Dec) I had planned to join in with some other folk to do a long social ride to Black horse brewery... and back home but ended up with a small cut in the sidewall of my rear tyre, put tube in, but only got a few Km when that got punctured, fixed that rode another couple Km got another puncture, called wife to rescue me. Still managed to get 18Km in, went to shops got new tyre and later did Critical Mass Johannesburg another 16Km.

Day 5 (28 Dec) Saw me 'zooming' just under 60Km/h down past Sterkfontein hospital in the dark (and I didn't crash this year), and then on down to Hekpoort, back via Tarlton. When I got to Magaliesburg I was a bit bored of the tar and tried to find my way round the back of the mine towards Golden Harvest, but didn't find the right route and ended up hiking up and down the hill for a bit, before coming out onto the tar again for a short bit and got back on the dirt at Orient for a total of 88Km (that was the longest ride I had ever done on the MTB bike).

Day 6 (29 Dec) I was preaching in the morning (so although I got up early it wasn't to ride but to finish up my sermon preparation, the rain almost drowned the challenge with 200Km still to go I didn't know if I would manage that in 2 days that would be left, so I did go out in the rain out to Nelson Mandela bridge via Emmerentia dam and back for a soaking wet 72Km.

Day 7 (30 Dec) I left home not knowing how much I would manage but 'dis mos mielies' saw me passing on the 100Km route (if you don't know where that is you need to ride out into the NW Province a little bit to get there) I was passed by and had a short chat to a lonely Europcar SA kitted rider,  Neal Corbett, he of course went longer and faster than me completing 160Km. So that left me needing a short 23Km for the last day.

Day 8 (31 Dec) I decided to do a short route and invite a few people along with me, Simon Greaves, Vincent Krause and Trefor Brock joined me on my 27Km slow (for me anyway) social ride down and up near the mine dump across from Krugersdorp Game reserve which saw me completing the Strava Rapha 500 challenge just before hitting the tar in wessies.

My cycling tan, err burn, is looking sharper, my legs are a bit on the stiff side, but I'm glad I took up the challenge and completed it, for an overweight 44 year old who 5 years ago decided to go out and buy a bicycle, it took me a few more months to actually start riding, to get fitter and steer away from the looming health disasters, I'm fairly pleased that such challenges as this and the one I completed last year riding every day of the tour de France come up to show that with a small amount of dedication a lot can be achieved.

Thanks to all those who have congratulated me and 'liked' the posts the support it is encouraging. Rest day tomorrow and work the next day but I know my insanity with the pedals will continue as it keeps me sane(r) taking a break from the other stresses and busyness of life.

Happy new year everyone, may it be a blessed year for you all.

CHOC Cow 94.7 1 week to go.

Just thought I'd post a couple of silly photos of me wearing my new CHOC Cow cycling top .... oh I also have cow print socks on if you must know.

To all those who have given (and in some cases have pledged) thanks so much for the support.  To repeat my thank you message (for those that donated cash or cheques) : 

Thank yooo so much, Please accept a big sMOOch from all the CHOC children whooo will benefit from your contribution. 

It's in gold (well sort of) because you all get the Gold medal for participation. Oh and this a a virtual sMOOch from the CHOC children don't expect a real sMOOch from me 

Oh the silly pictures :

And just in case you are wondering how my training for the 94.7 has been going here is a graph showing Planned vs Actual Fitness (The vertical light blue line represents today) as you can see with one week to go I'm right on target. Which means barring adverse weather and breakdowns I'll be finishing in just under 4 hours. I start at 7:31 and my number is P11545. Oh in case you have forgotten it takes place next week Sunday 17 November.

94.7 Choc Cow ride

I have decided to take on a challenge completely out of the ordinary … I have decided to join a group of crazy enthusiastic cyclists and participate in the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge dressed as a cow!

You are probably thinking that I have finally lost more of my marbles, not so! One of the main events of The Cows each year is the 94.7 Cycle Challenge and they have managed to raise more than R14 million since 2008. The Cows remain committed to extending their success throughout South Africa with the purpose of FUNdraising for CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation SA.

So Please help by donating through my Fundraising Page.· Click here http://www.givengain.com/activist/103478/projects/5900
· Click on the RED DONATE button and donate now to my noble cause!

WHAT IS CHOC? CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation SA has for 33 years stood together to support children with cancer and their families. Childhood cancers and blood disorders affect 1 in 600 children under the age of 16. Childhood cancer is a reality; it does not discriminate; does not care where you live; does not care about your bank balance or the colour of your skin. CHOC keeps hope alive for all children in South Africa as they know that children are our future.
CHOC uses the funds raised by the Cows to fund certain projects. The projects that have been selected for 2013 are:

• Support for the CHOC Bergvliet House - bone-marrow transplant patients are housed at the Bergvliet House for up to nine months because of the risk of infection. A portion of the funds raised will be used to support this house.
• Support for the new CHOC House in East London – Funds from the 2012 Stampede were used to build a house where children and their parents can stay during their treatment periods. A portion of the funds raised in 2013 will be used to support this house. 
• Psycho-social services support - Social work support to the children affected by cancer in Johannesburg, East London and Bloemfontein

Banking details: Standard Bank Killarney; Branch 007205; Account no: 203710843;

CHOC National Registration Numbers: 001-338 NPO; PBO 930009261