Choc Cow Post #7 5 Years of Cycling and other Mad Pursuits

Earlier this week I had an anniversary of sorts because on Monday August 3 2009 I started riding bicycle again after 15 years of doing practically nothing to keep healthy, in fact I'd been doing a fair bit of unhealthy stuff. Long story short at age 40 weighing 120Kg blood pressure through the roof, staring possible diabetes, heart problems and who knows what else in the face I decided it was time to do something about it.

A picture taken on Krugersdorp Hill

I bought a bicycle, a Raleigh Ridge, it was a few months before I actually rode it more than a few 100m and winter had started so I got a trainer to mount the bike on. So bike mounted on trainer in the lounge with everyone else behind closed doors (very soon after I started pedalling) I did 25 minutes of noisy pedalling, the knobbly tyres on a trainer make a huge racket, to get 7Km. I was finished, soaked with sweat, could barely breathe, my legs were jelly, but I had done it.

The following evening I got back on and did 8.5Km in 30minutes, I was hooked, I also rode the following 2 evenings 6Km/20min and 7.5Km/22min. I rested Friday.

On Saturday I thought it's a good day to take the bike out onto the road, I am a bit of a techno junky so I decided to track my ride with my Samsung Omnia, I had looked around and found an application to run on it to record the ride. After fiddling a bit to get the GPS locked and starting the track I 'bravely' but circuitously rolled off down the hill to the Police hostels round the back of the Krugersdorp Court and Police station and back up the hill home. http://www.strava.com/activities/88401173/

On Monday (a public holiday because Womens Day fell on the Sunday) I rode past Key West and was going to see how far I could get on Voortrekker, to see if a commute to work was possible, but by the first set of traffic lights I was finished and had to admit defeat turning around and making my way back home http://www.strava.com/activities/88401179

I was definitely hooked, by August the following year I had done 154 Rides covering 2627Km I had done my first ever race The Harmony Gold 2 Gold MTB race http://www.strava.com/activities/176951010 (this track was another persons result, mine got lost in translation) I actually took just under 2 hours. There are still orange stains from that mine dump mud in the cycling top I used that day. I had purchased bikes for the rest of the family but my enthusiasm didn't infect the rest of the family, I did this race on the Scott Aspect I had bought for my wife:

Since August 2010 was my 1 year anniversary month and most of the riding I had done had been on the tar, I decided to buy a road bike so on the 19th Aug 2010 I became the proud owner of this machine (Scott Addict R4):

And on 21 Aug 2010 rode my first Road race the CANSA Lost City Cycle Challenge http://www.strava.com/activities/176925079 (I ignored all warnings about not using brand new equipment) this was my first ride on the Addict also my fastest ride up to that point ever averaging 28Km/h over 70Km)

I might also mention that by this time I was weighing about 105Kg, I have never gone for quick crash diets but I had made a few small changes to my diet but was pretty much relying on the cycling to get the weight down.

As it stands right now I've done 27,907Km of riding in total, just over 15,000Km on the Addict, just over 4500Km on the Specialized Camber I bought in Dec 2012 and most of the rest between the two 26" MTB's (which I gave away to some friends).

Oh I've also done a few Km on this awesome bike which now belongs to my school friend Niven Wood but if you look closely has Amabubesi stickers which means it's done the Cape Epic a few times (not by me or Niven but the previous owner)

Oh before I forget these days I'm hovering around 90Kg and can often be seen wearing CHOC Cow kit in and not in events (actually pretty much when it's not in the wash)

I'm trying to raise R20,000 this year for CHOC - 10% of the way there there are 3 months till 94.7 and I would like to be at 100% by then, donations can be given on my GivenNGain project page by Clicking Here you don't have to wait you can do it now.

Events I'm doing between now and 94.7:
9 August Heia Safari Zero2Hero MTB 50Km
16 August CANSA Lost City Cycle Challenge (Road) 115Km
21 September Karoo2Coast MTB 96Km
9 November 94.7 Mountain Bike Challenge 55Km
16 November 94.7 Cycle Challenge 94.7Km?

I might squeeze some others in but please support my efforts to raise funds for this worthy cause.