CHOC Cows 2015 #1

Hello everyone,

I've been awfully quiet this year, mainly due to the fact that I've been awfully busy. Without all the boring details I've been on 2 Courses related to my day to day work which has been taking almost 3 weeks a month out of my working hours, and I've been having to try and make up the work that needed doing outside of working hours.

I was asked earlier this week if I'm still raising funds for the same charity this year so that has sparked this communique and I thought I'd just fill you in with what I've been up to this year.

Due to the fires that swept the Cape Peninsula earlier this year the 'Argus' = 'Cape Town Cycle Tour' (I'm sure it will be called Argus by the public for a long time to come, some name changes just don't take.) was shortened to a trip out of the city down to Tokai on the highway  and return the same way. There was a lot of support for this shortened ride although there were a few disgruntled people a lot of appreciation and concern was shown for the firefighters who were battling the blazes. It is sad to note that there were a few who lost their lives in the battle. Due to the fact that the whole tone of the ride was changed I decided to fall way back from my seeding and ride with a couple of other Cows, I'd hoped there would be a few more of us but Delene, Vicky and myself nevertheless rode most of the way together and came over the line together after a very casual ride.

I haven't done many races since then I tried to do 40Km Magalies Monster but a chest infection saw me turning around not far from the summit of the first climb. So instead I have been helping out the Cows at the Nissan Trailseeker events, At #1 Bundu Bash I helped Delene at the Cows feed table and if you think that's easier than riding you need to rethink. Here I am with Marthinus, Alan and 'Dad' who were the sweepers on this route. (Delene of course is behind the camera)

Then after a couple more weeks off the bike at #2 Lion Man I swept the 10Km Fun ride.

As you can tell I'm having great fun but that Cow suit is borrowed and I still need to get my own so I can look silly more often for the kids that are supported by CHOC.

So I seem to be slowly recovering from the chest infection and have managed to do some longer rides since then with a 105Km (slow for me) ride from Krugersdorp to JHB over Nelson Mandela Bridge down Jan Smuts, William Nicol, through the dip on Cedar Rd, through the Cradle past the Rhino and Lion Park, and back home up Sterkfontein hill. Where I can I'm back to commuting to work but the training schedule interferes with that a bit. And a small herd of Cows where seen braving the cold in the cradle this past weekend, we even had 2 support vehicles courtesy of Daisy and Ronel.

So YES I AM STILL RAISING FUNDS FOR CHOC BY RIDING IN A SILLY COSTUME !!!

There is a fairly good chance I'm also helping with an Ice Cream Bike again so please make my little bit of suffering and looking silly worthwhile for those kids who have to suffer a great deal through their treatments for cancer by following this link to my Givengain fundraising project and making a donation by clicking the big red DONATE NOW button. Every little helps.