CHOC Cows 2014 Post #5 Hakahana, TDF, Rapha Rising

Hi fans and anti-fans,

So I'm sitting on my bed with laptop not doing much, reading through some news, when a ping alerts me that someone mentioned my name on facebook, only to find I'm being 'accused' of being 'under cover' because people only hear about me but don't see me, so anyway I respond about my endeavours over the last few weeks, to realize almost with shock that I've challenged myself to lots of suffering this month so let's just tally up the challenges:

1. Ride every day of the Tour de France (that includes rest days)
2. Day 1 of Challenge 1 happens to coincide with Nissan Trailseeker #2 Hakahana and sado-masochist had entered the 60 odd Km 1300+m marathon edition.
3. I signed up to attempt Rapha Rising challenge on Strava which is to do 8800m of climbing in 9 days which happens to coincide with last 9 days of Challenge 1.
4. Just for laughs I decided I would try for a 160Km ride to complete my 4th Grand Fondo ride (130+Km), I missed the first 3 in case you are wondering why it's Grand Fondo 7.

So let's tally up where I am on these:

1. Today (Thu 17 Jul 2014) is Day 13 of the TDF I've managed to ride everyday... quite a few of the rides have been on the trainer in the kitchen going nowhere fast, but there have been one or two longish rides in between including Hakahana (more about that next) I've managed to clock up 408Km in 20hrs with 3424m of climbing. One morning commute to work was rather cool with max temp of -2C and min of -6C. That of course is way less than what those guys on the tour do but the aim wasn't to match them just to ride every day.
2. Depending on how you count it I came 1st, 2nd or 5th ........ LAST on Hakahana, 68.2Km in 6h34m01s  okay so I did almost 4Km/20 minutes extra due to missing a sign board and spent another 15 minutes fixing my dérailleur which I bent somewhere along the line, not that 35 minutes would have improved my position much, but considering the climbing and my lack of technical talent I'm satisfied with that, maybe I bit too much off for my first seeded MTB race but hey I finished. Was really happy to see the Cows manning the halfway water point, got really loaded up on the CHOC Bars and encouraging words from fellow CHOC Cows.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Sooo this one starts on Saturday 19 July and finishes Sunday 27 July, 8800m (28871ft) in 9 days is a fair amount of climbing for someone like me who doesn't like climbing (that's partly why I decided to do it)  For those who want to put that in understandable terms that would be a building of roughly 2200 stories.
   For those that know some of the hills around Krugersdorp:
   
   • Hekpoort T Junction to top of Sterkies is 657m of climbing, 
   • Breedts Nek loop car park to car park is 905m, 
   • Sterkfontein Caves Rd to top of Sterkies 280m, 
   • Muldersdrift to Key West 277m. 
   • Mt Everest Base Camp to Summit 3523m. (Okay this isn't in Krugersdorp)
   
   How am I going to manage this feat??? Well I honestly don't know but I'm going to try 3000-4000m each on the 2 weekends i.e. 1500-2000m a day, at worst that will leave me the 5 days of the week to do 2800m which is 2 climbs of Sterkies (underlined above) a day. I haven't worked out what routes would give me 1500 to 2000 yet but I have time constraints as well so need to plan well and just see how the legs last.
   
   I might not make this one it's going to be really difficult for me but if you know how stubborn I can be, you can be sure I will be doing my best.
4. The way I see it this will happen on one of my 2 Saturday rides of Challenge 3 perhaps a few loops in the cradle and back up one of the 2 hills.

So that's probably (more than) enough rambling words for now... Don't forget I'm still trying to raise R20,000 for CHOC by 94.7 please do mosey on over to my GivenGain project page by CLICKING HERE TO DONATE If you want to know more about this worthy cause, please go read up here on the CHOC website 

CHOC Cows 2014 Post #4 Why CHOC, 94.7 New Route and other little rides

Hey all it's that MAD COW friend, colleague, family member, or other acquaintance again with a news bulletin.

For those that don't follow my rides closely I've done my 3rd 130Km+ ride in 3 months this time the longest so far at 142Km out for a little loop in Randfontein then out to Bruma Lake and back via Observatory and Yeoville. I would ask for a donation to buy the Grand Fondo cycling top I'm entitled to but I'd much rather you donate it to CHOC (CLICK HERE TO DONATE) and provide for those children with cancer and their families.

I was asked a few days ago "Why CHOC?", so I thought I'd share with you as neither I nor my immediate family have been directly affected by cancer. There are other needs in my family and a few years ago I rode 94.7 in aid of Martin house (See my related blog post) as my nephew has Friedreich's Ataxia a neurological degenerative disease and makes use of services offered by Martin House, whilst I did manage to raise some funds, many people pointed out that they would prefer to donate to a local (South African) cause. 

One day as I was pondering which cause to raise funds for one of my work colleagues posted a picture of Himself and a young lady who were assisting in raising funds for CHOC and that pretty much sealed it. CHOC had been high on my list as I had some friends who had lost sons to leukaemia, and I had gotten to know another young man and his parents some years back who also had leukaemia. It also doesn't hurt that the CHOC COWS are one of the best known and most visible raisers of funds by riding, running, walking, swimming and all sorts of other activities in fun cow print costumes of varying sorts.

So that's my story and whilst I haven't been directly affected I think we all know someone who has, I think there is nothing more painful to watch that a child suffering with severe illness, and the effect it has on their loved ones. CHOC has many projects which aim to alleviate some of the logistical, physical and emotional strain that goes with caring for a child with cancer.

(CLICK HERE TO DONATE) BTW FWIW (By The Way For What Its Worth) this year I intend to ride with the herd which means I'm probably going to sacrifice what is looking like it would be my best time so far in 94.7 in order to increase the visibility of the COWS and hopefully raise more awareness for CHOC. If I continue improving my times and distance maybe in a year or two (or more) I might manage to join Apocalypse Cows in doing 94.7 twice but I have to be able to finish the first lap under 3hrs for that.

On that note it was just announced that the 94.7 start/finish venue has changed this year and the route as well (see map) I have mixed feelings about the new route, as it means no more N14 but we will have a nasty long hill in Cedar Rd just before the finish, but it's not called a Challenge for nothing (unlike that easier ride further south they call a 'tour') and what's life without a little extra hurdle to get over now and then. Anyway between now and then I have plenty of climbing practice.

So... upcoming events of interest, this Saturday I'm riding with Westgate Wheelers from Witpoortjie to Ventersdorp which will be just over 100Km (mostly downhill), then the week after that I've entered a Nissan Trail Seeker Hakahana 70Km then August I take a trip to Sun City for a 115Km race held in aid of CANSA. 

Somewhere between all that I may be seen commuting to work and not seen going nowhere fast in the kitchen on the trainer. And the July Grand Fondo I want see see if I can manage 160Km (100 Miles) in one ride. Much of this will be in varying degrees of Cow kit, It's winter so jackets and thermal leggings are sometimes covering up. But if you see anyone wearing COW Kit on the road give them a wave and holler, you never know it might just be me.

On another note I've been maintaining around 90Kg for the last couple of months, I had to pack away trousers and shirts that were too big, and of which one person said "Jeremy.... I don't want to see you in those big pants again" There have been a few other complaints about my riding too which I won't mention since whilst I'm slowly improving there are plenty milestones I still want to achieve ahead of me.

One last thing, I'm trying to raise enough funds to ride in a COW SUIT (see my earlier post) that means I need to raise R20,000 for CHOC so far we have R2000 so here is your chance to build up the fund (CLICK HERE TO DONATE)


Again thanks for reading this far, and thanks for your support whether it be financial, moral or by some other means.

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.