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.

CHOC Cows Post #6 TDF Ride every Day and Rapha Rising Challenge

Well I might as well update since I'm done with these 2 'little' challenges, for those that have seen this on Facebook sorry for the repeat but some of the people reading this aren't on FB, or might have missed it even if they are.

I suppose I could bore you with the daily rides, but since there are too many of those I drew up this little table:

	TDF Ride EveryDay				Rapha Rising
	Distance (Km)	Ascent (m)	Time	Avg Speed Km/H	Distance (Km)	Ascent (m)
Jul 21-27 (11 rides)	379.4	6467	21:11:00.00	17.91	379.4	6467
Jul 14-20 (7 Rides)	309.3	3004	12:41:00.00	24.39	215.4	2712
Jul 7-13 (8 Rides)	227.7	1623	08:41:00.00	26.22
Jul 5-6 (2 Rides)	103.9	1647	06:57:00.00	14.95
My Totals	1020.3	12741	49:30:00.00	20.61	594.8	9179
TDF Totals (Nibali's time)	3664	62803	89:59:00	40.72
Comaparison Me/TDF%	27.85%	20.29%	55.01%	50.62%

It should also be noted I was switching a bit between Road Bike and MTB, and used the trainer in the kitchen on some nights, but the last week was all on the MTB riding as much hills as I could 'on the way' to work and back home.

On Sat 19'th I did my longest ride ever of 164.2Km and at that stage also most climbing in one ride at 2039m, I did more climbing in the ride on Sat 26 with 7 repeats of Sterkfontein Hill (plus a couple of trips home to refill water bottle and a short lunch trip) totalling 2190m (also longest ride ever on the MTB at 119Km), for those that know the area the climb was from the Riet River bridge (Just before the Greensleeves Turn Off) to the traffic lights at the top which is 290m in 7.5Km.

Saturday's ride looks like this (map and elevation data) The Peak with the long bit is where I went for lunch, and back.

'Now what' may be asked... well I don't know, I've proved to myself I can go long (and high) but I could be faster, and technical stuff catches me out so I have room for improvement there. I've got a 50Km MTB race in 2 Weeks then a 100Km Road race a week after that and then 21 September 100Km MTB from Uniondale to Knysna, so I guess I'll just prepare for those for now and work on improving my MTB skills. Sounds a bit boring after the last three weeks I suppose, but I'll just keep Moooving on.

Please remember I'm trying to Raise R20,000 for CHOC this year please go and donat on my GivenGain Page by clicking HERE

One other thing, thanks to all those who have given encouragement and congratulations, word's like machine, respect, nutcase just encourage me, and if things really do get bad I'll just take a right turn up the hill one day (just kidding).

That's all for now, thanks for reading.

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

.

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.