CHOC Cows 2017 Post #3

I've been doing this Dimension Data Qhubeka Charity Zwift Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka Academy thing for the last 6 weeks which for every 10 riders that complete will donate a Qhubeka bike to charity, currently there are 692 who have completed with another 538 who are at 87% or higher (2 rides left to do by Fri 13 23:59 UCT) to make 1240 potential riders who could complete, that's 124 bikes if we can all get there .... WOW!!!!

Tomorrow night I'll be doing a 21Km Zwift Academy race, I'm not fast enough to win (or even win my category) but I'll be getting on my bike and doing my best....

For the record I shall be riding like in the photos...

If you feel sorry for me or just think I'm a little touched remember I suffer a little for those who suffer a lot, children with cancer, and though it's a completely other charity, if you have some MOOla to spare I'd appreciate if you can donate to CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation with CHOC Cows

There are many ways to give:

• Through my GivenGain Profile: https://www.givengain.com/ap/JermTheCow2017/ 
• Use my Snapscan QR Code: 
  
• EFT direct to The Cows :
  Bank: Standard Bank
  
  Branch: Killarney
  Branch code: 007 205
  Account name: CHOC Cows
  Account number: 203 710 843
  Account type: Savings account
  Reference: Jeremy Pointer
• In my Cans: If you want to pass me some cash to stick in my cans I will happily do so we take any change big or small from 5c to R200 bits of change ;-) It will all go through the slot.

CHOC Cows 2017 #2

SOOOOO.....

It's been a week or two since #TDF2017 ended as did my 23 Days pedaling in the Cow Suit, I was taking it relatively easy (most of the time) some of the rides whilst short were fairly high intensity, with me trying to finish with the riders whilst watching footage and 'trying to keep up with them. Of course being on the trainer for those rides meant I wasn't really carrying my weight, or suffering from the same amount of slope or rolling resistance, but I was turning the resistance up more than usual on the trainer.

So this chart represents the Tour de Vache (Vache is Cow for the non french) 640Km in total for me (the empty circles are because the distance text doesn't fit), the ascent is pretty much irrelevant. I will just add that the 53Km I did on the final day I started as the riders started their laps of Champs Elysees, when they finished I was almost a full lap behind, the cow suit soaked through and fairly large puddle on the floor, both bandanas had been used up and the towel also pretty damp.

 Someone asked me what it was about... I've been doing this personal challenge of riding every day of TDF for a few years, surprised myself as I just went to check and this was my 5th attempt, although in 2013 and 2015 I didn't succeed due to flu. Last year and this year I did it wearing the Cow Suit.

Apart from the personal challenge of getting on the bike every day, whether that be indoors or outdoors, road or MTB, the cow suit adds the element of raising awareness for CHOC, the little bit of suffering I do in that suit is NOTHING compared to what the children with Cancer go through during their treatment.





So PLEEEEEASE help us reach the 'audacious' target The Cows have set for ourselves in the 10th year of existence to raise R10,000,000.00 yes TEN MILLION for the work CHOC does supporting Children (and their families) through their Cancer treatment (click the links for more info).

There are many ways to give:

• Through my GivenGain Profile: https://www.givengain.com/ap/JermTheCow2017/ 
• Use my Snapscan QR Code: 
  
• EFT direct to The Cows :
  Bank: Standard Bank
  
  Branch: Killarney
  Branch code: 007 205
  Account name: CHOC Cows
  Account number: 203 710 843
  Account type: Savings account
  Reference: Jeremy Pointer
• In my Cans: If you want to pass me some cash to stick in my cans I will happily do so we take any change big or small from 5c to R200 bits of change ;-) It will all go through the slot.

I shall close off with a picture I shamefully gimped (look it up) of the COWPODIUM of Tour de Vache 2017 (Sorry TDF, Warren  and ladies, I hope you don't mind it's for a good cause).

CHOC Cow's 2017 #1 (the real #1)

Well I can hardly believe I've made it to June without doing a post, so please excuse me for this being on the long side. Unfortunately the season has brought with it the usual bugs so I've been off the bike for a little while.

If you've had your head in a hole (or maybe you are just new to my list) by now you know that for the last 4 years I've been raising funds for CHOC by riding events in cow kit and the last 2 years in a cow suit. And so this being my 5th year and the 10th Anniversary of The Cows I hope to be doing the same again and have yet again set my target at R20,000. So far the fund is sitting at R2k and some odds in my cans. Thanks again to those who help me achieve the goal every year.

Without wanting to bore you too much but also give info (and I know many are well aware of what CHOC does) I thought I'd just briefly list some of the things CHOC does for children with cancer.

• CHOC houses: 
• Provide housing for children and family coming from far away to the treatment centers.
• There are 13 houses around the country each costing approximately 500,000 per year and providing just over 66,000 bed nights per year.
• Transport Fund:
• A transport fund ensures that no child need go without treatment due to transport costs.
• Ward comforts:
• CHOC assists in maintaining the treatment centers as child friendly environments, decorating the wards and providing toys.
• It is also important that parents be on hand to support their children through treatment and so kitchen and laundry facilities are provided as well as comfortable areas where they can relax and meet with other parents.
• Medical facilities improvement:
• Provision and improvements to wards in Chris Hani Baragwanath, Dora Nginza (Port Elizabeth) and Charlotte Maxeke Hospital (Johannesburg) have been supported by funds raised through CHOC
• Medical Staff support:
• On occasion where the need has arisen CHOC has provided funding for staff provision.
• In order to reduce the load on medical staff CHOC provides volunteers for administrative and logistical support.
• CHOC also provides funding for training and conferences for the staff which enables growth of knowledge and networking oppurtunities.
• Awareness and early detection:
• Parts of the healthcare system have a lack of awareness of early warning signs and CHOC initiated an awareness program to provide information to workers to primary health clinics and secondary hospitals and also to parents and teachers especially those in rural areas.

There is so much more that they do for more details visit their web page at http://www.choc.org.za/choc-circle-of-care.html

The Cows provide some of the funding for these projects by participating at athletic events, and various other projects. This is the tenth year anniversary of The Cows and we have set a monumental target of 10 Million Rand to raise for 2017.

I recently rode in a 6hr endurance race to assist raising funds for Delta Park school which caters for children from Grade R to 12 that have barriers to learning in mainstream schools, and was awarded the principals prize for riding the day in the Cow suit. Riding in a team of 3, I managed to complete 5 of the 6.2Km laps the last of which ended up being in a single gear that was a bit on the tough side. Team total of 13 laps.

So...... hopefully I will be back to pedaling in a few days and will again be spending most of July "Riding every day of Tour de France in a Cow Suit" this will include the "Rest days". I won't be riding the same distances as the racers or doing anywhere near as much climbing, but one way or another I will don the cow suit every day and do a ride, some will be indoors and some outdoors. If you fancy giving me a little extra incentive by donating for the number of Km's rode or the number of meters climbed I would welcome it, just let me know.

For those in the West Rand watch out for me on the road and give me a wave, yell or hoot but more importantly please give.

This year The Cows will be supporting various projects for CHOC read more at http://www.thecows.co.za/projects

If you got this far well done I hope to bring more news after TDF.

How can you give:

• Through my GivenGain Profile: https://www.givengain.com/ap/JermTheCow2017/ 
• Use my Snapscan QR Code: 
  
• EFT direct to The Cows :
  Bank: Standard Bank
  
  Branch: Killarney
  Branch code: 007 205
  Account name: CHOC Cows
  Account number: 203 710 843
  Account type: Savings account
  Reference: Jeremy Pointer
• In my Cans: If you want to pass me some cash to stick in my cans I will happily do so we take any change big or small from 5c to R200 bits of change ;-) It will all go through the slot.

For those that would like to claim their tax deduction for charitable giving, you can request the required Section 18A certificate by emailing daisy@thecows.co.za for the form to complete.

My Strava Rapha Festive500 Journey

4 years, 4 x #festive500 . This year was bigger not because of the challenge itself but because I revised my annual goal to 7000Km earlier this month and needed just under 700Km to reach that goal (some of it was done before the #festive500 started).

I have pushed myself this last 8 days to get there and right now every part of my body is feeling it. 2x100 Milers formed the bulk of the distance, another 100Km and a couple of sub 100 rides and on top of that much of it was done in pouring rain, at least 2 heavy thunderstorms that soaked to the skin. The blessing of the rain being that the temperatures were lower.

As a summary here are the distances for each day:

• Day #1 : 161Km
• Day #2 : 35Km
• Day #3 : 109Km
• Day #4 : 26Km
• Day #5 : 162Km
• Day #6 : 15Km
• Day #7 : 62Km
• Day #8 : 55Km

You can see a bit more in the video I made of the journey.

This year has definitely not been the greatest for me in the few years I've been riding (actually the last 2 years have been a bit of a battle) but at least I think I have gotten to the bottom of the physical issue dragging me down, basically boils down to doing too much without a proper plan, resulting in overtraining and depletion of iron reserves. (yes I know one or two birdies have been telling me this for a while). Anyhow iron supplements in hand, a better training plan and a rather ridiculous target to achieve (not distance), hopefully, I can improve in the coming year.

Through all this, there are two lessons that can be taken which at first seem paradoxical but nevertheless true. (I'm sure there are more lessons but 2 will do)
1. We are capable of more than we think
2. We have limits

In other words, don't talk yourself into doing too little but watch for the signs that you are doing too much, don't just take your own thinking and feelings into consideration, seek advice and listen to those around you, they might be wrong but at least worth considering.

Set yourself goals that seem somewhat (but not too much) more than achievable, and then set smaller targets along the way to achieve said goal, if things happen along the way that make the goal completely unachievable, don't be afraid to reconsider, recalculate, and revise if necessary but don't let your heart be broken and don't give up.

Thanks to all those that support this nutcase, and to those whose achievements provide inspiration.

Finally have yourselves a blessed and prosperous 2017 (in one way or another, money and things aren't everything). God Bless.

CHOC Cows 2017 Post #1

Huh... 2017 we still in 2016 you might ask, and in my last post I said 'till next year' ??? 

Well that was my intention but then this......

happened!!!!

Yes you saw right (well if you watched the video through), being the 10th year of the cows doing crazy things to raise funds for CHOC, we did another crazy thing, we couldn't get the 10 figure out of our heads so in an incredibly COW fashion we set our target for next year to 10 MILLION Rand.

In case you're wondering in the 9 years of existence the cows have managed to raise over 27m in 2016 we have managed to hit the 3m mark, so given that information you will realize what a challenge we have set for ourselves.

To achieve this we will need your help, think about it this is only about 20c per person in South Africa, somehow we will be able to do this, spread the word get together with some friends and collect a few rand, put a can in your shop or business foyer if you have one, it isn't an impossible dream it CAN be done.

If you have any questions or suggestions speak to a cow you know, or ask daisy at thecows.co.za.

Whatever you do I ask that if you haven't helped before you consider helping next year. These funds go to a great cause, if you want to know more just go read on what CHOC ( www.choc.org.za ) does for children and their families as they suffer through this terrible family of diseases and the horrible treatment they have to endure.

CHOC Cows 2016 Post #5

Another year has gone by and I've recovered enough to write the Post 947 Challenge(s) update.

I took off a week from work but it wasn't a rest by any means.

Saturday 12th 947 Kiddies Races, It might have been that I was less fit, although we also realized afterwards that we also swept the kiddies races this year when last year we just did lead out, at any rate it was a few sprints punctuated by a brief rest and off again.

The positioning of our Cowzebo was also much better this year and the 'snow' machine (soap bubbles) was a huge hit with the kids.

Here is some of the team that assisted (2 were missing Hendri was riding around with a tin and Cliff was just on time for the start):

Thanks guys and gals next year we need to rope in some more volunteers.

Sunday 13th 947 MTB Challenge
After last years swimsuit competition (well the cowsuit was pretty wet) I decided to skip the suit this year, if I have to be honest I struggled most of the ride the legs just didn't want to cooperate, but I had fun and passing the poor strugglers walking up the hills through Steyn City let me know I'm not dead yet.

Thur-Sat 947 Expo
Ok so The Cows got squished into a smaller area this year and some of our antics were disallowed, 2 and a half days of standing and shaking cans drains one, but the rewards are in knowing we did something to help raise awareness and some funds to help CHOC.

Sunday 947 Cycle Challenge
Suit on, Bike Straddled, off we go, I hadn't been tethered to an ICB but hung back at the start and then attached to the ICB that Richard Laskey was Piloting, did some pushing and briefly switched to Mark Kordas' ICB and towed for a few minutes down M1 but switched back. Since I wasn't doing much towing this year I got to race ahead trying to clear the way for most of the ride and could have a little fun teasing some of the tired people making their way up Cedar, I didn't have the heart to let them know they still had a tough climb in Steyn city as well but I sprinted up a bit of the hill telling them it was easy.... HAH, then turned around to go back down to ICB and come back up again.



Surprising even myself I actually got on the stage in Steyn City, got called HOT?? (yes I was still wearing the Cow Suit) The shock in the eyes and voice when the MC felt the material of the suit was something else too, I think an appreciation of some of the self inflicted punishment we put ourselves through sank in.



We get asked so often why we do this, why not make a lighter Ice Cream Bike, or a cow suit that would be cooler, or why do two laps, and help tow and push that monster to the finish line, why why why.

The truth for most of us is that this little bit of suffering we put ourselves through is NOTHING compared to what children suffering cancer and the pain of the treatment they go through is, if we can look a little foolish and sweat a little more to bring a little more comfort and if we are really lucky a smile to their faces, we will continue to do it over and over and over again.

Image Courtesy CHOC

Thanks for all the support and donations in the year please keep it up, my GivenGain Project is open until the end of December so please do go and donate.

Also if you want a reminder of where the money goes take a look at the CHOC website.

Until next year.

CHOC Cows 2016 Post #4

A fellow cow just reminded me we have 39 days to 94.7, as most of you know by now we are raising funds for CHOC through The Cows by riding 94.7 (and other events) in cow coloured livery of various sorts, some will ride in normal cow print cycling kit, some will don cow suit onesies, and some will be wearing other suits of an as yet unpublicised nature and doing 2 laps of 94.7 the first under 3 hours.

I'll be in one of the first 2 groups, probably additionally assisting an ice cream bike again (I'm afraid I can't manage a sub 3hr 94.7) and it depends on YOU which it will be. If as per last year you would like to see me in a Cow Onesie sweating out in the heat of the day and gritting in the wind, suffering a bit more than in just the kit and providing more support for the children with cancer I need you to scratch the bottom of your piggy banks and scrape out the insides of your mattresses, go beg your boss or better half, or parents, take a second (or third) mortgage, sell some of your less useful earthly goods, whatever just find some pennies and PUSH/click this button. 

 

VS

For what it's worth I really would prefer the attire on the right hand side as it means more of the children with cancer will be assisted. If you don't know what CHOC are about please go to http://www.choc.org.za and find out about the work they do. These needy children really do need your help, every little helps to alleviate just a little of the suffering they go through in many cases every day.

If you want to know more about the cows see the 'new design' at http://www.thecows.co.za

If you can't or don't want to donate through GivenGain please feel free to donate directly to CHOC, just let Daisy Cow ( daisy@thecows.co.za ) know about the deposit and that you did it on my behalf so that allocation can take place.

Banking details are:
CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation
Bank: Standard Bank Killarney Branch  
Current Account Number: 20 027 806 1
Branch sort code: 00 72 05

You will be hearing from me again soon, next time I hope to let you know we've exceeded the R20,000 target and that I'll be suffering a little again for those that suffer much.

Till next time. Moooo!!!!!