So, here we are... legs up on the coffee table, Brie, my cat on the lap and left arm in a sling... Yes you've guessed it, if crashed an broke my clavicle in three. The past few rides, I had not posted due to time constraints. In the meantime Catherine and I took a weekend off to Durban where I participated in the Amashova. What a great race, beautiful scenary. The past weekend I was due to race the Burger, in Stellenbosch. The weather was superb, bound to be a fast race... 15km into th 92km race however a kid infront made a sudden left move, knocking the guy infront of me's front wheel, him crashing and me following. Hitting the tarmac at 42km/h, was quite something! So, I'm off for a minimum of 6 weeks, bummer!

So this mornings ride began with a flat tyre - luckily just outside the door, so to save time I decided to just change the whole wheel with another I have spare. The latter had not been used in two years so, I was tempting fate. The ride was not as cold as I had anticipated, much darker (so it really is time for a proper headlight) and I was riding surprisingly well if I may say so myself (1h42min). Upon entering Stellenbosch the inevitable happened, a spoke snapped. The last 3km to work were slow, but I was not the last to get to work. A visit to Piet se Fiets ended up having the complete wheel rebuilt and by 17:15 the afternoon I was on the road home again. The ride back however was not as smooth, I felt fatigued of the days work and to top it, began cramping in the calves when stopping at traffic lights. So the pace decreased... By Bellville it was dark and cold sea mist set in. When I eventually got home 2h05min later I was wet to the skin, not from sweat but from the mist... nothing a hot bath could not fix! ;-)

Well, it's been a while... we've been to NYC and my intentions of cycling there did not come true. Just way too much stuff to do in the Big Apple. :-) Anyways, things at Entomon have settled and whilst we do have a late splurge of warm weather, I've decided to take the gap before the next cold front and cycle to work tomorrow. It's going to be a dark ride, lets hope not too cold!

Another week has gone by, but since we're leaving for New York tomorrow and I had a mountain of work to do today - no cycle-to-work ride... :-( Will have to do some climb up Table Mountain tomorrow morning though, but hey, that can't be claimed. ;-)

So, it's Wednesday, the third ride day. Was difficult getting out of bed this morning, but I eventually got going. T'was a nice cool ride, 1h41min, seeing lots of other cyclists doing the "ride-to-work" thing. Let's see how this afternoon goes. ;-)

Right, let’s see where this goes… I’ve got a thing about round things… wheels amongst others in particular. As a student I once owned three bicycles and two cars… Both of the latter were the same model and color, hence I drove them on one license – not for long though, there wasn’t that much point to it.
A couple years later, I find myself… again with two cars, this time two motorbikes and well, two bicycles… But what I really want is a 29’er. A mountain bike I don’t end up going to the bicycle shop for repairs after each race or after coming down from Table Mountain from my after work “detox”. A 29’er with front suspension… I’m even willing to part with my current (faithful) 12 year old 26’er I rode to class.
Being an economist, I however cannot for the life of me, just go buy it (because I actually also don’t have the money). No, it needs to make economic sense, thus either save me money elsewhere or come from having saved up for it… and we all know how that goes. So… here’s the plan;
I drive/ride 49km to work every morning from Woodstock, Cape Town to Stellenbosch. When I leave late, the frustration of rush-hour makes me a pretty bad person at 08:00 in the morning, hence I (usually) try to leave earlier. On average this journey takes me 40-45minutes with the bakkie, or 28 min with the motorbike. The latter causes less stress on my behalf, but suppose more for fellow 08:00 to 17:00ers…
Back to the bike… After 9 Cape Argus cycle tours, not yet having broken the 3hour barrier yet, I got a brain wave… How about some proper long distance training, like one of my x bosses used to do. Cycle to work! So, I have found a 46km route, Woodstock, Saltriver, via Voortrekker road through, Parow, Goodwood, Bellville, Kuilsriver and over Polkadraai to Stellenbosch. 46km, 92km per day, once a week, on a Wednesday.
Given last years SARS return, my average mileage cost was R2.53/km… thus a saving of R232.76 per Wednesday trip… That is, uhm about 52 times, a year’s worth of riding to save up R12’000.00 (before breakage and maintenance). Well now, let get started…
14/03/2012 I opened a 32-day account and after completing my first 92km on my 2005 model Raleigh RC3000, I deposited the first R232.76 into it… created an Excel sheet, to keep track of my mileage, expenditure and saving and well, had a Peroni to celebrate my triumph.  51x to go!
21/03/2012 the second ride and I’m already calculating, re-calculating and planning. To do the Argus under 3 hours would imply my home-to-work ride should be done under 2.5 hours. The 14th’s ride was 1h40min there and 1h50min back… today 1h30 and 1h43… improving, but more room for improvement, lots!