Brutal day

Woke up with cramps at 3am in my belly. Never threw up just hurt like hell. Couldn't eat at breakfast and couldn't take any water without nausea and cramping. Stopped at the first aid station and got an antiemetic. It stopped the belly cramps but was cramping everywhere else. Dropped out at 70kms. Mel soldered on. He is awesome. I can ride tomorrow if I recover.

I am devastated, I know I ride better. The guy in the sag with me was vomiting all night. He had the lasagna last night. The Dr said there had been a few like us today.

Cheers all.

Having trouble blogging from phone.

Cape Town SA

Mel and I have done lots of things in the last couple of days. We did end up paddling out to Robbin Island from Cape Town. We were in a tandem kayak and there were probably 15 other kayaks going out there with us. Mel knows the owners of the company from his river guiding days. We started in a little cove right at the base of the city and the water was pretty calm there. We paddle out of the marina and the group leader said to head out to the container ship then we will turn right to head out to the Island. Do you know how big a container ship is when sitting in a kayak? It must be 30 stories high. After turning right we could barely see the island but the waters were still calm and there was relatively no wind. We saw seals and dolphins all the way out. Pretty cool. The Island itself was... interesting. We were not allowed to land on the island, that is reserved for ferry boats, so we just floated off the coast about 100meters. The island must have looked like death to the prisoners that were transported there. So distant but so near. I heard that the prisoners could sometimes hear people in Cape Town talking and smell food on a calm day. When we turned around, table mountain looms over the city, its breathtaking. And to think that I climbed it yesterday, I could not even find the route up or where it could even be from this vantage. As it turns out, the wind kicked up, headwind, and the surf rose. The trip back was hard, my shoulders burned and I had to keep looking forward or I would get dizzy. Mel and I had a great talk though to pass the time.

After making it to shore and getting a bite to eat we went for a ride in Tokai. That may be spelled wrong. This MTB park is an old tree plantation on the side of the mountain. Trails are everywhere, and so are baboons. The baboons were down at the bottom and I did not have my camera ready so no pictures. Pretty funny though. The climb was steep and the views are spectacular.

 The picture above, we are climbing into the clouds, the clouds drift across from left to right with the sun shining through. Its very dramatic and a bit mesmerizing. We got into the clouds and the view was completely obscured. I felt good on the bike however, except my shoulders were tired. We descended fast and Mel hit the ground twice, but did not get hurt. Trails range from baseball rocks to ashtray sand. I can get sucked into looking at the scenery too long or I may fall too. I have some video of us headed to the clouds that I will post later.

We were running late to our next stop which was another friend of Mels from boating. Ross was our host this night, he lives right on the coast. Ross had to get to a party this night so Mel and I were on our own. We went into town, Kommitjie, and got supper. I had shark and tomato pizza which was good, but I dont think there was shark on it. Oh well. We woke up and this was the view off of Ross's deck, and where I drank coffee.

How beautiful is that? Ross guides trips off of Madigascar, boating,surfing camping and such. After leaving Ross's we went to cape point and Simons town to eat and look at penguins. It was noon when we got there so the penguins were not moving much, but cool. We decided not to ride today so Mel could get his neck worked on, it has been stiff for  several days, weeks even. Driving back to Gordons Bay, we drove past some shanty's. This county is a bit strange this USA citizen because it is a first world nation but you can turn a corner here and BAM, there is a 3rd world nation, for miles and miles.

I suppose Apartheid has not been gone for too long, relatively, and lots of work still needs to be done. Monday when I got in, I read the paper about Blacks and Coloureds rioting with each other because of school access. Very complex social dynamics here.

What does this have to do with mountain biking? If I did not MTB then I probably would not be seeing this country now. When I bought my first MTB, a GT timberline, did I think that this path led to Africa? No. But the trail has been good for me. Accept peoples milkshakes, buy the piano, whatever you do, do it with passion. Be good, and thanks for reading. Its Lekker.

Made it.

Hello all.  Well I made it here without problems. I did have to rearrange the bike that I packed 3 times at home, in the middle of DIA. The airline did not know how much to charge me for shipping, then said that the bike could not go since the box was over 50lbs. Could not go. If it was a bag it could with a fee but not a bike. Then after my lovely wife helped me repack, they said never mind, they talked to a different person who said that it would not be a problem. Oh well. I am here, so is my bike and we are both safe. The picture above is looking down at cape town. We rode up here after I landed and got the bike together to flush out the DVT's and what not from the flight. Today after waking up, Mel and I got our stuff together and hiked up Table Mt.

This view is of Mel about halfway up the Mt. It was climbing with all four limbs, and at times straight up. Very fun but I think my legs will be a bit sore in the AM. Mel just let me know that we will be sea kayaking in the morning out to Robin Island, where Nelson Mandela was kept for 27yrs. How cool is that? Afterwards probably go for a ride. The views that I have seen are absolutely beautiful. I have seen the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic ocean, from the same spot. Above Mel is viewing the Atlantic ocean, behind him is the Indian Ocean. I feel good the weather is great, I am very excited.

I want to say happy anniversary to my bride. 18 years of marriage. I love you honey.

Short entry but I am beat and need to get up early. Thanks for reading.

Final push of training.

Well. 2 days until I leave. I feel pretty great. I am down 9lbs and I feel it when I ride. It feels great. I rode the road bike Tuesday and kept a moderate effort up, ended up riding 18mph for two hours. I was proud of that because I did not put out a huge effort, felt like I could keep it up for another couple of hours. Last week I had a road bike effort that was hard and averaged 20mph. Today I rode the single speed with Jess on Green Mtn. I felt bad at first but after I got warmed up I felt pretty good. Its hard to feel really good climbing on a single speed. I hope all of this translates to a great ride in SA.

My bike is packed. Jess lent me his GoPro so I will have some vids when I get back. I will finish packing Friday and Satuday, then I am off. Stay tuned, I will update as often as possible in SA. Thanks for reading.

This past week.

Well, some interesting things have happened this past week. Most important to me is that I have gotten in touch with people that I haven't spoken with in way too long. I still need to catch up more with them but the channels are now open. Thanks for your comments and encouragement. Training has been slow this past week. I rode with Mel here in Denver on a cold windy day. The next day I rode I felt great but again, cold and windy. I have been getting alot of that this winter. It is winter after all. Honey Stinger welcomed me into the hive which I am pretty excited about. I will order up a kit and represent in that this summer. And by the way, their products are quite tasty and packed with energy. Check it out.



The last thing I want to mention is my Very good Friend in Dallas, Cory Reese, sent me this absolutely beautiful piece of art work. The header of this blog has a portion of it, and there is a picture of the complete piece in my photos section. The picture does not do it justice at all. The thing looks three dimensional and is different from every angle. It is very cool. He said in his letter that this piece was inspired by the ride that I will be doing in Africa. How cool is that. I wont write about the whole letter because I was getting a bit emotional while reading it. If you want one of your own, let me know and I will hook you up with him. You won't be disappointed. -- Thank you Cory.