Cycling

Argus Cycle Tour, with a fairy!

Posted 14 Mar 2010

This morning was the annual Argus Cycle Tour, apparently the world’s largest timed cycling event, with 35,000 competitors. I was entered in the veterans 40-49 racing group, but random illness at the end of the week made me reconsider actually racing the event. Instead I decided to join my mate Pieter and capture a few shots of him as he competed wearing a pink fairy outfit. His strange dress decision was the result of losing a bet and getting some charity fund-raising going.

Pretty in pink

Pretty in pink

There was a lot of press for the event this year, mainly because Lance Armstrong was in Cape Town doing fund-raising work, and also racing in the pro-race. I think Pieter’s outfit got as much attention as Lance. Almost every spectator we passed had something to say. He was called everything from the tooth fairy to a pink elephant.

Lance who?

Lance who?

All the girls loved pink. Here Pieter is accosting some young promo girls.

Mmm, can I take you home?

Mmm, can I take you home?

In Noordhoek we spotted someone that had their coffee machine wired up next to the road. So of course we invited ourselves for a round of cappucinos.

Coffee!!

Coffee!!

A great way to spend the Argus. I think next year I’ll also be dressing up. Any suggestions for costumes?




Getting there

Posted 21 Dec 2008

Training continues. After an interruption due to sickness, the workload has been ramped up again.

The result was a slight fall-off in CTL, and now its rising gradually again, up to 88 as of today.

The next two weeks are planned to be slightly heaver, so CTL should gain another 10 or so in the next 10 days. My power at various durations still has some way to go. At 1min I’m about 30w off my best, which isn’t too bad. At 5mins I’m 25w off my best, but at 10mins there’s a massive 45w deficit to catch up. 20mins is only 15w short though.

4 weeks to go until the first race of the season, so I’ll be looking to improve on the 5 and 10min numbers by then. My goal is to match these numbers by 4 weeks, and to beat them before the start of the Cape Epic. Goals are
* 5sec: 20w/kg
* 1min: 9w/kg (currently 7.5)
* 5min: 6w/kg (currently 5.3)
* 60min: 4.5w/kg (currently 4.0. This will come in a race, I don’t generally do 1hr TTs)




Great cycling site

Posted 09 Dec 2008

Lots of links to keep you occupied: http://cyclingfansanonymous.blogspot.com/