The Herald Mountain Bike Cycle event from the Addo Polo Club
Sunday 17th February 2019
And The Sundays River Mile == Colchester.
The Herald Cycle Tour from Summerstrand
Sunday 24th February 2019
Kim is my Cousin... Not exactly sure how we are connected but Wayne is her brother ... Surname Giddy and so I consider her to be a cousin.. Kim used to call me Uncle Peter; Recently she is being kind and simply calls me Peter. Kim is Married to Ken Cooney and has two sons; Kerrin who, with Jessica, Matriculated in December 2018 and Kent who is at Grey High school.
We start a few minutes late due to the Motor Bike lead not being there on time. So at 6.45 we start riding.... Kim and I had packed our bikes in the Combi the previous evening. And I had picked Kim up from her house at 4.30. We took a slow easy drive to Addo and were at the Polo Club in plenty of time. My breakfast consists of a Peanut Butter and Banana Smoothie which Kim made for us
Somehow we get into the Chute early and are in the front of the starting group. The start is in an Easterly direction and we have the breeze behind us so it is not long that I am drenched in sweat. Kim goes off ahead and I dont see her again until I get back to the car. After riding through the orchards and on farm roads we reach the aquaducts and dams. An interesting ride with the precision of the growing of these trees being evident. Many fields have tarpaulins over them to protect against bad weather or hail.
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At the climb to the top of the Dungbeetle Hill I stop for a juice before continuing up the hill. For me this is work. People are passing me all the time... I do not pass anyone at all. At the top of the hill I see that this is the same road as where I collected my guests from the Addo Dungbeetle Lodge the previous day. I hurtle down this road and unbeknown to me at the time, I lose my water bottle. .... Actually what happened was --- at what I considered to be about 15km, I stop for a drink of water but find the water bottle gone so I reckon that I must have lost it on the steep and bumpy downhill. What really happened was that I packed the bike into the boot of the Combi -- upside Down. And had taken the bottle out and forgotten to put it back into the bottle cage.
At the bottom of the Dungbeetle hill we turn left along a straight road before turning left again past more orchards. There are a couple of short sharp hills before we reach the left turn; down hill and onto a farm track and into the Orange trees. A sharp right turn and then past some farm buildings. Soon after this we find ourselves back on a Jeep Track where there is a really short steep dip with lots of loose rocks. You need to just go flat out. No braking allowed or you will slip and fall.
We pass the 10kay to go marker and reach the final water table where I drink three cups of juice as I have no water bottle. From here there is a long tough section which little or no breaks or turns before you reach the Pack House which we ride through. Cross the tar road and ride the final two km to the finish. Pierro De Marco is there directing traffic.
Kim is in long before me and is waiting at the Combi. This was Kim's first official cycle event and she seems to have really enjoyed the outing. We load up the bikes and head off home..
The Sundays River Mile
After the cycle Kim and I pack up and I drop her at home. I change and get ready for the River Mile swim event .
I pick Megan and her two boys up and we drive to Colchester. The registration process is much easier this year (Far less formalities than we have experienced in previous years and no line of competitors waiting for registration), We are soon at the side of the river enjoying the afternoon activity. We meet Armand who is one of the early morning swimmers at the Newton Park Pool. We watch the Disabled Mile and the Wetsuite Mile before making our way to the start.
Megan swims the Ladies Mile and I wait at the start area for the call for the Men to group up. I see Susan; Marcus and MC Burri. Susan offers to carry our stuff back to the where we were sitting. We go into the staging area and after a race briefing we all get into the water. The seeded swimmers go to the front and the race gets under way.
There is a west wind blowing but I hardly notice it in the water. I enjoy my swim and concentrate on trying to stay in a more or less straight line.
As we swim I see the dunes to the left clearly but cannot make out where we are in relation to the right bank nor can I make out where we are going because of the sun in our eyes. I am really loving the swim and so just continue with a steady stroke until I find myself almost at the finish line.
This has been one of my better River Mile swims. The Tide was strongly in our favour but apart from that I simply had an nice easy swim.
There are some people who, like me, seem to be at the River each year. Craig and Sharon Wilson and their two daughters. Marcus, Susan and MC Burri, Stanford Slabbert is the announcer and seems to know many of the competitors by name, Andrew and Fran Stone, David Glover cheering on the front swimmers who are part of his Swim Team
I was 6th of 11 over 65 year old swimmers
My Time 27 minutes. 207 of 238 finishers. 6/11 in age category >65
Megan was 23.58 minutes and 122 of 214 finishers. 5/9 in Age category 35-39
Armand finished in 19 minutes.
These results are an indication of how powerful the current was in our favour.
2018 results:
Megan -- 95 out of 198 finishers; 6/16 in age category 42 minutes.
Peter --- 199 / 242 finishers; 7/13 in age category 40 minutes.
After the swim we packed up pretty smartly and were home by about 4pm
Sunday 24th February 20193
Herald 55kay Road Bike event.
Kim meets me at our house. We drive to Summerstrand where we park at the back of PicknPay at their Parking Area. Andrea meets us there with her daughter Lucy who did the MTB and Road bike relay yesterday coming in 3rd in the category. We make our early way down to the start at the Radisson Hotel. Our start is at 8.06am. We managed to get ourselves into the same group AM.
There is a strong westerly blowing so we find ourselves split up and Andrea takes the lead being strong on the hills. Kim is riding her MTB so struggles to keep up.
I never fixed my Easy Gears so have to settle for what I have which is two gears up. That is fine. I dont really battle. Just try to find a small group when ever I can. But then as we go up Buffelsfontein road I drop off the group and am isolated with this wind into my face. At last I find a group again and am able to make up some time.
The Long Barn hill is the toughest of the day and I manage to get to the top where Andrea is waiting. shortly after I get there, Kim comes up as well...
So we set off down the steep hills and up the two short hills of the Old Seaview road. Finally down to where we join the New Seaview Road and here we turn up towards Grassroof. Andrea and I are having fun pushing as hard as we can .... we now have the wind behind us and begin to heat up.
At the big tree with the shade over the road we wait for Kim to Regroup.
Kim arrives and off we go. ... Right at Grassroof and then onto the Sardinia Bay Road. Again Andrea and I are pushing the pace and having a lot of fun doing so. We turn right again down to Schoenmakerskop... At this stage we are again into the wind but it is mainly down hill so no problems to us.
We turn a sharp left onto the Marine drive and stop at Sappershoek to regroup again..
From here it is just 17kays to go and we stick together to the finish. At this stage we have the wind with us for most of the way until the final few kays to the finish.
So ends the two weeks of Herald MTB..... River Mile and Herald Road bike events. Three events which are real community events in Port Elizabeth and I love being part of them.
Times. 2019
Herald 55k road race.... 2.32 ... Peter ; Kim and Andrea finished together.
Last year Andrea and I did 2.28.
Herald 30km MTB 2019
Peter 1.46 Last Year 1.52
Kim 1.32
River Mile results 2019
My Time 27 minutes. 207 of 238 finishers. 6/11 in age category >65
Megan was 23.58 minutes and 122 of 214 finishers. 5/9 in Age category 35-39
Armand finished in 19 minutes.
These results are an indication of how powerful the current was in our favour.
2018 results:
Megan -- 95 out of 198 finishers; 6/16 in age category 42 minutes.
Peter --- 199 / 242 finishers; 7/13 in age category 40 minutes.
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