Day 160: Bicycle, originally uploaded by Craig is shooting.

Just 264 days until the 2011 Argus Cycle Tour on 13 March 2011, I should probably start training sometime.

Chapman’s Peak during the Argus Cycle Tour. This most be one of the most beautiful roads to cycle on. If you look carefully, you can see the road covered in little ants, which are in fact the cyclists.

You can view the entire set here.

Day 87: Road closed (but not for me), originally uploaded by Craig is shooting.

Tomorrow many of the major roads in and around will be closed for the cycle tour. This sign is just before my house, with 88km still to go!

The best part of the race is that it is one day that cyclists own the road (all 35000 of us riding tomorrow). The total distance is about 109km, so please think of good weather, no wind and fast hills.

In exactly one week (day 88), I will be cycling the Argus cycle tour, a bicycle race of 109km (about 68 miles), around Cape Town. I will be needing some extra energy for the hills.

To misquote Charles Dickens, Sunday was the worst of rides, Sunday was the best of rides…let me explain. I have been training for the Argus Cycle Tour for almost a year now, and this time I have really been putting in the extra hours in the saddle.

On Saturday evening the South Easter started to blow. By Sunday morning, it was howling. When I arrived at the start line, the city bowl was experiencing a regular Cape Doctor. Portable toilets had been blown over, banners had to be cut in half to prevent the scaffolding from blowing over, and later I learned that about 7000 people simply did not arrive at the start – it was too windy.

When my group eventually left (45 minutes late), it was so windy that just beyond the start line we had to get off our bikes and walk for about 100m through a particularly windy section under a bridge. The wind howled all the way through Simonstown, and up to Cape Point. My average speed at that time was a modest 17km/h (very slow).

For the next section, the wind was behind us, which was a pleasure. I could cruise along at over 50km/h, without even breaking a sweat. That was the only really enjoyable part of the race (except of course the finish line).

However, the rest of the ride was miserable. The wind (which at times gusted at over 140km/h) was gusting in every direction. One minute it would blow at you from behind, rocketing you forward, and the next it hit you head on, suddenly slowing you down to a stop. I had to hang only my handlebars simply to keep my bicycle in a straight line. In fact, I believe that somebodies bicycle actually got blown off the side of Chapman’s Peak; thank goodness they were not on the bike at the time.

I also believe that because the wind was getting too heavy, they had to close the mountain passes early. I eventually finished after 5 hours 45 min, over 1.5 hours slower than I was hoping for.

So, why on early was it the best of rides? Simple, because my training paid off. In every measurement (except for time), I performed better. I did not stop at all (except to full my bottles or to eat something), I did not get cramp, and I had no problems getting up the hills. Sure, the hills were tough, but I was not struggling. In fact, my relative placing was over 10% better (in improvement of about 2500 in position). I have no doubt that without the wind, I would have got my 4.5 hour time that I was hoping for.

Just a few days break, and then back into the saddle to start training for next year.