I felt so good heading to Moab: bolstered by the confidence of almost 16 months of training and I’d done this race last year so had an idea what to expect. Last year it was my first race experience and I went in blind on the course, on riding in Moab, on racing – it […]
Long Lines
Learning about racing
Road trip rambles
These are scribbles from some of the pages of my journals as captured from the road. I drove down to Moab last month to go and race Moab Rocks – a 3-day mountain bike stage race, to see my friends and to have spend some time exploring in the desert. A bumpy start This morning […]
This was my brother
His name was Ismail, and would have turned 60 next month, but he died 40 years ago today in motorbike accident. 40 years? He has been gone twice as long as he was here. He had played well in a rugby match a few days earlier, and limped proudly with some minor injury that he […]
Easter memories
I wrote this a number of years ago, but it is still fitting. The memories still make me smile. Coming home with a bag of hot cross buns from the grocery store. I bit into one, and frowned as the bland, dry mass moved around my mouth. Of course I compared it to the hot cross buns […]
The stages of racing
The pre-race crazy stage I’m less than two weeks out from racing Moab Rocks for the second – and final – time. The current conversation in my head goes something like this. How can I work so hard and still be so shit – maybe I didn’t work hard enough – ugh – I should […]
Ma
Last week, my grandmother would have been 111 years old had she still been around. My father called her Ma, so we did too. I think she passed away in 1988 or 1989, so would have been in her late 70’s. I never knew my grandmother except as an old, old woman. Even my earliest […]
It’s not just fruitcake
I’m down to my last stash of Woolworths fruitcake pulled from my freezer this afternoon. There are 3 … no wait, only 2 now … 2 treasured slices left. As far as fruitcake goes it’s pretty decent: moist and just the right amount of fruity sweetness. It’s not special in that its spectacular fruitcake, it’s […]
The Road to South Africa & Wines 2 Whales
Wines to what? Wine 2 Whales is a 3-day mountain bike stage race in South Africa, put on by the same group that hosts the Cape Epic. The Cape Epic is a tortuous ordeal, high on suffering, low on frolicking and is not something I would ever aspire to do. Wines 2 Whales (W2W) is […]
Culinary comforts
It’s interesting what you miss when you’re away from home for a long time. Of course my bed, my shower and the familiarity of my life in my apartment. I also missed my kitchen. Self-catering has its limitations. While you can get by feeding yourself, it is within the limitations of always only shopping for […]
Childhood memories resurfacing
It’s been four week since I arrived in South Africa for this glorious adventure. Even though I grew up in Johannesburg, I’ve lived in Canada for more of my life than I have in South Africa, so Canada is home. I’ve been back 3 times in the 30 years I’ve been away, the last trip […]