South Africa 2007

Photos

In March of 2006, someone from Meditech South Africa, a partner company of my employer, sent an email to everyone in the Meditech universe about forming a company-sponsored team for the 30th Cape Argus Pick n' Pay Cycle Tour. The annual event is the largest timed bicycle race in the world, held each year in Cape Town. I briefly checked out some information on Cape Town, and decide right then that it was something I wanted to do.

This trip was going to require more planning than any other I had been on. Not just planning, but training...a concept that in my life usually involves spraying the cat with water after he scratches the couch or jumps on the table. Almost immediately I started going on group rides with the Charles River Wheelmen, a great local cycling club. I purchased cold weather riding gear so I could ride well into the Fall, and then rode a stationary trainer in the basement during the Winter. It's a great device for keeping in shape, but it's boring and tedious, and it makes donning multiple layers of clothing and riding outside in 30-degree weather seem much more appealing than it should. There were logistical concerns, too, namely how to transport my bicycle and how to pack light enough so I'd only have one other piece of luggage (I didn't want to be navigating airports with a backpack and a suitcase AND a bicycle). There were baggage restrictions and weight limits to consider. I purchased a great hard-shell case for my bicycle which, with my weight on top of it, closed securely and still accommodated my helmet, tools, riding shoes, and other miscellaneous bits, and still weighed-in just under the 23kg. limit. Creative packing allowed me to get everything else in a large backpack.

I'll let the pictures do the talking, but the wildlife of Madikwe is amazing. Out of the four game drives I was on (two morning, two evening) I'd be hard-pressed to pick a favorite experience, but each one was special in its own way. Whether watching the giraffes at sunset, or watching the elephants march through the bush, looking at you with their huge eyes, it was superb. I will, however, relate one story which is not covered in the photo slide show: I was lying awake in my open-air cabin at 3am, unable to sleep when from outside I heard a very strange noise, almost like someone putting a vacuum cleaner in a swimming pool (SLURRRRRRRP. SLURRRRRRRP). I slowly leaned out of the cabin to see a dark form about ten feet away from me. It had four legs, high shoulders, and a long neck. Every few seconds it would lower it's neck to the small bird bath outside my cabin and take a very big drink. After a few minutes it turned around a galloped off, and the night was quite again. Very cool.

Well, after three great days in the bush, it was back in the little airplane and back to Johannesburg. I had about 20-minutes in the hotel to shower and change before heading to Meditech South Africa for a German beer fest celebrating their 25th anniversary. After hoisting a few beers and a peculiar schnapps beverage, I realized that I had been doing the wrong kind of training all along; I should have had been going out to pubs and practicing my German folk music. But the food was great, and so were the people. The company is like a big family, and they made me and the other American riders feel very welcome and tipsy.

We traveled by bus for two days to Cape Town, which is very scenic with the ocean all around and Table Mountain looming over everything. It was here that I finally assembled my bicycle and was relieved to find everything intact and relatively unscathed, despite the TSA's apparent rummaging through the case. After a long winter of riding in the basement or out in the cold, it felt heavenly to be riding outside in the lovely Cape Town summer, an experience made even better by all the other riders out feeling the same enjoyment. By now I was getting excited about the race, but after previewing the route on the tour bus and bonking out on a short hill climb, I was getting a little nervous about my chances and started to wonder if I had trained enough. But all those worries would disappear after starting the race, which finally came on Sunday morning.

I was up at 4am, unable to sleep again. Luckily the hotel kitchen was open so I went down and filled up on fruit and oatmeal (and then again two hours later). I checked over my bike, and listened to some invigorating music on my iPod. After all the training and preparation that went into the trip, I was more than ready to go by the time we rode to the starting line at 8:00. Team Meditech was in great spirits and we were all eager to hit the course. When we did finally start, it was smiles all around. I tried to pace myself for the first part of the race, but there was so much energy around and I felt really good, so I opened it up a bit on the flats and downhills. The whole city comes out to watch the race, so most of the route is lined with spectators cheering you on; it really adds a lot the experience. Even on the hills I felt very strong, and by the time we reached the half-way mark I gave up trying to hold back and just rode at the speed that felt right. Maybe it was the crowd, or the excitement, or maybe it was the four energy gels I sucked down my throat, but when I reached Chapman's Peak Drive about 80km into the race it seemed like the other riders were standing still. Looking back, maybe I wasn't going that fast, but when I looked out on the big waves crashing on the rocks, and then looked down the long road filled with riders as far as the eye could see, I knew that this was the coolest bicycle-related experience ever. Even on the terrible Suikerbosse Hill at 90km, with no shade and the sun beating down, and my calves and feet starting to cramp, I looked over at the guy next to me, an international rider from Nambia, and we exchanged silly grins and agreed that the day was fantastic. I finished the 109 kilometers in 4 hours, fifteen minutes; better than I had expected.

The next morning I said goodbye to the team and picked up my rental car. In some ways, I was more nervous about driving on the opposite side of the road than I was about the race, but after repeatedly telling myself to "stay left" I got used to it (although I instinctively tried to get in on left side of the car all day). My plan was to drive the race route and stop at all the places I didn't get to the day before. I visited Cape Point Nature Reserve, where the Indian and Atlantic oceans collide. I saw the penguins at Boulders Beach, and came very close to hitting a baboon with my car.

My last day in South Africa I took the cable car to the top of Table Mountain. Cape Town gets fogged in on a regular basis, and the ocean winds are fierce so I was lucky that it wasn't one of the many days a year they shut down the cable. Still, it was very windy at the top, but the view was magnificent, and it was a good cap to an awesome trip.

Back to Travel page.

Click the map to see parts of the route.