Geoff Jones

Inveterate dabbler in business, travel, gadgets & life

Category: Biking

Day Days 13/14 Biking Africa – Cape Town & The Argus Cape Event

Well I finally biked to the Cape from Port Elizabeth! Even arriving in time to do 101 km of The Argus Cape Event, dropping in as a laggard and racing to prevent the broom wagon from catching me.

I had a very pleasurable rest day in Stellenbosch with Keith, whilst Irma went to a spa day day with her daughters :-). I managed to get a mirror for the bike and even fix it to my butterfly handlebars with the help of a clamp from my Cateye light. So hopefully no surprise trucks now!

The biggest discovery was the new Specialized Concept Store just around the corner from where I was staying. The store is actually owned by Specialized USA. This store comes complete with a creche area, outdoor kiddies track, MTB test track, workshop and The Cave cafe area. Cycles are displayed rather than grouped en-masse so it provides a much better experience. I also had the pleasure of chatting to Bobby who is Mr Specialized SA. Overall an excellent concept  and many thanks to the young technician who fixed my squeaky brakes and front derailleur 🙂

I left for Cape Town early on Sunday down the deserted 12 highway (apart from loads of runners) straight past the airport and it’s townships and on to Newlands where I had booked into The Mantra, arriving the place looked deserted and there was no reply to the bells so I emailed them and pedalled on for a look around the area.

I bumped into a guy who was carrying his bike having had a mechanical, he pointed to the motorway and said it was The Argus (Apparently the world’s largest timed cycle event over 35,000 riders). So I pedalled up onto the motorway where some other guy on a moped said did I want a push up the hill as the broom wagon was just behind, I declined, but then I saw the 101km marker and thought I might give it a go as I could always get a lift back 🙂

Argus is a fabulous ride down the very hilly Cape peninsular and back the other side. Every hill I came to loads of folks were walking up so I kept going until the bus was a good 30mins behind me. I did 63.2 miles of The Argus at an average of over 12mph, not bad considering I had all my baggage and had just cycled the 29 miles from Stellenbosch plus all those hills. Strava says over 7,000 feet of them! All done on a couple of rusks and loads of the Powerade drinks (they filled my bottle in less than a second 🙂 Unfortunately being a straggler all the food had disappeared 🙁

Great fun especially all the comments about bringing the kitchen sink!

I had an awful nights sleep at The Mantra as at 1.30am there was a commotion outside followed by someone having a shower 🙁 I left in the morning ans spent most of Monday snoozing at Altona Lodge a real b&b in the town centre.

My pics of Stellenbosch and Argus Tour plus a few hours in Cape Town harbour can be found by clicking the relevant links.

Day 12 Biking Africa Villiersdorp to Stellenbosch

close encounters
Notice the gap between the cyclist, truck and edge of road!

Another 7am start to the day as I wanting to reach the Franschhoekpas and it’s 1535 feet (468m) of climbing to its summit of 2424ft (739m) before the heat of the day. The road as already busy with the wine tankers and fruit trucks. I made excellent progress even though the yellow lines side lane kept disappearing 🙁 On the way up I got chatting to a young guy from near Heathrow who was out training for the Argos ride in Cape Town over the weekend. Thats him in the pic if you want to see just how close the fruit trucks get to you on the roads 🙁

A huge group of Harley motor bikers came down on a tour organised by Oscar-Tours.com accompanied by a back up truck flying a drone that was taking a video for them. I’m almost certainly in the video if anyone finds it please let me know 🙂

I was surprised how easy it was to get the top with it’s magnificent views of the wine valley below. On the descent I was held up by two huge fruit trucks grinding their way down with accompanying stench of hot brakes.

The town of Franschhoek at the foot of the pass just oozes charm and wealth with it’s crowds of affluent tourists, I managed a yummy smoothie then paid a quick visit to the cycle shop but not a lot to see so I progressed on, eventually stopping at The Eikehof Winery which apparently has the oldest Semillon Vines in South Africa dating back to 1902. They were just setting up for a sit down wedding for 96. I was amazed at the huge space required and to think Em is having 120 people! Me thinks the hall will be very, very crowded! The owner told me a lot about Namibia as his family have a sheep farm there. Apparently there is a stretch of road 200km long with nothing at all 🙁

I then came to the second pass of the day, Helshoogte Pass with its summit at 387m it should have been easy but I struggled 🙁 even stopping for a second lunch halfway up 🙂 In the afternoons the heat from the tarmac becomes a real issue for me. Once again they didn’t do a sparkling grape juice 🙁 Then it was a bomb down to Stellenbosch where it was amusing to see kids wearing shorts and long socks like something out of a 1920’s movie 🙂 A very pretty university town with stacks of coffee shops and green spaces. The final coup de grace was that Keith & Irma (Our friends from The Lycian Trail) live on top of yet another hill 🙂

Strava says I did 42.5 iles and 3,258 feet of ascent, although it switched itself of for the final 6 miles and climb 🙁

Some pics are here.

Day 11 Biking Africa Robertson to Villiersdorp

I managed a 7am breakfast and was on the road at 7.40 lovely and cool with a slight wind behind me the road traffic was so heavy for the first 20 miles on the R60 that I was getting pulled along in the draught 🙂 The road is quite wide with the yellow lines so didn’t feel to bad 🙂 although probably not so good if you are the nervous type. Apart from the stunning scenery the surprise was to see a huge baboon giving me a once over at the side of the road 🙁 fortunately it slouched off.

I took the short cut to the R43 thus missing out Worcester. At the junction I popped into the Aan de Doorns Cellar and discovered the delights of chilled fizzy grape juice, 750ml demolished in a few minutes even though I had drunk 1.5 litres of water already. Unfortunately no food, although the girlies wanted my picture for the companies Facebook page.

A couple of hours later found me at The Stettyn Cellar, far more enterprising! The lady rustled up a lovely lunch made from local produce even selling wine by the glass. But with my newly found penchant for fizzy grape juice another 750ml quickly disappeared. I was sat right next to the weigh bridge so as I was leaving she weighed me and the bike 🙂 Combined total 130kg.

After lunch it was another gruelling incline towards Villiersdorp quite why there is always a head wind in the afternoon heat is beyond me.

Villiersdorp tourist office did a fine job after I emailed them my plight this morning and booked me into De Villiers Country Lodge a pleasant place. The biggest drawback for me is no shower only a bath so difficult to administer my scrubbing regime.

The town itself is not so pretty and the Village Kitchen Restaurant won’t be getting any Michelin stars any time soon. Although they did let me buy some booze from the shop next door.

Tomorrow its Stellenbosch, over the Franschhoek Pass, to see Keith & Irma who Sally and I met walking The Lycian Way in Turkey.

The   55.0mi 2,216ft are on  Strava here and the pictures here

Day 10 Biking Africa Montagu to Robertson

7 Church Street
7 Church Street

I left the luxury of 7 Church street after a hearty breakfast and with a cheery wave from Mike and May, it’s owners, with Mike mourning the fact that he wasn’t going on a long bike ride too. He was very inspired when I told him about Derek’s blog http://nohangingaround.com/ Derek cycled from Cape Town to Ireland.

I stocked up with 3 litres of water as part of my new desire not to get dehydrated. The ride through the Kogmanskloof pass was incredible both for being flat 🙂 and riding around stunning cliffs following the river. I loved how some graffiti artist had modified the o in fort onthe sign Old English Fort 1899.

On the river
On the river

After the pass it was very pleasant riding through Ashton and then dropping down to the river at the Viljoensdrift winery. Certainly very pleasant scene and such a big river. Pity they didn’t do cakes etc and the only coffee was from a machine  🙁

I progressed onto the Bon Courage winery where they did cake but alas only sold wine by the bottle!  Staggering really, especially with it being in the countryside, there must be many folks leaving over the UK limit.

Nkqubela
Nkqubela

Robertson is a much bigger place than twee Montagu even having a little township on the outskirts. What puzzles me is that all the townships seem to have detached houses surely it would be more economic to build them as semi-detached?

Tonights place is Cedar Lodge very pleasant but a 30 minute walk from the restaurants in town. Its a 7am start tomorrow as it’s another 50+ day 🙁

Strava says I did all of 22.3mi with an incredible 641 feet of climbing 🙂

The pics are currently here