Back on the Bike

Its been 12 days since my last ride and I confess I had no time to miss it. Yet, I can never escape this thing called the Freedom Challenge.

Even in the midst of a roadie tour, there were RASA guys lurking and ambushing each other with questions and ideas and inputs. Grevile (our timekeeper for the race) is returning for unfinished business and he would jump on his bike every afternoon to get in a couple of hours of riding.

Tim James was riding the roadie tour and hear this...his partner was Yolandi du Toit, one of our top lady professional riders. The legend called Tim was pushed up the hills by his female partner!! I couldn't wait to share that snippet with you all.

But I was too tired and immersed in the organisation to even wish for a moment to get on my bike. It took a further two days of 9 and 11 hours sleeps to begin to feel energised again and finally, today was the day.

What a gorgeous morning - cold and damp with a spattering of rain. Doug and I set out to do the Pretoria West ride but decided against it for safety reasons (hijack hotspot) and opted for an amble down the Braamfontein Spruit. This is our soul riding in Johannesburg. A gem of single track with greenery, flowers, trees and the river. And now in autumn, it is spectacular with the leaves crunching on the ground as we rode through.

We decided on the tiger line to Vida coffee shop in Greenside as we were getting quite wet and were reminded of the ride into Ntishikeni last year. Good call. We sat there for a while and the skies cleared and the air was sparkling after the light rain.

The sun came out and we meandered back home with a 60km ride under our belts. This was a great way to get back into training mode. Now that my event is over, I am free to focus on the Race and get my planning back on track. Its time to focus on the details which will get me to the start line and hopefully to the finish.

Not long now.