Cape Town Cycling

Despite my fear and hesitation, this was one of the best decisions I have made in a really long time. I originally had found a bike to rent via a local shop, and was in touch with a local tri group to join some of their group training. But with limited time and a very tight work schedule, I really only had Wednesday for some personal time, and I decided it was worth the extra money to simply hire a guide and leave it up to a professional. Through some googling, I found iRideAfrica, a smaller touring company with guides who had some major road and mountain biking credibility. It was refreshing and made me comfortable booking - many of the tours I was finding were the 'hybrid, 12-mph, picture taking' type of tours, and while there is a time and a place for that type of cycling, it wasn't what I was looking for.

I have nothing but glowing things to say about iRide Africa, and my riding partner for the day, Jennie. She is a local, very competitive pro cyclist and knew just about everyone on the road.I booked an 'all day' tour, but told Jennie up front i was looking for 3ish hours, 45-60 miles in the saddle. Looking back, I would say this is my one regret. I booked all day, I really should have stayed out there much longer! We did about 75km, but to go all the way down to the Cape of Good Hope (where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet) is about 120km round-trip, and I was trying to be smart and avoid doing my first century ride of the season 1) 4 days after racing a half marathon, 2) less than 2 days after flying from DC to Cape Town, and 3) in the middle of a really intensive and important week of work. So I'm bummed I didn't do more, but at the time, and looking back, it was likely the best decision.

Despite my worries, the bike was amazing. It had a nice, cushy saddle and was perfectly set up! It was a mens Giant, and the only thing was towards the end of the ride my shoulders and hands started to hurt, as I am used to the more narrow handlebars/grips of my women's frame.

My trusty ride for the day! Surprisingly totally comfortable!

I got picked up at my hotel, which is not a very conducive neighborhood for cycling (GREAT for running though!) and we drove and parked in Sea Point. We headed south through Camps Bay (quintessential surfer town), Hout Bay (simply stunning) and the highlight of the ride was riding up and over Chapman's Peak. The road I can only describe as similar to the PCH along the California coast.

Climbing South up Chapman's Peak.

I was so happy with my cycling fitness, and was able to not only get in some solid climbing, but also enjoy the views and go a bit camera happy while riding. After descending the other side of the Peak (which I realized was quite a bit steeper/longer than the ride up!!) We added some more kms on through Fish Hoek, avoiding the baboons and tourists in Simons Town and Boulder Beach.

We stopped for the obligatory cycling cappuccino and scone, and headed back, where I did decide to play tourist and make a few stops to enjoy the views and snap some photos. We also got joined by a friend, who proved that you can find 'those type' of male cyclist anywhere - I don't think I need to elaborate.

Fresh cream? Why not :)

Back up!

You can see the road along the mountain. so amazing.

Climbing back up Chappie's - we made a friend.

Me and Jennie - Top of Chapman's Peak overlooking Hout Bay.

Looking back towards Hout Bay area.

After all was said and done, a post-ride Fanta (so good and so much better in South Africa!) with a view finished the day off.

El fin!

I have always said Cape Town is my favorite city, hand down. I gush about the city and the culture. Getting out on the open road only cemented this fact and I am already scheming about getting back.

Live blogging.

From the treadmill where I am walking at a whopping 6km per hour. Funny how your legs revolt after 18 hrs on planes.

Oh well at least the view will keep my attention

Weekend of REST

I keep starting posts and never finish. That pretty much sums up the insanity of the past few weeks.

We've had some personal upheaval in our home (all is good!), and I took a two-day jaunt to NYC last week to be met with false expectations and unrealistic timelines (blah blah). BUT I am on the tail end of a recovery week before my first build block and this weekend brought two nights of blissful 10-hour sleeps, shorter training sessions and lots of quality time on the couch.

Following a sleepless Thursday night, I had a no-good-awful slog on Friday. After some rest and a kick-ass swim on Saturday, Sunday I was rewarded with the best run I've had in WEEKS with some awesome company and deep thoughts, finished perfectly with a welcome visit by my parents who brought cake and lasagna.

I've got two weeks to push through before my first A race of the season, with a work trip to follow the next day (anyone want to donate to the "Sarah needs full body compression" fund? 24 hours of flying the day after a half marathon - my ankles are going to LOVE me!)

What is going to get me through the next two weeks? The promise of this pool, where I will be swimming to recover from the half-marathon, in between long work days. I wasn't sure what the Cape Town weather was going to hold, but I realized I actually took this picture March 16, 2008 - perfection! Every time I bitch in the next two weeks, I will remember this. And that glass building to the left? That's the fitness center. So even though I may be confined to a stationary bike and treadmill, things could be worse.

8 miles in two hours.

What it looks like to wander around a mountain for two hours in South Africa.

I would have kept going, it was actaully fabulous, but a lack of water and food forced me to stumble down back towards (what I thought) was the direction of the hotel.

No half.

I'm not going to run the half.  I am having a bit of shin pain (haven't been able to ice since being away), and really want to go into my last three hard weeks of training 100%.

I also really don't want a 4am wake up call, which would be required for a 6:30am start in Pretoria (I am staying in Johannesburg).

Also- I want to be a tourist.  

Last time I visited Johannesburg, I worked for 3 days and flew out.  This visit I have a Saturday stay in the city and would rather spend the day seeing the city than recovering from a 4am wake up call.

We are going to go on a tour of Soweto, to the Apartheid Museum in Sowetwo, and to the Farmer's Market, which sells crafts from all over Southern Africa.  Very excited.  Just have to get through the 2nd of 3 clinic visits today.  Here are some pics from our clinic outside of Cape Town, in a township called Gugulethu:

The entrance to the clinic

A beauty salon in the township- they are made out of old shipping containers

A house in New Crossroads Township (I think). There really isn't a 'typical' house in the townships, they range from hand-made shacks constructed of scrap metal with no running water or electricity, to brick multi-room houses. The house pictures above is made of ASBESTOS, and provided by the government, nonetheless. Crazy...there is currently a court case surrounding these asbestos houses.


This little boy was scared to death of me. Our driver, from a neighboring township, said I was probably the first white person he had ever seen. Even though he was scared and crying, he still managed to say "MoloSisi" (hello to a friendly female, in Xhosa).

Another reason to hate the treadmill.

Today I ran on the same treadmill that I ran my first miles after my injury.  It was in Cape Town in March that I started to test out my newly healed femur, with dismal results.  I was discouraged and sore, but so happy to have the confidence to give it a try.

So, 5 months later, I returned to the same treadmill.  Not by choice.  It is raining and hailing with gale force winds in Cape Town. 

I hopped on, walked a bit to warm up the legs.  I knew the treadmill would be in kilometers, but I figured 10k in an hour was a good recovery pace after the 18 on Saturday.  However, something was wrong.  10k/hour felt REALLY fast.  I thought maybe the 18 miles took more out of me than I thought.  I seriously couldn't hold 10k/hour pace...

I was sweating all over, sucking my water bottle, and my heart rate was through the roof.  I just couldn't do it.  I settled into a comfortable 8.6kilo/hour pace.  I was bummed, but then started to think more.

There is NO WAY this treadmill was right.  Then I started to do math....

Maybe the treadmill wasn't in kilometers after all?  NO WAY....no way I had been trying to run10 MILE/hour pace.  Wait....

So I sweated through 8 kilometers (miles?).  My heart rate was under control, but I just couldn't figure out the pace.  Hmmm, 8 miles in 57 minutes...hm, just over 7min/miles.  No freaking way.

Two of the cutie trainers that been watching me struggle (and probably laughing hysterically at the silly American girl) came over and said hello.  I politely smiled, tried my best to bat my eyelashes while still profusely sweating and said

"This may be a silly question, but is this treadmill in kilometers or miles?"

They looked at each other and laughed.  I wanted to run away and hide.  They asked what I thought it was.  I told them that I had just run the slowest and hardest 8k of my life, or just ran a 10k PR.

They laughed a bit more, then assured me the pace on the treadmill was fast.  They said there had been problems with the belt and that when they got it fixed it came back a bit 'fast'.  They were not sure exactly of the discrepancy, but said people estimated 6kilo/hour speed was more like 8, and 8.5 was more like 11.5.  So using that math, I ran 6.9 miles.  

Sweet.  So I accidentally did a tempo run.  And now when I think back, I actually felt pretty damn good at that pace.  Hopefully tomorrow I can just run outside.

Top 30 at Western States? Yeah, I can hang...

First of all, I honestly believe flying into Cape Town is one of the most beautiful views anywhere in the world.



My colleague, who is also a running buddy, has been in Cape Town for a few days now. There are multiple huge HIV-related meetings going on, and she met a lovely Tanzanian man, Simon, who is with his wife at one of the meetings. Turns out, he's a runner. Which is actually an understatement; Simon is a RUNNER. As in, top 30 at Western States for the past 7 years. As in, world record holder as the fastest man to ascend Mt. Kilimanjaro. And he is the most lovely 6'5, 150 pound man you've ever met. So we ran this morning.

And when I say 'we ran' I mean, he went for a nice morning jog and didn't even break a sweat, and I cursed the hills in Cape Town and hoped for traffic lights to turn red so I could catch up to him :) It was great.

Simon will race the 18-mile trail race around Table Mountain on Saturday morning. My colleague and I tried to enter this race, but it was sold out. Simon called the Race Director yesterday and got in, because he is special. We are not, so we will jog our little selves around Cape Town for three hours on Saturday morning.

I love it here.