Money comes and goes

News flash.Alan made his first Trillion dollars today after some negotiations with a new Zimbabwean friend.After a brief encounter Alan found his trillion dollars had been palmed and Alan was a Trillion Zimbabwean dollars poorer.
Mark G however successfully negotiated the purchase of 15 bangles, 3 trillion and 50 billion dollars and 2 wives.

This morning we visited the spectacular Victoria Falls.

Hint for fellow travellers: when visiting the Falls wear yesterday's clothes so you can do your washing all at the same time.

For exhibitionists, where white.

Monday from Livingstone

Taxi is booked and cameras cocked locked and loaded for our visit to Victoria Falls. flew in yesterday and managed a glimpse through the clouds.More later.

Safely arrived in Joburg

Arrived safely in Johannesburg. Flight was 10 hrs 20 mins. We left the plane at 4:30am south African time (yawn).We have left our bikes in Storage and are now having a fine brekkie while we wait 5 hrs for the next flight. Interesting walking around airports with big bike cases. Most people don't know they are bike cases and seem a little suspicious.

En Route to Johannesburg via Perth

Well. What a great trip so far. We have found out that Qantas don't really like to honor qantas club extra weight limits on code share flights. Although to be fair they did after a lot of discussion. We had a beaut flight to Perth. We are now waiting for the flight. I have headed off to the Qantas Club- while my team are playing cards. So far so good. Just remember- bikes and gear in bike boxes weigh around 20 kgs. That doesn't leave much weight for anything else. Bye now.

Bike boxes are great

Well, I must confess I thought bike boxes were pretty weird things. I have now packed a bike in one. They are really clever and hopefully it will keep the bike safe during all the plane travel.

Photo of bike in box below. Big learning- you need a good pedal spanner and a friend to loosen tight pedals.

I am looking forward to seeing if I ride faster without an appendix and with three weeks of tapering. See you at the airport tomorrow, Alan Appendix

PS is Heart of Darkness a good book to bring

Only one sleep to go...

With one sleep to go all I have to do now is to pack some clothes and remember to start the anti-malarials. Finding my tickets, passport and paperwork might be another good idea.

As for butt cream I might just bring my own...

I have heard that tapering off training before a big ride is a good idea. I have a suspicion that theory is probably an excuse for running out of time and being too distracted to fit in some riding. However if the theory is true then we will be well and truly ready having eased off riding weeks ago.

With only one day to go, preparations are reaching frantic levels. I have even considered packing. Sunny outside so guess it's time to start training - packing will have to wait. Glad Mark is bringing the butt cream....... I think. Does it say on the pack not for internal use?

Weather South Africa Home: Port Elizabeth

To keep track of the weather- check out the link below to weather in Port Elizabeth. As we move closer to Cape Town I will change the location.

WeatherSA Home: Port Elizabeth

My first farewell gift

It is with great delight that I announce my first farewell gift from a good friend and mad keen cyclist Ben Hunt. Ben truly thought about what would be a useful and patriotic gift- " Aussie Butt Cream". I told Ben I would think of him every time I used his comforting gift. ......He didn't sound that impressed for some reason? I'll report on the cream during the ride.

Getting ready

It is only a few days before we head off on our South African cycling adventure. Preparations are going well, yet packing has not really begun. The team has faced many challenges leading up to this event including Appendectomies, Gout, Bronchitis and broken bikes.  Hopefully our preparation will be sufficient and those mountains we will ride up will be kind to us.
Our Journey (see map)

We ride from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town

Itinerary

Day 1- 26th Feb - Depart Melbourne to Livingstone in Zambia ( Via Johannesburg)

Days 2-5- 27th Feb - 2nd March Zambia ( Sightseeing and team building)

Day 5- 2nd March Fly to Port Elizabeth

Day 6- 3rd March- Getting ready to ride and Visit Addo Elephant National Park

Day 7- 4th March- Ride begins: Start Jeffrey's Bay and ride to Stormsriver (107 km) and stay at the Tsitsikamma Lodge

Day 8- 5th March - Ride to Plettenberg Bay (105km)

Day 9- 6th March- Ride to Mossel Bay (153km)

Day 10- 7th March - Ride to Oudtshoorn (150km)

Day 11- 8th March - Ride to Barrydale (178km)

Day 12- 9th March - Ride to Montagu ( 124km)

Day 13- 10th March - Ride to Cape Town (125km) 

Day 14- 11th March - Simonstone back to Capetown (120km)

Day 15- 12th March - Sightseeing day

Day 16- 13th March - "Ride the Argus" with 55,000 other cyclists around Capetown (160km)

Day 17- 14th March - Recover and Celerate

Hopefully in the next few days I will introduce you to each of the team members and a little about their riding experiences and their personal preparations for this ride.