The training must start

We have 85 days until the start of this years Starfish Challenge, for those who have not started to to train best you get on the bike and quickly.

Luckily I have been training steadily for the last couple of months. In January myself and ten of my mates created the Ice Cream Challenge league which was designed to motivate us to ride together and challenge (in a friendly way) each other to eight races throughout the year. We have already had a number of races, some on road, some off road with some interesting results. This weekend we competed against each other in two teams of five in a time trial race, the A team made up of Andrew, Richie, Andre, Ivor and Clayton beat my team which included Mark, Luke, Pete and Nick. Ok they beat us be nearly two minutes but we all had fun.

So my training program will take a bit of a dive next week while I am away in the Transkei but hopefully I will be able to get in a run here and there. Once we are back it will be full on training for our next Ice Cream Challenge race on 27th July which is off road at the Illovo Eston Marathon.

If you are competitive in sport and it doesn't really matter which sport it is, you need the support of your family. I am lucky to have a very supportive family who understand and provide me with enough time to pursue and partake in my sporting activities. I was supposed to be on holiday with Lynda and Brad the same week that Starfish is on this year, luckily for me my family understand that completing the Starfish challenge is an awesome experience and can change the lives of other people. Lynda didn't hesitate to tell me to complete Starfish and change the dates for our holiday, how awesome is that!

Its official - we are doing it again

Following on from last years Starfish Challenge which took us from Plettenburg Bay to Cape Town via the garden route, the news from Jhb is we are doing it again but this year we are going to be riding out and back from the Mother City.


The proposed route and approximate distances for the 2008 ride is as follows:

Day 1: Tableview up the West Coast to Langebaan. ±120km
Day 2: Vredenberg to Riebeek West. ±130km
Day 3: Wellington to Ceres (optional assault on Gydo Pass and back to Ceres +40km). ±110km
Day 4: Mitchell’s Pass to Villiersdorp. ±140km
Day 5: Villiersdorp (including Franschoek Pass and up and down du Toits Kloof Pass) to Paarl, ending the day’s cycle at a wine farm between Paarl and Stellenbosch. ±110km
Day 6: Paarl (including Hellshoogte Pass) to Simonstown. ±100km
Day 7: Cape Argus cycle tour route starting in Simonstown. ±90kmTotal distance: ± 920km