The Cape Argus bike race

Yesterday was the 30th annual Cape Argus bike race around the Cape. It is a 109km race that leaves Cape Town, heads South to Cape Point, then turns North again, passing through Hout Bay, and finishing back in Cape Town. Charlotte's Dad, Paul, and Hattie's Dad, Kevin, both took part. The race is the biggest timed cycle race in the world - there were over 30,000 participants this year, including former football star Lucas Radebe, former rugby star Francois Pienaar, and past Tour de France winners, Greg LeMond and Jan Ullrich.

The race heads through Hout Bay coming off Chapman's Peak Drive and up the steep hill, called Suikerbossie, towards Llandudno. Suikerbossie is known as the best place to watch the race because everyone slows down as they attempt to cycle up the steepest hill on the race after already riding for 90 kilometres. Luckily for us, the road is only about 100 metres away from our house and it was possible to see the riders from our drive. Hattie and Charlotte came over in the morning to watch their Dad's whizz past. We saw Paul, but Hattie's Dad came through after we left watching.

The winner finished in 2 hours 32 minutes - Paul finished in 3 hours 50 minutes, and Kevin finished in just over 6 hours. Creditable results! I wonder how I would have faired doing the race. I could not imagine riding from Cape Town to Cape Point, let alone all the way back. I just checked, and it is about the same distance between Helsinki and H (where Raija's summer cottage is). That is crazy.

Dan | 10:55
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