Cycle Tour Review

It's that time of year (well, a little later actually, but excuse me, I was a little preoccupied this past week) when we look at the weekend that has become a bit of a sporting highlight in our house: Cycle Tour!

It's a hectic weekend on a number of fronts. On the one hand my sisters and I are very involved working for the Cape Town Cycle Tour Trust, and/or taking on additional volunteers for the number of events they run preceding the race. This means everyone works long, often weird, hours, we don't see much of each other, and we have a significant shortage of babysitters. It's also the biggest timed, single day cycle race in the world, so for participants like my husband, along with my self-appointed brother, it's also the culmination of months and months of training. 

This year the littlies took part too. On Saturday Jorja, Ethan and Zac participated in the Tricycle Tour. We had a little bit of a meltdown at the start when Ethan and Jorja (the more seasoned - and much better - cyclists) got stage fright and nearly refused to move anywhere until Zac seemed to convince them. He was off, vuur en vlam (we need to have the "it's not how you start but how you finish" chat), and pretty soon was exhausted. Jorja and Ethan eased into it - for Ethan it involved being carried on his motorbike, in his mother's arms; for Jorja is was just a vote of confidence from uncle Andel. Anyway, they all finished, with smiles on their faces; they received their medals proudly - and then Zac promptly fell asleep.

Zac at the start, not quite sure this racing thing works!

On Sunday it was the big men's turn. I decided to skip the whole set up the night before. I was tired, Zac wasn't feeling well, and considering it is their 3rd Cycle Tour, I figured they could manage on their own. Well they managed to get to the start just in time, and set off on a good race. Zac and I even managed to see them on Edinburgh Drive before church.

The plan is always that we then try to catch them in Hout Bay, and Zac and I were making good time. Until we got to Hout Bay: we couldn't find parking, then I had to put Zac into his pram, put all his things into my bag, and then walk all the way to the route. And after standing there for 30 minutes, Zac and I did it all again (in reverse) - only for me to start the car and get a call from Andel:

"Where are you?" he asked me when I picked up the call. I immediately wondered if he was now standing at the very spot we had been just a few minutes earlier.

"I just got into the car"  I said, praying that he couldn't hear that I had already started it and was driving out of Hout Bay, "where are you?"

"I'm done"  he said proudly. And I breathed a massive sigh of relief.

I'm a self-confessed WAG. and I love watching the sport that Andel takes part in. The Cycle Tour however is by far the most challenging to support. It's all about timing and changing location, and I'm never alone so I always have baggage. There are weather conditions that need to be considered (the first race I was 6 months pregnant, in the middle of a heatwave), road closures, and in general, you don't know what's happening until it's already happened. So was I bummed that Zac and I missed Andel and Brendan? Absolutely! Poor Zac was shouting "Anno, Anno" with no response. But more than that, we were super proud of a really good time - faster than they had expected, and thankfully without illness or injury.

So, at last, we get a break from early morning cycles that leave Mommies alone with kiddies, and take priority over all other plans, and we look forward to the coming weekend away, bringing peace and quiet, and a much needed lie-in! Not that it will last long: I've already heard Andel and Bren planning their training for Knysna!