This week I have been in South Africa for work purposes and I could use the opportunity to ride the Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay Cycle Tour! This is THE event for cyclists, as it is one of the 10 UCI recognized GOLD standard tours and it has 35,000 cyclists participating!
This Sunday the tour was extremely difficult because of the winds, there was a South Eastern wind blowing with speeds of 60 to 70 km/h, which resulted in over 10,000 cyclists not showing up or not finishing the race. Even directly after the start, coming from under the Civil Center in Cape Town, the winds hit us right in the face and it caused many cyclist to walk or even fall.
However, being used the cycle against the wind along the Dutch polders, I was very brave and stayed on my bike, actually did quite well considering the weather. It was odd though to have to pedal hard on a descend to make any speed! Where I had been flyingwith no effort at all with speeds of around 40km/h the day before, now I was hardly doing 20km/h (and that on a descend!).
According to most of the cyclists at the finish, this was the hardest Cape Argus since history, I don't know about that but it actually was a bit madness.
My time was 4hour17 minutes, with an average speed of 25.6 km (110 km race).
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