Team Lickety Split does Xterra - Buffelspoort

Mike, Nando, Sue and Adri.
Wet, muddy and exciting! The event was well organized, though by the time we got through to the dam at Buffelspoort and added ourselves to the registration queue, there was only 10 minutes to go to the start of the race! Needless to say, the start of the lite race was delayed: add to this the huge downpour which they had endured the previous night, which meant several MTB bridges over the river had been washed away. 40 minutes late, we were off on a 400M swim in water advertised as being the 'freshest in SA'. It looked muddy and felt warm to me! 400M is a comfortable distance, though I was quite happy to not be doing the 1.5km!
The transition to the bike leg was quick, but I then joined some 30 ladies who found riding over rocks uphill in the wet impossible, so we all walked/biked the single-track for the first 2km. Thereafter, I managed to join some queue-jumpers using an off-road route (grass and pot-luck next to the track), which lead to a dirt road where we could finally get on and pass the unfit. The mud was challenging, but the diagnosis bandied around after the race was "....but we have done Bonamanzi" meaning - not much could be worse than that! Sometimes the twin chocolate donuts maskerading as my tyres looked just as bad, but we took every opportunity of using the river crossings to wash some of it off. Being determined to pass some more walkers in a particularly muddy patch, I found myself joining Nando in the Superman Club, by doing an 'endo' but still managed to retain my dignity by landing on my feet at 15km/h!
The hastily remade bridges held in the floodwaters and soon it was time to change wet, muddy socks for dry ones for the 6km run. Somehow this passed much too soon and I found myself entering the Dam gates sooner than I thought. The rain was still a light drizzle and very welcome throughout!
The organisers made sure that each finalist felt like a winner, by funneling us onto the stage for a photo by the race photographer, (which I have yet to find on the promised site - Facebook) but I managed to get this one of a tired Nando as witnessed by the upside down number!
Sue - reporting on the 'lite'.

Stef 2.08 - 96th out of 237 men (lite)
Sue 2.35 - 25th out of 57 women (lite)
Nando 3.32 - 70th (wow!) out of 186 men (full)
Adri 4.21 - 17 out of 23 ladies listed? (Found you in the men's list)
Mike 4.45 - 166 out of 186 men (full)
Con - M.I.A ?

It occurred to me that Stef, Con and I could have entered as a team for the Full, but I guess - next time?

So dinner at my house consisted of 6 Lickety Split team members, their spouses, 6 kids and my parents. Why dinner? To celebrate everyone in the team, their individuality and great team spirit. And how much I learn from everyone. And the spouses add their fair share of time, commitment and flavour to the bunch of crazies! Here are some pics of the evening, unfortunately only taken after dinner. Food was enough, and so were the dishes. My housemate Nicolien and I bravely took on the washing & tidying up after everyone left. Every drop of Sunlight worth a great evening!




Dessert: Pear & chocolate tart with cream/ice cream


The aftermath:

The feeling

So this is morning time after DnD. I did not 'earn' the report writing
privilege, but had to write about a feeling I get… And also had to
write about it before the day turns as I might forget about the
feeling.

After 2 days of rain, I spent at least 2 office hours on Thursday
afternoon conversing with a few colleagues whether it would be raining
Thu eve in Centurion or not. Everyone said yes, and the nifty hourly
weather man on HTC said yes for 16h, 19h and 23h. But working in
Fourways gives a better forecast than all of the above. Our weather
generally moves North, so Joburg gets the handout about an hour or so
before Pretoria. At 3h30 it stopped raining and from the office back
door the rolling green hills and back yard of the Northern Suburbs
opened up and there was it again… the horizon. Earlier on Thursday I
was going to see what the weather looked like at 15h before confirming
with the others if I was going to do the ride or not. At 16h55 my dog
was getting a walk, at 16h57 I opted to go see Avatar, but at 17h02, I
stepped out the office and as I walked under the cloudy skies that has
been crying its heart out for the past 2 days, I had a feeling. I have
the same feeling when I pack my bike & gear for DnD on a Thursday
morning. I have the same feeling when we ride through the MooMall boom
gate on our way out every week. I have the same feeling when I run. I
have the same feeling with Ciro Dinner Date coffee, home made pesto
and the music of Bon Iver at the moment. And I wanted more.

My car left the office and drove down Cedar Rd towards Lanseria to get
more of the feeling. Skies didn't open up completely, but the clouds
lifted. There was a window of opportunity, and I had a feeling that
it's gonna be a good night. Down the N14 a combination of Parlotones,
Die Heuwels Fantasties, Viva La Vida and Bon Iver set the mood for a
perfect ride. Get to the MooMall and the cars trickle in very slowly.
Everyone probably hosting the last feelings of should I or should I
not. But we did it again: talk about the weather of course, but also,
we did a Mild-to-Wild again. Donald as trailmeister, Eric as his
advisor and Oupa Gert wearing the green light at the back. Counting 17
riders and no new-comers we set off round the corner through the
veldt, breathing in the fresh smells of luscious green bossies. Half
way up left, to the tar road and to a greeting face of a former rider
parked next to the road. The oldies greet him, talk about riding and
Oupa Gert tells me he's good on the down hills. We go left down
Cornwall and right up the tar road for speed. Left up past the shebeen
for some speed and status of the queen. Slippery slide to Blair Witch
and first low speed collision and fall just before the road.

A few conversations later we came round the back of Quad Busta and
easy to the top. What a great feeling. It was Eric(Gadget)'s birthday
in the week and after our hiep-hieps and whoop-whoops, the "blanc de
noir" JC Le Roux made a quick pop on top of the hill. Everyone
complimenting the evening for treating us well and the view a treat as
always. Big boeing with "Happy Birthday Eric" and "Go Bokke" flags
cross us whilst the white caramel cupcakes lace our throats for the
Busta, backwards. From Smuts the tar road down to the green light for
another speed zone along the railway. Last part heading home: a tight
single track with a thorn bush on the right, couple stops and some
explaining they're not good on single track, even not when in front.
Couple rocky sections, last portions of kakiebos, something lemony,
something tropical in Nando's water bottle, something herbish and at
the fence we count 17 again and head back. Window of opportunity well
used. We didn't clock 35kms or even 25 I think, but we did it; despite
the weather forecasts. We used the opportunity. See, they come and go
and you can feel for it, or not. But act upon it, whilst it's around.
You can get this feeling when holding your guitar, your wife, your
kid. Perhaps whilst traveling or buying a new gadget. But act upon it,
use the opportunity to tell others what you feel, write about it, so
that those who were there can live in the feeling a while longer… And
those that were not, can maybe at least smell or experience a couple
minutes of it when listening us.

Life happens now.
Shalom

Boetie helping with new bike.

Kudus 15km - 2010-01-10

Con and I ran the Varsity Kudus 15km race this morning. Remembering that I have only done a max of 6km at a time over the last 6 months or so a 15km race was a bit daugnting - but if I want to do a 42km race on the 30th at least it showed me what I was capable of.

After about 9kms I could no longer keep up with Con - my legs just didnot want to run up the hills anymore. But on a nice long downhill I caught him up again when he started to complain about a sore ankle he has been having for the last year or two.

We ran together to the end of the race. The last long uphill seemed to last for ever but we managed. We finished together in a time of about 1:36 - which achieved my goal of running a little slower than 6mins per km.

FROG OR GIRLFRIEND?

A man was jogging in the forest one day, when a frog called out to him and said, “If you kiss me I’ll turn into a beautiful princess.”

He bent over, picked up the frog and put it into his pocket.

The frog spoke up again and said “If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will tell everyone how smart and brave you are and how you are my hero.”

The man took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to his pocket.

The frog spoke up again and said “ If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I’ll stay with you for a year and do anything you want.”
Again the man took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket.

Finally the frog asked, “What’s the matter? I’ve told you I’m a beautiful princess that I’ll stay with you for a year and do anything you want. Why won’t you kiss me?”

The man replied, “Look, I do adventure racing. I don’t have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog is cool!”

GoMulti Jan 2010

I did 74 km.h down that hill :)