Amashova 2009
After much debate with my tandem partner (and wife, Carrie) as to whether we should do the race on the tandem, we came to the conclusion that we would only do the shorter fun ride of 38 km. As the time drew closer however, it was decided that Carrie that would not be able to do the race due to the lack of training. As I had been training on a fairly regular basis (mostly running) I decided to do the race of 38 km and just have some fun. I was not as fit as I would have liked but having cycled for about 8 years, I knew my legs could handle it as it was mostly downhill anyway. We had also discussed with my brother's father-in-law to give him a lift to the start - so I had a riding buddy to make it more enjoyable and have a good ride.
The Friday before the race I learned that my riding buddy was not riding and it was going to be raining on the day!! That's not a good start to a very busy weekend and 38 km of cycling on my ace!! The weekend was crazy busy! On the Saturday, I had 2 hours of tax lectures until 1 pm. From there I raced to The Stadium Kings Park as a an avid Sharks supporter to watch the Currie cup semi-final at 14:30pm. that was just bad from the start and the Sharks got beaten in the final minutes by a drop goal. The only good thing about the rugby that day was the braai outside - the most amazing steak roll in the world as per usual from our friend Jaco.
from the rugby, slightly drunk and more than slightly depressed we went to Camp Jonathan from the candlelight service of the women's Emmaus walk. It was a scary drive but we had a very good driver (Carrie) who got us there and back safely. It was a late night.
The alarms started at 04h00!! Do I need to say more? More awake than I ever am to get up for work - the morning started as planned and we were on the road by 05h00 and reached the start at Hillcrest High School at about 05h30 for the 05h45 start. The start in terms of car traffic was absolute chaos and this was added to by the fact that the roads in hillcrest are pretty narrow. Add now about 600 to 800 cyclists trying to get out of cars, up the road and into the school - well = chaos!! Carrie parked the car (we were in my dads car because Rory (our Chery QQ) does not have a bike rack! we parked and I used the little bit of road as my warm up.
The start was a batch start and I (somehow) was in batch A which was first off. The problem came in when the road was completely taken up by the fenced off batch areas in other words - I came from the back and could not get round to the front into batch A. Ideally there should be a little pathway with gaps in the fence to let people into the correct batches. The start actually happened on time which is a miracle in fun rides so we finally started.
It was a rainy start but thank fully not that cold and I was quite far back in the batch by the time we got going. This only means that for the first 2 /3 km (in this race mainly up hill) you are dodging idiots on mountain bikes who cannot ride straight as well as the useless teenagers who thought it was a good idea to do 38 km on their BMX's!
Once on the main road though it was all go and I pushed it pretty hard at first but tried to save some in the tank for the last 5 km which is flat. Being a fun ride - no one gets a group going so it was all my own effort. Or so I thought! Got to the top of fields hill and I was moving pretty quickly as was passed easily by two tandems and a single bike hanging on to their wheel. I know I cannot keep up with tandems but tried anyway. Was really good fun coming down a hill like that at speeds over 65km/h without bothering about cars or other cyclists. By the time we got to the bottom of fields hill the tandems had disappeared and it was just me and the other single bike - turns out this guy was supposed to ride the veterans pro bunch in the long race but had twisted his ankle in the UK so he did not want to risk hurting it further with the long distance so he rode the shorter race instead.
This guy being a pretty serious cyclist and me knowing what working together is - we worked together for quite a long stretch. Was really cool because I would pull for a bit and then him etc both just a flicking of the elbow to indicate the other to take over. We then picked another guy who just did not want to work with us and this is where I got it wrong. I pushed it too hard and had to just chill for a bit - this meant I lost the group and fell back. Thankfully there were only about 10 km to go. I just cruised at a decent speed without killing myself.
About 1.5 km from the finish I was passed by two riders who were motoring and I knew how far the finish was and I also knew I could suffer for that long. I tagged along for a bit then about 300 m out I sprinted past them and over the finish line.
Was a really nice race bar some annoying bits at the start and cars being on the "closed road".
So overall I think that it was a good race. as I said earlier - I would have like to have been fitter and able to keep up with my semi-pro vet friend but so be it. Monday morning was interesting - few unexpected injuries cropped up but they are finally going away and will back on the bike either this weekend or next week.

The overall stats were as follows (all off my cycling computer because fun rides are never officially timed!)
Time: 1:04:32
Distance: 37.83 km 
Max Speed: 68.4 km/h (slow in terms of the hills involved)
Average speed: 35.1 km/h

A busy weekend!!!
The weekend of the 19 to 21 of Septmber 2008 was super busy for my wife and myself! 

Friday 19th
It began on friday, when we drove to White Mountain in the central berg to meet up with my brother (Guy) and his wife (Sarah) who were out from the UK for a wedding. It was really nice to see them again even though it was only for such a short period of time. We drive up early (about 5:30am) from Durban to get the most out of the short time they were there.

Saturday 20th
This was a very action packed day!! After a very cold start at white mountain we drove back to Durban for my father-in-laws 50th birthday party that night. It was raining still but was not too bad. We had heard of snow falling on the southern berg and thought that we would miss it because we were too far north. We were wrong!!! Before the Mooi River toll plaza we drove into the snow. We stopped for lunch at Mooi River at the Wimpy and sat and watched the snow falling. It is the first time either of us had seen snow first hand. 
We kept driving and the bulk of the snow was around the Nottingham Road area and was really awesome to see. We did not get out of the car and play in it as we were still cold from Friday in White Mountain.
Saturday evening was an equally special occasion - my father-in-laws (Alan Payne) birthday party. Held at the Toti bowling club, it was an awesome evening with family and friends from all over the country. It was a combined event because Mike (Alan's sister in laws boyfriend) and Alan share a birthday. There was a live band playing and everybody forgot about the weather outside and had a good time!!!
Thank you to the organizers for a great night!

Sunday 21st
The plan (for myself) was to get up and race in the Tour de Nando's from Suncoast casino in Durban to Scottburgh Country Club! The plans changed when i saw the weather was very wet and raining and a howling south wester (head wind). I turn over and went back to bed.
The rest of the day was spent talking to family and just chilling.

Thank you to all who made it an awesome weekend!!!!
Keep a look out for the photos!


The last of the three Laister weddings!

Months and even years of planning, organized chaos, stress, fun and laughter came to an end at the end of March 2008 when the oldest Laister boy (Guy) got married. It marked the last of three weddings in 7 months. The trend was started with the youngest of the three, Murray, in August. The joy and organized chaos continued with me in November and came to a head with Guy on the 29th of March 2008.