Don't Stop Believing.....

It’s been a day to remember. I can’t quite believe that I’m here. 12 months of preparation we arrived in Cape Town.


The journey to London went as planned and it was in London the fun began. We seemed to be sharing the flight with some particularly annoying French people. There was no queue where they were going and just barged everyone out of the way to get to the front of the queue. The pain in the French didn’t stop there though because Bigman has a small but very effective French lady sticking her knees into the back of his chair for the entire flight.

The Auld Alliance was severely tested but Bigman being kind of spirit let it go and put up with the inconvenience.

Otherwise the plane journey passed painlessly with both of us managing a good amount of sleep. Sleep on the plane isn’t like normal sleep as the days merge into a big blaumonge of days becoming one. The first steps off the plane are always exciting. I’d followed a large German lady who had to sidestep her way down the aisle for fear of getting jammed between the seats so when eventually the heat hit me it was very welcome.

We grabbed a shared bus back to the hotel. My bike bag was thrown on first followed by Bigman’s and then the assorted luggage of the other passengers. There was still time to squeeze on another couple of bikers. So the top bags were removed, the driver was just about to throw another 2 bikes on top of mine when I cried out in anguish and pain, for my poor bike, and he stopped and re-ordered the bikes so mine was on top. I could hear the crack of the carbon forks and was grateful that no damage was done.

The hotel is in a grand location and will suit us just fine for a couple of nights. The organisiation swings into full effect tomorrow with the launch, race briefing and bike hand over. Tonight was the party for the overseas racers. It was great fun. Hopefully the Bigman will load a few photo’s later……

So we plan a reasonably early night before matters take a serious turn tomorrow. We found an amazing restaurant at lunchtime today, which served fantastic food at really good price. The waiter was excellent and at the end of lunch passed us the bill. We gathered the cash, put it in the cheque cover and thanked the waiter for an excellent lunch. He asked if we would return. We replied positively and with a generous smile were on our way. Well our smile turned out to be our only generous act as we’d underpaid the bill and instead of leaving our kind waiter a tip had short changed him!! I wonder if we are still welcome!

It’s a beautiful place Cape Town and we’re looking forward to more exploration tomorrow.