The Ouzo

So after month of either not having a coffee or having a decaf at night, last night I had a regular coffee, let just say this meme is very accurate

Lets not sugar coat it, it is a drug (see what I did there ) At one stage I was up to 6 cups a day, because the coffee at work was good. And like you say, alot of it also has to do with the process/break , but I'm back down to 2 or 3 a day, and over the last month or 2 trying to make the last one in the evening a decaf. I cant say it affects my gut much, but then I am on permanent Anti reflux meds.

so what you're saying is, this drug, that is already not cheap, is just going to get more not cheap

we managed the same with a Hyundai Atoz. Although the front seats were very close to the dash.

Cant see to clearly which road you've selected there, but it appears to be the one I ride, its safe enough. You'll have a tail wind out and headwind back though. but you dont really want to be riding that route back with 140km of racing in the legs

I might have watched a little to much GCN with my 8 year old daughter. Over the festive period I went with her for a number of rides around the neighbourhood, everytime we go to pull away from a stop she does the "beep beep beep beeeeeeeeep" sound. hahaha, love it.

very cool.

Actually I think a safety car would make it worse, its easier for a car to get past a bike vs a car.

where in jhb are you based ? DM me you email addy and I'll send you the GPX of the route I use. Harties itself is crap to road ride around. The roads dont have much shoulder room and are in a poor state.

From Boksburg. Second time I've done it. You've got to get the timing right re: traffic. But on both occasions I've found the drivers to be rather courteous. From Brooderstroom towards Harties is currently sketchy as hell with the road works, and I'll rather wait for them to finish before riding that stretch again. But again, very courteous drivers and on 2 sections I had small trucks patiently waiting behind me until a gap became available for me to move over and let them through.

This here is MASSIVE. The mental power to push or not push, barring injury is the biggest deciding factor.

At the end of every year facebook reminds me of how little mileage I used to do. Celebrating less than 2000 km for the year. Its only the last 3 or 4 years where I've picked it up and am doing over 5000km per year. I'm never going to be a pro, I ride solo 99.9% of the time. I work 6 days a week and there is no one under my employ to do home maintenance and upkeep. I actually dont have the desire to spend any more time on the bike than what I do (ok maybe slightly more). I am happy and content with my cycling / life balance.

I was forwarded a screen shot of some guy who did the full 500km in one day. the challenge is just that, a challenge. The 500km being a realistic figure for mortal like me, for some that figure is no challenge at all and they therefore use the opportunity to challenge themselves to do more. my wifes family kept asking me this weekend when I'm going to do the Iron Man. Just because I cycled to Harties and water Ski'd the same day.

I will not argue that. My family and friends on the other hand think I'm training like a pro cyclist.

Exactly what it boils down to for me. My normal monthly average is 500km, this is compressing that down to 1 week. TrainingPeaks reports my TSS for last weeks abandoned attempt at 701, I've never seen above 400TSS in a week.

was there from the start. i recall another promo they ran about 2 or 3 years back where I picked up some stuff, items were free you had to pay for shipping. seems to be standard practice.

They’re all marketing campaigns. but, it’s a challenge for me, my monthly average is 500km, so to do it in a week is my challenge. there is no other time in the year that is practical to take a week off work, primarily to do a cycling challenge disguised as taking leave for family

Im abandoning the challenge. Body is just to sore. I know (I think ) where I went wrong, so will take up the Festive 500 in December again. it was challenging, it was hard, it was fun.

The legs are done. 120km still to do. water skiing for the first time in probably 20 years has not helped to keep the legs fresh

Some loops in Magalies/Harties to keep the mileage ticking over.

From time to time I’ll get a strange person giving kudos, a Quick Look at their profile tells me they’re not someone I know, so I’m quick to block them

Also under estimated the riding. 3 days in a row of 100km and the body is feeling it. although I think the biggest factor was the massive effort on Tuesday. I’ll be taking tomorrow off the bike, but we have some water skiing planned so not complete rest.

Long, hot, slow and windy ride to Harties

Day 4 - Harties Will do just a very short one tomorrow around here. Need to rest the legs, they are very tired.

Statshunters has it too, and you can drill down into it better than garmin