davem

Any Clicks or Dischem. Ask for Venteze. Costs less than R40. No prescription required. And therein is the point. It has so little (no) value to an athlete unless you are suffering from an asthma attack. You can take the whole inhaler and you won't get any faster than you were before the asthma attack. If you take more than the recommended dose, you just get dizzy from the alcohol propellant.

Sunrise over the Karoo

After this seeming like an impossible journey, we are now in a groove and moving rapidly towards Cape Town. 180km more clicked off today. Blessed with a tail wind in the morning (oh the delightful tail wind!), the pace was quick. Some really fun fast long downhills gave us respite from the long drags. As we narrowed in on Beaufort West, the wind came on the nose and the heat sky rocketed. A tough last 30km made for a very rewarding day on the bike. Tonight we stay at Matoppo Inn, If you ever are down this way, what a nice place to stay. 930km are now under the belt but we have to guard against thinking we are almost there. The cumulative fatigue is building. Ida and I have avoided sunburn but our bodies are taking some serious strain. Ida's knees hurt, my quads are extremely sore when I walk but perfectly fine on the bike. Both our butts are very tender. Fortunately we have a sports massage therapist on tour with us, so Ryan's magic helps us recover enough for the next day (he can't help with the sore butts). We carry with us stories of inspiration and heartache which put the aches and pains in a place that we cycle through. We are grateful to have come this far in our personal challenge, but also are indebted for the support and donations received so far in our mission to raise awareness for the Sunflower Fund. This thread has already more than 300 views, our website, daily mails, Facebook and Twitter are getting lots of views and likes. All of this creates awareness for the lifesaving opportunity that can occur when you register as a Bone Marrow/Stem Cell donor. We encourage you to register as a donor (details here). It doesn't cost you anything and it doesn't cause any pain (the initial blood test or the actual donation if you are a match). We are almost at our original goal of raising R20 000 for the Sunflower Fund but would love to blow this number right out of the water. If you are able, we would really appreciate a donation on our Back a Buddy page. (Back a Buddy) [if you donate by EFT is takes a couple of days to reflect. Please send the confirmation to dave@davemillard.co.za and I will follow up to make sure it is reflected). Tomorrow (day 6) we head for Matjesfontein, the small matter of 228km. The profile is relatively flat, long gentle downhills, long drags back up. But there is a kicker of a hill at the end. Really we are at the mercy of the wind. Tail wind and it will be over quickly. Head wind and we may make it in time for dinner. This was the toughest stage of the Tour last year, lets hope Mother Nature smiles on us tomorrow.

After yesterdays great tail wind to Colesburg, Mother Nature put some balance back in the world and made us realise nothing is for free. After an easy start, the wind came on the nose and just kept building. Although a much shorter day at 139km, it was really hard work. Two things you will notice from the route profile. The road is straight for the whole leg, not a single turn, and the drag up from 65km goes on for 55km with almost no respite. Today the team really worked well, keeping tight to keep shelter from the wind. Our personal bunch riding skills are improving consistently. We have generally trained on our own on the tandem so are new to riding in such a tight pack. Butt eina index: 9/10 Tonight we are in Richmond in a fairly simple B&B. Very early start for a big stage of 180km to Beaufort West and we enter into the Western Cape.

Day 3 was about finding our Joy. 230km of dead straight, undulating road to Colesburg with a fresh tail wind for just about the whole way. A couple of hills requiring some hard work towards the end, but who's counting. What a ride. We averaged just on 30kmh for the day. Champagne riding. We finished strong and smiling, in a way better frame of mind than yesterday. It is amazing how the world becomes simpler on the bike. Your focus becomes singular on the ride. The group becomes your cocoon, providing comfort but also driving you. The scenery a constantly changing backdrop to your existence. Hills come and go, some you struggle, some just pass under the rhythm of the pedals. This hill is the last one, until the next one. Butt eina index: 6/10 It is hard to believe we have covered 610km in three days. If we were going to Durban, we would be there already. Tomorrow we have a shorter blast of 137km to Richmond. A slightly later start at 5am. I never thought getting up at 4am would be regarded as sleeping in.

Wheres as Day 1 was about finding our legs, Day 2 was about finding our heart. 213km of some pretty tough riding and Hot, Hot, Hot. The furthest we have ever ridden and definitely the toughest. Reaching the hotel in Bloem, there was a lot of emotion, We just hugged for a long time and absorbed the fact that we made it. The Sunflower team were fantastic, nursing us and coaching us up some really tough climbs. As the least experienced cyclists and only tandem on the team, we really needed their help at stages and they were there for us. Thank you. Our support team is also incredible. At every feed stop we eat well and everything is just so efficient. Thank you. At one of the stops, I realised just how famished one gets, I felt a bit like a hyena on a carcass at the sandwich tray. Politeness and good manners seemed to have got lost on the road. A 5600KCal burn for the day was a lot to fuel. A momentous part of the day was Cecilia, the founder of the Tour, cycling her first 100km since receiving treatment for Leukemia. She does part of each day's ride as her strength allows. A real hero to all of us. Butt eina index: 7/10 After a quick shower, we spent some time at the Katlego Cancer Centre, a CANSA sponsored home for people undergoing treatment for cancer. The residents come from the surrounding areas and stay while they have treatment at the Bloemfontein hospitals. Some come from as far as Qwaqwa and Lesotho. We met some brave people and heard some moving stories of challenge and survival. We will carry their stories in our hearts as we face the coming days. Needless to say, sleep was deep last night (hence this being posted a day late).

Day two preview. 229km from Kroonstad to Bloemfontein. >1400m of ascent. 4am start, hopefully it doesn't get too hot. Tomorrow we really find out what we are made. Never ridden this distance before.

Day one is done and dusted. 167km of easy paced riding was a good way to start. Spent much time chatting, getting to know our fellow Sunflowers. Six hours on the bike at 28kmh over an undulating route meant that we arrived tired but in good shape. The weather played along nicely, clouding over before it got too hot. Butt eina index: 4/10 Frees State was greener than expected but clearly showing the signs of the drought. We expect to see it get worse tomorrow. Arcadia Guest House in Kroonstad is a good place to recharge our batteries. We are not too fatigued and ready to go again for tomorrow's challenging 229km.

Tomorrow we set off on our adventure, riding to CT for the Sunflower Fund. 10 riders, 1 tandem, 9 single bikes. We start from the Grasmere Engen at 4am. First stop over is Kroonstad. A mere 167km. 657m of ascent means it will be fairly undulating, ideal for the tandem. Good leg to get into the rhythm of eight days in the saddle. Lots of feelings of excitement and trepidation.

Thanks for the good wishes.

Why fly when you can ride? This year we are riding the Cape Town Cycle Tour again in support of the Sunflower Fund. ...but.... with a BIG difference. We are riding from Johannesburg to Cape Town. 1412km in just eight days on a tandem bicycle. And then we ride the Cycle Tour, another 110km. We will be doing this with 8 other cyclists on the Sunflower Fund Tour of Light. We leave Joburg on Friday 26 February and arrive in Cape Town on Friday 4 March. Read more about our trip details here. Read more about the Sunflower Fund here. We would love your help please! First prize is that you register as a Stem Cell Donor with the Sunflower Fund. By doing so you make a commitment to donate your Stem Cells to someone who desparately needs them. You can save their life! It is free and does not hurt! Details on registering are here. Please let us know if you register as a donor. Alternately, you donate us some (lots) of money in support of our ride. All the money donated goes to the Sunflower Fund which is then used to create further awareness for the need for Stem Cell donors and to pay the costs of tissue typing the registered donors so that they can be matched to needy recipients. The actual costs of our trip will be paid for by ourselves, so all donations go to the Fund. We have a website with more details of the trip. We are also on Facebook and Twitter. Follow us for daily updates from the road. And just in case anyone asks, we are not riding back! Thank you so much for your support. Be Brave. Be Kind. Ida and Dave

Tyre for my Volvo S40 R999 Conti GP4000S R880

GP4000 S2 wins hands down for lowest rolling resistance. IMSA does a good job of cleaning the roads before hand. A chance of puncturing on a new tyre is remote. Just don't ride in the yellow line. It is not regarded as part of the race course and you are advised not to during race briefing.

This surprises me. 5150 is a private event governed by its own rules so they can do what they like. Any ITU sanctioned event can choose to be either Olympic (drafting permitted) or Standard format (non drafting). Both formats are 1.5/40/10km. Provincial, National and World Champs events for age groupers are all non drafting currently. I can understand the benefits of making elite events drafting from a spectator point of view but it would seriously depreciate the value of an event to age groupers moving to drafting permitted. Plus the tri bike industry would fight it tooth and nail.

Durban 70.3 does not excite me with so many athletes on that course. The course is great just too many athletes. Prefer TriRock Durban. Sorry to hear about the cramps. You beat me by a minute!

I always thought this would be my last race in EL. Five is enough....but... It is a very honest course. You do the training you get the time. No free ride in EL. Still believe I have a PB in me...maybe just one more

Did the race bags shrink? They are quite a nice design/colour scheme but really are the size you give to your kid to take to primary school. Not useful at all. I really like the gym towel. Going to get lots of use out of that.

Hi Gareth I took a number of gels on the bike. I am not a regular H5 user. I found them easy to tear, suck and discard within the confines of the waterpoint. The liquid consistency made them very easy to consume. Have no idea what flavours I consumed but in the heat of battle they were all pleasant. What is the RRP? The prices I have seen in stores made them significantly more expensive than competing products. Please advise the number of calories per gel. What are the other components?

Just looked at my pics from FinisherPix. R150 for one pic download vs R71 from Jetline for same from 94.7 Are we triathletes seen as a bottomless moneypot?

Sunday was a fun day out. It was brilliantly organised. I had no problems with the rolling start. Supporters were fantastic as usual. Knew that wouldn't be setting any PBs so after giving the bike a good spanking (because its fun), settled into a gentle jog to the end for a respectable 6h18. Medal is nice, T shirt is great (surprise). What I think could be improved: Swim practice was stupid. Standing on the beach for 40 minutes to undergo an irrelevant briefing before swimming was not cool.No access to paddling pools after swim to rinse off. Only one little shower with a queue of 50 people. Fortunately I knew about the change rooms, was the only guy showering. Also got told off for stepping through an open door at the change rooms and taking in the view of the beach and the finish line. Seems to be a very strict line taken and the desire to control absolutely everything. Don't forget we are tourists as well as athletes.Expo/Merchandise was disappointing/overpriced. Do not understand the business model of this. eg. Gu were selling there gels at R27.95 which you can buy at full retail price for R23.95 from Dischem. I use a lot and would buy a whole box, maybe even two if the price was tempting. As it looked like this was GU themselves not a retailer, they are also making the full retail margin. Their business I guess but a lost opportunity..

The 12mm of rain forecast by Accuweather yesterday has now disappeared.

Two observations: If ozone was the difference between life and death, and the only viable treatment, why did he not appeal the TUE denial? Following on, competing during the same time as the request/denial of the TUE undermines the veracity of the life or death claim in the eyes of SAIDS and probably made him a target for extra testing and analysis.

You will be even more buoyant in salt water. Plus all that extra oxygen they have at the coast.

75m for the whole 42km sounds right. Flat beachfront road. You still go up the hill next to the university but then turn and come back. Otherwise the total climb would be 10m.

I pumped my 28mm tandem tyres to 110PSI in a state of absent mindedness. The difference versus the normal 95PSI was unbelievable. Every little bump was transferred, bike was skittish and so uncomfortable. Next ride back to correct pressure was like a couch by comparison. You also need to check the maximum tyre size that your wheel can handle. Modern rims can generally handle bigger tyres but everything has a design limit.