Cow & Belle Down in Durbs
34 Riders ( 17 Red – 17 Blue ) | R329 000 Raised ( yes , I am bragging )
When I got the “ all systems go ” from Robbie Ric to host our very own event in Durban , I was truly humbled by the immediate support I received from my cycling friends and product sponsors . Within days we had a safe route plotted , sponsorship of goodie bag items secured , a list of very keen cyclists and money flowing in with gusto !
We set the bar a little higher with our R2000 “ entry fee ” and wanting each rider to raise at least R6000 or else … and they raised more and then some !
Saturdays are notoriously not the safest days to take on distances of over 100km let alone 180km in Durban so we had organised 2 back up vehicles , assigned ride marshals and appointed a Group Captain and 2 Vice Captains .
From the start our ride would be different . We had allowed , with a healthy donation to secure this , a ‘ relay team ’ of MTB riders to join the group .
Each rider would cover approximately 20km and at the allocated ‘ swop stop ’ the next rider would be waiting . This relay team had their own vehicle for riders and bikes and drove ahead of the peloton to the swop spots so that the transition went off smoothly . This , in fact , went so smoothly that ¾ of the peloton was blissfully unaware that there was a relay team amongst them and only found out about it after the event ! represented a wide range of riders of various abilities as well as ages .
But even though we did not look like the typical AC Team we see at the 947 , what was very evident was that each AC , big , small , slow , fast , old , young , kept the AC flag flying high . No rider was left behind , everyone assisted their fellow AC ’ s , and the group covered the distance with every rider finishing . TOGETHER .
We started together AND finished together , a very very proud moment indeed .
Stuart Singleton , one of our riders who had only ever cycled 120km , said at the finish : “ even my cramps were cramping ”!
It was memorable . It was mind blowing . It was successful . It was exhausting ( behind the scenes ) but it was beyond worth it .
DurbsDaisy
With nicknames like , Big Toe , Boertjie , Singh is King , Tortoise etc . our group of AC ’ s
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