Moment of Madness takes on the Tour Durban
This year was my third Tour Durban race. Ok Ok it wasn’t the full 105 km race but I am still going to claim it…
I hadn’t trained at all for this – I put that down to work and laziness…More of the latter – but I was adamant to get on my bicycle and push through the 45 kms. A mate of mine Marco decided to do it with me, and somehow hooked up a bike from his boss. The day before the race I checked my bike – I am surprised that I was actually allowed to ride the race – I had more rust on my bike than metal..
Anyway – I digress. We rode along the promenade from Ushaka to Suncoast, just testing the gears and acting like 5 year olds skidding around and scaring small dogs and toddlers with our immature behaviour. My pedal was of course broken but I managed to get it patched up and fixed. As you can see I take my cycling very seriously. I picked up a helmet ( gosh they aren’t the cheapest things around) and headed off to a costume shop. Yep, Marco and I decided to dress for the occasion. A cat mask, pirate mask, SA flags and weird sparkly red bats filled my trolley and I headed home, stoked and ready for the big ride.
We got there on Sunday morning and the buzz was captivating. Apparently there were a few thousand riders, among them 700 cyclists who took part in the first Cyclocross ( on and off road combined) race. Very cool to see the combination – Look out for that event – it’s going to grow every year!
The cycle itself was pretty awesome. Well aside from wearing a mask. Do you know how much oxygen a cheap Chinese cat mask lets in? Not much. In fact, I found myself looking for “the force” quite often because I was breathing like Darth Vader more often than not…
Oh did I mention how much I enjoy hills? No? Exactly. My little Wednesday legs weren’t in agreement with the few hills they had to peddle my unfit backside up. “Why did he call them Wednesday legs?” I hear you ask.. Well most people ask me “When’s dey gonna break?” I’m here all day folks haha.
We got quite a few cheers actually. Freedom day had come and gone and our salute to the day was the SA flag – worn like a cape. At around 55kms an hour it’s actually quite a sight seeing myself and Marco flying down the hill, masks on and capes flapping – the terror in our eyes hidden by badly moulded images. You see Marco went as “The Proudly South African Pirate” while I went as “The country proud cat” – see how it fits?
We didn’t set any records, nor do the hardest of the races, but at the end we felt proud and content – having ridden one of the provinces most appealing and fun cycle races. If you haven’t done the Tour Durban yet, go for it next year. You won’t be sorry. Unless you do it in a mask. Without training. On a rusty bike. Then you might be sorry. A little. We got cool medals though.
Till next time…
Take it easy
Jason