GW Freedom Challenge 2014

36ONE - 2015

The annual 36ONE was scheduled for the weekend of 17 April 2015. Once again organised by Dryland and to be run around the “basin” around Oudtshoorn. I do not think it is a good idea to drive a long way on the day the race starts, so we booking into a B&B in Ladismith for the night of the 16^th. Alex, a Scotsman who has been living in SA for 16 years, runs the Ladismith Manor. He moved down to Ladismith after retiring from a corporate job with a plantation company in Swaziland. He really made us feel welcome and we can recommend him to anybody who wants to stay over in Ladismith. We left after a scrumptious breakfast and made a quick visit to the local museum before heading for Oudtshoorn. We arrived there at 12:00 and had a light lunch before registering for the race, which was due to start at 18:00. In the queue I met a father and his son, Tonie and Bredell Roux form Johannesburg, who was doing their first 36ONE. They were looking forward to the race with some apprehension and I managed to give them some ideas on how to tackle it, which I think they found useful during the race. After I collected my number and the two boxes, in which I could put clothing and other supplies for control point 1 and 3 and another one for control point 2, we took the drive to Oue Werf, 12 km outside Oudtshoorn on the Cango Caves road, where we were staying for the two nights, or rather Sue for two and me for one only! It so happened that my daughter and her husband were invited to a wedding on the neighboring farm, so we were scheduled for some babysitting on Saturday afternoon and evening.

Race briefing was scheduled for 17:00 and there was an informal invitation for all Freedom Challengers, who participated in the 36ONE, to be there at 16:45 for a photo, so I asked Sue to take me through to the start at 16:15. She immediately went back home and agreed to watch me go by Oue Werf at approximately 18:30. I met quite a number of Freedom Challenge participants there, but somehow managed to miss out on the photo! The race briefing was at 17:00 and was as efficient as usual with no real additional information. The one change for this year was that we were starting in three groups. The relay teams were due to leave at 18:00; the teams at 18:05 and the solo riders at 18:10. The relay teams consisted of individual riders doing different sections of the route, while the teams consisted of riders riding the whole route together.

The start was punctual as usual and the solo riders got going at 18:10. The first couple of hundred meters was a natural zone, so racing only started once we left the tar roads of Oudtshoorn, which was after approximately 1 km. We managed to ride the first 30 minutes without lights, but then it got too dark and everybody switch their lights on. By this time we were on the tar road leading to the Cango Caves. This riding was fairly even a we were maintaining an average of more than 25 k.p.h.  This would stop shortly after we took the right turn towards Rust en Vrede Falls.  The road up to the turn off to the falls is tar and also reasonably flat, but it then becomes a gravel road and the gradient increases immediately. From kilometer 24 to 37 it is a constant climb, with a number of small down hills. We climbed 308 meters on this stretch. Once you get over the final hill after kilometer 37, it is all down hill to the De Rust/Oudtshoorn tar road, where we took a right turn and also had our first water point. 53 kilometers completed in 2:25. We went down the tar road for 6 kilometer before taking a left to cross the railway line. Shortly after crossing the railway line, we took a right turn down a farm track, to link up with the next district road leading to Dysseldorp. Most of the last 9 kilometers were fairly easy with only minor little hills to negotiate, but once onto the Dysseldorp road, the gradient intensified. I caught up with Jack Black, a fellow Freedom Challenger, on this section. This was until we reached kilometer 63 where we took a left turn and started the first major climb. The gradient was not that bad, but it continued for 12 kilometers with not respite! Once over the top we encountered some variation with both down and up hills until we reached water point 2, which also was the first control point, after 81 kilometers. It took me 3:45 to complete the first 81 kilometers, giving an average speed of 21.6 k.p.h. While stocking up with some food I bumped into Jack Black again and also saw Coen de Bruin who rode with us from PMB to Moordenaarspoort during the 2014 Freedom Challenge. I also used this stop to collect my leg warmers, an extra Buff and additional gloves from box 1, to arm myself for the colder hours of the night. The leg warmers went onto the legs, the Buff around the neck, the warm gloves into the front of my windbreaker as it was not that cold, but I did put the inner gloves on as additional protection. All this took 23 minutes and I was on my way again.

The next section was very much up and down, but the length of the hills was manageable. Riding at night is very interesting because on cannot see what is coming and you tend to follow the lights in front of you. This also has some interesting twists like going up a hill and seeing the lights disappears, but one remaining. After a while you realize that the remaining light is not a light, but a star on the horizon! The other interesting twist is the reflecting of the lights in front of you in a pool of water only to discover that is actually is some riders going up the next hill. We passed through water point 3 on this section. The undulations in this section were pretty severe and with the rain of the previous day, there were a number of pools of water in some of the drifts. One such pool nearly caught me out when I hit it at speed only to find that there was some soft mud, which twisted my handles bars. It was by pure fortune that I managed to maintain control of my bike and did not have a rather unpleasant connection with mother earth! Passing underneath the road along the railway line negotiates the crossing of the Oudtshoorn/George road. This necessitated riding next to the line for a while and then going onto some farm tracks before linking up with a district road again. This brought us to water point 4. After a quick stop I was on my way again. This next section to water point 5 (control point 2), was fairly easy with a fair number of undulations again, but generally heading down hill. At kilometer 163 we joined the Mossel Bay/Oudtshoorn tar road. After 12 kilometer we turned left onto the Highgate road to Volmoed. I managed to get into a good rhythm and was going hell for leather to reach the halfway point. When I started this section I was on my own, but caught up with some other guys along the way. As we turned left I pushed the pace and after a while realized that I dropped the rest of the guys. I managed to maintain this pace right up to control point 2, which I reached after 9:56. I therefore achieved an average of about 18 k.p.h. for the first half of the race. While refreshing here, I bumped into Tonie and Bredell Roux as well as Coen de Bruin and Jack Black. By this time my Garmin was beginning to run short on battery power and I had to connect it to my Power Monkey to recharge it. Unfortunately I left my long cable at home, so I had to take my Garmin off the handle bar and leave it inside my cycling top while it charged. During this switchover I managed to stop the timer, with the result that my time and distance from water point 5 to 6 was not recorded!

I notice, during the previous section that two guys kept on passing me and then shortly afterwards I would pass them again. This continued for quite a while, but we never spoke. These same two guys passed me again shortly after leaving control point 2 and this time I recognized them as the Roux father and son pair. Once again the passing and re-passing started to happen. The first part of the route to water point 6 was mostly uphill and the going was pretty slow. We were about six to eight riders who sort of rode together. Everybody seems to have different strong and weak points, with the result that there were lots of passing and re-passing. At 05:26, the red light on my headlight came on. This meant that I had about another 3 hours of lighting at the current level. (I always ride with my head light on level 2 as this gives me about 10 hours of light and it is strong enough for normal night riding as long as the route is not too technical). The passing with the other guys continued up to water point 6 which we reached shortly after sunrise, where I arrived with the Roux’s.

After a quick stock up again, I was on my way. The Roux’s managed to get the jump on me and was down the road allready by the time I left. Initially there was a number of hills, which made it difficult to catch the Roux’s, but once we hit the down hills to the crossing of the Gouritz River, I quickly reeled them in and even passed them before we reach the river crossing, but once we started climbing up the other side, they had just too much “vooma” left for me to keep up with them. At this point my energy levels was very low. My legs were barely ticking over on the inclines and there was 120 kilometers to go! I reached water point 7 at the foot of Rooiberg, just as the Roux’s left. The drag up Rooiberg was slow and determined. Slow due to lack of energy, determined because I was not going to revert to pushing. It took me close to an hour to complete the 5.65 kilometer climb to the top, ascending 380 meters in the process. Once over the top, it was easy going, but the road surface was such that I could not use the gravity of the downhill to full effect. Once in the valley it was just a big grind into Calitzdorp and to make matters worse, the road was very corrugated. I rolled into control point 2 (water point 8) after approximately 17 hours in the saddle. That meant that it took me nearly 7 hours to do the 77 kilometers between control point 2 and 3! An average of 11 k.p.h. Here I bumped into the Roux’s again, for the last time. I found a nice place to relax, collected some food and proceeded to have a good rest. I also disposed of my lights and extra clothing in my box transported here by the race management. I also changed to a different pair of riding shoes. My stop over here was approximately 29 minutes.

When ì left the legs felt a little better, but the backside was very tender! Initially I did not want to sit down because it was too painful, but after a while I got used to it and it became bearable! The section from Calitzdorp to Kruisriver is very scenic with a fair number of undulations and a general upward trend ascending from 242 meters to 690 over a distance of 26 kilometers. All of this is reasonable until we get to the last 4 kilometers where we climb 200 meters before descending to water point 9 at Kruisrivier, where they seems to farm with flies. I have never in my life come across so many flies! It nearly is as bad as a plague! I remembered from the previous races that there are a number of nasty climbs between water point 9 and 10, but my memory did not serve me well. I thought it was two, but it is three and they are brutal, especially coming after 310 kilometers and to make matters worse, when you come over the last one, another one looms in front of you! Fortunately we took a right away from this in the valley to start the journey home. The rest of the route up to water point 10 is quite scenic again, running down a valley next to a stream and with cultivated farmlands along the road, intersected by the odd hill or two. I was quite pleased to reach water point 10. With only 23 kilometers to the finish, the end really was in sight, but for a weary body, that is a very long 23 kilometers, especially as the road tends to go slightly up. Under normal circumstances this incline would not be a problem, but at this point of the race it was not very pleasant! My joy was great when I got to the tar road leading to Oudtshoorn with only a couple of kilometers left.

As I took the last right turn leading to the finish at Kleinplasie, I saw that my time was on 21:50, with the result that I put everything into the last kilometer, which was down hill and managed to finish in 21:52:26! The Roux’s beat me by 24 minutes, but I managed to come in before all the other Freedom Challengers, with the exception of Chris Fisher, who finish in just over 17 hours.

Preparation for the 36ONE

The 36ONE is due to start in Oudtshoorn at 18:00 on Friday 17 April. In preparation for this I decided to schedule a couple of long rides.

The first was on Saturday 21 March. I asked Hennie de Clercq, with whom I will be doing the Trans Baviaans later this year, to join me in a ride from Tulbagh to Bloubergstrand. Hennie invited his friend, Roedolf, along. I asked my daughter, Carine, to go with us, so that she can bring the vehicle back. We all met at my place at 05:30 and set out to Tulbagh where we arrived at 07:00. The starting point was the entrance gates to the farm Mont Pellier, west of Tulbagh. The first couple of kilometres are all up hill and took us over the Oukloof Pass, a pass no longer in use, but which was used by the transporters of the late eighteen hundreds to get from Cape Town over the mountains on their way to Worcester. The first part on the Tulbagh side have been paved, as this is used to get to the radio mast on the hill, but the continuation of the pass is through the "nek" and down the other side to the Berg River valley. The condition of the road deteriorates drastically from where the paved road takes a left turn towards the mast. Initially one can ride the down hill part, but after a while it gets so steep and rocky that we were forced to dismount and push. Towards the end the pass "disappears" and we had to "bundubash" the last 300 meters to the canal. We also lost contact with Roedolf on this stretch! He did catch up with us after a while, complaining about a problem with his wheel. On closer inspection we discovered that he was losing air via a loose valve. After that was tightened, we got going again. We crossed the local irrigation canals and entered a "wind farm". This was not here when I cycled this route in 2013. When we got to the gate, we were told that there were 46 wind turbines and that another 54 is due to go up across the road.

We crossed the tar road, which runs from Gouda to Porterville, and joined the gravel road running towards Riebeeck Kasteel. This took us down the Berg River, which we crossed via an old single lane iron bridge.

The condition of the road was pretty good with some minor undulations. About 10 kilometres before Riebeeck Kasteel, we turned right on another minor gravel road, which took us past the local cement factory and around Riebeek West. We went onto the Riebeeck West-Mooreesburg tar road. After about a kilometre we turned left onto good gravel road leading to Malmesbury. We continued on this for two kilometres and then took another left turn onto the Riebeeck River road going over a small pass and linking up with the Riebeeck Kasteel-Malmesbury road.

We stayed on this tar road for four kilometres and then took a left turn onto a public gravel road. At this point Roedolf decided that he had enough and informed us that he is going to continue straight on towards Malmesbury and that he will get his neighbour to fetch him from there.

Hennie and myself continued via some local public back roads up to the R45 linking Malmesbury with Wellington. We crossed that and continued down some more local public gravel roads for about 10 kilometres. We then went left over some local farms, past a big dam and a 4x4 track to link up with the Paardeberg tar road. At this point Hennie was starting to get a bit frustrated with the long hills we had to traverse! We took a right turn and then left onto the R302 between Malmesbury and Klipheuwel. There was a Spaza Shop along the road, where we hoped to get some cool-drinks, but unfortunately this was closed. Two kilometres down this tar road we turned right towards Windvogel. This took us to the Cape Town Bitterfontein railway line. Here we went left again along the railway line for another 6 kilometres, before turning right to cross it. There were some labours house here where we stocked up with some water. We then took a left towards a farm called Bonnie Doon. About a kilometre after passing the farmhouse, I heard a vehicle hoot. I stopped and looked back to see Hennie talking to somebody in a bakkie. I immediately realised that this was the local farmer and that he probably was not too happy about us cycling across his property! I was right, but as we were just about to leave his property, he reluctantly agreed that we could continue. The next 15 kilometres were over private property, but we were fortunate in that we did not pickup any further problems. I only realised afterwards that this route, which formed part of the Freedom Challenge's Bokkeveld route, is no longer open to the public! After traversing these farms, we joined that old Cape Town-Malmesbury road and took a right turn onto the Botterberg road. The took us to the N7. Fortunately one of my friends knows the owner of Keert De Koe, the next farm we were due to cross and we managed to get his permission to cycle over his farm. We crossed this without incident and took a right onto the old darling tar road before going left again past some sand mines and onto the West Coast road. Here we linked up with the Duynefontein road and cycled to Bloubergstrand via Malmesbury. On this section Hennie got into his stride and cycled away from me to such an extend that he had to wait for me as we entered Bloubergstrand.

In total we cycled 145 km, climbed 1,717 meters and it took us 11:28.




As Sue was going to be out for most of the day, I decided to use 28 March for another 36ONE traning ride. I planned to do Contermanskloof, Hoogekraal, Meerendal, Spes Bona, Leewendans, Klipheuwel, Malanshoogte and then Bloubergstrand. My regular riding partner, Mike Smit decided to join me for the first have and we got going at 06:26. Halfway up Contermanskloof we took the turn
off too Hoogekraal, which I rode in 49:30, just more than one minute off by best time. We took the link to Meerendal via the Contermanskloof corridor. At Meerendal we included the big climb up Dorstberg and ended with the new single which was created for the finish of the Cape Epic. We concluded this part of the ride with a nice coffee at the Meerendal coffee shop. Mike took the road back to Bloubergstrand at the Meerendal exit, while I went left to start the rest of my long ride. By this time I had done 59 kilometres in 4:30, which included the coffee stop. I cycled through Durbanvale and onto Adderley Road, taking the Spes Bona turnoff and onto Phisantekraal township. I went down the gravel road, which leads to Joostenbergvlakte, heading for the Spaza Shop to get a Coke, but unfortunately this was closed. I then tried the nursery and found a 500ml Coke for R15! I followed the tar road running parallel with the N1 betwee Joostenbergvlakte and the R302 tar road linking Bottelary and Klipheuwel. I crossed that and took the gravel road running parallel with the N1 all the way to Klapmuts Just before Klapmuts I turned left on the Eenzaamheid road.

At the T-junction I turned right down the hill on the Agter Paarl road and took the Leeuwendans road left at the bottom of the hill. At the farm I went left on the road linking the Paardeberg/Klipheuwel road. On reaching Klipheuwel, I decided to try the local Spaza Shop for some more Coke. Great was my surpise to get a 1.5 litre Coke for R13! This shows what a ripoff the cafe at the nursery was. I turned right on the Philadelphia road and then left onto Occultdale, which took me through to Addreley Road again. Here I went left and then right again onto the Malanshoogte road. At the four-way stop I went right to take the easy way back to Bloubergstrand. Going through Riverside Industrial area, I picked up a nasty cut of about 1.5 cm in my rear tyre. After a bit of a struggle, I did manage to plug and it held fine all the way home.

Total riding time 10:12; distance 152.14 km; total ascent 2,062 metres.

Cape Town Cycle Tour

Sonday 8 March 2015.

Time for the Cape Town Cycle Tour. The race Adré was training for when he was so tragically killed on 20 January 2015.

Due to some devastating fires in the Western Cape during week leading up to the tour, some of the routes became unsafe and the 109 km race was reduced to 47 km! A number of us decided to start in a lower group so that we can ride together in memory of Adré, so my start time was changed from 6:47 to 7:58. I joined up with Schalk and Johan from State Street and Danie and his friend Renier. Willie van Heerden, who studied with Adre also stared in that group, but we missed one another in the chaos of the start. The same happened to Jayson, also worked with Adré, and his wife

Danie, Renier and myself cycled in from Table View. It was a nice gentle ride and it took us about 1 hour to cover the 22 kilometres. It was quite a struggle to get to the starting shoot, but we did managed it in the end and arrived there at about 07:35. We were fortunate enough to find Schalk and Johan quite quickly.

We got going at 07:58. The pace was fairly sedate and it took us 3 minutes to cover the first 500 meters! We reached Hospital bend after 17 minutes while ensuring that everybody stays in contact. Danie was doing quite well riding his single speed. Johan and Renier were on borrowed bikes and Schalk and Grant were on mountain bike. I was riding my 25th Tour on the same bicycle! We did pick up some speed on the downhill and made good progress until we got to Wynberg Hill. Here the group spilt up quite badly, but we agreed to wait for everybody at the top of the hill. We did not have to wait too long for everybody to get to the top and than had the enjoyment of racing down the Blue Rout to the turning point after 23 kilometres. After a brief wait, everybody was together again and we set off on the return journey. It was quite difficult to keep the group together and at Ladies Mile Drive the front goys stopped again to wait for the "rearguard"! After quite a lengthy wait, we decided to continue and wait at the top of Wynberg Hill. The group managed to regather again after a wait of about 10 minutes. The "rearguard" having stopped for some Cokes along the way. We managed to stay together down the hill, up Paradise Road and past Newlands Forest, but then we somehow lost contact. Danie, Renier and myself (the front guys), agreed to enjoy the ride up Hospital Hill and regather at the top. We stopped at the top of the hill and waited and waited and waited! After another 10 minute wait, we decided that we must have missed them or that they had some other problem and continued with our ride. The ride down Nelson Mandela Boulevard and through the City Centre was quite nice and we finally arrived at the finish after 2:25. I, illegally, rode with Adré's timing chip on my left leg and managed to get him to complete his 21st Tour. The interesting fact is that although his time was the same as mine, he finished 3 positions in front of me. I know that it is against the rules to ride with someone else's chip, but as this year's Tour was such a casual affair and considering the circumstances of Adré's death, I though that it was worth the risk! The "rear guard" eventually came in at 2:52, a whole 27 minutes after us. Our total riding time was only about 1:55!

So that is the end of a chapter. Next year I can, hopefully, do a proper tour again and make it 26 with the same bicycle!

2014 Oak Valley 24 uur

31 January was the date for the annual 24 hour race at Oak Valley, Elgin. My brother once again agreed to second for me as well as his son who also entered. 

I arrived at Oak Valley shortly after 10:00 and found us a nice spot under some trees at the far end of the camping ground. Boet and Son arrived at about 10:30. We collected our number and readied ourselves fir the 12:00 start.

Race briefing was at 11:45 and Maurant Botha asked for a minute silence in memory of my son Adre, who died the previous week in a cycling accident. I decided to go ahead and do the 24 hour as it would give me some time alone for some reflection. 

We started at 12:00 with the customary Le Mans style sprint across the rugby field. My first lap took me just over 40 minutes. Lap two was my fastest lap at 39:04. I decided to do six laps before I would take my first break. At 40 minutes per lap that would be 4 hours riding time. The last 2 laps took 44 minutes each.

I had a quick stop at 16:10 and set again on some more laps while I felt fresh and the sun was still shining. I did a further 3 laps before I decided to take another rest. The next lap took me 59 minutes, including my resting time. I therefore did 9 laps during the first 8 hours 50 minutes. From here I took a rest at every second lap. My normal lap time was down to 50 minutes a lap and about 1:10 when I took a rest. It was mow getting dark and this called for increased concentration. My lap time moved out to 55 minutes. 

At 00:15 I saw that the battery of my Garmin was getting low, so it was time to recharge with the help of my Power Monkey. This worked well and soon I was just about at full power again. On the next lap in, I discarded the Power Monkey and was back on battery power only. Three quarters of the way through the lap, the Garmin suddenly went dead. I tried switching it on, but to no avail. At the end of the  lap I connected the Power Monkey again. It came back on and I set off on another lap. On passing the transition point, I notice that although the Garmin was on, it was frozen. At the end if the lap I came in again and tried to revive it, but to no avail. After a couple of efforts matters got worse and it froze in startup mode. It eas 02:15 and I decided that this was the right opportunity to take a rest. I leveled the driver's seat in my car and took a nap. It was pretty cool and I had two jackets and a tracksuit top on. After a while I dosed off and when I woke up it was 05:12. Up to this point I did 16 laps in 14:41.

I got going immediately, but at a very leisurely pace. The next lap took 56 minutes, but there after I stopped at each lap and was taking about 1:15 to complete a lap. I started my last lap at 11:04 and had to make sure I only crossed the finish line after 12:00 or else I had to do another lap. Something I really did mot feel up to after 24 hours in the saddle. My timing was pretty good Nd I crossed the finish line at 12:02.

Adre Erasmus - 28/07/2977 to 20/01/2015

I lost my son in a cycling accident on Tuesday 20/01/2015 and this is what I had to say at his Memorial service.

Adré - 28/07/1977 to 20/01/2015

As we have some of Adré's colleagues from the UK as well as some other people who do not understand Afrikaans here, I am doing this in English.

Our us hearts are aching today and we are very sad with lots of tears, but we can celebrate a life filled with joy by a person who made many people happy and conducted his life in such a way that I as a father can be very proud of the legacy he has left behind.

People always had something good to say about Adré. He was not flawless, but the good outweighed the flaws to such an extend, we missed most of them.

I am very fortunate that we had a very good relationship. As I am a Paul Roos old boy, the thought did occur to me to send him to boarding school from Standard 6, but we decided not to. It was one of the best decisions I ever took. I was able to build into my son's life with some quality personal attention spending lots of time next to the hockey field watching him play. He decided at a very early age that rugby was too rough. In primary school his nickname was Wolkie (Cloud for the English) because he cried so easily.

I started playing golf in the early eighties, but when Adré bought himself a bicycle with the money he made from delivering papers, I decided to join him (with a bit of encouragement from my CBMC colleagues Mike Smit and Johan Schoeman). We were due to do our first Argus together in 1990, but it clashed with a school camp, so Adré only did his first Argus in 1991. We spent many hours together on the bicycles. I still have many fond memories of this 14-year-old boy cycling to my work at the Pepkor Head Office on Parow Industria after school so that we could cycle home together. The bicycles also went with when we went on holiday and I also recall cycling the hills to the west of Mount Pleasant in Port Elizabeth swearing at him because he could not cycle up all the hills!

I always had the better of the young Adré on the cycle until 1994 when my work sent to the UK for a year. When I came back, Adré matured and kicked dust in my eyes. I think I managed to beat him in the Argus once since then and that was when he did it with just about no training during the year with the terrible South Easter. He would give done his 21st Argus this year. He did miss a number of years due to various ailments like a broken bottom bracket and some minor health issues. His best time was 2:49:17 on the old 105 km route, which finished at Glen Beach.

In 2006 he did a 3:02:20 on the new longer course with the Green Point finish. That is equal to a 2:55 on the old Glen Beach finish. Last year was not that good and, although he did not mention it to me, I think he decided to train a little harder for thus year's Argus so that he can try and break that magical 3 hour barrier again. This probably led to his death because on Tuesday night he was flying home with the South Easter on his back, resulting in him deciding to make the fateful choice of the normal but faster road between Boundary Road and Loxton Avenue rather than the little cumbersome cycle path with the undulations caused where Weir and Kei Roads join Marine Drive, which cannot be taken at high speed. Unfortunately fate had an appointment with him. I did go to the scene of the accident on Tuesday night and was not supposed to touch anything, but I did touch his leg and looked at the feet with the cycling shoes, at which I looked so often in the past when I was cycling behind him, lying in the road. I will miss them!

I also have some very fond memories of motor cycles trips to Welkom to watch MotoGp and a memorable trip we had to Kirkwood in 2003, riding down there on Saturday and coming back on Sunday. 1,700 km in two days! This was repeated some years later with Francois Meyer and Christo Kleynhans as company.

His commitment as a family man did result in us having very fewer motorcycle trips since the twins were born, but that underlined his commitment as a family man.

We also had a fairly regular date for a light lunch at Curry Quest, a quaint curry restaurant within walking distance of his work Mowbray. This just did not happen often enough and I was about to schedule our next one for early next month.

I loved my son. We had a great relationship. I am missing him and nothing will be able to fill the void. I rejoice in the knowledge that my son is in a better place and died doing something he thoroughly enjoyed! I will never forget the sight of those familiar cycling shoes in the road next to the Milnerton Lagoon!