The Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge is happening tomorrow and I’m actually really looking forward to it. It’s been a long and stressful build up to this year’s race. We’ve managed to raise close on R250 000 for the PinkDrive, we have 200 cyclists riding in pink kit and I am extremely grateful to every who has contributed to make this initiative a success. Thank you. We didn’t raise the million rand I wanted to but if you don’t set lofty goals you will never get close to achieving anything big.

PinkDrive cycling kit for the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge 2010

On the race itself, I have been in two minds about whether to race it and go for a decent time or have a social ride and see what happens on the day. I am super chuffed to have my dad and brother riding in pink with the rest of us tomorrow. My bro is a bit of a racing snake (Did Ironman this year and is hectically fit) and I’ve managed to do a few races with him this year already. To be dead honest I am super psyched to be able to ride with my dad tomorrow. He is in his 60’s and is in pretty good shape. He has 11 Comrades Marathons under his belt but hung up his running shoes after his last one in 1995. I’ve decided to ride with my dad tomorrow as I have never done anything like this with my dad before. I was able to do a bit of a ride with Dad on Tuesday morning out in the cradle. I was able to spend a couple of hours out on the road with him and had an absolute blast. If you’re riding tomorrow I hope you have a safe and enjoyable ride.

My Dad out in the Cradle on Tuesday

My preparation for the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge has been going well. As far as gear and equipment goes, it just got a whole lot better. I’ve been riding my mountain bike (which is about a hundred years old) but have been put on a KTM Strada 3000 road bike thanks to KTM Bicycles and Cyclelab until cycle challenge.

KTM Strada 3000

All I can say is wow! It is an amazing piece of equipment. Weighing in at just over 8kg’s its seriously light compared to my tractor. Equiped with Shimano Ultegra components it’s really responsive too. I popped through to Cyclelab in the Design Quarter on Friday to get measured up and to get the bike set up properly before my show. I was like a kid at Christmas. I couldn’t wait to get out on the road and put it through its paces.

Brad Brown & Andrew McLean

I took it out on Saturday afternoon and loved every minute of the ride. The set up is quite a bit different to my mountain bike set up. The thinner wheels also take some getting used to compared to the mountain bike knobblies. I found it a lot easier to climb with to, even though it doesn’t have a ‘granny gear’ like my mountain bike does, I found myself going up hills a lot quicker.

Click on this link if you would like to see the details of my first ride on the KTM Strada 3000 on Garmin Connect

The Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge is approaching fast and I see more and more people out on the roads starting to get active. I hope your training is going well (if you’ve started) and if you haven’t, don’t stress too much about it, there is still time to build up nicely in order to have a great ride. My PinkDrive charity initiative is starting to pick up some momentum (excuse the pun) but we are nowhere near close to where we want it to be. So, if I can ask you a massive favour, please can you continue helping me getting the word out there that we, as a group, are trying to raise at least a million rand at this year’s cycle challenge. The money is going towards a great cause and if we can raise the million we will be able to buy another educational truck for the PinkDrive. If you can forward this link onto anyone and everyone you know who is riding the race, is thinking of riding the race or who has ever thought about riding it. In a nutshell it’s pretty easy to get involved. All you need to do is raise R3 000 for the PinkDrive. As a PinkDrive group we have an awesome start time, you’ll get cycling kit to show you’re part of the group and you’ll get to ride along side some South African celebs that have also committed to ride in support of breast cancer. All the details you need are here, Brad Brown’s Cycle Challenge Initiative and check out Race 4 Charity to see how easy it is to raise the required money for charity

I’ve been working on a charity initiative for the 2010 Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge. Once again we are trying to raise some money for the Pink Drive. If you would like to know more, visit the Pink Drive Cycle Challenge website.

Pink Drive Cycle Challenge Charity Initiative

Bailey Schneider and I were talking about the Garmin range of sports GPS units on the afternoon drive today. As part of the entry process for the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge Highveld Stereo are giving away 20 Garmin Transitions packs, but only if you enter before 1 August 2010. You can enter by visiting the Cycle Challenge website. In that pack is the Garmin Edge 500 cycling GPS unit. I don’t train with that particular unit, I use the Garmin Forerunner 310XT which I absolutely love, but the functionality of the two units are very similar. If you love gadgets you will love training with a Garmin. Below are the details of the ride I did on Sunday afternoon. Take a few minutes and analyse the data to see what nifty little gadget it is: (by clicking on the view details button at the bottom)

It has been two and a bit weeks since Comrades 2010 and although my work schedule has been pretty crazy I’ve had some time to digest the events that unfolded on the road to Durban on 30 May 2010. You may or may not know what happened but in a nutshell I missed the cut off at 60km (29km to go) and was pulled off the road. No excuses, I just wasn’t good enough on the day but will be back in 2011 fitter, leaner and stronger to finish off what I started.

In the meantime though its time to set a few new goals for the rest of this year and the first bit of 2011. I have been saying in the build up to Comrades this year that once it was done I would be keen to give a triathlon a bash. I still feel that way but obviously the long term goal is Comrades 2011.

So here is what I’ve come up with as goals between now and 16 June 2011:

1. Complete a couple of the Energade triathlons which start in October.

2. Run the Soweto marathon in November.

3. Ride the 94.7 Cycle Challenge in November (and at the same time try and raise R1 000 000 for the PinkDrive)

4. Complete the half iron man in East London in January

5. Run the Johnson Crane Marathon.

6. Swim the Midmar Mile in February.

7. Run the Vaal Marathon in March

8. Run the Two Oceans and/or Loskop Ultra’s in April

9. Complete the Comrades Marathon in June 2011.

Some of this list may change between now and then but at least it’s out there. I’ve learnt that unless a goal is out there you’re never going to achieve it!

I always think it’s important to put things out there that you want to happen or that you want to achieve in your life. It puts a bit of pressure on you that you can’t back down. I did it when I first started in radio; I remember writing an essay at varsity about where we wanted to be in 5 years. One of the things I wrote was that I was going to be on 94.7 Highveld Stereo. I put it out there and it happened.

I also did that with my first 94.7 Cycle Challenge. A friend was looking for someone to train and ride the race with. I remember telling him that I’d love to but I don’t have a bike. A week later he had organised me a bike. There was no chickening out of that one from then on. I went on air and said I’m riding, which forced me to do the training and I rode.

My brother sent me an email yesterday with a copy of his confirmation that he is entered to do the iron man in January. He’s put it out there, no backing down now.

I’ve got to let you know that I’m seriously nervous to even think about putting this out there. I grew up in a road running family; my dad has done countless road races over the years including eleven Comrades Marathons. My brother has done one, but I’m sure number two is on the cards next year. It’s always been something I’ve wanted to do. It’s gnawed at the pit of my stomach for years. The 2010 Comrades Marathon is going to be something special. The organisers are attempting to break a world record for finishers of an ultra marathon. There is also a commemorative 2010 medal. It will be the last time the race finishes at Kingsmead. It is apparently the first time ever that there has been two down runs back to back. There is so much history being made in next years race that it hard to not want to be alongside the other 20 000 starters come 31 May 2009. So here goes, I’m putting it out there. I’m going to run comrades 2010.