This is my take on the whole Lance Armstrong doping issue. I watched the first part of the interview this morning and to be honest was not surprised by any of his admissions. Disappointed yes, surprised, not at all. I read Tyler Hamilton’s book towards the end of last year and had also read much the USADA report last year. So truthfully would have been surprised if he denied it all again.

I don’t know Lance Armstrong so I can’t vouch for his character but what I can say is that I was a huge fan while he was racing. Some of my favourite cycling memories are from the seven tours he won. I actually think that one of the reasons I love riding my bike stems from that time. I fell in love with the Tour de France back then too and to this day can watch every minute of every stage.

I’ve seen a lot of anger aimed at Lance over the last two days and broadly at the sport of cycling and it got me thinking. It is like that era of cycling never happened but it did. Even though everyone was cheating there was some great racing. As Lance put it “It was one big lie”. What it reminded me of was of Christmas. Weird I know, but it did and in particular Santa Claus. That is probably the best way to describe the way I felt this morning. It was like I found out Santa was not real.

As a kid I think you know long before you actually know that he does not exist. Do you know what I mean? I see it with my son now. He is at that age where his friends at school have told him Santa is not real, he probably knows Mom and Dad are Santa but deep down he wants to believe that he is real. He loves the idea of it and doesn’t want to give up on it just yet. Now that I am an adult I love Christmas even though I know Santa isn’t real.

I feel exactly the same way about cycling. While those tours were happening they were magical and mesmerising. But now that I know that Lance Armstrong wasn’t real it hasn’t changed the way I feel about the tour. I still love those magical three weeks in July but most importantly I still love riding my bike.

Another Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge is done and dusted. As always it was a great day out I am not just saying that because I work for 94.7 but it is such a well organised event. The weather played its part on Sunday too. It was fairly cool and the wind wasn’t too bad (In patches it did get quite bad though).

My Mom would have been so proud of what we did on Sunday. A year ago we put together a team of nearly 200 cyclists riding in pink in support of the PinkDrive and breast cancer awareness. This year we doubled that with 400 cyclists riding for a cause in Pink on race day. For only our second year being involved I think Noelene, Sharon ,Cecile and all the other fab ladies at the PinkDrive did an amazing job raising funds and creating awareness out of this event. A huge debt of gratitude also needs to go out to the folks at Garmin for the ongoing support as well (Mich you are an absolute star!)

The PinkDrive Group About To Start

I decided a month or so ago that I wanted to do the double. And by the double I don’t mean Read more…

Cyclists are cocktonsils. I know I’m generalising but that is what people tend to do when an individual that forms part of a group and behaves a certain way, people tend to lump them all together. A quick twitter poll just proved my point. When I asked “Are cyclists cocktonsils?” Not one person stood up for them.’

I had a really unsavoury incident on my ride this morning that reinforced the stereotype that cyclists are a bunch of idiots. Let me firstly say this. I ride my bike, so from an outsider’s point of view I’m a cyclist. But as far as I’m concerned I’m a runner that does triathlons. The bike part is just a necessary evil. I am not a huge fan of cycling (especially on the road) for safety reasons and I also find the cycling fraternity are generally on their own mission. An example of this is how few cyclists actually great each other (or runners) that they pass on their ride. It also irritates me that cyclists generally demand respect from motorists and other road users for no other reason that they are road users too. Even though the rules of the road obviously don’t apply to cyclists

Through Nic White, I learnt of the Right 2 Ride campaign and I agree whole heartedly with what they are trying to do. The basic premise is that if cyclists want to be respected as road users they need to respect the rules of the road, as all road users are expected to do.

This morning’s ride left me with a really bad taste in my mouth. I was riding along Voortrekker Road towards Keywest shopping centre at about 5:20 when I passed a lone cyclist, I greeted him and carried on along towards Keywest. As I approached the next set of traffic lights they changed to red. I stopped and waited for them to change again. While waiting this cyclist that I passed a couple of minutes earlier had caught up and proceeded to ride through the red light. I shouted to him that the light was red and he retorted “who cares? And who the f&*k do you think you are anyway?” And off he went. The light then changed and I set off after him. At the next big intersection (the cnr of Paardekraal and Voortrekker) he had stopped because the light was again red and there was quite a bit of traffic so he wasn’t able to jump this one. I pulled up behind him and his little rant began “who the f#%k do you think you are telling me what the f%$k to do?” I told him to relax and tried to explain that if he, as a cyclist, wanted motorists to respect him and look out for him on the road he needs to respect the rules of the road. Needless to say he wasn’t buying my argument so I just decided to leave it and let him have his little tantrum. And boy did he vent. “Are you the f%$king metro police? You don’t tell me what to f#@king do you f*$king c#*t!” And on it went until the light changed to green. As we pulled off he kept on going, I turned to him and said “have a great ride” to which he responded “I hope you get hit by a f#@king car”. I legged it, dropped him for the second time and I never saw him again.

What a cocktonsil. Just a few points I’d like to make about this chop (I hope he reads this, but with that sort of mentality I doubt he can read) and other cyclists that behave just like him:

1. I was trying to offer some constructive advice to help you ride as safely as possible. What’s the point of wearing that big yellow reflective vest and having that flashing light on your bike if you are going to decide which laws on the road you will obey or not?

2. By you riding like an idiot and carrying on like you did this morning tars me with the same brush in the eyes of the motorists that feel that cyclists are a bunch of arrogant gits.

3. You need anger management classes.

4. Get some legs you chop. If you could ride as well as you can talk you’d be knocking on the door of the pro teams. If a part timer like me can drop you twice in the space of 10 minutes it might be time to take up a new sport.

And if it makes you feel any better about yourself, I didn’t get hit by that f$#king car you wished on me. Cocktonsil.

I had a really interesting experience last night. I have done a few runs on dirt roads but never a full on proper trail run. I received an invite to the Energizer Night Race which took place on the Monaghan Farm last night. I originally thought I’d do the mountain bike race as I don’t really get to ride my mountain bike much but at the last minute decided to do the 5km trail run instead. That in hindsight was probably the wisest decision I’ve made in a long time. I would have seen my backside without a mirror had I decided to ride my bike. I’m not quite sure what I thought I thought when I read the title of the race and why I didn’t register that ‘Night Race’ meant it would be dark! First trail run, challenging enough but in the dark was probably looking for trouble. I nearly came a cropper a few times but luckily managed to stop myself from falling. Overall it was a really good run and I am dead keen to get in some trail running in the future.

There was also some YouTube greatness at the race last night. Still getting over his concussion after last weekend’s little mishap, Evan van der Spuy was also there. His name might not ring a bell but Buck Norris might? No? What about the dude who got taken out by a Red Hartbees at a mountain bike race in South Africa last weekend? If you haven’t seen the clip watch this:

It amazing how quickly things go viral online. This happened less than a week ago and that little clip has had more than 9 million hits on YouTube already. Truly amazing. The moral of he story is if you want to become an overnight internet sensation, get a mate to film you getting run over by a buck on your mountain bike.

The last 18 months have been a serious rollercoaster ride in my life. I have been lucky enough to transform myself from a morbidly obese couch potato to a pretty fit triathlete. I have been able to achieve some things I never thought possible but have also had a few lows along the way.

I’ve been working on a few projects outside of radio over the last few months and I have been lucky enough to share my story with audiences around the country and even though there is a lot more I’d like to achieve I have realised that a lot of people can relate to my background and have gotten fired up by my journey.

If you would like to hear what I have got to say you can book me as a motivational speaker for your conference or event. I will share my journey with you and some of the obstacles I have had to overcome along the way. It’s a story that will make you laugh, it will make you cry and in the end it will have you cheering. I will share with you the trigger points that got me thinking I need to make a change. I will also give you practical steps to make positive changes in your life. If you would like to share an inspirational story that proves anything is possible with your staff or clients then I might just be the guy for you. To find out more about me as a motivational speaker or to book me please click here.

Race weekend started early Thursday morning with the 960km drive to East London. I arrived at about 3pm, checked into the hotel and headed down to the beachfront for a short run to stretch the legs. It felt awesome to be down there and in good shape ready to race.

The swim course was open on Friday morning and I took the opportunity to get my first surf swim under my belt. It was an interesting experience to say the least. The first 5 minutes scared the living daylights out of me! The sea was quite rough and very cold (I’m really glad I bought a wetsuit the week before after considering not getting one for this race!). Once I got into my rhythm I settled and quite enjoyed it but those first 5 minutes made me realise I was in for a tough swim on Sunday. I registered and attended the race briefing on Friday night. I also forgot to mention that I had dyed my hair pink for the weekend in support of the PinkDrive who I was racing in support of.

The weather forecast for the weekend was heavy rain and for once the weatherman got it right. It rained all Friday night in East London. The weather was starting to make me very nervous. Saturday morning saw the first Irongirl South Africa run and the weather was superb. Not a breath of wind and the sun was shining. Everyone was secretly hoping this is what it would be like on Sunday morning. As soon as the race finished the wind picked up and it started raining. Again. In the space of 10 minutes the weather had gone from great Read more…

Another count down to another big race commences. This time in two weeks I will be at the 2011 Ironman 70.3 dinner in East London as a 70.3 finisher. Training this week has gone well. I managed to get a few really good sessions in and I’m feeling quite confident. This was my last big intense week before race day, this coming week will be a bit more chilled (although I’m still following the sub 11 Comrades programme) and then the week after is taper week.

This weeks training consisted of 5km of swimming, 213km on the bike and running 49km

If anything its my running distances that are concerning me the most. Not for 70.3 but I have decided to give a marathon a bash the week after at Johnson Crane. I have been looking at different marathons to try and qualify for Comrades and Johnson is it.

As far as kit goes for 70.3 I’m quite excited that I’m going to be rocking it for the PinkDrive again. So I’ll be kitted out in all pink, including my pink Oakley Radars that will be making their debut at 70.3. There are still two small kit issues I need to sort out. Ok they’re not so small. I need to have my KTM Strada 3000 serviced after the front derailer cable came loose on yesterdays ride and I need to get my hands on a wetsuit.

I’m also trying to figure out a way that I can have a map with live tracking on here on race day so that if you want to follow my progress you can, although I will be tweeting and facebooking throughout the day (except on the swim – haven’t figured out how to tweet underwater yet). So if you are a bit techie and know of a live tracking mapping solution I can use please comment on this post.

Halfway into the first week of 2011. Can you cope???!!! Phillip has come and gone and we’re into a new year. December was quite a hectic month and I was rather quiet on the blogging front.

I can honestly say that I am glad the silly season is over and that we can now return to some sense of normality. December was crazy busy. I worked through, as I always do, but there weren’t many fill ins on the radio, like there normally are, so I kept myself busy with other work. I was able to get a whole bunch of admin and necessary leg work out the way to start the new year off with a bang.

In other related news I had 2 tenants in properties I own decide that December is a horrible time to pay rent and that it was better to enjoy their Christmas celebrations than to honour their financial commitments. Needless to say I made sure both were homeless by Christmas but I still took a massive knock financially in December.

On the training front it was a great month. I managed to get a whole bunch of quality training sessions in, even if the weather wasn’t playing along much of the time. Ironman 70.3 in East London is just over two weeks away and I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. Even though I might be doing the swim without a wetsuit due to the aforementioned tenants. But it is what it is and we’ll make the best of it regardless. I also realised in the last week and a bit it is time to start getting serious about my running and January 1 means Comrades 2011 training has officially started. I had a look at the training programmes on the Runnersworld website a week ago and they scared the living daylights out of me. So far so good though, for the last week I have managed to follow the sub 11 hour training programme. I had a chat to Lindsey Parry (the Comrades Coach) just the other day to see if I was on the right track. I told him I’m keen to run four times a week, cycle 4 times a week and swim 3 times a week. He reckons if I do that I’ll be a for away for Ironman in April and Comrades will be no problem in May. So, that’s my training regime for the next 5 months. Watch this space.

2010 was really a bipolar year for me. There were some serious lows. In particular losing my mom and not having my run on the afternoon drive extended. But there were also some awesome highs. Personally the turn around I managed to pull off as far as my health and weight is concerned has to be the biggest highlight for me. From a serious couch potato in 2009 to running my first marathon in 2010 (and subsequently running one more and two ultra marathons) as well as completing a couple of 100 plus kilometre cycle races and two olympic distance triathlons and also losing about 40 kilograms in the year.

2011 is going to be a year of new opportunities for me. I have decided to put most of my time where I get the best results. 2011 is going to be the year to make some serious progress on my business side of things. You may or may not know I own a consultancy where I help business owners develop and create new business online. I’ve been picking up new clients over the last year but it hasn’t been my primary focus. This year it is going to be. I am actively looking for and helping people who need help marketing and growing their business using the internet. I’m quite excited and have already picked up a few clients this year who are already benefiting. If you know anyone who has a business that they would like to grow and expand in 2011 please pass on my details, I’d love to help them out.

For now can I take this time to wish you a very happy and prosperous 2011. May it be your best year yet.

Mohammed Ali once said “The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, in the gym and out on the road long before I dance under those lights.” and I’m starting to learn the same is true for Ironman. I’m learning triathlons, and especially the longer ones, take a ton of preparation away from “those lights”. I’m really battling at the moment with the solitude of it all. The long swims. The long rides. The long runs. Especially at this time of the year when everyone is talking about winding down and getting away and I’m looking to ramp things up and focus more. I actually just looked at a calender and it is only 16 weeks until Ironman South Africa. 16 weeks until I dance under those lights.

I have been visualising the red carpet and in particular the feeling of heading down that stretch of beach front in Port Elizabeth. The crowd cheering and going wild. Running towards the finish line you realise what you have achieved on that day. More than the 3.8km swim. More than the 180km cycle. More than the 42.2km run. Its the culmination of months and months of commitment and sacrifice. Doing more and going further than you thought possible. Everyone craves glory but few are prepared to put in the hard yards. Few are prepared to make sure the fight is won in the gym and out on the long road.

As you get closer and closer to the line the pain dissipates. The pain of the thousands of kilometres you put in away from the witnesses. When there was no one around to share a sunrise. Or a sunset. A rainstorm. Sunburn.

The first steps have gone unnoticed. The final steps to the summit will not. I haven’t been there yet but I have let myself feel what it feels like to cross that finish line. To the end of the red carpet. Arms raised. Skin crawling with goose bumps. You are an Ironman. Over and over and over again. 16 weeks until I live my visualisation. 16 weeks until I dance under those lights.

I was thinking about Thursday’s Prestige Ultra Triathlon at the Vaal last night. I forgot to mention in my race report about the organisation and I feel quite bad about it. I had a bit to say about the organisation of the last race I did and completely forgot to mention how great this one was. Even though the weather was shocking the race was an absolute pleasure to do. The marshals on the run and the folks manning the tables were out there all morning in the cold and rain and their support never waivered. The tables were superb. They were slightly closer together than normal (about two kays apart) which made a massive difference because I forgot my energy gels and other nutrition in transition so a pb on the run would not have been possible if it wasn’t for the folks out at the tables. I must say a huge thank you to each and every one of them. I will definitely be back for he next one and hopefully the weather doesn’t mess things up then.