How tough was the Argus Cycletour?

For those of you who missed my live Twitter feed as I struggled around this year's Argus Pick n Pay Cycletour click here for pictorial journal of my progress.

While it must be made clear that this year I was as unfit as I have ever been, this years tour was by all accounts toughest of the seven I have completed and would have been even if I had done a few km.s training. The gale force winds had a huge effect on all participants. Exactly how much of an effect is illustrated by the following statistics just in.

Target time Equivalent 2009 “Storm” time

2:45 actual 3:10

3:00 actual 3:35

3:15 actual 3:55

3:30 actual 4:20

3:45 4:45

4:00 actual 5:05

4:15 actual 5:25

4:30 actual 5:45

5:00 actual 6:25

5:30 actual 7:10

6:00 actual 8:00

In 2008, 1781 people did a “Sub-3”. In 2009 there were only 111. In 2008, 12844 people did a sub-4. In 2009 there were 4467. In 2008, 21765 people did a sub-5. In 2009 there were 12077.


Of the 73 start groups, only 2 made it through the first 100m without anyone crashing.

Cape Town gets hit by the Black South Easter

Cape Town has experienced some severe wind conditions the past two days. We are used to the some South-Easters but when rain comes along with it, it is something a little unusual. Us locals call this the Black South-Easter.

I found this bit of information on this local weather phenomenon @ 1stweather.com.

"The Black South-Easter is a much misinterpreted phenomenon. It is refered to as a "BLACK" SE event when the SE wind is blowing, usually rather strongly, and it is raining at the same time. A Black SE usually is caused by a deep low pressure system over the SW Cape both in the upper air and on the surface and a very strong/intense SAH south of the country. The Laingsburg Floods and the Easter of 1994 are prime examples of Black South-easters in Cape Town. The tight pressure gradient between the systems cause the wind and the low pressure systems produce the rain. These Black SE events usually occur during spring and autumn, the months when the incidence of cut-off low pressure systems are high. "

The pictures shown were taken by Lester Hein and there are many more pics on his blog "You are here." They are all taken at a notorius spot where the city's high rises create a tunnel-effect. This was so extreme today that the firemen were assisting people across the road.