Johannesburg in perspective [PHOTOGRAPHY]

Image courtesy Louise McAuliffe.

Revisiting Joburg's Inner City (PHOTOGRAPHY)

The Argus Fish

Huge shoals of ruby twinkling cyclists are filling up the streets. By huge I am talking about groups of 20 and 50 that coalesce temporarily into swarms that must number over 100 riders. And as we swing and swoop through suburbia, you see other riders slipping onto the bigger roads, or dipping down into a crescent.

Today was a hard day for me. Some major climbs including Northcliff. Was in major oxygen debt. Riding close to Carla though provided some inspiration ;-)

4 weeks to go now, more or less...

Northcliff X 2

Had a decent 2.4km swim yesterday with Nicky. Ended it off with a length and a half underwater, and could probably have gone further. Good news is that despite resting for the past few days, my weight is under 85 at 84.25kg.

I started taking a USN product this morning which accelarates your metablosim and helps you lose weight. A few minutes after ingesting the tablets I burped and tasted this horrible plasticky-chemical gas. YUCK!!!!!!!

Then, I took a bit of a tumble this morning. A car narrowly missed me, so I was forced to ride through a few inches of dirt and that's when my front wheel said goodbye. If I had been cycling faster I might have been able to stay up. I landed softly enough though. No scratches whatsoever. I guess a boep is good for something after all ;-)

My legs felt surprisingly vrot after not riding for 3 days. But they felt fresher as we approached Northcliff. We went up from both sides, and in the process I got my heart rate all the way to 167. In the 94.7 I only pushed it as high as 164.

On Northcliff itself you're pretty high up, at an altitude of 1724m. The climbs are long and steep, longer than 1km, from one side the climb is 2km. Ow. But a beautiful misty morning to be going up.

Here are my stats:
HR: 135/167
Distance: 34.4km
Speed Ave: 21.8km/h
Temperature: 14/17/22
Ascent: 630m
KCal: 1395

Boks Parade Route + Times

Pretoria - Today

10:00 Springboks meet President Mbeki at the Union Buildings in Pretoria
11:00 Springboks depart the Union Buildings

11:10 Victory parade busses meet at Southern Sun Pretoria, corner of Beatrix & Church Streets; 11:20 Departure for ticker-tape parade in Pretoria; Exit down Leyds Street and turn right (west) into Church Street; Left (south) into Prinsloo Street; Right (west) into Pretorius Street; Left (south) in Schubart Street; Schubart flows into Ben Schoeman Highway (N14);
12:30 Proceed on the highway & take the M1 South.
Turn off for drive past Vodaworld in Midrand; Proceed back to highway (M1 South); Take the Glenhove Offramp right towards Rosebank over Oxford Road; Right into Sturdee Street.
13:15 Arrival at Sasol office complex; team lunch
14:00 Team departure from Sasol offices

Joburg

14:15 Team heads for Johannesburg CBD, past Absa HQ in Rissik Street; Proceed through CBD towards M1 South; Takes the N12 (Bloemfontein) highway until the N3 (Pretoria) highway; Proceed in the direction of Pretoria until William Nicol off-ramp; Right into William Nicol and proceed for approx 2.5km; Right into Montecasino Boulevard.
16:30 Squad arrival at Montecasino

Above info from Highveld.co.za

Bloem - Tomorrow

09h00 Team departs to the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Houghton, Johannesburg
09h30 Arrival at the Mandela residence
10h00 Team meets former president and Nobel Peace winner Nelson Mandela
11h00 Team departs to the O.R. Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg
12h30 Team departure to Bloemfontein (BA chartered flight)
13h30 Arrival at the Bloemfontein airport

14h00 Arrival at Grey College
Mayor of Bloemfontein to deliver opening address
Q & A with Jake and John

15h30 Team departure to Vodacom Park
17h15 Halftime of Absa Currie Cup Final
Team to perform lap of honour

Durban - Sunday

19h30 Team departure to Durban
20h30 Arrival at Durban International Airport
Sunday 28 September
09h00 Team depart hotel to commence ticket-tape parade from City Hall
11h30 Team arrival at hotel, lunch
12h00 Depart for airport

PE

14h00 Arrival at Port Elizabeth airport
14h15 Departs for Greenacres Shopping complex
Team appearance and entertainment
15h15 Depart Greenacres for PE airport
17h30 Departure to Cape Town

Cape Town

18h30 Arrival at the Cape Town International Airport
19h00 Departs for team hotel
Monday 29 October
06h15 Selected Springbok players to SABC
07h00 Morning Live interviews
10h45 Team departure to City Hall, Cape Town
11h15 Team arrival at City Hall
11h30 Players greet Capetonians from balcony of the City Hall
Mayor to deliver speech

12h00 Players board bus, start of street parade
From Darling Street right into Adderley Street
Along Adderley, right turn into Strand Street
Up Strand Street and left into Long Street
Along Long Street, right into Buitensingel
Up Buitensingel and right turn into Loop Street
Along Loop Street and right into Hans Strijdom Avenue
Left turn into Heerengracht at the Fountain Circle, right turn into Hertzog Boulevard
Along Hertzog Boulevard, onto M3 to Woolsack Drive turnoff

13h15 Woodsack Drive turnoff, down towards Main Road, turn right into Main Road
Along Main Road and left turn into Boundary Road, Newlands
13h45 Arrival at Newlands Rugby Stadium
Team enters the stadium, parades World Cup to Capetonians
Handing over of Webb Ellis Trophy by John Smit to SARU president, Oregan Hoskins on the field
Team enters the Function Room for brief function
Above schedule courtesy saru.co.za

Scenes from a Job