3 days in Cape Town South Africa

 

After the 4-stage PE Plett MTB event, we were shuttled back to the PE airport. Safair doesn't allow you to check in for your flight at the airport until 2 hours prior to departure so we had to wait almost 2 hours in the airport lobby before our early evening flight. We were pretty exhausted as we had a 7am race start that morning (Sat Feb 24th), raced for almost 3 hours, finished the race, showered, got our awards, waited a few hours for the shuttle to leave, sat in the shuttle for 90 minutes and then arrived to the airport. Although we had our bikes (and cases) driven to the race thanks to Manic Cycles, we flew back with our bikes to Cape Town. 

After checking in for our flights, it was a breeze through security and then we went to the Bidvest Premier Lounge to wait until our flight was boarding. I was really excited to have some good food options after 4 days of not-so-great vegetarian options. 

Our flight arrived at 8:20pm in Cape Town and after collecting our suitcases and bikes, we were greeted by our hotel shuttle driver. I arranged a shuttle pick up with our hotel so that we didn't have to get an Uber or Taxi. The shuttle was a little pricey ($22 USD or 430 Rand) but it was worth it for the no-stress airport to hotel transport in the evening. 

We arrived to our hotel - Onomo Hotel Cape Town - around 9:30pm. I found this hotel online and I got a great deal around $100/night (including breakfast). We were a bit hungry so after checking into our room and unloading our stuff, we walked to a convenience store next to the hotel to get some yogurt and bottled water. 

We had a great night of sleep (after 4 days of camping and racing) and used Sunday as a recharge day. 

We slept in, ate a delicious breakfast at the hotel (which was included in our stay). I second guessed myself with our hotel location as I wondered if we should have stayed by the ocean but I realized our hotel was in the perfect location for us. 

After working on the computer for several hours in the morning, we ventured out for lunch and then explored the city. 

We ate lunch at Le Petit Cape Wines and Tapas Bar (at Green Market Square, where our hotel was located) and it was absolutely amazing. We then walked to the Bo-Kaap neighborhood. We saw some amazing art and I saw a kitten so it was a great day ;) 

Karel got his flat white fix at Kimili Coffee, which was located next to the Red Bus Sight Seeing offices. When we were ready for dinner, we walked to Hudson's Burger Joint. There were several vegetarian burger options. Our meal was delicious. 

As we walked back to our hotel in the early evening, I couldn't believe how many locals were out at the bars/clubs on a Sunday night. 

On Monday, after eating breakfast, we bought out tickets for a day on the Red Bus and started our journey around Cape Town. 

I highly recommend doing the Red Bus tour if you are visiting Cape Town. Not only do you get to see a lot of the area but you also learn a lot with the headphones and informative story-telling throughout the ride. You can stay on the bus and jump off at any of the 24 stops. Just make sure to hold on to your hat if you sit on the top level of the bus as it can get windy. 

We rode the bus to shuttle stop 11 and got off at Sea Point. We hadn't swam in a week and I was really missing the pool. I researched pools in the Cape Town Area and came across the Sea Point Swimming Pool which looked amazing. A 27 meter outdoor pool by the ocean. 

We got off the shuttle, paid $1.80 to enter the pool area and I could not wait to swim. Well, that was short lived as the water was freezing! It was not heated and very cold. I managed ~400 meters and then I couldn't take it any more. I went to the diving well to swim until 700 meters. The diving well was a little less cold but the water was green and looked like a lake, which was a strange feeling. 

Karel was able to swim a bit more than I could but nonetheless, it was still a cool experience. Karel got ice cream after the swim (I took a while to warm up) and then we waited for the bus to hop back on (every 20 minutes a bus arrives to the designated stops). We finished our ride around Cape Town and got off at stop 5 (the Tour office) which was where our hotel was located. 

Our hotel was in the prime location of the town as it is also where all the vendors set up their shops every morning (and take it down every evening). If you want to buy gifts and souvenirs, this is a good spot to shop. You can negotiate with the vendors but just be aware that the items are similar at each vendor tent. 

We were pretty hungry when we arrived back to our hotel a little after noon so we decided to go back to our new favorite restaurant Le Petit Cape Wines and Tapas Bar for another delicious lunch. 

In the early afternoon, we jumped back on the bus and took the blue line bus to stop 22 - World of Birds and Monkey Jungle. There weren't a lot of people there which made it feel like a private visit to the largest sanctuary of birds in South Africa. It was really neat to be so close to the birds. We spent around 90 minutes walking around and it was a really cool experience. The monkeys were extra cute. 

We got back on the blue bus and finished off our daily tour. I really enjoyed the information that we learned on the blue bus line so I highly recommend getting on that bus line, even if you don't plan to get off at any of the stops. 

For dinner we had the most incredible dining experience at Madam Taitou. This Ethiopian Cuisine restaurant was amazing. We ate with our hands, the restaurant was filled with culture and the food was amazing. I got a vegetarian sampler dish that had a variety of different food selections. The lentils were my favorite. 

The US dollar goes very far in South Africa so for all of our meals, we never paid more than $25 - total. 

For our last day in Cape Town, after eating breakfast, we got in some activity by running 2.3 miles to the Lions Head Parking area. We fast hiked up to the top and back down. Then ran back to the hotel. In total it was 7.6 miles, 2100 feet and took us an hour and 48 hours. It was a beautiful, fun, adventurous 3 mile round trip hike with amazing views along the way. As the locals say, it was lekker!

The hike had a few technical sections with ladders and there was a few "climbing" up and over rocks which made forr a fun hiking experience. It was really cool to see different parts of cape town as we navigated our way around Lions Head. 

After we cleaned up in our hotel room, we walked to Clarke's for lunch. I had a delicious salad and Karel had a sandwich. 

As for the rest of the day, we packed up our stuff and did some gift shopping. We got a late checkout by paying for 1/2 day and arranged another shuttle to the airport. Around 6pm we took a walk around the garden area. We left for the airport around 7pm for our 11pm, 16-hour flight back to the US. 

We had an incredible experience in South Africa. This was our second time visiting and we just love the people, nature, animals, food and culture. 

Reunited after 2.5 weeks. 

'24 PE Plett 4 stage MTB event

We enjoyed our experience at PE Plett. Instead of writing a recap of each stage, I'll provide some thoughts on our overall experience from this 4-stage MTB event. 

COST

• Total cost: $2171
• Event: $690 per person (includes 4 days of riding, 3 nights luxury tent accomodations and 10 meals)
• No hassle package: $134 per person (shuttle pick up/drop off at Port Elizabeth airport, pre-event luxury tent accomodation, dinner and breakfast)
• Hotel in Port Elizabeth (Courtyard Port Elizabeth): $93
• Hotel airport shuttle: $12 each way 
• Bike transport: $96 one way (bikes and bike case transferred from Cape Town Giant Bike Store so we didn't have to fly with the bikes to the event)
• Flights (Cape Town to Port Elizabeth): Safair $280 ($140 per person, round trip)
• Safair Bike fee from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town: $30 ($15 per bike)
  
  
  

LOGISTICS
As with most stage races, the start and finish are in different locations. I would say that most people who were local had someone drop them off at Kurland on Wednesday morning before the start of stage 1 and then pick them up at Zwartenbosch on Saturday, at the conclusion of the event. The distance was 84 miles between the two locations. There was also an option to drop off your car at Kurland and pay someone to drive it to the finish. People who were not from the Plett or Port Elizabeth area used this option. Then there was the shuttle bus option (which we used) which was very convenient and affordable. The drive from Port Elizabeth airport to Kurland took about 3 hours (140 miles), which includes a 30-minute stop for road construction. From Zwartenbosch to the airport, it took a little less than 2 hours (64 miles). We opted to use a service to transport our bikes (and bike cases) from Cape Town to the start of the event (instead of flying with our bikes) because we didn't want to risk anything happening to our bikes or dealing with the hassle of transporting them around. We had paid for our bikes to be transferred back to Cape Town but there was an issue with not having enough drivers so we ended up flying back with our bikes, which wasn't an issue. Cape Town holds the biggest timed bike race in the world in March (35,000 cyclists) so the smaller airlines (like SAFAIR) are used to transporting bikes. We were allowed one luggage each to be transported from stage to stage. We packed one suitcase and Karel brought his Trimarni transition bag. We left our other suitcase of items we didn't need at our hotel where we would be staying for 3 nights in downtown Cape Town after our event. With over 200 athletes participating in the event, I'd say the staff did a great job with organizing everyone with all of the logistics of this stage event. We flew into Port Elizabeth on Monday evening and it was nice to see the area (home of IM South Africa and the host of the 2018 IM 70.3 World Championship). 

Morning run in Port Elizabeth 

Photo from PE Plett

Routes/Courses
This was my first mountain bike stage race, my 2nd stage race event and my first time camping. I really enjoyed the experience. Although my mountain bike skills are improving, this course was not very technical in that it was primarily jeep roads with very little single track. The first stage had the most single track, which was only a few miles. The event could have been a gravel bike stage race because of the vast amount of gravel/dirt/forest roads and trails. There was a lot of climbing which I enjoyed. Whereas I really enjoyed each stage and felt like I was able to keep up with the race dynamincs and feel confident with my skills, Karel would have preferred more single track as that is where his strength lies. We both have a lof of experience with group riding (Karel has much more experience than I do but I learned from him) which helped us perform well on each stage. The scenery was beautiful as we rode through the garden route and Tsitsikamma Forests and had many views of the Indian Ocean. Karel and I found ourselves riding with similar people for each stage and we got to know others while also getting to know their strengths and weaknesses. Because Karel and I were riding solo (not as a mixed team), we both had to look out for ourselves, whereas other riders were on a team and could look out for one another. I found myself with 2-3 other teams (one was the leading women's team) and another solo rider so I often had to work extra hard as I knew no one was going to be there to help me out if I got dropped or had any issues. Stage 1 was the most enjoyable stage for me as I felt like I wasn't really racing but just riding my own race. Stage 2 was the hardest stage for me as I felt like it was full on racing and the descends were fast and there were several switchbacks (descending) on loose gravels. Stage 3 was nothing like I assumed it would be as I thought it would be flat and fast until the final climb but it ended up having a lot of technical climbing (loose rocks/steep short climbs). Stage 4 was challenging with the wind and a lot of short steep climbs and with it being the last stage, there was a lot of fatigue in the body. Karel had two mechanicals on stage 2 (seat post dropped down and a chain link got stuck) which cost him a lot of time and he moved from 3rd solo male to 4th. I heard a clinking noise throughout most of stage 2 and after the race when I told Karel he realized I had broken a spoke in my rear wheel. I would have preferred slightly longer stages. Stage 3 was supposed to be a little longer but forest fires caused the route to be shortened. 3-3.5 hours is still a long time on the mountain bike as the miles go by slowly (10-15 mph). The terrain was mostly dusty and sandy. There were a few muddy sections.

Food
I had paid a little extra for vegetarian meals throughout the event but at our first dinner (Tuesday, pre event) they forgot to prepare me a meal. So I ate salad and rice. For two lunches I had vegetarian 'sausage' (which was just ok) and for dinners, my vegetarian meals were veggies and cheese (which I am learning is what most people associate with the vegetarian diet). With so much great vegetarian food in South Africa, I was really disappointed with my meals. Breakfast was fine as I could eat eggs, yogurt, granola, fruit and toast but the lunch and dinner meals were really lacking in protein (and flavor). Karel enjoyed his meals and there were plenty of meat options. I had brought protein powder (which I had after every race) and I also had a few Honey Stinger protein and nut/seed bars. There was plenty of food for lunch and I never found myself hungry after a meal but the meals were not well balanced for me. I did enjoy all of the options for lunch, especially the fruit. I was also disappointed in the lack of bottled water. There was always a big jug of water to fill our bottles but there was an endless amount of free Heineken beer (including non alcoholic) and wine but water was not as easy to access. 

Photo from PE Plett

People/vibe
We met a lot of people throughout the four stages. It was easy to get to know those who we rode with each day. Most people were from South Africa. We met a couple from Germany and a few guys from France. We were the only people from the United States. The event had a mix of fitness levels. There was a category for E-bikes which was great because it allowed for a variety of fitness levels. There were several couples participating in the E-bike team category and several older individuals who may not have been able to complete an event like this without the added assistance. There was a battery aid station for the E-bikes and most people used the assist on the climbs. The E-bikers were also very nice and supportive to us "muscle" assist athletes. Cape Epic is a popular 8-stage MTB race in March and a lot of teams were using PE Plett as preparation for Cape Epic. This brought the competition level up as there were a lot of very fit and skilled mountain bikers. But there was also a large handful of people who were completers. They were not racing for a podium spot but they were there to have fun, chill and socialize. I'd say the majority of participants were between the age of 40-65. In the afternoon, there was a lot of relaxing happening. This was a little challenging for me and Karel as the Wifi wasn't strong and we really wanted to use the afternoon period to work on the computer. We did a short run of 3-4 miles in the late afternoon of stage 1 and 2 to add in a little more training stress to the event. The weather after stage 1 was cool and drizzly so we didn't take advantage of the pool at the lodge. We dipped into the cold pool after stage 2 as the weather was a little nicer. Stage 3 was hot and the pool was crowded. There were stretch classes in the late afternoon and we joined in for a 45 minute session after stage 2. Dinner was at 6pm (lunch started at 12pm) and the award presentation was at 7pm. We loved the beanbag chairs for relaxing. There was also a charging station for our gadgets (we brought portable charging banks as well). I will say that when I had the solo female leader jersey on for stage 2, 3 and 4, I felt like I had more support/respect in the field as a solo female, compared to stage, 1 so that was a nice feeling. 

Event staff
The event staff was awesome. With these smaller events, the event staff got to know everyone on a first name basis. As the women solo leader, I received a leaders jersey and got to line up at the front of each stage (2, 3 and 4) and I was often greeted with nice words from people of the staff. The photographers and media crew were amazing and they did an exceptional job with pictures and highlights on social media throughout the event. We received a lot of cool stuff in our registration packet and we also received pillow gifts in our tent in the afternoon of each stage which was a nice surprise. We got a nice water jug, headlamp and drip drop nutrition. Everyone was really nice and really helped to make this event extra special. The courses were well marked and Mike and his family really put their heart and soul into this event (which has been happening for 12 years). This year they also added a Tour (more laid back, non competitive version of the 4 stage event) which started the day after we finished. One of the coolest parts of the event was the helicopeter that followed the racers around for each stage. They took some great pictures! 

Camping
I really enjoyed the camping experience. It was nice to have our tents set up for us and the tents were large. Karel and I could have easily shared a tent (like the teams did) but we received our own tents as solo riders. We had a cot in our tents and comfortable pillow and beddings. Our tents were assigned to us. It was easy to get our luggage to and from our tents before stage 1, 2 and 4. I liked that we stayed in the same place after stage 1 and 2. Immediately after each stage we went to the showers. The showers were cold and we were limited (encouraged) to a few minutes to help save water. There were several portopotties and they were incredibly clean. There was a company there cleaning after every use. We never had to wait more than 10 minutes for a shower. There was a bike cleaning station where we paid $2 per bike (the money went to the Kwamo cycling academy). There was a coffee truck to purchase coffee, drinks and snacks. There was also instant coffee available at breakfast. The only issue with the tents was where they were placed. They were near the race venue and this meant that trucks would drive through the tent area early in the morning or there would be a lot of noise from staff workers in the evening. I slept just ine but Karel is a lighter sleeper and he really struggled with sleep. The weather was great in the evenings and I was never hot. It was the perfect temperature to snuggle under the blankets. Stage 2 was the coldest night and Stage 3 was the warmest night (but still comfortable). 

Overall, we really enjoyed the event. This was such a cool way to see a different part of South Africa, meet people and make new friends, ride our mountain bikes and be competitive in a race environment.

Here are some pictures from the event (I took the most pictures during stage 1, no pics on stage 2, and a few in stage 3 and 4). 

 

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

Photo from PE Plett

RESULTS
Karel - 3rd solo male, 11:03.43
Marni - 1st solo female, 11:36.56
157 miles of mountain biking and over 13000 feet of climbing over four days. 

Here's a video recap from the event, including our tips for racing in an international event. 

'24 South Africa - Day 8 and 9

 

Sunday was our last full day in Gordon's Bay. We didn't make any plans for Sunday as we wanted to see how we felt after the race on Saturday. I felt pretty good although my right foot was sore from all the uneven footing from the race. Karel didn't sleep well so he was really tired in the morning. The night was incredibly windy. We sleep with our door open and it sounded like waves were crashing as we were sleeping. The wind was super gusty in Gordon's Bay in the morning as well. 

I really wanted to swim since it was my last opportunity for a swim for a week. The closest option was the Strand Indoor Swimming pool but the happiest option was the Coetzenburg outdoor pool. We decided to make the 35-minute drive to the outdoor pool for one last long course swim in the sun. It wasn't windy and the sky was completely blue. It was a wonderful 3200 meter swim. 

After the swim we were getting hungry as it was nearing 1pm. We drove a few miles down the road to the beautiful main area of Stellenbosch that was filled with white buildings containing cute restaurants and shops.

As we were driving, I came across a Lebanese restaurant online that looked delicious so we walked to Man'oushe after we parked. They even had a vegetarian menu with so many delicious options. This is an authentic Lebanese restaurant based in the heart of Stellenbosch’s pedestrian area.

We got the Summer in Beirut salad which was incredible. Greens, avocado, kiwi, mint and pine nuts. We also got the Mezze Platter, which had sauteed string beans, hummus, baba ganoush, homemade cream cheese, falafal, and Lebanese bread. It was all so good with so much flavor. The exchange rate from US to Rand makes traveling to South Africa very affordable (19 Rand = 1 USD) unlike other places in the world (ex. 1 Euro = 1 USD). 

After our meal, we drove toward Gordon's Bay and stopped at the Cheetah Outreach near Strand. We booked a tour to meet the Cheetahs and learned all about them. They had very strict rules for approaching the Cheetah. We got to pet this beautiful 7-year old Cheetah who is living the good life (along with a handful of others) with an open field, shade for napping, silver plated dining and lots of love and attention. The primary goal at Cheetah Outreach is to promote the survival of the free ranging, South African, cheetah.

We learned a lot about cheetahs, like how they only live for 8-12 years in the wild and that they have over 2500 spots! Cheetahs are not part cat as they have non-retractable claws (like dogs). And their physiology allows them to reach speeds of over 60mph in less than three seconds!

We returned to our Airbnb around 4pm and spent the next 2 hours packing our bikes and suitcases for the next part of our race-cation. 

At 6:30pm we walked upstairs to enjoy an incredible dinner with our Airbnb hosts - which are now like family to us. If you are looking for an affordable and perfect location Airbnb during a visit to Gordon's Bay (~35 miles from Cape Town) I highly recommend booking this Airbnb. There are three bedrooms (each with a private bathroom), a kitchen, sauna and hot tub (which we didn't use) and a 10-minute walk to the beach and to the grocery. 

Karel enjoyed the meat selection that was cooked on the grill (braai) by Thys and Hester prepared several vegetarian dishes. It was all so good. 

On Monday morning we each went for a 40-minute run around the area before leaving for Cape Town around 9am. During our drive to Cape Town we had a reminder of the rough living conditions for so many people in this area. 

After getting caught in a lot of traffic in downtown Cape Town, we dropped off our bike cases at the Giant bicycle store to be picked up by a company who would be driving them to our upcoming race. I booked this service in advance so that we didn't have to deal with traveling with our bikes to Port Elizabeth. 

We then dropped off one of our suitcases at our upcoming hotel (where we will be staying next Saturday until Tuesday). 

At noon we dropped off our "SUV" at the airport, checked in for our flight and spent the next 3.5 hours in the lounge (thanks to our priority pass) enjoying delicious food (so many vegetarian options!) and working on the computer. We got a lot of work done. 

At 4pm we made our way to our gate with SAFair. Our flight left 30-minutes late but we only arrived 10-minute past our planned arrival. There was a lot of turbulance before landing in Port Elizabeth as it was very windy. 

We picked up our one suitcase and we were met by a driver that took us to our hotel in Port Elizabeth. I arranged for a pick up with our hotel as it is a lot easier (and safer) than finding a taxi or Uber. 

After checking into our hotel around 7pm we walked along the ocean to find some food. We wanted to eat at an Indian restaurant but learned that it moved locations so we settled for Mikes Kitchen. Karel got a prawn curry dish and I got a veggie burger. It was all just ok. 

It was nearing 8:30pm when we walked back to our hotel. We wanted to sleep with the balcony door open but it was a little noisy by the street so we used the AC (first time in over a week) and slept great. 

It is now Tuesday and we will be picked up at the airport at 2:30pm via a shuttle to take us to the start of our 4-stage Mountain Bike Race. 

'24 South Africa - Day 4 and 5

 

On Wednesday, we woke up to cooler temps and a cloudy sky. Despite not having AC in our Airbnb, we are sleeping amazingly well - 9-10 hours a night! I absolutely love sleeping and I am feeling so much more refreshed. My recovery from workouts is a lot better too. It's great to not be woken by cats throughout the night. 

After eating and working on the computer, we drove 30 minutes and returned to the race course in Elgin Valley for redemption after a low energy ride and run on Monday. It’s amazing how poorly the body performs when it’s sleep deprived, low in energy and off a normal routine.

I’m happy to report that we both felt 100% better. And the cooler temps in the 70s and cloud cover helped a lot! We each rode the course on our own. Karel did the rock garden twice and waited for me after the big loop before we went to the smaller loop. I made the technical sections fine but I had a few rough patches llike getting stuck in sand, blocked by cow puppies and attacked by bushes, I rode almost 30 min faster than Monday. On Monday I averaged 7.7 mph and my legs were throbbing and my heart was beating crazy fast. But on Wednesday, I averaged 8.8 mph. I felt so much better. 

I went through most of the sport nutrition in my USWE hydration pack (3 scoops INFINIT Fructose in 1.5 L water - we are buying our water from bottles just to be on the safe side) for the 2 hour, 17 mile ride. 

Karel finished with 21 miles and averaged 10 mph. He said that after participating in Breck Epic, the rocks here are like pebbles. It's nothing compared to the "boulders" that he had to ride up and down on in Breck Epic. He said that Breck Epic was the most technical and difficult event that he has ever done but it has given him a lot more confidence for mountain biking. 

After the ride, we each set out for a run. We put the bikes in the car, which we felt was safe as there are cameras around the area, outside the country club. We met a guy from Italy who is here for the race and he followed us for the run. Karel went his own way to backtrack some of the course and I followed the course. I took a short cut to avoid the waist-high creek at the bottom of a hill and ended up meeting Karel.

We made a wrong turn on this road here and later realized that there is a new section of the course that takes us through two more water crossings. Below is us backtracking the course for the last water crossing. 

I finished with 40 minutes of running and 4.3 miles and Karel had 5 miles in 42 minutes. After our successful workout, we stopped at the Orchard to get some bread. Karel also got an apple turnover which he said was perfectly flaky. 

We worked for a few hours in the afternoon and then walked down to the ocean/beach in the evening as the sun was setting. 

Thursday was a "lighter" day of training for us. Our plan was to swim at the indoor 50-meter Strand Pool which was a few miles away. It was raining on and off all day and much cooler outside so we thought swimming locally would be better than driving the 35 minutes to Stellenbosch. When we arrived to the pool the lady at the counter said the heater was broken and we could feel the water to see if we wanted to pay and swim. We felt the water and it was on the cooler side. It would have been doable but not enjoyable. Plus the pool was inside and it was dark and since we are on vacation, we decided that we should swim outside. 

Because the Stellenbosch pool opens at 12pm and it was around 10:30am, we made a few stops at bike stores so that Karel could fix one of his pedals, which he lost the bolt during a previous ride. We first went to Pedal Works, which was a small store and they weren't able to find a bolt that would work. We then went to RA Cycles. They also didn't have the bolt (it's a very specific bolt for the pedal) so he ended up buying a new set of pedals that he has wanted to try out. He got the HT M2 pedals. 

When we arrived to the pool it was raining but it stopped shortly after we got in. The pool got pretty busy but we were able to keep our shared lane to ourselves. The pool was filled with mostly triathletes which was great motivation. I swam 4000 meters and Karel swam 3000 meters. My main set was 4 x 400s - steady strong. I was able to do the last 400 on 5:59. My body position felt a bit off today but it still felt great to be in the water. I didn't want to get out. 

After we swam, Karel got us smoothies from the gym cafe/coffee shop and then we drove back to our Airbnb. 

We worked for a few hours in the afternoon. My Training Peaks account was acting up and I couldn't put up workouts for my athletes so I decided it was a good time to stop working and head outside for a run. I went out for a few miles of easy jogging and finished up with 6 x 25 sec hill strides to activate the posterior chain. The weather was great - it was in the low 70s. I ran for 51 minutes and 5.9 miles. 

When I returned back to the Airbnb, I made a recovery drink and then we rode our mountain bikes a few blocks down the road to order pizza from Mia Bella. The restaurant was super cute with a small brick oven and friendly staff. During our 20 minute wait, we walked over to the SPAR grocery store and Karel went inside to get some fresh strawberries (the produce is sooooo tasty!) and milk. We then picked up our pizzas and rode home (Karel carried the pizzas because his pizza-carrying bike handling skills are much better than mine :) Karel got the Tizka (I can't remember the name) and I got the Margherita (which is a cheese pizza). The pizza was great, especially the thin crust!

I had a hard time falling asleep on Thursday evening but I slept for 10 hours and woke up feeling rested on Friday morning. One more sleep before Xterra South Africa! 

'24 South Africa - Day 3

 

I was really looking forward to today (Feb 13th/Tuesday). I love swimming and I love swimming outside and during my online hunt for an outdoor swimming pool around the area, I came across a 50-meter outdoor pool in Stellenbosch at Coetzenburg University. I asked the open water swim group on whatsapp about allowing vistors and the group said that visitors were allowed. 

I looked online at the lane availability schedule and noticed that after 8am was a good time to swim. We left our Airbnb around 7am for the 15 mile drive to Stellenbosch but there was a lot of traffic so it took us over an hour. Our route took us through Strand, which goes by the beach, so I made a mental note of this route for my run later in the day. 

The Stellenbosch area has a different vibe to Gordon's Bay as the campus as there are several schools and students and the area is very pretty with lots of fields, trees, and paths for biking. As we got closer to the area, we saw a lot of people on mountain bikes as the area is known for the mountain biking (we biked there last year). 

When we arrived around 8:15am we needed to fill out a lot of personal information on tablets, inside the gym. This took about 15 minutes. When we finally paid (80 rand each or $4.20) the girl behind the counter told us that the outdoor pool was only open until 9am. This crushed me. We drove all that way to only swim for 30 minutes. She said we could use the indoor pool at 9am. 

After swimming for 30 minutes straight to make good use of our time in the outdoor pool we noticed that a small group of triathletes moved over into other lanes to free up the reserved lanes for the swim teams. We asked the coaches on deck if we were allowed to keep swimming and they said the first few lanes were open for gym users. I think the "open" swim times for vistors were until 9am but the pool was still open so we continued to swim. Thankfully we didn't get in trouble and we were able to get in a great workout in the outdoor 50 meter pool. 

The water felt great and it got warm swimming. There were hoses emptying cool water into the pool to help cool off. 

I felt pretty blah to start and it took me an entire 2000 meters to finally start to feel better in the water. I felt heavy in my arms (perhaps from the open water swim the night before) and just low in energy but as I continued to swim, my energy came back and my arms loosened out. 

For my main set I did: 

10 x 100s steady on 1:45 (coming in around 1:23-1:25 long course meters which is around 1:13-1:15 short course yards)
500 w/ buoy smooth (we only brought FINIS Agility paddles and buoy for pool toys)
5 x 100 w/ paddles steady w/ 10 sec rest 

Karel finished with ~4400 meters and I finished with ~4800 meters. 
After our swim, we changed in the outdoor changing area and had some food and drinks in the attached coffee shop. The price of food is very reasonable here. We each got a smoothie and I got a bran raisin muffin and Karel got a flat white all for ~$6 USD (or 114 Rand). My banana whey smoothie was so good. It tasted like a cupcake! Karel got a strawberry smoothie (and he brought a croissant that we got from a store yesterday).

Karel needed to get some CO2s for our bikes (which go by the name bombs here ;) so we went to the local Specialized bike store. This was one of the nicest bike shops that we have ever seen. There was a track outside for kids to ride on (and a few specialized kids bikes laying around). There was also a coffee shop with indoor and outdoor seating. The shop was huge and it had everything you could ever need for biking. 

When we returned back to our place around 1pm, we were pretty tired. We worked on the computer for a few hours and then around 3pm, Karel did some mobility and then went for a run. 

I had a very stressful afternoon as I received an email from the organizers for our upcoming MTB stage race (which starts next Wed) that I had booked a flight to the wrong airport. I accidentally booked us flying CemAir from Cape Town to Plettenburg instead of booking Cape Town to Port Elizabeth. The website said PE and because our event was PE Plett I thought we would be flying into Plettenburg. Well Plettenburg is 2 hours away from Port Elizabeth and we were being picked up by a shuttle service in PE (which I now know is Port Elizabeth). I learned a major lesson about checking airport codes. 

Thankfully I was able to cancel our flight and get most of our money back (CemAir was responsive as soon as I emailed which I appreciated) and I also cancelled our hotel room from before and after the race (received 50% money back but thankfully the room wasn't expensive). The good thing was that the new flight from Cape Town on Safair was much cheaper and we only needed a hotel room for one night (Mon) so we ended up saving some money in the big picture. But oh the stress to have to make all of these changes so last minute when I had booked everything back in October. 

When this was all settled, I needed to get outside and exerise to release some stress. I did ECFIT mobility for ~20 minutes to loosen out and then around 4pm I went out for my run. I ran 3 miles on side streets to Strand and I was so happy to be running by the ocean. It was a bit windy. When I got to the beach I did 6 x 1/2 mile pushes with 75 sec EZ between (plus some extra stops for pictures in my recovery). I ran 3 intervals out and 3 intervals back (a bit more wind coming back). It was a very scenic run. The weather was much more tolerable than on Monday as it was in the mid 70s and I was feeling so much better (and heart was more controlled/normal). I was surprised with my paces as well. 

I really enjoyed my run and felt so much better when I returned home. I ran 9.46 miles in 1:14 and Karel ran 8.3 miles in 58 minutes. 

I had a recovery drink (INFINIT custom protein mix) w/ milk after I returned home and then had leftovers (tofu potato stir fry) for dinner. I worked a little on the computer before going to bed around 10:15pm. 

'24 South Africa - Day 2

 

Despite taking a 5 hour nap from 12-5pm on Sunday, I slept for 8 hours on Sunday evening. Karel and I were exhausted from our 44 hours of travel and we needed the sleep. Being in the same Airbnb as last year was comforting as we were waking up to something famliar. We made our coffee, sat outside and worked on the computer and got ready for the day. We were surprised to hear from our Airbnb owners that we will not be impacted by loadshedding (saving energy in certain areas by turning off the power) this stay as the owners installed solar panels on their house. Loadshedding makes it challenging as you have to work your day around when the power will be off in terms of eating, working on the computer and using electricity. 

After we ate, we loaded our rental car with our mountain bikes (Karel had to take the front and rear wheels off to make the bikes fit into our small SUV) and drove the 30 minutes to Elgin Valley Country Club. Karel is doing much better driving on the left side of the road, although he often uses the windshield wiper as a blinker (they are switched as well). 

We parked outside the country club and scanned a QR code outside the trail system to pay for our usage of the trail. It was 80 rand each (or $4.19). We were both looking forward to the ride and being back out on this incredible course. 

But with 2100 feet of elevation gain over ~18 miles, we were quickly reminded of the difficulty of the Xterra South Africa course. And unlike the rocky and rooty surfaces that we are used to at Dupont Forest and Pleasant Ridge, the terrain here is either sandy or rocky (or both). Biking on deep or loose sand is incredibly challenging as the sand either pulls you back or makes you slide. It requires light hands, constant pedaling and the ability to read the sand to know how to keep yourself upright. The rocks are jagged so finding the right line is important. But the scenery is beautiful. There is a variety of flora that makes my feel like I am on a different planet. 

So much sand. 

Biking into cows

Rocks

A proper (sandy) rock garden. 

View of the lake

Looks like a winter snowland. 

Finishing off the course

Karel always looks so much cooler than me :) 

Karel in his element. 

It was nearing 90 degrees and it was dry. Not a cloud in the sky. I went through 1.5 liters of fluid (and 3 scoops INFINIT Fructose) in my USWE hydration pack during the ride, along with a bottle of water for sipping/cooling my body. Karel and I both felt so tired and empty on the ride. But we finished the course in 2:28. We then went for a 2.35 mile run and that was even more miserable. We couldn't get our heart rate down and running on deep sand was exhausting. I had to walk several times as I was so exhausted. We nearly passed out at the end of our run (11:34 min/mile average). It was a semi productive training session as it helped get some of the funk out from travel but it was not a great-feeling workout. 

After our workout we went to a nearby restaurant that solid food, coffee, bread and other items. I got a popscicle to cool off (Karel got a chocolate bar) and we also got some bread, croissants (for Karel), ginger beer drink (not real beer) and coffee. 

We made the drive back to our place and got a little work done before our last workout. 

The neighbor has two dogs (this is Dover) who come inside our house to say hi everyday. 

Catching up with Karel's mom and our furry crew via Skype. 

I connected with the Gordon Bay swimming group on WhatsApp and we walked down to the ocean around 5:10pm to meet up with some swimmers who were doing an open water swim at 5:30pm at Gordon's Bay. We swam to the pier (1000 meters) and back. It was a nice to have some company in the ocean. 

When we arrived back to our place around 7pm, I made a stir fry meal w/ potatoes and enjoyed it as the sun set on our 2nd day in South Africa. 

'24 South Africa travel day(s) - and a visit to London

 

On Friday morning (2/9) I woke up with excitement and sadness about our upcoming 19 day trip to South Africa. Excited to travel and race on our mountain bikes at Xterra South Africa and PE Plett 4-stage mountain bike race but sad to leave Campy, our other senior Madison (cat, almost 16) and our 3 littles – Ella, Sylvi and Asher. Thankfully, Karel’s mom is staying at our house (we flew her in from Czech in early January) and she can keep everyone on their routine, they will be loved and they won’t be alone.

 

I started my morning by joining our masters swim group at Westside aquatic center from 7:20-8:45am. The group starts around 7am but I usually get in around 7:15-7:20. It was a spicy swim set with a lot of short intense sets, finishing with a little distance. I love swimming with others and we had a great group. I shared a lane with our athlete Yannick who is making a great comeback after breaking his collarbone in November from a bike crash. Karel swam 2000 yards at Furman and followed it up with an intense 1-hour SYSTM bike workout on the trainer.

We packed up the car, overloaded the furries with kisses and hugs and made our 3 hour drive to the Atlanta international airport around 11:15am.

I booked our travel in October. There was a lot to book with this trip so I will save that for another blog. But our flight was ATL to Heathrow (London) on Delta and then London to Cape Town on Virgin. I booked a flight to Cape Town that gave us a 11 hour layover in Heathrow so that we could explore the city as we have never been there before (well, never outside the airport).

We have a pretty good routine when we travel from ATL. We park in hourly parking ~4 hours before our flight departs. International flights usually board an hour before take-off. Arriving this early means we don’t have to wait very long to check in as there is rarely anyone in front of us in line – this time there were 2 people. We checked in our suitcases and bikes, dropped off our bikes at oversized luggage (which is by security) and then went back to our car to drive to off site parking.

I ask Park n’ Fly to book off site parking ~3 miles away. I book online in advance to save money. I was able to find a deal for $9/day and I got 3 days free as a “loyalty” member. After we parked, we boarded the free shuttle to the domestic terminal (since there are no shuttles from off site parking to international). We then go through TSA pre-check and board the plane train to our terminal. For this trip we were in Terminal E.

It was around 3:30pm when we arrive to our terminal so we had ~2 hours to spend in the Delta Sky Club lounge to work before our first flight. We also ate some food as we were really hungry. Our flight was delayed by an hour so we had 3 hours in the lounge – which allowed us to get a lot of work done. We left the lounge around 6:20pm and waited another 20 minutes at our gate before they announced that they were almost ready to board after waiting for something on the plane to be fixed. We finally boarded the main cabin and we were off to London around 7:30pm.

We were both really tired so we watched a movie (I watched Wonder – super cute), ate dinner and then tried to sleep for the rest of the flight (~5 hours). We slept on and off. I pre-ordered the vegetarian – dairy meal (as I always do online when I purchase the flight tickets) and the meal was really good. I’ve had this dish before but I really enjoy it. It was a curry dish w/ tofu, bulgur salad and fruit. There was also a piece of pita bread and a roll (I didn’t eat the roll, I was full).

We woke up to a light breakfast around 90 min before landing. It was ok. I didn’t finish my sandwich as I wasn’t too hungry. It was a veggie and cheese sandwich. I wish it had egg on it for more protein but I snacked on a protein bar later on.

After we arrived in Heathrow, we went through customs (which was really quick) and then left the baggage area. We didn’t need to collect our bags/bikes as they were going to our final destination (Cape Town). It felt really weird leaving the airport with only our carry on backpacks.

We went to Left Baggage after exiting the baggage area and checked our carry on bags for 15 pounds each. This way we could explore London and not have to carry our bags.

We figured out how to use the underground system and booked two tickets on the Heathrow Express – a 15 minute ride to Paddington station in London (round trip was 70 pounds). We lucked out that our friend Honza was in London for an INFINIT nutrition work trip and he is really familiar with London so he was our tour guide. I had also reached out to a past athlete of mine who lives in London and a current athlete of mine who used to live in London for suggestions. Once we arrived in Paddington we took the underground to Piccadilly Circus station.

I had a list of what I wanted to see and we tried to check off all we could in 4 hours:

Trafalgar square
Downing street
Buckingham palace
Westminster Abbey
Hyde park corner – didn’t get to
Piccadilly circus
Leicester square
Covent garden – didn’t get to
Tower Bridge
London Eye
Big Ben

The weather was cool and it was on and off drizzling but thankfully we were able to see a lot.

Although we were really sleepy, it was nice to walk around before our long flight to Cape Town.

We ate lunch at Sabar – a vegetarian/vegan Indian Restaurant. It was delicious. 

We took the Central Line back to Paddington. It was really easy to access the underground as all you do is use a credit card for wireless payment and scan before and after riding the underground. We took a taxi to see the Tower Bridge as that was a few miles away from everything else that we saw. 

I had a hard time keeping my eyes open on the train ride back to the terminal. We picked up our carry on bags at Left Luggage and then walked to departures. I received an email when checking in for our flight on Thursday about reserving a time slot for security so I reserved 3:45pm (with a buffer of 15 min before and after). We ended up arriving around 3:45pm so it worked out perfect. I suppose this would save time during really busy times of the year. We didn’t have to wait very long and I don’t think the regular security was that busy.

After going through security, we went to the Club Aspire lounge (with our priority pass membership) and had a light snack and worked a little before boarding our 11-hour Virgin Atlantic Flight (premium economy) to Cape Town.

After experiencing Virgin Atlantic Upper Class last September in route to Italy for XTRI Icon, I fell in love with the airline experience. As part of the award ticket (credit card points) that I booked to Cape Town, we sat in premium for 11 hours from London to Cape Town. The seats were large and comfy, the recline and foot rest was great, the food and service was amazing and the movie selection was great. I finally watched Barbie (which I loved!) and I also watched No Hard Feelings (which was funny). Karel likes to watch more serious movies – he watched Oppenheimer, which he said was really impactful.

Karel slept on and off throughout the flight. His back and leg were bothering him which made it hard for him to sleep. I was able to get some good sleep throughout the flight.

We arrived in Cape Town around 7:30am which was a bit strange to arrive so early in the morning for an international flight. We went through customs (which took about 20 minutes) and then got our luggage. We were happy to see that our bikes and luggage were there after the 11 hour layover in London (we were a bit worried about the long layover). We walked across the street to the rental car and picked up our SUV from Sixt. I booked online from one of our credit card portals and while I got a great deal, I think I’ll avoid using Sixt in the future as we have used them twice and the SUVs that we have received have been really small with little trunk space. We were able to fit in all our stuff but it was a tight squeeze.

Karel did well with driving on the left side of the road (and right side of the vehicle) and we made our way 35-minutes to our Airbnb in Gordon’s Bay. 

We arrived to our Airbnb around 10:30am on Sunday. It was nice to be back at the same place where we stayed last year. After unloading the car, we walked to the SPAR grocery store a few blocks away and got a few things from store. After eating a light lunch, it was nearing noon local time and we couldn't fight it any longer. We took a nap. And I slept for 5 hours! 

After waking up around 5pm, I did some mobility and went outside for a short 3 mile run around Gordon's Bay. It felt so good to run in a sports bra and feel the warm dry air. The beach was packed. It was around 80 degrees in the evening. Karel met me at the beach and he did a shake out swim in the ocean for 20 minutes. The water was a little cool but he got used to it. 

After eating dinner around 8pm and Skyping with Karel's mom at our house, we went to bed around 9:30pm and went to sleep. Although our place doesn't have AC, we stayed cool with fans. I was surprised I slept so well after a 5 hour nap but I guess I needed it. I woke up around 6am on Monday. 

After 2 days and 44 hours of travel, little sleep over two nights, 4 hours in London and 19 hours of flying, we can officially start our race-cation. 

Xterra South Africa Race Recap

 

We had a really great night of sleep. There was something special about this race course that had us both really excited to race. With this being only my third Xterra event (previously Xterra Czech in August and Xterra World Championship in Molveno in October), I continue to feel a little nervous about the start of the bike and I worry about holding up other riders behind me on single track. But I'm learning to just focus on my own race. The biggest confidence booster was knowing that we had ridden the entire bike course and I was able to safely get through everything. It was not overly hilly (~2000 feet) and it flowed really well. There was a legit rock garden and several fun obstacles to go over. The race director gave the option for those who didn't feel comfortable in the rock garden could go the "chicken" route which was around 4K longer. 

After we ate our pre-race meal, we double checked our gear, loaded the car and left our Airbnb around 6:15am and arrived to the venue around 6:45am. We parked in a grassy field and rode our bikes to the Elgin Valley Country Club. 

The air was much cooler than the past few days (in the upper 60s) and there was a bit of mist. We were thankful it wasn't raining as we wanted to really enjoy the course and all of the technical elements. The race field was relatively small but with the full and sprint distance along with relays, there was a lot of good energy. 

Shortly after we arrived we got word that the swim would be non wetsuit legal. I made the mistake of having my calf sleeves on (as I expected it to be wetsuit legal) so after setting up my transition area, I needed to go back and take off my calf sleeves and put my compression socks by my shoes. I had prepared for both scenarios before packing my transition bag. I hung my helmet on my bars but in future races, I will put it on the ground so that I put it on first before putting on my shoes. Karel and I both used our USWE hydration packs. I used 3 scoops Berry C30 from Never Second and Karel used 1 packet C90 (citrus). 

The race started at 8am. After the pre-race briefing, we lined up near the front. It was a mass start and a two loop swim with a short run between each loop. The water was the perfect temperature around 73 degrees. Xterra uses World Triathlon rules so with this race being a 1500 meter swim, it's considered "short course" so the water temp is different compared to long course. 

I wore my light tint Roka goggles since the water was dark and the sky was cloudy. I found myself near the back of the front group and swam alongside another girl for the entire swim. There weren't a lot of ladies so I wasn't sure how the competition would be but my focus was on giving myself and being as competitive as I could. I'm still learning how to race Xterra and I know my off road skills are still a work in progress. At least in the water I am comfortable. 

I swam the 1500 meter course (~1731 yards per my Garmin) in 25:45 minutes. Karel swam 27:01 (he had 1622 yards on his watch). I felt like I had a good transition and made my way out on the bike, excited for the ride. With 80% single track I was really looking forward to the bike course. 

Karel loved the bike course. It was exactly what he likes when riding off road. He felt really strong and he was able to ride really well, feeling competitive throughout the 28K course. The course was broken into two segments - a long loop and a short loop. The long loop had the rock garden. I was passed by Karel in the first climb (switchbacks) and I passed the girl that I swam with but she later passed me and I never saw her again. I wasn't passed by any other females. I made a few mistakes throughout the course which caused me to unclip and stop but they were more because I was tired. Although riding on the sand is still new for me and I'm still working on my tight turns. There was a little rain near the end of the bike but it felt really refreshing. The weather was absolutely perfect in the low 70s. The nice thing about this course is that even the Jeep trails were technical so it kept us engaged the entire time. It was so much fun and I didn't want the bike course to end. 
Karel rode the 17.8 miles in 1:32 and I finished in 1:51.27. 

After putting on my Hoka trail shoes and putting my Nathan 10 ounce flask in my trikit pocket (we each had 1 x 10 ounce flask with 1 scoop C30 from NeverSecond), I grabbed my hat and sunglasses and headed out on the run. I usually don't wear sunglasses when I run on the trails but I grabbed them just in case as I wasn't sure what the run course would be like. 

The 6.3 mile run course had ~1000 feet of elevation gain and it was everything that I could have dreamed of in a run course. We ran in sand, up and down rocky trails, crossed over wooden bridges and even "ran" in a creek. 

As you can see from the pic, the creek was about waist high in certain sections. I opted to "swim" through the creek. It was fresh and clean. It was so much fun. After we exited the run, we went through a beautiful forest that felt like a jungle. I was able to run really well and stay really strong throughout the run. I wasn't sure what place I was in but I wanted to give my best all the way to the finish line. 

This course was everything that I imagined Xterra racing would be. To be honest, we have been a bit dissapointed in the past Xterra races that we've experienced in that a lot of the bike courses are steep and on Jeep trails with just a little single track. This was a legit bike course and the run was true trail running. I couldn't stop smiling. Karel ran the 6.3 miles in 48:17 and he was able to pass one guy near the end, who he had been battling with throughout the run. I ran 56:49. As I was nearing the finish, I heard that I was the 4th female. A bit bummed to miss out on the overall podium but really proud of my finish. I felt like I was really racing and I had so much fun. 

Marni: 4th overall female, 1st age group - 3:18.5
Karel: 7th overall male, 1st age group - 2:50.45
Full results HERE.

As we were waiting for the awards, we had a nice meal. There was no food after the race, just water and a sport drink in cups. You could buy beer or water and there were several food trucks. We also ran into Richard Murray and Rachel Klamer - two triathlon Olympians and the nicest people. We talked for a while and enjoyed their company. 

Karel had a burger and I had a delicious vegan wrap. I was surprised to see so many vegetarian/vegan food options. Although I would have been just fine with some french fries and pizza ;) 

Karel and I both won our age groups and qualified for the 2023 Xterra World Championship in Molveno, Italy but we turned down our slots since we planned other events in August/September. 

We highly recommend Xterra South Africa. We loved the nature, the scenery, the food, the people and the course. Everyone was so friendly and nice. 

Skeleton Gorge Hike - Cape Town

 

After a lot of sitting and no exercise for five days, I was searching for something adventurous that we could do for our last day in South Africa. As we were flying back to Cape Town from Johannesburg, I was searching for run routes in Cape Town. I really wanted to visit the Botanical Gardens so when I came across a hike description inside the gardens, I knew this would be perfect for us. 

"The Skeleton Gorge is a moderate hike with a steep ascent from the start to the end and a couple of tricky climbs (on the way down) over rocks and boulders."

We took an uber from the Cape Town airport to our hotel (Best Western) and arrived just before 11pm on Friday evening. We collected our suitcases that we dropped off on Monday morning before we left for our Safari and kept the bikes in the luggage storage. We also paid $30 for a late checkout (6pm) since our flight back to the US was not leaving until 10pm on Saturday. The staff was incredibly nice and the hotel had a mediterrean vibe to it. 

We were pretty tired when we arrived to our room as we had been up since 5am for our 3-hour Safari. Plus a 5 hour drive, 2 hour flight.....we were ready for bed. 

We slept as late as we could but woke up to rainy and windy conditions. I was a bit bummed as I had planned the hike for us so we were hopeful it would pass. 

We had breakfast at the hotel (which was included in the room rate) and it was amazing. So much fresh fruit! We worked on the computer for a bit and then around 9am we decided to take the chance and go to the gardens as the rain had stopped. 

We got an Uber to take us the 6 miles to the gardens. We were told by many people to take the Ubers instead of Taxi as they are more reliable and safe. Well, a few miles later, we we pulled over by the police. 

We learned that many uber drivers do not have the permits to drive but they can still register with the Uber app. When we were pulled over, the cop nicely explained this to us and told us that the drivers car would be impounded. We opted to walk the mile to the gardens instea of having the police drive us. It was a strange situation that left us with mixed emotions. On one hand we were shocked that Uber drivers could be registered with the app despite not having permits but we were also sad for the driver. During our driver, we learned that this driver is from Congo and works for a few months before traveling back to his home country to visit his family. I'm sure he knew what he was doing was wrong but he likely did not have many other options for work. We also learned from other locals that there's a lot of coropution with the government and the president which makes many situations unfair for the locals. 

Around 10am we arrived to the gardens and paid R210 (~$11) per person to enter. If you love plants and nature, I highly suggest visiting this place. "Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden is acclaimed as one of the great botanic gardens of the world." You could spend at least a full day exploring the grounds and then more time hiking on the trails. 

We started our hike and within a few minutes, we knew this would be an adventure. This was the craziest hikes we have ever done and it was absolutely perfect for us. It was more like an obstacle course. The trail wasn't too busy when we were hiking as the cloudy/rainy weather likely worked in our favor but the downside was that the conditions were not ideal for us to keep hiking past the sandy lake on top of the mountain. We got in around 4 miles round trip and it was the most fun we have ever had hiking. 

Here's a video of our adventure. 

After returning back from the hike, I was a bit nervous to get another uber but thankfully, this guy had a permit. There was no way to know if a driver had a permit as we never saw any cars with the Uber sticker on the car but this driver explained the situation to us after we told him what happened to us earlier that morning. 

After warming up from being wet and cold, we walked a mile through the Company’s Garden and several busy streets to eat lunch at BAR DE TAPAS LA PARADA. The restaurant was in a great location as we walked through many interesting streets filled with bars, restaurants and shops. Karel had a chicken burger and I had a Mediterranean salad with potato wedges. It was delicious.

We then walked through the streets to check out the local scenes (trying not to get blown away with the extreme 50+ mph winds) and went back to our hotel at 4:30pm. We were hoping to get some work done before heading to the airport at 6pm but it was load shedding so the internet wasn’t working.

We had a great conversation with the (complimentary free) hotel shuttle driver who drove us to the airport at 6pm. We arrived a bit early to the airport so the kiosk was closed but we were first in line to check in. It was good that we arrived early as there was a long line for customs to leave Cape Town and to go back to the US. We then spent some time in the lounge to get some work done before a 16 hour flight back to ATL.

And now our trip to South Africa comes to an end. We enjoyed our two weeks in this incredible and interesting country. It was another life changing race cation including three things that we love: cycling in new places, learning about the local culture and exploring nature.
Thanks for following along.

Panorama Route Tour

 

We weren't excited about sitting in a vehicle for 8 hours on day 3 of our 4-day Safari package but it turned out to be an incredible experience to see the breathtaking sights of this part of South Africa. 

It was nice to sleep in until 630 am. Throughout the night there was a lot of rain. At 7:30am we had a cold breakfast. There was the option for a hot item on the menu but the cold food options were enough. We enjoyed fruit, yogurt, granola and banana bread.

At 9am, 8 of us boarded the van for the panoramic tour. I had seen pics online but we were amazed by each spot on the tour. Our driver took us to each stop on the tour, deciding which spot to see based on the weather. It was a cloudy, cool and slightly rainy day but thankfully we were able to see a lot. 

The first stop was Lisbon falls. 


Then Berlin falls.



We then went to Blyde River Canyon Potholes, which was incredible. The nature was so amazing here.

We then went to Blyde River Canyon Three Rondavels. This lookout point was one of my favorites.


At each location there were many vendors selling local items for souvenirs. While each vendor had similar items, each wanted to negotiate the prices (which were already very affordable) to make the sale. We got a few items.

In my opinion, the vendors at the potholes and Rondavel had the best selection of local items.

Each location on the panorama tour had bathrooms. As part of our Safari package, our driver covered the costs for every entrance fee.

Next we went to Gods Window but unfortunately it was too foggy to see anything.

With that being the end of our panorama tour (~4 hours) we finished the tour with an incredible African lunch at the Garden Shed Restaurant. I got the vegetarian curry and Karel got the beef curry. We had so many great conversations with our European friends throughout lunch.



We then returned back to the lodge. I went for a dip in the pool and Karel ventured out of our gated lodge for a run (although he said this was the first time he didn’t feel safe running outside).

If you are in staying in or near Hazyview or Kruger National Park, I highly suggest seeing some of the sights on the Panorama Route Tour. Blyde River Canyons should be on the top of your list to see. If you are adventurous and active, you can also look into hiking there. I imagine the sights can get rather busy so we were lucky that the weather wasn't ideal, which helped so that there weren't many crowds. 

South Africa SAFARI TOUR

In October, I booked a 4-day Safari tour with Safari with us for $500 a person. With this being non-peak season and summer, the Safari rates were much lower than in peak season and the cooler/dry climate. The Safari package included a late day safari, full day safari and add-on safari, in addition to a full day Panoramic tour. Lodging was also included. The package also included all breakfast and dinner meals, transportation to/from Johannesburg airport (~5 hours away) and entry into Kruger National Park. 

We were picked up at our hotel around 6am and transported to the airport where we met up with 9 other individuals. Interestingly, the other individuals (all from Europe) purchased their Safari packages with different companies so I am assuming the companies partner together. Everyone was really nice and we enjoyed getting to know everyone over the 4 days. We slept on and off throughout the 5 hour drive and had one bathroom stop around 3 hours in. We arrived to the Krugar Safari Lodge a little after 12pm and signed some paperwork before checking in to our rooms. We ate lunch at the lodge restaurant and I was happy to see so many vegetarian options (with soy-based products for protein). We then took a dip in the pool to cool off as it was in the upper 80's. 

We were very happy with our accomodations as we didn't need anything luxurious for our stay as we were here for the Safari. However, the downside to our accomodation was the location. It was a gated lodge and we were advised not to leave due to safety. One day Karel ventured out for a run and he said it was the first time since we arrived to South Africa that he didn't feel safe exercising outside. The lodge did have some activities like a playground, giant chess game, pool, outdoor patio and large restaurant/seating area but that was about it for staying active. The other downside was not having any access to food or other items to purchase. Thankfully, one of the workers at the lodge took me and Karel to the nearby grocery store so that I could get sunscreen and bugspray, as well as a few big bottles of water. 

Our room was plenty big. We had a queen size bed along with two twin beds. We also had a full bathroom, AC, TV, mini fridge and lots of space. We slept great and loved the decor of our room. 

Around 3pm it was finally time for our Safari. I didn't really know what to expect but I felt flooded with emotions. I had wanted to do a Safari for a very long time and it was finally happening. 

The location of our lodge was ~40 minutes away from Kruger National Park so it took some time to get to the enterance but the nice thing was seeing more sights and people to and from the park. It was a stark contrast of scenery going from a town to a National Park. 

Kruger National Park is the largest National Park in South Africa. According to Britanica "The park, with an area of 7,523 square miles (19,485 square km), is about 200 miles (320 km) long and 25 to 50 miles (40 to 80 km) wide. The area has a generally flat terrain with low ranges of hills traversed by nearly 5,000 miles of paved and gravel roads. Vegetation varies from open veld to dense bush that includes mopane, acacia, marula, and baobab trees. Wildlife includes elephants, lions, leopards, cheetahs, buffalo, rhinoceroses, zebras, wildebeests, impalas, and numerous birds. Although six perennial rivers cross the park, droughts often make artificial watering necessary.

The first animal that I spotted was an elephant. We then saw giraffes, buffalo, rhino, impalas and zebra. For our first Safari, we saw a lot over 3 hours in the late afternoon. Our full day Safari on day two lasted from 5:30am until 4pm with a break for lunch. There are several restaurants within the park for bathrooms and food. The highlight of day two was seeing a pack of lions and a few cubs. We opted to pay for one additional morning safari on the last day and we we finally saw lions. The only animals that we didn't see where cheetahs and leopards. 

This was an experience of a lifetime to see the animals in their natural habitat. We saw old adults and babies and everything in between. Our guides were really knowledgable and we asked lots of questions. The birds were also fascinating and beautiful. The landscape was incredible. 

A successful Safari requires an experienced guide, a lot of eyes, sitting up high in an off-road vehicle, being patient and spending a lot of time driving around. I put together a video from our Safari experience. 

If you are planning a Safari, here are a few tips that I learned from our experience: 

• Don't tour by yourself in your car. Being with a group means more eyes to look for animals. Also, the touring trucks allow you to sit up high, which makes for easier viewing in the distance. 
• Use an experience guide. If you book a tour, you will get a guide. To improve your odds of seeing animals, the guides will often communicate to one another as to where certain animals are spotted (on specific roads/routes). The guides also know about the animals so they can answer your questions. 
• Allow at least 2 full days of Safari to improve your odds of seeing all the big 5 and so much more. Most Safaris will have one in the morning for a few hours (typically very early when the animals are most active as its cooler) and then late afternoon/early evening. You may also consider a few more early morning safari tours for 3-5 viewing experiences. I can tell you that seeing elephants and giraffes doesn't get old. It didn't matter how many we saw, each one made me wow. 
• Make sure to bring cash to tip your driver. 
• Wear light, breathable comfortable neutral clothes. We purchased Safari hats on Amazon before we left and they came in really handy for when we were driving (and it was windy) as well as for keeping the sun off our neck. Even though the Safari truck is covered, the sun is still warm from the sides of the vehicle. 
• Bring binoculars. You will spot many animals in the distance. 
• Bring your camera. Our cell phones worked great for capturing pictures. While it would have been nice to take more professional pictures while we were there, we were just fine with our phones. Nothing can erase the memories that we gained from the experience. 
• Bring sunscreen and bugspray. 
• Bring snacks and water. 

To finish off this recap, here are some pics of the delicious food that we consumed during our Safari tour. 

Up next.....breathtaking pictures from our Panoramic Tour. 

South Africa Race-Cation Day 8

Neither of us slept so great at night after the race but surprisingly, we didn’t feel too sore in the morning. We woke up around 6:30am and got a bit of work done before finishing our packing and cleaning up the Airbnb for our departure. We said good bye to Thys and Hester and left around 8:30am. Today was a travel day for us and included several logistics but thankfully everything went smoothly. We drove ~1 hr to Cape Town. This was our first time seeing the area since we arrived. We dropped off our bikes (in the cases) and luggage at the Best Western Cape Town Suites where we would be staying on Friday after our Safari Tour. For the past month I had been in communication with one of the staff who said we could keep our luggage at the hotel (free of charge) during our Safari. The luggage concierge William said he would take good care of our items while we were away. We then drove ~15 minutes to the Cape Town airport to top off our rental car with gas before dropping it off at Hertz. 

With only our backpacks, we didn’t need to do anything at the airport except go through security. We had our boarding passes on our phones with the SAFAIR airline. We arrived to the airport around 11am for our 1:15pm flight which gave us a good amount of time to get some work done in one of the airport lounges. We also enjoyed some great food in the lounge. And the high speed internet was fantastic (the things you take for granted while traveling). Our 2 hour flight was fairly uneventful, although it was a little bumpy and we had to circle the sky for about 10 minutes due to another plane being slow to land. We finally touched down to Johannesburg airport at 3:15pm. I was a little nervous about figuring out the train (Gautrain) but it was super easy. Just swipe your credit card to access the train. We were lucky in that the train was 1 minute from leaving so we quickly boarded the train. The train was very comfortable, clean and quiet. The train made two stops before the final stop at Sandton. 

I chose a hotel at this location because I read that it was a safe area and the Nelson Mandela Square was a popular area to visit. We walked a block to the Garden Suites where we stayed the night and then walked across the street to check out Nelson Mandela Square. We saw the tall statue of Nelson Mandela and read about his lifetime. We then spent the next hour walking through the mall. It was interesting to think about what Nelson went through and then to be walking through a high-end mall with designer shops. We came across a bakery with a wide assortment of fresh bread and Karel couldn’t resist a croissant. We had dinner at Pappas – a Greek restaurant overlooking the square, and the food was delicious. I had a bulgur salad and Karel had a chicken kabob. 

We also had pita bread and hummus as a starter (it came free with the meal) and a cheese and spinach mushroom appetizer. 

After dinner we walked back to the hotel and went to bed around 9:30pm for an early morning alarm at 5:45am for the start of our 4-day Safari tour. 

South Africa Race-Cation Day 6 (Xterra Pre race)

                                     

In the morning, I laid out my gear for the race. As usual, I prepare my race gear way early and Karel typically waits until later in the day. With this only being my third Xterra race, I wanted to see a visual of all my items to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything for the race. We went for a ~30 min shake out run in the direction of Strand. As we started the run, there were several markets getting set up for the weekend. On the way back, we ran/walked through some of the markets. It was interesting to see the diversity in items at the market tables. On one table was clothing and on another table, were scrapes from electronics and cars. We also passed by a fruit vendor with lots of different seasonal fruits.

After eating a meal, I finished packing up my gear and worked on the computer for a bit.

At 12:40pm, I walked down to the beach to meet up with the masters swim team for their Saturday morning open water swim. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to swim in the ocean one last time. I met up with my new friend Gordon who let me keep my stuff in his car. The beach was packed unlike the previous days when we swam. I opted to swim in my swimskin since it was hot outside but the water was still a little on the cool side. There were around 15 athletes for the swim. Everyone swam at their own pace and we regrouped at the wall. I felt a little cold in the water since I wasn’t swimming too hard. The water was very choppy which was also different from our previous swims when the water was really calm. There were also a lot more boats and kayakers in the water as well. While I was swimming, Karel prepared our bikes for the race. Our Airbnb had a hose which was great for cleaning the bikes each day. Karel brought some cleaning supplies as well as a variety of tools.

After the swim I walked back to the Airbnb, had a quick snack and then around 3:15pm we drove ~25 minutes to the Elgin Valley Railroad market. I heard great things about this market although by the time we arrived, the vendors were shutting down. However, I purchased two wire-art animals from a local maker and he told me how he makes them. We walked around and enjoyed the décor in the inside of the building. We also stopped across the street at another store to check it out.

When we got back to Gordon’s Bay, we parked by the beach and had a pizza dinner at Tally’s Tavern. The pizza was delicious  - thin crust. The beach was rather busy so it was nice to watch the locals play in the ocean. We arrived back to our Airbnb around 6:30pm, prepared our hydration packs and bottles for the race and got into bed around 8pm. Just in time for load shedding. Neither of us felt nervous for the race but really excited to race for the first time in South Africa. 

South Africa Race-Cation Day 5

We took our time in the morning and worked on the computer. The internet seems to work the fastest in the morning so we try to take advantage of it. We joined our friend Gordon and another guy Brian for a late morning swim in the ocean around 10:30am (high tide). I felt much more at ease in the ocean (no jellyfish sightings) although Gordon and Brian saw a seal sunbathing on his back in the water. It was a nice swim in our wetsuits and I felt a bit better in the water compared to the day prior. During our walk on the way back from the swim, we stopped at Uncle Barry’s for soft serve ice cream. It was the best soft serve we have ever had. 

In all of our travels to Europe and now South Africa, it’s always surprising to taste sweets that aren’t overly sweet compared to the US. For some reason, in the US, everything is overly sweet. We enjoyed our soft serve on the walk back to the Airbnb. We then enjoyed some real food before heading back to the Elgin Valley Country Club to pre-ride the rock garden again. 

Instead of riding the entire course we went on the green to red line to make our way to the black rock garden. Karel wanted to do the 1.2 mile rock garden in one clean run (without stopping) so we each did our own thing. I was able to get through most of it but struggled in one switchback where my wheel got stuck in the sand and I fell into a bush. I wanted to make sure I knew the right line so I went back up the trail and rode it again, taking a different line over the rock instead. The rock was at a weird angle so it doesn’t look like the obvious line but this time I didn’t fall. I had a few gentle falls in the sandy switchbacks as it still feels so unnatural for me. I’m looking forward to working on it back at home as I know I am losing a lot of time in those type of trail sections. We also scooped out some of the run course until we got to a deep puddle of water and decided to turn around.

After our ride, we did a quick change and got our packets at the race venue (which was open from 4-7pm). I met Liezel and Conrad as I had been communicating with Liezel via IG Messenger and What’s App and gave Conrad a nice supply of Clif Bars (as requested before we left). He used to be sponsored by Clif bar and hasn’t been able to enjoy the bars since they don’t have access to them in South Africa. 

During the drive back home, we were reminded once again of the difference in lifestyles here in South Africa. 

Our Airbnb hosts wanted to make us dinner tonight. We were looking forward to getting to know them better and sampling some local recipes. After we got cleaned up at the Airbnb, we walked to the grocery store for a few items and then walked upstairs to our Airbnb for dinner. While the sun was setting, we talked with Hester and Thys and around 7:30pm, Thys started the grill (braai) to prepare the assortment of meats. I hardboiled some eggs for my protein (and to share). We had dinner around 8pm and it was incredible. We had fresh homemade bread, grits with sauce, two different salads and Karel enjoyed the meat selection. Around 9pm we left and went to bed around 10pm. It was a special evening to enjoy a homemade meal with our Airbnb hosts. Even though my vegetarian diet limits my protein choices, I really enjoy trying new foods, cuisines and dishes when we travel. It's one of the best ways to get to know a country. 

South Africa Race-Cation Day 4

After a small snack while working on the computer (the internet is a bit slow compared to what we are used to so it’s tested our patience a few times) we went for a ~40 min run. We first made our way through Gordon’s Bay along the water. We were stopped by a local black lady who asked about our Naked hydration belt. She had never seen anything like it and wished she could have something like it to carry her water when she walks. This was a quick reminder of what we often take advantage of – like Amazon Prime and access to almost anything in America. If it wasn’t for the race and her being a different size, I would have given her my hydration belt and flasks. We then ran a few miles toward Strand along the road (mostly off-road). My legs felt a bit tired but I was enjoying the scenery and warm air. Every person on the side of the road was friendly and gave us a wave, smile or cheer. There were a few people casually riding bikes (white people) on the side of the road. It’s unfortunate that so many black people don’t have access to transportation other than by foot. It makes sense why the bicycle is such an important item as it can get people to/from where they need to be so that they can work/buy food.

We had a meal after our run and then we headed on the Clarence Drive Scenic drive. For the 11-mile route, we were stunned by the mix of beauty with the ocean on our right and the mountains on our left. The best of mother nature. There was a bit of construction on the road which was actually nice so that Karel could enjoy the scenery while being stopped. Our final destination was at the end of the scenic drive at Betty’s Bay and as we were getting closer, just outside of Pringle’s Bay, we were slowed down by a troop of several dozen baboons. Having research about them in advance, I knew better that to entice them but with this being our first time seeing them, we slowed down and took a few pics and videos. One decided to stop in front of our car and clean himself. The locals were not phased but for us tourists, it was fun to watch the babies playing. 

Around 11am we arrived to the African Penguin Colony at Betty’s Bay. I decided on this one of Boulder’s Beach in Cape Town as it was closer to us and a bit more low key. We didn’t have to pay to see the penguins as there was a sandy walkway to see them in their natural habitat. There was a boardwalk that cost money to walk on but we were just fine seeing the penguins on the beach. We were even greeted by two penguins before we parked our car. There were signs everywhere notifying us to look under our cars before leaving to check for penguins. We also noticed a lot of different birds and collected several cool shells.

After enjoying the penguins for about an hour, I found a local restaurant online called Satir – an African restaurant that has a lot of vegetarian/vegan options. It was just up the street from the penguins (although the address online took us across the street into a field but we finally found the right location). The food was incredible. I got a lentil, kale, sweet potato dish and Karel got the “bunny” chow – which is a chicken curry stuffed inside a loaf of bread. We could not stop yumming. It was so good. We also had a variety of toppings for our meal. The meal was incredibly affordable (the USD goes a long way in South Africa) and we gave the lady serving us a big tip as she was very nice. On our drive back to our Airbnb, we made a few stops on the road at the look out points.

When we arrived back home we got a bit of work done before heading to Generations High School Aquatic Center for the masters swim practice from 6:30-7:30pm. 

The instructor invited us to come for free which was very nice. There were around 12 people swimming and the instructor used her microphone to tell us what to do. It was fun doing a different style of training. We both felt horrible in the water (like we forgot how to swim) but it was still nice to swim in a new pool (25-meters). 

The workout was:
400 warm-up (75 free, 25 stroke)
4 x 100 IM order (25 pull, 25 kick, 25 drill, 25 swim)
8 x 100 at 85% freestyle
8 x 50 non free at 85%
2x 200 pull
250 cool down

One our way home, our GPS took us through one of poorest places in the area (Casablanca is the area) and it was tough to see the kids, people and surroundings in that area. No running water, port-o-potties for bathrooms, satellite dishes for those with electricity and “homes” with rocks on top of sheet metal for roofs and walls made of all types of materials. Kids playing in fields filled with trash – often with no shoes. There were a few groups of kids dancing or playing soccer in fields.

We made it home with ~15 minutes before load shedding at 8-10pm so I had time to dry my hair and prepare dinner. We ate outside in the patio (which is where we spent most of our time) as the sun was setting. The weather felt great as we were cool from the sea breeze. Our host messages me on WhatsApp each day to let me know when load shedding is throughout the day. Typically it happens twice a day (in two hour intervals). She knows within 24 hours advance of when it’s going to happen.

The swim was a nice way to end the day and we slept really well after a good dinner.

South Africa Race-Cation - Day 3

Feeling a bit more rested on day 3, we started the morning with an open water swim. I thought we were swimming in the Indian ocean (which would be a first for us) but it was the Atlantic. Still, the furthest south I've ever swam in the ocean.

Prior to our trip to SA, I emailed a lady that I found online who was in charge of the local masters group. She connected me with the Gordon Bay Sea Swim group on WhatsApp so that I could stay up to date with all the local swims. An older gentleman (Gordon – appropriately named 😊) said he would meet me and Karel for a swim, along with Harold – the local legend who has completed over 100 English Channel and Robin Crossing swims. The water was a little cool (upper 60’s) but with the warm sun at 8:30am, it felt prefect in our Roka wetsuits. We swam to and back from the old harbor which was ~1000 meters away. When we got there, we could stand on the sand (low tide) and regroup. Gordon was very helpful in that he would tell us where to swim as it was low tide so we could be aware of the rocky sections. I saw one jellyfish and it freaked me out but other than that, it was a nice swim. And no sharks :) Gordon and Harold were super nice and we chatted a bit after the swim by Gordon’s car (parked by the beach where we kept our stuff during the swim). After the swim we stopped by the local coffee shop “To Go” and Karel got a cappuccino, two croissants and a cinnamon roll. The bakery items were not the tastiest/freshest which was kinda disappointing. While waiting for our items, I made friends with the cats next door – Casper and Cat.

We walked back to our Airbnb and after eating some food, we headed to Elgin Valley Country Club – the Xterra SA race venue. The drive was ~25 minutes and it was beautiful. Normally I like for us to stay close to a race venue when we travel to a race but there wasn't much around the country club area and I wanted to make sure we could walk to places - Gordons Bay was the perfect location. We went up the road and over the mountain to Grabow. We passed through a town that was packed with a lot of African locals. There were many people walking along the highway to get to/from work, as well as more people needed a ride. If only there were bikes available for transportation. The ‘neighborhood’ of shacks was tough to see – and there are a lot of them throughout South Africa.

 

When we arrived to the country club, we weren’t sure where to go as the gate was closed when we arrived. We were buzzed in and met Willie – a tatted-up local who has a trail named after him. Willie told us that we needed to pay to use the trail (60 Rand = $3.39 USD) and to park just outside the gate and to use the wooden staircase to enter the trails (some of these trails are also used for Jeeps/off roading and hiking). I downloaded the 28K (18 mile) race course to my Garmin but the course was also marked with blue arrows. Karel led the way and helped me navigate through some of the tougher sections through the course. As usual for Xterra, we did a bit of climbing to start but the trails were much more flowy. It was also very sandy which was new for me. Often times it would feel like I was riding on ice as the bike would just slide through the sand (or get stuck). It was a new type of feeling (kinda like the deep mud in Molveno, Italy) but the more I did it, the more I learned that I needed to keep the weight off my front wheel and just let the bike slide. The jeep trails were still technical as they were rocky, sandy and up and down. As we went on the course, we were stunned by the beauty of this area. There was so much flora and different plants that we had never seen before. The rocks were incredible. When we made our way to the famous rock garden, I was ready to test my skills. I did pretty well navigating through the rocks (it was mostly downhill) but struggled on one steep and rocky section. Karel coached me through it and I got it the second time. Karel has been really helpful in my journey into mountain biking (which started ~13 months ago) as he will notify me of any technical or difficult sections before I get to them (and tell me what to do) or we will stop and he will walk me through which line to take or how to get through a touch section. There were a few tight switchbacks on loose sand which required a lot of balance and power so it was helpful to have Karel in front to tell me what I needed to do. I really struggled on the downhills with the curves and turns on the sand so that is an area that I know I need to continue to work on (body position). Although we got tired as the ride went on, it was the most incredible riding experience that I have ever had on a mountain bike. It was cloudy, windy and hot so we made sure to stay well hydrated with our USWE hydration packs. 

We stopped at the store on the way home to get a few more things before dinner. We both got a bit sunburnt (the sun is very strong) as we didn’t put on enough sunscreen during our ride as it was cloudy so that didn’t feel too good in the evening. We went to bed a little earlier (~10pm) as we were both pretty tired from the day.

South Africa Race-Cation - Day 2

We woke up to the new sights and smells of South Africa. Our Airbnb was in the perfect location in Gordon’s Bay – just a few blocks (~10 min walk) to the beach and three blocks from the grocery store (SPAR). We could see the ocean from the owners balcony (which we could use). The owners of the Airbnb live on the top floor and we had the entire bottom floor (three bedrooms and three bathrooms + kitchen, family room, outside patio and a place to park our rental car (I used Hertz – Rav4 SUV) inside their gated house.

The owners of the house (Hester and Thys) were extremely welcoming and provided us with lots of recommendations and advice before our arrival. After catching up on a few emails, we walked a few blocks to the Spar grocery store. picked up a few items at Woolsworth as well (kinda like a Fresh Market for those in the states). It was a bit easier to shop for food compared to Europe as everything was in English so we had fun collecting familiar and different foods to add to our grocery cart. I was really impressed with the vegetarian options in both stores (specifically the Woolsworth). I did a lot of research before arriving and I thought the meals were going to be really meat-heavy but there were a lot of plant based options to choose from. This was also our first wow moment of how affordable/cheap the food was here. The US dollar goes a very long way. I think we spent less than $40 on groceries. We walked back to our Airbnb (while snacking) and got our first glimpse of the poverty in the area. There were a lot of homeless people and trash mixed in with the nice, expensive houses. I never felt scared or threatened, everyone was very nice and waved to us with a smile. It was just a culture shock to see the different types of people all in one area. 

After eating a delicious breakfast, Karel built the bikes while I unpacked. Load shedding was during this time (12-2pm) which worked out well to be without power. We can still use our hotspot during loadshedding but the internet was very slow. Nearing 2pm, we drove ~45 minutes to Stellenbosch and passed through several winery’s. The scenery was incredible – a mix of mountains and vineyards. While Karel was doing the driving, I was taking it all in. Karel’s brain was still having a hard time figuring out how to drive on the left side of the road (while sitting on the right side of the car, trying to use the mirror facing to his left and the blinker on his right). We made a good team as Karel did the driving and I would remind him which lane to stay in and where to turn.

Once we arrived to the Banhoek Conservancy, we weren’t sure exactly where to park but we finally found the gate. We paid the 50 Rand (~$2.50 USD) for us each get a pass/wrist bands to ride on the trails. Most of the trails in the area are built by Conrad Stoltz and Leizel (his wife) suggested that we visit this area for our shakeout ride. We were in awe of the beauty of the jagged rocks and wide open fields. We went for a shake out ride with no plans for how long we were going to ride (or where). While we were still functioning ok without major jet lag, the warm temps and fatigue from travel was had us feeling blah. 

We ventured on to one trail which had us climbing right away. It was really hot (low 90s) and dry and we were having a hard time catching our breathe. Especially after travel, neither of us felt very good. We accidentally ended up on a double orange diamond route (which is the “professional/expert” route – the hardest) so I found myself scooting me and my bike back down the trail.

Thankfully, we found another loop with berms and it was so much fun. It was the perfect way to shake out the legs and to get reacquainted with our mountain bikes. We did the loop ~5 times, with each time getting more familiar and confident with my body position. We decided to try another route which had some gentle climbing for a while and then when we decided to turn around, we fully enjoyed the flow of the trail to take us back to the field where we started. This was our first taste of the trails and they were much more dry than what we are used to, which made it a little challenging to feel a grip on the tires as it’s loose and sandy. After the ride I went for a short run (~1.5 miles) to get my system going. Karel did a short jog in the morning so he stayed by the bikes at the car. We made our way back to the Airbnb (with our navigation taking us through the Stellenbosch University, which was very pretty).

We saw several packed cars of African American people packed into the trunks as well as many people standing on the side of the road waving money to get a ride.

We made it home around 7pm which gave us enough time to prepare dinner before load shedding at 8-10pm. The downstairs unit stayed pretty cool so we didn’t notice not having AC. We did have a fan in our room which we turned on for when the power would switch back on at 10pm (or whenever loadshedding was overwith). It would then turn off again around 2-4am for another loadshedding). I went to bed a little later (~10:30pm) but I was surprised I wasn’t more tired from the jetlag. We had a great night of sleep.

South Africa Race-Cation - Travel Day

Karel knows how much I love international travel (and warm weather) so late this summer, when he mentioned to me that we should participate in Xterra South Africa on January 22nd, 2023 I was excited for the opportunity to visit a new continent.

After a few months of researching, planning and travel hacking, I was able to put together an affordable two weeks to experience the sights, culture, trails, animals, food and people of South Africa. I realize travel is a privilege and we had/have to work really hard to travel but it's something that makes my life feel whole. My favorite type of travel is when I can combine culture and nature - alongside riding my bike in new places. 

If you have a trip to South Africa on your bucket list - or anywhere in this world - I strongly encourage you to start planning. With a bit of saving and a lot of planning, you too can have a life-changing trip.

For those who are curious, here is the breakdown of our trip (I'm pretty proud of myself for planning a 2-week race-cation to South Africa, including a 4-day safari for less than $5000!)

Paid in advance: 
Flights - $1160 per person (main cabin on Delta, booked late October) = $2320 
Airbnb - $594 (7 nights)
Rental car - $445 (Rav4 SUV from Hertz for 8 days)
Flights for Safari - $305 (Safair airline, priority boarding)
4-day Kruger Safari Package - $481 per person (Safari with us) = $962
Garden Court Sandton City - $76 (breakfast for two included)
Xterra race entry - $36 per person = $72
TOTAL = $4774

What was free: 
-No money spent at airports (and we were 11 of them) with lounge accesst thanks to our Amex Platinum Business Cards (which includes Priority Pass membership). 
-Free luggage storage at Best Western while we were away at our Safari. 
-Free night at Best Western thanks to Credit Card points from Capital One Visa. 
-Free shuttle to airport from Best Western. 

Extra money spent during trip (1 USD = 17.6 South African Rand): 
-Uber
-Meals/Groceries
-Tips and donations 
-Souvenirs and gifts
-Enterance fees (ex. hiking, mountain biking)

We left our house/pet sitter and our furry crew around 11:30am on Sunday. It was strange leaving on a Sunday (and later in the day) so it almost felt like a normal weekend day for us. We did a workout in the morning (Karel rode the trainer and I ran) and finished our packing/house cleaning before we were driven to the airport by my mom’s partner Alan. I hired a pet sitter from Rover.com and she stayed at our house for the entire 2 weeks that we were away. 

We arrived early to the airport to give ourself time to check in with our bike bags and to enjoy the airport lounge, thanks to our new Amex platinum business card (with all of our travels this year, I’m seeing if this CC is worth the yearly payment. So far, with our lounge access, it’s well worth it!). There was no line for checking in with Delta for our 2 suitcases and bike bags (with our mountain bikes inside – including Apple air tags on each bike and in our suitcases for tracking) and we were quick through security with TSA pre-check. We got some work done in the lounge and enjoyed a light meal before boarding our plane around 2 for our 2:50pm flight to Atlanta.

It was a quick flight to Atlanta and I watched some of a movie that I downloaded onto my iPad. When we arrived, we needed to go from the B terminal to F so we took the plane train to the international terminal. We waited in line for the Delta Sky Club lounge for around 10 minutes. This was our first time in this lounge and the food was amazing. It was so nice to enjoy “free” food, especially a salad w/ tofu. Although we only had an hour before heading to our gate, we thouroughly enjoyed our time in the lounge (and Karel loved the coffee options with good tasting coffee). 

Around 4:50, the boarding process started for our 6pm flight to Johannesburg. This was home for the next 15 hours - our longest flight ever. Karel was not excited. I sat in the middle seat, next to a nice guy who was visiting his mom for the first time in 6 years. Karel had the aisle. I thought I was booking the front row of Main (behind Comfort +) but turns out there was no bulkhead so my idea to have extra leg room failed through. I should have just booked to aisle seats for us next to one another. Oh well. We had two meals on the plane and snacked on our trail mix that we brought. We each watched two movies and slept on and off. I enjoyed one vegetarian meal that I requested prior to the flight (for some reason they didn't have my request in so they had to search for an extra meal. They do have a vegetarian option with the complimentary meal service but I always request a 'special meal' (which is free) as the options are a lot better - and you get served first. We got up for the restroom and to stretch a lot. Overall, for this being our longest flight so far, it wasn’t too bad. It actually went by rather fast and I think going through the night helped as we were naturally tired and the flight was long enough that we could take a few longer naps.

Fruit, bread, bulgur salad and rice with vegetarian meat, beet sauce and vegetables. 

We arrived to the Johannesburg airport around 2:30pm and had a two hour layover. Because we were on the same plane to Cape Town, we departed the plane for cleaning and stayed in a holding wing. We were provided water and snacks while waiting. We then re-boarded our plane and made the 2 hour flight to Cape Town. I tried not to nap but I caved and fell asleep for a short time. We finally touched down to South Africa on Monday evening around 8pm. It was a long two days of travel but we were so excited to finally touch down on this new continent.

There was no line for passport control so that went by quickly (unlike the time it takes to enter the US) and then we picked up our bags/bikes. We then went to the rental car kiosk to get our SUV from Hertz. We were both very nervous about the driving situation with a right side of the car driver and driving on the left side of the road so for our dark 45 min drive to Gordon’s Bay, I had to remind Karel “left, left!” a lot throughout the drive. We survived. We made a quick stop at the gas station as we were really hungry. This was our first opportunity to try new foods. Karel got some type of meat "pastry" and I got a yogurt drink and a bag of ginger crackers. We were notified by our Airbnb host that load-shedding (shut down of power) was at 10pm so when we arrived just after 10pm, it was pitch dark out. Thankfully the host had a few portable lights for us to use. She showed us around the Airbnb and we were welcomed with a lot of wind – which made for a refreshing night of sleep with our door open (no AC). Surprisingly, we both slept pretty good after falling asleep just after 11pm local time (7 hours ahead of EST). We had a good night of sleep and I woke up around 9am excited for our first official day in South Africa.

International travel - a quick hello from South Africa

Late this summer, Karel mentioned to me that we should travel somewhere warm in January 2023 to escape the winter and to do some type of athletic event. And his top choice was not Arizona, Florida or the Virgin Islands but....South Africa! Karel came up with this idea after hearing about the return of Xterra South Africa (off-road triathlon event). After several months of researching, travel hacking and planning (my favorite!) I was able to put together an exciting, affordable and memorable itinerary for our 2 week race-cation (which includes a Safari and Kruger National Park). We will be participating in Xterra South Africa on Sunday, January 22nd in Elgin Valley (outside of Gordon's Bay, an hour from Cape Town) and then flying to Johannsburg on the 23rd for a 4-day Safari tour. We will then travel back to Cape Town on the 27th for one last day in Cape Town before flying back to the US on the 28th/29th. 

If you couldn't tell, I love traveling. Since an early age, I've had the privilege of traveling all over the US and internationally. When I was in middle school, I participated in an exchange program and spent almost 2 weeks in Japan. At only 13-14 years of age, I spent some of the time living with a family that didn't speak English and took part in a lot of different traditions. During my senior year of college, I traveled to the Philippines during May term for a work service project. I spent two weeks working on buildings and schools and I slept on a wooden bed, took bucket showers and had no AC. I was surrouned by people who had little to nothing but were incredibly happy and grateful. Traveling to this third-world country truly changed my life. 

Although it's fun to see popular touristy sights, one of my favorite things about travel is meeting new people and learning about different cultures - the language, traditions, customs, religion, holidays and food. Without travel, all we know is what's normal and not normal in our own society. By immersing yourself in another culture, you learn different and new perspectives. You also become more mindful of the traditions, practices, thoughts, beliefs and lifestyles of other people. Seeing the world from a different point of view can make you a more understanding person. While travel is a great way to immerse yourself in a culture beyond your own, you can learn at home through articles, talking with friends and coworkers, YouTube, documentaries, blogs and social media.There are so many places I never knew about but now want to visit thanks to travel vloggers.

And one of the best parts of travel is the FOOD!

Whether it's the pizza in Italy or seafood in Japan, traveling introduces you to new flavors, recipes, ingredients and dishes. While we can agree that America has a somewhat dysfunctional relationship with food, food plays a very important role in many cultures - it shows different traditions in each community and for many cultures, nothing is more important than a family meal. Whether you order from a restaurant menu or step out of your comfort zone with local street food, there's no better way to experience an entire culture - from the local and seasonal ingredients to the traditional recipes - than through authentic dishes. 

In doing some research for our upcoming South Africa trip, I came across this article discussing 30 different culinary traditions. Here are a few of the ones I found most interesting: 

• Borscht (Ukraine and many Eastern European Countries) - a traditional soup with beetroots as the main ingredient. 
• French baguette  (a symbol of France) - a 'good' baguette has a crunchy crust and is 65 centimeters in length. The only ingredients are wheat floud, water, yeast and salt. 
• Tea (a way of life in China) - there are over 2,000 different teas produced in China. 
• Joumou (Haiti) - this soup is a symbol of freedom and liberation. Made from a local pumpkin or squash. 
• Ceebu Jën (Senegal West Africa). The dish is passed down from mother to daughter. The essential ingredients include fish, broken rice, tomatoes, onions and other seasonal veggies. The dish is eaten with one's hands or a piece of bread to scoop up the rice. This dish is a symbol of hospitality.
• Lavash (Armenia) - this dough is made from wheat flour and water. This bread plays an important role in Armenian weddings, where sheets of the bread are draped over the bride and groom's shoulders to signal future prosperity. 
• Nsima (Africa) - a thick porridge made through an elaborate process of mixing white cornmeal with water. In Malawi, the dish is eaten with a protein and vegetable. Young children are taught to pound maize and sift flour at an early age and eating a meal of Nsima is a way to strengthen family bonds. 
• Keskek (Turkey) - found in Turkish, Iranian and Greek cuisines and associated with ceremonial and religious occasions, cooked by groups of men and women together in the community. From beating the ingredients to praying over the wheat or barley to a music performance and the thickening and stirring of the dish, the local community all come together to take part in keşkek preparation.
• Airag or Kumis (Mongolia) - This fermented dairy product is made by churning fresh horse milk inside a special vessel crafted from cowhide. It's a critical source of nutrition for moadic communities. To make, the milk must be churned more than 500 times before the yeast is added to start the fermentation process. 

I'll be blogging about our travels but currently I'm soaking it all in and making the most of everyday here. You can follow me along on Instagram (@trimarni) where I'll be posting videos/pics on my stories.