On relatively short notice, I joined my uncle, a friend of my uncle’s, and two cousins on a run in Cape Town. They were aiming to do Three-Peaks: Devil’s Peak, McClear’s Beacon and Lion’s Head. I only did the first. Starting at Kloofnek (250m), we headed up the mountain to the fire lookout (501m). From there, all along the Upper Contour Path to the saddle between Table Mountain and Devil’s Peak. From there a climb up Devil’s Peak (from 640m to 1001m), which is decent enough that it can be run on the way back down.

At that point I was falling behind already. Blame the thesis. After taking some pictures, I headed back to the car with no haste, for a total trip of about 15km, spread over 3 hours. The others headed up Platteklip Gorge, east to McClear’s Beacon (1087m), returning either back via Platteklip Gorge, or down Kasteelpoort and back to the cars via the Pipe Track, with the intention of then tackling Lion’s Head (669m). I have yet to speak to them to find out how it went or how long it took them. (No answer when I last phoned.)

To state the obvious, contour paths make really good trail runs. We need to do more contour paths. And maybe Swartboskloof. (Jonkershoek. Stellenbosch. Home.) The path from the top of Swartboskloof to the top of Kurktrekkernek is a really nice run. Just a couple of places where vegetation becomes a little thick. “Ending” with a swim at the Second Waterfall is a beautiful reward, and the run from there back to the car is nice and fast. (A couple of climbs, steps, but a gradual descent most of the time.)

The first thing on my sporting calendar is the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour. I don’t know what to expect, being in rather bad shape. If I didn’t have a thesis gut, I’d feel quite confident about aiming for a sub 3:10, achieved by dreaming about a sub 3:00. (What a dream.) As it is, I’d ideally like to drop 5kg in the next 5 weeks. Not quite realistic, but the point is I’ve got to do a lot of cycling. I’m trying to train six times a week. Once I get work and thesis defence out of the way, I could even do more than one session per day.

This post is an invitation to any sports-people that might be reading this. If you are interested in joining me for a road cycle or a mountain bike outing, let me know. I’m living somewhere between Somerset West and Stellenbosch. In between I’m doing some running as well. We have an informal little Stellenbosch Trail Runners group, currently organising via Facebook. We’re currently doing a weekly run. (Thanks to Pieter for organising!) Again, let me know if you’re interested.