Cape Argus Pick 'n' Pay Cycle Tour

[mtkitchn]

I finished my first "race" on March 12 in Cape Town, South Africa. It's a 109km ride and is the biggest timed bike race in the world. There were almost 39000 entrants, of those, 31500 actually rode, and 28000 finished in the allowed time of under 7 hrs. I placed 21396 and finished in 5:06. I just started riding in November, and only because a friend talked me into doing this ride.
The scenery along the coast was incredible and there were thousands of people lining the course, ringing cowbells and shouting encouragement. I've never seen anything like it, and had a huge grin on my face for the first 25 miles until the pain started . There were far more hills than my friend let on, but seeing everyone else struggle kept me going.
I'd like to do the ride again and believe I could better my time if I learned to draft and was less afraid of the fast downhills. I'd pass everyone going uphill, but they'd all blow by me going back down! Anyway, it was a great experience. Not really a true race by most peoples' standards (it was the 5th stage of the Giro del Capo, but those riders were finished before I even started), but I had to crow about it!