Team life, kids and the Gautrain by pc

Fly Volcan Fly!

It is always great to be home after a week away, fantastic to catch up with family and friends and restore ones daily routine. I really enjoyed London this time round and I guess we were very lucky to have missed all the riots, I’m sure it will all be back to normal soon enough though.

My first few days back took some adjustment as the long summer days of the UK gave me a virtual “jet-lag” when coming back home to find sundown before 18:00. I spent some time filling out post event questionnaires as well as a couple press releases, reports and articles. It is great to see how people have been learning more about project Rwanda as well as Adrien and his story. I have also received a lot of feed back from people who have watched the trailer on www.risingfromashesthemovie.com and cannot wait to see it when it is released as well as the cycling community’s response to this inspiring story.

BMX course at the MTN Bike Park

It was also back to work when we arrived from the minute we climbed off the plane. Yolande and family met us at the airport for a quick hello coffee before we rushed home for a quick shower. We left home with just enough time to make a turn past Epic Sports Cycle Shop where we quickly repacked Adrien’s bike, swopped his race wheels and threw in a few spares as he had to leave for Rwanda the following day.  We then raced through to Activeworx in Johannesburg for a team and feedback meeting. After this it was all the way back to Pretoria East to drop Adrien off at home and finally to make it to my daughter Kaitlyn’s swim class in the nick of time!

Swim class

Trouble with going way is missing out on my time with Kaitlyn so when I am here and she gets to come and visit me I always ensure to make the most of the time I have with her! The best news I have is that after almost 4 years she will finally be spending weekends and sleeping over at home again starting from her birthday on the 16^th of September, I can’t wait!!

Training is back to normal and in my first few days back I did some field and power profile tests to see where I need to get to before the next set of races in about a months time. Inspired by the London XC I’ve been dragging Yolande to the bike park as well as on a few longer MTB rides which has been great. Yolande’s fitness is coming on well and she has slowly been finding her legs again. Today was fantastic as she busted out her “stripes” (I like to see it as a sign (-; ) It wont be long before she is back into racing and giving the girls stick at the front of the race!!

Feeling comfortable again in white

We also finally got to see the Gautrain in action from Pretoria to Johannesburg for the first time. Everyone has been waiting for this as it has promised to minimize traffic and be a cheaper option for everyday commutes. I think they have achieved that as we climbed on last Sunday together with hundreds of other joy riders to get our first feel of this first world development! The soccer world cup is now over a year gone but the country has benefited immensely from this event and this high speed train has to be one of the highlights!

Twisting me around her finger!

Well that is all for this week. I hope everyone is enjoying the good weather as we are! If you have a moment please remember to check out www.qhubeka.org or have a look at the link on the top right of our page, lets make cycling benefit even the most under privileged! Thanks very much.

Paul