2012 English Channel Swim
After having cycled through Africa, completed 5 Ironman Triathlons, run the Comrades Ultra Marathon, Climbed Kili ... I have decided to take on a slightly tougher option ...
... 34km of cold, open water swimming ... leaving the coast of the eternal "wanna-be" soccer nation, over to the "frogs" on the other side ...
Thursday, 21 January 2010
Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Oh ... I forgot ...
I left the Cape on 91kg and returned on 84kg ... not much less, but I recon a lot is pure muscle ... ;-)
I was real skinny and gaunt in Arusha ... 5 days of hectic runs ... but put a lot back on as the food got better closer to South Africa.
I have not been able to take my measurements ... as I do not have an appropriate measuring tape ... mmpph ...
by
Patrick Thomas
at
08:14
Monday, 21 May 2007
Thank You!!
I know I'm going to leave some people out of this ... purely by mistake ... and I'm sorry if I forgot ...
Firstly to all of you reading this regularly ... thanks for sharing this most amazing trip with me! Thanks for the comments and thoughts and those for just reading it regularly.
First and foremost ... thanks for my brother, parents and Phil Head ... for being my contacts back home for queries, needs, computer stuff, blog updates ... and boet for keeping my life back home on the right road!!! I couldn't have done this without you ...
Obviously also thanks to Tammy for looking after the practice.
Thanks to all my family, friends, clients and others who bought raffle tickets and contributed financially to my trip!
Gecko cycles for my bike and stuff and the sponsors of the prizes ... look right on my blog page ... for your contributions.
Lastly thanks to all the riders and staff on this trip ... the organisation and trip itself was absolutely superb! and the riders were real great ... really nice to have met you all ... some more than others, and I'm sure you'll know who ...
by
Patrick Thomas
at
11:29
Tyres and weather
There are two things that are near to unbelievable and that I will be forever grateful for ...
The Weather
It was simply amazing! It is crazy to believe that we only had two days where it rained ... I only had a good 40 minute (torrential) downpour in Tanzania and then another good hour or so just over the border into Zambia. Furthermore probably only another two times where it spat briefly ... and we hardly even noticed it. And last year they had three weeks of rain every single day!!
We did have several nights where it rained ... we counted 14 nights in total.
Besides the lack of rain, the temperatures were also really great ... Egypt was not too cold and Sudan not too hot (the hottest though was a good 47 degrees). It really only got chilly again down the west coast of South Africa.
... But therefore it has been pissing with rain for most of the time back in Cape Town.
My Tyres
I didn't need to fix one tube/tyre while on the road ... YEEHA!!
For anyone doing this or a similar trip ... tubeless IS the way to go.
I must admit I did break 5 or 6 spokes over the trip ... but then I didn't have the best spokes ... and I will learn from this!
Regarding the tyres and tubes ... I punctures two tubes (which were in my slicks), but both were filled with slime, so they stayed inflated and I merely changed them at a later stage when servicing my bike. I had to refill the slime in my tubeless off-road tyres once, when there were some holes ... but they easily sealed with the slime. I also had one majorly irritating rest-day where I really struggled to seat my slicks to my rims ... a note to all wanting to use tubeless and fit slicks - try them out and find a pair of tyres that seat easily. All of us tubeless riders eventually ended up using Michelin XCR Road Tyres/Slicks ... they seat real well!
by
Patrick Thomas
at
11:13
Home ain't that bad ...
by
Patrick Thomas
at
11:10
Being a tourist at home ...

Gee ... it feels like easter ...
I want to be back in Sudan!! Living out of my little red box ... basic, simple, quiet and peaceful ...!
Well, I've been a tourist in my own town again ... it has been nice going up Table Mountain, down to Cape Town, Sailing, Wine Routes, Hermanus, etc ... but now that nearly everyone has left I need to focus on making some money again, finding a place to live (I've got a real nice place till October ...), getting a car, sorting my admin, treating some horses and paying back my bank ... aagghh.
by
Patrick Thomas
at
11:02





















