Seventy good ones!

A short history of Beth Henrico:

7th December, 1938 – Born
7th December, 2008 – Celebrated 70th birthday!

Nope! Definitely doesn’t do justice to my mom-in-law… hence the getaway!This weekend we managed to escape real-life and disappear into a seaside village – spending 3 awesome days in a stunning house up the mountain in Simon’s Town. As has become a bit of a tradition, Beth treated us to a weekend away over her birthday, and it’s always appreciated, but I think this year was a bit of a lifesaver for Jan and myself. Not that it was easy with two partially-insomniac children, but I propose that the nett result was a break?

So Beth – congratulations to you! As was elaborated during the breakfast, she’s an absolute rock for our family, helping out in so many ways we’ve long lost count, and probably – if I’m honest – often taken for granted. For your sake and longevity I hope my children become calmer! God bless you for all that you are and do – you’re an inspiration!

Simon’s Town is – let me just get it off my chest – my new best-place. Importantly, it’s way closer than my gut-feel always led me to believe, and having cycled to and from a few times recently, very worth the visit. (Dr of something-or-other) Adin is down from Scotland, so it was nice doing some riding with company, and Jan and I managed to sneak into town alone for milkshakes. We all swam against a backdrop of our armsdealt frigates, pored through ScratchPatch and allowed my long-haired crazy-ass father to occupy Jamie for most of the balance of weekend. Simply put, it was awesome and had it not been for our defrosted freezer when we returned home, I would probably still be buzzing. But alas!

And let’s not forget the other news – last weekend witnessed a Captain Awesome sized effort at Die Burger Fiets Toer, and despite just missing my goal of a sub-4 finish time, I can’t be unhappy with 4h01 for a 98km race with only three weeks of half-arsed training. Helshoogte wasn’t all that fun, but I survived it in one piece, and every bit of psychological victory counts! My seeding for Argus is now bound to improve, which was the objective all along, and at least my confidence is improved too! (Yes fine, it’s ridiculously over-inflated as you’d expect!)

And one last thing – I’m now the gifted owner of a bottle of Smokehead Whiskey… much like drinking nitroglycerin. Read the tasting notes here for a good laugh!