Adventures

March 2026

One of my favourite experiences is the Cape Town Cycle Tour. If you told me 2 years ago that I would be able to cycle 109km I would have told you that you are out of your mind. It all started with my mother that loves cycling, she used to beg me to just try it out, eventually I gave in and started cycling with her. I was quickly humbled, but I slowly started to enjoy it. Eventually I upgraded to cleat shoes. These are shoes that cyclists use to keep their feet bound to the pedals. I took a few nasty falls trying to figure it out, but I kept on cycling. Before the actual race, we did a seeding race. This race was 95km, I was scared but excited. The race went surprisingly well, and I enjoyed it. The day of the Cycle Tour came around. It was 4 of us that stuck in a group. My parents, myself and my boyfriend. The race started of freezing cold and so many people was bundled around me. I had to have complete consentration the whole time other wise I might crash, there was a few close calls. As we continued the wind picked up, but we were still fine. Eventually the 2 men went ahead so it was just my mom and I. A round 80 km I got a puncture! A tiny needle was in my tyre! What would be the odds of my riding into a needle? Literally a needle in a haystack. I was upset immediately. It was just my mom and I, neither of us has had much experience with tube changing. We stood there for a few minutes, we saw an ambulance and walked closer. None of them offered to help. After a few minutes, a man came to us and asked if we had a spare tube. We gave our other tube to him. After he changed his own tube, he came to help us. We were so thankful. After that we were on the road again. With 20 minutes wasted, BUT now we had knowledge on how to change a tube. Those last few kilometers were tough, everything was aching. But I pushed through, I was determined to end strong. In the end it was amazing, I felt so proud of myself for overcoming all the hurdles. I cannot wait to try again next year.

May 2024

I swam competitively all through high school, until COVID forced me to stop. Somewhere in that break, I lost my love for the sport. After a rough academic year in 2023, I decided I needed something different, so I slowly started swimming again. I'd forgotten how peaceful it is; it's the one place where I can just be by myself and let my thoughts settle. No noise, just me, the water, and that black line. Before long the nostalgia crept in and I started to miss competing, so I signed up for the Harbour to Harbour mile ocean swim in Gordon's Bay. I trained early mornings before class and evenings after, and training alone got hard fast, especially on the cold mornings when getting into the water was the last thing I wanted. Then race day arrived, and the reality of the May cold hit. Thank goodness for my wetsuit. The water was cold but calm. The start of an open water swim is always the hardest part: everyone's kicking, arms are flying, and all you want is to get clear of the crowd. But once I settled in I felt good, and the cold stopped bothering me. The ocean was so clear I could see all the way to the bottom, it was beautiful. At some point I realised I was almost completely alone, caught between the front pack and the group behind me. The (entirely unreasonable) fear of a shark appearing out of nowhere crept in, but the thousands of starfish scattered across the seabed kept me calm and carried me through. When I finally reached the finish, it was so rewarding. I felt genuinely proud of myself for pushing through the fears (and the cold) I'd built up.