In our household, we recycle everything possible. We check the packaging and buy goods that are able to be recycled as much as possible. The building we are living in also has a recycling program. I would say that we have reduced what goes onto the public waste area by about 80%. Instead of taking 1 bag of rubbish down to the black bins every day, we now take once a week. The rest is all going to recycling. I found this infographic today and wanted to share it, as it really drives a solid point home…

Recycle. You will feel great about yourself and the environment you are saving. Make the small change. If you are going to do just 1 thing, make a habit out of recycling to make the change.

You can get the full size image here.

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’cause that’s how she rolls.

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I was reviewing a slightly reshuffled race schedule for the remainder of 2011 this week where I have decided to add 8 days of racing to the schedule. This involves quite a bit more organisation and sacrifice and setting more time apart from friends and family and loved ones. It had me asking questions about these commitments to races rather than people and why I am putting to much into this “game” of sports.

I then read this article today on stress and the mind and realised how much I love being outside again. I also realised what a social person I am this week and how I have a natural tendency to hermatize myself and get into a routine of staying out of the light. I made the choice and arranged to see some people I have neglected for a while, made some tough calls and reset some things. It cleared my mind more than I expected and was a welcome relief to a problem I didn’t really know existed.

Being aware of The Golden Rule is something I do struggle to track when it comes to maintaining relationships that often I may feel are okay without management. The ethic of reciprocity is something I neglect partially because I am someone who works hard at keeping himself happy as a first point rather than keeping others happy as a rule. I find it impossible to keep everyone happy and if that is my focus, I am never happy. One of the biggest lessons I ever learned as a total people pleaser, earlier in my life.

I have learned that we make each other happy once we are individually happy. That is the war against what you may know as happiness. You will always have to find it in yourself first, where its lasting. Finding your joy in others is short lived. When you go to war, you take yourself. You look after yourself primarily and then you can look after those around you who are important to you.

It might not be as evident as something we consider conventional war, but man, at times I am fighting internal wars that the world cannot see that have a much more profound effect on me and those around me. And it’s the same with every person you see out there. We are all facing our demons, fighting our wars on a continued basis. It’s a large part of why I started Urban Ninja. We all go through these things and I wanted to get a community of people together who support themselves first and can then support each other in their fights. Sure, we are mostly all endurance athlete freaks, but hey, I like them that way.

You are an essential part to someone’s life, I assure you that. It’s a gift, treat it as a particularly beautiful gift.

Let’s stand together…

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So if you haven’t registered for Ironman South Africa 2011 by now, best to skip it. By now, you should have laid down a foundation for the last sprint towards what will be the longest training day of the year, really. By now, your hopes and dreams are set and you have committed to doing whatever is possible to making it to the finish line in the best condition possible, in the shortest time possible.

If you are racing, here are my tips, from nothing more than personal experience, about how these last 10 weeks go down…

1. Really, you have 7 weeks till peak and taper. Make them count.
2. Get to bed 30min earlier every night.
3. Prepare food for work and make sure you eat a world class lunch every day, in prep for your afternoon session.
4. Make sure you practice race nutrition on long runs and long rides.
5. Go DEEP on fatigue. You will be surprised how much you can handle.
6. Make sure you NAIL your long ride(s) and run every week. Skip the rest and prioritize around these 2 key workouts.
7. Take your significant other out on a date, a proper date, at least once every 10 days. Spoil them.
8. Eat dumbass. Losing 500g is not going to win the race. You need energy to make it through 12 sessions a week.
9. Train for your session coming in 48 hours. Session to session recovery is number 1.
10. Make sure your equipment is 100% with 3 weeks to go.
11. Practice changing a tire, fixing a chain, etc. It may happen to you.
12. Remember that it’s just a race and that it should be fun, but that suffering through the fatigue is an essential part to this “fun”.

I lost you at point 7 right? Make that call, arrange that date…

In the coming weeks you will become more irritable, less awesome and far more appealing as a single person. Check yourself before you wreck yourself…

Push yourself to your absolute limits, but be aware where you are pushing others beyond theirs.

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After a few days over xmas in paradise (Kleinhoekkloof) with short rides and hard runs, it was time to head off to Wellington to Mischa Wines where Gary and his family would be waiting with open arms and much red meat. Plaas mense are the best people.

We had a Garmin map and knew the road would be pretty smooth, pretty flat and hot on the day all the way to Bains Kloof Pass where the road would tilt upwards before we plunged into the Wellington valley.

The day started cloudy but it was ominous that the sun would eventually win and we would roast at some point. We were 2 men short and knew the workload would be shared among the two Ironman guys (James and myself), with our Xterra dude (Hansel/Redman/TheKid) going to get a working on the rolling flattish roads out there. This was our territory and we wanted to get what would be easily the longest day of our trip out the way as soon as possible.

The combination worked perfectly – James and myself would make sure Ryan stayed in the middle and in the group and one of us would set a big tempo up front. By now all our legs were full swing into this and we made fantastic headway on the combination of tar and open dirt roads to Dan Hugo’s farm in Worcester. We were, in fact, an hour and fourty five minutes ahead of schedule when we got there, totally missing his presence and went into Worcester itself for a big meal of KFC to fuel the fat for the rest of the ride. With over 100km still to go we headed off on the tar road and would remain on it all the way. It rolled smoothly and we were motoring along, riding in the biggest gear we had most of the way, stopping only for water to make more carb drink.

70km went by in a flash and we hit the bottom of the Bains Kloof Pass and the two Ironman guys had a hit at the pass while Redman went into survival. I rode James’ wheel for as long as possible whilst making sure to remain as aerobic as possible.

Tough call when chasing someone so strong. Eventually I let him go and made sure to stay motivated and keep the pedals turning smoothly. It was big blade all the way up the pass after a long day riding tempo for the lads and I was super impressed with my form coming along so nicely.

We regrouped at the top and hit a great photo opportunity (picture at top) looking over the Wellington area. We hopped off the road and onto the single track of Welvanpas which was quite a shock to the system after a day of smooth riding. Both Redman and myself made tactical errors in our roadie state and came short, his worse than mine. James held his own on the single track and was now completely at home on my Zula.

After some getting lost, Gary came to find us and lead us back to Mischa where we had a swim, a big lunch and a tour of the farm. Mischa is very impressive and the guys work hard at making it one of the best farms in South Africa.

We had completed 170km in literally 5h40, averaging 30km/h on the mountain bikes. Suitably, we ate till we popped and then ate some more on the day.

We woke the next morning, 100km left, excited to get home. Redman was having some issues with his elbow from the fall the day before, so I carefully rerouted us without them knowing to include as much tar as possible.

We were in Durbanville for a breki quite early and opted to take the loop through Contermanskloof before we hit the headwind all the way home, to add some fun single track to the day.

To say the last 30km home was just a long slog, really just to get home and ride in the door. After so many miles out on the road, in the quiet, we could feel the buzz of the city as we approached into the headwind, almost telling us to stay out of there. The noise was unbelievable once we hit the Sea Point area and people were everywhere, which was quite a bit to deal with. Shouting, screaming, walking in the middle of the road, the chaos was maddening and made us want to go back to where things were simple, quiet and easy.

However, the privilege of riding into the door of your house after a trip like this was as expected, anti climatic and over so suddenly. We realized that the journey is just not over, its never over. This was merely another day in these amazing lives we lead, as adventurers. We were quiet and calm and still, talking smack.

A big thank you to my brothers who joined on the ride… Collin, Guy, James & Ryan, you were true troopers and when the going got tough, we all just shut up and got the work done. I would take you to war. Until the next one….

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Is it just me or is the year running away now with really, only 2 types of people left in all office spaces:

1. PROcrastinators
2. Crammers

Personally I am cramming everything into the last few days. So much to do and really, not enough time to get it done. As such we are rushing and at times, missing small details here. Frustrating but really hoping for some quiet time over the weekend to regroup and get some work done while the world sleeps.

Last week I went for a stroll with the team from RedEspresso. They have a beautiful post up about it HERE with some great photos. It was wonderful to take the guys up there and share a truly special place in Cape Town. You can also find more detail on the ledge on WeLove.net and remember to keep the people signing up and voting for you – there is so much content being uploaded you are going to have to be on top of your game there.

It’s been a big week personally as well, what with a major loss to our family, viewing an amazing movie on Wednesday and then the WeLoveRealBeer function last night. Tonight I am off to the farm of one Dan Hugo to do an invitational race organized by his parents every year. Feeling privileged to be there. Also started working with a new coach this week, in a week where I started hardly being able to walk after a fall in Tokai on the weekend. I twisted my ankle pretty badly and only, finally, managed to run 15min on it with relative pain last night.

I also won a year’s worth of free coffee from Vida e Caffe and plan on giving most of it away next year in the hope of connecting and buying some amazing people a coffee every day. More on this once it’s all finalized and you can share in it.

There has been a lot of planning and logistics going on with Epic Unsupported Tour 2: The Return to Hell. Quite a cool crew going this year, with a new route and quite a bit more logistics. TheHousemate has been running up his phonebill like Lindsay Lohan runs up rehab bills trying to sort accommodation, food & peace of mind. The nutrition logistics this year are proving toughest as we are going to go around 3 days without seeing society or a shop, so making sure there is breakfast and dinner at stays requires at times, people to give us dry dinner to log for 100km through the Karoo for a day before cooking it when we get to our next stop. Add all the energy drinks, bars & gels needed for 3 days out there and it’s amazing what you can plan to leave out of your pack. Minimalism in best form, this trip.

Have a new bike arriving Monday, pretty stoked. More details when its built.

Found this in a link this morning. Just beautiful. Random share, I know, but it’s worth the click.

Having been in the office since 7am this morning, I am putting this up early and yes, it’s a bit all over the place but I have yet to have a second coffee and have some cramming to get done today. Thank goodness for lists. Without them, I would be a sight for sore eyes right now. Have a great weekend and see you out there.

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It’s one of those inevitable moments. Someone dear to us moves on, their lives here, over. It leaves us feeling raw, hard, empty.

Today I felt the need to be inspired myself. I went to bed last night with bad news. That people were about to be heart broken. That a daughter would have to miss her mom on so many occasions moving forward, that a husband was about to lose his soul mate. I woke up to confirmation of the news, the emptiness leaving a bitter taste in my throat. Somehow, about 15min ago, I remembered where the inspiration for the day would come from.

It was a note, passed on to my mother, from Annie, who left us yesterday. She, from time to time, would find this blog, most likely through links sent on through my mom, who is the ultimate mom, the only marketing machine a boy ever needs. It referred to this which I wrote just before the Hawaii trip.

In it she said the words inspired her in her race against her monster. That monster is now lying in a corner somewhere, thinking the fight is over, utterly spent from fighting the greatest opponent it ever fought. But it’s wrong, because the rest of us have only just woken to the challenge. It will never win. It’s strength will never match our love, our passion for life and our willingness to stand up for life and shout from the rooftops that we want ALL of it. The race of life will never be over because the inspiration was just that – that life is never over. The race goes on. That the fight will always go on and that her legacy to us is to appreciate every moment, in the moment. Not to stop and smell the roses, but to stop and take in every molecule in that rose with a smile, a laugh and the appreciation for how absolutely incredible that rose really is.

The grand scheme of things is lost on us. Today, that is my inspiration. In the grand scheme of things, I feel very inspired, very privileged and truly grateful, for all that life has already given me. I intend to make sure that it’s merely the tip of the iceberg.

To my great extended family who are all touched by this, let us go out and make sure the fight is never over.

Comments have been turned off on this post. I feel no discussion is necessary on this platform.

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Seek it.

Make the time to get out there and find it.

Plan on getting out of routine to new places, where possibly there are no faces. This morning I hiked 90min up a mountain to have a freshly pressed espresso in the location you see in the photo. You can find out more about The Ledge click here and make a trip up. It’s a short, sharp walk from Camps Bay.

Seek yours. Your moment where the world stands still and noise disappears and your mind is clear. Search…

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So those of you with Garmin products would have noticed in your Garmin Connect activities, that you now see a Bing Map, and not a Google Map for your activities. There is a way to get a more detailed report out of it, as there is still Google Earth functionality.

On the image above, you will see a red circle. In your activity file, click that and Google Earth will open. You will be able to see your splits in Google Earth and virtually “play back” the file. You will still be able to zoom in, out, tag certain areas and do all the fun stuff that you were used to with Google Maps.

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Some of you may have seen Raynard Tissink, South Africa’s highest placed finisher at Kona, had a special suit for the race. I got the inside scoop from Orca South Africa, who have a new website coming this week. This, from Bernard…

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The concept for the suit came from the fact that I was so convinced that Ray was going to have a great race at Kona this year that I decided to investigate making him a special one of a kind suit. It is always nice to not look like the rest of the field and to this end I started scratching my head as what to do. I then look at the suit that was made for Courtney Atkinson and thought, that is something to work with as it would reduce the production time as Orca had already been through the development. I made a few sketches and a few design notes and popped it off to Orca. They got it a bit wrong to start with but after some more mails they understood what I had in mind.

The idea was to us the SA flag but to turn it upside down so that the little black triangle (on the flag) would flow into the black of the suit on the legs. This way giving a seamless look, black is maybe not the best colour for Kona but on the other hand it works very well for showing the sponsors logos on the front of the chest. With that in mind I changed the back of the suit to white and then had the colours of the flag fade into the white so as to reduce the dark on the back, this was mostly considering the bike as he would be flat on his bars in the blazing sun for 4:30. I used the rear zip as this is a preference for Raynard and also makes the front of the suit look better for branding.

I used the Perform material as this is another preference of Raynard as he likes the feel of the fabric. I sent the first design to Raynard and Natalie and they were over the moon and gave me the go ahead. The idea was to keep the suit under wraps from the world until Kona but Raynard did use the suit in his last prep race to make sure all was cool (which it was).

In the end this all turned out to be a fantastic project and one that I will do again as I learnt so much in the process and to be honest the interest that it has generated has been truly amazing. You know that sometimes you make decisions and they turn out better than expected and offer you branding and awareness that you can never afford to buy and I think is one of those cases.

Raynard and Natalie are such great people to work with and it was so inspiring to sit up all night and watch the “time-lapse” video on Ironman live and follow the updates coming from the course (I was following you as well, don’t feel left out).

I have attached the final draft of the suit that we signed off. The delivery period was around 28 to 35 days from sign off.

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How proud does that suit make you to be South African? I think it was worth the punt and well done to Bernard for making it work and getting the suit to Ray for his best day out, ever…

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