Do not miss the big things!

On Saturday morning I did something I have not done in a long, long time. I got up and met a bunch of people at the local casino parking lot to go cycling. No gambling was done, even though the casino was open. The parking lot is used as a meeting point for East Coast Cycling Club (www.eccc.co.za). Cyclists are given free parking which is safe and secure - a very useful advantage. The bunch cycle from the casino up the coast, to a freeway off ramp to the little town of Umdloti and back. It is about 46 km.

The curse of the English sports fan

Off the top of my head I can think of the following sportsmen and women from the UK who are at the top or at least in the top few percentage in their sport.

Lee Westwood and Luke Donald - golf

Jenson button - formula 1

Andy Murray - tennis

Mark Cavendish - possibly the fastest man in professional cycling peloton

A rugby league that attracts the top players from around the world.

Arguably the best football league in Europe, possibly the world.

A cricket league setup that has attracted the top players for many years.

The problem is that they are all cursed! I call it the curse of the English sports fan. Leading up to an event the English people are amazing in getting behind their sports teams / people - messages, dedications, flags on houses etc. That's enviable in my opinion. When I look at reports and the like from outside the country - I get the impression that the fans really believe that their team is the best and will win. The curse sets in when people just through a bit of doubt in when something happens before the event. A lot of it is sensationalism on behalf of the media to get a big story but the rest of it - no idea why it starts.

During the recent French open Andy Murray came up against Raphael Nadal and a twitter message I got (from an English person) was 'Andy Murray thinks he can beat Nadal - sorry Andy you can’t'. That’s ridiculous!! Top sportsmen have to believe they can win and one bit of doubt could mean not winning.

The curse continues after the event too. The media jump in and the people too. The people are very passionate and the support them team / people had goes from completely for to completely against and they play the blame game and blame everybody on the team and their dog before they will accept the truth about the outcome. This the gets buried, only to fester until the next time something happens and the skeletons get dragged out to haunt the next team even generations later!

England has an amazing sporting ability and infrastructure but the same structure that holds it up is tearing it down.

Leave nothing to doubt

"Leave everything on the road - Leave nothing to doubt" is a phrase that I have come to use in my life. It originated on the tar roads of Durban on my road bike but has crept into all aspects of my life! Here is how it came about ... these are the words I wrote down after a cycling event last year. It was 50 km done on the tandem with my dad.


I know that in the past, in terms of sporting events, I always hold thereby keeping something in reserve just in case. This was probably me being scared of hitting the wall and having to suffer home. Well not this time. This time I left it all out on the road. I look back now  and can say that I could not have done any more - I left nothing to doubt today.


The result was that afterwards I could not stand up straight but could stand tall. not because we had won the race on the day but because I know I did everything and gave everything I had that day. I do say that God provided me with not only the physical strength but most importantly the mental focus required to carry on when all I wanted to do was slow down and cruise on home.


A big day indeed. Laid everything down. Left everything on the road. But even with nothing left to doubt - the greatest part of it all was being able to enter.