Piet had another trip to Cape Town for his South Africa project. He presented a technical paper at a very large geological conference and also met with his counterparts representing the South African government. He had the opportunity to see a few (former) colleagues, but in general the situation in South Africa is going down, mainly due to the uncertainties created by the government, which has deteriorated the business environment. Like always he enjoyed his time in Cape Town, which is a pleasant city you can cover easily by foot, with beautiful scenery and excellent food and wine!
The day after his return we went to Belgium to see our nephew Max in an official bike race for his age category. This was in the village of Merksplas, where a small circuit of 4.5 km was arranged on public roads, for a 60 km race. The real advantage was that we saw the cyclists pass every 8 minutes. Max did quite well in the main peloton, but they were taken out of the race after they were too far behind the leading group, as the police wanted to be able to control the roads. Despite this the average speed was above 35 km/hour, which is a lot faster than Piet and his friends on their weekend rides!
View on Table Mountain from the Waterfront
The Company's Garden, with the statue of Cecil Rhodes
Lion's Head, with clouds coming over Table Mountain
Max and his group trying to get closer to the leaders
Racing past the local pub in Merksplas
