To raise exposure and funds for Shine, I will endeavour to cycle from Cairo to Cape Town arriving in time for the 40th Cape Town Cycle Tour on the 12 March 2017.
One week later I will be on the start line for the toughest mountain bike stage in the world, The ABSA Cape Epic which will kick off 8 days of gruelling riding on the 19 March 2017.
One week after completing the Cape Epic, I will line up for the IRONMAN SA Championships in Port Elizabeth on the 2 April 2017.
With the help of Shine and Book-Dash, I will aim to take some small children’s books with me and connect with some charity literacy initiatives along the way where I’ll do a country share and drop off the books I have and take some new ones onto to the next destination. I’d like to get people to donate as many books as possible for this initiative.
HOW DOES SHINE LITERACY HELP SA?
Shine delivers training and programmes to schools, parents/caregivers and local communities that support children to become good readers and writers, whilst also growing their confidence, self-esteem and their appetite for learning.
These programmes are helping to transform the prospects of some of South Africa’s most vulnerable children, by breaking the destructive cycle of poor literacy, low educational attainment, wasted potential and poverty.
WORDS CAN CHANGE WORLDS…
CAIRO TO CAPE TOWN 2016/17
Cairo to Cape Town across Africa is one of those mythical journeys to me, it doesn’t matter what your form of transport. For me it was always a journey that was going to be have to done by bike. So here I am. Going big. 
CT CYCLE TOUR 2017
I realised that the next CT Cycle Tour would be my 10th and that in it’s 40th anniversary year I will also be 40. So obviously it had to get added to the list!
ABSA CAPE EPIC 2017
Ever since I got into cycling and more specifically mountain biking I have wanted to take on this race. I have had FOMO for over 10 years now. But now I finally have my entry, registered and paid for, I’m in! I can’t wait. I’ve watched as this race has grown in prestige to become known as the ‘Tour de France’ of mountain bike stage racing and now next year I will one of the privileged riders taking part.
This was how the whole AfricaLegBurn concept started for me. I volunteered at the Epic in 2016 and volunteers get a guaranteed entry for the next year (although you still have to pay for it). But you don’t have to go through the lottery process. So I now had my guaranteed entry and once I had re-mortgaged my flat to pay for the entry I was in. Then I realised that I would be back in London for the 6 months before the Epic. There was just no way I would be able to put in the training needed for the Epic during a London winter. So that’s when I had the bright idea to cycle home and use that as my training. 
Genius. I’m not just a hat rack.
IRONMAN SA 2017
The Ironman SA in 2017 comes a week after the Cape Epic and this is probably the challenge that I am most worried about, after the Africa trip. After 3 months of being on the road, I won’t have had the time to train for a 4km ocean swim and a 42km run. So this is where I might have over-reached. But let’s see how it goes…
Adapted from http://www.afrikalegburn.com/the-challenges/
