Power Ride in Honour of the Fakawi Tribe!

Don't mess with the Fakawi Tribe!

Joy here...Back in the 1990s Nomi's man and my man used to mountain bike together.  On one of their epic jungle adventures in the Malaysian rainforest, they were covered in mud and sweat from head to toe, and looked at each other and exclaimed "Where the f__k are we?"  And with that little question, the Fakawi Tribe was born ("we-are-the-fakawi?").

Nomi's husband has taken that spirit of cycling and adventuring and developed an entire Fakawi network.  He's a bike dealer; he organizes races; he sponsors racers; he has jerseys, and he is the grand puba of it all...The Mighty Fakawi Chief.

In our own, little way, we've taken the Fakawi Tribe on the road - literally (on our road bikes) and figuratively (all the way to Canada). We've imported the Fakawi Tribe not just with the jerseys (pic at left), but also with that Fakawi spirit of getting out there on a bike and giving it your all with a big, fat smile on your face even as your legs are screaming, and you don't know what's around the next corner.

It was in that spirit of fun and power that The Professor and this Ex-Professor headed out this morning for a quick ride up to the Pink Lake Lookout and back again.

The start of our Fakawi-inspired bike ride!

So we met at 7am-ish when the sun was high, the sky blue, and the air a bit chilly, and got ourselves over to the park for our power ride up the steep climb.  We rode for the first half of the ride (around 20kms) with the sun at our backs, casting our shadows long in front of us, so it seemed as though we were always chasing that shadow self ever pedalling just that bit faster at our feet, always out of reach.

I rode up the climb at around 13kms/hr topping my speedometer at just over 14kms/hr at one point.  When I last did this ride with the professor and the trainer,  I rode hard and kept my speed up above 12kms/hr up the same climb, but never quite broke the 13km/hr mark.  But powering up it at 13kms/hr this time seemed almost easy.  My legs have that little, extra bit of power thanks to our 83km,  two-loop ride of the park on Sunday, and the spirit of my Fakawi jersey giving me that extra boost!

The Fakawin' mid- and turn-around point of our ride!

Once we turned around to head back down that hill at speeds topping 60kms/hr, the sun was no longer at our backs casting shadows before us, but rather it was right in our eyes.  As we rode into the bright sun the leaves and trees lining the road were cast in black silhouette as if carved in onyx.  We turned our legs and tucked our bodies as we whizzed through a world of sharp contrasts - black silhouetted scenery and blinding sunlight.  And when we pulled up to the parking lot at the park's entrance, we were pleasantly surprised by just how quickly we had been able to pull off this little Wednesday morning Power Fakawi ride.

The parking lot at the end of our Fakawi ride!

With just under 40kms in our legs, door-to-door, we completed about 80minutes of hard bike riding in the early morning, and were home and showered before 9:30am.  What an accomplishment for a Wednesday morning!  So I challenge all of you to get out there and do something tough, but rewarding, as your Fakawi challenge of the day!  Then you can tuck your inner Fakawi spirit inside and be a responsible, grown up professional for the rest of the day...and only you and your Fakawi Tribe partner in adventuring will know that you started your day with a super power move!

What's your Fakawi power move today?

Over and out, 

Joy