We were starting at about 8h30 in Jo'burg central for a guy who was about to cycle to Cape Town. Ray Chaplin is his name. Not only that, but it's an old fashioned bicycle too, no brakes, well, you push the pedals back ... only a single gear, and very strange hadle bars. The bike is called Johnny Loco.
Anyhow, a nice guy, quite a big bloke. And so you assume he's done training for this. Oh yes, he just finished walking from Cape Town .... to Beit Bridge!! So this is his way of getting home, RESPECT!!!
I'm really jealous, spent a bit of time on the roads in my youth, and the wanderlust hit me hard! But good for him, his daily life involves moving, at his own pace, to his own destination. The Sign-Up safety campign was also new to me. Shaun who's heading it up i've met before. There is a huge gaping hole where safety applies to the roads in this country. And the cyclists especially are on the lowest rung when it comes to ability to bounce off anything else.
The problem is, most weekend cyclists are office monkeys who are usually to be found in 4x4's, so the concept of humility is a bit foreign to them. While they're being killed weekly (another guy was found dead next to his bicycle in Boksburg this weekend, no driver found), the cyclists themselves see an entitlement to tarspace. While technically they are correct, they need to be referred to the bouncing rule (above). Paying road tax does not keep you safe around here.
So i wish them all well, both the adventurer and the cycle safety drive. Certainly we need more of both, and i can honestly say it was a pleasure playing a small part in this.
EDIT: I see he's been mentioned on IOL.
4 comments:
Ya, respect from me, too.
As for the general run of the sports cyclists - well, all other sports people('cept the bloody joggers) have to go somewhere special to practise - NOT ON THE ROADS.
Sorry for shouting.
Love,
T
*chuckle* yes ... i do agree absolutely that being on the roads in anything less than a 10-ton truck is asking for trouble.
Must be said, as we were coming back, the one guy on his mountain bike was riding next to me, on the dirt next to the road, we were doing about 30km/h at the time ... it looked a LOT of fun :)
peace
Aquila, sorry to sound nasty, but by law bicycles are listed as vehicles so they HAVE to be on the road (nb there are many people who use them to get to and from work). I do agree, however, that as with the arrogant drivers you get arrogant cyclists but it thoroughly annoys me when people generalise to ALL cyclists because of the few. As to somewhere special - we would LOVE to have safe useable cycling lanes as in the rest of the world. The problem here is that the car drivers are so arrogant that thye figure they are special so they drive in what few cycle lanes we have, and if they don't drive in those lanes they throw glass bottle in them to shatter and endanger cyclists.....
..plus of course the daft corporations self-serving road races. On the roads.
Oops, I'm in danger of shouting again..
Love,
T
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