STATE OF THE REJUVENATION
CLOSE SHAVES
My romance with skinny tyres – my roadmance – began in 2008, when my then-boss signed me up to a training programme for Argus newbies wanting to pop their Cycle Tour virginity. Until then road riding hadn’t appealed to me; but I soon fell in love with hurtling around the Cape Peninsula, with the slap of a gentle sea breeze (okay, at times it was the moerse klap of a south- easter) in my face.
At the first training ride I met fellow Argus virgins Jenny, Gail and Mike; and we became fast riding mates (okay, medium-paced riding mates). Last month – nine years after we’d first met – we had a reunion, and exchanged riding war stories.
Jenny was quiet. I asked her how her riding was going: she shook her head. “It’s not,” she said. And explained. In July, a buzzing phone alerted her to the devastating news that her brother-in-law, Greg Anderson, was dead. Greg – husband, father, competitive cyclist – had been training on the road when he was run down by a motorist.
So, what do I think of the state of the cycling nation when it comes to road safety? Not much, I’m afraid. And that’s the point: I am afraid.
When I think of South African cycling tragedies, my thoughts always turn to local MTB hero Burry Stander, killed by a taxi driver in 2013. If Burry – an Olympic goldmedallist hopeful – wasn’t safe… then who is?
The stats tell a scary story. According to Arrive Alive, 252 people on bicycles were killed in 2010. This jumped to 320 in 2013; and in 2016 - last year - to 451.
Four hundred and fifty- one. Just let that number soak in.
That’s a cyclist – you or me – dying, every 19 hours.
It’s no surprise, really. Who among us hasn’t felt the whoosh of a speeding car that would have made contact with the hair on our legs if we hadn’t shaved them? Every road rider I know has experienced a close shave. A wobble at the wrong moment, and you’re tyre fodder. If a bike/car crash occurs at more than 45km/h, the car may be dented, but the cyclist has a less than 50% chance of making it out alive.
A week after my reunion with the Argus virgins, Mike was cycling to an Open Streets cycling-safety initiative, a ground-breaking street closure. Ironically, in the kilometre before Open Streets he was taken out by a car; it turned in front of him with no warning. He hit the deck, bruising his back and suffering whiplash. “It was my first accident in nine years of cycling, so I can’t complain,” he said.
I used to um and ah and shrug when noncycling friends asked why I continued to ride, considering these dangers. And then, a few years ago, I was cycling through Camps Bay, and stopped at a coffee shop to meet a mate. We watched as Camps Bay beach filled with hundreds of surfers, clutching flowers. They climbed onto their boards and paddled out into the bay, dropping the flowers into the sea so the waves became a colourful canvas of yellow and red petals. We were witnessing a tribute to David Lilienfeld, a 20-year- old surfer who died after a shark attacked him at Kogel Bay.
As we watched the surfers float and bob in the sea, I asked my mate, a surfer, why he continued to surf, when there’s a risk – even if it’s minuscule – of a shark attack.
“Imagine you’re in the ocean, wind blowing through your hair and water spraying in your face as you catch a massive wave… you’re not thinking about bills, or work – you’re just having a moment of magic.”
As he waxed on about the joy of surfing, I realised why I love cycling on the road, and why – although I’m more cautious than I was – I’ll continue to ride. I love the beautiful mountain climbs and the freedom of an open road. The satisfaction of covering large sections of tar, the thrill of conquering climbs, and the joyful rush of sweeping descents. I love the stoke. Besides, not too many things beat the first sip of a post-ride cappuccino.
Yes, there are risks, but you can work actively to reduce them. And the other side of the coin is that cycling is massively rejuvenating. British scientists took a look at the health benefits, and found the 263 450 cyclists in their study had a 46% lower risk of developing heart disease and a 45% lower risk of developing cancer, compared to non-cyclists.
So there’s the relatively small risk of being involved in a car/ bike crash, against the massive health benefits. Besides, if we stopped doing anything risky, well... we wouldn’t do anything at all.
Who among us hasn’t felt the whoosh of a speeding car that would have made contact with the hair on our legs if we hadn’t shaved them?