Blog written by Malcolm Williams and Tony Frost:
Where do we begin..at the BP in Broadacres, as Tony stops for a hitchhiker, who was showing a bit of leg….and discovers his name is Morris Zack.
Next moment, we were at the briefing at Heidelberg Kloof Lodge with Sili holding forth about the ups and downs of the journey ahead and blow me down if I don’t hear Tony saying to Niki on the phone “Ek is nou net a fietsryer, en ek prober my bes om stil te bly” Fortunately we also had Lungisa, Co-Chair of the 1965 Ride 2040 Vision and incoming president of the QCOBA, on hand to marshall the troops for the rest of the briefing and to hand out the cyclists goodie bags – donated by Barker Insurance.
Thereafter a scrumptious meal was served by Selma and her team. During dinner there was much excited talk about the impending journey, noisily supported by the host of family members present.
A wonderful trio of families were participating: Brothers Sili and Zipho Mafika, cousins Yanga and Cwenga Giyose, and brother and sister Chanelle Houston and David Jackson.
06.00 Camp Reveille . 1st to comment on the evenings rest was Morris who wanted to know “who the bloody hell” was in the room next to him….They never slept and nor did he!
This was followed by last minute preparations, coffee consumed and tyres checked etc. Time to head outside the Lodge for our first official photograph.
We were super fortunate that Deputy Superintendent Musa Mota and his team from Lesedi Traffic were on hand to guide us safely from the Lodge to Life Hospital Suikerbosrand. As usual we were warmly welcomed by the amazing hospital staff who celebrated the 1965Ride initiative. We enjoyed a light breakfast, some speeches, a deeply appropriate prayer and then we were on our way with DS Musa guiding us safely out of Heidelberg.
About 10km along the road, Eric organised an informal and unplanned stop. He explained that he was an inexperienced cyclist and forgot to keep pedalling, which resulted in his chain permanently disembarking on its own. We don’t usually allow inexperienced cyclists on this tour, but he is such a nice guy so we made an exception in his case. Tarryn, who has a big heart, lent him her non-Trek Girlie Specialised bike to continue the tour while ‘men at work’ sorted out the ‘big cleat change’ – Specialist Cycle Mechanic David in charge….with his spanner in the works!!
This is not Eric’s first incident with the 1965Ride, he has also experienced having his bicycle ridden over by a 4-wheel vehicle which inspired him to take on the main tour – he’s not going to take on an Everest again any time soon. 😊😊
A comment on our Chief of Support, Zikhali Nathi Tyembile – or as his copilot refers to him… the ‘Max Verstappen’ of the 1965 Ride. Nathi is famously noted for his accelerating from 13km per hour in a Ford Torneo pulling a trailer to 90km within 50m. Nathi’s explanation for this sudden burst of speed is that he heard an incredibly large swarm of bees descending on the bus, straight out of the sun. He could have relaxed and just enjoyed the scenery, because the noise was none other than chief drone pilot Neil van Zyl – expertly directed by Air Commander Dean Polley.
During their training as intern accountants, all accountants are trained to shout ‘HOLE’ irrespective of where the hole is…. left or right, front or behind. We learned after 53.52km that this word HOLE refers to the potholes or in the VryStaat the ‘slaggate’. Fortunately, these were all safely negotiated and sooner than expected Niki’s Stonehouse appeared in our sight. Our passage from the Vaal River bridge to the Stonehouse enabled our Lord Dunga, driving the Emergency Response Vehicle, to wake up the Villiers residents for the first time in 2026. Soon after arrival at Niki’s we all thoroughly enjoyed Tony’s ‘Tyred Chi’ for cyclists which focuses in the main on lying flat on your back in the shade – with the odd twitch of sundry limbs. As Jen put it…”Ahhh, beautiful fresh air and stretching on the lawn….”. This is done to re-energise the tyred cyclists with tyred chi.
To end… a very serious incident of theft was uncovered by our intrepid detective inspector Malcolm Williams – he discovered that Chanelle’s mug was stolen by none other than Buhle. Not withstanding the fact that these branded mugs belong only to the person identified in the branding on the mug. Just a point of gratitude – we thank Manelisi and Koketso for organising and paying for these mugs.
We have only 753km ahead.
