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WheelPower is still alive!... But...

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 12:09:50 +0100

Dear followers,
Allow me to start by apologizing for keeping you in the dark for so long. We are in the Southern hemisphere and at the moment, it is winter. Looking out of the window right now, I see big dark clouds and a freezing North-western wind! You might be wondering how ones 'sees' wind! :) I actually see the rain drops crossing my window from left to right. Today, it's raining horizontally!
The good news is, the rain is getting more scarce and the days are getting longer and warmer. From early next month, you will be seeing more pictures of our training and of the places that we will be visiting.
The trailers design and construction has been taken over by my Friend Shuaib, whom we originally contacted to make us hitches to join the trailers to the bicycles and who decided that he didn't like our design. Shuiab has built trailers for busses, We assume that he knows what he's doing.
BUT, we have ran into very annoying delays and problem and general administrative issues with getting Charlene's passport, as you might remember from one of the earlier Blogs. At present, there is almost no chance for her to get a new Zimbabwean Passport. For those of you who follow African news, Zimbabwe is just as described in the media.
She has started the process of applying for South African citizenship based on her mother's nationality. But once again, being in Africa, things do not happen at the speed that one would expect them to happen at.
I would like to pause at this point to mention that this last sentence was not meant to be pejorative. It is merely a statement of the state of affair. I, myself, have become quite accustomed to this and thouroughly enjoy the relaxed African attitude towards various aspects of life (like time constraints).
Additionally, as we all know, an administration can take any activity requiring about 8 minutes of work by one normal person and transform it into a 3 months long process requiring 27 signatures, 6 meetings, 2 weeks of public objection period, 7 stamps, 3 affidavits in triplicates and of course 4 black and white ID pictures.
This feature of general administration is also subject to cumulative African time effect :)
This lengthy introduction leads us to the conclusion that Charlene will n ot have a passport by October. The process of application for citizenship was a 3 months process which is now nearing the end of it's 6th. The people whom she has contacted assured her that it would take a maximum of 9 months. This brings her citizenship to November or December.
We then add 3 months of Passport application which thankfully is more or less a constant and We'll be in March.
The WheelPower Africa Cycle Challenge will therefore be postponed by exactly 1 year!
We sincerely apologize for the delay and hope that you understand that this delay is entirely caused by factors we have no control over.
There is a plus side to this delay.
We will now have an additional full summer of training. We have all our gear and our trailers are days from fully operational. We are now looking forward to mini-WheelPower challenges to make our followers discover the western Cape through our eyes.
The important point to remember is that we are not giving up! We have Chaeli children who are counting on us to do this trip for them, we have you, our followers who are counting on us to help these children. WheelPower Africa is happening!

Safety

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 13:31:14 +0100

The key to safety while cycling is VISIBILITY. Not only your own of course this goes without saying, but you must be absolutely visible to other road users and indeed pedestrians. Many a cyclist has been knocked into the traffic by a pedestrian who either didnt see the cyclist (or wasnt looking, although there is no cure for that except maybe time and education).

There are two basic categories of hand signals: formal and informal.

Formal signals are usually known to and adopted by the road users in a community. They may vary from place to place slightly. They encompass the left and right turns and the stop. Usually these signals are all made with the left arm.

Left: arm outstretched horizontally with the index finger pointing.

Right:a raised hand with the elbow bent at a 90 degree angle (L shape)

Stop:arm extended down at at approximately a 45 degree angle and the palm of the hand facing backwards.

Althernative right turn is the same type of signal to the left turn but using the right arm.

One of the other safety points that we need to remember and personally I struggle to (especially when you hear a car coming up behind you) is YOU HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE ON THE ROAD - YOU DONT HAVE TO RIDE ON THE EDGE OR PAST THE YELLOW LINE! Of course your own instinct will dictact how much you adhere to this but as a rule motorists can only be aware of how to deal with cyclists if we stand by our rules and influence their habits by ours. (sounds scary considering you are weighing up a feather weight with an elephant but often the sound of an approaching car is more ominous than reality and unless you are totally invisible or barely visible, the car may not be as close as it sounds......) I understand that only experience deals with this fear though!

Having lights at the front and the back of the bicycle is always a good thing, personally I would rather sparkle like a Christmas tree than not be seen!

I actually think that there should be road signs making motorists more aware of cyclists, the occasional sign is not acceptable.

Too many cyclists who get minor injuries from cars also walk away thinking - oh well what can be done. I think that is part of perpetuating the problem. Lets be seen and be heard!

The trailers are functional...

Sat, 08 May 2010 11:56:25 +0100

Sunday was the day of inauguration of our trailers.
They are complete, assembled. We have bought the necessary components to attach them on the bikes and while Charlene was shopping on Sunday morning, I finished the cutting an the polishing of those plates.
At about 13:15, we started from our ahbitat with the trailers in tow...
The parking of the complex is falt and therefore, the presence of the trailers was barely noticeable, except for the subtle rattling behind each of us, that keeps leaving us wondering if a tractor is trying to pass :)

As it turns out, pulling 20kg (they weigh more or less 12kg empty) uphill, is a different feeling from standard cycling. It's... what's the word?... Heavy! :)
Riding a bike with a trailer behind has a lot of advantages and a few disadvantages. Of course, the weight falls into the disadvantage category... Not because of uphills, but because it is very difficult to stop. Applying the brakes causes the bike to stop in front of the trailer which still has momentum... Break hard and you will slide as the blue box on wheels tries to pass you.
Stopping on downhills has to be planned well in advance.
The major advantage, at least, the one I favor, is that the presence of a relatively large, relatively heavy, definitely solid and therefore potentially capable of causing major damages on any soft aluminium or fiberglass surface coming into contact with it, makes the drivers of the cars coming from behind much more aware of our presence. Cars actually slowed down behind us before overtaking at a respectable distance.

And we were very popular with the kids as we crossed Vredehoek and Salt River. This little dude asked me if he could ride on the box up to the next corner... He never mentionned that the next corner was almost a kilometre away :)

As you can see on this picture, we didn't yet put reflective tape on the back of the trailers. We didn't anticipate returning home at night. These trailers are not leaving home again without tape. The blue of the box which is clearly bright and distinguishable in the light, somehow, in the night light and car headlights, becomes a dull shade in front of the back wheel of the bicycle... Not our brightest moment!

That was our lesson for the day! "Reflective Tape on everything!" It doesn't matter if it looks bright, at night, it probably isn't!

The mounting plates on the bicycle were too soft so new, stronger ones have to be made. After that, we'll be haunting your streets with our bright (and reflctive) blue boxes!

If you see us on the road, Hoot, make noise, take pictures and tell everyone about it. Including us. When you're cycling up a hill at 9km/h in the blazing sun leaving a trail of sweat behind you, a hoot is all it takes to get you going...

Safety Ride with Ray Chaplin

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:13:55 +0100

On the 11th April 2010I had the honour of meeting Ray Chaplin. For those who do not know who he is you are missing out on a great inspiration. Ray is THE advocate for cycling safety if there ever was one and has done such admirable things to promote safety for us often missed (all too often NOT missed) and most neglected users of the road by those mobile metal death dealers, mostly disguised as trucks!

The first challenge was decrypting the valve on the camelback - oh the challenge which was a bit too much..... turning left and right and back again was not working, neither was it correct! In my frustration, dehydrated, dizzy and hearing Jérémie's voice in my head "giving up is not acceptable" I pulled at the end of the tube and [plik!!** out it popped and blessed water freely flowed! Perhaps if I had got frustrated sooner, I may not have got so thirsty!!!! Well thankfully I did not get in the car and made it to the end!

This morning a colleague at work asked me how my weekend was and told me how he spotted this poor lagging person behind a group of cyclists and thought "how could they leave this poor person behind" only to glance back and see that it was actually me.... :) hehe

Here is the route mapped out that we took, it was really a lot of fun. Meeting Ray was really an honour. The guy has so much charisma and finds funny in the simplest things (then again so do 3 year olds haha but hey we are all kids at heart!) Seriously, such a down to earth person yet so wise you find yourself just wanting to stand there and listen to him.....

Inspired by the simplest things about the whole concept of the ride, like the photos by the safety sign.

The dinosaur he was riding had some kind of magic on it though because it seemed to disappear into the distance very quickly.... then again I guess coupled with the speed at which I dropped behind; this must have appeared quite extraordinary - now you see me now you don’t...... huh? I made it though, I made it....

I think the hardest part for me was riding into Milnerton, you get so excited and its a deceptive stretch, then the Wobbly Highway.... with the 'Bombers' flying along it sent my nerves into over-fire.......!!! No, I have concluded, road-biking is not for me, I may not like uphill gravel but road cyclists...... you guys can take care of the tar, I think I will stick to the minimum! Respect!

One thing that I did learn out of this however was that I know far too little about hand signals and the fact that this may one day save my life, so I am busy with some research and will post a blog soon about signals.

The next ride in Cape Town will be on the 22nd of May and the link is:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=113099235385241

Passport Saga continues...Episode 2...

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 06:12:09 +0100

The outcome of the citizenship determination arrived last week and as it turns out, I can apply for citizenship after all! A Section 3 application - Citizenship based on Descent. The process involves first the processing of the Notice of Birth, at which stage an ID number will be allocated and then the ID application will have to be processed. Once I have this I can apply for a passport. A South African Passport.. The only drawback is that this process is a long drawn out one and can take up to a year. The Citizenship department is being very co-operative in all of this and have been so helpful; I have renewed respect for the work that they do. So often we lose sight of the hard work that goes on behind the scenes by good people with really big hearts.

The alternative is to renounce my claim to entitlement of Citizenship by Descent, continue with the processing of my Zimbabwean Passport and quite possibly lose the opportunity to apply for the Section 3 in future. The affidavit which I would need to have stamped by the South African Home Affairs Department to send to Zimbabwe with the letter confirming that I do not hold citizenship and do not wish to proceed with the Section 3, may well not be so simple. This may not be possible to run concurrently with the RSA application as they cannot just stamp a document of that nature and not lodge it as an official renunciation.

So, I face a dilemma here, I cannot wait a year for a passport and it would not make much sense to renounce my citizenship opportunity, considering my ties with South Africa, the work I intend to do as A Goodwill Ambassador, the potential that this journey could have in creating awareness for disability through so many countries in Africa. I have decided to submit my Section 3 application, as the longer I wait the longer it will take to process. If Home Affairs agree to assist me with an informal renunciation for the purposes of acquiring a passport for this purpose, considering all that is at stake, I will proceed with that.

Otherwise I will appeal to the process and commitment of the services of The Department of Home Affairs in South Africa to process my documentation as quickly as possible. I have to believe that if this is the only route that I can go, then somehow the process will run smoothly and efficiently and very, very quickly. Miracles do happen.

Tomorrow I will go for my mugshots :) and submit my application. All the while hoping for a break in the storm clouds.

to be continued.........

The Purple Person at the Argus

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:19:41 +0100

The Argus... which will be the first big race I will do when I get back, after 22000km I think that 100km's odd will be alot easier.... well...I was rather disappointed that I was the only person in the supporters who was dressed up... I would have thought, and certainly hoped, that there would be more flamboyance in the crowd. Alas..

I decided to sport the purple colour of hope and go a little crazy with face paint, which then extended to the whole bottom 2 thirds of both legs and then my hair!! Sporting 3 purple helium balloons on ribbons I walked through town down to Green Point and needless to say, attracted many a comment, my god... and "she's nuts" picked up in the almost inaudible mutterings!

Some kids thought I was walking town to give balloons away and do face painting and crowded me on a corner to have their faces done for a balloon. I felt a little bad but no the balloons were to cheer Jérémie in (me thinking at that stage I would not stand out)..So by the time I got there, battling the wind and almost losing my balloons several times, I found a good spot and cheered the Chaeli riders in one by one. As the sun rose and started to bake the balloons, they also started to pop, one by one... and still no Jérémie...

Literally 10 minutes before he rode in, the last one popped... aaarrrggh!!!Needless to say, he saw the purple person that he heard screeeeeching from just before the finish line and I think that the legs made a difference!! In two years time I hope that some of our fans will come and support us in purple!!! I really cannot wait!

Goodwill Ambassadors

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:04:25 +0100

The Cape Town municipality is supporting us in our effort to create awareness towards disability throughout Africa! We have now been promoted to "City of Cape Town Goodwill Ambassadors en route through Africa".

We hope to meet with representatives of regional offices along our route in various countries and distribute literature about disability and indeed also about the Chaeli Campaign itself.

The Mayor's office has been extremely supportive in this campaign. We will have more information and feedback once we have sat with the relevant memebers of the Mayor's office and have identified a structured plan going forward.

We are very proud to be representing not only Cape Town but also South Africa and of course, the rights, abilities, talents and achievements of the differently-abled members of our society.

The Passport Saga ..

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:10:06 +0100

Obtaining a renewed Zimbabwean passport has been extremely challenging. Mentally, emotionally, and financially. It started with enquiries last year to the consulate in Joburg (there is no office here in Cape Town anymore).

The trouble is that my ID was stolen out of my bag at the Joburg airport in 2004 (along with a few other items which is a headache I still dread to deal with). It is only possible to apply for a new ID in Zimbabwe, you cannot do it from here. You cannot apply for a new passport without your ID, not only the copies but the original as well..

So, I have a very expensive ID, which I am considering insuring, it cost R5000 to get. No kidding. R5000.
My passport application alone has clocked a good amount too (which is rising but sitting on practically the same). I will be a walking valuable by virtue of my very identification and travel documents by October.

Do I raise my life cover by a proportional amount?!!

I have to mention a few people who have played an important role in assisting me with their advice, stood by me and encouraged me and when I needed it, given me a good talking to when that was also called for! Barbara (The Next Great Lady of my Homeland), Suleiman (The Kindest and Most Helpful), Ash (Insufferable Friend), Jérémie (The Rock), Nicole (The Patient).

I now await the South African Dept of Home Affairs to officially tell me I do not hold citizenship to pacify the last requirement from the Zimbabwean passport authority. ( I hope....)

To be continued......

A lesson in humility

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 09:23:20 +0100

Last week end was the Due South XTerra 2010 in Grabouw. For those who don't know what it is; it is a tough off-road triathlon. It starts a 11AM in the morning. That, already, is a strong selling point for me. Most triathlons start late; Usually around 9AM; Much better than running events which force you to be up, awake, and in shorts in the street before the sun comes up. Aside from the obvious lazy appeal of the 11AM start, it also guarantees warm water to swim in. And my swim was a good one. I wasn't extraodinarily fast but I felt comfortable in the water.

And then I got on the bike. And I felt good on the bike too... Until the heat started getting the better of me.
It only took the sun 5km to achieve this. It took another 7km afterwards to push me to the point where I had to admit defeat. I had to come to terms with the fact I was not ready for this race.
I had not hydrated properly before.
I didn't carry enough water with me during.
In short, I had been an idiot!
So on saturday, I learnt 2 lessons!
Hydrate! I knew to hydrate and now I know to hydrate more. Before going on the first of October, Charlene and I are going to follow a very strict drinking program to ensure that we are leaving witht the right amount of fluid in our body.
Carry enough water! We had in mind to carry a camelback and 3 water bottles each with an additional 5l can of water on my trailer. The 5l can of water is now going on Charlene's trailer and mine is getting an additional 10l!
I certainly glad to have made this mistake. Any mistake either of us makes between now and the 1st of october is a mistake we will not make during our trip.

Beware the evil curse of flat tyres!

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:08:54 +0100

This past weekend we went to Robertson and of course our regular midday ride

promised as much sweat as ever with the temperature 34+ - if you want to learn

how to deal with African sun, Robertson is really a good way to acclimatise!

We set off around 12:30, making our way through the little streets. This

little town has more churches in it than some larger cities! ( is this

diversity or is it disagreement?) The little town of Robertson is alot of fun

to ride around in, the view of the mountains, the cute little houses, the

parks, the churches and of course the regular sighting of the parachutes

floating serenely downwards....all set such a good cycling scene.

Around the back of the town closest to the mountains was the first leg of our

ride, we had not been there before and needed a change of scenery - luckily

you cannot get lost here, if you do find yourself briefly questioning your

direction, all you have to do if you cannot see the mountains, is just keep

going in one direction until you reach the other end of the town (which surely

cannot be longer than 6km, if that in some places).

Although part of this expedition was to go buy some lunch we both found

ourselves thoroughly enjoying this particular ride and decided we would press

on much longer than usual and the euphoria seemed to suppress the hunger (or

maybe in hind-sight the euphoria may have been caused by a little dehydration

and hunger!) Either way, we were content to keep on zooming around this

little town.

Our imagination tranformed the dips and turns and little traffic circles into

obstacle courses. (These circles actually resemble giant mosquito bites in

the tar! I dont know what these circles are for, except to serve as really

cool bumps to bounce over on the bicycle!) After a little imaginary off-

roading and traversing most of the actual roads in the town, we gave into the

hunger pangs and took a break under a tree in one of the parks. BBQ chicken

and coke for the main course. I only realized afterwards that my hands were

filthy - I suppose once we are in the middle of Namibia, getting used to

eating with dusty or dirty hands now may be a good thing as we will not be

wasting precious water for the sake of a few germs! Then again with the

vaccinations we have had I think we are pretty much immune to everything!!!

(Well at least I hope so!)

On the one end of Robertson is the cemetery, serene place that looked almost

forgotten by all except the obvious theives who could not resist robbing

something from inside part of the closed-off region of the cemetery. I think

they missed the part where the cultures who bury their dead with valuables are

either long gone with the ancients or dont live here in South Africa! It

makes no sense to me what a person can steal from a graveyard, but I guess we

will see more surprising things as we travel through Africa.

On our way back to the drop-zone (where the skydiving club is in Robertson),

we came across a new development of fancy little houses and could not resist

the little streets (and seeing as there was no boom yet, well, what would you

do!? :) ) Up and down the little streets we scooted, until we came across an

interesting looking little stream effort with a mildly challenging slope on the one

end and well this was in the direction of the drop-zone so we thought we could

find a short cut and bundu-bash at the same time.

Risking not so severe injury but certainly severe giggles, we hopped over the

little trickly and dragged the bicycles up the slope, my bike trying to attack

me in the process! (this was after lunch so it was not a figment of my sugar-deprived imagination).

Once on the other side we came across the gates on the

other side of the complex - which to our mild annoyance were locked (Yes we

were not meant to be in there!) So on turning around I spotted what I thought

may be our way across by following the little 'stream'. Calling Jérémie back (as

by now he seemed to be riding back the way we came like the bats of hell were

after him) I showed him what I saw and he agreed we should try the route out.

Of course we were by now behaving like teenagers off-roading and were most

definately as blind to potential dangers as a teenager would be. I was the

first to start riding off across this flat area where I began to notice little

prickling sensations on my calves, looking down I saw my wheels were flicking

paper thorns up against my legs. Not really concerned I ignored it and rode

on. Jérémie hot on my 'wheels' by now. Getting close to the point in our sights

where we thought we may be able to get through, we noticed this was also a dead

end, with a sting. Sitting below a shady tree were two bee hive boxes! As

you can imagine we came to a very short sharp halt and turned around to ride

away again when both of us noticed our tyres encrusted, and not with paper

thorns.... we had just ridden through a mine field of devil thorns! Tempted

to try pull a few out, then attempting to ride out of the mine field, now

partially forgetting the bees behind us (not far away though), Jérémie heard

the sound he was dreading.... ppfffffffffffffff!!! pffffffff!!!!!!! Both of

his tyres expired in rapid succession! Mine were still ok so I decided to

just ride away onto the tar road before I attempted any removal of thorns. I

stopped and carefully tugged on one thorn, pulling it out leaving this gaping

hole and then PPFFFFSSSS!!!! and so I put the thorn back in to the hole Very

Quickly!!! This only served to buy me another maybe 2km becuase my front tyre

joined the ranks of the expired tyres and I ended up pushing my bike as well!

And there we walked, post 14:00 sun, another litre of Coke to keep us going

and some good humour!!

The moral of the story is this, never leave home with only one spare tube. No

thats not it, never ride into restricted areas. Oh gosh no thats also not

right, Never, and I mean Never Ever ride into mine fields of devil thorns!

They are evil and were created for one purpose, to destroy your bicycle tyres!

But it was worth every kilometre of fun, every finger-licking drumstick and

slurp of Coke, every cool little twist and turn of which Robertson has many,

and every giggle and jibe for the irresponsible move to take a short cut

through a place we did not know at all!!

And I would still do it all over again !!! :) :)

Next weekend though I think we will stay on the tar road and take a backpack

full of repair stuff!!!!!!!!

just in case, me thinks..... just in case..