Meli Ndlovu, who is based in South Africa, is a 40-year-old
father of two who is cycling to raise awareness on Covid-19.
To embark on this gruelling journey, Ndlovu, an
award-winning cyclist and cycling coach, left his wife and children in South
Africa where he has been staying for the past 21 years.
He left Midrand in South Africa on Saturday at around 3am
and reached Bulawayo yesterday at around 1pm.
A Chronicle news crew caught up with the cyclist who became
popular on social media platforms as people shared his pictures and updates of
his journey.
Meli The Cyclist, as he is widely known, has spoken to a
number of people along the way, raising interest on Covid-19 issues.
He was amazed by how Zimbabweans are well aware of the
pandemic and share stories on how they are surviving and overcoming.
“I am actually happy because the number of people that I
met on the way had their masks on and most of them told me they were fully
vaccinated,” Ndlovu said.
“My main emphasis was on the issue of social distancing. We
are in the festive season and a number of my fellow Zimbabweans will be coming
back home and there will be a lot of family gatherings. So, I think social
distancing is one of the things that we really need to practice to avoid a
spike in Covid-19 cases during the festive season.”
Ndlovu cycled a distance of just over 900km to get to
Bulawayo.
“I cycled all the way and as much as it was a long distance
it was not much of a challenge because I am used to cycling long distances. I
usually cycle around 250km and I can’t spend two days without cycling,” he
said.
“I was cycling at an average of 40km to 45km per hour on
the South African side but I was ranging around 21 to 25km/hour after
Beitbridge because of the damaged roads and I had to constantly give way to
trucks.”
Ndlovu is using his advanced giant carbon fibre bike which
he said has been very essential in competitions that he has won.
During his awareness journey, he faced challenges with motorists as they were not opening up enough space for the cyclist on the road.
“Motorists, especially truck drivers, were not giving me
space to cycle and this slowed me down and I had to rely on the N1 lane to try
and make up for the lost time,” he said.
“I did not have any challenges with the police in any of
the two countries although South African police were questioning me on why I
was not cycling in the face of oncoming traffic but I did not conform because I
knew it was a dangerous thing to do,” he said.
Ndlovu is a member of a cycling team, TeamView, in
Bedfordview South Africa and among the 70 members, he is the only black.
“I also cycle with Tembisa Cycling Club and we are about 20
members both South Africans and Zimbabweans and I have 20 medals from different
cycling competitions,” he said.
The cyclist started cycling at an early age in his rural
home in Goholi in Maphisa and this became a foundation for his cycling career.
Chronicle
0 comments:
Post a Comment