You might know Eroica South Africa as the event that celebrates vintage bicycles and the culture that surrounds these beautiful machines. But since 2018 the NOVA, Eroica’s answer to modern gravel bike racing, has become a big part of the South African event. This year NOVA will run alongside our classic event on the weekend of 6-8 May for those looking to join in the social spirit on their gravel bikes. Not forgetting our vintage roots, with the CLASSIC and HERO rides still firmly in place, this year’s new 175km NOVA race route will have just the right mixture of challenge and reward. We have an absolute blast planned for all of you … a new venue, a food market, new routes, and even a film screening! And of course, all the good vintage stuff from previous years.
But don’t take it from us. Leading up to our event we check in with some Eroica family; from classic collectors, to long distance vintage riders; and our newest members, the NOVA flock. We wanted to know: What makes Eroica South Africa different and, well… what makes it worth the ride!
Stan Engelbrecht from Eroica South Africa sat down for a coffee with Sindile Mavundla, owner of Khaltsha Cycles and seeker of gravel adventures.
STAN: Tell me about Khayelitsha’s first ever bike shop, Khaltsha Cycles.
SINDZ: It’s always been my dream to have a bike shop in Khayelitsha. In 2018 I was given the chance to be an ambassador for one of Dragons Sports’ brands, Avalanche. It was through this relationship that I was then able to open my shop the following year, in 2019. Dragons Sports gave me my very first consignment stock ever. And they said let’s see what you can do. And we went on, we pushed.
STAN: So how did the shop grow into what it is today?
SINDZ: We got a little bit of seed funding in 2020 from Tour de France to buy a 12 meter shipping container filled with old bikes, that we then cut up and converted into a bike shop, complete with a workshop and display area. And last year we even opened up our second shop at Khayelitsha Mall. I have two bike shops now!
STAN: Do you organize rides from there?
SINDZ: Yah we do! So the next ride is actually tomorrow, Saturday. Every Saturday we have 2 types of rides. At 6am there is a more serious ride, all lycra and shiny helmets and everything. We usually ride 70km-100km. And then at 10am there is a ride we call the Tour de Khaltsha. It’s a very chilled out ride, open to everyone that wants to test it out and explore Khayelitsha. But we also use that ride to explore other communities, like going to Langa to have a Shisa Nyama. At the moment, on weekdays we only have our Thursday sunset ride at 6pm. This is also a chilled out ride where we end up on Lookout Hill, the highest point in the area. And from there you can see that Khayelitsha is literally built on a sand dune.
STAN: So are you riding tomorrow?
SINDZ: Yes. But also, I’m excited because we are actually starting something new tomorrow called Bike Revival. It’s a campaign for the month of February where we are mechanically fixing people’s bikes and charging them only for the parts. We’re trying to get bikes road worthy and people back on them. We hope that this will get our name out there. So for example, guys are not riding their bikes because there is no tube, or whatever. We want them to bring it and come buy a tube, it’s only 80 bucks. We will put it in for free and pump it up, and make sure the bike is fine.
STAN: I think that’s a good way of showing people how to look after their equipment too. So is this the next step for Khaltsha?
SINDZ: To be honest, the next step for Khaltsha is to scale. We have figured out a model that works, and we know how much it costs now to set up. So we could take it to Masiphumelele; or to Strand; or even to Joburg, to Soweto. But the key thing to this model is the Learn2Cycle classes.
STAN: So that’s teaching people how to ride, to bring them into the culture?
SINDZ: Well, we started seeing a need. Black people could love cycling, it’s just that the majority of them don’t know how to ride. If you give them the opportunity to learn how to ride, then the community just creates itself. So we started the Learn2Cycle classes for free.
STAN: Who is the typical person that would be interested in the classes?
SINDZ: We are seeing a big interest from women. Guys seem very shy to come out and say, ‘Hey, I don’t know how to ride’. And this holds them back. But take my amazing, amazing wife who’s been with me through this journey of cycling. I have never forced her to cycle at all, but then one day she asked, ‘Teach me how to ride.’ And I was like, ‘YES! Finally!’ But when she started riding she faced some challenges, surprisingly mostly from other women. But she persisted and kept on riding. And many of those ladies, they’re on bikes now too. Her and I ride everywhere. Even from Khayelitsha to our favourite place here, Clarke’s, for breakfast and mimosas, and we ride back home, you know.
STAN: I know that you ride a gravel bike. How did you get into that? I’ve seen that for most black riders their entry point has always been road cycling, I’m not sure why?
SINDZ: Road cycling is the easiest. They are the most common bikes to be handed down to riders, and you can ride anywhere around where you live. I started commuting, then road, and from there moved onto mountain biking when I was staying in Swaziland – it’s the perfect place for that. But when Avalanche offered to sponsor me, they just happened to give me a gravel bike. I decided to do the Cycle Tour on it, so I started training mostly on road. And loved it. When the opportunity to do Eroica came about I thought, ‘I have a gravel bike. I can do this.’ Little did I know! Oh, my word. Ha ha ha!
STAN: Was it tough?
SINDZ: My first Eroica was madness! So here’s the thing, you think this is going to be fun, right? My bones were rattling. And I was thinking, ‘Oh my god, this bike has no suspension, it has nothing.’ But, this is a pure form of riding gravel. I’d had a few gravel rides before this, but nothing like Eroica. And it was hot! And there was this pass. This never ending climb.
STAN: Ouberg?
SINDZ: Exactly! And I was like, ‘Are you trying to kill us?’ Ha ha ha! But you know as you are riding, you are one with yourself and with your thoughts.
STAN: Tough. But, it has its own rewards.
SINDZ: Yah, man. We rode for hours. At one point I was riding with Simiso, he was on a classic bike, and he says, ‘Maybe this thing isn’t for black people… maybe we should have just went out and played soccer, you know?’ Ha ha ha! I said, ‘Look man, we are here right now. And we’re going to finish.’ And I think that’s where the slogan for Khaltsha Cycles came from, ‘Push and Pedal’. It doesn’t matter whether we are pedaling or pushing, we are going to finish this thing. For me even day to day, we are going to have to push or pedal through this life thing.
STAN: We’re in this thing together, right?
SINDZ: On the last hill we did, we met this Belgian guy who said he was riding a hand-built steel frame from Belgium. And I was like, ‘Screw that, right now that’s not helping you. You are suffering like the rest of us.’ Ha ha! But we did it, we finished. Coming back into town, I thought, ‘I’M STILL ALIVE!’ Couldn’t feel my legs though!
STAN: Did you check out the new NOVA route and the distance?
SINDZ: It’s on Sunday now, 175km – oof, man. I think I’m nervous, but I’ve adopted a thing now where I know I just wanna ride and have fun! If I want to stop for a brandy and coke, then I want to do that.
STAN: So the obvious question is, how did you actually get into cycling in the beginning?
SINDZ: It was through my parents. Both of them had bikes that they commuted with. My dad in Joburg worked on the mines, and my mom was a teacher. I have these vivid, vivid memories of my first bike. It was blue, with support wheels. Later on they got me a BMX so that I could go to the shops to pick up stuff. But I always ended up riding with older guys that I would find along the way. And I was 6. I’d be gone for the whole day. My mom was not very happy, at one point she actually confiscated my bike!
STAN: So your sense of adventure was actually there from the start.
SINDZ: And I think it grew with the YEP Clan (Youth Empowerment Project). And what Sizwe Matoti was doing there was amazing. They had different programmes and one would take kids out of the township to environments that they don’t normally go to. It was simple things, like walking into a restaurant and ordering a coke. This is something that you’ve never done before, you don’t even know how to do it.
STAN: You’re talking about being black in a predominantly white environment?
SINDZ: Exactly. It was breaking that psychological barrier. The whole thing was experience based. We would also go for rides, and for hikes, and to Kirstenbosch – you know these are places we as young black kids from the township didn’t even know existed. And afterwards they would tell us to sit and to reflect on our experiences and the space we were in. That was incredible.
STAN: So your love of cycling grew there?
SINDZ: From there. But also it was through people like… And I know this is very controversial, but Lance Armstrong was a huge influence for me. Despite what he has done, you know, but that’s a totally different conversation. That guy made me get into sport cycling. I believed in that Livestrong dream – I was one of those kids.
STAN: Me too. There’s a lot to be said for that. Is there anyone else that has been an influence for you?
SINDZ: Of course there’s Nic (Dlamini). You know, when he rode the Tour de France we were all watching it in the shop. This was a black cyclist in the Tour de France. People went mad, so many people came. They saw themselves there on TV at the Tour de France. And when he left the Tour, it was funny, the attendance just dropped. They were there for him.
STAN: So do you think black cycling is enough of a conversation point in the predominantly white cycling community?
SINDZ: Mostly the issue is avoided. And I include myself in that. I ride with a lot of white guys, and I do raise the issue, because they ask ‘Why aren’t more black people riding?’ But that’s the wrong question. They want to ride but getting equipment is a barrier. And lack of experience can be a barrier. And really, whether we talk about it or not, the culture is developing. There are individual activists who are pushing the envelope. And there are small conversations starting. These social rides hosted by Rook and the FixieFit guys, are really amazing. You get black, white, whatever coming through and riding together. And just talking about stuff, not necessarily about cycling, but talking about business, personal life, everything. I think that’s what’s holding that community together. The mode of transport is bikes, but the conversation is always different.
STAN: You specifically say lack of experience. What do you mean by that?
SINDZ: Take what you have done with Eroica. That experience gave me a taste for adventure riding. That’s my perspective as a guy from Khayelitsha, riding NOVA for the first time and falling in love with it. For me Eroica was the platform into the world of adventure and gravel riding. I don’t see it as a race. I see it more as an amazing ride and experience. You get to mingle, and hop from group to group. And after the ride you get to go back to your camps and talk about how brutal it was, but how fun it was as well. The camaraderie of the whole weekend is fantastic.
STAN: Unfortunately these types of events are expensive. Every year we make a point to give free entries to strong riders that don’t normally have the opportunity to experience events like this. My hope is that they will discover a new way to think about riding, and a new way to see their world.
SINDZ: That is really what I want for my people. To get them out of the day to day of the township. The normal day to day of riding on the road going to Stellenbosch. Yes, that’s fine, that’s perfect. But there is more out there. That’s why I’m pushing this group of guys and ladies that I have towards this adventure type of riding. For me, gravel riding was the key.
