It was an early morning for the Arola Cycle Tour on 18 February when they prepared to depart from Johannesburg to Bloemfontein at 5am on a three-day cycle tour. The tour group departed from the Mosaïek Church in Fairland and continued via Muldersdrift along Hendrik Potgieter Road and onto the R28.
Cycle tour coordinator Christo Prins would ride with at least 20 cyclist to go on the tour that would span three days. Prins explained that this would be the third year that the Joburg leg takes place. The trip would garner more riders through the three days with the total number of cyclists to reach 100. Prins started cycling about 22 years ago so that he could do it professionally one day. He went on to expalin how the name ‘Arola’ came about to name the tour.
“The tour is called Arola because we travel to Bloemfontein and there they speak Southern Sotho, and in Sotho, ‘arola’ means ‘to distribute’,” said Prins. “Our biggest push for this tour is to give the Bible to those who cannot afford to buy it.”
The first day of the race will see the riders cycle about 140km. The second day, the cyclists will ride from Parys to Welkom, covering 160km and on the third day, they will cycle from Welkom to Bloemfontein with the trip spanning at least 180km. Prins also divulged that they plan to raise 2 500 Bibles for the people of Bloemfontein who do not have Bibles.
The tour was joined by former multiple world-cycling champion Wimpie van der Merwe, who said that his aim on the tour is to help the other cyclists succeed in their tour. He went on to jokingly add that the next three days will feel like another day at the office for him.
“I train for about four to five hours a day, and through experience I know what to expect on this tour,” said Van der Merwe. “I just want to build the camaraderie, set pace of the race and to get strong riders to help the weaker ones.”
By the end of the tour, there would be 100 cyclists, all cycling for what they believe is the betterment of others.
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