WHAT TO RACE IN 2024

WE'RE SPOILED FOR CHOICE IN SOUTH AFRICA HERE'S A COLLECTION OF EVENTS WE WOULD LOVE TO RIDE WITH YOU IN THE 12 MONTHS TO COME.

WE REALLY ARE A FORTUNATE LOT, when it comes to events. There are few (if any) countries with such a wide range of road, mountain, gravel and other organised rides. It’s hard to find a weekend that doesn’t have something you’d love to be doing.

Sure, there are some gaps – road racing is in a fragile state, given the condition of our roads and our finances. And events have become expensive; none more so than when they involve sharing public roads with other traffic.

Back in the day, much of the behind-the-scenes cost was absorbed by a government happy to have people active and using the roads; but that’s changed a lot. The roads have become a lot busier, making some older and much-loved routes just impossible; and then there’s the cost of employing traffic and safety officials to keep us all in one piece.

You also have to factor in the new Events Act, which came into being in the early twenty-teens; organisers are now forced to supply a certain minimum number of marshals, ambulances and other emergency staffing and protocols. Before, many shortcuts were taken, and only the really big events did what was right. And we all got away with it. But that too has changed…

And yet, if you’re realistic about it, entry fees in general are fair for what we’re getting. The big one – the Cape Town Cycle Tour – costs just over R800 for 109km of fully closed roads in one of Africa’s busiest cities; and even the Cycle Tour is running at a loss of a few hundred rand per rider, cost-on-the-road, and relying on sponsors to fill the gap.