Despite the advances in cycle-clothing technology, the winter morning rides are still cold. I watch as the nano-tech gloves seam automatically with the sleeves of my BreathIt Jacket, essentially converting my kit into a seamless speedsuit...no zips required! My data stream displayed coyly on the inner lens of my glasses tells me that my inner core temp is stable at 36 degrees. I can still feel the chill of the Cape Town morning on my face though...
I'm due to meet up with the guarded peloton at the agreed 5:08am, but my Virtual Proximity Alert in the lens of my glasses hasn't been activated to green yet...and that means its not safe to leave my yard . I think I can hear The Scrappers still going through the contents of my bin outside my property....and I really hate the mess they leave! Frustratingly I can't chase them away from my bin either. Constitutional freedom of movement, we are reminded. What about my right of privacy? Maybe I don't want people going through my rubbish and profiling me on the boxes and packaging of purchases I have made....
Despite their messy habits though, The Scrappers real motives are far more sinister. Its the worst kept secret that they also serve as Spotters.We learnt back in about 2016 already to burn boxes of tech products - otherwise the Scrappers would find the box of your new Sony 4D Curve Screen and Ping your residence to the gangs. I hear the commission for Spotters is pretty decent on the new stuff. And the robberies could get quite violent.....Nope - we want to stay off that radar! Scrappers/Spotters also have a very keen eye for bicycles too. High value; massive market; easily modified...a bicycle is a good thing to steal!
Bike jackings increased exponentially from 2012
Some of us have been cycling for decades and suffered the helplessness of having some stoned gang junkie putting a gun to your face and demanding your bike and your mobile comms unit. By 2014 these bike jackings were becoming all too regular - although the attacks were still haphazard; unplanned. You would read on Twitter (remember that old app?) about two thugs bike-jacking single ladies up to the Mast; or read a Facebook post (old-school style!) about cyclists getting stabbed in KZN; or about cyclists being knocked off their bikes by cars..... the cases are endless. In reaction, some cyclists took to riding with firearms to protect themselves. This immediately went pear shaped as the case of Cronje vs February of 2017 demonstrates: Wickus Cronje was riding alone on Spaanschemat Road in Constantia when two gangsters jumped out the side of the bush near Peddlars. Clearly whacked on some wicked chemical concoction that our poorer societies fall prey to, a knife was pulled and Cronje was told in no uncertain terms to get off his fokken bike and hand it over. Cronje, 35 - an accountant, married, with two young kids, believed in self-preservation and pulled his 9mm. In his defence, he told the court, that the junkie came at him; knife arm raised. Cronje's single shot hit one Ashwin February in the chest and killed him on the spot.
Cronje, 4 years later, is still in prison for murder - so I guess that approach backfired somewhat... (our local school hosted a fundraiser a few weeks ago to try and raise some cash for his family. Ironically it was a cycling event on a local wine farm...)
The internal display of my glasses lights up. The feed from my comms unit tells me Rocky, Twakkie, Gavin and Shaun have joined the Security Cavalry and are passing my gate in 04:11 minutes. Judging by the banging of lids and clinking of glass, it's clear that The Scrapper has moved on to next doors bin. Good luck with that trash! (Our neighbour is a bit of a scruffy chap. Unhygienic even. I can only imagine the crap he throws out!) I check my bike quickly. I swoop through the data feed to the bike status - Lube Percentage Level - 88%; Bolt Tension 97% avg; Spoke Tension: Optimum....Ah, Tyres: pressure 10bar; Tread: 66%...Hmmm, I'll need to replace the tyres in about (calculating...).. 548km - best I speak to Dylan and see if I can get a discount. I'm still paying the bike off - R216000 was still a sweet deal for this 2019 Bianchi model. I reckon the titanium/carbon weave pushed the price of the frame up a bit....but it was the reinforced bamboo wheels that did the real damage! They're beautiful...light, responsive, with a vibration-dampening ability second to no other material.... Over the data stream of the bike status my attention switches to the approaching grumble of the security motorcycles....
The Security Cavalry (as we call it) was dreamt up by my brother in law who owns a security company. Essentially a small monthly fee is paid to the security company who then arrange 2 motorcycles - one front and one at the back of the peloton - to escort the morning cyclists. Their lights warn the traffic that we're on the roads...but their primary purpose is to keep the bike-jackers at bay. Over time, we've all become well acquainted with the motorcycle guards and they even carry some spares and snacks for us on the long rides. Blessing and John are both from Malawi. My brother in law says he can't hire locals as they "infiltrate the security services and leak sensitive security information to the Gangs"...information like the morning route, for example. Ask the 3 lots of Johannesburg Pelotons from about 3 years ago when they were escorted by the Cavalry directly into a warehouse only to be confronted by a group of armed thugs who promptly robbed them of all cycling equipment and tech! Complete inside job (I think it even viewed on Carte Blanche...)
The countdown on my glasses screen shows that the Cavalry is nearby. My App feed indicates that we have 12 riders in the group. Thats good. I always prefer a larger crowd. Apart from feeling safer, we get to qualify as a "medium bus" as per the traffic by-laws and so get a dedicated lane to ride in. I blink and swoosh my screen display onto the City of Cape Town: Traffic Requests to check if anyone has lodged the application to ride in a group this size...and there it is: 27 July, 2021: 5am - 8am. Broubart Security Cavalcade - cycling. Group size - 12/15. Status: Approved. Guards: 2 - armed. Ref 188/5TT4. Phew! This is a relief. Back in 2020 one of our riders was pulled over by a metro cop outside Simons Town and fined R5000 for not having his road permit on him. I still shake my head that us cyclists need to pay to use a public road - but we were told that "in order for the City to become a sustainable cycle-friendly City it needed to invest in the built environment of dedicated cycle path infrastructure...and these funds need to be recovered from the end-users of these amenities." Talk about bureaucratic bullshit just to milk more cash from us!
The countdown in my display shows 12 seconds. I open my gate and hear the grumble of the security motorbikes right outside. On my first pedal stroke a stream of data at the top right of my vision appears informing me that I am moving at 5km/h; my heart rate is steady (green zone); and that my data feed is now coupled to the other riders in the peloton. Blessings friendly face lights up when my headlamp sweeps over him. He waves as I greet him. "Hey Chop!", yells Twakkie from the group, "lets go for a ride!"
Ah well - at least some things never change....
And all we really want to do is cycle in a safe environment....
