On our Facebook group, we have been posting daily with the theme “Been There, Done That” featuring activities and destinations we’ve experienced.
One post was, biking while traveling, and it brought back memories of a trip I took to South Africa with other travel professionals in 2018. I’m not a fan of cycling and dreaded it on this particular trip. It didn’t help that I wasn’t prepared for it and we did four biking excursions. Some refused to do but, I went along with the program.
One was fat tire biking on the beach in Camps Bay, another was a hybrid motorized bike along the coast of South Africa, we did city biking in Soweto, and side-car on a motorcycle on the byways of Cape Town. The latter didn’t require peddling from me so I was cool with that one. The most difficult was the adventure in Soweto. Soweto has some steep hills that I hadn’t recognized on my many trips to Soweto in a car or motorcoach.
But, when I found my photo of me biking in South Africa, it brought back fond memories instead of the discomfort I felt at the time.
I thought about riding on the beach and being amazed at how the fat tires have so much traction on the sand. The views along the beach and how I overcame the challenges navigating the different terrain the beach presented.
The hybrid motorized bike was a brand new experience for me. You could peddle or you could add a little power. The power certainly helped going uphill. The faster I peddled the more motorized power I got. We biked to a fabulous lunch at the One and Only hotel Cape Town, and since we didn’t have to bike back, we could indulge.
Going back to the most challenging one in Soweto, confess it say, I walked the last leg up the steep Vilakazi street but, again, after the fact, I saw parts of Soweto I had never seen before.
In my sidecar, I had a special friend who joined me, the driver’s dog. He was a friendly mixed breed who occasionally rested his head on my shoulder. When we stopped along the byway, we snapped some great photos with a gorgeous sunset backdrop.
Oh, and when I returned home, I realized that I had lost weight!
The moral of the story – even those, not so pleasant travel experiences leave you with fond memories.
“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller” – Ibn Battuta
