Cycling Whole Life Coaching for @Risk African Kids

The third quarter of 2021 brought new and exciting opportunities for the project, as we looked forward to resuming activities as normal after some minor disruptions due to the COVID 19 pandemic and some inclement weather.

2021 marks the 10th year of the running of the Jonkershoek Development Cycling Project and we celebrated this with a multi-day cycling tour, taking place in the scenic vistas of Grabouw in the Western Cape during September. The aim of the tour was to gain some practical experience in mountain biking in some challenging and new terrain, as well to grow together as a family. Back2Basics was used as a base for the camp and from there we were able to cycle the wonderful Lebanon trails, as well as experience a much-anticipated day out in the Oak Valley trail nearby, often playing host to major races such as the ABSA Absa Cape; world-renowned 8-day stage race. While at the campsite, the boys were able to enjoy fellowship with one another, the leadership and engage in fun, but challenging team-building activities, and enjoy the wonderful camping facilities. Many hours were shared around the campfire, discussing life, cycling stories, enjoying the outdoors, relationships, and proved to be a valuable time for the facilitators to impart wisdom for life, healthy relationships and spirituality. 

The month of September also brought with it an opportunity to return to racing for our riders. We competed in the "Fedhealth MTB Challenge" mountain bike race, hosted by Stillwater sports and Blaauwklippen wine estate in the beautiful Stellenbosch, Western Cape. The race took place over 2 days, the first day consisting of a 15km ride around some of the wine farms in Stellenbosch or our younger riders, whilst day 2 saw some of the older boys, as well as their coaches, complete a 30km saunter in the challenging wet and rainy conditions. Nonetheless, we all finished with big smiles on our faces, as the superb water point, immaculate and exhilarating single track, and encouraging atmosphere made for a truly enjoyable experience for all involved.

This quarter also saw the project partnering up with Amplified Youth, whose aim is to foster healthy community relationships, offer emotional and spiritual development to the youth, and provide leadership training to young people of all cultural backgrounds, socio-economic statuses and ethnicities. These weekly meetings have played a major role in the emotional, spiritual, and leadership qualities we are seeing develop in these young men. It has been extremely encouraging to see the young men engaging with the mentorship program with their leaders and taking responsibility for their own lives and futures.  

Without our partners and donors, none of these amazing learning experiences would have been possible, and we are truly grateful for all those who sponsored us with race entries and donations, which make it possible to serve the next generation of leaders and avid mountain bikers in South Africa. 

Finally, we're thrilled to announce one of our old beneficiaries, who started cycling for the first time on this project, won the development cycling category of the 2021 ABSA Cape Epic. This is a major achievement and we are very proud of him for working hard and stretching himself towards fulfilling his dreams of being a professional cyclist.

We have had quite a successful term, considering the circumstances we are currently in as a country. We had very good attendance from the beneficiaries this term. We have implemented more rules to ensure the boys prioritize time for their academics. This was initially not received well, but quite soon the beneficiaries started asking for more help and became a whole lot more committed to their academics. We hope to see an improvement in this terms school reports. We also have a renewed focus on mentoring sessions, with more capacity added in the form of very committed and passionate volunteer who joined us in the beginning of the year. The boys have enjoyed and been committed in joining the sessions once per week. We also had two days on which we serviced the bikes with the boys. It's always fun to teach the boys a bit more about the bikes, how to maintain them well and how this is such a critical life priciple in all areas, which should not be neglected, but rather celebrated and enjoyed.

At the start of the second quarter, Jonkershoek (our home ground) was hit by a devastating and destructive wildfire, which damaged the trails and hurt the whole ecosystem quite a lot. So when the heavy rains started recently, it caused quite a lot of flooding and erosion. Even though we were able to ride on our favourite local trails again, we're not sure how the current rainy conditions will cause more trail damage. 

During the month of May, we were able to participate in the first leg of the Spur Schools League, with the series running over about five months. This was very exciting because it has been quite a while since we've participated in races. This league has always been a team highlight for every year, ever since we've started participating in 2011. Unfortunately, due to the third wave in COVID-19 infections in South Africa, the league has been postponed.

In June we had to say good-bye to one of our beloved coaches, who has been serving as a volunteer with his wife since 2015. Daniel and his family have returned to Germany. This has left a hole in our cycling family and in our hearts. We are however very excited for their new season as a family and to see them flourish.

We also entered stricter lock-down regulations at the end of June, restricting our group gatherings and starting school holidays earlier to allow COVID-19 infections to become more stable. Unfortunately, there is major delays in the availability and roll-out of vaccinations, which causes these repetitive waves of infections to be out of control and new variants of the virus to develop.

Thanks to all our supporters.

Attached find additional project data and details during the term.

• Cycling_Quarterly_Report_June2021.pdf (PDF)