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Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter

MELI Ndlovu’s passion for cycling overrides all his fears.

Just last week, he made a solo ride from Johannesburg to Bulawayo. It was for a worthy cause but not as rosy. He survived a robbery scare. The summer rains poured on him as he navigated the tarmac. At many points he saw snakes and had an encounter with jumping kudus and a herd of impala encroaching his lane.

It was an athletic sightseeing experience with nature. On two wheels he endured. This was the second time in his cycling career that he rode from South Africa to Zimbabwe. He first embarked on a journey of this nature last year, on a Covid-19 awareness campaign. The mission took him 48 hours.

This time, he cycled four days in a bid to promote educational study packs from a local company, Dingani Publishers.

He knows full well of the dangers of embarking on a solo ride of this magnitude but says his love for cycling overrides all the fears.

“It was a difficult journey. I had a four-hour delay at the Zimbabwean border and had a host of challenges along the way.

“I only slept twice in the entire journey that was in Beitbridge and in Gwanda. From the South Africa side, l rode through the night but in Zimbabwe l only rode in daylight.”

He leans back as he relates his encounter with robbers outside of Johannesburg.

“Just 100 kilometres out of Johannesburg I met three robbers who demanded 50 rand or they take the bike. I managed to negotiate my way past them without paying but this is not the first time. I lost a bike to robbers before. After that scare, again on the South African side, a kudu jumped across the road in front of me and it was quite a scare. That was not the only scary thing I encountered as I also saw a huge snake, possibly two metres long along the road. It was a scary sight. Also saw another snake on the side of the road. It probably had been hit by a car. I am glad I managed to pull through now my aim is to take part in the Tour De France next year,” said Ndlovu.

Ndlovu’s educational campaign took the sport of cycling to a whole new dimension, at a time when local sport has been urged to make beneficial synergies with the business community.

The study packs from Dingani Publishers guides are intended to assist O-level pupils who are getting ready to take a variety of Zimsec public examinations.

The study guides include content on certain topics as well as sections with questions and answers that explain how students should respond to various types of 6 questions. They were created by experts using the objectives, material, and learner activities from the syllabus. — @innocentskizoe