Over 50 and breaking new ground
BUCKET-LIST No 1
The over-50 cycling buddies of Westbrook are happy and proud of having ticked the 97km Ride Joburg race off their bucket-list.
The Virgin Active Ride Joburg gives cyclists from around the world the chance to take to the M1 highway and own the streets of Joburg.
The Westbrook team’s over-50s are Clive Ramjass, 52; Ian Naidu, 51, Selvan Govender, 54, with Nesh Buddan, 39, representing the under-40s.
Ramjass, from Seatides, is a sales manager and joined the Westbrook Cycling Club (WCC) in 2020, so it’s taken four years to complete one of the challenges he set himself.
“My first Ride Joburg is off the bucket list and I am so ecstatic. We did well for our first ever Joburg Ride, and we even achieved my goal and time-set. Our team helped each other during the race with raising morale and creating a healthy team performance,” said Ramjass.
He said their team completed the race in four hours, just an hour or so more than the winners’ times.
“We have done extremely well within our age group, especially with all the training and hard work we put in over the months to get ready for this race,” said Ramjass.
He said training needed to be at least 150km-200km a week to ensure they were ready.
“A 70km strong hilly ride and at least 3- 4 days of training before the ride. Our diet needs to be healthy like eating fish and chicken; protein and carbs are always a must for energy,” said Ramjass.
Naidu, from Ballito, is a specialist estate agent at Zimbali and got into cycling for health and fitness benefits.
“Initially it was more of a leisure activity, until I did my first Amashova event. It was only the 65km ‘half-Shova’, but I was hooked after completing it. Meeting the WCC crew a few years ago took my cycling motivation to a new level. Fantastic bunch of guys and we look forward to our weekend rides. We mix it up between road cycling and MTB trails too,” said Naidu.
He said the 2024 Ride Joburg was a great event to be a part of but admitted there were also challenges.
“There’s thousands of cyclists with great camaraderie. And the vibe from the crowd keeps us cyclists going.
“But however great the mood, the heat, the altitude and the Joburg hills are the worst parts of the race. The most difficult part for me was heading up Dunkeld toward Hyde Park,” said Naidu.
He said was happy with their time of four hours, especially because he hadn’t done proper training rides for this event.
IT specialist Selvan Govender also started cycling in 2020 and this year’s Ride Joburg was his second.
“I have cycled four Cape Town cycle tours and two Ride Joburgs. It’s never easy but it’s rewarding. This year’s Ride Joburg was hard because of the heat and I cramped up in the last 20km but I still was able to complete it in good time. I’ll compete in any race I can, forever, as long as I can,” said Govender.
He is so enthusiastic he has his whole family involved in the sport.
“Clive and I started the club, and slowly other guys started joining but the best part is our wives and children have also joined us and have also competed alongside us. It’s fantastic,” said Govender.
This is not the team’s last ride: they will continue their weekend rides.
“The WCC will be on our bikes again this weekend and my future cycling plans definitely include these guys. It’s an awesome team and we have great fun out on the trails,” said Naidu.
The team’s next big event is the Cape Town cycle tour in March and the Berg100 in Nottingham Road.