On most weekends on the roads around Cape Town, a group of bright-yellow clad cyclists can be seen having the time of their young lives in the saddle.
This is the Fresh Start cycling club who hail from the Ocean View community between Fish Hoek and Kommetjie.
The mature man behind the young Fresh Start outfit, who’ve been on the go since around 2014, is one Ghiem de Klerk, who made his own fresh start in life.
Now 66, he is a man who has proudly turned his life around, purely through tons of belief and a solitary bike.
“I suffered from substance abuse, how I fell into it God alone knows, but I was in a dark hole for about 20 years,” he says, candidly.
One thing De Klerk’s never been scared of though is hard work. He spent his early years doing manual labour such as bricklaying and now shares his life-changing moment.
“My brother-in-law wanted to go swimming at Boulders beach, Simon’s Town. He wanted to cycle there so I offered to drive his family to the beach. After a long day at the seaside he was simply too tired to ride his heavy-steel bomber of a bike back home to Ocean View. So I said I’d do it.
“I was about 40 at the time and the last time I’d ridden a bike was when I was about 15 or 16 years old. So I jumped on and rode and it was just such an amazing feeling. Then I got to Glencairn and looked up at the Black Hill Expressway.”
Black Hill is not for the faint of heart, involving a gruelling climb of well over 2km on the way back to Ocean View.
“Man, it was heavy going,” says De Klerk. “I told myself if I could just get to the top it would be OK. Going over the top and coasting all the way down to Kommetjie Road — it was just awesome.
“I dropped the bike off and told my brother-in-law about the amazing feeling, it was like a different drug. I call it an intervention, I just fell in love with that feeling.”
Soon afterwards, De Klerk managed to get his hands on his own bike as part payment for a job completed, but it was quickly stolen.
Lucky break
Then came another lucky break while working for a wealthy landowner in the Simon’s Town area. “He was aware of my problems and asked me how I was going to change my life and I told him: if I could just get a bike I’d be able to change things around.”
The same man then gave De Klerk a tough log-cutting job that took him close to three days to complete — and payment was R3,000 in cash.
His mind played awful tricks on him on the way home as he pondered what that money could get him in the way of “pleasure”!
But as luck would have it he bumped into his brother-in-law, who was well aware of the temptations on offer, and immediately took him to Bridge Cycles in the southern suburbs.
“With that money [my wife sponsored me the final R200] I got a brand new Fuel bicycle and my journey started.
“Not long afterwards my wife and brother-in-law entered me into the Sanlam Burger Cycle Tour, which was about 120km. Oh my word, I thought I was going to die, but strangely enough I wasn’t just existing any more, I was living.
“I was walking up the infamous Tiekiedraai hill at one stage and this old guy came past and said: ‘Son, you’ll get to the top quicker if you get back onto your bike and pedal’. I looked at him and he also had a Fuel bike, just like mine — another intervention — and I got back on and finished the race.”
Then came the iconic Cape Town Cycle Tour around 2005, and he’s ridden almost every year since. To say cycling has inspired his life is an understatement.
After leaving school with a Grade 10, he was encouraged to study again and in 2013 passed matric. He passed his bricklaying trade test, enrolled in CPUT and at the grand “old” age of 60 he graduated.
To this day, despite having passed official retirement age, he is deeply involved in an education role (currently at Focus College in District Six in the city), teaching the youth about the so many things he missed out on in his youth.
They arrive an hour early for their rides because they’re so keen. Look, when I see the fancy bikes that other clubs have it makes me sad, but as long as these kids are happy and have a purpose it makes me happy!”
Back to Fresh Start though, and De Klerk and wife Sageda were instrumental in helping after a school in Ocean View asked him to help some of the youngsters train for the CT Cycle Tour.
“They surprised me... there’s so much talent in these guys but, sadly, it’s a community problem, the foundation is not laid at home.
“Many of the parents are not interested in their kids’ achievements. I had one guy who, in only his second CTCT, finished 15 min after the winner but he so badly wanted to show his own daddy how well he did... and he wasn’t there.”
The club now has about 35 riders, but time restraints and work commitments mean it’s hard to cope with more, though the club receives a monthly stipend from the generous Bill Rawson of Rawson Properties fame.
“We started off with three bikes, then the Rawson sponsorship helped us get 10 more brand-new bikes from Olympic Cycles in Claremont. I’ve also taught myself the basics of bike mechanics to also save costs on the upkeep.”
The group trains daily, weather permitting... but there are strict conditions!
“Their homework must be done. At the end of school term we want to see their report and if it’s not up to standard they’re off the bike for at least a week,” says De Klerk.
On weekends, the group’s faces light up! “Uncle Ghiem is here!” is the call when he joins the youngsters.
“They arrive an hour early for their rides because they’re so keen. Look, when I see the fancy bikes that other clubs have it makes me sad, but as long as these kids are happy and have a purpose it makes me happy!”
De Klerk’s day job sees him helping children to improve their reading skills — “it’s astounding that there are kids in high school who can barely read”.
But after school, reading changes gear to riding.
“I take them out of Ocean View and all its temptations and give them another frame of mind, the chance to develop a dream... without dreams there’s no life,” he said.
“At the end of the day I’m just blessed to work with kids and change as many lives as I can.”
Imagine how many more dreams could be realised if there were more than one just one good Samaritan to get more youngsters on the road to success.
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