Imran Akuji - R.I.P.

On Sunday 20th of February at around 11:30am Imran Akuji was hit by a car near the Umbeluzi water pumping station along the Boane road while he was on his bicycle. He died instantly. The oncomming car was overtaking a line of other vehicles at high speed and veered onto the yellow line of the opposite side, hitting Imran and almost taking out the fruit sellers along the road. The driver is in custody, though I have no more information about him.

We lose a friend, a cyclist, the organiser of the Copa Ciclismo races and the Clube de Ciclismo de Moçambique, President of the Mozambican Cycling Federation as well as a member of the cycling team for the upcomming African Games. Imran leaves behind a wife and three children. His eldest son was with him on that day, following in the support vehicle together with some other cyclists who had taken part earlier in the Namaacha time trial. A lot of us were with Imran a scant two hours before the accident. Known to cyclists affectinately as "UCI", he was with us at the top of Namaacha, catching our breath, tallying our times and commenting on our effort. At 36 years of age he was still a competitive cyclist. He seemed calm that day, trying to keep order amongst the petty bickering that was going on, inwardly probably satisfied at the turnout and the fact that a record had been broken, sign that the cyclists that were part of the Africa Games team were getting better. His young son Yazid finally managed to finish the tough race, a 17km climb that can bring down many a stronger man.

His wife said to us cyclists, as we filed past his body later last night, that cycling in Mozambique mustn't die with Imran. I found it incredible that she could find such strength to utter these words of encouragmenet to us, but she obviously understood what a central part in Imran's life cycling had been, that he should dedicate every spare moment to training, organising, and racing.

Later that evening at the funeral his son asked us with a bewildered face "who is going to remind me to use the small ring when I'm pedalling into the wind...??". It is amazing how one stupid and inconsiderate act can have such a devastating impact on families, people, as well as the cycling community.

We may not have always agreed with Imran, as his strong ideas and competitive spirit clashed with other strong personalities in the cycling fraternity. Nor was racing against him an easy task, as he would use his considerable experience to the fullest in chasing you down the line. Such is cycling and competition. However his testament isn't his own cycling (once winner of the Copa Ciclismo, amongst other palmarés) but the fact that he almost singlehandedly managed to keep competitive cycling alive over the past five years, organising events, creating the Moz Cycling Federation as well as selecting the first ever national side for the upcoming African Games. Let's hope all this was not in vain, that we as cyclists can keep up the momentum.

Rest in peace.

Imran shortly before the accident - Photo by Miguel Duarte

Article on Imran Akuji

N.B. - The Cycling Club will organise a small ceremony to visit the scene of the accident and leave some flowers sometime during this coming week - details will be posted as soon as available.

Namaacha training run

The Namaacha Climbing Club

Some community service along the way

Kallie going above and beyond the call of duty

Mozambique National Championships - 3rd and 6th of February

On the 3^rd and 6^th of February the Mozambique National Championships took place in Marracuene, the first town outside Maputo on the EN1 highway that connects to the rest of the country. Both starts were supposed to be at 6am, but owing to the annual Marracuene Festival on the 3^rd the TT was delayed quite a bit. With a bit of a drizzle and many broken bottles on the roadside, the conditions were not ideal but once out of the town they improved considerably, with the morning sun drying the road quickly. Riders set out 3 minutes apart, a strange choice as it is customary to have one minute only between riders.. Perhaps someone didn’t want to get caught.. In any event the riders set off, and I as the previous Copa Ciclismo winner set out last. The 40km course, 20km out and 20 back, was fairly straightforward with a few gentle hills and a long up-hill finish. Some cyclists came out on their normal bikes, some had TT bars, and one had a full-on disk-wheel and TT shifters.. So the field was a hodge-podge of equipment. Not much drama in a TT race, so here are the results:

1^st – Kinha Fonseca

2^nd – Miguel Teixeira

3^rd - Mussa – cyclist hailing from Beira

photo by Guilherme da Silva

The road race took place on Sunday 6^th of February and by then the last revelers had finally gone home and the road was relatively free of glass. All the cyclists arrived on time and got cracking setting up their bikes, eyeing up the competition, and stuffing themselves with food. It was going to be a long race, 180km, similar to the SA Nationals in PE that had finished the day before (footnote – the original distance of the SA Nationals was reduced to 155km due to safety issues). Once our cyclists were ready a quick time check and away they went. We were 15 cyclists all told, with 3 from Beira and Quelimane riding in matching green jerseys. Our U23 champion (the only U23 cyclist for that matter!) Gustavo was decked out in the new Copa Ciclismo kit. Miguel Teixeira and Kinha Fonseca were decked out in almost identical bikes and kit. Zeca from past Copa fame was out with no helmet, but the organisers waived the rule seeing as he had a valid excuse.. he was allergic to helmets! Carlos Sales was present with his Panorama tour climber’s jersey and hydration pack prepared for the long distance. Julian Circo, a new entry from Swaziland joined, as did Jan “JJ Bjorn Borg” back from the States with a most beautiful carbon bike. Other cyclists of note were Patrick “Ventoux”, Imran “UCI”, Vincente Ramaya with his soldered frame, Abilio Matusse, and finally Mario “Cipollini” Traversi.

Notable by their absence were Ricky Trinidade and Betinho Cuambe.

The race started at a slowish pace until the half-way point, which came 8km sooner than expected, because the race organisers decided that a shorter race was the way to go.

Obviously this affected tactics, food intake and overall effort, as a 162km vs 180km race are two different kettle of fish. Once we were on the return leg the tempo increased considerably and attacks started coming. First off Carlos, a Beirense and JJ took off and managed a steady one minute lead beforebeing brought back into the peloton. Another break by a Beira cyclists went unanswered but was eventually brought back by a slight increase in tempo. Then on a longish climb yours truly hopped out of the saddle and was soon joined by Jan for a short duet that was eventually caught by the pelloton. The situation stabilised with the riders conscious of the final hill that awaited, and the pace slowed before the climbers attacked and sped up the hill. Miguel managed to open a gap of a few hundred metres, with Mario behind and the peloton chasing hard. Miguel began to fade, as Mario gained on him in the final km to the line, but one of the Beira cyclists broke from the chasing pack managed to pass Mario and closed on Miguel.

Final results:

1^st – Miguel Teixeira

2^nd –Beira cyclist

3^rd - Mario Traversi

Special thanks to Gustavo's mother who prepared some post-race sandwiches which quickly restored our energies after the long and tiring ride. Muito obrigado. Also thanks to Guilherme da Silva for the pictures he took. Most were out of focus but one of me doing the TT came out particularly well.

photo by Guilherme da Silva... out of focus I'm afraid

Weekend training ride

Hello all, here are some pictures from our latest training ride (22nd of January 2011).
Enjoy (the pained faces!)

MT

Namaacha training run

Namacha training ride Sunday 16th of January 2011.

Four intrepid cyclists set out from boane to conquer the Namaacha hills for the first time this year, in preparation for the upcomming races of the season (Mozambique Nationals and Barberton MTB).

Patrick with his new sunglasses, No-Evil Eye

Ian Epic, Matt CMC and Patrick Ventoux pose for Mario the Photographer

"Bush Mecchanic" in Boane - Services all bikes and sizes

X-Mas Challenge/Festive 500 winners announced

Hello all,
The winners of the Festive 500 challenge have been announced, and you can check them out here.
Just a reminder of the Festive 500 - a challenge to cycle 500km in 8 days between the 23rd and 30th of December 2010. I am amongst the lucky hundred or so who managed to complete the task and keep fit in this traditionally food-centric period of stuffed turkey, roast beef, eggnog and a plethora of sweets, cakes, christmas pudding and whatnot. Thankfully I live in the southern hemisphere so I merely had to brave 35 degree weather and a bit of sun-burn for my attempt. Northern hemisphere types (all of the winners in fact..) had to endure much worse weather, so I'm not too disappointed in not winning the winter kit. I mean.. when would I wear it??? In the middle of August in Maputo the temperature doesn't dip much below 15 degrees! A warm undershirt yes.. Maybe arm and knee warmers, but that's about it! Actually the winter here in Mozambique is a fantastic time to cycle. It's dark in the mornings but good lighting along the road and the total absence of.. anything.. makes for a lonely but strangely calming ride. Almost like a meditation.

Ok, enough nattering and let me go do some work. Till the next Rapha challenge then..

Pequenhos Libombos Training session

The new year has started and cyclists are finally coming back from their holidays and starting their training programs. 2011 is set to be a busy and exciting year for the Maputo cycling community, with a long Copa Ciclismo season of some 26 races, the National and Provincial cycling champs, the African Games in Maputo featuring time trial and road racing, some interesting South African races including The Argus, the Cape Epic, Panorama tour and Lowveld Tour, and probably many more MTB races that I have failed to mention.

So....

We need to train.

And indeed we did. Patrick, Carlos and myself set out today from Maputo to Pedreira Hill past Boane and then around the Pequenhos Libombos Dam, a short break at the Galp petrol station (great prego's by the way) and then finally back to Maputo. Here are few a pictures from the long morning, which was supposed to be a nice relaxing pedal but turned into something a little bit more intese...

Carlos (again) fixing his tyre

Patrick's main sponsor is Coke

Carlos, sponsored by Cervelo and Coke

Mario.. sponsored by (surprise) Coke!

Overall we had a good ride and the weather was nice and fresh so we didn't feel cooked under the sun. Looking forward to the next long training ride.