Do you know where Burgersfort is? No, neither did I until this morning.
Let's start here: Burgersfort is a long (long!) way from Cape Town. A shade more than 1700 kilometers, depending on how many diversions you take off the N1 (then N12, then N4).
Hit the road out of Cape Town and don't stop driving and you'll be there in around 20 hours, with any luck. It's just above Mashishing and Ohrigstad. Near Ga-Mampuru? Oh, never mind.
What matters is that three men with a passion for the pedal and a taste for the open road left Burgersfort on April 2 with just one destination in mind: Cape Town.
Yoh. Now that's a Cape Town Cycle Tour! Imagine doing 17 loops of the 'Argus' back-to-back.
That's basically what Gauta Mahlakoane (22), Karabo Mokoo (21) and Maxwell Ndou (24) decided to do. And was it after months of training, clad in proper cycling kit and with all the specialist nutrition you'd want for an endurance event?
Um, no.
Instead, the three buddies from Burgersfort took off on their cross-country ride on little more than a whim and prayer. It all started when Mahlakoane posted his dream of cycling a BMX (with his buddies on off-the-shelf mountain bikes) to Cape Town on his TikTok, with spreading awareness around what can be achieved in life his ultimate goal.
"We took this trip more seriously when we saw we were getting a lot of negative responses from the public, telling us that it would be impossible to reach Cape Town with our bikes," Mahlakoane told TimesLive. "We then told ourselves that we are going to achieve it and raise awareness among other young men about the fun of cycling."
Their posts from the lonely road soon went viral, and the trio caught the attention of South African DJ and record producer DJ Karri, along with hotelier Mmetla Makeke. Buoyed by a wave of public support – in real life and online – the three have ticked off the miles and (as of Wednesday, April 9) were mid-way through the Karoo close to Richmond. That leaves them 'only' 600 kilometers to go.
Breaking news out on Wednesday is that Red Bull has come on board (or jumped on the bandwagon?) as a sponsor, although it's not yet clear just what they are offering the trio.
With the trio aiming to ride up to 150 kilometers per day, they should make it to Cape Town early next week. If you're heading out on the N1, give them a hoot, smile and a wave. Or follow the adventure on www.tiktok.com/@gautabmx.
Woah, Jeremy Loops is off to Glastonbury 2025!
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