Well, it’s a cloudy morning in Gauteng and I am about to set off on an interesting journey more-or-less following the recently-announced route of the first Tour of South Africa.
I’m not doing it the Lance Armstrong way; rather I am taking my time.
I’ve discovered over the years that cycling blends well with my career in journalism, so I shall use this means of transport to look for stories that I shall file along the way to the South African Press Association, which supplies articles to most of the media in South Africa.
I first started this cycling-journalism back in 1992 when I was wandering around Africa. I bought a Chinese –made racing bicycle in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura, as an alternative to using public transport to make my way home.
If ever the Tour of South Africa decides to include sections of its route in other countries, as the Tour de France does, I’d highly recommend the road out of Bujumbura that is wedged between steep Rift Valley mountains and Lake Tanganyika.
Most recently I crossed Lesotho on its network of high altitude paved roads. I felt the stories coming to me when an old man offered me diamonds at the bottom of the Moteng Pass!
I also notice young kids speaking to me in good English, prompting me to ask why this was so. In a village where I spent a night I learned that primary school education has been free in Lesotho since 1990.
Education makes for the other half of my career.
I run an education newspaper called Learn the News that presents news to primary school children in language they can easily read and understand. The newspaper also extracts educational value from the news.
Learn the News goes out free of charge to around 3,800 subscribers across its three language editions in English, Afrikaans and isiZulu.
One of the reasons for this December trip is to raise awareness and funds for this educational tool, which you can learn more about by visiting www.learnthenews.com
Best I get off my computer and on to my bicycle!
I have until Christmas Eve to reach Stellenbosch … or I shall miss my flight home!

Duncan Guy
Pretoria
December 1