On Monday morning, when a friend told me Gugu Zulu was gone, I had no words, none that made any sense. Gugs was a good man.
He defined what a good man should be. He was a wonderful friend, a joy to be around.My abiding memory of Gugs is from the 2013 Absa Cape Epic.
He and Letshego were riding the Epic for Team Absa, the celebrity ensemble, but with different partners, he with Andre Ross and she with Ernst Viljoen. After the first stage he had tears in his eyes.
The first stage had been brutal, with sand so thick some riders were forced to push their bikes on a downhill. I told him the first few days of the Epic were the worst.
His face creased up as he struggled to hold on to his emotions: “I don’t know if I can do this.”
We hugged and I told him he could and he would. He and Letshego had been told the year before that they would not finish after a Team Absa training camp in the Western Cape, and were cut from the squad for the 2012 Epic.
The three of us had spent a lot of time at that camp riding at the back of the bunch. We struggled. I made the cut and rode, finishing. Gugs was there at the finish to greet us, his smile as broad as if he had finished.In 2013, the two came back stronger and more determined.
Gugs would usually finish each day before Letshego, but he would not leave the finish area until she was home. On the second or third day, he stood looking up the finish straight as the clock ticked down. I had to force him to sit on a chair, take off his helmet, his Camelback, made him drink water and eat to start his recovery.
He barely noticed me. He kept looking past me, willing Letshego to come home. And when she did, as she did each day, the tears fought with the smile for control of his face.On the final day, Gugs and Ernst hatched a plan. Ernst would ride slowly with Letshego so Gugs could cross the line first. He would be waiting for her on bended kneed.
When she finished, he asked her to marry her.
We last spoke just a few weeks ago, a follow on conversation at the launch of the Telkom 947 Cycle Challenge about a number for a potential sponsor. He was supposed to be go to Jeffreys Bay with us for the Oakley X-Over competition, but had got his dates wrong and mixed it up with his Kilimanjaro climb. He had been looking forward to JBay, he told me.
“Next year, Kevs, next year.” Next year and the years thereafter will be empty without you, Gugu Zulu, the best of good men.
The Star