It was bus versus bicycle – and this time SA’s own Iron Lady of politics was narrowly edged out.
On Wednesday morning, Premier Helen Zille hopped on her bicycle and raced a MyCiTi bus from the Table View MyCiTi station to the CBD on a bicycle.
The bus clocked about 40 minutes, with Zille a not too shabby nine minutes behind. Some city officials rode with the premier.
Shortly after finishing, Zille, who is training for the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour on March 11, said: “The race was great, we didn’t manage to beat the bus. The bus won, that’s the whole point – to have a public transport system that works properly, and gets people into the city quickly.
“The huge advantage of coming second, on the bicycle, is being fitter. The people in traffic are sitting in fumes. The race today was a little part of training for the Argus, that’s why I did the flat race today. I’ve also been running a bit as part of my training.
“I was prepared for this challenge, the Argus is a totally different story. I’ve also ridden on cycle lanes in Khayelitsha, and they’re very nice. We want to connect all cycle lanes in the city.”
Last night, Zille said she had recently fallen off the bicycle twice.
“Once was in Sea Point when I was riding on the pavement and tried to overtake a lady walking her dog,” she said.
“The dog darted out in front of me and I swerved to avoid the dog. I went over the side of the pavement and tumbled into the road. I was trying to untangle myself from the bike to get up.
“The dog (a small Maltese) was determined to add insult to injury and yapped and barked at me. As the woman looked at me she said in horror, ‘Are you Helen Zille?’ Lying on the ground, I said ‘Yes’. Then, she turned to her dog and said, ‘Will you shut up’. The dog simply ignored her and carried on, so she shoved him into a nearby bush. She then asked me to come for coffee, but I preferred to carry on riding.”
The second time she fell off was on Suikerbossie on Sunday.
“I was trying as hard as I could to keep pedalling, but I just stopped going forward and fell off.
“That’s the problem with a bike. If you stop moving forward you fall off. Again, I fell off into the road and fortunately the cars went around us.
“So, I have some bruises and scrapes, but I feel like I have scars from battles and I feel good about them.”
-Cape Argus