The tragic death of mountain biking legend Burry Stander has resulted in the South African cycling community taking a good look at the issue of road safety or lack thereof. What has emerged is that there is little point in trying to change a car or truck driver’s behaviour. If cyclists wanted an immediate change, it would have to start within the biking community and hopefully spread outwards to all road users.

The perception of cyclists needs to be altered from lycra clad, red traffic light jumping, obnoxious road users, to law abiding, conscientious users that set the example for all. Like it or not, South African cyclists are not held in high regard by other road users. At times, you can cut the tension on our roads with a rolling pin.

There has been a conscious effort to single out the few who set a poor example, and on my morning rides the traffic light jumpers are being treated like outcasts, but it will take many years before we stem the tide.

This time last year a race that shall not be named, had a sudden increase in fees, causing more than just a few depleted bank accounts. Runners rage was sky high as we were asked to fork out a rather large sum of money to join the field. The debate raged on social media platforms and there seemed to be very little response from the organizers, other than “you get a free t-shirt”.

Here’s a tip, no one wants the t-shirts. Rather give runners the option of buying a shirt or simply just never use it as your backbone to justify costs.  Sponsors names end up dirtier than a pair of trail shoes, and it’s about as effective as putting out a fire with napalm. But like an injury, we all recovered and the show went on.

2013 will be no different as we will have to fork out considerable amounts for races. I guess I should have asked Santa for race entries and skipped on the new shoes and biltong. Regardless, I love trail running and competing, and will continue to race on a regular basis - I just might be more selective which races I choose to run.  

At some point in time, you would have picked up a can of pepper spray or mace and been tempted to just test it out. Maybe just a general spray and sniff to appease the curious mind, but logic undoubtedly kicks in and you put the “gun” back in holster.

Well, my curiosity was killed off on the weekend, quicker than a cat trying to cross a six lane high way during rush hour. I generally always carry pepper spray to ward off any hungry baboons in search of their next sugar high, or even worse some trail gangsters that might want to relieve me of my iPod, shoes or worse, all of my clothes.

It’s been a while since I have taken a tumble trail running and ended up in a yoga pose, which I would have sworn 3 seconds prior that I could never have got into. Falling is as much a part of trail running as waiting for traffic lights is a part of road running - it comes with the territory. An hour into a good two hour run, I kicked a rock and ate dirt. Feeling pretty dazed I brushed myself off and got going again, oblivious to the drama that was about to unfold.