Good News (For a Change)

Something Positive for Everyone

Recently, it seems,  the doesn't seem to be a lot of positive news concerning cyclist and biking. High profile deaths,  a rash of articles that seem to characterize cyclist as either sexual deviants or as drug fiends but it's nice to see that there is some positive news for a change.

The first comes form Saudi Arabia. Women are now granted some limited access to rid bicycles in public, albeit not as a primary source of transportation. How that distinction is made is any one's guess but as important as the bicycle was in the women's rights movements in both Great Britain and in the United States this may be one tiny step forward in this extremely conservative kingdom.

The second comes from South Africa and it concerns the world's largest one day cycling event. Over 35,000 cyclist participate in the Cape Argus to Cape  Town for this 109 km tour and it's billed one of the most beautiful one day events in the world.

Both Saudi Arabia and South Africa face many challenges, social mobility, social justice, poverty, illiteracy, internal instability all threaten to upend either country but people are flocking to bicycles if only to forget just for a little while the difficulties that lay ahead.