Cancer.vive 2011

It’s difficult to describe a journey when it feels like there are no words big enough to capture the magnitude of what we experienced during the 9 days of travelling down to Cape Town with the Cancer.vive group.  What an amazing journey it was, filled with laughter, tears and companionship.

The journey started on Friday the 16th of September at the University of Johannesburg, the first event of the ride. Shimmy Isaacs performed her amazing Howzit My Bra! Show, and the Lebone Serenade Group from UJ kept everyone entertained.  After a few awards and formalities we set off to Heidelberg to meet the cast of The Wild, and some of the survivors were interviewed by All Access. After a good night’s rest and an event at Ratanda in Heidelberg it was off to Parys.

Sunday morning we were joined by groups of riders from Johannesburg and Pretoria for a breakfast run to the Montgolfers Basket Fly Club in Parys. Everyone enjoyed a great breakfast, some Cancer education and a moving story from one of the survivors who flew in all the way from Australia.  Bloemfontein was calling and we set off with some strong winds giving the ladies a hard time, none the less we arrived in time for the visit to Bloemfontein’s Cancer house where Shimmy worked her magic again and Lillian Dube had the crowd in song.  An overnight in Bloem and we were off again to Richmond.  What a welcome to Richmond.  I would say that this was the defining moment for many of the riders in this group.  Richmond changed us as much as we changed them.  This was where many of the ladies said they felt like they were doing what they set off to do. The community of Richmond gave us dinner at the community hall and it felt like we were visiting old friends. The next morning we had a second event in Richmond before setting off to Beaufort West. 

 In Beaufort West we had the privilege of staying at the Karoo National Park.  After a short and much needed break we held an event at the Rustdene Hall that evening and one again for the staff at the Karoo National park the next morning.  Then we were on our way to Ceres.  There are a few moments I can pin point on this journey where the sight of all these survivors on Triumph’s belting down the road just took my breath away, and on route to Ceres was one of them.  On the way we had a surprise stop for lunch in Matjiesfontein; it was like a breath of fresh air and a real treat. Shimmy had everyone in stitches again at the event at the Du Toit Group in Ceres, and we all went to bed early that night in anticipation of the ride through Bains Kloof Pass the next day.

This has to be one of the best routes to travel on a motorcycle; the view from the top of Bains Kloof Pass is absolutely breath taking. After an event in Paarl we were off to The Fire and Ice Protea hotel in Cape Town.   The next day was quite a haul.  The first event was in Stellenbosch and Bloemhof Girls High School, where we were welcomed with their chant that gave us all goose bumps; we then headed to Imperial Fiat for the second event of the day and enjoyed some delicious home baked cupcakes. Then off to Atlantis for the final event for the Westfleur Hospital at Dollies where over 80 cancer survivors joined us. We then had the last night together at the Sea Point Protea hotel and an early start the next morning for the final day.

Saturday the 24th of September 2011 is a day that none of the Cancer.vive group will ever forget.  We were marched into a wheat field in Philadelphia at seven in the morning with the sun rising over the mountains and Karen Zoid singing Leonard Cohen’s Song, Hallelujah. There wasn’t a dry eye in sight.  It was amazing, heart sore and liberating all at once. We then rode to Riebeek Kasteel in remembrance of one of the survivors who lost her battle with cancer in January this year.  We then met up with a large group of riders at the Engen 1 stop and rode into Cape Town for the finale at the Imperial Group Culemborg. A perfect end to a wonderful journey, South African style!  The braai’s were lit and the crowd at Imperial Culemborg went all out.  Then came the unthinkable, we had to say good bye to this amazing group of people who now felt like family.  More tears, laughs, hugs and kisses and it was done.

All that’s left to say is let’s do that again!                                

Visit www.cancervive.co.za for more details on the ride.