Youth Day Warmup for the Brixton Light Festival
After last year's Brixton Light Festival, lots of people read my blog post and were sad they missed the festival and asked how they could be sure not to miss the next one. So [...]
Spinning Bicycles in Soweto
Last Saturday afternoon I stood on Mbolekwa Street in Dlamini, Soweto, with a couple of hundred other spectators, watching teenage boys spinning around on super-long, low-slung bicycles. Most of the bikes didn't have brakes, [...]
Cycling in Soweto With Locals
As everyone in South Africa knows, we're still in the midst of a pandemic and our national borders are still closed. This means no international tourism. While this extended travel ban is detrimental to [...]
A Cycling and Food Tour Through Berea, Yeoville, Bertrams, and More
On Tuesday, I climbed onto a single-speed bike and took a cycling and food tour through the eastern portion of downtown Joburg. It was a perfect day in the city -- one of those [...]
Not Cycling Through Alexandra Township
I recently found myself not cycling on a cycle ride through Alexandra Township. It was a hard job riding around Alex in a comfortable car, photographing the cyclists as they toiled in the hot [...]
Cycle Joburg With Kennedy
Over the past couple of months I've participated in two Joburg tours with Kennedy Tembo of Micro-adventure Tours. Kennedy offers all kinds of innovative, outdoorsy tours in Joburg and surrounding areas -- from Gauteng [...]
Cycling Tour Through Diepsloot
Diepsloot is one of those places, like a lot of other Joburg places, where people are afraid to go. A Diepsloot street. Diepsloot, which means "deep ditch" in Afrikaans, is a huge informal settlement [...]
A Quirky Journey Across the Cape Winelands
I recently spent a few days in the Cape Winelands as part of the #MeetSouthAfrica local blogger trip. We ate a lot (you already know this) and drank a lot. We also rode bicycles, watched epic [...]
Cycling Jozi’s Streets, at Night
I have a love-hate relationship with cycling in Joburg. A couple of years ago, before I had a car, I bought a bike and planned to use it to get around. (Read the post [...]
Township Sunday. On a Bike.
Michelle and I arrived at the Marlboro Gautrain Station, on the edge of Alexandra Township, at 10:30 Sunday morning. Jeffrey, our guide, was waiting for us on the curb. “Who wants to get the [...]
We interrupt this regularly scheduled program…
For the next couple of weeks I’ll be holed up in an office in Joburg’s northern suburbs, pursuing professional goals that do not involve blogging. And I was just hitting my blogging stride! But hey, one [...]
Cycling in a Town Where Car is King
Transportation is an issue for me here. I don’t have a car and there’s little chance that I’ll get one any time soon. I moved to Joburg from Washington, D.C., where one can live [...]