A virtually physical Knysna Cycle Tour

KNYSNA CYCLE NEWS - Being held in a virtual format yet again, this year's Knysna Cycle Tour proved largely successful with thousands of riders from around the world taking part in the event.

As part of the revised Knysna Oyster Festival, the annual Knysna Cycle Tour was again forced to go virtual this year due to Covid-19 regulations.

Last year the virtual race was held on the Zwift platform, an online cycling and running physical training programme, with people able to take part if they had the necessary equipment at home.

This year, however, they changed things up a bit. According to race director Ivan van Lier, they hosted it on the Rouvy training platform, aided by sponsorship from Wesgro and PSG Wealth and Insurance. "For the event they actually came out and recorded the routes in a high resolution filmed format to be embedded onto the Rouvy platform," he explained.

Having a film on the platform allowed anyone with the equipment to use the platform to virtually ride around Knysna on the three routes, which were a road route from Knysna to Sedgefield, a road and gravel route around the Barrington and Karatara areas, and a mountain biking route on "Kom se pad", a legendary route through the Knysna forests.

Greg Grobler gets his ride going.

While no physical race could be held, organisers put together a live race on Rouvy where riders were required to battle it out virtually along the route between Knysna and Sedgefield on 17 July.

The winner here was Kai Schwenklers in a time of 36 minutes, with South African rider Zandré Gerber coming in a close second place only five seconds off the pace.

The race organisers, Knysna Speed Festival, also joined hands with MTO Forestry to provide any riders in Knysna the chance to ride the Concordia Contours, a set of single trail tracks that traverse the forests above Knysna.

"Normally, people have to pay for a permit to ride the trails as they run on MTO property," Van Lier explained. "But, if they were taking part in the Knysna Cycle Tour, MTO would grant them a free permit for the duration of the Oyster Festival. This was well received."

While no fee was charged to those taking part on the Rouvy platform, those that made a donation to Rotary Knysna or those that had entered the initial physical edition of the Knysna Cycle Tour were eligible for a set of prizes.

The chance to win these prizes remains open until the Virtual Knysna Cycle Tour officially ends on 1 August. The entry link for the Virtual Knysna Cycle Tour can be found at the website www.knysnacycle.co.za.

Jacques Brink makes his way along the start of the route atop Simola Hill. Photos: Blake Linder