The Eastern Cape cycling community has been warned to take extra precautions on the road after a cyclist was attacked near Nompumulelo last week.
Etienne Sirgel, who works at Correctional Services in East London, was passing the entrance to the township just before 5am last Friday when he encountered a man carrying a bag on the side of the road.
“I was coming from the Beacon Bay side. As I was passing the man, he hit me with something in the face – I’m not sure what it was – and I fell off my bike,” Sirgel said.
“He then jumped on top of me. I was trying to fight him off and got in a shot. Then there were two more guys who came to help him.
“The guy then pulled out a knife, and demanded my cellphone. As soon as they had this, they ran away.”
The attack left Sirgel with a bloodied face, while he also sustained a cut leg when he fell off his bike. He hit his head hard on the road surface. Images of his injuries were circulated widely on social media.
It was initially suggested Sirgel had been attacked outside Ducats township, but this was not the case.
Sirgel has taken part in a number of triathlons, but said he had not cycled for a while prior to Friday’s attack.
“You’re actually a sitting duck when you’re on the bike,” he said.
“Any guy can run up to you and attack you. You’ve also got cleats on, so it’s slippery if you have to run on the road.”
Stephen Salzwedel, East Cape Cycling’s Amathole district chairperson, said it was an unfortunate reality these days that road cyclists were easy targets.
“The fact is we are so limited with the routes we can ride in East London, but then there are underprivileged people who turn to crime because they are hungry,” he said.
“What it has meant is that some cyclists are no longer riding on the road, which is very sad. But there are others who are even riding on the N2 to Berlin because it is safer, even though it’s illegal.”
A large part of the Amathole district’s focus is on track cycling, and while Salzwedel understood that the discipline was not favoured by everyone, he encouraged cyclists to ride at the Amalinda track.“Unfortunately even the track has had problems. We put up new fencing and gates, but these have been stolen as well. It has been systematically stripped. Still, it is safer for cyclists to go to the track.”East Cape cycling president Luca Fanicchi said cyclists should always cycle in groups, and try to avoid riding very early in the morning.Fanicchi said attacks on cyclists happened all over the country.In February, a cyclist was pulled from his bicycle on Kragga Kamma Road in Colleen Glen, Port Elizabeth.johnh@dispatch.co.za..