07 / Pedal power:

How very different modern bicycles and clothing are compared to those of the Victorian and Edwardian period of this popular sport and leisure activity

This came to mind after viewing early photographs of the machines and their riders. The bicycles ranged from pennyfarthings to what I presume must have been very early models of the modern racing or mountain bicycles. Both men and women were photographed and the time frame dates from 1887 with the clothing worn reflecting styles of the late Victorian period and of the Edwardian era. Clothing covered the wearers from head to toe and would seem to have been hot and uncomfortable. Imagine women today wearing dresses fastened to the throat, sleeves to the wrist, skirts down to the ankle and what looks like straw boaters perched on top of the head. Men wore jackets, knickerbocker type trousers and caps.

Cycling as an organised sport in South Africa goes back to 1881 when the Port Elizabeth Amateur Athletic and Cycling Club was formed. However, in Cape Town, in the late 1870s an Athletic Club was started and in 1880 a Cycling Club. In 1891 they amalgamated and formed the City Cycling and Athletic Club with politician and businessman, D P de Villiers Graaff, as the first president. By 1897 the Municipality of Cape Town had built the Green Point Cycling track. It was demolished 1927. In the 1940s another track was built at the Green Point stadium but it no longer exists as such. However, the area has been undergoing and continues to undergo a huge programme of improvement.

The first bicycle goes back to 1839 when Kirkpatrick Macmillan, a blacksmith in Dumfries, Scotland built one. It had pedals attached to rods that turned the back wheel. Pierre and Ernest Michaux built another bicycle which was driven by pedals attached to the front wheel. The penny farthing appeared in the 1870s and the ancestor of the modern bicycle was built in 1885 in Coventry, England. The years after 1888 saw pneumatic tyres as part of the newer designs. In 1897 a Cape Town firm, Donald Menzies & Co, began manufacturing a bicycle called the Springbuck.

Competitive success came as early as 1893 when L S Meintjies took part in the Worlds Road Championship held in Chicago, USA. In 1908 South Africa was represented by four cyclists, P T Freylinck, T H E Passmore, F Shore and F T Venter, at the Olympic Games held in London.

As cycling became more popular as a leisure activity in the late 1890s, the numbers of cyclists increased on the roads from Cape Town to Hout Bay either by way of the coastal road or along the Main Road as far as Wynberg turning up the Constantia Road towards Constantia Nek and on to Hout Bay. It must have taken a lot of enthusiasm using either road as the road from Camps Bay to Hout Bay was narrow and made of gravel – this section was only macadamized in 1904 and the road from Constantia Nek to Hout Bay was potholed and graveled.

It was not long before cycling was perceived as of economic importance. As an example in 1899 a cyclists rest, named Pluie d’Or was opened in Plumstead, a suburb of Cape Town. It was a general and refreshment business with its own dining room. On the Atlantic route the previous Clifton on Sea, I have been told, was a popular spot for gatherings of cyclists.

Today the interest in cycling is big business; it is an asset to the country’s economy. The specially designed clothing for both men and women is skin tight, brightly coloured with many designs and logos on various parts of the apparel. Shoes and helmets are equally safety and designer conscious. Not to be left out are the water bottles, aids to punctures and various mechanical failures. As in other countries cycle races have become very popular and the Cape Argus and Pick’n Pay Cycle Tour held along the roads of the Cape Peninsula in late summer attract many thousands of entries.