Homeward bound after 3 500 kilometres
Local cyclist completes his charity drive in Cape Town.
MBOMBELA – Exhausted, yet content and satisfied, Mr Rick Budai (50) is returning home after he completed a 3 500-kilometre bicycle journey from this city to Cape Town on Wednesday.
Budai reached the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town after 38 days of cycling along the South African coastline. On Wednesday Budai and the driver of his support vehicle, Mr Dave Laserow, started the trip home. They arrived on Thursday afternoon.
The aim of this PinkDrive Stage Cycle Tour was to raise awareness about the importance of early detection of breast cancer. Budai took on the challenge after his wife Carolyn (42) was diagnosed with stage-three breast cancer last September.
“I don’t think it has sunk in quite yet,” he told Lowvelder. “I am happy. It feels awesome to know that I completed the trip. Missing my wife, braving the weather, it was all worth it in the end.”
Budai rode about 40 or 50 kilometres every day. Volunteers could join in on the trip at any stage. They only had to make a donation of R250 which would go to PinkDrive, an organisation dedicated to delivering free mammograms in rural areas by driving there in a bus equipped to do the procedures.
According to Budai, each of these buses can cost up to R10 million. He was hoping to raise a minimum of R250 000 during this tour. He does not yet know how much money has been raised. To him, however, the riches cannot be measured in monetary value. He simply stated that “it was a revelation”.
During the last stage, from Strand to Cape Town, Budai was joined by two women, Ms Diane Gilcrest and Ms Llyris Berry. During the last kilometre of the last stretch to the V&A, Berry’s tyre burst. This was not the first time one of Budai’s guests had had tyre problems.
During one of his earlier stages, a volunteer cyclist Ms Marlene Meiring had to make use of the team’s spare bicycle to complete the stage.
For Budai, however, it was more or less smooth sailing all the way.
Throughout his journey, he updated his blog on a daily basis and posted pictures of all the areas they visited and summarised the happenings of the trip.
To read more about his voyage, visit www.pinkdrivestagecycletour.com/ricks-blog.
