Modern Cyclist Magazine Issue 1, September 2014 | Page 19

Mr Thaba Trails
His passion is contagious. And his interest
in cycling doesn’t just end with the various
medals, titles and records he has picked
up along the way. Wendell Bole has
given Johannesburg-based mountain
bikers a world class trail venue with the
establishment of Thaba Trails. Regular
Thaba Trails rider Raymond Travers found
out where his passion comes from and
how he rose from injury to a cyclist who
continues to represent his country at the
World Championships.

“My dad said to me ‘No way! Rather you cry than I cry!’ and I
never got a bicycle when I was a schoolboy, in spite of the fact
that I really wanted to ride bike.”

life cycle MC

During those early days, Wendell, competed for the lantern rouge,
the last finisher of every race.
“I was never a very good road cyclist. In the Veteran Cycling
Association at that time, I was always the guy at the back,” he
said.
In spite of this, Wendell managed a few “C” category victories, but
he chalks this up to the fact that he really didn’t have an idea of
how to actually ride a race.
“I was quick on a bike, so I’d go to the front and just sit there. The
boys loved me because I’d be the donkey and just ride myself
into the ground, never understanding why I didn’t have anything
left at the end of the race and they’d just ride away from me,” he
explained.
A friend, Grenville Scullard, then persuaded him to take up track
racing.
Wendell Bole receiving
yet more medals, this
time at the World Masters
Track