[imagesource:tuvalum/pexels]

Freddy Strydom was cycling among a group of 12 other cyclists on Saturday morning when he was brutally attacked and left for dead.

Two men had stabbed him in the back when he was just behind his local cycling group, robbing him of his bike and leaving him bleeding out between the R21 and M18 roads in Centurion.

Fortunately, Strydom is being discharged from the hospital this week with doctors marvelling at how lucky he is to be alive as the blade missed his aorta, the main artery leaving the heart, by a mere two millimetres.

As a result of this terrible incident, Strydom and another fellow cyclist are unsure they’ll ever cycle again.

The Citizen reported that one of the cyclists in the group, speaking anonymously, said after this weekend’s incident he was considering giving up cycling and selling all his cycling gear because it was simply too dangerous.

He mentioned that to avoid risk, the club members cycle together in groups of more than eight, but it seems this doesn’t even guarantee safety. The cyclist said that on Saturday, the group of 12 left from Midstream in Centurion at 6AM for a 50-kilometre cycle:

“When we passed the cement factory and paddled up the hill, Strydom ended up at the back where he was later attacked,” the cyclist said.

“Two men came out of nowhere and ran towards him as he was paddling up the hill. They stabbed him in the back and as soon as he fell, they took his bike,” he said. The other cyclists heard the commotion and threw rocks at the suspects who fled into a field.

“It’s alarming, they don’t just push you off the bicycle to rob you. They run after you with the intent to kill you for a bicycle,” he said.

To add to the anxiety, there was another attack not far from where Strydom was stabbed two weeks earlier.

“We heard two cyclists were also mugged and their bicycles stolen in Irene on Sunday,” he said. “From now on, I will go and cycle with a trainer at home or somewhere safe and only participate in races where there is proper security.

The cyclist said it is “just not worth it” anymore to cycle socially.

As for Strydom, he also confirmed that he did not intend to get on a bicycle “ever again”.

[source:citizen]