Rosa-Karoo Loewe

As an angsty smalltown teen growing up in 2007, stealing tracks off my older sister’s computer (illegally downloaded off LimeWire) made me feel legit. My iPod Nano was stuffed with bands like Crystal Castles, Gorillaz, MGMT, Daft Punk, Empire of the Sun… but it was always Tame Impala that held the most street cred. Because Tame Impala is not a regular dad, he’s a cool dad. That’s probably why Deadbeat feels so nostalgic for me.

Ritual, routine, and rock ‘n’ roll. That’s what I got from being on the mission. A 30-year-old spending 18 days on the road with 18 people mostly in their 60s and beyond. We raised R340,000 for the Eyabantwana for the Children Trust to support the East London and Frere Cecilia Makiwane hospitals’ paediatric surgery unit. The route took us from Beacon Bay Astron to the confluence of SA and our northern neighbours — that took us three days in convoy.

DOWN BUT NOT OUT: Grandads' Army, blasted by heat and height, on their ride home for chikdren. Birds chirp, behemoths belch, cows bellow and mielies grow. It’s heaven and hell out here on the bicycles as the Grandads Army belts it across the highveld outside Carolina, Mpumalanga, to get to Clarens, 105km away in the Maluti foothills. The cyclists are all about heritage, but this coal belt is not a happy part of that heritage.