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Updated Sunday, February 7, 2010 1:51 pm TWN, By Olaf Jansen, dpa



	Miguel seen during a training session on his lightweight sports bike. (dpa) Enlarge Photo

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Angolan cyclists ride potholed road to glory

In the early afternoon when Miguel has finished, he makes his way to the hotel Luso, which sponsors the local cycling team. Miguel and his teammates then embark on their training sessions.

Although the club sponsors their cycling shorts and jerseys, these are kept under lock and key for most of the time as they are not used for training.

The team, consisting of cyclists aged between 16 and 24, manages to put in some 50 kilometers of training, but members are hampered not only by the fading day light, which makes training difficult.

The climate is a huge factor too. During the day temperatures hover between 32 and 37 degrees and humidity is around 80 percent most of the time. As a result the riders are not able to manage longer distances.

Their bicycles are actually quite good secondhand BH racers from Portugal, which the club chairman Pepino organized. The 84-year-old is something of a sports idol in Angola after competing as a top athlete and an international footballer in the 1950es. He later became a national cycling champion.

Pepino is the heart and soul of the club and although he has long ago reached an age where others sit back and rest, he continues to be involved in virtually all aspects. He organizes material, the training programs for the cyclists and also follows them around in his battered old Toyota when they are out training.

Pepino's son Beto, who is a co-owner of the Luso hotel, is the current Angolan cycling champion and both were instrumental in convincing Miguel to continue with the sport, which in his case, as well as for the other members of the club, is probably tantamount to cycling along on a road to nowhere.

If truth be told, the hopeful cyclists, who dream of becoming champions, have very little chance of making it. The funds are simply lacking to take part in big races.

At times the club members participate in a race in Luanda, but taking part in a race outside Angola not to mention Europe remains a distant dream.

Miguel and his team-mates still have their idols though and they secretly dream of becoming international cyclists. “My biggest hero is Lance Armstrong. and to be like him is my biggest wish,” says Miguel as he gets ready to join his team-mates for their training session through the streets of Benguela, scanning the road for potholes as he pedals along.

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