Our first day of riding in South Africa was a Christmas Day rambling loop of The Cape, from the highrise condos of Clifton and Camps Bay (joggers on the oceanside path wearing Santa caps in the bright summer sun) past impoverished townships (thousands of cable TV dishes extending alertly above corrugated metal roofs) to the dramatic seaside cliffs of Chapman’s Peak to the wild protected areas surrounding the Cape of Good Hope, the tip of the peninsula where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet, which for hundreds of years was mistakenly thought to be the southernmost point in Africa. It’s good to be on our bikes, exploring this country of beauty and contradiction from the vantage point that only a slow self-powered vehicle can provide.