CycloPlus Dealer Tour
Episode 5
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#WeVisit Adventure Cycles, Wellington
Wellington, nestled at the foot of the mighty Bain's Kloof Pass and renowned Welvanpas Trail Centre, is perfectly positioned as a gateway for cyclists to explore the surrounding farms, mountains and paved roads.
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With this in mind, it was surprising to hear that, in 2007, when former onderwyseres Annamarie Wium opened Adventure Cycles there was no dedicated bike shop in Wellington. Safe to say, there is one now!
As we enjoyed our host's warm hospitality, Annamarie's right-hand man in the shop, Neil O'Connell, excitedly whipped out the shop's first-ever flyer, announcing the opening of Adventure Cycles 10 years ago - on the 1st of September 2007.
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Annamarie smiles gently as she reminisces about the early days when the shop 'was baie klein', only the size of the current workshop. Neil chimes in that at that time he was employed at Kroff Cycles in Paarl, and made the move to Wellington a few months after Annamarie opened her doors.
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"You never know who is going to walk through the door"
~ Niel O'Connell
Over the years, Wellington has hosted the Cape Epic on numerous occasions ... we love the 'wall of honour' in the shop, celebrating customers and friends of Adventure Cycles who have survived the world's toughest stage race.
This year, Neil was left speechless when Erik Dekker (Google him if you're unaware of this flying Dutchman), who was in town ahead of this year's Epic, casually walked into the shop needing some mechanical assistance. Unfortunately, his and his partner Maikel Govaarts' numbers aren't visible in the image above, but they are proudly displayed for all to see (to the right of the image).
Neil is assisted in the workshop, now that the new premises offers more space, by Marwaan Baker (pictured above) and Toufeeq Gaidien. The trio have seen CycloPlus' range grow steadily over the past few years while maintaining a quality that they can trust.
The usually quiet Annamarie burst into rapturous laughter (below) after being asked whether she has a tattoo to match the crank inked onto Neil's calf.
The answer was a definite 'nee'!
The answer was a definite 'nee'!
Thanks Adventure Cycles, for your support over the years, en die koffie en beskuit!
Photography by Desmond Louw
