By Barry McCallum
OK, so it started off pretty crappy. There I was, the ‘only’ oke at work on Women’s Day... bored, irritated, on edge. Things brightened up when I heard Sean say that he would be at the Toyota MTN Bike Park with some awesome machines that I should help test...including an awesome Scott Genius Ltd, and Morewood’s beaut Zula… That would make up for it I thought.
I mean, like, a R100 000-plus Scott machine to thrash...like, that can’t make a man happy?
But the biggest kick of the day came from elsewhere...
I’d ridden both a bit with Sean (OK, read, tried miserably to hold on as he rode away from me...) and was really enjoying the test when I was floored...
I saw John Williams (some might know him from The Hub as ‘jagwill’), as I was about to drop into Drop Zone. I pulled over and asked how he was. His knee was bleeding, and he was headed to the paramedic. I thought no more of it.
As I was parking the Genius, I got a tap on the shoulder. “Someone wants to say hello to you...”
It was his son, Grant; and the person Grant wanted me to speak to was Mathilda Barnard, his fiancé.
Mathilda was viciously attacked on her way to join a ride in Irene in January this year. It was heinous. It was brutal. It left her within an inch of her life. It was the kind of thing we all fear. The attack galvanised us. It reminded us of the dangers we face when heading out alone in this country.
Mathilda spent much time under the surgeon’s scalpel and faced a long, slow recovery. Mathilda’s family was told she would never walk again. It was something that made me cry when I saw her being pushed across the Groenkloof parking lot in a wheelchair a few months ago... She’d nodded “hello”, and smiled blankly.
So, who the hell was this smiling girl yesterday who said to me: “I can’t wait to get on a bike?”
So, yup, my inspirational figure on Women’s Day was Mathilda. Many would’ve just backed down and become another stat. Not Mathilda. That girl’s got guts. There ain’t no holding her back.
She’s struggling with balance, but she has been hitting the indoor trainer.
“I am battling with my one leg still,” she explained today.
She says she’s getting a trike made up for her. She wants to ride. Really wants to ride. Mathilda is frustrated that she can’t do what she loves. Mathilda also knows that it is going to take some time.
I mean, how yuck, there are people riding their bikes all around you, and you can’t.
Yet she smiled. I couldn’t help smiling too.
Her family has been there for her. We’re rooting for you too, Mathilda.
Hey, Mathilda, when you get on a bike again, we’ll be there.
 
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