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Team News

Team Rwanda's Nyandwi gets a “Velo Ikawa”

December 13, 2008
Written by: 
Jock Boyer

Nyandwi with his new Coffee Cargo BikeYesterday Nyandwi Uwase, a Team Rwanda member, arrived at my house on a bus. He was here to pick up a bike, but not a race bike, one of our cargo "coffee" bikes. His two riding partners Inocent Sibomana and Jean de Dieu arrived a bit later on their bikes.

Team Rwanda's Abraham gets his first house

December 03, 2008
Written by: 
Jock Boyer

Abraham and his youngest childIt has been almost a year since Abraham tragically lost his mother and within several months his young wife. Both died overnight after a mysterious illness. Abraham was left to care for his three children, the youngest was still nursing. He lived about 10 km away from the town of Butare so we at Team Rwanda helped him relocate to town with his children so that he could care for them better.

He was living in a very small one room “house” with his three children and all of his bikes. He needed a bigger home so we started to put together a plan to help him get his own home. He had already saved about $2400 from race winnings, I knew I could raise some money from my church and friends so he set out to find a house that would suit him. In the meantime I headed off for a short trip to the States, it was perfect timing for me to raise some funds while at home.

Team Rwanda's Rafiki gets his drivers license!

December 01, 2008
Written by: 
Jock Boyer

Rafiki drivingTeam Rwanda is always searching to support each rider in ways that will insure their livelihood in years to come. Having a driver’s license in Rwanda is a big deal and takes an immense amount of time and money to obtain. Very few of the thousands that apply for one actually receive one. But it insures a person a "well" paying job at anytime, it is life security so it is an important goal that each rider from Team Rwanda has a driver's license.

The cost for the application, training and classes is about $300. Rafiki was the first Team Rwanda rider to go through the process, and it has taken a tedious 8 months to actually get the license, well sort of, he has the period of time where he can drive with a licensed driver then he will take his last "driving" test and finally get the stamp of approval. This is a major event for us at Team Rwanda; Rafiki will now be available to drive vehicles for us on our bike tours and within our bike distribution portion of Project Rwanda. Instead of paying an unknown "chauffeur" for our needs we now have a supported Team Rwanda rider that will be able to supplement his income working within the Project Rwanda organization.

Team Rwanda enters the ranks of profesional cycling with the MTN Team

November 19, 2008
Written by: 
Jock Boyer

MTNThere's a growing level of respect for African mountain biking and The MTN Energade MTB Cycling Team is at the forefront of this movement, sponsoring the continent's most successful mountain bike team. The cyclists participate in races in South Africa and all over the world. (Below: The testing room)


Douglas Ryder, Gary Blem (MTN mechanic) and Dr Carol Austin

Two Team Rwanda team members, Adrien Niyonshuti, and Nathan Byukusenge earned a spot on the new MTN sponsored Mountain Bike Team led by Douglas Ryder for the 2009 racing season. This is a first for any Rwandan riders; it is a major breakthrough and an incredible encouragement to the efforts put into Team Rwanda.

The riders will travel to South Africa on January 9th for the spring training camp. The UCI training facility in Potchefstroom run by Jean Pierre and Theresia Van Zyl will host them for the entire time they are in South Africa. In addition to the training, racing and testing the riders will also attend English classes at the hosting University.

The first race for the riders will be on January 23 in an MTN cup race in South Africa. The Cape Epic 2009 will be an important target for the team. Douglas has the full intent of getting the team into the top 10 in the Cape Epic; this would be an incredible feat for the team. The team will go on to race the first World Cup race in 2009 held in Pietermaritzburg South Africa.

This arrangement with Douglas and his group is just the beginning of a relationship that will funnel top Rwandan riders into the mainstream cycling scene in a structured, monitored, and professional manner. With Jean Pierre Van Zyl from the UCI Continental training center taking the riders for several months at a time the transition will be seamless and less traumatic for them. These relationships and opportunities opening up for Team Rwanda is something I have been hoping for since we started the program. I am excited about the future of Team Rwanda and watching Rwanda become a powerful cycling nation to be contended with.

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