I've been meaning to give some praise and thanks to Cycling South Africa for a while and have finally got round to doing it. As a CA and a PPA ExCo member I always though CSA were a greedy and wasting money on travel and entertainment so never renewed my membership when it lapsed a few years ago. I elected to ride the 99er this year, which was a CSA sanctioned event, and I was presented with a choice of a day licence at R35 or an annual membership of CSA at R120 I think. I had seen a few tweets and articles on what CSA was doing for members and I thought I would support them. I chose the membership. And it was without a doubt the best financial decision I have made recently. I had a really nasty crash and shattered my shoulder. Badly. CSA has an automatic insurance policy for medical expenses up to R20,000 if you are injured, get this, riding your bicycle. Not even racing or training. Just riding. Can you believe it? Well, I phoned CSA, they put me in touch with Hollard. I filled in a form and got my orthopaedic surgeon to fill in a form. I sent the surgeon's quote with the 2 forms to Hollard. 3 days later R20,000 was deposited into my bank account to cover me for medical expenses not paid by my medical aid. I've said if you ride your bike without a rear light you are an idiot. Or if you believe guys win a Grand Tour without doping you are an idiot. Reality is, if you ride a bike and don't belong to CSA then you really ARE and idiot. R120 for a year with real benefits. Compared to PPA membership and what you get there it's a no brainer.
