Nic Dlamini

[Shebeen]

18 hours ago, Mamil said:

Something about the tone of the comments here on this olympic cycles announcement that makes me uncomfortable 

I think there's rough and smooth here. He was an incredible story, but (like most of the MTNQ unearthed talents) never kicked on after making it into the pro ranks. He has come from very little, and worked bloody hard to get where he is. What he does post pro cycling is up to him.

He did after all, make it to the Olympics. Which is more than most, and I guess a good tag line for this role. Whether he deserved to be there on race merit is a debate that will never be settled.

[bleedToWin]

11 minutes ago, Shebeen said:

What he does post pro cycling is up to him.

100%
It's also his prerogative to not care what we think about him.
It's just curious that brands like Thule and Olympic Cycles, who presumably do care what we think, is getting on board. Also, what happened to his Cycling Friends ambassadorship from about a year ago? Never saw anything after the post announcing it, and never saw him on the bike either.

[Naidy]

1 minute ago, bleedToWin said:

100%
It's also his prerogative to not care what we think about him.
It's just curious that brands like Thule and Olympic Cycles, who presumably do care what we think, is getting on board. Also, what happened to his Cycling Friends ambassadorship from about a year ago? Never saw anything after the post announcing it, and never saw him on the bike either.

Cycling friends cancelled shortly after, Im not sure what the agreement was.

[Barry]

18 minutes ago, Naidy said:

Cycling friends cancelled shortly after, Im not sure what the agreement was.

Eyln Saks.

[Shebeen]

1 hour ago, bleedToWin said:

100%
It's also his prerogative to not care what we think about him.
It's just curious that brands like Thule and Olympic Cycles, who presumably do care what we think, is getting on board. Also, what happened to his Cycling Friends ambassadorship from about a year ago? Never saw anything after the post announcing it, and never saw him on the bike either.

I don't want to sound negative here, so instead it is nice to see that Songezo Jim is still involved with an inspiring academy. Maybe the guys at Olympic Cycles are well placed to make this work too. Nic has a good story to tell.

 

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100048740816192#

 

 

 

[F@yino]

4 hours ago, Shebeen said:

I think there's rough and smooth here. He was an incredible story, but (like most of the MTNQ unearthed talents) never kicked on after making it into the pro ranks. He has come from very little, and worked bloody hard to get where he is. What he does post pro cycling is up to him.

He did after all, make it to the Olympics. Which is more than most, and I guess a good tag line for this role. Whether he deserved to be there on race merit is a debate that will never be settled.

All of this is still no reason to be a 📦 though, which he clearly is.

[ChrisF]

5 hours ago, Shebeen said:

..... He has come from very little......

 

@Shebeen these words have been resonating with me the whole day.

 

A friend that raced in the same era as Willie Engelbrecht, and who have spent a lifetime in the sports organisations in the Western Cape, is now mentoring a young racer.

 

Having met the young man and following this mentorship has opened my eyes to a new perspective !!

 

His base instinct is to wheel and deal to survive ... hand-to-mouth survival.  He has very limited literacy.  Financial planning concepts is non existent, the list goes on.  Even the basic social skills to be a brand ambassador needs to be cultivated.

 

Seeing how he is growing is truly remarkable !!

 

"We" (the average Hubber) grew up with a certain social contract and skill set as a standard.  This youngster grew up having to literally fight for survival.

 

 

Now at this junction I need to clarify, I am NOT a Nic fan, due to his behaviour !!  Rogue riding is wrong, equally for Nic  and the rogue Tygerberg trail rider.  Scamming people on the Hub ... not cool !!!

 

 

BUT, seeing what my friend is doing with this youngster ..... let's hope somebody is able to do the same for Nic.  (obviously up to him to accept or reject any help)  He certainly has the potential to be a roll model and an ambassador, but he needs to keep his slate clean ......

[cadenceblur]

Sometimes we have an unrealistic expectation that our heroes or those we admire in sport are also nice people or possess a moral compass that aligns to what “being lekker” is. 
This is often not the case, Ryan Giggs comes to mind and we can name so many others . 
The spotlight magnifies and we are all human and no I’m not at all justifying or  turning a blind eye to his past transgressions which hopefully he has learnt from .

[DieselnDust]

5 hours ago, F@yino said:

All of this is still no reason to be a 📦 though, which he clearly is.

Clearly there is more to your opinion that you're not willing to share but you should also realise that theres three sides to every story; your view, his view and the truth

[F@yino]

8 minutes ago, DieselnDust said:

Clearly there is more to your opinion that you're not willing to share but you should also realise that theres three sides to every story; your view, his view and the truth

He accepted money from a hubber for goods he didn’t have then ghosted the person until the said hubber created a thread about him. Was quite arrogant about it. I replied saying I’m actually a fan of his & he should do better in his interactions. He then replied to my post on this forum saying he could care less about his fans 🤷‍♂️

[DieselnDust]

4 hours ago, ChrisF said:

 

@Shebeen these words have been resonating with me the whole day.

 

A friend that raced in the same era as Willie Engelbrecht, and who have spent a lifetime in the sports organisations in the Western Cape, is now mentoring a young racer.

 

Having met the young man and following this mentorship has opened my eyes to a new perspective !!

 

His base instinct is to wheel and deal to survive ... hand-to-mouth survival.  He has very limited literacy.  Financial planning concepts is non existent, the list goes on.  Even the basic social skills to be a brand ambassador needs to be cultivated.

 

Seeing how he is growing is truly remarkable !!

 

"We" (the average Hubber) grew up with a certain social contract and skill set as a standard.  This youngster grew up having to literally fight for survival.

 

 

Now at this junction I need to clarify, I am NOT a Nic fan, due to his behaviour !!  Rogue riding is wrong, equally for Nic  and the rogue Tygerberg trail rider.  Scamming people on the Hub ... not cool !!!

 

 

BUT, seeing what my friend is doing with this youngster ..... let's hope somebody is able to do the same for Nic.  (obviously up to him to accept or reject any help)  He certainly has the potential to be a roll model and an ambassador, but he needs to keep his slate clean ......

I really hope this works out, truly I do.

I could write a thesis on the socioeconomic challenges hat shape a large portion of South Africans but it very hard to even rationalise this to motly middle class people who have grown up with the luxury of not having to face decisions where you allow someone to get hurt or not yet it still happens everyday right across the socio economic spectrum. The better off you are in life the more respected your decisions to hurt people are. Funny how that works

[DieselnDust]

3 minutes ago, F@yino said:

He accepted money from a hubber for goods he didn’t have then ghosted the person until the said hubber created a thread about him. Was quite arrogant about it. I replied saying I’m actually a fan of his & he should do better in his interactions. He then replied to my post on this forum saying he could care less about his fans 🤷‍♂️

sounds like a broken man desperate for something to make himself feel normal. Not justifying what he said, behaviour, attitude or activities.

Anyone willing to throw the last threads of respect and reputation away, has likely lost everything or nearly everything that matters

[OVERDRIVE]

Nic, like many others, has made mistakes. 

There must surely come a time where we let this go. 

[mazambaan]

Not really commenting on Nic only but sport is littered with great talents who "went off the rails", some permanently. So the development should include life mentoring and even structuring (IMHO).

I do not know detail but I think Martin Dreyer has done a wonderful job with Change a Life' Academy & Family Adventure.

[Shebeen]

11 hours ago, DieselnDust said:

I really hope this works out, truly I do.

I could write a thesis on the socioeconomic challenges hat shape a large portion of South Africans but it very hard to even rationalise this to motly middle class people who have grown up with the luxury of not having to face decisions where you allow someone to get hurt or not yet it still happens everyday right across the socio economic spectrum. The better off you are in life the more respected your decisions to hurt people are. Funny how that works

I'm not sure if we could or should put any of the blame on MTNQ, so by association Doug Ryder. He pushed the team as the window of opportunity for the vast unearthed talent pool of an entire continent to make it to the cycling's top table. He needed to find individuals to peddle this story, and put them on a pedastal*. When it didn't work out, and he was really fighting for his own survival he seemed to just drop these riders. I'm not sure if there was any professional development done, but it's quite a change both in and then out. Granted Nic was the only rider kept on the roster going forward, so maybe I'm being unfair.

 

 

*somehow i didn;t put the word "pedal" in that sentence

 

 

 

[Mike Dewing]

13 hours ago, F@yino said:

He accepted money from a hubber for goods he didn’t have then ghosted the person until the said hubber created a thread about him. Was quite arrogant about it. I replied saying I’m actually a fan of his & he should do better in his interactions. He then replied to my post on this forum saying he could care less about his fans 🤷‍♂️

I had a business partner that couldn’t care less about his South African customers..

it’s not a good look..