DHI
TESTING YOUR COMMITMENT
DURING LD
Former SA DH Champion and regular columnist for Full Sus, Stefan Garlicki had to get “home”, he shares his adrenaline filled trip to reach his two loves – his partner and racing! he last few months have been a crazy time for all of us with COVID-19 and at points it seemed like it would never end BUT there is light at the end of the tunnel! We all had to deal with our personal struggles and for me my main focus was to get back to Germany to be with my better half and to go racing of course! I was lucky enough to be stuck on a farm during lockdown and I had space to ride a bit at home and keep active which was a huge plus for me. I really feel for all the people stuck in tiny apartments in the city. However, the goal was Germany and I looked at every option available even going on a cargo ship for 30 days ha-ha! It took a while but after about six weeks of phone calls and emails I managed to get a repatriation flight to the UK. I have a British passport and so I was eligible to get on board. The situation was still very stressful and uncertain as I
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was not 100% sure I would be allowed into Germany as I am not German and am not married to my partner. However after a lot of research I was quite sure I could get in, but still not guaranteed. And so the process started, I needed to be at the Cape Town Stadium at 6am where all the passengers had a health check and then needed to wait to get buses to the airport. There were 12 buses and each bus was checked by police dogs at the airport before we could get off. We were the only flight to leave Cape Town and the airport was a ghost town with lots of police around. It was like a movie, honestly. Finally I managed to check in my three bikes which was also an uncertainty because I was told no bikes allowed and no extra luggage. BUT I had to take my bikes so I just tried my luck and it worked! Soon we were on our way and arrived in London at 10:15PM where I met up with a friend of mine who is a pilot and he had come
Stef enjoying a last ride on his self-built DH track.
