Pieré le Roux has taken many voyages in his life, from biking up mountains on e-bikes, being bitten by spitting cobras and now, voyaging into space.
Gqeberha, South Africa (05 June 2023) – Space will be the final frontier to be ticked off of on entrepreneur an e-bike enthusiast Pieré le Roux’s voyage.
Come again. Space?
Le Roux and his wife Maryna chuckle where they sit alongside the start-finish line at the Zuurberg Mountain Village shortly after he completed the first of three days in a mountain bike event designed for e-bikes.
“No, it’s true,” she says. “He’s going into space next year with Richard Branson.”
Mountain bikers may not have the reputation of fishermen for “enhancing” their achievements but are certainly not short of a good yarn or two either, so it’s understandable if there’s a touch of scepticism over the claim.
But, as the conversation delves into his experience at the Rubicon Great Zuurberg Trek E-edition, it becomes increasingly clear that Le Roux is not pulling a fast one on anyone.
“People don’t believe me, so I’ve even written a book about my life called Live the Impossible Dream,” he says.
And, make no mistake, it’s been a life worth writing about.
That, at the age of 77, he has decided to take on the ups and downs of the somewhat taxing GZT-E route is only one small part of an incredible life story that one can imagine would leave most Hollywood producers salivating.
Born in Gqeberha and attending Pearson High School before making his bones in information technology and property development in Gauteng, Le Roux has chosen to live life to the full by travelling, cycling and showering his family with love every chance he gets.
Fourteen years ago, he decided that Mount Everest needed climbing. So off he went and did it. Before then he had only scaled Kilimanjaro with his wife, shortly after they were married.
And where a near-fatal run-in with a Mozambique spitting cobra while riding the Tuli Block might have forced others to opt for the quieter life, it spurred him on.
“I only ended up in hospital two days later and spent a long time in intensive care. I shouldn’t have made it, but I did.
“They were going to amputate my leg but at that moment I told the doctor not to touch it and I passed out,” he recalls.
“I woke up two or three days later. Then I had an operation; they took out the last bit of poison, cut out a piece of my leg and here we are.”
As if this wasn’t enough, he then had to undergo two knee replacements.
While these surgeries spelled the end of his rides on a conventional bike, he was still able to venture out on an e-bike which has allowed him to continue living one of his great passions.
Maryna says there is no doubt going to space with Branson motivates her husband to take on strenuous challenges that might leave men half his age in a cold sweat.
“He’s got to keep fit to do that trip,” she says.
Le Roux has also always been an avid skier, venturing overseas twice a year to tackle the snow and maintain his fitness levels.
“All this has helped in my ultimate goal of going into space. I worked on it, booked it, paid for it and I’ll be going on that trip next year.”
Maryna cheekily chips in that he has asked her whether she will be joining him but responded, “No. When I die, I go for free. Then I can stop and look back in my own time”.
For Le Roux, it’s clear that life is there to be lived and while he has hiked numerous parts of the world and travelled extensively, in places like Greater Addo he is in his element riding his e-bike and revelling in the nature around him.
For the moment, this galaxy will do just fine.
by 