The descent of man: Exploring South Africa's roads with Safa Brian

This article was produced in association with Assos

Those who follow Safa Brian’s YouTube channel know him as one of the greatest descenders in cycling. Some would consider him a daredevil, although he would likely argue with that. But the videos that capture his high-speed – sometimes harrowing – descents, make one thing clear: Safa Brian has created a unique identity for himself in and pathway through the sport. And when the 39-year-old returned to his South African roots in a recent trip with his clothing partner Assos, he found himself reflecting on his singular journey.

Brian Wagner left Africa in 2002 when he was 18, on what he thought was going to be a gap year. Little did he know it would be the beginning of a 16-year journey as an itinerant bike messenger, before he earned a reputation, and perhaps more importantly a living, as a master descender on a bike.

The journey has taken him from Sydney, via London, New York and Mexico City to Los Angeles, not to mention a few points in between. He has spent most of his life out of Africa. Somewhere along the line he also acquired the moniker Safa, as he was from South Africa, and today Safa Brian has become his public name. But he is actually considering a return to his homeland, and this three-day visit to Cape Town offered an ideal opportunity to test the waters.

“I’ve been away for almost ten years and I was a little concerned about what it was going to be like coming back,” he said while joining a local ride starting at the Woodstock Cycleworks, a vintage bike shop in Cape Town. “It was too long, but I am happy to be back. It has been great riding around here and connecting with the local community.”

Safa Brian grew up in Africa, and doesn’t remember a time without a bike. There are pictures of him riding in the bike basket of his father’s three-speed, and then there was what he describes as a “weird” adult-sized tricycle his sisters used to ride while he stood on the platform between the two rear wheels. Later, when the family moved to Eswatini, he discovered mountain biking, spending hours on the dirt tracks near his house. There, in the middle of a forest, local motorcyclists created several jumps, and Safa Brian soon became addicted to the rush that came from hitting a perfectly timed jump on his mountain bike.

“Growing up in Africa, I spent a lot of time on a bike,” he said. “An outdoor kind of lifestyle was entrenched in everything I did. People here in South Africa make use of their surroundings. There is so much to see, so much to do. It is always about getting off the beaten track and exploring. Growing up, we would go on holidays in the 4x4, and we would go off-road in the middle of nowhere for a week. A lot of South Africans do that. It’s part of the culture. For me, the bicycle let me explore. And doing hours and hours on a bicycle set me up for the rest of my life.”

When Safa Brian moved to Sydney, he had no idea what he was going to do. He could work in a bar, perhaps, or anything that paid. But one thing he did know was that he missed his bike and the freedom it offered. It was only a chance meeting with a bike messenger that allowed him to see the possibility of using a bike as a means of earning income. “I didn’t even know what a bike courier was, to be honest,” he said. “But he had the helmet, the bag, the radio, and I just asked him, ‘What are you doing?’ I was like, ‘Wow, that sounds like a lot of fun.’ The next thing I knew, I was a bike courier.” The messenger lifestyle also offered him the freedom to find work in cities around the world, as well as launch his racing career, first in bike messenger races and then on the fixed-gear circuit.

Sixteen years is a long haul in any profession, but even more so in the bike messenger business. From a physical perspective, it is a gruelling job as messengers spend hours on their bikes every day, no matter the weather conditions or fatigue. There is no easy day, no recovery rides. A rest day only means one thing – less money at the end of the month. And then of course there is the constant risk of crashing or being hit by other vehicles.

It was not the hazards of the bike messenger business, however, that pushed him to reconsider his options, but the Covid pandemic. Suddenly a new risk factor entered his profession, that of the constant human interaction required with the daily pick-ups and deliveries, incompatible with any sense of social distancing. Safa Brian understood that he needed to move on, but to what? The surprising success of his first self-produced videos of descending the backhills of Los Angeles soon provided the answer.

Safa Brian’s story is not unlike that of Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner. Faulkner is from Alaska instead of Africa, but both grew up in the great outdoors, and the two came to cycling with a different skillset than many cyclists. But while Faulkner eventually went to Harvard and worked in venture capitalism, Safa Brian’s story is more akin to that of a musician who spent years playing in dive bars before finally signing a record deal. Regardless of where they actually grew up, their backgrounds in such remote areas gave them a unique ability to think outside of the box in their approach to cycling. 

Safa Brian admits he could not have planned for his recent rise as an underground superstar, but he was ready for it when success came knocking. He understood instantly that there was a potential new audience. His YouTube channel expanded with his ‘Descent Disciples’ and ‘Gravel Gods’ series, and with it came interest from bike brands eager to partner up with the rider and his iconoclastic reputation. Soon he was travelling around the world in search of new destinations and collaborations, which included professional road riders like Romain Bardet and Tom Pidcock.

The British rider is one of the best descenders in the professional peloton today, and he demonstrates those skills as a guest on ‘Descent Disciples’. Together, the two tackle the Tuna Canyon Road descent near Los Angeles. But while it is impressive to watch Pidcock, the viewer mustn’t forget that the footage comes from Safa Brian’s helmet and chest cams, and the South African is matching the Brit’s speed at every point. If Pidcock is one of the world’s best road descenders, then so is Safa Brian.

“Safa would certainly be one of the best descenders in the peloton. He’s got great technical skills and a great sense of trajectory,” adds veteran pro Bardet. “His videos are interesting because he really captures descending in a spectacular way. I like what Safa brings to the sport. He still has the codes of road cycling, but he manages to bring a more spectacular element to the sport. That is something we’ve seen in other disciplines like BMX, but Safa brings it to the road.”

By the time Safa Brian arrived here in Cape Town, he clearly had his own fan base, and local cyclists came on their BMX, fixed-gear and road bikes to participate in the group ride and pizza party that followed. “We watched his YouTube videos and followed him on Strava, and when we saw that he was going to do a ride at 5pm today, there was no question we were going to be here,” said Benji Daniel, as he waited for the ride to leave. “I first saw him going down that descent with Pidcock in California and he was doing such amazing things.” Andrae Bird was another local eager to ride with one of his heroes. “I’ve been watching him travel all over the world, from Switzerland, to Italy, to France... Wherever there is a great downhill, he is there. And we have some great descents here in Cape Town, so I just figured he would have to come here one day.”

Safa Brian has his detractors, and has been criticised for doing dangerous things, especially since many of his most memorable runs have been done on public roads rather than remote trails. “People say that I am taking crazy risks but I don’t feel like I am taking risks. Sixteen years of riding as a messenger all over the world taught me a lot. When you are riding in traffic and a tyre explodes next to you and there is a bus on the other side, well, that gives you a lot of skills,” he said. “Being South African has also taught me how to be able to switch on in a second and really focus on the one thing that will get me out of that situation. It’s unfortunate but the reality here is that you can come into a life-threatening or life-changing moment at any time, be it on the streets or out in the country. There might be several options, but there is only one way out, and you have to pick the right option. That can happen at any moment on a bike, as well, in a turn, or on a descent.”

Safa Brian was also quick to point out that he really studies each run before making one of his rides, often charting the wind conditions or sweeping debris from the road. “It’s easy to go fast, but those that take the big risks only last for a year or two.”

Long-term planning has never been one of his strengths, he admitted, but he clearly had an eye on the future in Cape Town. “Whenever I move to a different city, and think about where I would live the number one thing on my list is, how is this place to ride a bike? I would never live in a place that is flat, and there have to a be a lot of ride options.” Riding out of town on the first day, Safa Brian quickly learned that Cape Town is anything but flat: virtually the only way out of town is up. But within only a couple of kilometres he was on narrow mountain roads climbing up to some of the city’s most well-known vantage points. The views were constantly changing, but so were the weather conditions. And while he could enjoy the views of the city on Signal Hill, he could well have been on the Col du Tourmalet when the rain and fog settled in on the climb up to Table Mountain.

Safa Brian met up with another group the following morning to discover the outer reaches of this expansive city, which wraps itself around the Cape of Good Hope. Officially the old fishing villages and beach towns like Kalk Bay or Fish Hoek dotted around this tip of the continent are still considered part of the city, but while they may only be a few kilometres from the historic centre, they are worlds away.

Rolling out of town at sunrise, the riders climbed through lush green forests on their way to their first coffee stop in Kalk Bay. Safa Brian is not a coffee drinker, but he was curious to check out the old wooden fishing boats along the docks.

The group shortly tackled the first big climb of the day: the steep and sinuous Red Hill Road, which cuts through the sandy cliffs above Simon’s Town. But what Safa Brian didn’t expect to find was a string of now-decommissioned cannons that look out on the Indian Ocean, a reminder of this region’s historic strategic significance.

The contrast of the cannons with the picturesque fishing village just a few kilometres behind was stark, but such juxtapositions would only continue on the roads ahead. Next up was Mystic Cliffs, an expansive coastline that calls to mind the Pacific Coast Highway with its long-rolling waves that produce a steady cloud of ocean spray.

From Mystic Cliffs there was really only one way back to the centre of Cape Town and that was via Chapman’s Peak, one of the most scenic roads and iconic roads in this corner of the world, virtually etched into the cliffs of the Cape. Completed in 1922, it is a popular travel destination, and it offers cyclists a spectacular climb with breathtaking views. For any rider visiting Cape Town, no trip would be complete without this ride.

“That was almost dreamlike,” Safa Brian said when he stopped briefly at the bottom to take in the views. “It’s a good climb to push on. It’s not too steep and I really liked those twisting roads. And the views were so dramatic as you looked out on the towering cliffs and the big swells below.”

This 120km loop only cemented Cape Town’s stock as a great cycling destination in Safa Brian’s eyes. “Being on the southern tip of Africa, there are just so many different landscapes and climates, so many places to explore. There is a unique history here. It can be a tough place, but it’s a beautiful place.”

As Safa Brian reflected on his future and a potential return, he could not help but think of the adolescent in South Africa who he once was, and who he is today. “It is hard to say what I do exactly,” he said. “People ask me that all the time. I guess I would say that I am an artist, an athlete and a filmmaker. It depends what day it is and what I am doing. I never planned this out, but I think all the steps in my life where I have been on the bike have accumulated to who I am now. I don’t really need to give it a name, I just want to live through the bicycle. And I have managed to do that since I was 18. I never dreamed about all of this when I was younger, but I do think that, if I was 18 again, and could see what I am doing now, I’d be really happy.”

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