My Diary...

The last time I wrote I was at our team’s mountain bike training camp in George.
We stayed at Ischen’s home for the 8 days long training camp. ISchen and her husband made us feel part of their family the moment we walked through their front door. I think we were very privileged to see and experience George through people like Ischen and Piet. They made my visit one that I’ll always remember.



Ischen took us on the most beautiful scenic trails around George and Knysna.
Spending every day on my mountain bike on various terrains improved my confidence and I felt more at ease riding technical parts.

My training over there didn’t only include cycling…I went with Ischen to her
Biokineticus to work on core strength exercises which we continued doing regularly at home.



I flew back on the Wednesday and that Friday morning I was off again with my team to Clarens for the 4th MTN XCO National Series event which took place on Saturday.

The morning of the race I woke up to the sound of my alarm and then I heard it – the sound of rain. Luckily it cleared up and we started the event underneath an open sky.

Clarens has always been quite a demanding event and the strong woman’s field on the line added to the challenge. Team Bizhub had 3 girls in the race and I am sure all of us were very grateful for our specialized full suspension bikes on the rough course. I have to admit I enjoyed the challenge that the race brought, it was a true mountain bike race.

I was happy to see my training program paying off as I felt strong on the day and managed to finish in 3rd place.

Race Results for Clarens:

1st Yolande Speedy (Team MTN)
2nd Mariska Strauss (Team MTN)
3rd Yolandi du Toit (Team Bizhub)
4th Cherise Taylor (Team Nashua)
5th Ischen Stopforth (Team Bizhub)
6th Carla Rowley ( Team RBS Biogen)
7th Caitlin De Wet (Team Mr Price/Specialized)
8th Lise Olivier (Team Bizhub)
9th Auralie Halbwacht (Mauritius)

After the race we drove back to Johannesburg where I joined the road team (Jade, Michelle and Landi) to compete in the Wilro 100 the following day where I managed to place 6th in the bunch sprint.

My next race will be Joberg2C which is taking place on Friday the 23rd of April until Saturday the 1st of May. You can follow the team’s progress on our website and I will make sure to tell you about the event as soon as I'm home again…

Easter weekend

I spend my Easter weekend with my family in a charming little town called Parys.
Being a professional athlete most weekends include racing and luckily for me my race for that weekend took place in the same little town.

On Saturday the 3rd of April I participated in the Parys Dirt Max MTB series. The owners of the event are truly passionate about their sport which is very noticeable once you’ve ridden on their trails.

That morning the town woke up under a cloud of mist. This made it quite difficult for me to get out of bed, but as I made my way outside I was very pleased to witness such a beautiful morning.

Due to the mist, the start was postponed for about 15min, making it a bit safer for the riders to be able see a tad more than just a white cloud in front of them. My father and sister kept the family spirit high and decided to also participate in the event. Both of them don’t even own mountain bikes and had to borrow some for the weekend. So I don’t think I have to say anything more about their mountainbiking skills…
Still they were up for the challenge and I am sure they actually enjoyed it a lot at the end.

It was nice to be at a race with my family again. Funny enough I didn’t even stress about my event as I was using the time before the start to catch up on family things.

The event is always quite challenging as you finish the race on a 10km cross country like circuit which one have to do 2 times. This year the circuit was quite muddy and slippery making it a bit more technical then usual. I really felt good on my bike that day and enjoyed racing my heart out.
I also managed to win the race, it’s always nice to end once race with a good result.

My dad also had a good ride and as he crossed the finish line and stopped next to me his first words were quite different to the usual “ how was your race/where did you finish.”
This time he looked very pleased in asking me “so how many times did you crash? “ My dad was very proud to have fallen 9 times.
As for my little sister’s race, she just kept quite and shook her head.

I was barely back on Monday night and off I went again early Tuesday morning to a training camp in George with my Mountain bike team mates (Ischen Stopforth and Lise Oliver).
We have actually been out on 3 rides already here in George and the routes together with the scenery are breathtaking. You literally ride 200m then you are in the forest on single track. We really have amazing places to ride in South Africa.