One of South Africa’s most experienced female bicycle racers, Cherise Willeit, has discovered Gravel racing and says she loves it. The Beijing Olympian has completed – and won – two Gravel races in the past few weeks and says that she’s planning to contest more despite not having enough time to train properly for them.
By Sean Badenhorst
Willeit (33) is still the only South African female to win a medal in a UCI Road Race World Championships. She claimed the silver medal in the Junior Women’s race at the 2007 World Champs in Germany. She represented South Africa the following year at the Beijing Olympic Games and between 2008 and 2012 won the Elite women’s Road Race and Time Trial National Titles twice each.
Also in 2012, while married to the late mountain bike racing ace, Burry Stander, Willeit also won the South African Marathon Mountain Bike title. Now married to Benno and a mother of two boys, Willeit is a full-time employee of Cycling South Africa where she is the Communications Manager. With her success in both road and mountain bike racing, Willeit is well placed to give an opinion on the growing discipline of Gravel after her early racing foray.
“The biggest shock for me was the pace. Normally when you race 150km you start slow and steady and pace yourself. But it wasn’t like that at all. Starting with the Elite men, the pace is so fast. For me, Gravel really combines road and mountain biking into one discipline. You have the intensity from the road and then the ruggedness of mountain biking. There aren’t really any smooth gravel roads! You must be super focused and choose your lines carefully. You can’t afford to lose focus because then you must work really hard to reclaim your bunch position – if you’re in a bunch,” explained Willeit.
“Mentally and physically it’s really draining. The first Gravel race I did was Ronde van Riebeek. I thought that was the hardest race I have ever done. And then I did The Gallows, where there was some proper singletrack included – quite rough singletrack. The climbs were super steep towards the end when you’re already quite spent. Then that became the hardest one-day race I have ever done!” she laughed.
Willeit is racing on a Specialized Diverge, a gravel-specific bike, which she feels offers an advantage in Gravel races over a mountain bike.
“I feel that a Gravel bike definitely gives you an advantage. You could convert a hardtail mountain bike with skinnier tyres and a bigger chainring and still be quite competitive, but the Gravel bike, with its drop bars and more aggressive riding position, allows you to get a bit more aerodynamic and there’s less rolling resistance. I feel a Gravel bike is always going to win against a mountain bike in a Gravel race,” she said.
Willeit, who is a member of the Sandton City Cycle Nation women’s racing team, says that having a full-time job and two kids makes it difficult to train for 4-5-hour races.
“Benno’s work takes him away a lot, so most of the time I’m single-parenting. So it’s very difficult to be able to train properly for a race that can take five hours. In the two Gravel races I have done, I have been so far out of my comfort zone to be competitive that it takes me a long time to recover. But I love it! It’s been something quite special for me. It’s the closest to European road racing that I have experienced in South Africa in terms of pace and positioning,” said Willeit, who spent two seasons racing for a pro-road team in Europe.
“I now know that when I do a Gravel race, it’s going to change me. You go through so many emotions during those five hours. It’s quite magnificent. Gravel races combine the best of all types of cycling into one discipline,” she added.
Willeit is leading the Western Cape Gravel Series after two rounds, which comprises the following events:
20 May: Ronde Van Riebeeck
3 June: The Gallows
9 September: The Ceder
17 September: Boland Gravel Monster
14 October: Prince George 100 Miler
She plans to compete in as many of the remaining series events as possible, other Gravel race and the South African Gravel Championships in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.
