Cherise Taylor (Nashua) dearly wants history to repeat itself during Sunday’s Argus Cycle Challenge.

Two years ago Taylor, who was then only 18 years old, became one of the youngest riders to achieve one of the most sought after double titles in South African cycling when she won the SA Road Championship and the Argus in the same year.

This year she already has the SA title in the bag and, judging by her performances over the past few weeks, she will certainly be one of the main contenders to win the Argus.

“My previous win of the Argus was one of the very special moments of my cycling career and, if I could do it again, it would be even more special,” Taylor said.

One of the main points of discussion when the conversation turns to the Argus, and more specifically to the women’s race, is how big an influence men are in the outcome of the race?

“Men definitely play a role. The women’s race is won by the rider who can stay with the men for the longest period of time. This coming Sunday it might be slightly different, because we will be competing against eleven MTN-Energade riders.  Maybe this will make things slightly easier.”

Taylor reckons that MTN-Energade’s riders Marissa van der Merwe, Robin de Groot and Anriëtte Schoeman (Biogen-Toyota) will be the riders to beat.

Taylor has certainly put in the long hard kilometers in her preparation for the Argus.

Actually, hectic is a better word to describe her preparatory cycling expeditions.

First she jetted off to New-Zealand to join forces with Australia’s MB Cycle women’s team to compete in the Tour of New-Zealand.

Taylor made sure that she was noticed.  She finished 3rd in the first stage and from then on she stuck to her proverbial ‘guns’ to finish 2nd  in the u.23 category and 7th overall, only 10 seconds behind the tour winner.

According to Taylor, the last stage, a criterium, was the most difficult part of the Tour.

“We raced for an hour on a 1.3km course with six sharp corners.  In one of the corners we basically had to make a U-turn at high speed. You really had to be focused to avoid going down. We had to sprint at full speed for about 60 minutes, slow down to go through a corner and then work up speed again until the next corner. There was no time to take it easy.  If you lost contact with the leaders, it was race over for you.  My guess is that, of the hundred or so riders who started the criterium, only about 16 managed to finish.”

Three days after arriving back in South Africa, Taylor was on a mountain bike to compete in the three-day Sani2C Tour in KwaZulu-Natal. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for Taylor, her team-mate, Caitlin de Wet (Specialized/MR Price), was not at her best because of a stomach bug.

“That meant that we were not really competitive. We rode at the tempo that Caitlin’s body dictated which was, in a way, good for me because it meant that I had three days of good hard training for the Argus.”

The first time Taylor switched her road bike for a mountain bike, she experienced a quite scary moment during the Sabie Experience. She lost control of her bike and went over a small cliff. Luckily for her, she was saved by the overhanging branch of a tree, which left her hanging in midair.

This little incident led to the Tour riddle ‘What is yellow and hangs from a tree?’  Answer ‘Cherise Taylor’.

This time, at the Sani2C Tour, Taylor had no adventure stories to tell.

“I took two tumbles, but it was nothing serious. I just got winded.”

Does her involvement with Burry Stander (Specialized/MR Price), the u.23 cross-country world champion, mean that she might consider to eventually become a full-time mountain biker?

“No.  I do enjoy participating in the odd mountain-bike race, but road cycling is where my future lies. I am too old to become a competitive cross-country racer.”

After Sunday’s Argus, Taylor hopes that she, with some of her Nashua team-mates, will again have the opportunity to join forces with Australia’s MB Cycle team to compete in China’s Chongming Island Tour.

The previous time Taylor had competed in the Tour she won a stage, as well as the points competition for best sprinter.

“What is exciting about racing in the Tour is that, two days afterwards, there will also be a World Cup Race in China. This means that most of the top female riders will be racing in China.”