Ride like a Girl | Amy Beth McDougall

Amy is most often spotted sitting pretty on a mountain bike with a good helping of dust or mud (weather dependant) covering her features. But don’t make the mistake of thinking she likes to eat dust as this little rocket racer is packed with more than enough poison.

By Benno Stander

Amy Beth doing what she loves most, high speed downhill

Whether it’s a road bike, a mountain bike or a single speed cycle, if you are not a top ranked cyclist you can be sure that you’ll only ever see her briefly from behind as she passes you.

“In primary school I used to cycle to school but as I got older I became way too cool for it. My parents used to do quite a bit of cycling and even did the Argus but I was too busy being a little rebel to pay any attention. Plus I wouldn’t want to be seen dead in spandex.” Amy remembers.

Even after school when Amy went to study hairdressing she was more interested in partying up a storm and was quite unfit. “Then one day my dad just said that he was going to enter me into the 94.7 Cycle Challenge. My mom immediately said that I can’t do it. She probably meant that I can’t be that unfit, train for only six weeks and then try and cycle 94.7km. But my rebellious side kicked in and I decided that I’ll show them I can.”

The following day Amy started training on her mom’s mountain bike but after only 8km she was done. “I couldn’t go further. I was so unfit I could hardly make it up the hills. I just went home and cried, wondering how I’ll ever finish the race if I can’t even do 8km. But then I got over it and tried again.”

Amy’s strong will pushed her through this tough start and soon she was doing 20km a day. “I remember doing 50km for the first time. It was really a big deal for me and I made sure I was totally prepared with enough energy drinks and snacks to go round. My poor dad had to ride behind me for what must have been a very long four hours for him.” Amy completed the race in about 5 hours and she could feel and see how she got fitter and stronger. “I was even passing people, which felt great!”

That December while on holiday in George she started mountain biking. “It came very naturally and I really enjoyed the thrill of going downhill at speed. When I did the Saasveld race I had to take my first drop-off and fell extremely hard. But I just got back up and fell in love with the sport even more.”

At this stage Amy was studying and working as a hairdresser in Jhb and managed to win her first race. But her work was seriously interfering with her new found love and she had to resort to spinning in the evenings. She also missed many races due to work, and later missed a lot of work due to races.

Taking the winning road

In 2010 Amy started doing the MTN National Mountain Bike Series and in her first race at Clarens she finished almost two hours after Yolande Speedy. “At this stage I realised even though I had come a long way I still had a lot of work to do.”

The following year the obsession was growing even bigger and she was earning almost no money from hairdressing as she was taking off too many weekends to race. “I worked at one of the best hair salons in the country and really enjoyed every moment, but I realised if I wanted to do better I had to cycle full time. Even though I was up at 05h00 most mornings I still couldn’t get enough training done. It was now or never!”

The day after Amy quit her job she won SA Single Speed Championships.

The day after Amy quit her job she won SA Single Speed Championships. “On the flipside I had to move back to my parents’ house since I wasn’t really earning an income,” she recalls. Amy wasn’t planning to ride in the single speed world championships that were held in Winterton in South Africa but after receiving a free entry she decided to give it a go. It paid off for her in a big way when she won and became the 2012 Single Speed World Champion. As part of the prize Amy won a tattoo to celebrate her winning. “I think that might have been the biggest motivation. I really wanted that tattoo!” she laughs.” It was the best weekend of my life so far and there was quite the after party which I think I won as well.” In 2013 she again competed for the title in Italy but this time took second place.

On a roll

She also managed to win her first stage race, the Honda Mountain Trophy shortly thereafter.  Her CV was starting to look more impressive and soon she got her first sponsorship. After doing mountain bike races just about every weekend she decided to give the 94.7 another go. “Everything was totally last minute and I somehow managed to miss the first batch start and only took off with the second batch. I noticed I was passing quite a few prominent first-batch riders along the way but it was only when I got to the end that I realised I won the race by about five minutes despite starting five minutes later than the other top competitors.

At the beginning of 2014 Amy decided to move to the Lowveld and was able to join the Valencia Cycling Team. “I love change and thought it would be great to live here,” she remarks casually.

According to Amy the sponsorship and attitude of Naeem Omar of Valencia is amazing. “My bike is always treated like gold by Barry Grobelaar the mechanic. My coach Bosseau Boshoff is professional, knowledgeable, approachable and encouraging and my teammate Samantha Sanders is really fun and a super hard core mountain biker and a great mentor,” she explains.

When Amy is not on her bike, she runs the social media side of the team and even plays some piano and guitar when she gets the chance. But this is only when she really can’t cycle since her first choice will always be to ride her bike like the girl that everyone wants to beat.