This is my last podcast episode. 2 years after starting Velo Dulce, I've decided to wrap up the show. I wanted to wrap it up by saying thank you to all the incredible women I've had the privilege to interview over the years. Thank you for all your wisdom, stories of bravery and courage, your authenticity and your wanting to make the world a better …

My guest today doesn't describe herself as a cyclist but she probably cycles as much as the average pro. If she isn't running up a storm. Miyelani Khumalo ran her first race on 19th January 2013, a 5km following her divorce. She has done over 50 marathons (yes that means more than 42.2km), more than 20 ultra-marathons (anything greater than 42km), …

I was thrilled to chat to my friend Shanel Munger on this episode of Velo Dulce! Shanel is the Learning Manager at the South African Reserve Bank. She has a passion for partnering with business to create development journeys that build capacity, empower performance and drive business growth. She's also a TEDX speaker and spoke Mindfulness at work: …

I've been thinking about #levellingup ALOT! Is it that fate just shines on some and others no? Do some just have better luck? The more I study and learn about pro-athletes and those at the top of their game, the more I see just how much of a difference Levelling up makes! The 3 rules of Levelling Up from my perspective? Show up! (And keep showing u…

Tessa Kortekaas is the winner of the 2023 Titan Mountain Bike Race; a 6-day grueling event held annually in Morocco that goes through the Moroccan desert between the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara Desert. Long story short. It's no joke. It was the first time Tessa took part in the race and yet she came out with the win. Having held a long and indus…

I finally did it! I wrote the novel I've been waiting to write my whole life! Learning to Love Lisa is the story of a woman stumbling through her forties in all her flaws and flailings. Moving (un)confidently from South Africa to Spain amidst a global pandemic, it all goes horribly wrong as she loses her job and realises that speaking Spanish is mu…

My guest today is Szifra Burke. Szifra was born to Yiddish parents, immigrants from Poland to America. She grew up in Massachusetts deeply affected and inspired by her immigrant parents’ Holocaust experiences and their indomitable tenacity. She has a real passion for storytelling, and for life too! In preparation for her interview, I watched her ta…

Today's episode is a little outside the usual but I wanted to start the New Year by taking a look at the realities of life. Insta vs reality. It's a thing! Sometimes when I'm on Instagram I get depressed when I see everyone living large and living the dream. Then I look at my own Insta profile and actually it looks the same but it doesn't feel like…

Eva Wiggelendam is the team travel coordinator for MotoGP team Repsol Honda, one of the most prestigious teams in the MotoGP™ World Championship. She is the only female on the team that covered all the Grand Prix circuits in 2020 (the craziest year in history when the pandemic hit) and was featured as a #WomenInMotoGP star in 2021. Eva is competiti…

I last spoke to Ariane Lüthi on the 23rd of September 2021 after her then-recent victory in the Swiss Epic. Since then a lot has happened. In her true courageous style Ariane has been public this year about her battles with Long Covid and chronic fatigue. BUT not one to just lie around and let life take over, she used the break in training to crea…

Being a high-performance athlete requires dedication, persistence, hard work and unrelenting commitment. And Chanelle Zackey-Prinsloo is the ultimate corporate athlete. Not only is she the National Marketing Director of the world’s most iconic brand, Ferrari but she has a vision that stretches far beyond her own ambitions. Coming from humble beginn…

Vera Looser is a professional cyclist from Namibia. She's represented her country in the Olympic Games, is fluent in 3 languages and competes at the highest level in cycling riding for a European team. Vera caught my attention some time ago when she rode the Titan Dessert Race (and came 2nd in the GC!) which is only one of the toughest mountain bik…

I recently cycled the Camino de Santiago. I wanted to share my thoughts here not because it was some epic physical feat but rather because it was a soulful excursion with a couple of life lessons learnt along the way. I learnt that 'el camino' means 'the way' and it really was a reflection on life and how we find ourselves on and off our paths. If …

Katee Gray founder of Holistic Endurance. She is a Performance Coach, Sports Nutritionist and self-confessed hormone nerd. Katee has a serious passion for optimising athletic and human potential utilising an integrated approach of wellness and performance for the everyday athlete. She spent over 15 years racing triathlon. She has a Bachelor Exercis…

Carrie Leaf is a practising psychotherapist, holistic mindset coach, and hypnotherapist. She holds her undergraduate degree in Psychology. She completed her master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. Carrie is a mother to two twin boys (toddlers!) and a stepmother to their older brother and sister. She is a furbaby mom to two boxer dogs. AND s…

Today, my superhuman guest is Hannele Steyn from Cape Town in sunny South Africa. Hannele is the former Sport and Wellness Advisor of the Intercare group, runs her own whole foods company Passion4Wholeness, has represented South Africa and has Springbok colours in biathlon, triathlon, duathlon, road cycling AND mountain biking. She’s completed the …

I just loved this conversation with Jasmine Davis! Jasmine is an artist, photographer, world traveller and freshly initiated rookie aka "novata" into Asturian-Spanish culture. She's also the maker of sentwithlovefrom Jasmine and I met, by mistake, on purpose as it happens and we discovered we both felt we were both meant to be Oprah! We discussed; …

I’ve been wanting to chat to Cherise Willeit no jokes for about 10 years now as she seems to be someone who’s had her fair share of challenges and yet seems to smile through it all whilst still managing to voice her opinion and power her way forward. Cherise describes herself as Wife ❤Mother 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 Cyclist, Olympian🚴🏼 Seeking adventure with my fam…

Molly Yurick is a "maatjie" as we say in South Africa or a mate of mine. Molly joined me on a 50km cycle as a newcomer to road cycling and it brought back memories for me of what it meant to first climb on a bicycle. What really blew my mind however was one night sitting on the couch seeing her name on the credits of Season 5 of Netflix's most-watc…

A couple of people have been asking about my story but more than that I wanted to share the message of rest and resilience and what that really means. Don't have time to listen? Okay here it is; When you try new things, you probably will fall on your ass but that's okay - it's how you level up Resilience means showing up, not just doing the same th…

Kim Brearley describes herself as "one of the ladies who rides" but having recently completed The Munga, one of the toughest races on earth, I'd say she's anything but. The Munga is a non-stop semi-supported mountain bike race through the remote Karoo in South Africa. Riders have 120 hours or five days to ride 1155km and make the cut-off. That's 12…

Maria Olsson is the VP of Creative for Peak Performance and former head of design at Rapha cycling where she was the driver of significant innovations in the technology, styling and design of the premium clothing brand. She lives in Stockholm, worked in London, and studied design at the University of Technology Sydney. Earlier this year Maria was f…

Katy Curd is a three-time British 4-cross Champion and former 4-cross Pro Tour winner Katy’s titles include Downhill National Series Champion, European 4 cross Champion, 4cross Pro Tour winner as well as having 7 other World Cup Podiums. She left pro-riding to focus on coaching. I caught up with her to find out what on earth 4-cross is and to talk …

Born in Newcastle Kwazulu Natal, South Africa, Buhle started riding just 4 years ago. Just two years after an introductory urban fixie ride through the streets of Soweto, Johannesburg South Africa, she finished the 2019 Cape Epic, in the mixed category, with a male riding partner. And in October 2021 she completed the Cape Epic for the 2nd time pla…

IMAGINE taking professional photographs while sitting at the back of a motorbike? Karen M Edwards, hailing from Cork, Ireland is a cycling photographer. She’s released a number of books including “Chasing Races”, “Gods, Rockstars & the Cobbles” in 2017 and is about to release her next book “Chasing Rainbows and Rockstars”. She’s worked with the Top…

Okay but seriously, one day you're just walking down the road in Las Vegas and the next you're halfway across the world to Rwanda to develop cycling? Not a word of a lie but this is what Kimberly did when, as she described it, she reached a proverbial fork in the road. In 2009 (just 15 years after the genocide in Rwanda) Kimberly tracked down Tom R…

Tracy Moseley is a legend in mountain biking and one of Britain’s most successful and best-known female mountain bikers! Do yourself a favor and check her out on Google or Wikipedia. No word of a lie, she has more winning titles than the Duchess of Alba. BUT more than that, Tracy has a degree in Biological Science, is a wife, mom to 3-year old Toby…

Grace Elvin is a 2-time winner of the Australian National Road Race Championships and the only Australian female rider to podium finish at the Tour of Flanders for Women. She’s represented Australia at the Commonwealth Games and Olympics. She left pro racing in 2021 to say to pursue life outside cycling but that isn’t true. Gracie has reinvented he…

Malcolm Gladwell once defined an outlier as a truly exceptional individual "who doesn't fit into our normal understanding of achievement.” This is clearly the case with Faranak Partoazar. Born and currently living in Shiraz, Iran, Faranak’s story to begin cycling and follow her passion is an unusual one. As a girl born in a traditional society, she…

Hailing from Switzerland, Ariane Lüthi is arguably the country's most prolific cross-country marathon racer. She's a 4-time Swiss XCM national champion and 5x Cape Epic Winner. "You only really start to change things when you go into the deep stuff... You change when you have no other choice and when it's really painful. If you haven't changed some…

Jenni Green is the founder of Bia Cycling and one of the most impressive women I know reducing the barriers to entry for women in cycling. Having run one of South Africa's and even the world's biggest mass participation cycling events, Jenni then turned her attention to founding Bia Cycling; a hub for women's cycling in the UK and beyond..... all w…

Sarah Hill is Professional Mt Biker for @livcycling is a coach, Level1 MTB Skills coach and is currently doing her Masters in Psych but more than that, she's real! It was her article "You're not Alone" that really captured my attention in July this year. Sarah, real and courageous and in the very first episode of Velo Dulce, shares her struggles on…