“Ride Sally, ride.”  

In a South African sports context, these lyrics by Lou Reed could easily be translated to: “Ride, Lylanie, ride.” 

This Lichtenburger started out as keen horsewoman, but three years ago she decided to change to a totally different saddle. Since then she has spent many hours on a bicycle saddle.  

A look at the racing results of the past two weeks shows that Lauwrens is making good progress in her bid to master the art of cycling. During the South African Road Championship in Klerksdorp she caused a major surprise when she finished 2nd in the women’s individual time trial, and last weekend she finished 2nd in the Carnival City Road Race.  

There is an interesting story to be told about Lauwrens’s silver medal at SA’s. 

At first she was not going to ride because there was no time-trial bike available for her.  

The day before the race her team-mate, Marissa van der Merwe, became ill and that was when Lylanie got her big break. Suddenly she had a time-trial bike and she certainly made the most of this opportunity.  

It was the bathroom scale that induced Lauwrens to start cycling.  

When she came back from the Netherlands and stepped onto the scale for the first time, she was not happy with what she saw.  

“I realized immediately that I had to get some exercise. I took up running and did the odd half-marathon, but nothing serious. My main passion at the time was riding horses. I competed regularly in show-jumping, dressage and other competitions. I was actually doing quite well, achieving first and second places.  

“To be a competitive horse rider you have to have money, because it is expensive to keep horses. That was the main reason why I switched from horse riding to cycling.  

“About three years ago I bought my first bicycle. It was nothing fancy. I think I must have paid about R3 000. At first I rode about 20 kilometers at a time and I was very pleased with myself because of the ‘long distances’ I rode.”  

“It was only after I joined a cycling club and went for club rides that I realized that riding 20 kilometers was nothing to get excited about. Through cycling I met Jannie Schoeman who had ten years of cycling experience. He helped me a lot as far as the do’s and don’ts of cycling were concerned.  

“My big breakthrough came when I started to cycle for the MTN Club 100’s women’s team. 

Last year in March, Douglas Ryder offered me a contract to ride for the MTN-Energade women’s team.”  

Lauwrens is realistic about her cycling goals.  “Because I have only been cycling for three years, there is still much for me to learn. At this stage I am not confident riding in a big bunch and my cornering skills are also not what they should be. 

There are a few other small things as well that I still need to work on. 

For the time being I am quite happy to be the super domestic rider who rides in front and in the wind, doing the hard work in order to make things happen for my team-mates.”