After a sudden decision “late” in his life to take up cycling, Ruben van der Merwe has gone from sitting on the couch watching the sport on television to racing as a semi-professional.
Van der Merwe, who now rides for Vander Group, his father Anton’s team, only decided to take up cycling after watching the Tour de France in July 2016.
Currently a third year BCom Economics student at the University of Pretoria, the 21-year-old said he was inspired to start cycling after “falling in love” with the sport after closely watching the 2016 French Grand Tour.
“It was the first time I watched the whole race. I just used to watch it on and off before, when my brother did,” Van der Merwe told In the Bunch.
“I used to be a long-distance runner in high school but at that stage, in my first year of varsity, I did not play any sport.
“Then after watching the Tour de France – on July 22 to be exact – I made the decision and told my parents I wanted to start cycling.”
After a sudden decision “late” in his life to take up cycling, Ruben van der Merwe has gone from sitting on the couch watching the sport on television to racing as a semi-professional. Photo: Supplied
Van der Merwe said he only had an old aluminium rally bike which he used to get started.
“I used to ride that bike to varsity and use it as my campus bike. Then I started using it to train. I used to ride only about 10km at a time.”
“I started liking it [cycling] even more,” he added.
Van der Merwe then got his foot in the door when he went to Jaco Ferreira, the head of cycling at his university and former coach of current international professional Willie Smit, who now rides for Katusha-Alpecin.
He was surprised at how “welcoming” Ferreira was, considering his relatively late decision to start the sport.
“I asked him [Ferreira] for tips on how to get into cycling. I was quite surprised he did not turn me away because of what I know now is actually required to make it in the sport.
“He told me I must just take part in races and join a club. I then joined the Cycle Lab Lynnwood Ridge Cycling Club and the guys there helped me a lot with the knowledge and skills I know today.
“Jaco [Ferreira], although he was not my coach, gave me a lot of advice and guidelines and encouraged me to begin racing.”
Van der Merwe cycled for the following two months but then suffered an injury which sidelined him for a couple of months. He took part in his first race at the 947 Cycle Challenge in November that year.
“I completed the race in about two hours and 54 minutes. That is when my dad saw I was taking the sport seriously and bought me a new bike.
“But unfortunately after the 947 I tore a quad muscle which kept me out until April last year.”
After returning from injury he resumed cycling more intensely over the next four months before competing in his first elite race at the Clover Tour in August.
“I came last in the Clover Tour, but I just decided to start with the elites and take it from there.
“But I discovered it was difficult to get started without a team and that is when I asked my dad if I could cycle in his company’s colours.
“The guys push you around quite a lot in races when you are a newbie. I then asked a few guys at the Lynnwood club if they would like to join and we managed to make up a small team.
“The team just expanded when more guys wanted to come onboard and race for a team. One of them was the under-17 SA champ [Travis Stedman].”
Ferreira became Van der Merwe’s coach in September 2017 and he said his coaching programme helped him “a lot” in progressing as a cyclist.
Van der Merwe took part in the 947 again last year, which he said was one of his main goals from the start of the year, and improved on his time by 34 minutes.
The team has gone from strength to strength this year, having taken part in prominent races such as the Cape Town Cycle Tour, Tour Durban, the inaugural Tour de Limpopo and 100 Cycle Challenge.
“When I first wore the Vander Group kit I was the only one. I did not think the team would expand this quickly to become the cycling brand it is now and in such a short space of time,” Van der Merwe said.
“The team is like a band of brothers at the moment; we are really close. I would not even jump to another team unless it was a WorldTour team.
“The potential in the team has gone beyond expectations.”
The team were bolstered with the signing of SA cycling stalwart Bradley Potgieter at the beginning of April.
Potgieter had been highly influential, Van der Merwe said.
“He is an extraordinary mentor. He has taught me stuff about cycling I did not even know about.
“With every training ride and race I learn so much from him. He pushes me when the times are just right.
“He is also a great guy and very humble,” Van der Merwe added.
Van der Merwe was initially inspired by Team Sky’s Chris Froome, who he discovered was schooled in South Africa, giving him reason to not give up on his dream of one day making it into a WorldTour team.
