Former professional cyclist and current coach Nic White, who enjoyed a highly successful racing career spanning 13 years, says he remains as cycling mad today as when he was a youngster.
Former professional South African cyclist Nic White, 46, says he remains as cycling mad today as when he was young. Photo: Supplied
White, who is now 46 but says he is still going strong as a cyclist, started off as a junior with his inclusion in national team trips in 1992.
Thereafter the South African took as many opportunities as he could to learn and ride with local teams, which included a few months at a time racing in Belgium as an U23 amateur club rider.
“I would see 1998 as the year in which I turned ‘pro’, that being a term for when we started to earn some money to live.
“The end I see at the culmination of the 2010 year with Medscheme, before I went to work.”
Teams he rode for included BMW M-Tel (1995), Deo Gloria (1996), Kortrijk Groenige Spurters (1996 and 1997); AIG (1998), HSBC (2000), Microsoft (2005), MTN (2007) and Medscheme (2009).
White said he was lucky to have enjoyed many victories in his career, although he wasn’t the “winningest” rider. Instead he often assisted his teammates to win.
“The surprise win was in the prologue time-trial of the 1995 Rapport Tour in front of the Union Buildings as this was totally unexpected and I was not yet really ‘on the map’. This was followed by the 1997 947 Cycle Challenge as that sort of put me ‘on the map’.”
He also recalls fondly the 1998 Moroccan Tour of the Imperial Cities. “This was a 10-day tour and we went there as a national team, unknowing. I had previously been to Morocco in 1993, but that was a disaster.
“So, going back five years later, winning the prologue and holding the jersey for all but one day, when I regained it in the time-trial, was a really special moment. It proved that we as South Africans could do it – control a long race and win. I repeated the Tour de Maroc win in 2007.”
In 2000 he won the Giro del Capo, which took place in the days leading up to the Cape Town Cycle Tour in which he won the time-trial up Signal Hill and his team won the Tour.
“This was always a special event in those years, so this stands out in my memory.”
He went on to win a stage, the mountains jersey and place second overall in the 2001 Tour of Ireland.
“We were totally inadequate in the weather and the roads and the bunches, so getting a result on the second last day was really special. Jeremy Maartens of our HSBC team had won the previous day’s stage.”
In the 2004 Granitier Breton (Tour of Brittany in France) he won the final stage in a lone escape into the city circuits of Dinan.
“It was the first day the sun had come out there. As I mentioned, as South Africans we don’t race well in the rain! So on that final day the sun was out.
“The big hitters were a bit tired of smashing themselves on the lumpy roads of Brittany, so I escaped in a group and as we entered the local laps of the finishing town I escaped alone on the cobbled climb of Dinan.
“This is a big festival in the region and the town was lined with 15 000 local spectators. I managed the last laps ahead of the chase to win alone.
“It was a great feeling and I still have the cobblestone trophy in our studio, which was presented on the podium that day by Bernard Hinault who lived down the road.”
In 2007 he won the African Champs road and time-trial in Yaounde, Cameroon, in front of some very good Eritreans.
“I took the lead in the UCI Africa Tour on that day, wearing the leader’s jersey until taking that year’s overall win. The UCI Africa Tour comprised points earned for the calendar of African races in 2007 and 2008.”
Then came 2010 and his final event as a “pro” rider – the 947 Cycle Challenge.
“I escaped alone in the final 15km and won the race. This event has always been special to me, racing close to our homes. And, as always, having won the first one, to have won again was a really special moment.”
For White there have been highs and lows and it was hard for him to pinpoint one highlight.
“Being able to have lived that life and spent time racing bikes has been an absolute highlight.
“Also my family who have supported me throughout all of that is the highlight, and for that I am very grateful.”
Among the negatives he cited some uncertainties they had faced, along with moments where the team dynamic wasn’t perfect.
“I think the moment of breaking my hip in 2010 is one of the lowest moments.
“As a cyclist you soon get to realise that there will always be lows, whether physical or mental, but what makes a good rider is their character and ability to see past it – hopefully with the chance to regain the ability to do what they love successfully.”
He said it was hard to say if he saw himself as a top rider of that time.
“Yes I was capable and had some great moments, but there were always riders who were better than me. I was happy to have had successes and, in retrospect, yes I was a top rider.”
For White, cycling is still a part of his life as he enjoys riding bikes and says he is fortunate to have been able to use some of the knowledge he gained and to pass it on to others and to be able to make a living from that.
“We have a cycling coaching business, White Inc., and run bike trips. We also ride bikes with friends and clients.
“I am still just as cycling mad as I was as a youngster.”
White said he would like to think he had assisted in some riders’ careers as a teammate and some as a team manager over the past few years.
“We have seen a lot of successful riders come and pass onwards, and hopefully some of what I could teach has stuck with them.
“Some others may not have managed to move on, but I just hope that I made some good impacts on them.”
He added that he did not really miss the competition of the elite years, but in cycling there was always some opportunity for competition.
“That is what makes it so attractive to so many. I still race some age-category races in the road and MTB scene.”
White thinks that for anyone out there the best advice he can give is that in cycling you have to persevere and push through the tough times as there are likely to be great times ahead.
“There is no quick fix, but perseverance and hard work pay off. Remember the reason you like to ride a bike and keep that in the back of your head when times are tough.
“[My reason] is still the enjoyment of going from here to there, getting to see what we can along the way. It’s just the speed that changes.”
The Johannesburg local now hopes to continue to provide for his family and build on his niche in the sport, assisting people to get more enjoyment out of it.
“As we have seen with my involvements in the teams we have assisted over the past years after my ‘pro’ days were over, with the likes of the Toyota CSA Cycling Academy, EuropcarSA, RoadCover and now OfficeGuru Racing.
“We have had some great riders come through the ranks and I hope I have assisted in their development in a positive way.
“Louis Meintjes, Nicholas Dlamini, Ryan Gibbons and Willie Smit are just some of the guys who have stepped up and spent time with our teams. Now I’m hoping that the likes of Marc Pritzen and Travis Barrett find their way as the latest generation.”
