Undercover in France - True Story #3

After a few tough months in France, Mandy heads to West Germany in a bid to qualify for their national team.

"Simon (Lessing) and I were lucky because we had our foreign passports; he competed for Great Britain. I went to Germany for the first time to race in the German championships in 1989. It was a huge surprise when I beat their top lady, European and German champion Simone Mortier. 

"Suddenly, I was part of the German national team; it felt like a real 'Cinderella' story. They treated me really well and threw so many great sponsorships at me; A bike company gave me 2 training bikes and a state of the art racing bike with disc wheels and tri spokes. Basics sponsored me clothes and shoes together with financial incentives, as did Valley and Andaman wetsuits. 

Mandy received a lot of attention in the German media, making the cover of SPORT in  October 1989.

"I got a manager and was totally fitted out when I got back to France. The Germans were really good to me and for the next 3 years I raced on the national team. My German was terrible but most of my team mates spoke English to me. It was too cold and rainy for me to train in Germany, so I travelled between France and Germany preferring the weather, scenery and the company of my fellow SA friends. 

East Coast meets Europe: Mandy and Simon Lessing (middle) of Durban at Euro Championships, 1990

"One funny training story I recall about training with Simon, Kevin Richards, Andrew Dean and the other boys was a mountain session out of hell. I started out feeling a bit flat on the bike, even struggling to keep up on the flat roads. When we got to the mountains I died. The boys just rode away from me and the harder I tried the worse it got. I was left behind, cursing and grumpy. They kindly waited at the top. I angrily told them not to wait and eventually arrived home exhausted and defeated. Then I looked down at my back wheel and notice that my brake was scrapping and I had ridden all that way with my brakes on; The boys laughed and teased me!"