A cycle of excellence
Despite growing up without a bicycle, 19-year-old Siphe Ncapayi has consistently continued his rise in the world of cycling, with his most recent success coming in the London-Paris Race last month.
Ncapayi was born in Cala, Eastern Cape, a small village that falls under the Chris Hani District Municipality, where he attended Silingela Primary School before moving to Kwanokuthula, Plettenberg Bay where he would attend Murray High School.
Growing up in Cala, Ncapayi never had his own bicycle, but he always had a yearning to mount a saddle and cycle for kilometres and hours on end, which led him to often borrow bikes from his friends, and just about cycle anywhere he could.
This sense of determination eventually paid off for Ncapayi when, in 2016, he decided to take up cycling seriously and joined Kwano Academy – which was two years old by then, having been founded in 2014 by Colin Shave. This would change Ncapayi's life completely, as in the years to come he would become one of Kwano's best cyclists.
Whereas until March this year Ncapayi had only ridden mountain bikes in races, he made the change to a road bike to compete in the 2019 Cape Rouleur from 3 to 7 March, where he wrote and directed his very own underdog story by earning himself the polka-dot jersey for being King of the Mountains at the race. This earned him a sponsorship to take part in the 2019 Hotchillee London-Paris Race, where Ncapayi managed to one-up his Cape Rouleur achievement by winning the U23 category – an outstanding achievement for someone who was overseas for the first time, and riding a road bike in a race for only the second time.
Looking back on his time during the London-Paris, Ncapayi has nothing but fond memories. "It was fabulous and was my first experience overseas, I learned a lot," the youngster said.
While Ncapayi thoroughly enjoys simply being able to climb atop a saddle and ride, he has his favourite parts of a sport than can be incredibly taxing and gruelling: "I enjoy every moment of riding, but highlights are singletrack, switchbacks and climbing because I push myself."
Ncapayi may have already achieved more than most aspiring cyclists, but he doesn't plan to stop there, as he has aspirations to ride professionally for a team one day, and possibly take part in the Olympics too.