My Story - Riana Nel


This is my story - I am a cyclist - not a very good one - but I love cycling - as you will see on the first photo my late husband and I cycled on the tandem - I did eight Argus Cycle tours - five on my own bike and three on the tandem with my late husband - then on that critical morning of the 8 th March 2010 on the morning of my late husband 60th 🎉 birthday he went out to Cycle and was killed on his bike with two other cyclists Uncle Jan and Magda just outside Oudtshoorn - by a motorist - At that stage I was a Colonel in SAPS and the Commander of a police Academy of over 600 people

I was that morning early at work. Heard that there was an accident,did not know who was envolved, drove out to the accident scene and found my late husband killed on the scene - as we were a very happy close knit family we were devistated and could not understand why a wonderfully dedicated father being taken away from his loved ones- I stoped all kinds of exercises which I normally loved and had a passion for - even for my personnel and trainees I always promoted fitness although I hated the fact that me and my family was treated so unfairly by this circumstances - i was in a bad state as understandable I did not want to do anything pertaining to exercise in the last six yrs - however I would always encourage people to exercise but inside me I rebelled -

Then my good friend Jenny Young in Cape Town where I always stayed for work, introduced me to the BBBD / it was like a miracle happened in my life - I started reading the posts and information and also I did not need to ask questions because this was so easy and all the questions ask by other banters, was easily answered by the administrators of this site - you just have to read - so I bought myself a mountainbike as I became scared of roadbikes and started cycling again / in the beginning it was very hard but as time goes by, I progressed and through this site got all the tips to keep me going - as you could see I came down from 118 cm around my waiste to just 95 -and through my great friends Julie and Steve Hellqvist- I was registered for the Cape Town Cycle Tour in Cape Town for Sunday 12 March - just four days from the date that my late husband was killed seven years ago - but let me tell you , I have lost not only cm, but also 20 kg🤣It was not easy, I have a new energy for life, it is so sustainable and the one drawback I have is that I am also allergic to avo's / but I have found alternative ways to supplement it -

I am not thin or where I want to be in terms of weight,but I know one thing and it is that my resting heartrate went from 73 to 47 / I am fit and feeling the best in years -so just pray for me that I make this race - I am riding in a pink jersey for all the cancer survivors and every person who is fighting cancers and will have purple feathers on my helmet to commemorate that my late husband so much wanted to do his tenth Argus (now called Cape Town Cycle Tour) just to get his permanent number, but never had the opportunity,so Frank this one is for you -BBBD is the lifestyle that brought me back te life after death had tried to kill my Spirit and I am ecstatic/ hold thumbs guys as it is a grueling 109 km and I am doing it for the first time on a mountain bike