Taverner's pedal power

Daryn Wood

NELSON Mandela Bay track cyclist Susan Taverner is a master of her field, having returned from the Track Cycling Masters’ World Championships in Manchester, England, last month with a gold medal and new world record in the 2000m pursuit.
Her world record age group time of 2 minutes 44 sec in the eight lap event beat the previous world record time of 2 minutes 46.551 seconds set by Australian Shirley Amy in Sydney in 2009.
Taverner, 55, also won gold in the 500m time trial and beat her personal best time in the 200m qualifiers.

She has competed in four successive world champs and her international medal count now stands at 10.
“It has taken hard work and dedication,” said Taverner. “I have been chasing this for the last four years.”
She said winning gold and breaking the world record were the goals she set herself before the competition.
Taverner competed in the 45 to 55 age group, riding against younger cyclists.
The competition was tough, said Taverner, but it did not bother her and it only made her cycle harder.
All her focus went into breaking the world record, said Taverner. She trained five hours a day, 12 weeks before the competition.
The day before the race, she mentally prepared herself by visualising the race to “start getting into the zone”.
“This paid off,” she said.
The Walmer resident has dominated the local track scene for the past several years. She won five gold medals at the South Africa Championships in Belville last year, was named the East Cape female cyclist in 2009 and broke the 2010 South African record for the 2000m individual pursuit in a time of 2 minutes and 43.832 seconds.
Taverner has also been the SA age group 2000m pursuit title holder for the last four years.
She said track cycling can be very technical and factors such as gearing, track speed and weather come into play.
“But I just get on that bike and ride. I let my coach figure out the rest.”
Even though she focuses on track cycling, Taverner is also a competent road cyclist, having won gold at the SA Road Time Trial Championships in February this year.
The mother of six receives a lot of support from her family and they are always behind her, she said.
“I will carry on as long as I can. My goal is to keep and hopefully break my own world record at next year’s world champs.”