Eighteen-year-old Cherise Taylor continued her meteoric rise up cycling’s ladder of success when she won the Elite women’s road race at her first attempt at the South African road cycling championships in East London on Sunday.

Taylor made the most of her strong MTN team support and then unleashed her snappy sprint to outgallop four other riders at the end of the 121km race, which took place in blustery conditions. The silver medal went to Robyn de Groot (Proline) with Elzette Visage (Cycle Lab Toyota) rounding out the podium places.

For a few moments, Team MTN Energade professional, Ian McLeod, felt no pain when he climbed to the top of the podium to receive his gold medal after winning the Elite men’s 181km event at the South African road cycling championships in East London on Sunday.

It was McLeod’s first major victory since 2004, mostly because he’s struggled with a series of injuries over the past few years, but partly because he’s spent much of his career riding as a ‘domestique’ for more illustrious teammates.

Hey Guys, Last night was the second Bell night race at the Mr Price Karkloof festivle. The race was really awesome as it was a bit wet and made for plenty of crashes, My bad luck continued with a crash before the start and broke my back brake lever in half, which meant no back brakes for me the whole race.

All was not that bad as it was my first ride in my new SA champs kit and it looked really pimp... Always say if you look really good on the start line your job is half done. Thanks to Rob from Specialized for flying all the way to the states and bringing me the awesome finishing touches.

South African BMX star Sifiso Nhlapo spent Saturday night celebrating his victory in Round 11 of the European Champs and then spent Sunday night in a German hospital following a serious crash during Round 12 on Sunday.

Once he’d woken from being comatose for four hours on Sunday night and given the all clear from doctors, Nhlapo was able to appreciate his second place overall in the 2008 European Championships, the most competitive international BMX series in the world.