Allow me the opportunity to introduce myself.
My name is Tiffany Keep, a 25-year-old South African cyclist. Born and raised in Durban, Kwa-Zulu-Natal, now living in Stellenbosch for the Southern Hemisphere  Summers. I am currently pursuing the dream of racing at the highest level in the world for road cycling, which is why, for over half the year, Northern Hemisphere Summers, I am based in Europe. Chasing sunshine and the dream, around the globe since 2022. But realistically, for much longer than that.

How it all started.
I began racing at the age of 10, with my roots grounded in cross-country mountain biking. It was my dad who taught me how to ride a bike and got me into racing. He saw a potential early on that I didn’t even know existed. My first taste of racing lit the fire of the competitive drive I have for cycling, and the rest is history. We worked our way up from inter-schools and inter-provincial racing, all the way up to national level, winning my first National titles off-road, a few years before I jumped on a road bike for the first time. I say “we” because even though cycling is an individual sport, behind the singular athlete who stands on the start line is a whole support team who has helped them get there. Success is never an individual effort. 

The Teen years.
The good results in South Africa motivated me to continue pushing my limits, and it was at the Cascades Mountain Bike World Cup, hosted in Pietermaritzburg, where I had the privilege of watching some of the world’s best Cross-Country riders battle on local trails, that I realized the potential of creating cycling into a career one day. That has to be the coolest job in the world, right?! The thing is that cycling is a Eurocentric sport, and this is where the best in the world compete. I would only begin to understand how tough the sport can be when I did my first stint overseas at the 2016 Errigal International Youth Road Cycling Tour in Ireland. A multi-day race where we raced with the boys, and I managed to walk away with the overall win in the Under-16 girls’ category. The years that followed included various international stints on the mountain bike and representing South Africa at the World Championships for Cross-Country. As far as I was concerned, mountain biking was where I wanted to be.

Racing with the big girls.
Things changed after a 7-week Europe trip with the National team during my first-year Under-23 in 2019. 18 years old, racing with riders double my age, and some of the best in the world. Needless to say, it was a huge wake-up call. I realized that a lot of hard work lay between where I was and where I wanted to be, but also the potential and opportunity of racing on the road. Juggling university and cycling, once we’d reached the other side of Covid and my degree at the end of 2021, I remember standing in the finish area of the 2021 Road Cycling World Championships in Flanders thinking, “If I really want to get better at racing in Europe, I need to spend more time here, immersing myself in it. Next year I’m going to take the leap.” So, in 2022, that’s exactly what I did.

London Calling.
I’ve always believed that if you want to achieve something badly enough, you will do anything to make it happen. That year in 2022, I came over to the UK to race for a British club team called Brother LDN. Based out of London, I had got in contact with the team owner through someone I knew, and via someone they knew. I had never met the manager in person, other than the two Zoom calls I’d had with him, and knew virtually no one in the UK other than my family members who lived there. My South African team at the time were very supportive of me pursuing my dream, and with help from the team, sponsors, family and friends, Project UK had liftoff! I commuted to my first race in London via bike and train, arriving as a complete newbie to the British racing scene. Here I met my team manager, Ian Watson, for the first time, along with two of my teammates. This was the beginning of my racing season in blue and was exactly the fresh start that I needed.

Where I am now.
Fast forward four years, since 2022, I have gradually been spending more time in the Northern hemisphere each year. What started as four months became six, and now, I’m at the point where I spend more time away from home than I do when I’m back. However, during this time, I’ve also seen a compounded effect of progression in my racing. Two years on a club team, achieving success at the British National level and my first UCI podium in 2023, before stepping up to the UCI Continental level with DAS-Hutchinson in 2024.

That same year, I achieved success at home, winning the Cape Town Cycle Tour and realized a lifelong dream of representing South Africa at the Olympic Games in Paris. It has most definitely not been a straightforward journey, and meaningful progress takes time, but through hard work and belief in yourself and from those around you, you can achieve some pretty cool things! In 2026, I am beyond stoked to partner up with Echelon South Africa and BBL Security Products, as they support me and my cycling journey going forward. I can’t wait to see what we can achieve together.

My gear.
I have been using Abus helmets since 2024, racing all around the world with them, and can confidently say that they are some of the best helmets I’ve used. My new favourite is the Airbreaker 2.0 All-in-Purple, which you can find on Echelon’s website here.

Staying safe on the roads is a top priority, too, and I’ve loved using the Lezyne range of lights and tools to ensure I am visible on the road and can fix any mechanical issues I may run into while I’m out training. You can view the full range of Lezyne lights here, and while you’re there, don’t forget to check out both the Abus and BBL bicycle locks and cables to keep your bike secure at all times.

Over the course of the next few months, I’ll be doing more of these blogs and covering my racing endeavours across the pond. So, stay tuned for more to come and let me know if there are any specific stories or topics you’d like to be covered next time!

For now, thanks for getting this far! And thank you to Echelon SA and BBL Security Products for your belief.

See you soon for Blog #2

Tiff