![\"ccs-62657-0-88073700-1414675830.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-88073700-1414675830.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nParsons, who is currently in grade eight at Huguenot High School, said it was her ultimate ambition to become a full-time pro once she completed her schooling.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sport is demanding and that would be the perfect reward for the hard work \u2013 to ride my bike as my job.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of the Bestmed-ASG set-up, she said she hoped to add the 2015 national road title in her age category to her existing accolades.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this is achievable with hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Extra effort is something Parsons is not afraid of, as she juggles her daily schoolwork and training schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not always easy, but with discipline and a little push and shove from my family, I manage it.\u201d<\/p>\n
With both her parents having been competitive cyclists, she said her involvement in the sport seemed somehow inevitable.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the age of four I started riding short fun rides and, after falling in love with the sport, I entered my very first Eric van Enter interprovincial competition at age nine and have never looked back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her brother Alexander is a first-year junior provincial cyclist and her father is former junior Springbok rider Colin Parsons.<\/p>\n
\u201cRacing from the age of seven, there were many things I missed out on as a youngster because I was in love with the sport,\u201d said Colin, who counts racing for the national road team in Belgium, winning the SA madison champs alongside Robbie Dale and finishing fourth in the Argus among his many achievements.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tell Ash and Alex to partake in other activities but they both enjoy the sport and show good dedication, so I support their choice of cycling all the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Ashleigh\u2019s true commitment was demonstrated in Bloemfontein a few weeks ago when she was involved in a crash on day one of the interprovincial track champs.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe bounced back for the time trial the following day, only to be involved in another crash involving an unauthorised vehicle in the finish area.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter X-rays she was cleared to race the next day and went on to win the criterium. She shows great mental strength and determination which I believe will take her to great achievements.\u201d<\/p>\n
For racing updates, follow @TeamBestmed_asg<\/a> or find the team on Facebook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three-time national track champion Ashleigh Parsons will join the Bestmed-ASG women\u2019s professional cycling team for the 2015 season, the team management has announced. Multiple national track champion Ashleigh Parsons has signed with the Bestmed-ASG women\u2019s professional cycling team for the 2015 season. The 14-year-old Parsons, who is also the Western Cape road and time-trial champion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":50528,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3367,1753],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-20775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-ashleigh-parsons","tag-bestmed-asg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20775"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=20775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"ccs-62657-0-39872000-1414675833.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.bikehub.co.za\/production\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ccs-62657-0-39872000-1414675833.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n