Custom dictates that a little girl adores her father. He is the one holding her hand when she tries to ride a bicycle for the first time.
He’s the one cheering from the side when she starts playing sports. And he will be the one that stares down her first partner when that dreaded motorbike pulls up in the driveway.
Lelethu Zulu will never be afforded those simple pleasures after her father, the late motor-racing driver Gugu Zulu, passed away while ascending Mount Kilimanjaro when she was just a toddler eight years ago.
But what Lelethu does have is a steel-willed mother, Letshego Zulu, who was by Gugu’s side on the infamous Tanzanian mountain and continues to defy stereotypes through her actions.
It is unfathomable to comprehend how many hours in a day Letshego needs to accomplish her many daily tasks. The 40-year-old is a celebrated author, motivational speaker, qualified biokineticist, business entrepreneur and co-founder of PopUpGym, reality TV star, and of course, mother to her beloved daughter Lelethu.
But one of her biggest passions remains the Absa Cape Epic. Ever since Gugu introduced her to"the Tour de France of mountain biking", the Gauteng resident has returned to the picturesque Paarl winelands to put her body through some of the most rigorous tests.
She made history by becoming the first Black African woman to participate in the Absa Cape Epic and is currently riding her fifth race - eclipsing her late husband’s four.
"Yeah, this is my fifth Absa Cape Epic. So, I guess I don't want to call myself a veteran because there are people that have done this 20 times," Letshego exclusively told the Indy Sport Show.
"The motivation for me has always been to show other women that anything is possible. You know an event like this is at an international level. It is the toughest multi-stage mountain bike race and as women of colour we don't often get exposed to such things.
"So, for me the journey actually began 13 years ago when my now late husband, Gugu Zulu, came home one day and said 'We need to go do the Absa Cape Epic'. And I said, 'What is that?' And he said it's an eight-day mountain bike race.
"I said, 'You are crazy!' He then said, 'You know that no woman of colour has ever done or even crossed the finish line of the Absa Cape Epic?'. That's where he got me. I said I will go out there and I will show women that they can do it."
After Gugu's passing, and with her little daughter Lelethu now looking up at her for inspiration, the fire within Letshego only grew stronger to be the major role model.
"She (Lelethu) knows the Absa Cape Epic very well. She's been here twice. She was here as a one-year-old baby when her dad was doing his fourth Absa Cape Epic," Letshego said.
"So he did four. I'm about to break his record (laughs). I've just been one of those people that just continuously throws themselves into all kinds of crazy challenges to show others that it is possible.
"And that's why I'll continue to come back to races like the Absa Cape Epic. To continue to encourage and inspire other women to take it up."
The physical and mental examination of the Absa Cape Epic has no boundaries. Temperatures up in the Drakenstein mountains can exceed 50 degrees - like it did during Wednesday’s Stage 3 which had to be cancelled by the organisers due to health and safety procedures - and then followed by rain and gusts of wind the next day.
Blood is shed when the body grazes the rough terrain. And tears flow due to simple exhaustion.
"That's the nature of the Absa Cape Epic. It will throw all kinds of weather, all kinds of elements at you and you just have to be ready and be ready to roll with it.
"I'm lucky to have a coach who's a sports scientist. So, I actually about a month ago did a heat training protocol where for two weeks straight after every single training session, I would jump into the sauna for 20 minutes.
"But not everybody knows how to do heat training or heat acclimatization as it's known, so I can easily say the heat wasn't really a factor for me because I went through extreme measures to prepare for it."
Equally, Letshego feels "the sacrifices" she has undertaken in preparing for the Absa Cape Epic is actually, though, a privilege, which she owes to her "ancestors" for their efforts on 21 March 1960 when 69 people died and 180 were wounded when the Apartheid police fired on a peaceful crowd that had gathered in protest against the Pass laws in Sharpeville.
The Sharpeville massacre is now commemorated as Human Rights every year on 21 March in South Africa as a reminder of our rights and the cost paid for our treasured human rights.
"Our ancestors essentially walked so that we can run - and indeed ride!" Letshego said.
"For me to be able to be here, they sacrificed a lot, exactly for me to be here, to be able to ride a bike freely in our country in these wonderful vineyards.
"You know, I'm from Gauteng, so every time I come out here, I get blown away by the beauty of this country.
"We are blessed to have, I think there's two young girls that are under 25 that are taking part, both of them, in their first Absa Cape Epic this year.
"You know, one of the ladies said to me the other day that when I did my first Absa Cape Epic 12 years ago, she didn't even know what a bicycle was.
"So, and she literally said to me, you walked so that we can run or ride. So yeah, I think for me, I'll be happy if I've paved the way for others to partake in events like this."