“The doctors and my friends couldn’t believe the way I looked only a couple of days after giving birth” said my recreational soccer coach. “300 sit ups a day will do it for ya.” She lectured us youngsters as she lifted up her baggie t-shirt revealing her perfectly flat and muscular midsection. Not only was I intrigued by Mimi herself but I was also intrigued by sports, especially soccer at the time.
I wanted to be on the Columbine High School soccer team, so I practiced and practiced. I swung my feet around the ball side to side until my muscles became so fatigued that they started to shake. I juggled the soccer ball on my thighs until I could bounce the ball from one leg to the other without ever letting it touch the ground. I shot the ball endlessly into the goal trying to perfect my aim. When the day came to tryout for the squad I felt confident and ready.
We scrimmaged one another with ferocity and I put my fierce side forward. After the tryouts I felt good about the way that I had performed and hoped that the coaches felt the same way I did. Unfortunately they didn’t, I was not chosen to be on the team and I felt deflated. Now what? For the next 4 years of high school I tried to continue my interest in soccer by becoming part of a recreational team but it just didn’t feel the same.
 By the time I showed up for my college orientation I already had it in my mind that I was going to be a part of something since I felt jipped in high school, but what? I felt like the cross country running team would remind me of my snobby high school athletics. I, of course, didn’t have the experience to be on the soccer team or any other mainstream sport for that matter. A friend mentioned that the women’s mountain bike team was a fun, and laid back group of ladies so I went to the first mountain bike meeting of the season.
The classroom was packed with shaved legs and bulging calf muscles. The guys sure didn’t look laid back to me but I didn’t let that deter me from showing up to tryouts with my Wal-Mart Mongoose bike. “Go!!” yelled the cycling coach and off I pedaled in my Adidas running shoes and cotton workout shorts as hard as I could. I am pretty sure that I finished last but I can’t recall because I had such a blast. I had made the B team!
From the help of a more experienced mountain bike chica I quickly learned that I needed some padded shorts “and you don’t wear underwear under your cycling shorts” Rachel whispered in my ear during the next meeting. Also, it turned out, that my Mongoose wasn’t as good as Robyn’s Litespeed mountain bike. I had a lot to learn and some fitness to gain.
My sophmore year on the college mountain bike team was a bit more viable. I had saved enough money from my summer job to buy a new Trek 6500 and I put in some time on the blue machine before racing began. With a better bike and some fitness my sophomore season was even more fun that my first.
I quickly became addicted to the sport and wanted to win. Just like high school, I put in the time, perfecting my skills and fitness in order to be competitive during the national race. A couple years following my beginner level tryouts, I succeeded in winning  the cross country collegiate national championship. A professional cycling road team recruiter had been at the race looking for young ladies to add to their developmental team.
The following year I was on the professional T-Mobile road racing team as a developmental rider. Even though it was tough to be thrown into such an experience-required sport (with no experience on the road) I am very grateful for the opportunity.
Over the years I have raced at the national professional level for 3 years on the road, 2 years on the professional mountain bike circuit and married a man that I met on the Fort Lewis College cycling team.
Cycling has taken me around the world and has developed who I am as a person. I have watched and supported my husband go from a mid-pack pro mountain bike racer to one of the top American professional road racers competing in International races. In turn, he has been my biggest fan who is always pushing me to strive toward being the best that I can be on my bike. Cycling has given us the opportunity to immerse ourselves in another culture by renting an apartment in Spain as we both continue on with our personal cycling quests.
Not only has cycling pushed my athletic limits; it has pushed me to become a more adventurous person on every level. From my language level to my comfort level; these new experiences day in and day out have formed me into a person that is more wiling to give it a go and not care what  people think.
Life has a direction for all of us and there was a reason that I was not chosen to be on my high school soccer team. I wouldn’t have found cycling. A sport, unlike mainstream sports, that you can participate in whenever and wherever, at any age and with no judgments. I have met numerous spectacular individuals through this shared passion who have impacted my life in so many ways. Mimi can keep on showing her perfectly toned abs because cycling has given me a perfectly toned life.
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