When I was eleven years old, I was finally tall enough to just barely fit on my mother’s road bike and having seen my father kit up and ride so many times, I told him I wanted to try road riding with him. Being his favorite activity, he was thrilled! He got me my own pair of cycling shoes outfitted with SPD cleats, and my first jersey and cycling shorts. The jersey was orange, pink and covered in palm trees, a thing of beauty, really. Turns out I fell in love with the sport, riding every weekend with my dad, and doing some occasional longer sponsored rides (my longest being 50 miles, not bad for an 11 year old!). I started waking up early during the summer to watch stages of the Tour de France, and had all sorts of stats and facts memorized about the riders. Probably the embarrassingly funny bit was that my AOL screenname was “FutureProCyclist.” Continue reading →