ESC Meaux
In December I joined a women’s cycling team, ESC Meaux, and in March we began racing. The equipe feminine is in its infancy, but the club itself has a long history and well developed juniors and men’s program. Before I tell stories of our race weekends I will introduce my teammates.
I have grown closest to Wendy, a 30 year old Australian who quit her IT job at in S. Australia to spend a year racing and traveling around Europe. She does not speak any French and is working at the McDonald’s in Meaux, the town where the team is centered, in order to supplement the money she made off of real estate investments back home which is supporting her.
It was through Stefanie’s boyfriend, Cedric that I joined the team. His family owns my favorite bike shop in Paris. One day I expressed an interest in racing and the same night he talked to Stefanie and set me up with the team. Stefanie is 29 and does part time consulting for pharmaceutical writing. Both she and Cedric are ‘gorgeous’, as Wendy describes them, referring to their personalities rather than any physical qualities.
Sonia rivals Stefanie as the kindest member of the team. She is a 27 year old special ed. teacher who embodies the serenity and kindness expected from such a profession. She is also one of the strongest members of the team and is so unassuming that you don’t realize she consistently has some of the best results of the team. She is just under six feet tall and has a body that I didn’t know existed in real women, yet seems genuinely unaware of the fact. Her mechanic husband, Jean-Claude, matches her for kindness and takes care of all of our bikes at races.
We have two other teachers on the team: Marilyn, whom I have only met at one race, and Elise, whom I have unfortunately raced with many times. Elise is a gym teacher who looks and acts like a 13 year old boy. She has caused quite a few problems on the team and generally annoys everyone by talking incessantly and making fun of whomever is around her.
There are two girls younger than me. Celine, a high school student whom I only raced with a couple of times, seems fairly nice but I do not know her well. Marie-Laure, 20, is one of the stars of the team, and of espoir cycling in France. She is national champion in a couple of track cycling events and hopes to go to the espoir (U21) world championships this year. She is very nice and although she is obviously aware of her accomplishments, has no problem integrating herself into any group. She not in a university but is following a program to become a policewoman.
The team was formed grace a Claudia. She is the masters world champion in road, cyclo-cross and time trial for the past three years. A motherly figure, she takes care of the club’s children’s programs and does not travel to the overnight races with us, preferring to stay with her family. It is so cool to show up to races with her in her rainbow world champion uniform.
Lastly I will introduce Cherie, a 33 year old British woman who hops the channel for big races. She has dedicated her life to cycling: from being on the British national team to spending six years as a pro on various European teams and completing as many Tour de Frances. Cherie is now in charge of a boys junior team in England. In 2000 she was almost killed in a hit a run and has been having surgeries to repair the damage ever since.
The list above completes the roster, but many more people permit us to function as a team. I will introduce just one, and present the others through my stories. Our chef is Patrick, the directeur sportif, who organizes all of our competitions, from registration to racing tactics. He drives us to the races and then behind us during the races in our team car, shouting words of encouragement.
Hopefully I will put to paper some of the crazy, fun, and grueling times we have spent together over the past couple of months in the next few weeks so you can see my physicist-by-day, cyclist-by-night life.
I have grown closest to Wendy, a 30 year old Australian who quit her IT job at in S. Australia to spend a year racing and traveling around Europe. She does not speak any French and is working at the McDonald’s in Meaux, the town where the team is centered, in order to supplement the money she made off of real estate investments back home which is supporting her.
It was through Stefanie’s boyfriend, Cedric that I joined the team. His family owns my favorite bike shop in Paris. One day I expressed an interest in racing and the same night he talked to Stefanie and set me up with the team. Stefanie is 29 and does part time consulting for pharmaceutical writing. Both she and Cedric are ‘gorgeous’, as Wendy describes them, referring to their personalities rather than any physical qualities.
Sonia rivals Stefanie as the kindest member of the team. She is a 27 year old special ed. teacher who embodies the serenity and kindness expected from such a profession. She is also one of the strongest members of the team and is so unassuming that you don’t realize she consistently has some of the best results of the team. She is just under six feet tall and has a body that I didn’t know existed in real women, yet seems genuinely unaware of the fact. Her mechanic husband, Jean-Claude, matches her for kindness and takes care of all of our bikes at races.
We have two other teachers on the team: Marilyn, whom I have only met at one race, and Elise, whom I have unfortunately raced with many times. Elise is a gym teacher who looks and acts like a 13 year old boy. She has caused quite a few problems on the team and generally annoys everyone by talking incessantly and making fun of whomever is around her.
There are two girls younger than me. Celine, a high school student whom I only raced with a couple of times, seems fairly nice but I do not know her well. Marie-Laure, 20, is one of the stars of the team, and of espoir cycling in France. She is national champion in a couple of track cycling events and hopes to go to the espoir (U21) world championships this year. She is very nice and although she is obviously aware of her accomplishments, has no problem integrating herself into any group. She not in a university but is following a program to become a policewoman.
The team was formed grace a Claudia. She is the masters world champion in road, cyclo-cross and time trial for the past three years. A motherly figure, she takes care of the club’s children’s programs and does not travel to the overnight races with us, preferring to stay with her family. It is so cool to show up to races with her in her rainbow world champion uniform.
Lastly I will introduce Cherie, a 33 year old British woman who hops the channel for big races. She has dedicated her life to cycling: from being on the British national team to spending six years as a pro on various European teams and completing as many Tour de Frances. Cherie is now in charge of a boys junior team in England. In 2000 she was almost killed in a hit a run and has been having surgeries to repair the damage ever since.
The list above completes the roster, but many more people permit us to function as a team. I will introduce just one, and present the others through my stories. Our chef is Patrick, the directeur sportif, who organizes all of our competitions, from registration to racing tactics. He drives us to the races and then behind us during the races in our team car, shouting words of encouragement.
Hopefully I will put to paper some of the crazy, fun, and grueling times we have spent together over the past couple of months in the next few weeks so you can see my physicist-by-day, cyclist-by-night life.
<< Home