Maeve Plouffe – My Cycling Journey
A few words as I enjoy the ride
A few words as I enjoy the ride
Despite the setbacks that sport has had due to Covid-19, it’s a really amazing time in my life right now, as I train for my first Olympic Games! I’m now a part of the Australian Olympic Cycling Team and it’s soooo awesome. The games are delayed for 12 months yes, but I’m focused and have been using this time wisely. Looking back at how it all started, it’s been a dream for me and I have to pinch myself 🙂 I was 13 years old sports fan and swimmer, but decided to go through Talent ID testing because I was curious, and perhaps wanted to get into rowing.
They identified me as a talent for cycling, but I wasn’t very keen on it, but hey, who knows – so I decided to give it a go anyways 😉 They gave me a track bike and a couple of training sessions and I loved it. I especially loved going fast on the bike and being on the track in general. None of my family was into cycling though, so the transition was a bit challenging.
Eventually I started training with the triathlon team on the road and was grateful to have a triathlon group to ride with. As a 13 year old girl, road training was a challenge without a group because being out on the open roads with little knowledge or experience was a bit daunting.
Anyway, fast forward a few years and here I am, wearing our flag, having competed in my first World Championships, and now training for the Olympics!
Cycling has always given me the freedom to explore places, and I love riding with my friends and having a fun time. If I can I want to inspire more women to get out riding, as I understand that sometimes finding a group to ride with as a woman starting out can be challenging – it’s no secret that there are substantially less female cyclists in the sport. I’d encourage women to not feel embarrassed or ashamed to ride with the boys, and to never feel like you are slowing them down!
And great news – here we are in early 2021 and I’m a National Champion, having won the U23 Crit title! 🙂 Ireally am so amazed at how things are progressing.
Everyone starts somewhere. If you’re lucky enough, you’ll find an awesome group of like-minded girls to push you in training and racing. Find someone who inspires you and connect!
I’ll be writing a regular blog here on Pedalnorth.com about my training, my thoughts, my fears and challenges and a few fun things too. It seems a great way to capture the journey and to hopefully inspire others to get on a bike and see where the ride takes you – my ride is heading for Tokyo and you can join me on this amazing journey, so keep checking in and catching up with me.
In the meantime, check out my social media feeds on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and lets share a few thoughts and images. We all have dreams in life and the South Australia Sports Institute helped be to believe and to find out what’s possible – now, lets ride!
Don’t forget to read my blogs below 🙂