National attention follows senior cyclist Mara Abbott as she prepares to leave on Saturday to race in the UCI World Championships.
Recently, Abbott was featured in two national sports magazines. Abbott is part of the “Faces in the Crowd” section in the Aug. 27 issue of Sports Illustrated. And Abbott is the cover story for the Aug. 30 issue of VeloNews, the journal of competitive cycling.
Over the summer Abbott, who had never participated in competitive cycling before her first year at Whitman, became an international cycling sensation. On June 2 she finished second at the Montreal World Cup. Then she won the USA Cycling National Festival championship on July 16 after outsprinting 2004 Olympian Kristin Armstrong.
Over the last three years Abbott has developed best as a climbing cyclist. “It can be good in that it puts you in position to go for the overall race, or it can be useful in helping someone else go for the overall race,” said Abbott.
But Abbott is more than just the new face in the cycling world. She is a collegiate swimmer and a full-time student majoring in economics with the intention of someday going on to graduate school.
While Abbott has become famous as a cyclist, she refuses to give up swimming. On Monday she attended the first Whitman swim practice of the season. “I’m actually a little nervous about getting back into swimming. I took the summer off from swimming, which I’ve never done before, and I’ve lost a lot of upper body muscle,” said Abbott.
When Abbott is not swimming or cycling, she prepares for her classes. She remembers a race last May in which she won a stage. “After I won the stage, everyone was congratulating me and asking how I was going to celebrate. I told them I had to go take an econometrics test. It wasn’t very exciting,” said Abbott.
After Abbott graduates in May, she plans to cycle full-time for at least one year. She hopes to ride for a team in Europe. At that time she will be eligible to receive a salary from her team. She currently rides for the team Webcor, but she is unable to receive a salary because it would revoke her eligibility to swim for Whitman.
Abbott is looking forward to her career in cycling, but she intends to reevaluate her career every year. She plans to attend graduate school in the future, perhaps for economics or international relations. Abbott is inspired by her teammate Amber Rais who works on an environmental project as a part-time research assistant for Stanford University.
In the meantime, Abbott is preparing for the world championships. This year the UCI World Championships take place in Stuttgart, Germany, Sep. 25-30. Abbott will first travel to Italy with the U.S. national team to practice for six days. Then Abbott will compete in the championship women’s elite road race on Sep. 29. “I don’t have any feelings of anticipation. I’m just going to go, and I’ll see how it goes,” said Abbott.
Random facts about Mara Abbott:
She hates being asked about doing triathlons. “I love what I’m doing now. Why do I need a third sport?” said Abbott.
Going to the Olympics is not a formal goal for her. “If it happens, that’d be awesome. But if not, that’s fine,” said Abbott.
Her “campus cruiser” was thrown off a bridge into Mill Creek last year.
She rides 20-100 miles a day.
Her favorite class is environmental and natural resource economics.
She eats four Fuji apples every day.
