Black female cyclist pioneer Ayesha McGowan on why diverse representation matters: "It's also about gender, ableism and age"
The 35-year-old pro racer hopes that her cycling journey can inspire more African American and Black women and even older people to pursue their passion: "I think it's wild that I'm the only one right now at the World Tour level and it shouldn't be that way."
Cycling Road
Ayesha McGowan knows what it means to find joy and inspiration as a late bloomer.
Unlike many professional female cyclists who start the sport at a young age and reach elite status by their early twenties, the US rider made her racing debut at the age of 26.
“I decided after that first year that I wanted to be pro and didn't know what that meant, didn't know how to do it, didn't know how to get there, what that looked like,” McGowan, who discovered the exhilaration of cycling while commuting to college and work, said in an interview with Olympics.com.
“Having started so late, I lived many lives before I became a bike racer. I think that balance was already a priority for me before I got here. I'm making sure that I can find some joy in what I'm doing.”
The passion for the sport propelled her forward, and her remarkable journey continued in 2021 when she made history as the first African American woman to join a professional road cycling team.
Though her journey may have been lonely and sometimes bumpy, the Liv Racing TeqFind puncheur remains determined to blaze a trail for others and make a lasting impact through her passion for cycling.
“A big part of this journey for me has also been creating space for other people to do this and hopefully showing other Black women, African American women, women of colour, that they can be bike racers,” she said from her base in Girona, Spain.
“I feel like diversity for me is not just about race or ethnicity, it's also about gender and ableism and age.”
Ayesha McGowan’s journey: From commuter and courier to racer
Although McGowan didn't begin her cycling journey until later in life, she had an early affinity for bicycles and even owned two by the age of five.
It wasn't until she attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she studied music and worked part-time as a courier and then as a pre-school teacher, that she began cycling more frequently.
But navigating the roads proved challenging.
“My bike handling skills came from learning, commuting in Boston, and in Brooklyn and New York City where cars do not think you belong there,” she said of her past career.
“And so, you have to make sure that you ride pretty defensively and aggressively to take care of yourself and hope for the best. I am notoriously horrible at navigating, so riding a bike gives me a slightly better handle on where I am geographically and where I need to go. It just gave me freedom and that was awesome.”
McGowan used to cycle roughly 130km (80 miles) to visit her grandmother and that ride helped her gradually build up endurance and aerobic capacity. Being on the bike in cities like Atlanta gave the Georgia native the experience and courage to dive headfirst into the fast-paced world of racing.
After practising on a velodrome in the New York borough of Queens, in 2014 she made her racing debut at a local event in Brooklyn called The Red Hook Crit. Just a few months later, she emerged victorious at the New York State Criterium Championships.
Ayesha McGowan: "It's wild that I'm the only one right now at the World Tour level"
With no pressure to hit major competition milestones, McGowan simply immersed herself in the joy of riding and the thrill of athletic competition.
“I love bikes so much, and there's just so much joy in that for me,” she said.
“Balance is super important. I know that a lot of people in this career don't really have a ton of balance, and they're not better for it. They get very miserable, sometimes they retire early or whatever the case may be.
“But I feel like having started so late, I lived many lives before I became a bike racer. And so I think that balance was already a priority for me before I got here. I know how important it is to prioritise happiness. And even if the results aren't always there, if I am miserable they're definitely not going to come.”
McGowan couldn't help but notice the striking lack of diversity and inclusivity in the sport, both in the USA and abroad. Very few Black cyclists were competing at the highest levels, let alone winning major events.
This disparity was highlighted by a 2020 demographic survey conducted by USA Cycling, which revealed that its members were overwhelmingly white and male.
Only last year Eritrean Biniam Girmay became the first rider of Black African descent to win a Grand Tour stage at the Giro d’Italia following his historic victory at the Gent-Wevelgem in Belgium.
“A big part of what I do beyond racing professionally is creating those opportunities and trying to create a pathway for folks to do this. So once I retire, it's not another 30 to 100 years before you have another African-American female professional road cyclist.
"I think it's wild that I'm the only one right now at the World Tour level and it shouldn't be that way.”
Ayesha McGowan on breaking down barriers that keep minorities off the bike
According to McGowan, there are numerous factors beyond resources that continue to keep Black cyclists from participating in competitive racing.
“There's the cultural barrier, the socioeconomic barrier. It's very financially expensive to get into, and not necessarily bikes itself, but the sport of road racing is not very accessible,” she explained.
“We have been told that cycling can't be a sport for us Black Americans, people of colour. I'm really working hard to change that narrative and also show people that if you want to do it, and you're good at it, and it is fun for you, that is something you can choose to invest in and not necessarily something that is not for you just because someone else said so.”
And she hopes that her groundbreaking achievements can serve as a beacon of hope for aspiring cyclists from underrepresented communities.
McGowan spreads her message through several initiatives, starting from her blog, A Quick Brown Fox.
“I have Thee Abundance Project which creates programming for people to get in, women of colour to get into bike racing, but also creates programmes for people to learn beginner bike lessons and how to do road bike handling skills,” she explained of her virtual ride series.
“Intersectionality is a big deal to me and making sure that all facets of humans are represented because people are not one dimensional. And so you need to make sure that there is coverage for all the things that people can be.” - Ayesha McGowan to Olympics.com
Her cycling story is a testament to the power of perseverance and a reminder that it's never too late to pursue your passions and dreams, inspiring others to do the same.
“My advice is to take a chance on yourself. Believe in yourself, because no one is going to ever believe in you as much as you can believe in yourself. You have to be your number one fan, your number one supporter. And even if you're doubting and like scared, do it anyway. Just go for it. Because you can, if you want to, you can do a thing."
McGowan, who recovered from a surgery early this year, is gradually regaining her form and will be in action on Wednesday 29 March at the Dwars door Vlaanderen, a Belgian classic in the Flanders region.