By Scott Swanson, press.com
02/27/2007

The name Andrea Myers isn't well-known yet, even in the cycling world. But it will be, and very soon.

Right now, Myers is settling into training with Westport, Conn.-based TargetTraining, an organization that trains elite national-level professional cyclists.

It's a long way from going nowhere fast.

Myers, an ex-marathoner coming back from a leg injury, began her bicycling career on a spin bike at the Davenport YMCA. Teaching her spinning class was Moline businessman Donnie Miller, now owner-manager of Donnie's Indoor Cycling Experience in Moline.

Miller invited Myers -- a 2001 Moline High School graduate -- to ride with the Double-I Cycling Experience (DICE) team, sponsored by the Quad City Bicycle Club (QCBC). Fellow DICE team member Bruce Grell, owner of Healthy Habits Bike Shop in Bettendorf, put her on a bike.

The rest, as they say, is history. Or her story, in Myers' case.

In one of her first races, the Rolla Hellbender in Missouri, she rode away from the beginner level (Cat. 4) women's field and soloed her way to a win. At the Gateway Cup races in St. Louis, she earned the nickname "the Red Diesel" because she was leading the field around the course with the other riders following her, as if she were a semi-truck.

Myers capped her introductory campaign with a seventh-place finish at the national championships in the Chicago area, competing against a larger group of far-stronger riders, all of this while still recuperating from a leg injury.

In 2006, Myers moved to Team Kenda Tire, along with former DICE members Emilie Duchow and Deb Wood. She moved up to a higher-ability class and continued winning. She went back to Rolla, taking first in the women's elite race.

Later that same year, she finished third in the women's Illinois State road race championship; the day after, she was second in her category race and the elite-level race.

A 23rd-place finish at the Elite National Championship, and an eighth at Bensenville during Superweek (a week-long series of races in Wisconsin with national-level competition) were also high points of the 2006 season.

Myers got special recognition from Team Kenda by being chosen for the Blue/Uvex team to ride in the Nature Valley Gran Prix, a multi-day national-level event in Minnesota. She later said it "was kind of my breakout race that showed me I could race with the pros."

Now, her story is about to come full circle in 2007. Myers was recruited by TargetTraining to race against national-level pro teams such as Team Lipton, Colavita and Webcor. She'll be traveling to El Salvador to race in the Vuelta Ciclista Femenina El Salvador, a one-day race followed by a five-day stage race.

As part of a six-woman team, Andrea will be starting a 25-race season as part of TargetTraining. She has her eye set on improving her sprinting and climbing, and then translating those skills into some top-10 finishes.

Should cycling not work out, Myers has a career to fall back on if she needs it. After graduating from St. Ambrose University, she recently passed her exam to become a licensed physical therapist, balancing her racing and training schedule as a physical therapist at a clinic near the TargetTraining center.

This may be the first time Myers' name has appeared in print, but it probably won't be the last time. She may have started on a bike going nowhere, but now she's headed somewhere fast.

Scott Swanson is a teacher at Scott Community College, a member of the Quad City Bicycle Club and its DICE racing team.