TRIA Orthopaedic Center Your Cycling Blog

Amanda Miller, a member of the Lip Smacker Cycling Team, has followed a non-traditional path to cycling. She started riding a bike in the spring of 2004 to get in shape for her high school senior year of basketball. After breaking her wrist (twice!) and becoming hooked on cycling, she opted out of playing basketball and bought a mountain bike. Shortly after that, Amanda got a job at the local bike shop and eventually bought her first road bike. Amanda did her first race in April of 2005 and hasn’t stopped since. Amanda is currently studying Natural Resource Management at Colorado State University and will graduate in December of 2009. Amanda raced for Colorado State University and placed 4th in the Division I individual omnium at Collegiate Road Nationals in May 2008. Following this great result, Amanda was invited to participate in the Nature Valley Grand Prix with the Ryan Collegiate All-Stars team.

She now finds herself among the rotating professional cyclists that are posting on the Tria/NVGP blog. Enjoy!

The Nature Valley Grand Prix is just around the corner. Last year (2008) was my first year participating in the race. I was selected to be a member of the Ryan Collegiate All Stars composite team. This composite team was based off individual ominium results at the collegiate national championship held in Fort Collins, CO. I finished fourth in the Division I omnium and was excited to be given the opportunity to race for this team. NVGP was my first stage race. It is pretty special to me because I am from a small town in Southeastern Iowa (Mt. Union,), originally.

I am now living in Fort Collins, CO, so it was nice to come back to the Midwest for such a prestigious event. Everything I had heard about the race coming into it was true. This is one hard, fun race! I had a blast. The fields were huge, the spectators were everywhere, and the courses were brutal. Things started pretty slow for me, with a rain soaked criterium on the first day. I got pulled from the field and was worried I wouldn’t be able to finish the race. Fortunately, the officials decided not to count the criterium and let everyone start the next day. The hardest race of the week was the 90+ mile road race. It was super windy that day and I was put into the “gutter” for most of the cross wind sections. I learned a lot of lessons that day that will hopefully benefit me this year. My favorite race of the week was the Stillwater Criterium. I loved the hill. It was also my best race of the week. The spectators lining the hill were amazing. I am really looking forward to coming back to NVGP this year!

I am racing for the LipSmacker Professional Women’s Cycling team. This is my first year on a professional team. I have been doing a lot of traveling, and am loving it. Though it sometimes takes a toll on a person’s body, I’ve been seeing many places that I never would have seen without cycling. I am very grateful to have the opportunity. I took this past spring semester off to travel to France for a month of racing with the USA National development squad. Usually, I am a full time student at Colorado State University and a part-time bicycle shop employee at Peloton Cycles in Fort Collins, CO. Myself and the rest of the LipSmacker team are looking forward to racing in Minnesota soon. Hope to see you all there!!

Amanda Miller,Lip Smacker,MBF,Minnesota Bike Festival,Nature Valley Grand Prix,NVGP,Ryan Collegiate All Stars     Comments Off