By LISA O'DONNELL
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Grace Fleury wasn't much of a tennis player as a teenager, but you could count on her to hustle after the ball.
She was a pretty good runner while at Duke University, competing on the school's cross-country and track teams before injuries forced her to quit.
So she took her athletic skills to triathlons, races that require participants to bicycle, swim and run. After a particularly grueling triathlon, Fleury told herself: "I'm never doing one of these again. This is horrible."
But some fellow tri-athletes noticed something about Fleury during that race. She was good at bicycling. Really good.
After the race, they told her: "You should concentrate on the bike. We can tell you hate the run."
Fleury, only too eager to drop running, took their advice. In the six years since that conversation, she has evolved from a good cyclist at the local level to an internationally elite cyclist with designs on the 2008 Olympics.
Fleury rides with Team Lipton, a professional women's cycling team that pays her a salary and covers all her bicycle-related expenses in domestic races.
Team Lipton is one of the top women's cycling teams in the country and includes among its members, Kristin Armstrong, a 2004 Olympian who won the world and national time-trial championships earlier this year.
Fleury, 28, moved to Winston-Salem with her husband, Dre, a lawyer, in 2003. Earlier this month, she wrapped up a cycling season that included trips to France, Holland, El Salvador and several cities across the United States.
"Some women get in the sport gradually," Fleury said. "For me, I did one race and thought, 'I gotta get in the next one.' I was obsessed."
For the next month or so, she plans to piddle around the house and let her body recover from the grueling race circuit. Sometime in November, she will resume training in anticipation of the racing season, which begins in March.
Armstrong (no relation to that other cycling Armstrong) called Fleury a talented cyclist who has progressed quickly up the cycling chain. While some women excel in certain styles of racing -sprints, time trials, long-distance _ Fleury has developed into an all-around cyclist, though she is particularly strong in time trials and climbs, Armstrong said.
In May, Fleury won a stage in the prestigious Tour de l'Aude, a race that is the women's equivalent of the Tour de France. That win gave Fleury a boost of what all elite cyclists need _ confidence, Armstrong said.
Initially, Armstrong wondered if the giggling, sweet-natured Fleury had the killer instinct required to bury an opponent.
"When I first met her I thought, 'How can she have a mean streak?' But when she is asked to do something for the team or to go for a win, I wouldn't want to go against her," Armstrong said. "She's very driven, and when it's time to race a bike, her game face is on."
Armstrong said Fleury is among the top 10 cyclists in the United States. But to make the 2008 Olympic team, Fleury will need to take a big leap in 2007. USA Cycling, the sport's governing body, will pick three women for the Olympic team. Though it has not released what criteria it will use to make the selections, cyclists who perform well in international events will be attractive candidates.
In 2000, Fleury entered her first bike races, mostly criteriums, which are races on short courses, in cities around the Southeast. To her surprise, she won many of them.
"If no one knows who you are, and you are wearing funny clothes and riding a funny bike, they let you go," Fleury said. "Once they find out you are strong, they are not going to let you win."
Eventually, word of Fleury's talent spread. She was invited to join regional and then national teams. She landed a ride with Team Lipton in August 2005.
Fleury believes God gave her the gift of bicycling. She quoted a line from "Chariot's of Fire" from Eric Liddle, a British runner, who said, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure."
The quote, Fleury said, sums up her feelings about bicycling.
Off the bike, Dre Fleury said his wife is laid-back and funny. They like to hike, kayak and fish. A few days ago, she was even sore from a hike they took in Pilot Mountain State Park.
Fleury, who calls herself a "stay-at-home bike racer," said she doesn't know how long she will continue to race professionally. Many women don't reach their peak until they are in their 30s.
"Dre and I try to decide every year 'Do I want to keep going?' We'd like to have a family or try to. But it's a hard sport to have kids and keep competing," she said.
Lisa O'Donnell can be reached at lo'donnell(at)wsjournal.com.
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