Ayesha Rosena Anna McGowan (born April 2, 1987) is an American professional

racing cyclist Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling spo ...

who currently rides for UCI Women's World Team . She is also an activist and advocate aiming to improve diversity and inclusivity in cycling, especially for women and ethnic minorities. She is the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

woman on a professional road cycling team.

Early life and amateur career

Unlike many professional cyclists who begin racing competitively at a young age, McGowan only started cycling as a commuter student at the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. After graduation in 2010, she moved to

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, where she worked as a daycare teacher and taught private music lessons for five years. After seven years of commuting, McGowan made her racing debut at the 2014 Red Hook Crit in Brooklyn, the first edition to feature separate men's and women's races. Later that same year, she took her maiden victory in the Category 4 race at the New York State Criterium Championships in White Plains.

Professional career

In 2019, McGowan made her UCI professional-level racing debut when she competed in the

Joe Martin Stage Race Joe Martin Stage Race was a road cycling stage race held annually in Fayetteville, Arkansas between 1978 and 2023. It was part of the UCI America Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were intr ...

and in the Colorado Classic. On the third stage of the Colorado Classic, her attacking efforts garnered her significant attention and won her the Most Inspirational jersey for that stage. Though McGowan had been a member of for the 2020 season while racing domestically, she made the step up to the professional

UCI Women's Team A UCI Women's Team is a women's road bicycle team sanctioned by the International Cycling Union ( UCI). These teams compete in the major women's bicycle races including the UCI Women's World Tour. The country designation of each team is determine ...

in 2021 as a satellite/trainee rider. This allowed her to make her racing debut with the team after August 1, as per

UCI UCI most commonly refers to: * University of California, Irvine, a public university in Irvine, California, United States * Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for the sport of cycling UCI may also refer to: * Uganda Cancer In ...

regulations. This debut came in early September, when McGowan was selected for the

Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l'Ardèche is a women's staged cycle race which takes place in the Ardèche Ardèche (; , ; ) is a Departments of France, department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Southeastern France. It is named after th ...

. McGowan featured in the winning breakaway on stage 6, placing seventh, before eventually finishing 50th overall. For the 2022 season, , now as , retained McGowan, who signed as a full-fledged professional.

References

External links

* 1987 births American female cyclists Living people Sportspeople from Atlanta 21st-century American sportswomen 21st-century African-American sportswomen Cyclists from Georgia (U.S. state) {{US-cycling-bio-1980s-stub