Nicole Louise Reinhart (June 3, 1976 – September 17, 2000) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

professional track and

road racing cyclist Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The two most comm ...

who twice won gold medals in cycling at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

Early life

Reinhart grew up in

Macungie, Pennsylvania Macungie is a borough in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, United States, its second oldest. As of the 2020 census, Macungie had a population of 3,257. Macungie is a suburb of Allentown, and part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a ...

in the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley () is a geography, geographic and urban area, metropolitan region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh and Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton counties in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a co ...

region of the state. She was a nine-time

USA Cycling USA Cycling or USAC, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is the national governing body for bicycle racing in the United States. It covers the disciplines of road, track, mountain bike, cyclo-cross, and BMX across all ages and ability levels. ...

Junior (18 and under) national champion. As a student at

Emmaus High School Emmaus High School is a large public high school located in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. The school serves grades 9–12 in Pennsylvania's East Penn School District in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. Emmaus High School is located im ...

Emmaus, Pennsylvania Emmaus ( ) is a borough in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, it had a population of 11,652. Emmaus is located in the Lehigh Valley, the third-largest metropolitan area in Pennsylvania and 68th-largest metrop ...

, she won three U.S. fitness championships and excelled on Emmaus's cross-country and track teams in the highly competitive East Penn Conference.

Pan American Games and other championships

After graduating from Emmaus High School in 1994, Reinhart focused on cycling and won two national élite track championships and two gold medals at the

. In 1999, she signed for Saturn Women's Professional Cycling Team and won nine races that year, followed by another 13 in 2000.

Death

On September 17, 2000, Reinhart was killed during a 42-mile circuit race held on a 3.5-mile course in

Arlington, Massachusetts Arlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is six miles (10 km) northwest of Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, and its population was 46,308 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Europe ...

. Her left pedal and foot hit a concrete curb, and she was thrown from her bicycle and struck a tree. (The accident that killed

Wouter Weylandt Wouter Weylandt (27 September 1984 – 9 May 2011) was a Belgian professional cyclist for UCI ProTeam and later for . His first major win was the 17th stage of the 2008 Vuelta a España. He also won the third stage of the 2010 Giro d'Italia. He ...

in May 2011 happened in almost precisely the same manner.) The event was the last of four races comprising the 2000 BMC Software Cycling Grand Prix. She had won the previous three; the organizers offered $250,000 to any rider who won all four. The prize was donated to her family, who established the Nicole Reinhart Foundation in

in her honor. A park or playground at the Cutter School in Arlington, Massachusetts was named in her honor as a memorial, and dedicated in 2001. In 2004, Reinhart was inducted posthumously into the Lehigh Valley Velodrome Hall of Fame in

Breinigsville, Pennsylvania Breinigsville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 7,495. The town is part of Upper Macungie Township and is located approximately south ...

Major cycling achievements

;2000 – Saturn Women's Professional Cycling Team :1st Clarendon Cup *1st – BMC Software Tour of San Jose (

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

) *1st – BMC Software Tour of Houston (

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

) *1st – BMC Software Downtown Criterium (

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) *1st, Prologue – Redlands Bicycle Classic *3rd – Women's 25 km points race, U.S. Olympic Track Trials ;1999 – Saturn Women's Professional Cycling Team :1st Clarendon Cup *1st, Stage 3 (25-mile criterium) – Redlands Bicycle Classic *3rd, Prologue – Redlands Bicycle Classic *10th – Sea Otter Classic - Final General Classification ** 10th – Sea Otter Classic (Robert Talbott Pro/Elite Circuit Race) ** 20th – Sea Otter Classic (Robert Talbott Pro/Elite Time Trial) ** 38th – Sea Otter Classic (Robert Talbott Pro/Elite Road Stage Race) ;1998 *1st, Prologue – Redlands Bicycle Classic *1st, Women's 3 km Scratch Race – EDS Spring Classic *1st, Women's Miss and Out – EDS Spring Classic *3rd, Women's 500 m Sprint – UCI World Track Cup ;1997 *1st, Women's 500 m Sprint – EDS Track Cup *1st, Women's Points Race – EDS Track Cup *Quarterfinals, Women's Match Sprint – UCI World Track Cup ;1996 *1st, Women's 500 m Sprint – Pan American Championships *1st, Road race – Pan American Championships ;1994 *17-18 2000m TT – Junior Women Track Champion *17-18 Criterium – Junior Women Road Champion ;1993 *17-18 Points Race – Junior Women Track Champion *17-18 Sprints – Junior Women Track Champion *17-18 Criterium – Junior Women Road Champion ;1992 *15-16 Omnium – Junior Women Track Champion *15-16 Criterium – Junior Women Road Champion *15-16 Road – Junior Women Road Champion

U.S. national records

*11.666 seconds – Junior Women Track Time Trial Flying Start (200 m),

Quito, Ecuador Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

, July 26, 1994 (since broken).

References

External links

*
"Cycling & Faith" at Good Spin

Nicole Reinhart biography at WEPan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reinhart, Nicole 1976 births 2000 deaths 20th-century American women American female cyclists American track cyclists Cyclists from Pennsylvania Cyclists who died while racing Emmaus High School alumni Sports deaths in Massachusetts Sportspeople from Lehigh County, Pennsylvania