“Nothing like being fired as an athlete to fire you up,” was how Andrea Cyr summed up her surprising performance across the last 11 days at USA Speed Week, finishing second overall as the only female rider with Texas Roadhouse Racing.
Just three weeks before, her season seemed to hit a wall, as her Miami Nights team was abruptly shut down by National Cycling League management, in addition to two other league-owned teams, leaving Cyr and dozens of other riders and staff without employment as the racing season amped to full gear.
A rollercoaster of emotions and physical logistics led her to a freelance gig with Texas Roadhouse, then culminated, in the short term, with re-ignited confidence and fitness leading into the USA Cycling Pro Road National Championships, May 14-19.
“I went into Speed Week feeling insecure and nervous after the fallout of the NCL and getting fired from my team then racing Speed Week with no teammates. But, I ultimately wanted to unravel myself as a racer to try different things,” Cyr told Cyclingnews from her home in Indiana after the series.
“I'm really happy about where my fitness is right now, and it is the strongest I've ever felt. To finish second overall, just a tiny margin away from the overall win, against full teams, while missing some racing and fitting in a full work week 500 miles away that same week was beyond my expectations.”
Her situation bodes well with one week until she lines up at elite women’s races in the criterium and road race at US Pro Road Nationals in Charleston, West Virginia. Now in her 14th season of racing on the road, she earned a silver medal in the 35-39 age group at the US Cyclocross Nationals last December. She has only raced road nationals one other time, so it is a new challenge for the 36-year-old.
“I am hoping to bring this fitness into Nationals where I plan to race both the crit and the road race. I don't have specific expectations going into Nationals, but everyone wants to obviously win. Nationals is always a race that you either win or you lose. Maybe, no expectations is a better place for me to be mentally right now given how I was able to race recently having no expectations,” she said.
Last year, Cyr was the runner-up in the overall standings for elite women at the American Criterium Cup series, riding for the Miami Nights, and in early 2024, she took the overall win at the Tour of St. Louis Omnium. Then, after the major pause with the team disruption, she resumed with solo racing at Speed Week, highlighted with second at the Greenville Cycling Classic opener and top 10s at the next three races, including sixth at Athens Twilight Criterium after triggering the action with an early solo attack.
She had no goals to ride all eight races in Speed Week, which also featured two USA Crits race, but found herself in the orange leader’s jersey after an eighth place at Curiosity Labs Criterium in Peachtree Corners, Georgia. With an unexpected return for the final three of four events, Cyr narrowly missed the overall title, secured by Kaitlin Rauwerda of DNA Pro Cycling, the powerhouse squad taking podiums in seven races, with three victories, with five riders.
Work-life balance
With the leader’s jersey on her back on April 28, she travelled back to Indiana to her ‘day job’ as Dr. Andrea Cyr, now the medical director at Indianapolis Rehabilitation Hospital of Carmel, which specialises with inpatient rehabilitation for people who have suffered a debilitating disease or injury. She is a sports medicine physician as well as being certified for physical medicine and rehabilitation.
But after missing a mid-week series stop in Union City, Georgia, she decided to return and see what she could do, saying, “Frankly, why not?! I freaking love racing my bike”.
“I’m back to juggling full-time work with training. It’s something I’ve done before and I think I have it pretty dailed in,” Cyr said.
“I raced individually through most of my experience, elevating in the sport as a cat 3, cat 2. I had a coach, but I was a sole female rider without teammates. And it's been interesting because I almost feel like I've mentally gone back to that space, kind of racing alone, and kind of dealing with processing that mentally has been a bit of a battle for me the last week, to be honest.
“I've always struggled mentally to be labelled as a ‘sprinter’ when I feel I'm much more versatile than that as I proved my ability to animate the racing.”
She said the freelance racing the past few weeks gave opportunities to position for attacks, get in breakaways, work on a bit of climbing on the Peachtee Corners course and check out the competition, many, who will be in Charleston for nationals, like defending pro criterium champion Coryn Labecki.
“The quality of the field at Nationals is looking to be one of the most competitive women's field's in a while and I'm looking forward and honored to line up near the women who have been making American cycling proud in Europe.”
After Nationals Cyr said she would race Tulsa Tough and Tour of America’s Dairyland, and would consider offers for a women’s road team.
“ I’m trying to figure out what will work best, whether I go alone or with a team, I think that'll play a factor into what races I go to.”
