Heather Moyse dances on stage after receiving he gold medal with Kaillie Humphries (not pictured) in two person bobsleigh Whistler February 25, 2010. John Lehmann/Globe and MailJohn Lehmann/The Globe and Mail
Heather Moyse is a quick learner.
She's barely shed the aftermath of being an Olympic gold medalist in women's bobsleigh about two years ago. Now she'll be on the start line of a track cycling race that could help Canada qualify a berth for the Summer Olympics in London.
Moyse bought an $8,000 road bike last summer but says she didn't draw a circle around the London Olympics as a goal. She just wants to compete for Canada and fly the flag in a third national sport. By the way, she's also been a part of the national women's rugby team. She quickly excelled at bobsleigh, competing at the 2006 Olympics only four months after she first rode down an icy track.
This week, the 33-year-old from Summerside, P.E.I. is part of Canada's team at the Cycling Pan American Championships (for both road and track), one of the final two Olympic qualifying events left in the track cycling calendar.
Earlier this week, Moyse hopped on a plane to Argentina, and endured a six-hour bus ride to Mar Del Plata, for the event that runs from March 3 to 11. She'll compete in two individual events, the sprint and the 500-metre time trials.
The six-hour bus trip was easy, compared to the path she's had to take to get to Argentina.
Moyse had taken a year off from her winter sport to heal an ankle injury, when she expressed an interest to join the track cycling program last summer.
Still, she was disappointed that she wasn't allowed to compete in any of the cycling World Cup races, because the Canadian Cycling Association was so focused on just earning enough points to qualify for the Olympics.
It's a tight race. In women's Keirin, for example, only the top eight nations get a spot at the Olympics. Right now, Canada is ninth, just behind Venezuela, with only a few points separating them. Monique Sullivan of Calgary will race in the Keirin this weekend.
Canada is also in a tight fight with Venzuela in the women's spring event, too. Both Sullivan and Moyse will ride in the event.
Moyse also could not train with the rest of the national team. But so raw is Moyse's talent, that track coach Tanya Dubnicoff gave Moyse time standards to meet to allow her to compete internationally. Moyse went to work, quickly acquiring the skills and on weekends and evenings learning how to "ride the rollers'" a set of rolling bars under the back wheel of the bike.
"One of the toughest things is learning how to ride the rollers," Moyse said. "It may look extremely easy when you see somebody doing it who is experienced, but let me assure you, it is extremely difficult."
The rollers magnify any technical error while riding the bike. Place to much weight on the arms, for example, and the bike wobbles. Moyse wobbled and grabbed door jambs in the beginning, then eventually found the sweet spot of the skinny tires.
While training in Los Angeles, Moyse met with more roadblocks. She was training on a loaned bike, but it was sold for parts. Then, the velodrome where she had been training was closed for two weeks to stage the para-cycling track world championships. She trained at a different track. She stayed positive.
On Jan. 23, Moyse learned that she'd get a chance to do a time trial to meet the standards in two events. A month later, she excelled at the 500 metres, finishing in a world class time of 35 seconds. That earned her a ticket to Argentina.
"I know that this is just the beginning," Moyse said. "…I have a lot of improvement still ahead of me."
Dubnicoff said the cycling officials had promised Moyse last fall that if she met the standards, she would get a chance to race for Canada. "The time standard she had to meet is the same for everyone who wants to represent Canada at international competition," she said. "Despite many challenges, Heather has demonstrated stunning improvements and perseverance in the last two months and earned her way to Argentina."
The experience in Argentina will help Moyse to gauge herself against international competitors and see what she has to do to improve, Dubnicoff said.