At 21, with a decade of experience, a local student comes in second in her age group in BMX World Cup competition.
By SHERYL KAY
Published August 20, 2006
NORTHDALE
When her new BMX uniform arrived earlier this year, Michele Peters was so energized she spent the entire day wearing her helmet and admiring herself in the mirror.
"It was like Christmas all over again," she said. "I just went crazy running around the house saying 'Look how cool I look.'"
That kind of enthusiasm has pushed Peters, 21, to the top of her sport. Last month Peters, of Northdale, competed in the BMX World Cup Championship in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and came in second place in her age group.
Peters, who is manager of a Panera Bread restaurant in Carrollwood and also a part-time student at Hillsborough Community College, first started riding BMX bicycles when she was 10, alongside her twin brother, M.J. Peters. Both quickly became hooked on the sport, and started racing competitively almost from the start. Their mom and stepfather took up racing as well.
The early years were frustrating for Peters. She broke her left arm in a fall during a race at 13, and feared she'd never get back on a bicycle again. With prompting from her brother, she did eventually go back, but it was another three years before Peters won her first main event.
"No one can just get on a bike and win," she said. "It takes a lot of practice, balance, endurance and personal experience. Falling is the best way to learn because then you learn how not to fall."
And learn she has.
"She's totally dedicated to the sport," M.J. said. "Besides family, it's all BMX. Even if she falls down hard, she just scoots right back up and goes out there."
This year seven competitors in the 19-and-over women's cruisers group made it to the main event in Sao Paulo. It was the third World Cup competition for Peters, having placed eighth in her first try, and not making the rankings at all the second time.
"I was looking to make No. 7 this time," she said. "I would have been more than happy with that."
Just after the moment she left the starting gate, Peters said a rider from Switzerland immediately pushed her handlebars into her, almost causing her to hit some cones and be disqualified.
"If she had pushed me with her hands it's against the rules, but you can push with your handlebars, and she did," Peters said.
Then it was Peters' turn.
"We were making a 180, and I pushed her into the turn to get past her," she said. "Then I cranked it, jumped a double, which she didn't, and I was second the rest of the race."
The winner, from the Netherlands, had been in first place the entire race, a good two bike lengths ahead of Peters.
Peters said her remarkable finish, all the more joyous with her brother running down from the stands, will stay with her always. But while winning is great, it's not the main motivator for her. Sometimes, she said, she loves the actual one-on-one competition more than the result.
"I just love that feeling of looking over and seeing the other rider right there, and we're neck and neck," she said.
And then there's the travel, and prize winnings.
Peters is sponsored by several biking and sports companies, and travels across the state and the country, competing about 30 weekends a year. The winning purse is determined by the number of riders in the race. But generally, first place scores $300, second place comes in at $200, and third place nets $150.
In a good year, Peters said she earns about $4,000. But sponsors don't cover airline tickets or food, so her yearly costs often total about $5,000.
The National Bicycle League in Hilliard, Ohio, does contribute money to the winning pot, Peters said. But men's winnings are greater than women's, she said, and the disparity is far greater than the difference in levels of participation.
"Nobody really knows why it happens," said Peters. "Girls train just as hard if not harder than the guys, but the women don't get looked at as professionals. It's just a male-dominated sport."
Still, she said, "as long as I'm having fun and racing, I don't care as much about the money. If they don't want to pay me as much, I'm still going to compete, and I'm still going to have a great time."
