Categories: Look ProRacing

Ride Like a Girl: Meg Fisher

This is Meg. Keeper Jim and I found Meg spinning loops around Mercer Island, big-ringing the rollers in the pouring rain. Meg likes sunsets, puppies, and had a gerbil named FrÃ¤nk. Meg doesn’t need bad weather to be considered a badass; Meg rides her bike with one leg, so riding in the rain is hardly a blip on the Badass Radar.

Meg Fisher is on the US Paralympic Team, training for the qualifiers at US Nationals in June to make the squad headed for London. At the time we chatted about it, it didn’t occur to me to ask about any other events besides road cycling she’s involved with, but the ten minutes of Google Research I did for this article revealed that she’s a world-class road cyclist, time-trialist, track racer, mountain biker, and triathlete – and has the world and national championship titles to prove it. She also refers to herself as “Peg Leg Meg”.

Meg’s prosthetic leg appears to work amazingly well (if her going to the front and drilling it every time she felt Jim and I were going too slow is any indication), but my ignorance on such matters is nearly comprehensive. It should come as no surprise, I suppose, that as much or more research goes into making athletic prosthetic development as anything else. Cycling-specific race prosthetics are made of carbon fiber and designed to be airfoils. I assume the airfoil design is 50% for function and 50% for extra damage points when employing a front-flip drop-kick. Meg needs one of these for the Paralympics (not for cage fighting). At the time of writing, Velominati is checking with Meg to see if she’s got a donation or sponsorship fund set up for this, and if so, we’ll advise the Community as such. If not, we’ll see what we can do to help arrange for one.

Once she gets her upgrade, I just hope Pat McQuaid doesn’t come staggering by with his tape measure. On the other hand, I’d like to see him try and catch her.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

il ciclista medio says:

Mar 14 2012 at 2:52 am

@Meg Fisher
Welcome and can't wait for the full article! By the sounds of it, we may need it loaded in parts 1, 2 and 3!
minion says:

Mar 14 2012 at 3:25 am

@Meg Fisher
It's spelt Fhronk, BTW he is THAT hardcore dutch.
Blah says:

Mar 14 2012 at 3:32 am

@Meg Fisher
Another +1 for the full series of articles.
Inspiring, for sure, but more so for interest's sake.
Looking forward to reading them.
Chris says:

Mar 14 2012 at 8:33 am

@Meg Fisher
An article would be fantastic, the pedal stroke aspect is without doubt interesting but I'd also love to know how you've manage to prevent prevent those back and hip pains from becoming more serious, presumably they're a result of the work put in by those areas to balance out the imbalance between the right and left sides?
paolo says:

Mar 14 2012 at 9:58 am

Awesome. I take my hat off to you Meg and your mum and fronk for the article. Please as many have said here, please let us know how we can help with some $$
al says:

Mar 14 2012 at 11:39 am

Great to meet you Meg, and Meg's Mum, and thanks for taking the time to write.
Any advice or information would be great to read.

Here's a link
Meg's blog page - keep us all posted : )
G'phant says:

Mar 14 2012 at 12:29 pm

Meg's blog on Rule 9:

"Some athletes feel like they shine when the sh*t hits the fan. I love racing when conditions are less than ideal, because I believe that I can suffer more than my competition."
LA Dave says:

Mar 14 2012 at 3:05 pm

Wow...

I have spent the last few days buried in sales meetings and what a great post and string to come back to.

@Meg Fisher you are an inspiration and I can't wait to read your article(s), and @Poorhardworker it is obvious that you have had a big hand in the amazing person your daughter has become.

I had the pleasure of spending a day at the UCI para-cycling track world championships last month. My wife and I loaded up our 3 year old son and spent all day there watching some amazing racing in multiple categories and got a nice helping of inspiration to boot. I'm lucky enough to have been to a number of UCI World and US track events. They are always exciting but this event seemed to raise the bar of competition and comaraderie to an entirely different level. It was an amazing day.

All the best to you in your Olympic pursuits Meg!
Nick says:

Mar 14 2012 at 8:53 pm

@Meg's Mum sorry for bad language (the sentiment was genuine though - amazing!)
@Meg Fisher sorry for bad language (amazing stuff, have sent the post above to some ex-army mates who are trying to get back in to sport after amputations, and yes please to an article!)
Jonny says:

Mar 15 2012 at 2:28 pm

@Meg Fisher - another +1 for the article here. It's great to hear from a true Velominata at the top level of the sport.