{"id":200262,"date":"2025-05-27T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=200262"},"modified":"2025-05-22T10:07:51","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T17:07:51","slug":"becoming-a-professional-cyclist-with-ayesha-mcgowan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/podcasts\/becoming-a-professional-cyclist-with-ayesha-mcgowan","title":{"rendered":"Becoming a Professional Cyclist with Ayesha McGowan"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"cb-itemprop\" itemprop=\"reviewBody\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" height=\"200px\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https:\/\/player.simplecast.com\/baaa4276-dc86-4072-8ae2-7538f281bfde?dark=false\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wild-ideas-worth-living.simplecast.com\/episodes\/becoming-a-professional-cyclist-with-ayesha-mcgowan\/transcript\">Transcript<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ayesha McGowan went from teaching music and delivering packages on a bike to shattering barriers in professional cycling, becoming the first African American female road cyclist in 2021. Though health challenges led to early retirement, Ayesha is now focused on empowering women of color in cycling and expanding access to the sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Connect with Ayesha:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ayesuppose\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Instagram\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aquickbrownfox.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A Quick Brown Fox website\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to our sponsors:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Capital One and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/membership\/mastercard?trackingId=podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the REI Co-op\u00ae Mastercard\u00ae\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/b\/teva\/c\/all\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Teva<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Transcript Ayesha McGowan went from teaching music and delivering packages on a bike to shattering barriers in professional cycling, becoming the first African American female road cyclist in 2021. Though health challenges led to early retirement, Ayesha is now focused on empowering women of color in cycling and expanding access to the sport. Connect with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32542,"featured_media":200263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1726,1727],"tags":[25,541,1452],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-200262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcasts","category-wild-ideas-worth-living","tag-cycle","tag-podcast","tag-wild-ideas-worth-living"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/podcasts\/becoming-a-professional-cyclist-with-ayesha-mcgowan","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Becoming a Professional Cyclist with Ayesha McGowan","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/podcasts\/becoming-a-professional-cyclist-with-ayesha-mcgowan","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/podcasts\/becoming-a-professional-cyclist-with-ayesha-mcgowan"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/05\/Mallorca_Curran-J-rotated.jpeg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/05\/Mallorca_Curran-J-rotated.jpeg?fit=4284%2C5712"},"articleSection":"Wild Ideas Worth Living","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jenny Barber"}],"creator":["Jenny Barber"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["cycle","podcasts","wild ideas worth living"],"dateCreated":"2025-05-27T10:00:00Z","datePublished":"2025-05-27T10:00:00Z","dateModified":"2025-05-27T10:00:00Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"Becoming a Professional Cyclist with Ayesha McGowan\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.rei.com\\\/blog\\\/podcasts\\\/becoming-a-professional-cyclist-with-ayesha-mcgowan\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.rei.com\\\/blog\\\/podcasts\\\/becoming-a-professional-cyclist-with-ayesha-mcgowan\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rei.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/Mallorca_Curran-J-rotated.jpeg?resize=150%2C150\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.rei.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2025\\\/05\\\/Mallorca_Curran-J-rotated.jpeg?fit=4284%2C5712\"},\"articleSection\":\"Wild Ideas Worth Living\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Jenny Barber\"}],\"creator\":[\"Jenny Barber\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"Uncommon Path \\u2013 An REI Co-op Publication\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[\"cycle\",\"podcasts\",\"wild ideas worth living\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2025-05-27T10:00:00Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-27T10:00:00Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-27T10:00:00Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/rei.com\/p.js"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/05\/Mallorca_Curran-J-rotated.jpeg?fit=4284%2C5712","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32542"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200262"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":200264,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200262\/revisions\/200264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200262"},{"taxonomy":"internal-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-tag?post=200262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}