by Bettina Freese

They all have their horror stories of death marches and “never again” moments, but these badass women road racers say they are lucky to have significant others who share their passion for two wheels and the road.

I went to the awards dinner for the Asheville Women’s Cycling Team Time Trial Series to honor the top finishers when I realized the room was filled with couples who ride and race together.

Nancy Lux, who has been riding for four years and racing for over two, says her husband, Don, has encouraged her from the start. She met him on her very first road ride. She thought she was in good shape, and agreed to the 30-mile ride with the group of guys. She says she couldn’t believe that she couldn’t keep up with these “old guys.” The newlyweds are very competitive with each other, and that competition is what helped them both win the time trial series this season. Even if they don’t ride together, just the thought of Don having gotten a ride in is enough to get Nancy on her bike. “I can’t give him any ground,” she said. “We’re neck to neck.”

Couples who ride together don’t have to squeeze rides in around quality time with their significant other. They can train as hard as they want to without guilt, knowing the other person is just as hard-core. “It’s tough to come home and be sociable with someone who hasn’t been through what you have for the last five hours,” Don said of a typical weekend training ride. The two have even spent their epic Saturdays in the living room on their trainers, taking short breaks over four hours of staring at each other across the handlebars.

Tony Atkins and girlfriend Caroline Camp also met each other on a group ride. “The next day he took me on a death march,” Caroline says. “I was eight weeks out from a broken collarbone.” He schlepped her up and down gravel roads and steep climbs for 70 miles. She hung in there, thinking to herself, “Who is this? If I get through this, I’m never doing something so stupid again.” Yet a year later she found herself on another 70-miler, descending 151 in the pitch dark. “Oh, I swore that last time…” she says laughing. “He pushes me a lot,” she said. “He’s really something to keep up with.”

Tony, who one year logged in over 11,000 miles and lost 50 pounds, says Caroline doesn’t give herself enough credit. He brags about her long distance running career, says she’s a very strong rider, and calls her “incredibly tough.” Cara McCaughley, who took second place in the series, is married to cycling coach Andy Applegate. She says he was her first coach, and credits him for helping her take second place at the collegiate nationals. They don’t train together, but they travel to races every weekend and recently did the Hilly Hellacious on a tandem. “That was definitely the hardest Hilly ever,” Cara said. “I wanted to kill him.” They rode for 5 hours and 15 minutes, him keeping the pace up at top notch. The rage set in near the end on a relentless, burning, near-death climb when he told her she needed to pedal. As if…

Bettina Freese is a mountain biker and massage therapist. She can be reached at lulafree@aol.com.