Nancy Benedetti
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 Nancy Benedetti Nancy joined LGBRC in 2009 as a Cat 4 road and crit racer. We asked her what attracted her to racing. She replied, "In college, I was a distance runner, and participated in varsity cross-country, indoor track and outdoor track. After four years of pounding my body against the ground, I was broken and unable to run. Clearly, I needed a new sport that was more forgiving on my joints. In the summer after my college graduation, I was living in Boston, and one of my friends, Bryan Shieh, introduced me to the sport of road cycling. My first rides on a road bike through Boston were scary, because I lacked the balance and coordination. However, I really enjoyed the large distance covered and seeing new parts of Boston that were inaccessible by running. After that summer, I moved to the Bay Area to start medical school at Stanford. At the end of my first year at Stanford, Bryan coincidentally moved to the Bay Area as well for a job. We hadn't talked in over a year, but we met up when he moved to California. As an obsessed bike enthusiast, Bryan convinced me to get a road bike. He taught me about components and frames and informed me of what I needed in a first road bike. After a few months of research and bike shopping, I found a barely used white Felt F60 with a 46cm frame for sale on RoadBikeReview.com. The bike was in Truckee, but coincidentally, I was going to Lake Tahoe that weekend. I ended up purchasing the bike, and I started riding on the roads around Stanford. I convinced a few of my medical school classmates to get road bikes as well, and we started going on longer rides to explore the area. I rode recreationally for my last 3 years at Stanford. Then when I had a 3 month break between medical school and residency this past spring, I decided that I wanted to start racing. Through word of mouth, I found the LGBRC, and I started racing with the Cat 4 women. I didn't know this before I joined LGBRC, but Bryan Shieh is also a member of the team, and I owe him a big thank you for introducing me to the most awesome sport. Now riding is one of my biggest passions in life." Nancy adds, "My biggest cycling achievement so far was transitioning from recreational rider to racer this past spring. I have been very fortunate to have supportive and talented teammates who have guided me through this process. It is an honor to race on the SugarCRM team." |