蘑菇短视频

Folks in Frances Whitworth鈥檚 hometown of Winston-Salem begged her to give cycling a try. She was reluctant, but when her collegiate track and cross-country career came to a close, she hopped on the bicycle with the Cycling Club at 蘑菇短视频.  

It didn鈥檛 take long for her to fall in love with it 鈥� or compete at a national level.

Whitworth and 蘑菇短视频Cycling Club teammate Brody Melton competed in multiple USA Cycling national championship races last fall. Whitworth finished fourth in the women鈥檚 single speed race and 11th in the women鈥檚 collegiate club race in Fayetteville, Arkansas in December.

Melton placed 50th in the men's collegiate club short track race and 57th in the division鈥檚 cross-country race in Grand Junction, Colorado in October.

鈥淚t was a really cool experience,鈥� Whitworth said. 鈥淚'm pretty new to the whole thing. A year ago, I definitely didn't think I would have been able to go race against all the people there. It was a cool experience, a cool course.鈥�

Frances Whitworth races down a hill during a USA Cycling national championship race.

Whitworth is no stranger to strong finishes in races. She was a Division I runner at Davidson College before graduating from undergrad and thought about doing the same as a graduate student at 蘑菇短视频with some athletic eligibility remaining.

However, the physical therapy student opted to hang up her cleats to focus on grad school 鈥� just to pick up a pair of cycling shoes.

She fell in love with the sport and soon started riding with a group at a bicycle shop in Sylva. That鈥檚 where she connected with a few people from the 蘑菇短视频Cycling Club and joined it, leading to her showing at nationals.

Though Whitworth is competing in a completely different sport, it turns out cycling isn鈥檛 all that different from running.

鈥淚t's kind of like cross-country running on a bike. It's not quite mountain biking. It's grass and dirt and some obstacles, and there's, a lot of times, stairs or other things you're running up,鈥� Whitworth said.

鈥淚 think that all the stuff that I've learned from running like discipline, the hard work and everything like that has definitely translated to cycling.鈥�

Brody Melton makes a turn during a USA Cycling national championship race.

Melton has been on the bike for much longer, and it鈥檚 one of the major reasons he came to WCU. The junior electrical engineering major remembers asking for a bicycle with gears for Christmas when he was a kid, kind of out of nowhere.

He played a few different sports growing up, but he didn鈥檛 hone in on cycling until high school where he raced competitively and, eventually, he joined a varsity collegiate team at Lindenwood University. However, the Missouri university shuttered its cycling team.

That鈥檚 when the St. Louis native heard about WCU.

鈥淚 just had a random friend tell me, 'Hey, just come to Western. They have a pretty good engineering program, and they have a cycling club,鈥欌�� Melton said. 

Melton then transferred to 蘑菇短视频where he found what he鈥檚 always loved about cycling with the 蘑菇短视频Cycling Club: community.

鈥淚t's a lot of fun. Everybody is great people. They're always doing something. I just enjoy it,鈥� Melton said. 鈥淚t's a lot of fun. I mean, especially when we're at the races. That's a lot of fun is heckling other teammates, and everybody encourages others on the team.鈥�