This story is a work of fiction. A figment of the author's imagination. It is not meant to be big on realism. It's a fantasy. The culture around world-class women's cycling probably isn't a hotbed of lesbian lust, but wouldn't it be fun if it were?
All characters are fictitious. At the same time, they are all over 18.
Note: The name 'Magi' in this story is pronounced "Ma -- jee" and is short for Majera.
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Riding With Dirty Girls.
7. Roubaix
"It looked suspiciously like a gifted win, to me."
That bastard journalist. Not even a proper journalist - just some bloke who has a podcast, a Facebook page and a channel on YouTube. One of those people referred to as an "influencer."
Despite Carmen giving short shrift to the notion that she gifted me the win in Val di Sole, despite all the reputable outlets like Eurosport, GCN etc. also giving the idea zero credence, and despite anyone and everyone close to the sport -- everyone who really loves the sport - knowing it was nonsense, all this guy had to do was put the idea out there on social media for it to gain traction.
Jake Logan, a guy with no background in cycling, or any sport, and his scurrilous cesspool of a podcast, SportScan, which has the sole purpose of digging up dirt and scandal around sport, even where none exists.
What a mean-spirited, cold-blooded occupation, spending your time seeking out opportunities to defame and smear sports and sports people. Besmirching people's reputations and undermining their achievements. Completely against the true spirit of sport.
In our case, it was disrespectful to Carmen, disrespectful to me, and disrespectful to the sport of cyclocross and its fans. I've always found 'cross to be an honest, simple, friendly sport. Despite its professionalism, it hasn't lost touch with the true principles and values of sport. It's like a sport from the past in some ways, which is one of the things I love about it.
To have it tarnished by baseless aspersions like this, and to have one of the greatest achievements of my life (so far) diminished, just for a bit of gossip, is odious and unforgivable. To me, that guy is lower than a snake's belly.
He surely can't continue doing this for long before he becomes persona non grata throughout sport though? Already, he'll never get access to Carmen or me again for interviews -- or to any of the other girls who show solidarity with us. Can it possibly be worth destroying his own reputation, just for a brief spell in the spotlight of notoriety?
The thing that fills me with dismay though is the fact that there's a vast swathe of the public that laps this stuff up. They can can't resist a bit of "juicy gossip." Logan's podcast has hundreds of thousands of followers, so all he had to do was put the insinuation out there and it instantly became a talking point. Sad.
During the week after the race, I had dozens of messages and phone calls, all of them supporting me, and slamming him and his shitty podcast. EVERYONE who mattered knew it was total bullshit, but the damage was done, and I seethed with indignation and anger that someone as scummy as him could take the shine off my first World Cup win.
As part of his grubby podcast, he snidely mentioned "the lesbian love club that seems to exist in women's cyclocross," and I realised with a shock how careful we needed to be. I could hardly imagine the scandal that would have ensued if my night in the cabin with Carmen had been discovered. It would definitely have been seen as evidence in support of the "gifted win" narrative, even though, if you've read Part 6 of this story, you'll know nothing could be further from the truth.
As always when I'm filled with angst, I take it out on the bike. There was only a week between the Trento race and the one at Roubaix, so I shouldn't have been doing any really hard training, but on the Wednesday, burning with rage and indignation, I went out and covered the route of our recent club ride -- 80 miles including two of the toughest climbs in the area -- as a fast time-trial. Throughout the ride, I was at the hard edge. Pushing the limit, trying to thrash the wrath out of myself.
On the club ride, we had taken most of the day, with a coffee stop in the middle, but on this solo rampage I ripped round the route in 4 hours -- an average of 20mph, which is madness on such a hilly course.
Molly would not be happy if she knew. Her training plan had me doing a 2-hour tempo ride at 60% of my max heart rate (which is 202 beats per minute) and I'd done double that at over 80%.
It did help to calm me - endorphins are magical like that - but I needed a final mental balm. I'd been so angst-ridden that I hadn't masturbated at all since the weekend, which is unusual. I often feel horny after a race weekend -- even though I'm tired. With me, the more sex I have, the hornier I get, and Mondays and Tuesdays can often be a pleasure-garden of wonderful wanking for me.
Not that week though. There are very few things that can interfere with my libido, which is such a towering monolith that it tends to dwarf most other aspects of my headspace at any given time. However, I found out that a combination of anger and indignation was able to supress it. Who knew?
That mad ride and its endorphins had helped though, and while I was in the shower I decided to call Maisie. I felt I was ready for a bit of Maisie misbehaviour. She must be psychic or something though because, just as I was getting myself ready, my phone rang.
She had already called me on the Monday, to express her disgust at the Jake Logan crap, and tell me (as everyone did) to just ignore it / rise above it / don't waste any of your energy on it. I couldn't help it though. Even though everyone was right, it inflamed me. I can never help but react violently to things that are just WRONG.
Really, Carmen had as much reason as I had to feel aggrieved - her racing reputation was being tarnished -- but compared to me, she seemed quite laid-back about it (at least outwardly) saying 'We both know it's mierda, Chloe, so just ignore it.' Easier said than done for someone like me though.
Anyway, Maisie called on the Wednesday night and said 'How are you now, Chloe? Feeling any better?' I told her about the ride I'd just done, and she said, 'Wow, I'd struggle to do that time on the flat for an 80 miler. I hope you haven't burned yourself out for Saturday.'
'No, I think I'm fine. I feel strong.'
'Good, but now relax until Saturday. No more bike thrash therapy.'
I wanted to change the subject, so I switched to her travel plans. 'So when do you fly?'
'Oh, this bird has already flown, sweetie. I'm in Cabourg, France. Spending the holidays with my sister Betty and her friends. I don't fly home until the 3rd. Handy for the races, hm?'
'Oh, wow, yeh. Why Cabourg though?'
'Betty's friends Marc and Lou have a house here. It's a sister city to AC.' (Atlantic City, Maisie's home town)
'Brilliant.'
'Yeah, it's good. Cycling is good round here too. Quiet coast roads and not many hills. I've rented a bike. I like it here but I'm not used to living with other people though. I miss my privacy a bit. I can't quite do what I want like I can at home, obviously.
'You have your own room though?'
'Oh yeah, I have my own space. Couldn't manage without that.' I could almost see her fruity smirk.