As we continue to celebrate AAPI and BIPOC individuals in the OBRA community, we are happy to talk to Virginia Xing about how she came to the bike racing world. Virginia has a great story on how she came to be a part of the cycling and bike racing community. She is truly an inspiration and as you can see from her photos, always has a smile while on the bike. If you’re ever in Eugene, OR, make sure to check out her bike shop, Bicycle Way of Life.
I recently sat down with Virginia for a virtual interview. Keep scrolling to give it a read.
– Joel Fletcher (OBRA Marketing Director)
Name?
Virginia Xing
Age?
53
Where are you located?
Eugene, OR
How did you first get into bike racing?
I was 41 living in Taiwan for my kids to attend education in Taiwan so they could speak/write/read Mandarin Chinese. Having just had my 2nd boy 2 years prior to moving back to Taiwan, I was overweight at 180 lbs with high cholesterol when I had my first annual exam at age 40. I was at a Giant Cup circuit race and saw the US lady who won the women’s race and after calculating what her average speed was, I decided to pick up my 7-year-old boy’s road bike we bought for him and started riding and picked up racing a month after I started riding a road bike. Since I was a late starter, I decided only one way to catch up was to ride more. I’ve since averaged at least 1000 kilometers a month and in 2020 with the pandemic, I had 4000 miles outdoors along with 6000 miles on the trainer. I started racing road in 2008, picked up racing cyclocross in 2013, and mountain bike racing a couple since 2014, to most recently some gravel racing in 2019.
What is your favorite thing about bike racing?
Meeting other great people on bikes who push themselves a bit further while being super sports and the community we build centering around that.
What piece of advice would you give to others interested in racing?
Just give it a try and the sky’s the limit on the potential of everything in bike racing and fun for sure!
Who has been most influential in your bike racing career?
That’s a good question and there is more than one I am sure but I am going to fall back to Eddy Merckx and quote what he said as one of my fav cycling quotes – “Ride as much or as little, or as long or as short as you feel. But ride.”
What can we do as a community to take care of our AAPI/BIPOC friends while new people of color are joining the sport?
Treat, respect, and love everyone the same as you would to your family and how you’d like to be treated by others. Nothing more and nothing less!
