Allison Beveridge’s road to recovery and road racing
In January 2016, at the third instalment of the 2015–16 track cycling World Cup series in Hong Kong, Allison Beveridge got caught in a crash. It was during the latter laps of the omnium competition’s scratch race. Afterwards, she continued with the competition. In fact, she continued to race as the Rio Olympics approached, a goal that had led her to pause her kinesiology studies at the University of Calgary for three years. The crash, however, left her with an injury that plagued her for the rest of the year. Beveridge kept it quiet as she didn’t know what the full effects were.
In November, she was still suffering from thoracic outlet syndrome in her shoulder. Nerves and veins were compressed. She was scheduled for surgery, a fairly significant procedure, in January. Beveridge was also taking an anticoagulant, which could increase the severity of another crash. So, she was off the bike, focusing on her studies with no pressure to attend the track cycling world championships in April. Still, she had on-bike plans for 2017.
Also in November, Rally Cycling, a U.s.-based continental team with many Canadians on its roster, announced that Beveridge would be joining its ranks. It was one of Beveridge’s track cycling teammates, Jasmin Glaesser, who connected her to Rally’s women’s team director, Zach Bell from Watson Lake, Yukon. “Jasmin passed my name on to Zach,” Beveridge said. “He’s been really great, offering advice and help. Generally, he’s done a similar path to what I hope to do, managing road and track.” Like Beveridge, Bell has competed in the omnium at the Olympics. Beveridge hopes to be racing for Rally at the start of the road season. She’d like to do the Tour of California and work on her team time trialling skills.
As winter came to Calgary, Beveridge, barred from the bike, still kept active. “I’m mainly running with my dog,” she said. “It’s time efficient and it keeps you warm.”