Soren Meeuwisse TERI PECOSKIE
NAME: Soren Meeuwisse AGE: 20 ROLE: McMaster University student and world class cross-country mountain biker
Q: What do you do?
A: I’m a full-time university student. I’m studying kinesiology and I’m in my third year. Then, on the side, but not really on the side at all because it consumes most of my life and I love it, is mountain biking.
Q: How did you end up at McMaster?
A: I’m a big nerd and I love sports science and so I knew I wanted to go to university right away after high school ... I was trying to decide between Mac and Queens and Mac just won because it has a better cycling community in the area overall. The road riding is really good around here. There are lots of good trails and a lot more people in the area ... It’s also closer to the airport.
Q: You grew up in Orillia. What do think of Hamilton?
A: I don’t really feel like I’m in Hamilton, actually. I feel more like I’m in Dundas because I bike a lot and I can bike there in five minutes. You never go downtown unless you’re going out with friends or doing something special downtown, so I don’t really feel like I’m in the city.
Q: Is there anything you’re not crazy about?
A: I grew up in a small town where everybody was more used to just being in the wilderness and those less populated areas. So a lot of people are like, ‘you just went for a three hour ride by yourself in the middle of nowhere?’ ... A lot of people are just more city slickers around here, which is completely fine. I have a lot of amazing friends; it’s just a different mentality.
Q: Do you ever feel like you miss out on parts of the university experience because you’re so deeply involved in your sport?
A: Definitely. But I have this very Type A personality where I want to do everything all the time. So I am trying to go to the Olympics for mountain biking, I am trying to keep medical school as an option and I am trying to have a good social life. Obviously the social life kind of gets a little bit pushed aside more than other things, but I definitely have my fair share of going out with friends and letting loose sometimes.
Q: What’s your long-term goal?
A: My goal is to finish my undergrad while I’m developing as a high performance mountain biker. So I want to finish that and have my degree in my back pocket and Plan A is then to pursue professional cycling and just focus on training and racing and do all that ... My Plan B — I have lots of plans — is to finish my undergrad and take courses to keep med school as an option and then at that point once I’m done my undergrad if I don’t want to do professional cycling or I don’t think it’s going to work out for other various reasons that happen in life, I would maybe take a year off and work and study for my MCAT.
Q: What about short-term? What do you want to accomplish in 2018?
A: I want to keep doing what I’ve been doing the past few years. I don’t think there’s anything spectacular that’s going to be different in terms of different races I go to, I just want to do better at the races I’m going to ... I finished 16th (at the under-23 world championships) this past season, so just following the progression a Top-10 at world championships or a world cup would be a really good result.
“I have this very Type A personality where I want to do everything all the time.” SOREN MEEUWISSE