Twigg's place in pursuit Pantheon enriched
By James Raia

One day last September, with a newly installed metal plate and seven screws holding her shattered collarbone together, Rebecca Twigg still managed to do what she's done for more than her life: ride her bicycle. The then 16-time national national champion and two-time Olympic medalist had a cold, her back muscles hurt and her head was full of self-doubt.

"I was thinking, 'what am I even doing, going to the worlds in this kind of shape?,' " she recalled with a chuckle. "Every time I rode over a bump, it hurt. But I figured I could still make the top eight and that all I could really expect of myself."

A stereotypical overachiever, Twigg surprised herself several days later when she qualified third in the 3,000-meter pursuit at the World Cycling Championships in Colombia. She then confounded medical experts, too.

The following day, less than two weeks after her collarbone-crunching accident during a training session in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Twigg captured her sixth world pursuit title in a record time. Twigg, a 33-year-old Seattle native who rides about 300 miles per week, will now enter her third Olympics in Atlanta as the pursuit gold-medal favorite and also as a medal contender in the women's individual time trial, new Olympic event for women. Track cycling will be held July 24-29 at Stone Mountain Park, Georgia. The inaugural women' individual time trial will be held event August 3 in Atlanta.

Although she has won national titles in several road disciplines, too, Twigg particularly excels on the track, the unheralded endeavor of banked ovals and blistering speeds. In the pursuit, which debuted for women in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, two cyclists begin on opposite sides of the track. The winner is the one who either posts the fastest time or passes the other cyclist.

"The mental part of the pursuit is concentration," said Twigg, who won her first world tile in 1982. "In other events, such as the road race, you have to think as you go. In the pursuit, you know what to expect. You just have to focus."

Her injury aside, Twigg's resurgence is especially remarkable considering she retired from competition for three years, beginning in 1988. "I wanted to see what the real world was like," she recalled. "I'd been racing a long time, and training was getting really, really tough. It wasn't fun anymore."

Financing her participation in the sport had also become a drain. "I'd bought a house and I kind of ran out of money," she said. "I had to find another career, so I went to back to work as a computer programmer." In pursuit of her new career, Twigg also returned to college and earned a associate's degree in computer science to complement her bachelor's degree.

Then one day on a recreational ride in 1991, Twigg discovered her competitive desire had returned. "When you're retired, you can get our there and have a nice day of riding and say to yourself, 'Gee, I should race again," she observed. "But the next day you say, 'I'm sore and stiff. I don't want to train, and I'm so glad I don't have to.' But now all of a sudden that wasn't the case. So, I said, 'If I feel this good at the end of the weekend or a few days afterward, I will take this shot seriously.'"

Nine months later, she was standing on the podium in Barcelona accepting a bronze medal. "Coming back and getting a medal was tremendous," Twigg recalled. "But I knew I wasn't at my peak, and that was frustrating. I wanted to continue until I was at my best. I wanted to know if I could still do it."

Twigg is certainly primed to do it, now that her her collarbone is no longer problematic and now that she has her 17th national title. "It's still itchy, and every once in awhile I get a sharp pain, but it's very fleeting," she said.

Twigg's third Olympic appearance was not guaranteed, of course, until she again won the pursuit title on June 8 at the Olympic Trials in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania.

Janie Quigley of Wilmington, Del., a long-time nemesis, posted the fastest time and set a track record in the semfinals. But in the final against Quigley, a 10-time national titlist, Twigg rode to a half-second lead on the first lap and expanded it to more than two seconds.

"I had been peaking for July and the Olympics, so I was concerned I wouldn't be prepared for the Trials. But I knew Janie was turning in fast times, so in the final I was prepared."

And while Twigg has suggested that the Atlanta Games may be her final international pursuit competition, she has also hedged on her pending retirement.

"An Olympic gold medal would be nice to go out on," she said. "But the World Championships are in Australia next year, and it would be nice to race there, too."