Megan - Defined Fitness Training, LLC

Megan M. Hottman

Hometown: Denver, Colorado (I am "from" Omaha, Nebraska)

Education: B.A.(2001); J.D.(2004)

Occupation: Owner/team director, Defined Fitness Training

Discipline: Road, track, mountain

Strengths: time-trialing, endurance

FormerTeams: HRRC/Trek-VW (2006), Highgear/Nebraska Cycling Community (2004-2005)

Category: Road (1), Track (1), Mountain (sport)

Years Racing: 2008 is my 5th season in cycling

Objectives:

For 2008, my main goal was to form a well-balanced road squad consisting of women who are fun to race with (check!). I want to continue to pursue my strengths in time trial events but also expand my horizons by working more on other disciplines. As this is our team's first year, I hope we can work well as a cohesive team and enable our strongest woman on any given day to be first at the line. I want our members to maintain balance, health and perspective by pursuing other disciplines and giving ourselves permission to occasionally turn our focus from racing to friends and family, schoolwork, and work priorities.

In life my objective is to find a job that I am so passionate about, I would show up each day even if I weren't being paid.

Favorite race: Tour of Kansas City, Cliff Drive circuit. Nevermind that this race was my very first bike race as a CAT 4 in 2003, I've raced it every year since then, I got married there in 2005 and I managed to score wins there in both 2006 (cliff drive) and 2007 (OP classic). . . it's a sweet race weekend with awesome venues and good organization!

Admirable Athlete: Kelly Benjamin, who races for the Cheerwine pro team and lives in Kansas City. I met Kelly while I lived in KC and got to know her at local training crits; we have kept in touch since then and I really consider Kelly a mentor in the sport. Kelly has always set a positive example on how to be a professional racer--professional in the sense that she demonstrates tact and class while ripping it up in her races.

Unique information or story about you:

Tour of Kansas City, 2005, I married my husband Rob on the finish line, following both of our races. It poured rain all day; Rob crashed in his event because of the standing water and our guests were soaked. [In fact--the National USAT championships were in KC that day and were cancelled due to the bad weather!] But it let up for 5 minutes, just in time for the ceremony, which was presided by our USAC official/minister-friend Chris, who used a megaphone to get our "I-dos" loud enough for all of the racers and spectators to hear. During my race, I crossed wheels with a rider in front of me and was on my way down. One of my competitors, Molly Vetter-Smith, braced me up to prevent me from crashing as we hit the base of the steepest part of the climb. Doing so cost Molly all of her momentum, but she merely whispered to me, "I am NOT going to let you crash on this day!" To this day, I owe Molly for keeping me upright on my wedding day!

Most embarassing (race) moment:

One of my very first races was a time trial in Nebraska. I had NO idea what I was doing and so when the volunteer held up the biker in front of me, I allowed him to do the same for me. What I did not realize was that the volunteer would merely let go-not push. I was in a gigantic gear and...well, I tipped right over, water bottles rolling away and lookers-on laughing. Of course, I was clipped in and as I lay on the ground, I didn't have the leverage needed to clip out! The USAC official said "I can't help you, your clock's running." Sooo....two minutes later, I was back on my bike VERY red-faced. I spent the next 2 years refusing to be held for TT starts!

You can view my entire race resume here.