From the Coloradoan: Fort Collins cyclist Amanda Miller ready to put injuries behind her

Amanda Miller, 27, of Fort Collins is a top pro cyclist on the women's circuit for Team TIBCO. The former CSU Cycling Team member is one of the sport's bright stars. / Courtesy of Larry Rosa

From the Coloradoan: http://noconow.co/11CcIDF

Amanda Miller has been going a little stir crazy this week.

The Fort Collins professional cyclist is in town and off her bike, beginning a nearly month-long, mid-season break from racing.

Sunday night she returned home exhausted from the five-day Nature Valley Grand Prix in Minneapolis. Monday she contemplated staying in her pajamas all day. On Tuesday she wanted to go fly fishing but didn’t know where the best trout fishing would be. By Wednesday she was already itching to get back on the bike.

“She texted me, asking when she can go ride again. That’s so Amanda. She’s always go, go, go,” said her coach and Team TIBCO teammate, Meredith Miller, no relation to Amanda.

Amanda Miller, 27, is three weeks removed from a sixth-place showing at the USA Cycling Road and Time Trial National Championships in Chattanooga, Tenn. She’s about six months removed from a herniated disc injury sustained while training. Only now has she began to re-gain her racing legs, she said.

With her eyes set on making the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team, Amanda Miller hopes to be at full strength at the end of the season, “When everyone else has slowed down.”

A change of scenery

Amanda Miller’s ride to the national cycling scene was not your typical cycling route.

She first picked up a bike in the summer between her junior and senior years at Mediapolis High School in Medialpolis, Iowa. Tired of running on the gravel roads near her farmhouse to get in shape for basketball, she tried a ride on a mountain bike.

“I remember the first ride I did was like half a mile and I was so impressed with myself,” she said.

The new rider bought a bike “that was way too big for me” and soon got a job at a local bike shop. The bike shop employees took her to local races, opening her eyes to the cycling scene, a completely different scene than the one in which she grewp up.

Her family owned a grain farm. Summers were spent at the local county fair and the state fair in Des Moines. In high school, Miller was vice president of the FFA Club and member of 4-H. As a young girl and teenager, she raised and showed dairy and beef cows with names like Jackie, Molly, Dolly and Daisy.