Posted on 08/08/2017 5:45:11 PM PDT by BBell
Jillian Bearden, first female transgender cyclist to ride in a pro U.S. peloton, emerges as beacon for other trans athletes
303Cycling’s Nicole Odell caught up with Jillian Bearden last year, telling her story as a transgendered athlete. Read those stories here:
SALIDA — Less than three years into her transition from Jonathan to Jillian, pro cyclist Jillian Bearden has once again found serenity on her bike. Now, using studies and stats collected during her long career, she’s helping prove that transgender athletes change more than their names, they change their biology.
Bearden has watched her performance ebb since beginning hormone-replacement therapy in 2015. As testosterone fades and estrogen grows, her fastest times on favorite climbs have slipped into what she calls “the gutter.”
It was tough realizing her hard-earned power, developed over more than a decade of elite-level bike racing, was waning.
“I went from 16 minutes to 26, 27, 28 minutes,” she said of her times on her those climbs. “I was like holy … Testosterone gives you this drive, this oomph, and I didn’t have that push. My muscles looked fairly big, but I did not have that push to drive that extra energy. I had good days and really, really bad days. But at the end of it all, I always know that I won the biggest race of all. I am here on planet Earth with my family and it doesn’t really matter how slow I am. I’ve already won.”
On Thursday, when Bearden saddles up with the world’s best female cyclists for the Colorado Classic in her hometown of Colorado Springs, she will be the first transwoman to race with a pro peloton in the United States. Thanks to recently relaxed International Olympic Committee rules governing transgender athletes, and USA Cycling’s embrace of those new rules, Bearden has become a beacon for transathletes across the globe.
Bearden is basking in a light that saved her life. In late 2014, she was driving in the dark and pushed her car to 90 mph. She turned up her favorite tune and prepared to whip the steering wheel and end it all. The darkness was all-consuming, eclipsing all the outward trimmings of success: a family, a home, a job and elite-level talent on a bike.
But just before that fateful yank, Bearden said she felt “an angelic light” penetrate her overwhelming misery. Maybe it was from her mom. Or her brother, who had taken his life almost a decade earlier.
“Whatever it was, that presence brought me out and the message to me was ‘Tell your mom. Just tell your mom,’ ” Jillian said.
Jillian told her mom. Then she told her spouse. And her kids. And now she’s telling the world, that since her birth, despite the misplaced hardware and the name Jonathan, she is a woman. It’s not just that she always wanted to be a woman. She is a woman.
It's the perfect torment, lol.
“Jillian Bearden, first female transgender cyclist to ride in a pro U.S. peloton, emerges as beacon for other trans athletes”
YAWN!
Pure propaganda from the ringer dude cyclist.
I guess every Olympics from here on out will be a tranny arms race; whoever gets the most male-to-female athletes on a team will win.
>>Jillian Bearden, first female transgender cyclist to ride in a pro U.S. peloton, emerges as beacon for other trans athletes<<
That beacon has printing on it that says “cis female athletes are now officially done.”
Personally, from females I will miss real tennis and volleyball players as well as gymnasts and divers.
The rest: meh. They were mostly dykes that looked like guys anyway.
A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.
Did I get that right?
I get so confused....is a female transgender a man who is now a woman or a woman who is now a man....or something that looks like a female but is really a male or ...crap I give up.
Saying they’re a Transgender is to only way these Bums can win anything
Spandex bike shorts don’t lie.
Any time you see the word “transgender”, substitute “fake”.
Jillian was seeking that little extra for constant first place finishes, and that five ounces less weight means “she” won’t be at a disadvantage with the ladies.
This is simply cheating.
Trans woman = fake woman.
You said “tranny arms race” and I immediately thought of Michelle Obama in a sleeveless dress.
I crack myself up!
Its artificial axe wound must get real raw after a few hours in the saddle.
Haha - toward the end, I think Michael’s arms were airbrushed whenever possible. Too much rich (free) food.
Bearden has watched her performance ebb since beginning hormone-replacement therapy in 2015. As testosterone fades and estrogen grows, her fastest times on favorite climbs have slipped into what she calls “the gutter.”
It was tough realizing her hard-earned power, developed over more than a decade of elite-level bike racing, was waning.
“I went from 16 minutes to 26, 27, 28 minutes,” she said of her times on her those climbs. “I was like holy … Testosterone gives you this drive, this oomph, and I didn’t have that push. My muscles looked fairly big, but I did not have that push to drive that extra energy. I had good days and really, really bad days. But at the end of it all, I always know that I won the biggest race of all. I am here on planet Earth with my family and it doesn’t really matter how slow I am. I’ve already won.”
Interesting information on the degree of physical fitness degradation that occurs when “ transitioning”
I applaud JIllians careful and scientific documentation of the steep drop off in physical performance between the “ he” and “ she” selves
I'm sure it will be of much interest in the transsexuals in the military debate :-)
I can hardly wait for the next tranny in the military thread
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