Just four years after entering a sportive, despite not even owning a bike, Jennifer Bates is in Holland about to debut for Ireland (Photo: Toby Watson)
Jennifer Bates on her Irish cycling team call-up
Just four years after signing up to do a charity sportive with others from her local pub, Jennifer Bates is now on the eve of her international debut.
The Dubliner has travelled to Emmen, Holland, with the Irish paracycling team for the UCI World Cup.
She rides in the green of Ireland as sighted pilot for golden girl Katie George Dunlevy in the TT on Friday and Sunday’s road race.
At the age of 30 years it’s an incredible turn for somebody with no sporting background before she cycled to Galway and back for the craic in 2014.
But when the bike bug bites it can be deep. And now Bates, from Clondalkin, is a member of one of the country’s leading teams in Gerard Cycles-DHL.
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“It’s fantastic, to be honest I still can’t believe it,” she says.
“As I said to some of the lads; the only time I thought I’d be in an Irish jersey was watching football in the pub!”
Entering the national set-up obviously involves pulling on that coveted green jersey of Ireland; a big moment that Bates says is not wasted on her.
“They were doing a charity cycle to Galway to Dublin charity,” she says of joining some of those from her local in taking on the challenge just a few short years ago.
“I didn’t even have a bike but I signed up. And I bought a bike and stuck with it. And from there I just loved it.”
She joined up with Clondalkin Cycling Club, which had organised the Dublin-Galway event that witnessed her first tentative steps into proper cycling. Joining a club was crucial, she says.
“You’re training with people who have more experience than you; they’re there to help you on those days when it feels that bit harder.
“They’re there to give you tips generally; riding up and over and so on. And you just cover more distance in a group.”
Top down: Powering away against the clock, getting some training in with her tandem partner this weekend Dunlevy, on the road in the colours of Gerard-DHL (Photos by Sean Rowe, Banbridge CC, TobyWatson)
While inexperienced and new to cycling at the beginning in 2014; she didn’t shy away from racing.
“I went down to Corkagh Park and did the Orwell women’s league,” she explained of jumping straight in.
“While I did the racing straight away, I wasn’t good at it,” she laughs.
And even from the off Eve McCrystal, whom she replaces on the paracycling tandem this weekend, was showing her the way; influencing, encouraging, helping.
“In my very first race I got in a break with Eve which is funny when you think of where we are now,” Bates says looking back.
“It was the Trader’s Cup in Dundalk and I hadn’t a clue what I was doing. I remember Eve saying to me ‘now, if I go are you going to come with me?’
“And I was thinking ‘why not, sure I don’t have a clue what’s going on here’. We came 1st and 2nd in that race; that was my first race.”
She sums up her first year saying: “I got dropped in most races”. In her second year on the bike a broken pelvis halted her gallop for a long time.
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And last year she began to up her training and changed teams over the winter.
Very thankful to Clondalkin CC and still on very good terms with everyone there, she transferred to Gerard-DHL; a racing outfit with some very strong riders.
“The lads are all A1 so when you go out training with them on a Saturday and Sunday, trying to keep up; when you go to racing it really pays off,” Bates says.
Always a good look: The Irish jersey-clad Dunlevy and partner for this World Cup Bates over in Holland getting acclimatised.
Team mate Dillon Corkery won the elite criterium championships last month. Bates was 2nd in the women’s demonstration event the same night.
And given her power and recent progress, when the race becomes a full blown championships next year it looks like a perfect fit.
That word ‘fit’ is one Bates said she could never apply to herself before her cycling days. Indeed the bike has been transformative.
“As a kid I was really overweight; I wouldn’t have been fit at all,” she says. “Before cycling I'd lost a bit and then tried to maintain it.
“I was 26 and I didn’t come from sport; wasn’t good at something else first and then switched to cycling. But I just thought I’d get into it; do something different.
“If you’d have said to me back then I’d end up wearing and Irish jersey I’d have said, ‘yeah right, you’re kidding me’.
“It’s unreal. I don’t think I will realise until I put the jersey on and do the time trial on Friday.”
She modestly makes it sound like she fell into the squad which, of course, isn’t the case.
Bates went for a talent-finding session held by Cycling Ireland last month. Of the riders who presented for testing she came out on top for watts.
And that, along with her recent progress on the road, was enough to ensure she got the call-up to the squad for this weekend.
Now aged 30 years and working full time in the marketing section of Aldi, the Dubliner said she was surprised and delighted to be asked to pilot Dunlevy in McCrystal’s absence this time around.
They face a 27km TT and an 80km road race on Sunday.
Bates said having world and Paralympic champion Dunlevy on the back of the bike will be a big responsibility. But Dunlevy was also a hugely experienced athlete who she could learn from.
She looks to McCrystal too as an example. Having become national champion last weekend, McCrystal has climbed through Irish cycling’s ranks in her 30s.
And she is now at the top of the heap aged 39 years. In her own mind, Bates takes comfort from that.
She knows she is late to cycling, but McCrystal shows she’s not too late. There is still time to get better and for bigger things to keep happening.
“I look at what Eve has done; amazing, you know. And getting this call up now for the paracycling team; it’s all great motivation for me.
“It’s just for this one trip and then we’ll see where it goes. At the moment Eve is going nowhere.
“Cycling Ireland is bringing me in for something that Eve is not available for.
"It’s a fantastic opportunity for me and I’ll take it one race at a time. We’ll see how it goes longer term.”
Aiming high in first race
Bates has not had much time on the tandem with Dunlevy; some training efforts and two TTs on Irish roads the extent of it so far.
But this weekend more experience will be banked and with a bit of luck the new girl will be an old hand in Irish kit in no time.
There’s not much time to look around and enjoy the scenery; Dunlevy and Bates aiming big in their first outing as a pair this weekend.
They are looking to win: “Isn’t everyone,” says Bates. “But I have big boots to fill in taking Eve’s place this weekend.”
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