USA Womans Cycling looses another great rider.

[guido]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/mara-abbott-announces-retirement-from-professional-cycling/

Probably the best American woman climber ever. Pitifully under recognized. Sorry to see her go.

[roguedog]

Ah. Bummer. That race was a highlight of the Olympics for me. Was so rooting for her to get to the line.

Best wishes for her next phase.

[rnhood]

I don't know, it sounds like she is wimping out merely because she can't take the top spot. That's a poor attitude in my opinion. Hopefully she will do better at farming.

[helmut]

I don't know, it sounds like she is wimping out merely because she can't take the top spot. That's a poor attitude in my opinion. Hopefully she will do better at farming.

She has been racing for almost a decade. She is not retiring because of the Olympic road race. She is moving on to start the next phase of her life. The reality of women's cycling is that very, very few women make enough to live comfortably, so many choose to retire before getting too far removed from (non-cycling) professional careers. Also, many choose to retire at the end of an Olympic year, regardless of results - look at Evelyn Stevens. My hat is off to her for making the next move. I'm sure she will be successful.

[sandyrs]

I don't know, it sounds like she is wimping out merely because she can't take the top spot. That's a poor attitude in my opinion. Hopefully she will do better at farming.

:crap:

[nooneline]

I don't know, it sounds like she is wimping out merely because she can't take the top spot. That's a poor attitude in my opinion. Hopefully she will do better at farming.

What? Where did you get that from?

I see an article that says that in a talk, she announced her retirement, and also discussed that the Olympic RR was hard to get over.

Nowhere did it say that she retired BECAUSE she didn't win.

[ptourkin]

I don't know, it sounds like she is wimping out merely because she can't take the top spot. That's a poor attitude in my opinion. Hopefully she will do better at farming.

Wow.

[tumbler]

I don't know, it sounds like she is wimping out merely because she can't take the top spot. That's a poor attitude in my opinion. Hopefully she will do better at farming.

Mara Abbott wimping out? :crap:

[earlfoss]

I can understand her retirement. It sucks for me because she's one of the very few in her peloton who I cared to watch race, but when you're done you're done.

She did retire, or at least took a prolonged break a few years ago after struggling with an eating disorder, and I'm sure a lot of mental issues came along with that. You don't just walk away from that stuff so I'm sure she's been managing it the best she can since then. She could very well be pulling the plug for reasons that she's not disclosing with the press, and that is ok.

[Lewis Moon]

Good luck Mara. You will be missed. A lot.

[drewellison]

Her Olympics road race was inspiring to me, even though she missed out on a potential victory and was a "disappointing fourth". Afterwards in an interview she said something like "I left it all on the road, there was nothing left". Good for her!

:hello: