By Rebecca Reza, RadioTour

“We don’t realize how good we are sometimes,” says Jennifer Wheeler sharing the dreams and determination of a self-described rinky-dink group of talented woman making their debut at Tour of the Gila this week.

Fount Cycling Guild was founded in 2019, one year before the world shut down. The program was the brainchild of former professional cyclist, Jennifer Wheeler and coach David Richter, with the goal of seeking out new talent, helping them learn how to race their bikes with the hope of graduating them to a higher-level program.

Rewinding back to 2009, Wheeler was a latecomer to the sport. The Washington native had found cycling, racing her first season on the road in 2010 before the famed Linda Jackson – founder and manager of the women’s professional TIBCO team – picked her up.

“Linda took me to Europe and I raced Flanders and La Flèch Wallonne. I ended up finishing top ten in one of the UCI races soon after,” Wheeler said. “I had a lot of talent but it was really hard. I didn’t have a support system, I had no idea what I was doing. I was living in a bike room, making $1,000 a month, which at that time it was big money, then doing transcription on the side.

“I remember saving up $12 to buy a tank top at a used clothing store – then I crashed and remember thinking – you know what? I have a master’s degree, I’m not doing this shit anymore.”

Wheeler had had enough and left the sport behind. She secured a job at Microsoft, and never looked back. In 2016, the Olympics came around and she watched her former teammate, Maeghan Guarnier race to 11th place in the road race.

“I saw how good she was doing, so I thought, maybe I’ll come back.”

Richter began coaching her, helping Wheeler finish third in the Pan American championships at 38 years of age. She would go on to race the Tour of California, alongside Guarnier. She was back training at home with a men’s team, finding her love for the sport once again.

“I came back to cycling because this men’s team was so much fun to ride with, just the community – I wanted that. So we started the women’s team and that’s when Veronica Ewers came in. Alia Shafi came on eventually a couple years later.”

The duo-sought athletes they knew that trained hard, often times at colleges and universities. Soon, the team outgrew everything on a local level – often sweeping the top five places at local races.

“These women had no idea what they were doing, they just liked to ride hard,” Wheeler said. “We were dominating the local races so much so that the Washington State Bicycle Association called us, asking us to race with the men because we were ‘discouraging women from racing,’ they said.”

The year was 2021 when they chose to compete at the pro national championships. They arrived under the radar, stealing a podium finish with Ewers finishing third. Jackson always with her eye on talent, signed Ewers to TIBCO that would soon turn into the World Tour team of EF Education.

“It was organic,” Wheeler explains. “We were going to do a women’s pro team but we out grew it. We had paid for all of them to get to Pro Nationals, as a reward for them doing so well.”

Upon their return to Washington, sponsors began falling into place. After signing Ewers, Jackson offered money to run the team the following year. Soon after, Shimano came calling complementing the team’s aggressive racing tactics.

“Ewers only got that chance because of Linda Jackson. Because Linda started later in life, she understands this. I struggle with ageism. WorldTour teams look at a 22-year old rider as someone they can develop, but then we see someone like Lauren Stephens at 37 getting big results.”

Every rider and staff on the elite women’s team works on a volunteer basis. The riders have contracts for their equipment, while getting their travel expenses and race registrations covered, along with one-on-one coaching with Richter. The team also rents airbnb’s so that the riders who work are able to do so remotely in between races.

The current squad Fount Cycling Guild is fielding in their debut at the Tour of the Gila includes an incredible team of accomplished women. 34-year-old Eleanor Wisemen overcame a bout with cancer while earning a PhD in economics. She currently works as a professor at UC Berkeley, one of the most prestigious university’s in the United States. She finished third on stage 2 at the Redlands Bicycle Classic’s Queen Stage a little over a week ago.

Alia Shafi is expected to lead the team’s efforts this week after climbing up to finish second overall at Redlands this year. She also won the time trial at Walmart’s Joe Martin Stage race last season. Shafi is 29, and works as a software engineer at Wahoo Fitness; arriving in Silver City as a underdog for the overall. Her teammate Marjorie Rinaldo, began her sporting career as a swimmer, had a daughter before going into the Navy after which she discovered cycling.

“Until they cannot perform, give them a chance at least,” Wheeler says. “You’re not hurting your budget if you get results in a few years. Last year Shafi finished 11th at Nationals because she went for it. She made a break with WorldTour group of riders. She had gone for it but her result is not reflective of the level of rider that she is.”

After the hiccup through the pandemic, the program was able to survive and get back to what they had started. They created the Fount Cycling Foundation in order to be able to accept donations from the masses, providing financial assistance to cover travel expenses including flights and lodging, one-on-one training with Richter, and race registration.

“When I was coming up, I was lucky that Linda signed me based on my potential. Before that, if I broke my bike I had to find the money to fix it. I’m a hustler and a lot of these girls are too. I just want them to focus on riding their bike, I will do the rest.”

The program runs on a minimal budget of roughly $45,000, going year-to-year working hard to secure future sponsors. They have made incredible strides the past few seasons, earning respectable results with their limited resources. Neither Wheeler nor Richter earns money through the team, focused instead on giving back to the sport they love so much.

“Every dime that we get goes directly to the girls. We would not have our program had Linda Jackson not give us that money when we first started,” Wheeler said.

“All of these riders have such great stories. Our goal is to get Eleanor and Alia on a team to be able to have an opportunity. No one will take them five years from now. Those are my biggest goals, because they deserve a chance.”