Cycling into a career
UMW senior takes the lead
By Edie Gross
One minute, Aidan Charles ’06 was firmly planted in the seat of his racing bike. The next, he was bouncing off the windshield of a car.
Charles doesn’t remember much about the July 2003 accident in his hometown of Middletown, Conn. His kidneys were damaged, his lungs were bruised, and it was a full month before he could walk again. But none of that would keep the avid cyclist off his bike.
“I got back on the bike before I could walk completely,” said Charles, who, as a founder and member of the University of Mary Washington’s Cycling Club would come in fourth in the Virginia State Road Race Championship less than two months after his crash. “I think the rest might’ve been good for me.”
Charles’ passion for cycling started in middle school when an older friend of the family encouraged him to give it a whirl. It continued last summer with an invitation to a cycling center in Belgium, where an exclusive group of America’s best cyclists are trained to race at the ultra-competitive European pro level.
Charles, 22, is just weeks away from earning his bachelor’s degree in biology with an emphasis on nutrition. His European training and his education at Mary Washington have catapulted him into a dream career.
Last fall, he founded Charles Coaching and Nutrition Services using his science skills to assess the health and endurance of other athletes and his cycling experience to coach and mentor them.
Charles trains daily, cycling along busy Fredericksburg roads and quieter rural routes, to and from Washington, D.C., or through Virginia’s mountains.
As a junior, Charles wanted to step up his training, so he applied to Belgium’s Cycling Center, an elite racing school that teaches athletes the ins and outs of pro competition. Thousands apply for the 20 or so slots available to American cyclists for a six-week program at the end of spring, said Charles.
“I didn’t really expect to get in, but I was accepted and it was just nuts,” said Charles, who impressed coaches so much that they asked him to stay for the rest of the summer.
Charles competed in three to four races a week, jouncing over narrow, cobble-stoned streets at upwards of 35 mph alongside other cyclists not more than a finger-length’s distance from his bike.
He faced many European pros, but the amateur racers – those still struggling to make it to the big leagues – were even tougher competitors to some extent, Charles said.
“You’d hear a thud over to your left, and that’s some guy punching another guy in the ribs. At the amateur level, they’re basically living their life around cycling. They’re all like a pack of dogs scrapping for one piece of food,” Charles said.
While his body was getting a workout, so was his brain, he added. His European coaches taught him to strategize while cycling, to focus on getting ahead while conserving his energy during hours-long races.
“To race these guys, you’ve got to be pushing it. You’ve got to dig incredibly deep,” Charles said. “There’s so much more than just fitness. You can be fit and race like an idiot, and you’re screwed. It’s like playing chess and running a marathon at the same time.”
Since returning to Mary Washington, Charles has competed on the Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Elite cycling team and he coaches the North Atlantic Junior U.S. Regional Team, which features riders 18 and younger. He still manages to find time to carry 16 hours of classes and serve as a resident assistant at the University Apartments.
“It’s about organization. I’m more productive now than I’ve ever been,” Charles said. “I can ride in the mornings, coach and make calls in the afternoons. It doesn’t get any better than that. My life after school will be biking, and that’s fantastic.”
Athleticism runs in the Charles family. Aidan’s parents, Keith and Pat Charles, both started fencing as teenagers. Keith Charles ranked fifth in the country in the under-20 level and his wife, Pat, competed on a pre-Olympic squad before having children, Keith Charles said.
“We recognize the value in sport, regardless of the outcome,” said Keith Charles, who has four sons. “The value is in the process of doing it, learning what it’s like to win and more importantly, what it’s like to lose. We encouraged them to do anything they were willing to suffer for.”
Some of Charles’ middle school friends enjoyed mountain biking, and he took that up for fun. “I was very competitive,” he said. “I always wanted to be first up the hill.”
“He started getting into it, and he got the bug,” his father said. “It grew from there.”
Arlen Wenzel, 36, said he was biking around Middletown, Conn., when he spotted Charles, then about 16, on his bike. As a teenager, Wenzel said he was coached by older cyclists, and he wanted to offer the same sort of encouragement to Charles.
“It was basically a two-year stint where he was my surrogate child,” said Wenzel, who rode with Charles daily while the younger cyclist was in high school. “I think it’s a natural evolution in this sport – you’re first the student and then you become the teacher.”
Charles’ training alongside experienced cyclists helped him flourish in races against kids his own age. He became one of the top junior riders in New England while racing with the New England Cycling Support Association Team. He also represented the United States in international competitions in Canada and Cuba.
Two of Charles’ three brothers are competitive swimmers, and Charles himself competed on Mary Washington’s swim team his freshman year before deciding to devote full time to cycling. He talked swim teammate Steven Bednash ’06 into becoming his training partner.
“He convinced me to buy a bike,” said Bednash, who swam one more season with the Eagles before he became a cycling devotee. “It was definitely a challenge because I’d never done that before. Cycling is just a totally different thing. It’s the difference between staring at the bottom of a pool for three hours and riding around the country for three hours. I’m glad I chose the different scenery.”
Bednash and Charles established UMW’s Cycling Club their sophomore year. The team now has about 20 members who compete in National Collegiate Cycling Association events.
After his experience in Belgium, Charles has been able to pass along tactical tips to his Mary Washington teammates, said Bednash, also a senior biology major.
“He’s a really good coach. He knows his stuff,” Bednash said. “People sometimes will coach people or oversee somebody else’s training as a side thing. Aidan, he wants this as his job.”
Charles looks forward to combining his college science education with his lifelong athletic passion. “My career’s hopefully going to be based around this sport,” he said. “I’m really lucky.”
Edie Gross is an adjunct journalism professor at UMW.