| Everything was coming together for Reinhart that Sunday in Arlington, Mass. That morning she had inked a multi-year contract with Saturn that would've made her one of the highest paid female cyclists in the country. A few hours later, she was justifying that deal with a heroic last lap in the most crucial race of her career. But just as ahe was about to claim victory, an un- precedented $250,000 prize and the credentials to become cycling's new poster girl, she crashedf chest-first into a tree and became a rare cycling fatality. A devout Christian, Mike Reinhart isn't bothered so much by why his daughter's life ended so abruptly. "I believe God wanted her with Him," he says, "and that gives me peace." But how she died still haunts him. He and his wife, Pam, returned to the race site in the springto look at the slender elm tree that took their daughter's life. And he can't make sense of it. "I thought it would've been a bigger tree," he says. SO MUCH ABOUT Nicole Reinhart defied probability. At 24 she already had enough friends for five lifetimes. After she died they posted hundreds of tributes on the Internet and slooded her parents' home in Macungie, Penn., with cards and letters. People who had known Reinhart for years and those who had met her once wrote about how they had been warmed by her smile, moti- vated by her spirit or touched by some act of kindness. Coaches and teachers remebered that rare blend of talent and humility that so impressed Mike Flynn, Reinhart's cross-country coach at Emmaus High School, that he named his daughter, now 9, after her. "Nicole excelled in a way unlike most people," says Pat McDonnough, a former Olympic cyclist who runs the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown, Penn., the track Reinhart grew up on. "Most elite athletes are self-centered. Nicole was the opposite. She wanted to win as much as anybody, but she was not going to step on anyone to do it." |
| Make no mistake, Reinhart was a master of the fast-moving chess game that is professional cycling. She was quick, agile and fearless, with great bike-handling skills and a knack for knowing where to put herself in the action. But she knew she was nothing without the team-mates who pulled her, protected her and chased down challengers. "I busted my butt for Nicole, but I was proud to," says former Saturn rider Julie Hanson. "If you gave to her, she gave so much back." All Reinhart needed, really, was an opportunity. When her parents bought her a tricycle at Sears when she was two, she rode it right out of the store. Ten years later her mom signed her up for free track-cycling lessons at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome, where Reinhart showed immediate promise. Following in the wake of slightly older Trexlertown stars like Marty Nothstein and Jessica Grieco, she won nine junior national track titles and two senior national titles before she turned 22. But her dream was to ride for Saturn, the premier women's road team in the U.S. That dream came true following Saturn star Karen Bliss Livingston's retirement after the 1998 season. Many in cycling were stunned when Wenzel hired the 23-year-old Reinhart to replace her. "I had to do a lot of convinc- ing around Saturn," says Wenzel, a former junior national team coach who had been following Reinhart's career |
| for years. "People said, "she's a track rider, she doesn't have road experience, she'll take years to develop." But I've found that sprinters with her dedica- tion and willingness to learn can make the transition to road." Reinhart validated Wenzel's faith winning nine races for Saturn in 1999. Though she didn't make the Olympic track or road teams, she had a banner pro season in 2000, winning 13 races and setting herself up to win the next best thing to an Olumpicm medal. At the beginning of the 2000 season BMC Software had offered $250,000 each to any male or female rider who could win all four of the BMC-sponsored races. "We fought hard for it," says Saturn rider Suzanne Sonye. "Those were four of the most challenging races ever." Reinhart won the first three races, as did Mercury men's rider Gord Fraser. The money at stake drew un- usual interest in the final race, a 12lap, 42 mile criterium held Sept. 17 in Arlington, a suburb of Boston. Nine-teen members of Reinhart's family were there as well as her boyfriend. Before the gun went off, Reinhart accepted a good-luck kiss from her dad and took her place at the start line. "She was so calm. I was a basket case." recalls Hanson. Other riders were equally nervous. The course had a steep downhill with an off-camber left turn that had some team managers worrying aloud about |
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| HEART FELT: Reinheart always made time for fans |