For Maize Wimbush, the wheels started turning early in her life. Almost literally.
“I don’t know if I can take credit for it,” her father, Mark Wimbush, said. “I was riding my bike and she kept wanting to ride with me. She was so persistent about it.”
Wimbush was only around 6 years old at the time — her father was a road cyclist. He was riding the kind of bicycles that are best suited for long distances and racing, not the sort that is for tooling around a neighborhood like a little kid was used to.
But Wimbush didn’t let up and eventually her father gave in. She got her first road bike for her seventh birthday. By the time Wimbush was 8, she was riding 20 to 30 miles with her dad each time they went out. “Now when she goes out, it’s nothing for her to do 100 miles,” Mark said.
Wimbush was introduced to road racing by a fellow rider. She won her first race, the Dawg Days of Summer in Crofton, when she was 9. At 10, she won the Mid-Atlantic Bicycle Racing Association (MABRA) BAR for Girls ages 9 and 10 and placed third the following year in the MABRA BAR. By the age of 13, she was recruited by the women’s cycling team, Twenty20, to join its junior development program and started to race adult women. In 2021, Wimbush made history when she became the first Black female to win the junior women’s category at the USA Cycling Amateur Road National Championships in Florida.
In some circles, she’s known as “aMAIZEn,” and now at 18, Wimbush is on the verge of graduating from North Point High School on May 31 and moving on to even bigger goals.
Wimbush is a member of Twenty24 Pro Cycling, one of the top women’s cycling teams in the U.S. Twenty24 is known for developing and supporting female cyclists who have their sights set on making it to one of — if not the biggest — international stage.
“The goal is the Olympics,” Wimbush said of the 2028 LA summer games. “Who wouldn’t want to qualify for the Olympics?”
To get there, Wimbush continues to train, and train, then train harder. “Race harder than you train,” she hears her father’s voice telling her. “You should be training harder than you race.”
She cycles every chance she gets which helps with her fitness goals and gets up well before school starts at 8:05 a.m. each morning to work out.
Cycling has given her more than a past time or active outlet. The sport offers a sense of community. “The community is great, it’s diverse. There are people from different backgrounds,” Wimbush said. “I’m always learning so many different things that I may not have learned in other sports about life and about myself.”
There’s also the traveling. Wimbush has been to 17 states for races. Her teammates on Twenty24 scattered throughout the country. She’s been to Spain three times, particularly the cycling-friendly city of Girona, where she hopes to move. About 60 miles outside of Barcelona, Girona is home to many professional and amateur cyclists who train there. It would be a perfect place for an aspiring Olympian to set down roots.
The cycling season in Maryland usually stretches from early February to August, said Wimbush, who has named Nelson Vails, Justin and Cory Williams, and Ayesha McGowan as some of her inspirations and heroes in the cycling community. She trains throughout the year, save for October when she takes the month off. Wimbush would like to see drivers and cyclists taken safety more seriously when it comes to sharing the road. It is something she, her dad and other cyclists will continue to advocate for, she said. There are too many accidents that could be avoided just by paying attention to the road.
And she’s still a high school student. Other than cycling, she was into dance for a while. She hangs out with her friends and goes to concerts and parties with them. She likes to paint and try new foods. She is a member of the National Honor Society and the Academic Eagles at North Point. Wimbush is a positive force at school, Principal Dan Kaple said.
“She brings great energy to our building,” he said. “Her positive attitude and kindness are characteristics of her personality that shine brightly.”
Wimbush was recently asked to contribute to the book, “Dear Rebel, 145 Women Share Their Best Advice for the Girls of Today,” a compilation of stories, letters, poems and essays from teens and women on topics like overcoming obstacles, discovering passions and realizing dreams. Wimbush wrote about her journey as a young, Black female cyclist. A copy of the book is now in the North Point library.
