MAUREEN BRUNO ROY
Riding a bicycle is all about balance. Exhibit A: Roy. There's a certain gentleness to this Arlington-based massage therapist, who specializes in deep-tissue and sports massage. She's also vegan, a lifestyle influenced by her upbringing on a Topsfield farm, where freshly plucked organic veggies were always what's-for-dinner.
But Roy also has a tough side. She's a fierce, top-ranking competitor in the world of cyclocross, an intense sport in which cyclists race on wooded trails, over steep hills and stairs, and through sand pits and other rough terrain. Riders often dismount and carry their bikes around obstacles, emerging from muddy courses like two-wheeling Rambos.
Yet even in those conditions, Roy finds a certain harmony. "I love the grace of it," she says of her sport. "Your mind shuts off. It's all intensity, with nothing to think about besides going as far as you can." And Roy has gone far, visiting countries like Belgium and Czech Republic for international competitions with MM Racing, the two-person team she started with her husband, Matt. "I feel like the luckiest person in the race," she says of traveling, training, and competing alongside her husband. "He's a great partner, and complements and balances my strengths and weaknesses." Ride on.
_SCOTT KEARNAN
