Embracing Virtual Worlds - A Safe Space For Woman To Gain Confidence

It's been hard for pro-athletes to maintain morale over the past two years. Covid-19 lockdowns saw track and tarmac unavailable to many cyclists. But there was a large section of the cycling community who found a new way to train, and a way that felt better than before - female cyclists.

Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio

Enter Moolman-Pasio, a passionate cyclist and 5-time Women's Elite National Champion. She had an unusual start for a pro-cyclist - only discovering the sport as a student in South Africa. After completing her BSC in Chemical Engineering in 2009 she married Carl Pasio - a triathlete and the man who introduced her to endurance sports. She tried the triathlon but found she wasn't nearly as good at running or swimming as she was at cycling. She was very good at cycling. So good in fact, that she decided to move to Europe to pursue a career in the sport.

Since then, she has enjoyed a momentous rise to international fame in the cycling scene and has travelled the world maintaining consistent podium positions in Norway, Australia and France and competed in the 2012 Olympics. In 2020 she signed a two-year contract with the elite SD Worx Team. And then the lockdown hit.

Lockdown

Moolman-Pasio, now residing in Spain, found a way to beat the blues during lockdown through embracing virtual training on a whole new level. She previously disliked cycling Esports, preferring the natural beauty that one experiences at real events, but during lockdown, this was the only way to stay in shape as the future of the sport was looking uncertain.

She put all her work into this new passion, and it paid off - in December 2020 she became the Esports World Champion and won herself a brand-new Specialised S-Works Tarmac SL7 with a fittingly pixelated rainbow theme to commemorate her victory. But beyond a medal and a bike - she had found something even more important, a discovery that could help women around the world become more confident riders.

The Rocacorba Collective

While training in 2020, Moolman-Pasio hosted virtual rides for other women who wanted to train. She discovered that this was a safe space for women who felt uncomfortable on the roads. Cycling can be an intimidating sport for female rides - the roads are dominated by men; they have to wear tight-fitting lycra and they have to deal with a range of issues that could leave them alone on the road and in possibly unsafe environments (especially true in Moolman-Pasio's home country of South Africa).

After winning at the Esports World Championships, Moolman-Pasio decided to solidify this experience and founded the Rocacorba Collective - an Esports Team that offers women-only virtual rides, socials and exercise classes that are as enjoyable as playing at onlinebingocanada.co. Through this, the collective hopes to further expand - creating a community platform and a rider development program in South Africa

Moolman-Pasio has already proven she can do anything she puts her mind to, and it'll be exciting to watch where this new venture will take her.