Jacquie Phelan

Who is Jacquie Phelan?

Jacquie Phelan is an American former road and cyclocross racer, and was the NORBA champion three consecutive years—1983, 1984, and 1985. Her nickname of "Alice B. Toeclips" is a homage to Alice B. Toklas. Phelan is known through the US mountain bike racing community for being outspoken on behalf of women riders and noncompetitive riders, riding drop bars off road, and her polka-dotted tights.

Phelan is married to Wilderness Trail Bikes cofounder and inventor Charlie Cunningham, the bicycle frame builder whose aluminum bike, "Otto," Phelan raced unbeaten for six years. This bike was the first modern lightweight mountain bike, and its heat-treated sloping top tube aluminum frame held up for over nine consecutive seasons. The roller cam brakes, two chainrings, and custom-fabricated eleven-tooth rear cog gave a boost in technical riding. The bike also drew criticism from traditional framebuilders, who believed durable frames had to be made of steel.

She was a charter inductee into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 1988, and in 2000 was inducted into the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame. Along with a dozen others, Phelan cofounded NORBA in 1982, and was a charter member of IMBA.