As a lifelong athlete, Dr. Andrea Cyr knew she wanted to spend her career helping others to continue playing and enjoying sports. That passion grew when she discovered criterium cycling, first as a hobby, then as a professional pursuit in 2022.
“My love in medicine is helping people get back to their sport or their lifestyles or anything that gives them enjoyment in their lives. I have my own passions in life, mostly through cycling, and I couldn’t imagine living without that,” said Cyr, a Carmel resident. “When other doctors save lives, I save lifestyles and get people back to what they love.”
Cyr, 36, is the medical director for Indianapolis Rehabilitation Hospital in Carmel. In November, she plans to open a sports medicine practice at Carmel’s IU North Clinic.
Trained as a sports, physical and rehabilitation physician, Cyr is board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation and sports medicine.
“I always joke that sometimes as a doctor, I just wish I could prescribe everybody a bike, and it would cure so many things — mental health and physical health — and everyone would be happy,” Cyr said. “Obviously, you can’t do that, but that would be my wish.”
While completing her residency at the University of Illinois in Chicago, Cyr, who played collegiate soccer, found support from the cycling community there, and it sparked her interest beyond simply watching races and riding for recreation.
“I finally verbalized out loud that I want to be a professional cyclist,” Cyr said. “I was honestly surprised at how quickly it happened at that point.”
Finishing second in the American Criterium Cup in her first two seasons, Cyr said her 2023 runner-up finish was especially meaningful because she helped propel teammate Paola Munoz to first place for the season.
ACC is a series of nine circuit races in cities throughout the United States held between Memorial Day and Labor Day. A winner is named for each race and an overall winner is named based on total scores at the end of the season.
This season, because of a health setback causing her to miss several races, Cyr said she feels pride in helping Munoz once again.
“There are different roles I can play within a race where it’s not so much my finishing spot that matters, but it’s trying to set her up to win or finish as high up as she can in the sprint to the finish,” Cyr said.
Currently with the Goldman Sachs ETFs team, Cyr competed in four of the nine qualifying races this season, including the IU Health Momentum Indy through the streets of Indianapolis in July.
“She’s a leader. She wants to win, but she realizes a lot of the time she’s not the strongest in the race, so she has to race intelligently and support her teammates who may be stronger than her on that day,” said Reed McCalvin, vice president of operations and teams for National Cycling League racing. “And that’s hard for a lot of athletes to do.”
Cyr spent her first two seasons with the NCL Miami Nights team.
Cyr credits her teammates, friends and colleagues for being able to balance her medical and cycling careers.
“The networks I’ve surrounded myself with understand my ambitions in this area, and they also value how it makes me a better physician,” she said. “So that’s important.”
Cyr’s partner, Justin Kirk, also is a professional cyclist, so they enjoy rides together.
“Justin is huge in providing me support so that I’m able to balance my career with a highly ambitious hobby,” Cyr said.
A New England native, Cyr moved to Carmel 2 1/2 years ago in part because of the vibrant cycling community.
“Cycling is kind of a hotbed here in Indianapolis and Carmel, specifically,” Cyr said. “It’s definitely been a perfect place to land.”
Cyr’s goal is to stay involved in the sport as long as possible.
“I think I’m most proud of being in a position where I created a name for myself within the sport, but now I’m in a position to impact it,” Cyr said. “I can think of ways to give back, whether that’s contributing as a leader to a team, or mentoring younger riders, or helping young women who get in the sport stay in the sport.”
Criterium Cycling
Criterium races last between one hour and an hour and a half. They are often held in city centers where mile-long courses are closed off to traffic.
“The most common type of racing we do in the U.S. are criteriums. They are a bit different than the type of racing that happens in Europe, where you might race 100 to 150 miles, multiple days in a row,” said Dr. Andrea Cyr, who became a professional cyclist in 2022.
Criterium races consist of laps and circuits.
“It’s fast. It’s punchy for that hour,” Cyr said. “It’s a little bit more action packed than some of these other racing types, where you go from Point A to Point B, but there’s a lot of lulls in the middle of it.”
