Alison Jackson on an historic first TdF Femmes…and spreading smiles on TikTok
The national champion would love to (temporarily) trade a yellow jersey for the maple leaf
Alison Jackson has spent the spring in Europe, making Canadians proud in her national championship jersey. But she also has a huge following for her hilarious dance moves on TikTok and Instagram. The Liv Racing Xstra rider has become an Internet sensation for her ability to marry her cycling success with her super-popular skits and dances.
Tour de France Femmes coming soon
With the inaugural Tour de France Femmes taking place at the end of July, Jackson, like so many other cyclists, are counting the days down to making history. The 2022 version will be 1,029 km throughout eight stages, with two mountain stages, four stages for the sprinters, and two that would suit rouleurs. The Alberta-born rider has her eyes set on a few stages, but she’d definitely be thrilled with winning the first.
“The best stage to win, of course, would be stage one,” she says. “To take that first yellow jersey would be wild. The team will have plans for each stage, but yeah, to win that stage and make history would be something else.
Jackson had a busy spring schedule in Europe, but that’s exactly how she likes it.
“I love racing. I love what I get to do. I mean, training is fun But racing. I love the chaos,” she says. “You can’t replicate the chaos of racing. What is really cool about some of these bigger races is the fans. I always say I’m an entertainer and whether that’s on the bike, or off the bike, I just love to entertain. When we have races that fans can watch and get excited, it just makes it that much more rewarding.”
The entertaining off the bike partly stems from her love of dance as a child.
Alison Jackson’s love of dance
“I was in ballet class and some other dance classes when I was younger. But it’s not just about dance for me, it’s also storytelling,” she explains. “I really like TikTok as an app as you can make silly videos that are short, and it gives me a laugh to do so.”
Making her fans smile was part of the reason why Jackson took to TikTok to make her quirky dance skits.” In 2020 when the pandemic started, there wasn’t any racing. Plus we had to be quarantined a lot, so I was alone a lot,” she says. “So I realized I really need to make myself laugh. And so I was doing these things. And I just thought it was so funny. And then I would want to share it with other people and I figured everyone could use a little bit of positivity in their days.”
Although most of her day is spent training, it’s not just a few minutes here or there to make her videos. There is still planning and editing involved. “My teammates think that it takes two minutes to make a TikTok. It’s a bit more than that. But I so enjoy the process of creating. There’s some videos that are really heavy on the dance choreography side where you have to rehearse several times to get it right. Or to nail the storyline. So I’ll just film, take a bunch of footage and then later piece together a story.”
Jackson is also a firm believer in the power of social media to promote women’s cycling.
“I think we’ve seen the economy of women’s cycling is really growing. Most men’s teams have a women’s team as well, which is great. They aren’t just an afterthought,” she says. “And you’re seeing stronger women’s teams so you can really get how cycling is a team sport. But what’s cool in women’s cycling is there can still be surprises, underdogs can still win, look at the Olympics last year.”
The bigger importance of Alison Jackson’s TikTok and Instagram videos
When it comes to social media, Jackson also points out that due to reduced exposure through broadcast and tv time, pro women cyclists have to be more active on Instagram or TikTok to promote themselves or their brand. Where a pro like Mathieu van der Poel can simply post a photo of him winning a race, female cyclists have to be a bit more creative to get word out about their season, or sponsors.
“The good thing is with the levels growing, minimum salaries and more races and resources, women can now just focus on bike racing as opposed to having to balance a job and bike racing. Things are still evolving, but it does feel like it’s going in the right direction,” she says.
Increased TV exposure is also key for all the riders in the field, not just the winners. If people get to watch the whole race they will see the domestiques, the riders who cover the early moves for their team leader. It also means the level of racing continues to evolve.
“The talent pool in the peloton is so much deeper, so it’s creating much more exciting races. Five to ten years ago, you’d only have a few of the super stars winning the race. Now there’s dozens more who can.”
