Zoe Cuthbert

By Evana Ho


If you come across Zoe Cuthbert, chances are it’ll be as she’s racing past you at top speed. 

The ANU Bachelor of Design student, who goes by the moniker Flying Racoon on a Bike on Instagram, was the under-23 Oceania and National Champion last year, and came 5th in the junior Cross-Country Olympic World Championships in 2019.

Zoe participated in her first bike race at around age 6. It wasn’t smooth sailing that first time, but it is revealing of the perseverance and love of riding that has seen her through to where she’s at today.

“I’m pretty sure in my first race I lost my chain and came dead last,” she says. “I was like, okay! I’m going to enter the next race immediately, and off I went!”

She’s been hooked ever since.

“I love the adventure and the challenge,” Zoe says, her eyes gleaming. 

“The community is also really amazing. Everyone’s just so welcoming and it’s such a good environment to be in. But the sport just has endless possibilities of different things to explore and ways to push yourself, and I think I fall in love every time I try a new discipline or new obstacle or adventure to do.”

She adds: “It’s a great sport and everyone should definitely give it a go.”
 

Bike racing and design

Zoe’s involvement in graphic design stems from a running race her father was doing. The race ran a design competition, which Zoe entered and won. 

“I think I was the only entry, but from there I was hooked and I started doing more,” Zoe says. “People would come to me for little graphic design things and it just built from there.”

That was six years ago. Now, Zoe is not only studying design part-time at the ANU School of Art & Design, but working as a freelance graphic designer – including for ANU student central.

Given she is already working in the field of design, I wondered what she hoped to gain from doing a Bachelor of Design. She said that it’s been a really good way of exploring and pushing creative boundaries.

“In actual work it’s about getting it done efficiently and you have a deadline that you have to get it done by as well as a million other things. Whereas at ANU, they really push you to explore ideas and try new things and experiment, which I think is really valuable.”

Both of Zoe’s parents did their PhDs at ANU, albeit in physics and biology respectively. Growing up in Canberra, she was around the campus a fair amount, which she loves. Her parents shared with her their experiences at ANU, which made her want to study here too. But when it came to choosing where to study design, the structure and content of the degree were important.

“A lot of people are like, if you want to do design maybe go to Melbourne,” Zoe says. “But I really liked how broad the ANU Bachelor of Design was and how you could do it." 

“It wasn’t just like you had to do graphic design. You can also do tons of different areas of design – because I think design is definitely becoming more multi-faceted. You don’t just create logos. You also create websites and code things. ANU was really good for that.”

In addition to doing graphic design professionally for ANU, Zoe works on a lot of bike race projects. This she finds really cool, especially when she was younger; having a design she created printed on a t-shirt and seeing kids riding around with it. 

“It’s just really rewarding to see that your work is actually out there and being appreciated by people,” she says.
 

Ride like a girl

In testament to Zoe’s skill and talent as a bike rider, she’s a member of the Trek-Shimano Australia racing team – the only one from Canberra. 

“They’re my team and they support me racing around Australia and internationally,” Zoe says. “They help me out with getting bikes and kit and fixing my bike – I break it all the time.”

Zoe’s newest bike, supplied by the company, is a Trek Supercaliber. She requested that the bike be painted pink.

“I made sure to make it really pretty,” Zoe affirms. 

This reminded me of the description in her Instagram bio: Ride like a girl. Followed by three yellow-green-yellow love hearts.

“I grew up riding with boys and I was really lucky they just accepted me and there was never any difference in gender,” Zoe says. “But the older I’ve gotten and the more I’ve travelled, I’ve had some pretty bad experiences where I’ve been told I can’t ride things because of my gender and it has been looked down on.”

“So I think definitely in being at a high level and seeing how many amazing girls there are, I try to remove the stigma around riding like a girl being a bad thing. I make it a positive thing and show that girls can ride – and not just well, but sometimes better than boys, and that it should be a compliment.”
 

Zoe’s dreams

The pandemic has kept Zoe from racing internationally – as well as participating in Tour Divide this year with her father; a 4,418 km bike route from Banff in Canada to New Mexico. The almost-20 year old, however, does still hope to travel the world and race her bike internationally in the future.

“I see all these amazing places on Instagram and TV of bike parks around the world, and bike races, and I want to go to all of them and meet all the people and ride all the obstacles!” Zoe enthuses. 

Like many competitive riders, Zoe also has her eye on the Olympics. 

“I think when I was probably one year into my bike riding career – so I was like seven – I told my mum that I wanted to go to the Olympics,” she recalls. “Definitely not this year, but maybe Paris [in 2024].”

She adds that her middle name is actually Paris.

“So it’s very fitting. But yeah – we’ll see. You never know what’s going to happen.”

Image supplied by Zoe Cuthbert.