Wow! Well I have been super busy with child rearing, bike riding, coaching, scheming and housekeeping activities of late, and while I am chipping away at the Strong Women series, it's not happening as fast as expected. Elva is doing nerdy-sounding giggles, trying to blow raspberries (they're pretty average at the moment, i'm not going to lie!) and staying awake for longer periods of time so that cuts the daytime hours down a bit.
I find myself dreaming of a life of km's that don't have to start before 6am (it's very cold in Brisbane at this time, you know!) and bedtimes that extend past 9pm, but such is life if I want to fit in riding and some kind of sleep.
This Strong Women series post features another early riser, someone who probably exists happily on the amount of sleep I begrudge with a small kiddo. Always smiling, happy to the point of squeaky sometimes, this series post features mountain-biker and road cyclist Imogen Smith.
Imogen Smith began her cycling career in mountain biking, racing the Australian National Series, but really excelling in longer marathon events such as the Noosa Enduro, Flight Centre Cycle Epic and Red Centre Enduro (now known as the Ingkerekke Commercial Mountain Bike Enduro). Following some time abroad in rainy GB (aka: motherland and the nation we HAVE to beat at this years Olympics...), Imogen returned to Brisbane and focused on road racing while forging a career. Now she’s back at uni doing a PhD and back on the mountain bike…
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| Trying to scout for a good coffee shop can be difficult on longer rides... |
Imogen, I have known you since I started riding when you were a part of Australia’s most successful mountain bike team of the time: Cannondale-Maxxis. Despite having known you for the entire time i have raced, I don't actually know how you got started in the sport, and let's face it, other people’s stories are always far more interesting than your own. So...how did Imogen Smith get into the sport of mountain biking?
When I was about 23 I lived in a share house with a girl who was a rower—a really tall and athletic girl, and she had all these really athletic friends. They were these Amazonian, fit, strong women and I thought they were so impressive that this flatmate took me down to the boatsheds and I tried to give rowing a go. I am not Amazonian, and had a stress fracture within about two weeks, so I bought a bike. I’d recently heard someone mention mountain biking and (after getting them to explain what it was) I thought ‘Oh that sounds cool, I’ll try that instead’. I entered a race and rode two laps of the course (it was Yarramundi out near Penrith) over about two hours and when I finished I was covered in blood and charcoal from the trees and dirt and bruises, and my Kmart bike (a hybrid) was all dinged up. ‘Wow,’ I thought ‘That was fun, and everyone was so nice.’ I just kept going and gradually got better and better bikes. I came last in every race I did for the first year or so, but I was hooked then and I still am. And the people are still the nicest in the world.
You were part of the Ausport Talent ID program 'Hummingbirds', from which there are several girls still racing but as yet no international superstars...do you think incentives such as that one are helpful in engaging women in competitive sport at a high level?
Good question. I think what these programs do is bring more depth to racing as a whole—so although they may not directly produce international superstars, they do increase the number of women on the start line and push the top girls to get even better. With greater depth the sport attracts more spectators and attention, and this could encourage even more women to give it a go. I think they are definitely a good thing, but retaining athletes in these programs is hard. Most girls they pick up are in their twenties and trying to balance relationships and establish careers. Bike racing is so demanding: the training, the travel, the expense—that the attrition rate is extremely high.
From racing short course xc at a national level and taking line honours at many of the Enduro events...what instigated the switch to the road?
Well, it really was the AIS talent ID program, and time—jumping on a road bike at my front door every morning just seemed so much more convenient than driving to trails and cleaning mud out of the back of my car so it took over, especially when I was working full-time. I’ve come full circle now. I absolutely love road riding, but the racing side, frankly, I don’t enjoy. And I wasn’t very good at it! I’m coming back to mountain bikes again – first race is in September. It’s a much harder transition in reverse, and my skills were completely gone. I’m blogging about all the ups and downs at http://anotherviciouscycle.blogspot.com.au.
What are your upcoming goals on the bike? Off the bike?
On the bike—just to get fit and technically competent for the Epic in September. In the future I really hope to do some races like the Cape Epic and I’d love to go back to the Ingkerreke Commercial Mountain Bike Enduro in Central Australia—it’s a very special race. I really want to focus on enduros but at this stage I’m just thinking about getting through the Epic. I’ve done a lot of soul searching about bike racing in recent years—sometimes I’ve wondered if it was still for me—so I’m happy taking it one step at a time for now: just having fun and catching up with old friends and going as fast as I can.
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| Imogen taking the final stage of the Anaconda Mountain Bike Enduro (now the Ingkerrke Commercial) |
Off the bike? Well, the first thing is to get through my PhD (in literature and writing at QUT) and I’d love to have a real job again one day—I’m working towards an academic career so might have to wait 20 years! Getting some more of my writing published would be great, too!
How do you juggle the work/study/training conundrum, the one many full time female athletes have to juggle?
A cocktail of social isolation, obsessive thinking and a punitive superego. Seriously? I get up really, really early! It’s not unusual for me to get up at 3:40am. Sometimes every day feels like a highwire act on a lit fuse, racing to fit in training around work and study, running from one thing to another. I’ve had to accept that there are times when I can go on five or so hours sleep and do tonnes of training and 14 hour work days, but there are also times when I just can’t and I have to sleep and have days off the bike.
I’m also conscious that a lot of people out there have way more to deal with than me with families and partners thrown into the mix. At the moment I’m very lucky because I’m a student and a tutor at QUT, so my time is flexible. The flipside of that is extreme poverty.
There’s always a trade off, but I think it’s most important to make sure we’re not sacrificing relationships or our careers. Or getting so exhausted that we’re crying all the time.
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| Racing the Cannondale Taurine as part of the hugely successful Cannondale-Maxxis Mountain Bike Team, back in the day. |
You have referred to yourself as a potential crazy cat lady: can you confirm that you have cat or is this just a fallacious rumour?
I am allergic to cats, and don’t have any. This is not to say that I don’t talk to my imaginary cat sometimes.
Do you ride women specific products at all? Bikes? If there was one women's specific product that you would be recommending as a must-have to any women cyclists out there what would it be?
I’ve tried lots of women’s specific products over the years, from gloves to bikes. Girls, a really, really good lady saddle that you love is essential! I ride Fi’zi:k Vitesse saddles and I love them to the point that I stockpile them in case the manufacturers change the design or something.
Finally, we have a few quick snippets...
You finish a ride, rock up to the coffee shop and order what? Second breakfast: Granola with yoghurt and a skim cappuccino in a mug or several.
Favourite bike in the garage? That’s like asking which family member you like best! I have to say my heart belongs to my mountain bike – a Cannondale Taurine of a certain age. We’ve been together the longest and we’ve been through some serious sh*t too!
Best motivational quote or motto? When I want motivation I look at people around me. People who have it a lot tougher and have achieved a lot more. That usually gets me going.
Favourite pre-race meal? Seriously, it’s the same thing I eat pre-training, but a bit more – so probably banana with yoghurt and walnuts and honey, then maybe some muesli or toast for extra carbs! Oh and an espresso or two – just enough to feel normal. Depending on how long the race is I would probably down all this hours before start time and then I might even top up on the start line with a gel or something!
Riding accessory you couldn't live without? I was going to be boring and say iPod Shuffle, but a big secret is Bepanthen baby cream. It fixes everything: Chafing, saddle sores, wind-chapped lips. You name it, it makes it better. I’ve even used it to regrease a headset. Worked ok.
If one company or product could sponsor your riding life, who/what would it be and why? Is there a company that makes a bike butler? Someone to fix my bikes and hand me bottles and drive me home from races? That’d be cool.
Probably a company that ran a team. The older I get the more I realise how much of enjoying the sport centres on getting together with other people with the same crazy passion. When I was younger it was more about me – my race, winning, and I wish I’d been able to relax more and enjoy myself. Now I want to have a laugh, race hard, and share experiences.