Fit Mom's Blog

In my first Criterium ever, I was almost dropped. The field was half a lap in front of me, and all I could think about was “they are slowing down!!” and “they are waiting for me”! Ha ha ha. Nothing like some effective mental imagery to get through the race. That was back in the late 90′s people. And in that race was a woman named Pamela Schuster; Pro Bike Racer and super fast woman. I remember being VERY intimated to race my first USCF race with pro women. Why do I as a rookie have to race with a pro? That’s crazy!!

So, I met her today. She is a mommy. She has a five year old boy and is still kicking ass. I asked her what her goals are now that she is a mommy and she said “It’s my effort to stay young!” Isn’t that great? People, in a recent race, she was a LAP ahead of the field of other pro women!! So, what does this say to you about women?

To me it says, we keep racing until it stops being fun or we can no longer be competitive. And, women who are generally FAST will be fast forever. Is it in the genes? Is it in the mental make-up of the individual? Joan Benoit is FAST at 50. Can you name a woman athlete who is still competing at the top level in the forties and fifties?

At the ripe old age of 37, bike racing to me is about staying young and having fun. Also, I am married to a bike racer. So my choices on Sundays are either to go and be a cheerleader, or go and race or stay home with the kids. Lately, I’ve been choosing racing. Thankfully, our races are back to back. Using the stationary trainer, I can hook my bike up in a parking lot, warm-up with kiddos riding bikes in same parking lot. However, even though my children are fine (playing safely and in my sight) I am an uptight anxious pain in the hour before the race. Highly concerned about their safety and spending very little time actually being constructive. Possibly, it’s my mental strategy to not think about the upcoming race?!

We get the instructions to roll out and all the anxiety goes away. I am fine. Not nervous, not distracted, and ready to race. Because of last weeks’ fiasco, I was determined to go hard, attack and get in a break. We started with 20 women, and yes, I did start the break that stayed away from the field. However, there were 8 women in the break. That is too big of a breakaway, really. So, I attacked again. Hoping that someone would bridge and then we’d have a two or three woman breakaway. Girl in white chased me down but brought the field with her. And, then, we find that every other woman in the field of 8 was not willing to take a pull at all. Girl in white was cussing at them!! “If you are not going to pull through then get out of my way!!” She also called them “piss ant girls!” So, her and I alternated taking hard pulls for several laps until I said, they are just going to sit in and beat us in the sprint. Unless, we could have attacked again and gotten away, then, it’s not worth it to keep doing all the work. Rest. In the last lap, I was in 4th or 5th position and on the outside. Too far away and too far back to really contest the sprint. To win, I needed to be in 3rd position and on the inside. Last corner, my heart rate is maxed out and again, I sat up. Decided to sprint at the last second and managed to get 6th place.

At the kiddie corner, there are more than ten kids playing in the grass together.  You know how kids gravitate towards other kids?  Turns out that there are lots of us mama’s out there racing with their kiddos watching!

Are we too old to race? No.  Is having kids an excuse not to race? No.  We need something to call our own after being a mommy.  What’s your passion?  What sport, endurance sport will you be doing when you’re fifty?