Photo by the amazing Eric Stampfli

You ride like a girl.

Well, thank you.  My intention isn’t to ride like a man, because I am a woman, and I compete like one.  What does that mean?  I am strong, capable, and of course have issues of my own, but I don’t need to make apologies for those.  I am a woman, I ride my bike, and last time I checked, I was pretty good at it.

This week, I will be competing in the Amgen Tour of California Women’s Time Trial, presented by SRAM.  Even though the women do not have a ten day stage race traveling up the state of California like the men do, generous sponsors like SRAM and AEG have stepped up to allow the women to compete in an invitational only time trial.  Fifteen women were invited from around the world to showcase their talent, and to race against the clock for a large cash purse.  Is it ideal?  No.  I would prefer to race ten days.  Yet, I am not complaining because I am grateful for those sponsors who have stepped up to provide this specific opportunity for women.  This isn’t the pinnacle moment of success, but it is a step towards success for me and my sport, and I am thankful to those who made this event possible.  We are all on our way to success.

Success is not a destination.  Being a professional female cyclist, of course I strive for equality, for opportunity and for a future in the sport.  Did you know the majority of women make less than $10,000 a year to be a “professional cyclist”?  This does need to change, but using an event like this, we are furthering our mission in the sport through racing and media.  Rather than being so focused on a final goal, I have learned to be appreciative of the milestones that have occurred over my cycling career in increasing visibility and sustainability of a sport that I have made my life.  To me, success is a girl on a bike, riding like a girl, and being valued for doing so.

Do girls race bikes too?  Yes, we do!  And we are quite entertaining and inspiring to watch.  We have stories, skills and strengths that can encourage the future generations of strong, healthy, active women and men alike.  My professional team, Exergy TWENTY16, has begun paving the way into creating heroes and role models for those women and girls looking for a future in a sport that has historically been impossible.  To me, that is success.  I would love to bring this sport to a level of equality, where the women are actually able to make a living like the men currently do, and where prize money at least gives the appearance of an equal amount of respect.  That would be successful, but first things first, let’s create the success by attending and supporting the opportunities that are given to us, like this time trial. Ultimately, I crave to see cycling enter the mainstream sports and for a chance for our stories to be broadcasted to the world.  For a woman on a bike to be a demonstration of independence, freedom, and femininity.  Where strength is not intimidating and where capability is welcomed in opportunities.  This would be success.

In the last several weeks, I have discovered what success truly means to me in regards to my sport and my life.  It is riding my bike every day I can, and considering each day a blessing.  It is pushing the limits of my body and mind through racing, recovery, and training.  Success is not confined within my results.  It is also in having the ability to take a measure of pride in loving those around me, being loyal to my family, friends, and faith, all while making my sport a better place.  I see the challenges and the obstruction in the future of women’s cycling.  I see that even though I may not achieve my goals immediately, I need to keep blazing a trail so those behind me may be able to accomplish all they want to do.  I want to be a successful athlete, of course, and to compete to the best of my abilities, but I also want to provide a sustainable opportunity for women in cycling for years to come.  How will I do this?  By competing in events such as the Amgen Tour of California Women’s Time Trial presented by SRAM, remaining professional in my endeavors, yet also taking risk to push the traditional gender boundaries of the sport.   Thank you to those involved like AEG, SRAM, Exergy Development Group, United by Sport (TWENTY16), for keeping the faith and providing these opportunities.  I will cherish every single one as I find success along the way, and know there is so much more to come.  Together, we will all find success in this process.

Success is not only found within, it can also be found in the community you foster and develop.  Success can be found on a bike.  Just because I ride like a girl, doesn’t mean that I am not damn fast.

I love racing in our local district, and supporting our area.  Here is the link to the podcast.  Let me give you fair warning, I can talk.  Maybe it can be background noise to a tedious day at the office.

Thank you to NorCal Cycling News for promoting the women’s peloton, and also giving us fun blurbs about our racing!

Tips on how to be a Triathlete by a Cyclist.

1. Approach hills with equal effort, not equal speed.  When going over rollers, you don’t have to maintain the same speed as you were in the flats.  This causes your power to skyrocket and then you have to find recovery going downhill.  Instead, maintain momentum by keeping consistent power over the rollers and through the flats.  Your training partners and I will thank you.
2. Train in bibs, not shorts.  The chamois tends to be more comfortable in bibs than shorts, and if you don’t have to swim in your shorts first, you might as well go for relief and style (chamois crème also helps).  Bibs also help with that “muffin” top occurrence by keeping the unity of the fabric thus increasing form and function.  Baselayers are meant to be worn underneath the bibs.  Shorts can often gap on the back leaving a nice strip of skin to get sunburned or cold.  Take my word for it, wear bibs for comfort, and avoid the “tramp stamp” on your back.   It is worth the extra assembly and disassembly required.
3. Nature breaks are NEVER to be done on your bicycle.  Your bike is sacred, and if you break this pivotal rule, please warn me before I touch your saddle, or your drive train (not that I would do either).  Nature breaks must be taken off the bicycle.
4. Shifting is an art.  You do not need to stay in your big ring.  You have a little ring too.  By utilizing all the gears you have, you are able to spin your way up and down climbs in order to maintain a consistent effort, and use cadence to save your legs instead of mashing or grinding your gears.  Shifting is a valuable skill to learn, and you should utilize it to be the most efficient cyclist.  An efficient cyclist will have more energy for those other activities you have following your ride.
5. Socks are beneficial.  Less stinky feet!  Regardless of what is quickest during transition, socks are a great article of clothing to use while riding and training.  Socks wick sweat, help prevent odor, add to warmth, and can also increase the longevity of your Velcro tri shoes.  An additional positive is that socks can be used to display yet another one of your sponsor’s logos without having to get a tattoo.  Sounds like a win-win to me.
6. Race wheels are great for race day.  It is acceptable to have training wheels that may not have any carbon on them.  Leave the race wheels for race day and you will go faster. Believe me.
7. Tubular wheels are meant for racing, not training.  Your cell phone is not a flat fixing device, and I would not trust riding a tire at speed that I used residual glue or tape to adhere to my wheel.  Tape or glue?  Glue.  Tape is slower anyway.  I recommend training on clincher wheels.
8. Leave the TT bike at home for group rides.  The aerodynamic advantage that occurs while on a group ride happens by following the draft of the pack, not by riding in your aero bars.  Try to ride your road bike when riding in large groups for better handling, shifting, and safety.  You will make more cycling friends this way.  Riding in aero position isn’t social.
9. You have a bladder. Does your bike really need one too?  I don’t think bikes should have bladders.  Then you will have two of you asking “are we there yet?”  And when is the last time you cleaned that bladder and gel flask? I pick simplicity and cleanliness.
10. Ride a road bike.  Who wants to sit in the TT position all the time?  Invest in a road bike in order to enjoy the comfort and fun a good road bike can offer.  Better descending, more gear options, and much safer in crowded conditions.  If you are worried about not being aero or using your time trialing muscles, just ride in your drops to force yourself to adapt to this position.
11. You have 24 hours to remove your race age/number from your leg and bike.  You have every reason to be proud of your recent Ironman accomplishment, but instead of leaving the marker on your leg, try wearing that sweet finisher t-shirt or hat they gave you in your swag bag instead.  Tea tree oil, hand sanitizer, sunscreen, or even hairspray will work wonders for removing your race age and number.  Your race number should be removed from your bike by your next group ride, but good thing you ride your road bike on those… Start scrubbing, the clock is ticking!
12. A clean bike is a fast bike.  Yes, I have a mechanic that does that for me, but if you don’t have this luxury, treat your bicycle like the valuable possession she is.  A clean bike slips through the wind unnoticed, shifts flawlessly, and looks a whole lot better.  If you do get the dreaded chain mark tattoo, or “fred mark” on your leg, your bike probably isn’t clean enough.  Take pride in your bicycle.
13. Aero Helmets are worn only if you are being timed.  Strava or your Garmin doesn’t count.  Unless you are in a time trial or race, and being timed, don’t wear your aero helmet.  It really isn’t cool.  Road helmets provide more ventilation and visibility, and really just look a lot better.
14. Cycling doesn’t have to always be considered a “workout”.  I never refer to riding my bike as working out.  I may have intervals to do, or focused training, but it is just riding a bike.  You can train all you want, but don’t forget the joy that just riding your bike with friends can bring.  Don’t be afraid to take it easy and chat.  Riding slow can make you ride fast when it counts.  Have intervals.  Have coffee shop rides.  Train on your bike, don’t work out on your bike.
15. Race your bike.  Bike racing can be scary, but it can also be a great way to get some thoughtless intensity in your training plan.  Instead of forcing yourself to do intervals, you can just hop into a local bike race and get all the intensity you so desire.  Bike racing dictates the pace for you, which will stretch your comfort zones, and also help raise your fitness level and experience.  Road bikes are required for mass start races.  Your TT bike will need to be made UCI legal in order to race any USA Cycling sanctioned time trials, however, your local free TT (PCSD by Davis Wheelworks) is fair game.
16. Arm warmers are never to be worn with sleeveless jerseys.  Just don’t do it.
17. Feel free to wave at other cyclists.  We all need a lesson in friendliness sometimes.  Don’t succumb to the cycling snobbery.  Wave and smile.  Bike riding is fun.  Let’s all be friends out there, it is our community.
18. Spend time in the aero position.  Yes, this isn’t social, and you may not make any group ride friends doing so, but it is important to train in the position you are racing in.  Feel free to spend the hours by yourself in your aero bars in order to build the appropriate muscles to race to the best of your ability.  I just probably won’t join you.  Do these on safe roads and be very aware of traffic, other cyclists and possible hazards.
19. Basic bike handling skills go a long way.  Invest time in your skills on the bike in order to capitalize on the time you spend riding.  You will ride faster, more efficiently, and safer.  Local cycling clubs often offer clinics to work on basic skills.  We all need these skills and it is good to learn to perfect them.  Practice makes perfect, makes you faster on race day, and also is better for those around you.  Bike handling skills is a constant learning possibility.
20. Let’s admit it; the bike is the best part of a triathlon anyway.  Yes, it is.  No arguments there.  Maybe we should just all race our bikes instead.  Anyone?

Have you ever been told you were stubborn as a mule?  Did you say thank you? There a few times when I think that should be a compliment.

If success could be characterized as an animal, what would it resemble? A lion?  A peacock?  A primate? A bulldog?  In order to be successful, you have to persevere.  You have to forge through the rough waters and difficult terrain.  You have to ignore the obvious signs to quit.  You have to be stubborn and obstinate.  You have to be like a mule.

Note to the men out there that are struggling with using a descriptive animal comparison for a successful female athlete you know.  I don’t recommend doing this.  Animals are great and all, but when referring to a woman as a specific type of animal because you are convinced she is as fast as a cheetah since she sped by you on the track, please proceed with caution.  Women don’t always enjoy to be compared to an animal.  I am speaking from experience.

As a female professional cyclist, I will often compete with the professional or elite men locally to challenge myself and get quality training.  This of course opens the doors for the comments from the men that I am as strong as a horse, or I have the velocity of a truck.  I love horses and trucks, yet I doubt this comment was implying a svelte thoroughbred.  I can only imagine they were thinking of something like a draft horse carrying a heavy load through challenging conditions.   And don’t get me started on being compared to a truck, I have never heard of a truck being sleek.  Trucks are sexy, but I am not sure I want to remind you of an extra wide dually with powerful towing capacity, no matter how successful you think I am.  Once again gentlemen, be very cautious when comparing a woman to anything, especially animals, because we will probably assume the worst.

That being said, I have to admit that I also have been told I was being as stubborn and bullheaded as a mule.  Yet through recognizing and achieving success while pressing forward in all paths of life, the only reason that I am still able to compete and be successful is that I can be quite mulish.  In order to be successful, you have to be sure in your steps and navigation in order to follow the right path.  You have to stay true to yourself and to the course.  If someone tells me that I can’t do something, I want to work twice as hard to prove them wrong.  I have often written my goals down and placed them in prominent locations in my house in order to hold myself accountable.  I have broken bones, bruised my mind, and deflated my heart, yet I have continued to persevere.  The only way you will find success is to not give up trying, and this entire process will guarantee to give you success, even if it is in another way than you imagined.  Although you may need to train to be as a powerful as a bull and then gain experience to use that strength to become smart like a tractor, you will still need to be as stubborn as a mule in order to succeed.  Success is found in resilience and unwavering will.  Success is found within being like a mule.

Set your goals with courage, and be willing to be like a mule.  You may need to put blinders on to focus so specifically at your target that you can’t see anything else but the end of the trail.  This way, you will not be distracted and you will overcome the obstacles in your path.  Success is perseverance, and sometimes the only thing that allows us to continue is our own mulish nature.  Maybe there is a little mule in all of us, and perhaps being obstinate isn’t always a negative trait.  You can still be a race horse too, but when you need to, let yourself be as stubborn as a mule.   Know when you have to be flexible and take a detour, but also know when you have to strive ahead.  There is a time and place to be flexible, but perseverance will always lead towards success.

Next time someone says you are as stubborn as a mule while you are working towards your goals, say thank you.  It can be a compliment.  Just don’t call me a truck.

How do you view success?  Through rose colored glasses?  From the cheap seats?  Each day you wake up?  Or from within your heart and soul.

When asking how people view success, one of the major themes that I have discovered resonating is an uncontrollable smile.  A real smile that creeps up on you and you can’t help but release it.  A smile that can only surface when you feel a sense of personal accomplishment.  That inner peace that allows for your guard to be removed and your true emotions shine.

I smile quite frequently.  I like to smile.  Yet, I can also issue a pretty satisfactory glare as well.  All of these emotions are in and around professional cycling and just my life in general.  The multitudes of glares, grimaces, and smiles all come with the territory of who I am.  I express myself through my bike and my life.  When you allow yourself to take pure pride in your hard work, and regardless of the outcome, you know that your journey has led you to this moment –the smile of success is found.  It isn’t in winning and losing.  It is in knowing you did what you could, and you enjoyed the process.

How do you get this smile?  You can’t be afraid of a little pain and difficult times where a smile is the furthest reaction from your mind.  There are many grimaces before that smile will ever be liberated.  Success is found in determination and suffering as well, but through that work, there is joy unearthed in abundance.  The satisfactory smile is found after gritting your teeth and contemplating quitting but proceeding anyway through the pain.  Smiles are built on a framework of expressions.  Free your smile today.  Take your expectations aside, and let yourself enjoy the road.

Share the smile.  Success can also be found in leaving others with that special gift in your wake.  Showing them that life is too short to be taken so seriously, and although we all want to succeed, a little lighthearted freedom should never be frowned upon.

Bike racing makes me smile, and I hope it always does, but more importantly, it is just the bike riding that I love the most.  I always remind myself, although I love the sport, it isn’t everything.  There is so much more to this big world besides bikes, and that makes me smile.  I love the thrill of competition, the physical demands, and the mental requirements, yet I really just love the sense of independence and expression my bike creates.  Each day being able to embrace the great outdoors is a success story for me.  Don’t limit your success by making stipulations and faulty perceptions.  Instead, look for that moment when you aren’t faking that smile that escapes your heart, and is present when you are truly enjoying what you are doing in that moment.  Don’t be afraid to smile.  Just because you are having fun, doesn’t mean you aren’t tough.

Don’t forget to post a success definition via twitter and tag #successproject to help me raise money for CAF!

Families that race together, stay together.  Or something like that.  The first time I did the Sea Otter Classic, I raced with and against my mom.  Talk about tough and inspiring. How does that even work?  Does she apologize after she executes a vicious attack?  Does she make sure I am eating and drinking during the race?  If I have snot on my face, does she ride by and wipe my nose for me?  Does she frown if I have a brief “potty mouth”? Yes to all.

Although my mom is a phenomenal athlete, she is first and foremost my mom, and I don’t think she could shake that even if she tried.  My mom is known for her realistic approach to life that is peppered with just the right amount of pure, infectious dynamism.  I was not necessarily brought up in an environment fueled by competition, but I was taught to take pride in doing my best, staying active, and striving to achieve great things.  That being said, try lining up to a start line with your mom.  She oozed competitive spirit.  She wanted to race her bike and race her bike she did.   Mom always knows best.  Racing against your mom puts you in a slight conflict of interest.  Who wins?  I think the answer is always the both of us.  It is a family affair, after all.

The Sea Otter Classic is one, big family reunion.  Not only do I get to explore the festivities of bike love with my team and parents, I also get to visit all the sponsors and supporters that have become my family over the years I have been racing bikes.  We are like a large, extended family, and have the commonality of bikes, activity, and dedication.  I love my family and my bike family, and at the Sea Otter Classic, these worlds collide.  Welcome, family!

Sea Otter Classic has road racing and does not just revolve around all things dirt.  Who would have thought?  It is actually a 4-day stage race for those of us who ride skinny tires professionally and want to avoid the dirt and poison oak on the trails.  My team was able to secure the overall win, including the final stage win by Jackie Crowell, and I added to this result by winning the time trial on Stage 3, which was 7.8 miles on the technical road race circuit.  After winning the time trial, and getting a big congratulatory hug from my mom, it took me back to my first Sea Otter Classic experience, racing her.  She might not have been racing against me this time, but she was racing with me in spirit and presence.  She knows what it’s like to get out there and challenge yourself and the feeling of a job well done.

This time around, I am glad I didn’t have to race against her because she might have won.  The good thing about your parents is you know that they will love you know matter what.  Win or lose.  Or at least that’s what they tell you.  Since I won this one, I won’t have to question that.  It was a satisfying day to win an event that I love the most, with the people that I love the most.  My family and my bike family.  When is our next reunion?

The final question is who won between me and my mom in my first Sea Otter experience?  I did, of course.  Competitive?  Absolutely.  But she might have let me win.

I recently wrote this post for Cycling Illustrated.  You can see the “orginal” HERE.

- See more at: SKLZ #SuccessProject  And don’t forget to tag #SuccessProject on Twitter to raise money for CAF!!! It is so easy!  Please join me in the cause. ]]> http://alisonstarnes.com/the-silence-of-success-successproject-4/feed/ 0 http://alisonstarnes.com/princess-for-a-day/ http://alisonstarnes.com/princess-for-a-day/#comments Sat, 13 Apr 2013 16:05:16 +0000 Alison Tetrick http://alisonstarnes.com/?p=2620 It was my birthday last week.  No, this isn’t a ploy to get you to say Happy Birthday to me, but thank you.  I will take it.

I must have done something incredible, because I got the privilege of racing my bike on my birthday.  And not just any bike race, a time trial!  It was destined to be wonderful.  Or so I thought.  Then they threw the TT up to Big Bear Lake at the comfortable altitude of 7000ft and I didn’t want to play anymore.  I finished 8th.

Altitude and bike race aside, it was my birthday.  I got to be a princess for the day.  I try to be a princess every day, but at least in this moment, it was my excuse to dawn the tiara in reality.

And what does a really cool bike racer do on her birthday time trial?

1. Warm up in a tiara.  Why not?

2. Get a fancy new DA from Felt Bicycles.  Happy Birthday to me.

3. Add my gift of yellow roses to a host housing basement situation and bag explosion.  Classy.

4. Get a birthday cake with my name spelled wrong, but it was delicious.  My teammates didn’t have the numbers 2-8, so they used numbers that added up to 28.  I’m 98. Someone call 911.

5. My generous hosts also placed a 12 ft inflatable lawn balloon in our front yard.  Yes, it is my birthday.

6. I did get to spend a moment with some people that I love and doing something I loved.  Now, that is a good birthday.  Thank you for all the birthday wishes, notes, and the surprise visits and gifts!  I am truly blessed.