Me on new bike day with the Quickpro Zeitpro I built!
I think the worst thing about setting a big goal, and achieving that goal, has been figuring out what to do after it was over. If you’ve followed my sporadic blogs, you know that I’ve been fighting for my life trying to create some semblance of normalcy and structure. I established that I wouldn’t last long in a 9-5 pretty early on. Honestly, the idea of such a thing is horrifying to me. I didn’t even really have a 9-5 BEFORE I was a bike racer. I was a pre-school music teacher with slightly wonky hours, and my days consisted mostly of singing and dancing around with toddlers and teaching violin and piano.
I don’t really want to do that anymore either. God bless the folks that do. Have you ever heard a 2 year old play violin? It’s a rough start, regardless of the age. It was the right thing for me at the time, and I was VERY good at it. But I no longer have the patience for it, and that means I absolutely need to let that avenue stay in the past. But I’m ranting, as I do.
These past few years I have traveled A LOT, back and forth between Europe and the US doing a little bit of this and that, presenting on panels, delivering keynotes, hosting training camps and skills clinics, participating in events, and really anything that seemed remotely interesting. I even announced at a local DC crit last summer, and honestly, I don’t think I was very good at it. I know a lot about bike racing, but I feel like the locals were far more in tune with the riders present, and genuinely delivered a more engaging stage presence. I know I could get better at it, but I didn’t enjoy it enough to invest in doing so. I think I’d be better at announcing a longer elite level bike race, road race, even gravel. Definitely not CX or MTB, that’s outside my lane of expertise. I could fudge em, but I have a horrible poker face.
The things that have been super successful and fun for me? I really do like leading the camps and clinics, mentoring athletes through Thee Abundance Project, and being the self appointed women’s bike racing fan club president. It’s fun to just do stuff that feeds the community I love. Budding cyclists, aspiring bike racers, and women’s bike racing fans! I love the men’s racing and fans too, but definitely not as much as the women!
I’m excited to have a pretty cool calendar layed out for next year. It’s already up here on the website! GO ME! I’m running a half marathon in February, still completing the qualifying brevets for Paris-Brest-Paris, and planning to go to some big bike races again as a spectator/ fan club president. Paris Roubaix, and the Tour for sure. we’ll see what else I can squeeze in.
We’ve announced the dates for the 2027 Pedaler’s Retreats, those were a blast to host this year. We had a great time, the riders had a great time, and we have a flow going so it’s only going to get better moving forward. We’re also hosting private tour groups which is super exciting, because we get to cater the experience even further. I LOOOOOVE hosting, it scratches the southern hospitality part of my personality. I am always proud to hear the outstanding feedback, because word of mouth is really what will move these things forward. I know what it’s like to not feel super confident in a space where you’re not normally invited/ welcomed. I carry that with me and make sure every single person never feels that way when they ride with us.
Anywho, I’ll talk more about the pedaler’s retreat next time. I’m also SUPER excited about Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift next year. It starts with three stages in the UK before making it’s way to France and moving more south every day. I’m still dreaming up big dreams for activations around what I think is the most exciting event for women’s bike racing every year. Also more on that some day soon. And of course, Sea Otter Classic. It’s such an overwhelming bike industry circus that I always gives me FOMO if I don’t show up.
I feel like I’ve reached the light at the end of a super long, super dark tunnel, and I feel free and confident to really carry activations like I used to. I can never remember how much I’ve talked about the darkness I carried after retirement. What my pro racing experience was really like, how deeply it affected me, and how challenging it has been to unbury myself from all the emotions that resulted from that. Picking up a medicine induced (but thankfully temporary) heart condition, then breaking an ankle definitely didn’t help, but in general, a lot of it really did suck. But I finally feel better now. With each passing year, I feel less burned out, and with each passing year I am thankful for that.
I think that’s enough for now. If you don’t already, please go follow me on the instagrams. I post there relatively regularly, and a lot of it is really fun. Like last month when I showed folks how to build a bike from start to finish! The start being a Frameset, NOT building the frame. Maybe i’ll write a blogpost about that too! I be doing all kinds of things and never talking about it. Let me fix that.
Until next time!
