Cultivating Fun, Thriving through Community, and Living with Loss with Katerina Nash

[00:00:00] I think that's the coolest thing about being an athlete. Yeah, it can be your job but also you chase these big personal goals and I think that's the coolest thing about it. And that's probably what kept me in the game for so long because I always had like not like a checklist, but I always I never really reach everything, you know, that I wanted to get. I understand that's also like not would I need to have a good life at this point?

[00:00:30] I never worked towards it like it was fun to give it the effort. It was fun to change the Olympic medal and I never got there, but I felt like well this was such a good ride.

[00:00:43] That's Olympian and cycling's cyclopross legend, Catarina Nash, sharing how not reaching some of her goals has helped her stay motivated through a racing career that has spanned five Olympic games including three summer games and two winter games.

[00:00:58] She's still going in today's episode, Catarina dives deep on how personal loss brought her back to her roots in sport. How she continues to intentionally cultivate fun in her training and how she approaches her role as a leader in sport and the thing without which she probably wouldn't be an athlete.

[00:01:18] If you're listening to the Be a Good Wheel podcast, the show where we explore what it means to be a good wheel by digging into scientific research and personal stories about human potential and performance. I'm your host Amber Pierce.

[00:01:33] I am beyond thrilled to host a true icon in the world of cycling a legend whose journey is nothing short of extraordinary.

[00:01:40] Catarina Nash is a five time Olympian proudly representing the Czech Republic on the world's grandest sporting stage in both the summer and winter games.

[00:01:49] Her Olympic journey began in 1996 at the Atlantic Games as a mountain biker, but she soon took to the cross country skiing trails where she showcased her prowess at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games finishing sixth in the four by five kilometer relay.

[00:02:03] The pursuit of excellence continued in 2002 at the Salt Lake City Winter Games where she earned a fourth place in the same relay event.

[00:02:11] Transitioning to cycling, she participated in two more Olympiads in the 2012 London Summer Games to her remarkable fifth place finish in the mountain bike cross country event at the 2016 Rio Summer Games.

[00:02:24] Catarina's Olympic journey is a testament to her enduring commitment to excellence, a defining characteristic of her athletic career is her range.

[00:02:33] Catarina has conquered multiple disciplines cross country skiing cyclocross and mountain biking.

[00:02:39] As a cross country skier, Catarina is a two time national champion, a four time NCAA champion and a six time NCAA All-American on the global stage.

[00:02:49] She left an indelible mark with a victory in the team sprint at the Vantau World Cup in Finland in 1999.

[00:02:56] In the world of cyclocross, Catarina quickly claimed her legacy as a legend of the sport.

[00:03:01] To date, she has claimed three national championship titles, seven World Cup victories stood on 16 World Cup podiums and earned two third place finishes in the overall World Cup standings.

[00:03:14] Not to mention her two bronze medals at the World Championships and one at the European Championships, making her one of the most decorated cyclocross athletes of our time.

[00:03:23] And let's not forget her mountain biking prowess, a World Cup win at Montse-Nan, five national championships and a staggering 17 World Cup podiums.

[00:03:34] Catarina's dominance on the trails includes victories at the Junior World Championships, the BC bike race, the All Mountain World Championships at Downeyville Classic and multiple wins in the Epic Ride series.

[00:03:46] Recent challenges she's conquered include the win at Whistlerback 40, a remarkable third place at the 2023 Cape Epic alongside Sophia Gomez-Villafon and securing the rose to Toads fastest known time or FKT.

[00:03:59] That one just happens to be in the backyard of where I grew up and yeah it's impressive. Let me tell you, she's also claimed the top spot in prestigious events like the Belgian waffle ride in San Diego, the Truckefondo and the Huffmaster Hopper in the Grasshopper Adventure series in California.

[00:04:14] Beyond her stunning athletic achievements, Catarina Nash plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of cycling as an influential member of the Union Secleast International or the UCI, the International Governing Body for the sport of cycling.

[00:04:28] She is one of four current UCI Vice Presidents, a member of the UCI Management Committee and the president of both the UCI Athletes Commission and the UCI Cyclocross Commission.

[00:04:39] Before we delve into the awe-inspiring details of Catarina's journey, let's take a moment to acknowledge the incredible sponsors who support her on this thrilling ride.

[00:04:47] Specialized Cliffbar, Volosio, Fox, Shimano, Maxis Tires, Stans Notubes, Enduro Barings, Raceface, Easton, Garmin Cycling, Oakley and Crank Brothers.

[00:05:02] From all of us fans thank you to these brands for supporting this legend of our sport.

[00:05:07] Okay folks, get ready for a captivating conversation with a true inspiration.

[00:05:18] Welcome and I am beyond pleased thrilled, excited, super pumped. All of the superlatives to welcome to the podcast today somebody who has had just an unbelievably remarkable career that spanned from I don't know Olympian at age 17 all the way now through age 45 still racing at the top of the sport.

[00:05:42] She has been an Olympian at both the summer and Winter Olympics, a five time Olympian, a multi-time national champion, multi-time World Cup winner in multiple disciplines.

[00:05:54] It is my absolute pleasure to welcome to the show today, Catarina Nash. Thank you for joining us.

[00:06:00] Thank you for having me. It's excited to be here and excited to see you.

[00:06:06] Likewise, there's so much that I want to dig into today but a story that I don't think most of us have necessarily heard because it's not explicitly related to your results and your performances in it as an athlete is the story of how you lost your sister at a very young age.

[00:06:25] I'm curious to hear that story and how that maybe impacted the trajectory of your career.

[00:06:33] I think it actually has a lot to do with my athletic career because Lucy was my older sister, we were only little over a year apart so obviously as young athletic kids we were very competitive.

[00:06:51] Having a competitive sibling is what gives many athletes that competitive edge, because they get the best out of you for some reason.

[00:07:03] There are people in there, some of my competitors that I was like, oh, I feel happy for that person to beat me but there were others that you like, no way.

[00:07:15] I bleed through my eyes to be this person and I think the sibling rivalry went even beyond that.

[00:07:25] I was only 22 years old, I was 21 and it was a game changer.

[00:07:32] It's a really rough period for any family to lose a young member of the family and you just don't know how to go day by day and one thing that really worked for me was just get outside, get fresh air, get tired so I could sleep, I could deal with that.

[00:07:53] I think the first couple of years after losing hair was, there's all about finding a good balance of what makes me happy or happier to navigate through that gigantic awesome.

[00:08:07] It was just being outside, being active and then slowly working towards goals again as an athlete which was really nice to see from that early moment where you don't really care about anything in life.

[00:08:21] You just don't know what to do with life so obviously chasing athletic goals wasn't the priority but it also became something that I recognized that my parents still wanted to come to my races.

[00:08:36] I was a ski racer at that point and they still wanted to come and they were proud of me and made them happy, made me happy that I can provide something that they enjoy.

[00:08:47] That grief goes really deep and it's interesting that you mentioned the absence of goals and then the transition back to setting goals.

[00:08:56] Prior to losing her you were already an athlete and training and going for goals and then that must have been a really incredibly difficult and abrupt transition to no goals and it makes sense because like you said, you just get to this point where you don't care about anything so how and why would you care about a goal so why bother setting a goal.

[00:09:18] How did you navigate that?

[00:09:20] I think I had a really specific plan but like you say so I was already at the time part of the national team and I already gone to the Olympics and I was on this path of like graduated from high school being an athlete.

[00:09:36] I had no other goals like I was a really young junior racer and made a decent transition into elite ranks and that was my goal and I think when life changing event happened it made me pause and rethink and I realized well I don't really like my environment.

[00:09:56] I'm on the national team. I'm in my early 20s and they're already writing me off because I'm not winning the World Cup you know they just have big expectation and I love being an athlete but I'm not sure if this is a healthy environment while navigating this change in my life so my decision was to an opportunity came up to come to United States and join a ski team at the university

[00:10:25] and that's like I decided to do that and was that a smart decision at the time or sensible decision towards my family probably not because you know within year and half of my sister passing all five was gone,

[00:10:40] relocating to different continent you know but I think there was this understanding coming from my parents they just they knew pretty driven individual and they knew that I needed to find myself you know they supported that you know so at the time I think as many athletes in Europe I had this understanding like he kind of go to the university to be done being an athlete.

[00:11:05] You just go to get education maybe that has changed but in Europe you know if you go to the university especially as a skier typically that's going to be in a major city you'd be far away from the mountains you see maybe snow on the weekend like there's no way you can be successful right so I was going here I was coming here with the idea like my athletic career is done like I'm going to have this fun racing for university

[00:11:35] without really knowing what it was I mean I knew a little bit because my sister was just tapping into that world and she was so excited she was just always more academically focused than me but she was just so happy to be able to combine these two and that that wasn't something she was able to do in checker public when she was going to university.

[00:11:58] So I knew this world could be good I don't I don't think I gave it too much thought I was just like I need to do something different and this sounds like a good path for me because I was somewhat successful skier and I I was offered scholarships all right there the entry was easy obviously moving to different country at very young age with limited English skillset that's a whole another story but yeah and once I arrived at the university and

[00:12:26] I was surrounded by a lot of really good skiers and Boulder and start racing at the NCAA level I realized well this is like you're doing well now because you're coming from pretty high level of racing but if you don't keep up your training but you're not going to be that good you know pretty quickly I realized if you want to ski through

[00:12:45] the entire college you need to continue working pretty hard at it and I think in that period that's where I started to like really shift my goals again started to see some future opportunities

[00:12:57] and yeah I think I just really enjoyed the environment I eventually transferred to your town and I finished my degree at the University of Nevada Reno and I relocated to Trekkie.

[00:13:10] I just fell in love with the mountains with the sear us with the skiing here with the cross country ski resorts and my Yodart team and it's just everything suddenly was the training was different the environment was different the racing was different

[00:13:25] and I started to shift back and then the funniest kind of craziest shift was from skiing to cycling which came a little later on where essentially Cliff Barr was putting together Luna team and through kind of sort of crazy connection through the skiing world

[00:13:47] and a little bit of cycling world from from my European teams I met the right people at the right time and it was the same thing I thought well I already been by racing somewhat seriously not very seriously but somewhat seriously

[00:14:01] and I always wanted to give it go 100% and opportunity came with Luna where my skiing was I was done as done with eligibility I went to ski at the South Lake Olympics I made the national team barely because I've been off the world cup for a few years

[00:14:18] and so I knew I wanted to try mountain biking and I was living in this country and this is for mountain biking started and it was still happening and so I was like okay I just raised my bike for you know another whatever semesters I had left was like I just want to raise my bike loans finishing school and then we'll see what happens

[00:14:38] and that yeah that turned into 20 plus years cycling career that has been quite incredible journey so I think I had a lot of plans as a teenager you know I had those plans like I'm going to go win this race in that race in that race and then everything kind of was put on hold

[00:14:59] and I just live my life without planning too much but somehow find my way back to do what I meant to be doing so yeah I mean it sounds a lot of athletes describe these actually I just spoke with Elliot Jackson last week and he had this interesting analogy where when you look at somebody's resume you have these bullet points of results but when you step into the white space between those

[00:15:20] it's often the case that that's the place in the space where the person completely lost their identity didn't know what they were going to do with their life and then had to figure it out and it sounds like you had this plan and then it was completely disrupted and completely thrown off course by this tragedy but even in that moment of grief

[00:15:41] the thing that gave you solace and helped you survive that right was actually the thing that helped you eventually reconnect to that part of yourself that loved it in the first place is that an accurate reflection of it.

[00:15:53] I think so I think so I think I always felt good being outside and the competition gave me kind of a big purpose you know and I saw a lot of good opportunities like I think growing up in Eastern Europe it was easy to picture yourself as a professional athlete

[00:16:10] because it was a career path you know there's a lot of government support and you may not be a millionaire but you can certainly be a professional athlete and having that as regular job as any other jobs you know make a decent living and then if you're little successful obviously you'll be doing just fine you know.

[00:16:29] So it always was a career path and I think for that reason and also like as females we always had incredible female athletes in Eastern Europe so I didn't feel like I was like overcoming these things that lot of athletes face around the world in different parts of the world.

[00:16:49] If you wanted to do it and if you worked hard in us you could be professional athlete making basic living and so and on top of that because you don't think about those things when you yeah you like I don't care how much money I'm gonna be doing I just wanna go out there and win these medals right and that's I think that's the coolest thing about being an athlete yeah it can be your job but also you chase these big personal goals

[00:17:16] and I think that's the coolest thing about it and that's probably what kept me in the game for so long as I always had like not like a checklist but I always I never really reach everything you know that I wanted to get I understand that's also like not would I need to have a good life at this point but it was fun to work towards it like it was fun to give it the effort it was fun to chase the Olympic medal

[00:17:44] and I never got there get fifth but I feel like well this was such a good ride you know like would my life be any better with that bronze medal that I could maybe reach but I didn't I had a chance I was there they rode away you know so I don't know like I'm completely content with my career proud would I have accomplished but I love the process

[00:18:10] and chasing those biggest biggest goals and because I never reach all those biggest goals I felt like I always had something more to chase and that kept me kept me going for a really long time you know and I I don't even chase those big goals now obviously I don't race world cup I don't really go to world championship

[00:18:28] and the events that were so long my big focus but I have different goals in cycling and it's that's anything about the sport of cycling you can just kind of reshift your focus and still do a different level so

[00:18:42] I love that and your career is one that I think is just a it's a powerful study in the art of sustainability because I think it's difficult to overstate how intense it is

[00:18:56] to sustain this level of training and competition and the training that goes into it and the discipline that goes into the training is such a small percentage of what goes into making a successful professional career because there's

[00:19:08] there's the sponsorship on top of it and there's the management and the logistics and the budgeting and there's your managing yourself as a business and as a brand and there's so much that goes into it and so

[00:19:18] to the audience who may not understand how meaningful that is it is truly remarkable and one of the things you said just now

[00:19:26] really strikes a chord with what I heard over and over in the interviews that I was reading when I was doing my research on you which was the word fun

[00:19:34] you talk so much about fun and the fun of the challenge the fun of training and competition and you genuinely you just genuinely enjoy what you do

[00:19:45] in a way that I think sometimes people like to glorify high level athletes as being able to just you know really grind it out and do really hard things over and over again

[00:19:55] but what's missing from that perspective is how much fun and joy there is available in a process like this so how do you integrate and or balance fun and play with the level of discipline and commitment that's required to be successful at this level

[00:20:11] I think with a skiing example I get into skiing at very young age and went to ski academy so I spend my high school skiing rather than studying

[00:20:23] I mean we were technically doing online studies before there even was a term of online studies or the internet where I was growing up for that matter

[00:20:34] and from there I rolled it right into like a national team went to the Olympics World Championship so it was quite intense

[00:20:42] and I think I got to the point where I didn't like the environment I trained hard everything was serious

[00:20:50] everything was so results driven and you were judged heavily on your results and I was still so young

[00:20:59] I was not a long career ahead of me but I was kind of told like you're not really going to go anywhere you know

[00:21:06] and so it's funny to be here now switching to completely different sport and like look at me now you know

[00:21:16] maybe if I stayed I would have been great skier but I have no regrets changing my direction

[00:21:23] that I made sure was like if I'm getting anywhere near that point with cycling I need to move on to something else

[00:21:32] yeah I've had some difficult periods like as any long career in sports like there's just times where you maybe not doing as well as you would like to

[00:21:44] and you put in you know specifically like the Olympic cycles are so intense you kind of don't work in a year cycle

[00:21:52] you like focus on the Olympics and now you're like oh darn I sucked at that rate

[00:21:59] so definitely had some tricky periods but overall I don't know I always said like it's so funny how you can have a horrible race on Sunday

[00:22:10] and you feel so badly about your world which is funny because we as athletes have it so good compared to many other jobs

[00:22:19] you know let's just let's just get that one out there it is not a difficult job we make it more difficult than ourselves

[00:22:28] and going back to like having a bad race being bummed out and then go for easy bike ride on Monday and come home refreshed

[00:22:37] and I was like if I can do my job and bring some sense of relaxation and reflection while I'm out there riding my bike

[00:22:49] like that is a really great benefit of my job

[00:22:53] yeah and yeah

[00:22:56] and yeah I always make sure that social rides are part of my training and that's easy to do in cycling obviously with group rides

[00:23:05] and French rides and like it's a sport that you can do with others and I find a lot of those benefits

[00:23:13] and obviously when I was going through very structured training yes there were days where nobody would come with me because they didn't sound like fun

[00:23:23] you know all my like group riding friends that were good in the group ride settings they didn't want to go do hell and repeats or whatnot

[00:23:35] you know so yeah I found the balance of like doing what I have to do but then incorporating those social rides

[00:23:42] and that's still very important to me I was riding with another mountain bike or this spring and it was she was visiting here in the area

[00:23:50] and we met with my other friend and she's like observing us and she's like I've never trained with girls

[00:23:57] and I'm so jealous you guys have this thing and I'm like I don't think I wouldn't be an athlete if I didn't have this thing

[00:24:04] I don't think I would do this if I didn't if I every ride was either with guys or by myself

[00:24:11] like I don't think it would be an athlete so it's just interesting because she was late 20s and has done incredible things in her career

[00:24:18] but she's never really like lighter on her bikes with another athlete her same level you know

[00:24:24] yeah those moments of connection and I feel that was one thing that I really love too was even though they're technically your competitors

[00:24:32] when you're in training you're just friends and having fun and you understand each other so well because you understand what you're striving for

[00:24:41] what your challenges are and what you're going through together I feel for her too that makes me really sad even hearing you share that second hand

[00:24:47] yeah hopefully she'll go and find more friends to ride with and it's hard because I think strong women we just don't have as many options in our communities

[00:25:00] to find other strong women so we tend to ride with men a lot which is also great

[00:25:07] I really really have to credit a lot of the things I've learned from riding with all different kinds of guys

[00:25:15] and also like the fitness that I've been able to maintain since leaving the world cup because as you know if you go from the world stage

[00:25:23] and you enter the domestic the competition will ultimately you might have one decent girl maybe two but you're not going to have 15

[00:25:32] or 20 or 20 years of training down your neck right so you look for stronger competition and luckily like having men

[00:25:40] not just to train with but also race with a lot of the mass participation events like that has helped me tremendously in the

[00:25:48] year since I left the world of racing yeah it's good to have both and I think there's that intimidation factor

[00:25:55] like I've jumped into some group rides where the pace was really really high and should I even be here but even if you get dropped

[00:26:03] eventually you just get something out of it so it's been important to kind of put myself in all kinds of groups

[00:26:11] and that involves my 60 plus year old girlfriend and we just go for super chill ride and I come out of it

[00:26:18] and I'm tired because they're incredible and it was the pace high or whatever no but that was never the goal of the ride

[00:26:26] you know so I like everything and everything in between and little kids and riding bike is still something I enjoy

[00:26:36] a lot of well and it's not only the bike what comes across to me very much when you talk about cycling

[00:26:42] and I think it's really important to you to be able to enjoy the challenge to the challenge and the learning

[00:26:48] and I know for some people challenge can be really scary and it's something that you have clearly had to manage

[00:26:56] and deal with as an athlete from a very young age but I think it's interesting how much your love of challenge shines through

[00:27:04] in what you do and I'm curious about that do you think it's possible to learn to love challenge if you're somebody who doesn't?

[00:27:11] I don't know if I love challenge but I definitely respect the fact that if you don't continue evolving with the sport or with anything

[00:27:21] you're not going to be competitive obviously.

[00:27:23] You know, if I don't work on my technical skills, I don't continue to work on endurance or fueling strategy now with the longer

[00:27:34] you're just not going to be good, you know.

[00:27:36] And I think I recognize that even when I was racing on the World Cup there's only so much

[00:27:42] you can learn at that competition.

[00:27:45] You know, I'll go sooner or later, you go to the same place, you look at the same rock, you ride with the same people

[00:27:51] and that's kind of where I get with my World Cup racing.

[00:27:54] I just got to the point like I'm not really learning anything you it's only challenging in that physical

[00:28:00] like in the results driven spectrum and it was so refreshing to step away from it and go to stage racing

[00:28:07] to long endurance racing and be like, well I don't know how to ride 100 miles.

[00:28:13] You know, I don't know what to do here.

[00:28:17] And if I want to make it to the finish I need to figure it out.

[00:28:22] So it is funny because like you can come from the world class level racing yet have things to learn and figure out.

[00:28:29] And that's like once again, like that's what cycling is so cool about, you know.

[00:28:34] Yeah, so was that an intentional shift from what you knew really well into this longer format racing?

[00:28:41] Was that intentional because you wanted more to learn?

[00:28:44] I think I just wanted to stay in cycling.

[00:28:48] I wanted to compete, you know.

[00:28:51] And it's not really a smart shift to go from World Cup, mountain biking, Olympic discipline to domestic racing.

[00:29:01] There's very few races, same with cyclocross.

[00:29:04] Like yeah, I could have been still racing cyclocross right now but like I've been there dumbed.

[00:29:09] I've done all the domestic I've done all the only thing I'll do is like local racing.

[00:29:14] But I don't have a desire to travel East Coast and chase UCI points or things like that.

[00:29:19] So yeah, I was kind of little bit to seeing you environment and also like have new challenges but also like follow where the industry is going.

[00:29:27] You know, if you want to have a job as an athlete, you can just chase your personal dreams.

[00:29:32] You have to you have to kind of read between the lines where the industry is going to go.

[00:29:37] So I was doing quite a bit of kind of mixture of World Cup racing and sort of whether it was mountain bike stage racing or events like down to the classic.

[00:29:48] Just just little different events that I recognize that the industry is really involved in because this is where the customers want to go.

[00:29:59] And so I was doing good amount of that while racing World Cups and these sort of races were also way for me to keep it fun.

[00:30:08] You know, because it was always really neat to step away from that very stressful environment of the World Championship World Cup and like go rip around down a veil for the weekend and see the enthusiasm for racing.

[00:30:22] Yeah, getting really good racing and good skill sets that I could apply to my World Cup racing later on.

[00:30:29] So I was always big fan of whole kinds of racing and then when I knew I didn't want to pursue the Olympic career anymore and sort of shift back it was probably

[00:30:41] a little bit before the shift towards like gravel and lot of the domestic racing started.

[00:30:46] So I was already in a pretty good position by the time the brands were like, well get our World Cup team but we also need our domestic team and we need this, this, this, this and now obviously coming from off road to you are ultimately going to be very successful in cycling because contrary to the common belief.

[00:31:04] All pro athletes are very fit. We train very hard. It's not like we have the skills to ride a bike, we also train so we can go do road, we can go do gravel but if things get a little bit more technical, a little bit more challenging, we obviously know how to ride, we know how to protect our equipment.

[00:31:24] So we tend to have little less mechanicals than the road racers and it is quite easy to make a shift to domestic racing.

[00:31:33] We continue to be successful across the different things.

[00:31:37] Having race against you on the road, I can attest to the fact.

[00:31:41] The athletes are coming from off road are extremely fit. Rody's do not have some kind of, I don't know they're not the only ones that are fit out there for sure.

[00:31:53] Well you bring up such a good point on the sponsorship side of things and I think this is something that you have, you're very good at it but it's also a skill that you've cultivated and I like to joke that being a professional athlete is kind of like earning your street MBA.

[00:32:07] You don't, you're not going to a school and getting a degree in it but like you said you have to have a finger on the pulse of what's happening in the industry and understand what it is that your sponsors need because you may really want to go win a race but you standing on a podium in the middle of some farmers field in the middle of nowhere.

[00:32:25] You know because you won the race, the win gives you credibility but it's not necessarily going to generate the impact that your sponsors are looking for and you've done such a good job of navigating that world.

[00:32:39] And that's a piece I think that people don't see from the outside looking at it's just kind of like oh, Ketterina is she's, she's a really good athlete therefore she has all these sponsors but no it's so much more than that.

[00:32:50] What was the first time that you that really clicked for you, the business side of the sport?

[00:32:55] Well, first of all thank you. Definitely I feel very fortunate to be in my mid 40s and be able to be professional athlete and make living racing bikes.

[00:33:06] I think it's kind of like a wild dream. Yeah, I have to credit Cliff Bar. Obviously I had an incredibly long career with starters, a Luna protein and then shifted to Cliff Bar.

[00:33:18] I always sponsor our main sponsor was Cliff Bar and it was definitely very race focused team but because it was Cliff Bar, it was also community focused team.

[00:33:31] And so there are a lot of things we're doing back in early 2000 whether it was leading women's clinic on mountain bikes or riding with kids.

[00:33:40] I don't know that always kind of felt really good because as you know like you might put this perfectly down to the race.

[00:33:49] You do everything the way you are told by your coaches, you prepare, you dedicate your life, you don't go to any family functions, you have had friends who got sick children, like you don't do any of that right?

[00:34:04] Everything is heavily focused on that result and then you go there and you don't get that result.

[00:34:09] And now how do you feel about yourself right? And how does your team feel about you?

[00:34:14] So I always love having more. Get the team was like can you lie to Seattle and teach a clinic for the Luna ambassador team was like of course I will do that.

[00:34:25] So I understood it's not just the result like the result is important and get you into the doors of this into the door of this world and it keeps you there obviously but there's always more.

[00:34:38] And so as my long career goes on things start to shift drastically with social media right we're not just the number in the result less people bring credibility to their career through completely different ways of doing it.

[00:34:54] And you can completely different spectrum and you can either play the game or you can just once again just kind of be left behind.

[00:35:04] So it's like you have to read, you have to read the environment and having conversation with the sponsors and it is a fun balance of like chasing those personal goals and doing what's important for those that ultimately will support you.

[00:35:23] And so I was understood that you know these sponsors they they don't just pay us to go when medals like they they pay us because they need something out of it.

[00:35:33] And I took it very seriously my entire career I was very upset with myself before the sponsors were if I didn't have a good race you know and obviously that's going to happen athletes are pretty hard on ourselves and you know I hated when I got mechanical

[00:35:48] and it wasn't like oh I had a bad luck it was like did I hit that wrong did I do this like you know I tried to analyze what went wrong and how to fix it because I hated showing up at races and not give my 100% because I felt that responsibility to my sponsors and those that paid for my flight or whatever.

[00:36:08] It is a funny job but it's it's like any other job I think we all want to do really good job so we can continue to do good job.

[00:36:17] And so yeah I feel like I've learned lots about it but sports marketing is constantly changing and evolving and throwing you things at us and I know one day I would be able to keep up anymore and that's fine like that's perfectly perfectly fine but yeah let's say social media has been bit challenging for people that didn't grow up with it.

[00:36:38] The comfort there is funny and I've managed to learn few tricks but I do feel bad for young athletes young introverted athletes that are entering the space right now and wondering what do you need to do to be a sponsored athlete.

[00:36:57] And I do see a little bit of a shift to little small shifts away from from those numbers of social media and the brands kind of tracking athletes and seeing and dictating what has to be done when and I'm kind of glad to see that but obviously it's a very powerful tool and it's here to stay and we're just going to figure out how do you do real now and so you know some it's lower pace some it faster pace.

[00:37:26] And yeah it's part of the game.

[00:37:30] Yeah I feel you on that it's been such an interesting evolution to witness because I mean like you when I started social media was not a thing and then to see it kind of balloon and blossom.

[00:37:40] I don't know if I would call it blossom but it is really difficult to navigate and one of the things I really love about you is that you have not only navigated that space very successfully but you do so with real authorism.

[00:37:55] With real authenticity like it's just you know if you don't have some like social media persona and I know I know because i've seen it i've seen how athletes or non athletes can use real click baity content to just drive up the numbers of their followers.

[00:38:17] So to your point the sponsors you know there was a there was a time when sponsors were chasing those numbers and that was all that mattered and thankfully there's more of a holistic view on that but can you think of anything that you've done.

[00:38:28] That's helped you navigate that space and maintain a sense of integrity and authenticity in what you're what you're putting out there yeah probably and like back to the beginning of your question is like you say successfully some people may say that i'm not very successful.

[00:38:43] Add it you know like i've been on instagram for over 10 years and you know i'm in roughly 22 thousand followers which.

[00:38:53] Yeah why haven't you put a million that can't I would have what are you doing over there exactly so it is it's funny to look at it right like what is success and yeah to even stress the point even more like i've been to couple events this year where people are like oh i don't know who you are.

[00:39:11] You know and i'm like that's awesome.

[00:39:13] I'm not going to tell you but like yeah like i'm not i'm not very trending athlete anymore and that's the reality right like if that's not like that's not my goal my goal is i have built my audience over the years and they do there because they kind of care about what I do and I probably lose followers because same for me you know like there are people that.

[00:39:40] Left the world cup or have gone someplace else and like i may not care about their life as much because we've never friends maybe I followed them to see like.

[00:39:49] Hard they're feeling going into the race what are the weaknesses you know like those kind of strategies but like i don't have to now so.

[00:39:58] So it's natural as you move through the different kind of spectrum of the race career that people will like be interested or not and and I totally respect that and i yeah feel like i'm.

[00:40:11] Kind of boring on social media personally like i'm like i'm surprised anybody still follows me honestly you know i can be as dramatic as all the kids out there i don't know how.

[00:40:23] It's a different skill set you know and i read there like it's athletes I know and I read their stuff and i'm like wow that sounds pretty cool and then i'm like but it's just my crazy what the hell are you talking about you know so i don't i don't have that writing ability to make it sound like much bigger deal than it is and probably because.

[00:40:45] I don't think it's such a big deal once again like i think cycling is such a.

[00:40:51] Cool thing but like we're not saving lives we're not doing anything that extra ordinary and athletes are not the ultimate heroes in this world we're here to inspire but you know when i see things like oh my god he gave a water bottle to a child is another amazing and i'm like.

[00:41:13] That shouldn't be amazing you know or like she waited at the finish and said good job to her competition i'm like.

[00:41:23] Why are making this basic human correct behavior into something heroic effort you know or i can't post a picture of me writing in the rain and make it sound like i'm super hero because i'm training in the rain like.

[00:41:39] You are cyclist you gotta ride in the rain that's part of the job if you don't want to do that make it as job like there's plenty plenty of those so i i'm active in the world of social media i do lot of what more consuming rather than contributing and i think i got to the point that lot of my.

[00:42:03] Post have become like i look at them as my as my personal diary i like the fact that i can go scroll through the instagram and look at something from six years ago and i see the picture and then i read what i was kind of thinking at the time yeah.

[00:42:24] And that kind of makes me happy you know because i was never i was never a blogger i was never i never wrote a diary i don't take too much time to sit down and write so even the little captions in instagram it's an effort.

[00:42:40] But it always is yeah.

[00:42:42] But i like having it and so i am trying not to worry about the fact that people don't like this post or that post or the fact that they don't even see it right.

[00:42:54] And then do i celebrate success like i recently posted a video of me doing cartwheel in the middle of the race through a feed zone and i'm not promoting anything i'm not contributing in any way to greater good i don't think.

[00:43:10] Yet it was the most popular post they've probably ever had you know so you just go out and wonder like you can spend so much time creating some.

[00:43:20] Meaningful content and then you do something relatively mindless you pit and people like it so it just i think in some ways i don't understand it but i understand what i want to do to once again do good job for my sponsors i understand that there's always one or two people that gets.

[00:43:38] Something out of it and that feels good yeah and there might be more i don't know you know because they don't comment on it and that's good like i don't need people to be like oh my god because sometimes you go somewhere.

[00:43:50] Meet people in person that they will go back and tell you like oh my god that thing you said like here i go they're really resonated with me so i feel good about those little things but they're you know they're tiny it's not half a million here or there but it's.

[00:44:07] It's fine yeah i think it might be more than you think and i think about that cartwheel post that you mentioned and.

[00:44:17] Yeah for you that probably just felt really normal but i think that from the outside looking in it's not that often that we see somebody who is as accomplished as you are at that level of the sport being silly and playing and as normal as that feels for you because that's such a deeply ingrained part of who you are.

[00:44:36] I think it's such a powerful reminder for other people that you can take your work very seriously and that you don't have to take yourself that seriously to be as good as you are like i think that that's such a refreshing and powerful.

[00:44:48] Message to send even if you're not sending it intentionally like you're just a message by being who you are and being a role model which i think is.

[00:44:55] And honestly i think a lot of people that saw this like they don't know who i am.

[00:45:00] They're not gonna follow me they don't care right but it kind of it was a feeling they had about this thing where maybe they ride a bike and they thought well this race looks like fun or.

[00:45:14] Whatever that might have been you know it obviously brought some feeling enough to like watch it positive comment on it and like it is interesting because there were comments look how ridiculous this this look at all the trash on the ground like how can you people feel good about yourself throwing these cups of the ground you know like.

[00:45:38] Obviously there's people watching it that don't even know anything about by grace singing California the fact that the race promoters take it extremely seriously clean up after every race use by the great double cops you know and all these things that we understood because we're part of that community so it is it is interesting and it is silly and like should I be.

[00:46:03] Rewarded by my sponsors for having whatever how many like don't definitely not right like because nobody ran off and bought my bike i don't think maybe maybe let's see.

[00:46:18] It's always possible.

[00:46:21] We'll be back with more from catarina after this quick break.

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[00:47:55] And now back to our conversation with five time Olympian and cyclocross legend catterina Nash.

[00:48:04] You know as savvy as you are with sponsorship and sports marketing the other half not half but the other side of what you've done that I think is also remarkable because there are many facets to what you do is just what we just started to touch on

[00:48:18] there was your impact as a leader and we corresponded a little bit before this and I you said something that released it out to me that you you're not the person who wants to be front and center as a leader that you're more the person who's doing things behind the scenes.

[00:48:34] And I think you have been such a powerful leader in sport in cycling and not just in cyclo I mean obviously cross disciplines but you've become a very iconic leader in the sport whether you know it or not.

[00:48:50] And it's because of this kind of impact that you have just doing what you do and being who you are do you feel like a leader in what you do.

[00:48:57] I think this goes back to like you know grew up in Europe so it's a little different than here in the United States where I think like for me I'm eight kids here are like told you awesome you can do whatever you want like there's you know I'm at as they age they have this attitude of like yeah anything is possible and I think I mean my upbringing was wonderful like I had a great time actually growing up.

[00:49:27] But I think I still learn how to give myself credit for things I've accomplished you know I don't have that confident American attitude even after all the things I've done you know.

[00:49:41] And I'm happy to acknowledge what I have done but I'm always kind of like looking up to people that are more of an inspiration to me than analyzing what what I'm doing and how I'm doing it and that kind of stuff you know so I think that's fine.

[00:49:57] Because it's always nice to have somebody else to judge you then you know kind of like when people say like well what have you done it like I'm like I don't know I just run my bike.

[00:50:12] So a few of the things here and there are no big deal.

[00:50:16] So I guess that's that's why I don't like see myself as a leader. I was also like yeah I was very good accomplished athlete but I was what of several on my team you know I was never a leader of my team.

[00:50:30] So I think ultimately you just kind of know where you belong and like I'm fine with that I don't have to be the out in front person in all these settings and just kind of owning the room.

[00:50:48] That's has never been my personality so yeah having said that I do I lead I lead the charge for the athletes at the UCI and that's been that's been a great experience.

[00:51:00] Huge learning experience big eye opener to what governing bodies deal with and do and how much they do and yeah it's been pretty cool.

[00:51:15] Tell me about a time in your work with the UCI that you were really surprised by something that you didn't realize was was happening as far as the inner workings of a governing body.

[00:51:25] Almost everything you know I came from World Cup mountain biking and cyclocross mountain biking where I was definitely part of this mission to work on equal pay.

[00:51:40] That was started by Georgia Gold my wonderful teammates at Lena but other than that you know I feel like my career was I showed up at the race and most things were really well put together in the off row disciplines.

[00:51:55] Mountain biking has had equal placements late 90s I think cyclocross didn't does now the obviously right so courses it's what more equal and the racing is always been good and you like my complaint about the schedule things like that but like in general I could show up at the race and focus on like how to do the best job to do well in this race.

[00:52:25] And I did not spend a lot of time is this going to say for the kids be someplace else or you know I did not have that kind of mindset so then being on the other side and here about what what it takes to put on a race what it takes to organize whole championship what it takes to deal with over 200 national federations around the world.

[00:52:49] What it takes to distribute solidarity funds so you can grow cycling in Africa or places that don't have access to to bikes or trainers or coaching are all these things where does the money come from the fact that UCI is not for profit organization like all the money generated by successful disciplines go to those that wouldn't exist otherwise there wouldn't be World Cup for some disciplines if road racing or cyclocross.

[00:53:19] It didn't generate the money so it's been a big learning experience but really good one and I think a lot of athletes should slow down and think about you know what it takes and I think some athletes get involved on their like local level and put on an event and realize holy smoke like we're so lucky that there are people that dedicate their time to putting on events hopefully they make a little bit of money.

[00:53:48] But some may not you know somebody just do it because they love it between all the just funding to organize a race and permits and everything that goes in it's incredible amount of work and then also like our sport is so heavily based on volunteers.

[00:54:08] No bike race is going to happen with that volunteers which is crazy right yeah but that's that's the structure of cycling and so it's good it's good to learn all these bits and pieces because then you once you have the context you you have different perspective.

[00:54:29] I feel like I appreciate it.

[00:54:32] Let more appreciation definitely yeah a lot more appreciation and I just wish the athletes took a time and kind of thought about how long does it take to improve your performance and that's the same for anything else things just don't happen overnight especially when you're dealing with entire world and things they take longer and you want to you know you you want to grow at sustainable pace as well.

[00:54:58] Yeah I don't know I think I definitely walk away from my positions at UCI with like so much more appreciation not just for UCI who's obviously dealing with the highest level of the racing but for every little race promoter out there who's you know who's willing to do the hard work including like the Halloween cyclogros races just people love all sorts of racing and luckily there are people that are ahead of you.

[00:55:27] There are people that are willing to take the time and step away from their regular jobs and do good things in cycling.

[00:55:38] Yeah they create the gathering places for people to come and share their their love of the sport in so many different ways.

[00:55:45] Yeah it's fun to have group rides and ultimately like for so many and I'm not talking about professional athletes only but for so many like having an event it is an outlet for that competitive spirit.

[00:56:01] It's a motivation to train to set a goal you know whether it's 45 minute cyclogros race or 100 mile event right like it gets you out the door and you have a goal and I think that's a that's really important in our society.

[00:56:18] Nice to nice to bring people together and obviously the stories of the finish of everybody just enjoying those that's kind of priceless you know so without those small race promoters lot of people would not have understanding of what cycling is all about you like to watch it on TV but having a chance to participate I think if you much bigger understanding and that turns you into much bigger fan of the sport.

[00:56:43] Yeah that's a really good point and I just want to share or pick your brain a little bit so as a leader you don't like to be the person who's out front but of course we know that that's not all it takes to be a leader and one of the things that I read about in one of your interviews that was one of the achievements of which you're very proud of the UCI is that you got a lot of the athletes who were on their respective discipline on the athletes commission into positions on their discipline commission.

[00:57:11] So with the UCI there's an athletes commission that's composed 100% of athletes and one of the things catering it was she got a bunch of those athletes on the athlete commission to get onto the commissions for their respective disciplines in the sports so mountain bike road cyclocross.

[00:57:27] And that's one of those things where I think that you were really effective leader in terms of your impact even if you weren't you know beating your chest on social media saying hey look at me look at what I'm doing.

[00:57:38] Yeah so it wasn't quite like that I mean sort of but we as an athletes commission we are one of the commissions that serve as advisory panel so we have no power to really decide anything right so we collectively felt like and this this is actually the correct what you were saying.

[00:58:04] So in the past typically there was a chance for an athlete to be on the discipline commission so like I was on the athletes commission but I was also on the cyclocross commission and what we wanted to do was to have both athletes both gender so every discipline under UCI has a female and male representative which is electric position.

[00:58:31] So at the World Championship every four years the athletes themselves will elect their representative for the athletes commission but now both of these athletes are also on the commission of like whether it's downhill or BMX or indoor cycling road cycling what have you all those athletes are part of the discipline commission and at the discipline commission.

[00:58:56] You already making recommendation that can pretty quickly turn into action and effectively change the discipline so we feel like that was really important because the athletes commission it's like we bringing the much needed feedback from our sport right like nobody else knows this because they're not in that.

[00:59:26] So I think position to know you know and so we wanted to take it further and ultimately have all everybody on athletes commission be part of the discipline commission and the other big thing that I was little hesitant to add to my already business schedule at the UCI was that at the end of the first term.

[00:59:51] I was approached by the UCI president and I was offered to be one of the four vice presidents which an athlete has never been a vice president of the UCI before.

[01:00:05] And I you know my instinct was like oh my gosh probably not like how could I do that and how you know why me but then I felt without discussing this with my fellow athletes or all the athletes around the world.

[01:00:24] I felt like well you have to say yes to this because you here representing all the athletes and it's another step to really represent our thoughts and our feedback and be even just closer to some of the major decisions.

[01:00:44] So yeah so I did say yes but it's a very first time that the that an athlete has been invited to be part of this kind of small small.

[01:00:55] I mean that's that's an incredible milestone and it's interesting because I think most people or athletes and I'm painting with a very broad brush here so obviously this isn't going to include everybody but athletes don't necessarily get into sport because they're thinking like oh I want to be a role model or I want to set example for people I want to be a leader.

[01:01:12] But when you get into sport and you start achieving at a high level you are a role model whether you like it or not.

[01:01:19] And you have really embraced that role in your career and I see this as an extension of that that it's not something that you asked for or you sought out but by virtue of who you are and what you do,

[01:01:32] it's become this very natural extension of how you're giving back in the sport.

[01:01:39] Yeah and it's funny that you say that because like when I first decided to run for position at the athletes commission so that was kind of close to the end of my cycle cross career.

[01:01:50] And I a lot of fun, month by grace seeing road racing but like cycle cross was sort of like I was my heart discipline like I just disconnected with more people

[01:02:01] and as far as the racing I just it just was the one for me you know even though I'm definitely considered more of a like mountain biking I I raised that longer and you know it's always part of the mountain bike team but like deep down I was like I'm across race.

[01:02:19] And so as I was ending this I saw the announcement that the elections coming up and then athletes can sign up for it and I saw the list and of course I was like well I'm going to get elected.

[01:02:32] I forget what names were on their back then but it's like Mario and Vos and you know some like real, real stars of the sport.

[01:02:40] And so I didn't you know I didn't think much of it but I felt like you know you need to give back like whatever this is you need to give back because he had such successful career and you never really done anything like it and so.

[01:02:56] At least signing up just at least running for this position and then I did get a like.

[01:03:02] It was a bit of a surprise but after that I started like taking it somewhat seriously and then I became president of the athletes commission which put me in the management commission and so after the first four years this is for the management of UCI kind of obviously watch me and just watch my my style in the in our work and that was.

[01:03:28] Complicated I mean that was very complicated because that was a COVID period and those that don't know like there was so much work to be done to actually put on several events and save lot of jobs and actually have cycling that very first summer so we we were a lot.

[01:03:49] Yeah, a lot of night meetings, zoom meetings for me on the west coast but so yeah after this first period they felt like that probably would be a decent fit and so that's why they asked me to become a to be a vice president because much of these positions are like there's election process and some of them are you what's the not election process but you being selected so yeah so mix mix of those.

[01:04:18] Yeah I hadn't thought about I mean of course at the time I thought about it but yeah bringing cycling back online post pandemic that must have been a massive undertaking yeah absolutely and you know I can.

[01:04:31] I really can give myself much much credit here because so even with my position being part of the management commission and being a nice president now we are still very much part time very much part time so all.

[01:04:47] The major work like we decide a lot of things we help with the direction and the vision but all the work is done by people that work at the UCI in the office and this this cruise been working really really hard the last few years obviously through the pandemic and then having the world championships this summer those a gigantic project that end up being very successful but just seeing it from an idea to completion this August that was that was really nice.

[01:05:17] Yeah all the hard work and all the all the credit goes to very few people at the UCI that work on this every single day.

[01:05:27] That's that's amazing and our thanks go out to them too.

[01:05:33] Well I think this is a good segue into how much you are always very clear about your love for community and even in your discussions about the UCI and races you're talking about all of the different stakeholders.

[01:05:47] It's not just about the athletes and certainly not just about you in your performance but it's you and your fellow athletes and the race promoters and the volunteers like you are so quick to identify see value think all of these different members in the community and it's one of the things that I love about you.

[01:06:05] But also the theme in a lot of what I've read about you and seen and experience with you over the years is what a big role community plays in your career and how important it is for you so when you think about how community has played a role in your career is there a particular story that comes to mind.

[01:06:24] Well I think I would probably go back to kind of the beginning of our podcast and like losing my sister you know it was so shocking to lose a family member overnight and and I think from that point on I always knew that I need to be part of larger community.

[01:06:50] The more people you can have in your life the better because we're always going to lose more members of our community or family and I just make makes me very happy having more people that you not only you can on them but you also help them you know just be there for them.

[01:07:14] And so it's like of course like family is is the priority but I just always want a little bit more so even like I am married and was great to have this partner but like I also got the war and now wasn't there but like my community stayed right so there's all these things in life where you just find these people that you have something common with and you you keep them in your life and you know so I'm going to be a part of you.

[01:07:44] Sometimes that's on very much regal basis sometimes that's at by craze once a year and hell of being rodeo cross or everything in between you know and I think I think it's yeah I think community is super important to me.

[01:08:02] I'm always socializing yeah.

[01:08:06] And like my quiet time with my boyfriend but I'm always after a few days I'm like what are we going to do we're going to go.

[01:08:16] We're going to see and he puts up with me so that's great.

[01:08:22] So yeah community is super important to me and I have you know I have communities that don't ride bikes I have communities that ski the all kinds of communities and the more people in my life the better I think so.

[01:08:39] I love that sentiment because I could see very much where you could have gone the other way after losing your sister you could have very you know had the opposite conclusion oh I don't want to connect with more people because they might I might lose them but instead you chose this path that's almost creative resilience in your relationships right because you cultivate so much mutual love and support like you're not just talking about what your community does for you the first thing he said was giving back to the community and how you can support other people and that's so very you I love it.

[01:09:08] Yeah no it's it's always been important to me and I think yeah I like people I like to spend time with people and yeah and I you know I haven't had the easiest life when it comes to some of this some of these tragic events in my life and it's like yeah ultimately there will be others to deal with that and if you can offer some perspective for talk to people just just having that kind of experience like gives you comfort to out.

[01:09:37] To ask those questions that others maybe hesitant to ask because they're like I can't imagine I don't know what to ask like I would rather not see that person because I don't you know I don't know how to acknowledge their grief and and that that's been much easier for me and then you know feel like they they want to talk because you have something in common that's that's always kind of nice thing because it's pretty easy for all of us to get stuck in our own thoughts you know whether it's

[01:10:07] this or like the racing stuff right so much about our mental state it's the same person the fitness might be good everything might be good but there is something that's stopping you from that good day you know and yeah so it's always always nice to talk to others and be like oh you struggle with that too what do you do about it you know how do you feel with it all of that sounds cool maybe I try you know so I think it's it's important to talk about it.

[01:10:37] These kind of things and for some it's you know it might be only that one other person for others it might be few more people you know and it's it's really individual and but I think it's it's crucial for all of us to share our crazy thought with somebody else every now and then because you get you get different perspective you know

[01:10:56] and one of the example I could use here is like I didn't have the best starts which is very crucial in both my king and cycle across because you always shooting for that single track and you want to give yourself chance to be in a good place rather than the middle of the pack or crashes might happen and whatnot and so for the longest time I was just stuck on this like I'm a bad starter I'm a bad starter you know and like my coach finally was just like but you have really good finisher.

[01:11:24] I was like you're right. I somehow make it through the field and then I finish really well and like it really touched my perspective of like how to approach it and they're like I didn't stress about it I didn't go to the start with the motion like probably I mess this one up again but I should know how to move up you know and then I figure out other ways to kind of like focus on the actual motion of getting a better start choosing better gear and you know and like eventually I

[01:11:53] I was I was excellent but I get better. Just the fact that you're not fixating on that one thing and maybe instead of thinking your head I'm not a good starter you're thinking about how you're going to finish incredibly well which I mean if I had to pick one of the two I would rather be a good

[01:12:08] I know I always laugh at people that are like I got a whole shot of like good for you how did you finish.

[01:12:15] Yeah one of the things I thought was really interesting that you mentioned before we started recording on the podcast was how you weren't somebody who worked with a sport psychologist this is you know what you're describing now these were all things that you kind of had to work out for yourself throughout your career and these are things we all encounter right you don't get through a career as long as yours without

[01:12:37] setbacks and doubt how did you navigate that on your own and clearly not on your own you have community and you have support around you but what I think

[01:12:47] what does it look like for you. Yeah I think like having teammates was always great because you always kind of found somebody who you connected with

[01:12:56] and I think me and Georgia had definitely a lot of talks over the years so I think we are teammates for 10 years so I got to know each other really well

[01:13:05] and we could kind of like yeah help each other just kind of having that different perspective and so that was great and then you know I had other athletes in my world that I would talk to

[01:13:16] that were necessarily in that setting in that environment and then yeah I worked with Dean Gullich was my coach for a really long time and he was yeah he was really good he just just helped me to kind of see the bigger picture so I think having like enough people

[01:13:33] to kind of help you to rethink the issue rather than just being stuck on that one little thing was sort of important and I think through that process

[01:13:44] I think I've developed more tools to kind of deal with it on my own in case like people move on we all go do different things and you know I'm not going to call Georgia nowadays like just what

[01:14:00] I did this like I call her because I want to know how kids doing it you know how is she doing stuff like that so once again like I always look for outside help but I think I'm that person who ultimately kind of has to kind of

[01:14:15] of make a budget in your own head to kind of makes sense out of it and then make the necessary adjustments if that's what needs to be down to kind of deal and evolve.

[01:14:28] Yeah that evolution part big time yeah no I think it's so refreshing also to hear you talk about the importance of reaching out and even if you're not going to take somebody's advice you know just off the bat without processing it for yourself which makes perfect sense

[01:14:44] it can be really hard to do that right it can be really hard to reach out in a moment of pain or doubt and have you had moments like that where you were it was hard for you to reach out.

[01:14:55] Yeah for sure I think when I was pretty divorce in that period that was really hard where you know it'd be easy to talk about athletic struggles or you know things related to my job but the relationship struggle which was just interesting because I think

[01:15:13] once you do talk to others you realize everybody has something going on like it feels really good to talk to others but I think it's very difficult for an athlete I think to go through that process and because you more likely to like put your head down and work hard because that's what you do in your sport but they did not seem to work in their relationship

[01:15:41] because the wild to figure that out but like we just gave it our best effort but yeah I remember like first time talking about those sort of struggles to bunch of my girlfriends and maybe even some guys that I you know had enough trust and my community is made out of like older people you know

[01:16:00] and that's that's really nice because a lot of people are like oh yeah I'm doing that you know whatever they have different perspective than like young people obviously they're like oh my god like

[01:16:11] but yeah I remember opening up to more people about that and like kind of being shocked how good that felt to share that painful part and sort of make a little bit more sense out of it.

[01:16:25] I'm just knowing that you're not the only one who's ever dealt with this.

[01:16:29] Yeah exactly.

[01:16:31] And you know because that happens frequently but like in the moment do you feel like you'd be the only one?

[01:16:37] Yeah I mean it's with anything I mean even just getting injured or getting sick and not being able to train you feel like you're the only person who's ever suffered like this and had it

[01:16:45] but you know it's not true because even yourself has gone through it.

[01:16:49] Yeah yeah you're like am I ever gonna feel good about my bike?

[01:16:53] Like I don't think I will.

[01:16:57] Yeah so you did mention that I know because you're a human being that you must also deal with self-doubt and these moments of maybe not feeling great about a performance or

[01:17:11] yourself as an athlete but it's really hard from the outside looking at somebody with your level of success for so long to imagine that you could ever have any self-doubt.

[01:17:21] So do you struggle with moments of self-doubt?

[01:17:23] Absolutely yes I mean my entire life you know like silly things to somewhat serious things I mean I think it's good to kind of look at yourself with self-critical.

[01:17:39] A approach because as an athlete that can help you to be better right really analyze your weaknesses is a good thing and then there's just those moments where

[01:17:53] you know it's not about the thinking making it to be but it's a collection of things that aren't going in your life but you choose to kind of focus on whatever.

[01:18:06] And that's kind of what I think I did quite a bit of that in my race career.

[01:18:10] I just you know if I didn't have a good race then suddenly I over-enized a lot of parts of my life and like kind of took a pity in my self

[01:18:20] you know and this is not going well and I'm too sure and like you know just you just kind of mix everything and then like figure out a way to sort of like pause and break it down

[01:18:33] and don't put it all in one back and just all the negative and life try to make sense out of it like okay so you didn't have a good race.

[01:18:42] Let's figure out why you know and it's probably not because that reason so just kind of bringing back that analytical approach

[01:18:52] I have a head like self-destructive kind of you know approach to it but I do remember finishing some seasons very bummed out about everything and really taking little time before I could kind of snap out of it

[01:19:09] but I also a lot of the time that stuff I didn't get out of the race here pretty quickly that turn into motivation and I do like that about myself that I started down here and I was cranky

[01:19:23] and I couldn't let the corner where I slipped and lost the medal at the World Championship you know like I couldn't let that go for a while

[01:19:32] eventually it just got less less less annoying and I could start to focus on like all right there's nothing I can do about that icy corner in taboor

[01:19:42] and the fact that I lost a medal in front of the check crowd to Marie-Anne Vos after I dropped her on the uphill because I thought it was pretty cool

[01:19:56] and how can I start to fall with focus on like fitness or whatever I think I need to work on rather than like dwell on this thing that I clearly can't do anything about anymore

[01:20:11] it could happen, it happened and that's just part of the racing and everybody will have that once again even the most successful athletes will have bad luck or self-adduced peddler

[01:20:25] in races and it's about what you're going to do with that but yeah so for sure like self-doubt is part of my life and I have to manage it like everybody else

[01:20:40] and you've never let it that's the thing I think that is so beautiful about your story is that you you live with that and you manage it but you've never let that get in the way of you trying the next thing or going for the next thing

[01:20:54] yeah I think like you can let that stop you from living and sooner or later you'd be like oh there's this cool thing I can go do any kind of forget about

[01:21:04] the things you're like worried about you know and I'm a big fan of wine in moderation but you know I can just like end the day sit down with my glass of wine and like really relax

[01:21:18] you know just kind of think about think about the day think about what's ahead and I hope I don't have a drinking problem

[01:21:27] I don't want to promote alcohol but like it's another way for me to relax is just finding ways to sit with my thoughts and be present

[01:21:37] be present and kind of makes sense out of things that maybe you just manage to get through and you're like actually you know what

[01:21:45] this is not a big deal and you need to move on yeah so yeah I think it's a very humanizing picture to picture you at the end of the day or the glass of wine

[01:21:55] grounding yourself with your analytical athlete brain because I think it's too easy to look at somebody who's accomplished as much as you have and think oh you know she just goes and she has the perfect work out every day

[01:22:07] and you know she trains and she has the perfect sleep routine and the perfect nutrition routine and just to have this picture of you kind of sitting out on a porch with a glass of wine pondering these things is very relatable and it's very humanizing

[01:22:19] yeah sometimes I do that and sometimes I just watch the squirrels like there's many of them here

[01:22:29] well I think that brings us back to maybe one of the last questions that I want to explore with you which is already you

[01:22:36] mentioned kind of looking forward to that next thing eventually there's something else that captures your attention

[01:22:40] and brings you back from this dwelling on self-doubt or a moment that you wish had gone differently and it brings you out of that into looking forward and motivating towards something new

[01:22:52] and you mentioned previously in our conversation how one of the things you love about cycling is that you can set all kinds of new and different goals for yourself

[01:22:59] and you're clearly doing that now so does goal setting look different for you now than it used to maybe 10, 20 years ago?

[01:23:07] yes and no I mean my goals were always pretty broad how can I get a little better you know what can I learn to do on my bike you know can I jump on my mouth bike

[01:23:23] do I want to jump? so pretty basic kind of goal setting right like more can I keep my fitness going for a little longer I mean getting pretty old is gonna go away

[01:23:39] like how do I restructure my training so I can keep what I have without being sad would have lost you know that kind of approach

[01:23:49] and I think the other goal setting is like looking at the calendar like analyzing the events that where can I be still successful

[01:24:00] have an impact what races I want to race and then what races I kind of need to do for my sponsors or you know what not so those are kind of more the goals I think before it was more like oh I really want a medal

[01:24:16] I want to be a champion or I want to win a world cup or things like that so yeah in that capacity they're different but in general they continue to be the same I just want to be healthy and fit and successful at the level that I'm at right now

[01:24:36] that makes me happy and that continues to make me motivated to keep racing you know this is when when all those factors or some of them kind of are gone then I know will be time to to say goodbye and that will be fine I'm getting quite ready for that but like well these factors are still so dominant I end opportunities there you know we haven't really talk about how important is the opportunity along the way

[01:25:04] yeah I just continue to say yes and I'm in the process of after two years of being privates year of resigning with most of my sponsors for for now to go and that feels really good that's good exciting

[01:25:17] congratulations that's huge that's huge thank you it's definitely I used to tell myself it's easier to keep a sponsor happy than it is to get a new sponsor but the problem with that statement is it's not that easy to keep a sponsor happy

[01:25:30] it takes a lot of work and it's a really cool part of your career to follow because that's from the outside looking and that's a piece that people don't see they just see you rock up to the race with your bike and your kit and your helmet not realizing how much work you've put in

[01:25:47] aside from the training aside from the racing to make that happen yeah yeah I mean it's funny because you read these things about 20 year old athletes

[01:25:57] and she's worked so hard on all these hours and that's why she's so amazing and I go like well try to add 20 years you know like I think like old athletes are really not that popular

[01:26:11] like we're kind of popular among older athletes you know going back to that like trending athletes have been around too long not many people like want to hear the same story I don't want to tell the same story

[01:26:25] you know so yeah it is funny how you have to kind of adjust to that as well and accept for me it's it's nice because I'm kind of doing it for myself

[01:26:36] and what what I get out of it rather than the outside justification and I think the I think like this fall the thing that I really really appreciate

[01:26:46] the fact that the brands that I've been working with want me back I think that's the justification that I needed to hear that okay she's still got something to offer and that feels good.

[01:26:57] Still got it well going back to something that you said earlier too about having more in your life than just the racing so that when you have a bad race

[01:27:10] and yes you might be dwelling on that for a while you have all of these other things to the table and I think whether you did that intentionally or realize it or not

[01:27:18] that created this sense of resiliency and for you but also what it's done is it's all of that after each that you've done with Luna all of the outreach you've done with the UCI

[01:27:28] all of the outreach that you've done I've seen just locally by being you and wanting to give back and be a part of these events in these communities

[01:27:35] that have supported your career you maybe an older athlete yes and you may be less well known to the athletes that are up and coming now but you are now a part of so many athlete stories.

[01:27:47] And as the younger generations come up there are going to be so many of those athletes myself included I mean I'm not that much younger than you but I you know you are somebody who long inspired me throughout my career

[01:27:56] and you still do and I know that I'm not the only one and I think the beauty of it is even though you might be seeing your story coming to an end at some point in the near future

[01:28:07] you are now part of so many other people stories and that's pretty amazing.

[01:28:12] I have a pretty funny thing to add to that which has happened to me a couple times now and it's I am in the race and the racer behind me realizes who I am

[01:28:21] and he goes you got a renown ad you are my childhood hero I just want to punch them or drop them.

[01:28:32] They didn't realize they just signed their own death warrant.

[01:28:40] Oh yeah thanks I'm out of here. Yeah you're breathing heavy well see you later.

[01:28:50] We're to the wise for anybody listening save that conversation for after the race.

[01:28:58] Oh man that is funny you know I yeah I get that I get that yeah what so just as we're wrapping up I'm curious what are

[01:29:08] aside from do you have any events based goals because a lot of what you've described are really kind of curiosity

[01:29:15] based goals you know what is it going to take for me to train and keep my fitness and what does that look like as I'm moving into this new phase in my career.

[01:29:23] Are there any big goals or projects or initiatives that you want to share with folks that are listening.

[01:29:29] I'm still kind of working on the race calendar I mean there's always the desire to go see you things I still like.

[01:29:37] Kind of that unknown of bike racing whether it's a race and you know a country I never been to or country I never race my bike in.

[01:29:46] And I don't do tons of the international travel but that's like one that's still excited me like just kind of.

[01:29:53] I'm going to go and explore new area on the bike there are a lot of events regionally that I haven't done then still would like to do but sometimes the schedule just doesn't work out and I don't really stress about that you know

[01:30:05] I have to go to my use that I'm eating so I do miss out on good chunk of racing but that's just what it is and no big deal.

[01:30:12] And then there are races that I'd like to return to because I just like them so much you know so.

[01:30:17] The calendar is I tried to have a plan but I am not always completely set on it but I tried to pick two three events that I really make the focus you know I want to be really really fit for this period for this race and this is what.

[01:30:31] This is what's going to take and things like that but yeah I don't know like there's one race I would like to do and I thought about it for many years I think it's called three peaks and it's in England it's kind of like a hundred cases I click across race

[01:30:46] and you go over these peaks and you hike and it just sounds like super silly and something that I would enjoy you know I like those kind of races I'm not terribly driven by the old trail long stuff like that just scares me but 100K that's nothing even if you like hiking a few miles here or running up the hill or whatever so yeah so that kind of stuff is still very very exciting

[01:31:14] but I haven't really figured out what's up in 24 I figure I need to get some contracts first and commit to few races that I know my my other works get your allows just because they're the good sponsor stuff and then.

[01:31:30] And then look for something fun and even if I don't find something like that then I just kind of do local like across or some fun local stuff which you know that's always neat.

[01:31:42] I love it so folks look out for Katarina in Noracal yeah.

[01:31:48] Be sure to go say hi because she's a lovely person but be careful you say to her on the trail.

[01:31:54] She's a fierce competitor before we go do you want to talk about any projects response is wanna highlight so yeah so I've been racing on specialized bikes for little while and really excited to not only just.

[01:32:12] Keep all my bike from this year but see some new bikes next year with specialized so I'm really excited about that relationship continuing for next season and then yet Cliff bars been my sponsor for over 20 years so it's pretty red but I'm in the process of adding with family foundation which is essentially a nonprofit that is.

[01:32:37] Started by Gary Erickson and his wife get the original founders of Cliff bar and their focus is more on wine and a lot of the stuff that grows in their farm in Napa and I've never really worked with nonprofits so there's some like really cool things to do with that so yeah I'm really excited about that relationship because obviously getting to know kitten Gary's been quite amazing for me.

[01:33:03] Over the last 20 years of my cycling career and I credit a lot of yeah a lot of my success is because of the opportunity I had through Cliff bar and their commitment to women's cycling in 2002 which is quite incredible.

[01:33:20] And then Fox, been longtime partner, probably still the all the good suspension for all the really fun single track races I do because I don't really wanna race on the heart tail anymore.

[01:33:35] And Felicia I love their clothing. I've been on lot of lot of cycling clothing brands and if any of your female listeners, if you haven't heard of a lot of and their life free shorts which is bips with ability to go pee at any point without taking any up the layers off you just pull the shorts down whether it's 38 degrees or 100 degrees and you have a camel back.

[01:34:05] It is the best bike shorts I've ever been in and I just I can wear regular bips and be like taking on the layers off anymore.

[01:34:14] I'm not sponsored by Volotue and I will second layer saying because I love their bips and that is a wonderful feature.

[01:34:20] Yes, yes, I'm so happy we have women cycling clothing now functional and good fitting and I'm sure there are other brands that have this kind of approach to cycling bips and I'm so so happy about them.

[01:34:34] Yeah, I don't know. Am I forgetting somebody else? There's just a few few other sponsors that support me and I'm very thankful for them and maybe we can add them to the notes.

[01:34:43] Yeah, absolutely. I'll make sure that for anybody interested in following up and thanking these wonderful sponsors who have kept Katerina in our cycling community for so long if you all wanna go check them out we'll have this linked in the show notes to show our appreciation.

[01:34:56] Katerina, thank you so much for taking the time today. This has been such a fun conversation and I really appreciate you going deep on this stuff with me.

[01:35:03] Yeah, thanks, Amber, for having me and yeah, I'll be excited to check out all your other guests now.

[01:35:10] I love how Katerina has built this incredibly successful and diverse career yet remains so grounded practical and reflective.

[01:35:19] So much of what she has shared can be applied to cultivate longevity and just about any endeavor. I hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did.

[01:35:28] Thank you for joining us for today's episode. If you loved today's show remember to subscribe and leave us a five star review.

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