Dirty Chain Podcast Episode 30: Katerina Nash - Professional Cyclist

Dirty Chain Podcast Episode 30: Katerina Nash - Professional Cyclist

Professional cyclist, national champ, and multiple olympian, Katerina Nash, joins the Midpack to share her story as a lifelong athlete and cyclist.

Sheldon Little:

Katerina, I apologize that we led you up with ferret talk.

Trevor Gibney::

Anyways, folks, this is not a ferret podcast. This is a cycling podcast. I hope you enjoy our amazing conversation with the incredible Katerina Nash.

Sheldon Little:

Good morning.

Katerina Nash:

Good morning.

Sheldon Little:

How are you doing today?

Katerina Nash:

I'm doing good. Thank you, guys.

Sheldon Little:

Absolutely. Thank you for coming on with us. This is something we've been talking about since November.

Katerina Nash:

No, it's always good to be part of any podcast, and especially right now.

Sheldon Little:

Yeah, this is all we've been doing is doing interviews because it's like, oh, we're stuck at home. What can we do?

Katerina Nash:

Right, right.

Trevor Gibney:

Are you doing a lot of these lately?

Katerina Nash:

No, no. Actually first time on Zoom.

Trevor Gibney::

Okay.

Katerina Nash:

I tried to join some yoga class a few weeks ago, but I think it was just like overloaded. Yeah, I haven't done, it's funny because I think I get like three people requesting podcasts after I won the Trek, World Cup. In the same week, three podcasts. I'm like, "Come on, people. I've been around forever. I have to win a bike race to ..." So, nothing. Obviously, like everybody else, I'm listening to a lot of podcasts these days. And yeah, so it should be fun. Yeah, I'm never the one that feels like putting all these thoughts and feelings out there. But if people feel like they're interested, like if I feel like people are interested, I'm happy to talk.

Sheldon Little:

We know our listenership has requested you a bunch.

Katerina Nash:

Oh, good.

Sheldon Little:

Yeah. How's the quarantine been treating you?

Katerina Nash:

It's been pretty good. I can't complain, honestly. I am in a small town called Truckee, California which is not too far from Lake Tahoe. It's out here in the woods. So it's really easy to stay away from people yet to get outside and feel like life is normal. Because early on, there was still tons of snow but now the trails are opening up and fire roads, so I can go out and do a nice bike ride and I completely forget what goes on in the world. And then you come back to your computer and you're like holy smokes, this is still going on?

Katerina Nash:

Yeah, no, on a personal level really, like not tons has change. For me, I mean, the first few weeks, obviously big concern about family in Europe and whether I can travel up there and connect with anybody. But since then, we all kind of got used to the new normal. So, yeah, yeah, I mean, I've kind of kept similar lifestyle, just a little bit more involved in my community and helping out a little bit, especially on my street and those kind of things.

Trevor Gibney::

Yeah, that's great. So have you like most people taken a huge break from training? Or are you still getting out and staying active just for your own sanity? How are you doing there?

Katerina Nash:

So yeah, I'm definitely like, all year round kind of athlete. I race a ton. When I'm not racing, I'm always doing something. For me, there's no such thing as off season. I guess for me, off season means like no racing, so that's few weeks throughout the year, but combining mountain biking, cyclocross, it's a pretty heavy year. So I like to stay active, but I do not mind to change it up. I don't mind to go cross-country skiing for three weeks in February when I finally can. So really with the halt of the season, right before I was about to get going again ...

Katerina Nash:

Okay, I guess I'll back up. So I finished racing in early February, it was World Championship. And typically, I try to squeeze in like off seasons of skiing, a little bit of base mile, and maintaining some kind of top end speed for like Sea Otter, right? It comes up pretty quickly, and I've been doing this for a really long time. So really, this period is kind of allowing me to go back to base miles and build up to the season whenever it comes. So, yeah, I'm doing kind of what I wouldn't be doing this time of year. I shifted from the kind of like, how do I switch from cross to mountain biking so quickly, and hit up, like get back into the racing while trying to build up?

Katerina Nash:

So now I'm actually taking the time to get base miles, and I don't mind having a couple months to do that. I think it will really set me up well for the rest of the year. I feel for the athletes that were ready to get going, but I was not in that place. I was ready to get going because I had to because mountain biking is what my team is all about. But I am okay with the little racing break and having the time to put in the work.

Sheldon Little:

Before all this happened, what was your schedule initially supposed to look like?

Katerina Nash:

Oh, it kind of started with Sea Otter, and from then on it was back to what I've been doing last couple years with a couple new events really. So like a lot of the Epic Rides, a lot of the stage racing. Big focus on BC Bike Race, Downieville Classic, those sort of events. I was going to jump into Belgian Waffle Ride. So that was the new big one. And then yeah, kind of the classic just around here, Lost and Found, Downieville Classic, that sort of stuff. As the summer evolves, we always throw in more events as the time goes on. But yeah, big focus on the stage race mountain biking, Epic Rides, and little bit of gravel.

Sheldon Little:

Now, you mentioned Belgian Waffle Ride, which one were you going to do, the one in California or all three or?

Katerina Nash:

One in California, yeah.

Sheldon Little:

Okay.

Katerina Nash:

Yeah, that was the plan. It was like a week after Sea Otter. So my plan was just like, get a little warm up at Sea Otter and then go straight into 100 miles. Well, no, 130 miles, I believe. Yeah, yeah, that was the plan.

Trevor Gibney::

So you mentioned cross-country skiing. I was wondering if we could just back up just a little bit and talk about how you got into racing, not only bikes, but skis as well. First off, Sheldon Little: and I are very much amateurs. We talk to a lot of amateurs, but we've been fortunate to talk to a few pros, and a couple national champions now, which you are as well, correct?

Katerina Nash:

Yeah, yeah.

Trevor Gibney::

But we've never talked to an Olympian, which is fantastic.

Katerina Nash:

Oh, okay.

Trevor Gibney:

I'm very excited about this. But I know that you used to do some competing in the Nordic ski, at Nordic skiing, correct?

Katerina Nash:

It's correct. Yeah, that essentially was my first, well, first outdoor sport. I started with gymnastics at very young age. And then pretty quickly got tired of the indoor environment, which still is the case these days. So I joined a ski club at age, maybe five, six, so very young age and sort of started to grow up with that. The nice thing about cross-country skiing and especially like, my club, back in the day, is that in the summer, you get to do so much stuff. I feel like cycling has shifted into this, like, you just ride your bike. That's all you do. You might go to gym or something, but it's just so much about the biking.

Katerina Nash:

Well skiing, not having snow for a big chunk out of the year, you end up doing a lot of other sports. So that's how I got introduced into track and field, obviously running, cycling, a variety of different things. So, yeah, that was kind of my start. I went on pretty competitive I guess club high school. I went to essentially like a ski academy. So throughout my high school years, it was a big focus on cross-country skiing and led to national team, led to the Olympics. Eventually I kind of gave up on that big dream and ended up in the United States on the cross-country skiing scholarship.

Katerina Nash:

I thought at that point, my career was kind of over because I was heading to school, and that was going to be it. But I still made it back onto the Olympic team and I race at the Salt Lake City Olympics. Mainly because our college skiing would take place up there. Every season we would race in Salt Lake or Heber for the collegiate racing, so I kind of felt like I knew the altitude, I knew the environment. The nice thing about cross-country ski Olympic team is that they need to build a relay team. So they need really four good people, plus some backup in case somebody gets sick.

Katerina Nash:

So as I dropped through all the ranking, I had no international racing for the individual racing. I knew there is a small chance I could make the Olympic team because I was that fourth person from the Czech Republic that could go really fast in 5K skating. Yeah, so that's how I went back to the Olympics as a full time, essentially college skier.

Katerina Nash:

Yeah, ironically, at the same time, everything started to happen with cycling around that time when Luna was putting together ... It was the first year they were putting together their team and I met the right people at the right time, as I said many times and kind of I didn't start my cycling career at that point because I was racing since high school for a few different teams in Czech Republic. It was always the second sport and never had the sheer focus. And so in 2002, when I was kind of wrapping up my collegiate racing, I decided to look for a team and I was very happy to get hooked up with Clif Bar and Luna, and here we are 19 years later.

Trevor Gibney:

You started to focus on mountain bike racing, correct? Like kind of the NORBA series and all of that?

Katerina Nash:

Correct, correct. Yeah, I was definitely a mountain biker. Prior to these years, I never did much road racing or anything else. I purely got into mountain biking mid 90s back in Europe. In fact, I did ... My first Olympics was the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, which a lot of people don't know because I was a skier first, but it was good enough in those years and did enough racing. The sport was new. It wasn't as competitive as it might be right now. So I did go to Atlanta and get a feel for what mountain biking could be.

Katerina Nash:

But it wasn't until the 2002, really 2003 that I shifted that focused to purely cycling, and not a few more years, so it was just mountain biking and kind of playing around on the road for training and that kind of stuff. But it wasn't until Georgia Gould joined Luna in 2006 that I tried cyclocross. So, it's been fun career because I keep adding new things to it, and those new things kind of keep me interested and challenged, and there's just always something to work on. So it's been great.

Trevor Gibney:

I mean, you go from stage races, big mountain bike stage races to short 15 minutes minute, 45 minute efforts on a cyclocross race. So I don't know how long is that effort usually for a cyclocross race for you?

Katerina Nash:

Yeah, I think the rules according to the UCI rules, it's like 40 to 50 minutes and that's going up.

Trevor Gibney:

Okay.

Katerina Nash:

It's going to be around 50 minutes. Obviously, it's very hard to time like you can't say it's going to be 45 exactly, because the condition change and whatnot. But yeah, so anywhere from 40 to 50 minutes, with the bad being coming up a little bit as of this year. So, yeah, it's kind of exciting, because we'll finally get little longer races. Because when I started going to Europe and racing some of the World Cups early 2006, 2007, I guess, there will be some races as short as 35 minutes, and it was just like, you just got going and it was over. It's definitely nice to see the sport evolving.

Trevor Gibney:

So it's pretty obvious by just looking at your career and the different disciplines, different sports even that you have taken part in and raced in that you don't get stuck on one single event or one single thing. How do you feel that diversity has really helped your racing career or your life as an athlete?

Katerina Nash:

I think that diversity definitely kept me in the sport for a lot longer. I have been around for a really long time, so I did pick ... I did put a huge focus on Olympic discipline, cross-country mountain biking, and I dedicated many, many years to that and had a lot of success. But I hit that point where it was just like, this is not what I want to do. But if there's other stuff that I could do, that would be great. So I'm really thankful for where cycling has kind of gone in last maybe 10 years with different events, different bikes to ride.

Katerina Nash:

All that is happening right now is really exciting because obviously I have the skill set. I can hammer my cyclocross bike for 45 minutes, but I've done enough years of training that I can do stage race mountain biking. I don't know. I think personally, for me, it's super exciting that I could prolong my career and do all this other stuff that my sponsors do care about, and that I didn't have to finish my career at the end of the Olympic race, just be like, oh, well, there's nothing else for me to do. That's definitely been great, and I guess how that's helping my life. I guess I think I just get bored quickly doing the same thing.

Sheldon Little:

It is interesting. It's interesting looking at like nowadays we're starting to see athletes expanding their athletic career longer and longer. And the ones that are tend to be the more versatile athletes that aren't just stuck in one type. And one, I think it's giving your body a break, but also mentally, I mean, being that you've been in the racing circle for so long, do you see athletes that you've raced with over the years, the ones that just kind of stuck with one area, do you see them kind of burning out earlier? What have you witnessed?

Trevor Gibney:

Yeah, even mentally, burning out mentally or physically I guess.

Katerina Nash:

Yeah, I mean, those are some of the things that I recognize for myself that I just I love racing my bike, but I didn't love being on the World Cup mountain biking. Because yeah, when you're preparing for that, you're not going to go do things like BC Bike Race, because it overlaps with the World Cup. It just really limits to what you can do. And the racing is amazing, but it's just not really lot of it throughout the year because you're constantly flying back and forth to Europe. When you have that Olympic dream or World Championship, it's like you put your focus into it for a few years.

Katerina Nash:

I mean, that's maybe something that some people that that's their only hope, it's like, I just want to have the Olympic medal or the World Championship medal. For me, cycling has always been like, well, I just want to be able to keep up with this person, or maybe be that person or just challenge myself to new things. If you asked me few years ago about ... I was heading into Leadville and I was just like, oh my God, this is not going to be good. I could not possibly ride 100 miles. I'm a cyclocross racer at heart.

Katerina Nash:

Once I get through that, like, it was like, man, that was really hard, but I can do it. And so that was really cool. And so now I go to do lost ... I've done Lost and Found for the last three, four years, or something, which is typically around 100 miles on the gravel, cross bike, mountain bike, whatever you wish to ride. Going into those now, I'm like, this is going to be a long day, but I know I could do that. So it's kind of pushing that limit really more physically and technically, and taking myself to sort of like challenging myself and pushing myself to the limits that are a little different than just like, I want to go from the top 10 on the World Cup to the top five, or the top three.

Katerina Nash:

So it's little different goals, because essentially, on the World Cup, at some point, it's so limiting, because you go and, for most part, you race the same course over and over, year after year and you race the same people. So it's just like, really just the fitness, how you work on the fitness, and having variety of events to compete at. Not only it's nice mentally. It's also fun as far as the preparation because now you're sitting down and trying to figure out, well, how much food do I need to eat for 100 miles? How am I going to hydrate for BC Bike Race? And what do I need to carry in my Camelback to fix everything?

Katerina Nash:

So all these other things that you don't really deal with on the World Cup level, and they ... I don't know, it's kind of empowering to make it through some of the longer events without any support, and do that. So yeah, I can't speak for other people, because I think we all go into it with different set of goals. And some people will be happy to finish on top of the game, finishing that last World Cup and walking away and be happy.

Katerina Nash:

For me, having had the chance to see all the other stuff out there, whether it's mass participation events, like the Iceman, you walk away from that, and you're like there's a whole lot of crazy people riding in this cold, cold winter day. But at the same time, you're like, they get it. They never showed up here to win the World Championship or anything. They're just proving something for themselves, and pushing those personal limits, and I think that's what cycling's all about for me. I just continue to push my personal limits, and when that desire, when that fire ends, then it's just going to be time to do something different. But for now, it's really what I enjoy.

Trevor Gibney:

We'll get back to Iceman in a second. But I wanted to ask, it's pretty obvious that you've been not only just an athlete, and concerned with working on fitness, and all this stuff from a very young age, but you've been a competitor. And you've been competing from almost, I would say the majority of your entire life. That world view as a competitor, as a racer, does that kind of influence the rest of your life? Does that make sense?

Katerina Nash:

It does. It does. I laugh because I am ... No, for whatever, whether it's a bike ride or beer or whatever, like you would probably not know that I'm this world-class athlete. I feel like I see people racing around you in the car on the freeway and I'm just like so removed from any of that, like proving to the rest of the world that I need to compete, but you put me at the start line of a race like I don't ...

Katerina Nash:

To put it in perspective, I am still kind of new to Strava. I could care less about chasing Strava, that's right, or any of that. I might have the best results in my community. There's people that are a lot faster on this segment or that segment, and so yeah, in life I'm pretty chill, pretty mellow. I don't feel like I'm very competitive person. But yeah, you put me on the start line and I turn into a different piece to that.

Katerina Nash:

I've had younger people like my teammates, my young teammates on the Clif Pro Team come up to me after a while they got to know me and they're like, "Man, at the races you just have this like look, this intimidating look or something about you," that I'm completely unaware. But my surrounding just tells me, and once they get to know me they're like, "You're not anything like it." So I think I do have like, after all these years I am definitely focused and I want to prepare well, and I want to kind of be in the moment when I'm at the race. But apart from that, I think I'm pretty fun to be around, but that's not up to me to judge.

Sheldon Little:

I mean, you've raced essentially the entire world. How are you seeing ... Because we're just here in Michigan, we haven't really done much outside of the U.S. But women's cycling in the U.S. versus other places in the world, we're seeing a big change here in Michigan, especially with our ... We do a lot of gravel and the gravel series is really making a huge push to be as inclusive as possible. Having the winnings are now matched, the woman's field is uncapped for the number of entries. Are you seeing that develop in other parts of the world too? Or is that something that we're seeing just locally currently?

Katerina Nash:

It is. It's definitely happening all around the world. I'd say it's happening somewhat organically. But it's also been an effort, a focused effort of whether it's the cycling federations, whether it's brands like Clif Bar. I am not sure if you guys are familiar with the Luna Ambassador team that was in place in early years of our team, where essentially Luna created this Ambassador team throughout the United States. The idea was like, you live in Boston, you just move in there, you have no idea where to go mountain biking, or who to meet up for triathlon practice or any of like that.

Katerina Nash:

It was just this non competitive clubs, and then we, as the elite riders, got involved, would teach clinics, come to the communities and just spread really the lifestyle. If people were interested in racing, that's great, but they didn't have to be racers. It was just building a community of women that want to be active, but may consider mountain biking little bit challenging. Getting a flat tire middle of nowhere, and being by yourself, it's intimidating.

Katerina Nash:

Unless you have that community that can either guide you through it or just finding a few friends to ride with, it's always a little bit more fun. So I think the effort has been ongoing for many years. As far as gravel, I really kind of just noticing last two years, as I started to participate in some of the gravel races, I really realized, like, this is a great, inclusive environment, as you say. Because it really is not technically as challenging as mountain biking. You don't need all the greatest equipment.

Katerina Nash:

Most of the time, all the feeds on and everything is in place. So people don't have to figure out well, do I need to ride with 10 Clif Bars, or three pounds of bananas, or what do I do? You can head out and even on the, whatever, 40, 60, 100 miles, there'll be somebody around you, and there will be people to help you through it. So, the bottom line is like, I think women love to ride bikes as much as guys do. But I think there was definitely a little bit of the intimidation factor with the equipment and being able to fix things out in the woods.

Katerina Nash:

Once they realize that there are groups of friends that want to do it as well, I think it just kind of builds that confidence, and everybody's just more likely to head out and enjoy it. I think once you find that comfort level that it's okay to crash, just whatever in the hills. It's okay to get lost every now and then. It's okay to get hungry. All those are good things in life to kind of toughen you up. Once you go through it few times, you're like, well, this is not the end of the world. Okay, I got a flat tire. I don't know how to fix it, maybe. But I've got all the necessary tools with me. And sooner or later, there's going to be a dude that's going to come by and help me out. At the end of the day, that's pretty cool, too.

Sheldon Little:

Yeah.

Katerina Nash:

I mean, you guys know, you ride bikes. You know cycling community is a great community and a lot of really neat people and we're always depending on each other a little bit. Because we do head out away from the cities, away from our homes, and we're always ready to help the other cyclists out there and they're always ready to help us out. I think that's a really nice thing. As we see last few weeks, this whole new crop of cyclists out on the road, I think it's kind of our duty to keep sharing some of these safety and kind of the rules of a established cyclist.

Trevor Gibney:

So speaking of community, and you've been a part of really a world-class community of cyclists that have competed and raced everywhere. But from that perspective, how important is it to be a part of and support your local cycling community?

Katerina Nash:

Well, for me, that's probably a lot more important. I mean, I love the racers. I've created some amazing relationships over the years. I'm also a part of the three different formations at the UCI, so it is my job to be involved in the worldwide cycling community. But the home community, that's the people you do stuff with. It's not the people you're going to be messaging over Instagram, or tweeting, replying. That's really the people that you do stuff.

Katerina Nash:

I remember heading to Atlanta. Not Atlanta, hold up, London. It's all mixed up. London Olympics, and I had this neighbor come up to me, and she saw an article in the paper that I was going to the Olympics, and I was like, "Goddammit, now she know what to do?" So much more fun to be like that weird person walking dogs and riding bikes on the street. They just thought, "Oh, there's another Tahoe trust funder that doesn't have to work."

Katerina Nash:

So, obviously, I'm known in my community for what I do and stuff like that. We're more historically more of a ski community. A lot of amazing, amazing skiers came out of Squaw Valley, and all these ski clubs around here. So I always enjoy being kind of the outcast, and the cyclist that nobody cares. But now with the global warming, we're turning into a really, really big cycling community. And obviously, with the Tour of California coming through the area, and all these things happening locally, it's pretty easy for people to kind of get to know who I am or what I do.

Katerina Nash:

But I think the coolest thing for me as far as community is that I have so many friends that we just ride bikes with, whether they're a lot older than me, or maybe younger, or same age, or racers, or not at all, but we have that one thing in common, and that's riding bikes. I have my dog community, and my ski community, and all of that.

Trevor Gibney:

So, our local community, our local cycling community, we have a couple big races that all of us from around the state, mostly all of us take part in and get excited about. And probably the biggest one is Iceman that I know that you have taken part in and even won a couple times. Can we rewind a little bit and try to remember this last one, 2019. Sheldon Little: participated in it. I was up there, I didn't ride it. It was a muddy mess. You came through and won it. We might be guilty actually of reaching out to you because you won a race. How did you ... I mean, I guess we can start with conditions. I mean, I feel like the conditions suited you a bit with the muddiness. Would that be an accurate statement?

Katerina Nash:

For sure. I mean, I didn't really mind. I was already full on into my cross season and had few muddy races under my belt. I wouldn't say it was great, it was a huge advantage over, at that time, my teammate Hannah, because she's also done a lot of cyclocross over the years. I couldn't really use my skill set over her, but we definitely were able to distance ourselves from the rest of the field.

Katerina Nash:

Let's see. I think it was my third Iceman. Once again, Georgia kind of paved the way. She started going to Iceman early years and then always talk about how amazing it was. And then finally, one year I decided to join her and it was like going back to mass participation ski racing, obviously. I've done the American Birkebeiner. I've done the Vasaloppet. So I was kind of familiar with the crowd, let's just put it that way. Because I believe the like, I don't know, the statistics, but probably one third of the participants at the Iceman, they probably jump into one of the ski races in your area, and kind of do that crossover.

Katerina Nash:

At this point, I would say like, the stage racing, and the gravel wasn't still happening. So, kind of that my mass participation and the excitement for being out there and cheering for everybody like that, that was a really big part of our racing at that point. We were kind of doing the mountain bike World Cup, which is the opposite of inclusive.

Katerina Nash:

It was just really fun to be out there with all the other people and just kind of shiver around the fire after the race and checking out the scene and drinking beer. I don't know, it was just back to that racing that's so fun to do when you've been doing a lot of the more focused and strict racing where results are so important, and everything about your recovery so important, versus like end of the season, kind of still going really hard, because there's lots on the line. But then having everybody to enjoy kind of the end of the race. So yeah, I don't know, I really enjoy going back to Iceman and it's always challenging conditions. But I think that's just part of the game, right, like the name of it and the time of year, and I think you guys would be disappointed if it was nice and sunny.

Trevor Gibney:

Yeah, definitely.

Katerina Nash:

So, we just play along with it.

Sheldon Little:

I loved the mud. I thought it was an absolute blast.

Katerina Nash:

I enjoyed the course too. It was different because I have done it a couple times before but it was significantly drier. It might have been colder maybe one year, but it was not this wet and muddy. So yeah, I can't complain about mud either. I love to ride through it. The cleanup afterwards, that's when I'm starting to get a little bit tired of that.

Trevor Gibney:

Well, it's cool to hear that from you that that's what you take from the race, and that's what you enjoy from the races, that crowd atmosphere. I know in a different way, that's what a lot of the people like Sheldon Little: and I enjoy about it, being able to ride and then be a part of the crowd to see the pros come through and cheer them on. I know that there are young people that really look up to the pros as well.

Trevor Gibney:

I know this last year, there was a kids ride the day before and they have the Slush Cup. And you had an opportunity to ride with some of the younger people. I know that that meant a lot. We have some friends that have a daughter that really loved to ride with the pros, and especially with you. So that's a very cool aspect of our local race and getting to see some of these big names come out and really be role models for the younger generation for sure.

Katerina Nash:

Yeah. I mean, to me, that's something that's been always very important because, as our jobs really, our jobs have changed, but the results will always be important. But honestly, yeah, it's great to win a big bike race, and you cross the finish line and you have all these amazing feelings that you kind of, all the hard work paid off. But then like 15 minutes later, you're like, "Well, what did I really accomplish?" Everybody else in the field is sad, because they didn't win.

Katerina Nash:

So if you can really have like impact on a different level, what might be a bike ride with a bunch of little kids to get them excited about riding their bikes, because maybe the parents signed them up, and they had to come but now they're like, well, this is actually fun. Or having few minutes with another racer who has some questions and we can help them to answer some of the stuff that nobody in their community can, because maybe they don't have anybody there who's raced the World Cup or the Olympics or something like that.

Katerina Nash:

So those things definitely have made me feel a lot better about being professional athlete, because I think being professional athlete, so many times means kind of a selfish approach to life, of like the training, and you don't have time for a family and all these things, you travel the world, and everything is just like, you can't go to friend's birthday party because their kids have cold and you're like, can't get sick now, three weeks before World Championship.

Katerina Nash:

So, you do live life through this kind of sort of strict approach. And so if you can step out of it, and sort of see the impact you have outside of the result list, I don't know, it's something that has really made me feel a little bit more meaningful about being professional athlete.

Trevor Gibney:

Sure. And you should, because you are making an impact. Absolutely.

Sheldon Little:

Now, do you think you'll be back for Iceman 2020?

Katerina Nash:

Yeah, I mean, we obviously don't know what's going to happen at this point. It's really hard to imagine when, the world needs to get to a much better place before we can send 5,000 people out on the bike course. So it will be interesting to watch how the situation will evolve. I'm hopeful that there will be bike racing again. I think it would be great for all the racers, it would be great for all the industry, obviously.

Katerina Nash:

But I think for a lot of people that we're just looking forward to that, that nice challenge, that nice new bike event that they sign up for, and all these things. So, I'm super hopeful. I assume if we do get going, a lot of the events that I was supposed to do in the summer will be shifted to the fall. I think, yes, if we start racing, I think my season is going to look a lot different. It's probably going to be a lot more heavily focused on mountain bike events this fall versus the cyclocross in the past. So, yeah, I hope to see you guys out there.

Trevor Gibney:

Definitely. I hope so too. I do have one more question as we kind of close up here. But I was doing a little research and looking up your profile on the Clif Bar website. There's a thing that it has Katerina by the numbers, it says five time Olympian, seven World Cup cyclocross wins, and seven broken ribs in one race. I kind of want to hear that story. Can you tell us a story about breaking seven ribs in one race?

Katerina Nash:

Yes. Yeah, it's my very first year of mountain bike racing. So we're going back to the like mid 90s. It was my ski club had some sort of exchange with Italian club, so we would go every summer to train in the Dolomites. This is early '90s. Not too long after the communist era. So I'm not sure if we had much to offer to the Italian club other than showing up at their community. I can't remember if they got much out of it other than a whole bunch of us training with them.

Katerina Nash:

But anyway, so we would spend maybe a couple weeks in Italy every summer and it was the first year I got into mountain biking and the coaches were like, probably sitting around drinking some wine and they said, oh, there's this mountain bike race, you guys should like here's a bike and you should go. So they loan us a bike and it was a mass start with everybody who was willing to go, and the start was in town, in some little Italian village, super hilly.

Katerina Nash:

We started down pavement, and I was in the new bike and just young and dumb maybe, just send it too fast and I didn't make the corner and it was still on the street and I kind of like flew off my bike and with my back I landed on the sidewalk. So, [inaudible 01:20:26] the sidewalk, I broke all the rips and I got airlifted to bigger hospital because the ribs can puncture through your heart which end up not being the case.

Katerina Nash:

I get a helicopter ride, but it's really sad because I was like strapped down on the stretcher and I couldn't see the beautiful mountains, but I would like to see. So it all turned out fine. The ribs are painful, but I don't know if any of you guys have broken ribs before. They heal really fast. You just have to be little bit patient and make sure you don't sneeze or laugh at jokes.

Sheldon Little:

I broke two last season then at a Gran Fondo, of course. And then, yeah, laughing was a terrible idea because a couple of us went out for beers later and Trevor Gibney: was a part of that. Every time they make everything, and everyone would start laughing, I would laugh for a split second, and then suddenly, it wasn't funny anymore.

Katerina Nash:

Right, right. So you try to eliminate that. But it's also like, I mean, now it's really like doing this, like home gym workouts and stuff like that. Maybe we just all should laugh, and keep up our course. If we can find something to laugh about.

Sheldon Little:

I think that's one of the things that I think a lot of riders are going to take out of this entire situation is because we're not as goal oriented right now, I think it's going to give a lot of us an opportunity to fall back in love with just biking and not staring at our computer, looking at these power numbers or whatnot. Now, you can go out and you can just have an enjoyable ride and remember why you're on the bike to begin with.

Katerina Nash:

I think it'll be hopefully a lot of appreciation for everything we used to have, what the normal life was before. Hopefully, this is a good reset for the society.

Trevor Gibney:

Yeah, definitely. Well, I think that's great. I mean, I think that's a good place to end it. I mean, Sheldon Little:, do you have any other questions, or?

Sheldon Little:

No, I hope we get to pick this up back up in November, hopefully, in Traverse City.

Trevor Gibney:

Yeah, for sure.

Katerina Nash:

Absolutely. I'll see you guys by the fire with some cold beer, I guess.

Sheldon Little:

That sounds perfect. That sounds so much better than a Zoom meeting. All we've done is Zoom meetings lately. It's like, man, I miss just sitting down with people and talking with them with a beer.

Katerina Nash:

Yeah, for sure.

Sheldon Little:

I think that's what I'm missing the most in this entire situation. We're going to really appreciate that a lot more once that becomes a normality again.

Trevor Gibney:

Yeah.

Katerina Nash:

I definitely catch myself talking to complete strangers on the screen for a lot longer than what used to be appropriate amount of time.

Trevor Gibney:

Katerina, thank you so much for your time and talking with us, and being a source of motivation for so many people. This is very cool, and sharing your story with all of us. We appreciate it.

Katerina Nash:

Well, thank you guys for having me, and happy riding, and just yeah, be safe out there in Michigan.

Sheldon Little:

All right, thank you very much, Katerina.

Trevor Gibney:

You too. Thanks.

Katerina Nash:

Thanks. Bye.

Trevor Gibney:

Bye.

Sheldon Little:

Bye.

Trevor Gibney:

The Dirty Chain Podcast is a Michigan Midpack Media production, in partnership with KOM Cycling, the source for your bike accessories and necessities.

Sheldon Little:

Connect with us on Instagram and Facebook @dirtychainpodcast, email dirtychainpodcast@gmail.com, call our hotline at 616-522-2641.

Trevor Gibney:

If you are enjoying the podcast, please leave us a rating and review on whatever platform you use to listen.

Sheldon Little:

Audio editing and original music by Trevor Gibney: Gibney.

Trevor Gibney:

Sheldon Little: Little handles the social media, graphic design, and of course, bad decisions. Thank you to Alex Tenelshof for sharing your experience of the Mohican 100 with us, and a huge thank you to Katerina Nash for sitting down and talking with us for this episode. As always, keep your chain clean.

Sheldon Little:

But get your chain dirty.

Trevor Gibney:

We will see you in the mid pack.