Eight weeks after surgical procedure to restore a fractured scaphoid bone in her wrist, Kate Courtney (She Sends Racing) has not simply ‘jumped again in’ to racing, however steps out of her consolation zone for a debut at Leadville Path 100 MTB in Colorado.
The completed mountain bike racer – a 2018 World Champion, 2019 World Cup champion and 2020 Olympian within the cross-country Olympic format – crashed within the brief observe World Cup occasion at Nové Město in late Might. The 2-month restoration time pressured her to take a break, which additionally allowed her to regulate her calendar and tackle two iconic races at excessive altitude.
“Yeah, it positively in some methods, this was unhealthy timing. Three World Cups and nationwide championships [missed]. However in one other sense, I believe it was really actually nice timing for me. I bought this large pressured mid-season relaxation,” Courtney informed Cyclingnews.
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“The remaining interval, I believe it additionally was a chance to consider what would make me excited and motivated throughout my return to racing. It felt just like the universe was pointing me on this route to attempt only a completely totally different problem and one thing the place I did not have any pre-conceived notions or expectations or numbers to base off of. [Leadville 100] actually is a pure problem of athlete versus course, and making an attempt to go as quick as we will on a really, very onerous observe at in a really onerous atmosphere at 10,000 toes of elevation.”
Restarting July 25-27, she took half within the three-day Life Time Leadville Stage Race, successful a pair of levels and settling for second total between winner Melisa Rollins (Liv Racing Collective) and third-placed Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialised Off-road). The brand new {hardware} in her wrist didn’t appear to be a difficulty.
“Actually, my wrist has healed so much quicker than perhaps we have been anticipating. My plan to ease again in was definitely a bit extra of a bounce again in. However I believe for me, I went into it with with none expectations, and actually as a coaching occasion to study the course and study among the dynamics, and in addition see how my physique felt at altitude and carried out over this distance on this course,” she mentioned about participating within the Leadville Stage Race, which gives a preview of a part of Saturday’s Leadville 100.
Courtney grew up within the San Francisco space and makes the area her US house base when not racing overseas. That a part of California is hilly, however the densely populated metropolis is close to sea degree. Time spent in restoration for her wrist additionally meant time to acclimate at elevation, the place racing begins at 10,158 toes (3,096 metres) above sea degree on Saturday and peaks at 12,500 toes (3,810 metres).
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“Completely, I believe initially, for me, Leadville is a chance to give attention to the problem of the race course over 100 miles, at 10,000 toes of elevation. It is only a actually distinctive bodily feat.
“It is also a historic race the place individuals have raced on this course for quite a few years, and you may examine instances. You’ll be able to actually go to your quickest attainable time on this course, which requires a mixture of a bunch of various expertise,” she mentioned in regards to the attract of the occasion, which is the third cease of six off-road occasions within the Life Time Grand Prix sequence.
“Gravel and the Life Time Grand Prix are nearly a very totally different sport than cross-country mountain bike racing. So it is one thing that challenges me in a very totally different approach. And I consider it nearly like a sprinter taking up a marathon. It is a totally different sort of problem, mentally and bodily.
“I believe additionally one thing that’s actually thrilling is seeing the extent of girls’s racing within the US. The competitors goes to be an enormous a part of it, and I am actually motivated and excited to see what I believe would be the best ladies’s discipline this race has ever seen, and push us all to go quicker.”
The 2 most up-to-date previous champions of Leadville 100, Rollins and Villafañe, might be on the beginning line Saturday, in addition to contenders within the high of the Grand Prix elite ladies’s standings – Cecily Decker, Lauren De Crescenzo, Cecile Lejeune and Hayley Preen. Among the many U23 ladies within the discipline are Michaela Thompson, who was third total in Leadville final yr.
Additionally within the discipline are completed riders outdoors the Grand Prix roster, together with 2023 runner-up Ruth Edwards, two-time US gravel nationwide champion Lauren Stephens and Geerike Schreurs, a double winner of UCI Gravel World Sequence races in Europe this yr.
Courtney refers to herself as a ‘sprinter’ for sometimes focusing on the 20-minute XCC and one-and-a-half-hour XCO races, that are drastically shorter than the 4 hours, 5 hours or extra on a high-level US off-road race. Final yr at Leadville Path 100 MTB, Rollins received the elite ladies’s division in 7 hours, 10 minutes, 10 seconds,
The Colorado race is not a brand new foray into MTB long-distance racing for Courtney, as she teamed with MTB legend Annika Langvad in 2018 to win seven levels and the general at Cape Epic. This yr, she began her season with a GC win on the four-day Tankwa Trek in South Africa with accomplice Candice Lill, then added off-road selection on the Grasshopper Journey Sequence in her house state. She received two rounds of the Hoppers and set a brand new ladies’s course file on the 90-mile Huffmaster Traditional, ending in 4:17:25.
The Stanford College graduate additionally switched to a very new staff setup this yr, using for She Sends Basis with Allied Cycle Works and SRAM tools and help from Rivian, Rapha and Purple Bull.
“It has been a variety of work this yr, launching my very own programme and actually doubling down on my work with the She Sends Basis,” the 29-year-old mentioned.
“I used to be on the lookout for manufacturers, largely US-based, who shared this perception that racing might be translated into one thing of actual worth, not only for the followers of the game and the athletes now, however has an enduring affect on future generations.”
Whereas the second half of her Leadville journey is her instant focus, she mentioned mountain biking could be her focus later on this season when she’ll compete on the last 4 mountain bike World Cups and blend within the XCO and Marathon World Championships, going down in Switzerland in September.
“I’m nonetheless actually centered on cross-country mountain bike racing, and that’s what I plan to give attention to for the subsequent few years,” she said.
“Each the Marathon and Cross-Nation World Championships are every week aside in Switzerland. I need to say that Leadville is a extremely unbelievable preparation for a marathon race that is gonna have numerous climbing in it.”
