By: Stephanie Gutowski

An Awards Ceremony for the 2007 Northern California Women’s Racing Series and the Lecture by an Outstanding Woman in Cycling were held on Sunday, January 13 in San Francisco by Bay Area Women’s Cycling , which is an organization with the mission of improving the health and well-being of women and girls in the Bay Area through physical fitness.

Pro cyclist from Webcor Builders Women’s Professional Cycling Team, Christine Thorburn, spoke on how she catapulted from being a category 3 racer to being an Olympian, champion at Nationals, and bronze medalist at Worlds. She also spoke about balancing her racing with her career as a physician. The following is her lecture to an audience of Cat 3 and Cat 4 riders:

I was a Cat 3 for 4 years, racing from 1998 to 2002. It took me awhile to upgrade because I was pretty busy doing other things and did not race as much. There was not separate category races like there are now. I was racing with the Cat 1 & 2’s then…and as you know many Cat 1 & 2 riders are professional women cyclists. It was hard to get upgrade points. The fields were also pretty small back then. It has been really neat for me to go to the local races and see a huge field of Cat 3 & 4 racers riding. I love the enthusiasm the women have for our sport. Cycling has taken a bit of a bad wrap recently. We do see the women racing for sport and not just for money and I really enjoy that.

Speaking to the group of Bay Area women cyclists Christine asks, “Anybody have another job besides cycling in this room.” All of the women begin to laugh. “So do I. I thought I would begin by telling you my personal story….how I came to cycling rather late…give you tips of things I have learned along the way….how to maximize my training time. I train about 15 hour a week. Some people are surprise by that but it is possible, if you are effective in training. I also have a top ten list….and some mottos for life.”

“I grew up in Iowa….lots of cornfields…lots of farms. People always ask me if I grew up on a farm, no, but you can smell them from where I lived. I didn’t know anything about cycling except that it was my mode of transportation to the pool. There was bad weather in the winter and you could not ride so I ran. My older sister, my older brother and my father all ran cross country and track. When I was in elementary school and in junior high, I really wanted to be an Olympian in track. I went to a small liberal arts school in the middle of Iowa. I was engrossed in my academics. I did race cross country…made nationals my first year….but I mainly studied.

After I graduated from college I went to Nepal on a Fulbright scholarship. I then went on to Stanford Medical School….which brought me to the west coast. At the this time, I did not have much time to run and when I did run an old knee injury started to bother me. The knee problem led me to cycle more for exercise. It turns out that a number of my classmates were on the cycling team. It took them about three years to convince me. I did catch the cycling bug. In 1999 to 2000 I was very busy as an intern. I was riding really more for my sanity than anything else. I decided to pick a non-surgical field…with not that many emergencies…I was able to train more. 2002 I was riding more and I was able to get my Cat 2 upgrade. My knees started to bother me again…so I finally faced repairing my ACL.

In the fall I was introduced to Max Testa (Dr. Massimo Testa is both a Physician and Exercise Physiologist. He specializes in coaching cycling, triathlon, running, strength and conditioning). He is a family physician from Italy. In Italy sports medicine training is more about physiology. In the US, sports medicine is more orthopedic focused. He had a performance center at UC Davis. He would test athlete. I basically went up to see him to get my VO2 testing done.

2003 was the first year I trained with any kind of program. By the spring of that year, I came a long way. T Mobile was sponsoring the national team with all of the top riders trying to qualify for the Olympics. The National Road Race was another way to qualify for the Olympics. I found myself in a break of 8 with 5 of the riders members of T Mobile so you can imagine that this was not going too well. I remember Dee Dee Barry saying, “ We can attack you know or attack you later you better work now.” I finished 7th out of 8 in that race. During a criterium in the South Bay, one of those business park crits, I fell and broke my collarbone. It probably ended up being good thing because I was too thin that early in the season. I spent 5 weeks on the trainer and did the Tour de Toona as my comeback race. I was fit by the summer and was super motivated. This was when SF was holding the SF Grand Prix. I had a very good race there. I was the second American in this race (behind Dee Dee Barry) and that caught the attention of the national team. My very first international competition was competing at the World Championships in Hamilton Canada. I loved it. Seeing competition at the highest level….I got my ass kicked. I worked really hard for Dee Dee.

I was really determined to go from there. 2004 was an Olympics year. I decided to sit down and set my goals. I decided to dream big. I made the World’s team…which has a maximum number of 6 riders. The Olympics team has a maximum of three riders. In 2004 they announced the criteria of making the Olympics team. If you won the National Time Trail Championship…you would have an automatic berth. If you won the National Road Race you would have an automatic berth…and the top ranked women riders in the UCI would be selected. It would be a T Mobile rider since most of the top UCI ranked riders were on the team. I was pretty sure it would be Dee Dee Barry.

As a small team we would have difficulty beating T Mobile in a road race. So I focused on the time trial. I knew from some previous racing about the team time trial…..so I knew a little bit about time trialing and that I liked it. I didn’t really have a time trial background. I sat down and talked with Karen Brems (2000 Olympian and former world champion). She was putting together a team. She was the World Time Trial Champion in 1994 so she knew a lot about time trailing. She gave me some pointers. June 2004, the national championships were held in Southern California. I had been down there earlier in the year for Redlands. I checked out the time trial course at that time. I went pretty early in the round. I ended up winning by 8 seconds over a bunch of T Mobile riders. That was their opportunity as individuals. That was a very happy day. You could not wipe the smile off my face. I qualified for the Olympics by winning the national time trial championship.

I raced for a month before the Olympics with the T Mobile National Team. Because of the Gulf War there were more security guards than athletes (in the Olympic Village) We could not fly the US flag at our housing units. Half the time we would have these organized rides. We would go out with this huge entourage. Then the other times I would go off by myself right out of the gate. It was an odd situation. The dining hall was a big attraction at the Olympics. We had a lot of down time.

The road race was the second day of the Olympics. I remember lining up on the start line with the Parthenon perched above us….there was a sense of history. It was a learning experience for me. I had not done many international races. US team missed the winning break. I saw Dee Dee Barry up front. She was our designated team leader…and need to help…so I attacked, then Dee Dee attacked and Kristin attacked to try to make it across. I was 15th. I was able to do the time trial as well. The time trial was on the coast….not far from Athens but a little far from the (Olympic) Village. The US National team stayed at this hotel and we noticed a lot of young American men hanging out at the hotel. They were FBI agents sent to watch the team. They had there own pins made up and wanted to exchange pins with us. They were having a great time. I had no expectations except that to qualify for the Olympics I had to win the national race but I don’t think anyone expected anything from me. In the end I finished 4th.

2005 was a good national year for me. I finished 7th in the time trial at Worlds. It was probably the fittest I have ever been. I thought then maybe I should concentrate on the time trial. It seems to fit my personality…working hard….having to set goals….I like to suffer…you don’t have to step on anyone to do well. In Salzburg at the 2006 World Championship I was having a good day. I got bronze. Kristin Armstrong won that year.

Training Tips

Personally I believe you should focus on your strengths….especially of you are very busy. Get some success…get some motivation…then focus on your weaknesses to become a complete cyclist.

I mentioned that I am very goal-oriented but I think people should set smaller goals along the way. My motto is do less not more. Cyclists often over train and you are not getting more from those extra hours.

My other rule…if you have a bad workout…if your not feeling good….don’t try to make them up on your rest day. There is a reason why you are feeling bad. You need that rest day.

Make time to stretch. I have taken up pilates. I do a lot of stretching. It helps to keep you injury free.

When I started with my coach, Max Testa, I used only heart rate. The next year I used a power meter. I wanted to really start paying attention to perceived effort. There usually is a chart to see your effort rated 1 through 10. If there is anything that works the best…is really knowing your body. Your heart rate varies from day-to-day. You start to know when you are hydrated…when you are hot…..getting sick…power never lies. Know I primarily use power. My threshold power throughout the years is pretty constant…but its about 25 to 30 watts lower now then what it will be in the summer. This time of year I tend to use heart rate to monitor where I am. In doing a workout at the power I should be and I feel like crap….I know that if I don’t do something different in the next couple days….I’ll go into over train mode. It’s really important to be in touch with what you think it should be for the amount of training you are doing.

I also believe in positive visualizing. I can’t tell you how many times I won that time trial…the Olympic time trial….driving from Menlo Park to my work in UC San Francisco.

Top Ten List….in no particular order

Setting priorities and goals. If you don’t know where you want to get to…you are going to have a hard time getting motivated.

Compromise. Allow for them…don’t beat yourself up over them.

Time management. This obviously huge. You don’t have to go to medical school to know about time management.

Patience…have patience with yourself…sometimes with team mates…with your coach…your partner.

Confidence….I am willing to say, “Yes, I want to make the 2008 Olympics team.” I don’t personally think that is tooting my own horn….I just think that you need confidence if you are going to succeed.

Sports network is huge…..my husband has been helpful. He is a cyclist and we ride together quite a bit. He clearly understands when I am tired and grumpy.

Mentors and team mates. I mentioned Karen Brems….my team mates that first year were amazing. That first year of Webcor professional team….the first team meeting we sat down and discussed our goals….and more than one rider said that their goal was, “Get Christine to the Olympics.” My team mates were priceless!

Be in touch with your body. I don’t eat as well…don’t drink as well…I certainly don’t get enough rest…but that those are all very, very critical.

Don’t over commit…which is sometimes difficult to do.

Learn from your mistakes….and move on.
Life Mottos….

If you are going to do something than do it well. I’d rather do a few things well than be over involved in many things. it’s not necessarily wrong the other way…..it’s just not how I function.

If you are bored with your life…then it’s time to make a change.

Appreciate what you do have. In 2004, the World Championships were in Italy….and I love Italy. We vacationed for a week afterwards. After all of the riding I was done but Ted talked me into one more ride to Madonna di Ghisallo (church, high above Lake Como in Northern Italy), the church for cyclist where he proposed.

Christine and Ted at the lecture: