August 9, 2024 • 30 mins
Amy and T.J. welcome Olympic mountain biker Haley Batten to the podcast to discuss how despite a wheel malfunction, making a wrong turn and a few other hiccups, she still found a way to defy odds and take home the silver medal for the United States in Paris.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, folks, an American woman sets a teen USA record
in Paris. They give her her medal, and then they
give her an invoice for five hundred and sixty five dollars.
Welcome to this special episode of Amy and TJ. Robes. Now,
I think I described that correctly. The voice was not
for the metal, but for something else that Haley Badden
(00:25):
did in the race.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yes, apparently she went mistakenly through a lane that was
dedicated for taking on food or drink or having some
sort of mechanical issue. So the judges reviewed the footage
and saw that even though she went down the lane,
she didn't eat anything and she didn't fix anything, so
she was fine.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
So the thank goodness, she wasn't disqualified.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
She went and I didn't really we were learning so
much about rules of a lot of these sports, and
in this mountain racing, mountain bike racing, the race that
she was in, Yes, you could be disqualified for some
like that. So we've been talking about dramas and points
and scoring and protests. It was happening in mountain bike
and even though it didn't get as much attention, it
was going on.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yeah, well, you know what we should ask the young
woman who actually won the silver medal, Haley Batten, twenty
five years old, and congratulations Haley.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
You're coming to us from Spain.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Yeah yeah, I'm in Gerona, Spain right now, preparing for
World Championships.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yeah, okay, help us understand this? You preparing for You
should have been preparing for the Olympics the past four years.
Now you're preparing for something else already. Is this just
the schedule for you? I guess world class mountain bikers.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Yeah, I know, it's crazy how you invest so many
years in preparation for one day, one hour and a half.
Speaker 5 (01:44):
But yeah, no, pretty quickly.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
We still have a whole World Cup calendar and World
Championships events coming up, so yeah, it's you know, we
race for our factory teams as well and for you know,
our nations you know at THEIST championship events. So yeah,
the racing must go on for sure.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
I mean, it sounds like you're having fun while you're
doing it.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Tell me, can you tell us how you celebrated your
silver metal victory and really, you know, breaking that barrier
that TJ just mentioned you this was the highest ever
finished for an American in this particular sport, so what
an incredible feed not just a metal but a record.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
Yeah, no, it is.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
It's kind of crazy when you put it that way,
for sure. I I mean, everything's been a whirlwind for
the past week. I'd say, you know, you start the race,
there's so much focus and preparation, you know, mental and
physical to get to that start line and then to
execute the day with you know, all the excitement, energy, so.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
Much going on in the race.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
And then you finish and pretty quickly, you know, I
had awards ceremony, anti doping, you rushed off to media.
You're running all over the place and it's hard to
even process you know what happened when you cross the
finish line.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
But you know, it was really cool to go to
the Team USA house.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
I have in my family, my coach, all these people involved,
and you know, the excitement around the Olympics for Team
USA is huge, right, It's not just an athlete stream,
but it's really a childhood dream. So there's a lot
of energy and Team USA does it better than else
anybody else. I really believe, like it was really really
cool to be part of that.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Well, yes, congratulations, you are a part of that. You
add it to that metal count. So congratulations, And we
were asking because it's funny, we're waiting on Haley to
come back and get a Heroes welcome. You're not going
to be home with that silver medal for a while,
because you can on vacation. You went to Paris and
now you're there. When will you actually set foot back
in the US.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Yeah, so probably like the first week of September actually,
So I've got a home there wins month, Yeah, to
prepare for World Championships in Andorra, and then right after
that race, I have a couple of days to pack
up my bags. I've been based here in Girona between
all the races, and yeah, then I go back to
Santa Cruz, California to be back with my family, which
will be really nice.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
So nice, the silver medal can can finally come home
back to the United States.
Speaker 5 (04:04):
It's heavy too, right, It's not easy to lug around.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yes, it's heavy, but it's it's worth the wait.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Right, What was it like for you to have that
moment of glory realizing you won silver? But then how
quickly were you slapped with this fine and and how
are you feeling about that? Were you concerned it could
be an even harsher penalty. Give us a sense of
what that moment was like for you.
Speaker 5 (04:27):
Yeah, oh my gosh, no, you're bringing it back for sure.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
I mean you cross the finish line, there's all this
energy like I did it, you know, like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
And then you're pretty quickly, you know, you finish, people
are yelling at you, like to go through.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Media and to get in line. You know, all these
people are asking questions. So you know, first I get
the media questions of oh, how is the race, like
how do you feel? And then all of a sudden,
I'm going down the line and somebody's like, oh, you know,
you know you did this thing and the look that,
and I'm like just saying, like, what are you talking about?
You know, I was honestly in shock. I had no
idea what was going on, and and they're like, you know,
(05:02):
I mean a lot of it is you know, it
is media. You know, they're getting excited about something, and
they're definitely you know, building it up a bit. They
you know, they told me people would protest, but I've
talked to both Jenny and Puck, so nobody actually wanted
to protest. So yeah, it was definitely a lot of
slap in the face for sure after the race, and
(05:23):
you're just like kind of shocked about like one, you know,
I'm never an athlete to try and ever take a shortcut,
you know, to win a race. You know, that's not
who I am. That's not what I want to do.
So to feel you know, one questioning, oh gosh, did
I do something wrong? You know, but to still hold
your head high was definitely a bit tricky. But no,
at the end of the day, you know, these things
happen mound bike racing. I don't This isn't my first
mound bike race. I've been racing since I was like
(05:45):
nine years old. So we do a lot of World
Cup races, we have eighty year and these yeah, the
rules are there.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
And it happens. You know, this happens a lot in racing.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
And the feed zone's always been like a tricky area,
you know, and when you're in the heat of the race,
and I think they announced that rule, you know, in
the days leading up, but when you're racing, you know,
you just you're in the moment you're going, you're getting
from point A to point B, and no, I respect
the rule and you know, I am you know, if
they need to find me for it, for doing something
(06:15):
just to keep you know, the racing, you know, in
the order that it needs to be.
Speaker 5 (06:18):
I'll respect that and I'll take it for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
But can you tell during the race though I think
this happened on the next to last lap. You can
correct me if I'm wrong on that. But it happened.
But when it happened, did you in the moment think
that there was a questionable thing you had done or
a rule you had broken?
Speaker 5 (06:35):
No?
Speaker 4 (06:35):
No, Like I said, I finished the race and I
had no idea what they were talking about. I was like,
oh my god, did I in the last lap not
take a bottle or something like that? Like I said,
the feed zones are They're the same way at every
World's Cup. It's like this. You know, one lane is
to the left, one lane to the right, and so yeah,
I mean it was just I was just getting to
(06:56):
the finish line as fast as I could.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
That's weird to think that that that they said there
was an issue. You couldn't think of anywhere in the
race where it might have even been a question. You
didn't even think back to that. That's amazing that, Yeah, And.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
The wild thing is if you had grabbed a power
bar or something like that, it wouldn't have been an issue, right.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Yeah, if I had, if somebody had thrown something at me,
it probably wouldn't have been an issue. You know. It's
like a physio but like, yeah, like my physio had
already gone to the finish line to give me a
bottle at the finish line, so yeah, crazy, wow, Wow,
it's not a mistake, right, like it is and I
own that. You know, when you're in the heat of
the race and you're focus on one thing, and if
(07:37):
you know, if you you know, we take bottles every lap,
but not every lap, you know, you take a bottle,
you take a drink, you don't, you know, I had.
I got a flat tire as well, so I had
to come through. They changed my wheel and I kept going.
So there's a lot going on racing and go through
the feed zone twice a lap. Sometimes you take a bottle,
sometimes you don't, and if you don't, you need to
go around when you're with a group of people. And
(07:59):
so I think, you know, in my head, when you're
the point of the rule, right, which I absolutely respect,
is when you're in a bunch race. Exciting racing, right,
there's a lot happening. You need to make sure that
when riders are going through the feed zone, they don't
get it that they only take bottles and they don't
advance in the race because of that. So when it
comes to the last lap, you know when there's no
(08:22):
nobody's drinking anymore, right, you're not taking feeds in the
last lap. It's yeah, I guess you know. It just
spaced my mind that I needed to grab something because
we never do in the last lap.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
So wow, that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
And to give people who are listening and an idea
of what it is to race a mountain bike race.
In the Olympics, they're twisting gravel paths, I've learned, a
technical rock garden, a challenging climb. This is just under
twenty miles, is that correct?
Speaker 5 (08:54):
Oh? Oh gosh.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
I don't actually know how what the total amount of
mile inches, but the course is for four k yeah,
and we did about I think we did eight laps
of the course or maybe seven seven to eight laps.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
I'd have to go back to check.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
With Yeah, seven seven two point four mile laps, that's
what I got online. But I'm talking about the expert here,
but I was just trying to imagine what that is like,
just to have to go through and anticipate all of
that terrain.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Yeah, it's I mean it's really intense, right, Like the
start line is also a mass start, so you race
for an hour and a half and you start in
the start line. At the Olympics it's only thirty eight
riders I think, but at World's Cups, you know, it
can be over one hundred. So you're starting lined up
next to each other, eight people to a row. And
in the Olympics, I was second row, right and you
the We have a light panel, so it goes from
(09:45):
from red to green, so similar like Formula one. When
it turns green, you have a small pedal like this
big and you have to clip your pedal on perfectly
and from then you you go. And it's basically I mean,
it's endurance racing, but it's also really intense. We're basically
going maximal effort for an hour and a half. So
there's it's really unique to train for because it's not
(10:07):
a sprint, you know, but it's also not quite endurance pace,
so you have to be the full package of fitness
being able to do like high power but also sustain
your effort.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Haley, we're learning so much about a lot of Olympic sports,
from canoeing, the skateboarding to a lot of stuff, and
this is one as well. But can you explain the
folks this part, how it's possible you can have a
busted wheel on your bike but still end up just
to have to stop and get it repaired, but still
end up with a silver metal. How did this all
go down?
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Yeah, no, for sure. So I mean, like you said,
our courses are pretty intense. There's steep climes, there's gravel corners,
you know, but there's also these big rock gardens. So
you have to be physically fit, but you also have
to be very skilled and to set up your equipment
right for the demands of that course. So we're always changing,
you know, we're choosing our tires, we're setting up our suspension,
(11:07):
we're choosing the type of bike that will race, dependent
on you know, how big these features are and what
the demands of the course are. So I had just
I had a bad start off the line. I was
in maybe twelfth position or so, and in this course,
you know, I mean, this is very in their nitty gritty,
But it depends on, you know, when you want to
be forward, how you pace your race based on how
(11:28):
soon the track becomes you know, goes from dirt road
double track to single track where it's only single file
and you can't pass people. So there's a lot of
different elements that you're always thinking about. But I had
just caught up to the chase group, which was about
four to five riders really battling. First had kind of
taken off, and second and third weren't far off, and
I was racing with them for a while, and then
(11:49):
I just dropped them on one of the climb and
I was catching the bronze metal position at the time,
and I, you know, I went over the limit a
little bit. That's also a thing in mountain biking. You
have to balance, you know, how hard you go up
a climb, because if you do, you know, too much
effort and you're a little bit tired. As you go
into these rock gardens, maybe you won't choose the right
line and you might make a mistake or you might crash.
(12:10):
I didn't quite do that, but I went a little
too fast on the downhill and I hit this rock
super hard with my tire. I broke the wheel and
I flatted, and I was lucky because I was relatively
close to the feed zone. I still had to go over,
you know, a couple other rock sections, but I was lucky.
My mechanic saw me a switch back ahead and he
could tell the way I was riding. He's like, oh,
(12:31):
my gosh, I think she has a flat tire. And
I was as I was going around one of the
drops that I obviously couldn't ride with my flat tire.
The two riders, Jenny Ridsbed's who ended up up getting bronze,
and then my teammate from Specialized in from Austria. They
both went by and Jenny actually told my feeds and
my mechanic that I had a flat tire, so he
(12:52):
was ready for me, and so when I came in,
maybe I was in like sixth position or seventh position.
By then he did the fastest wheel chain ever, like
maybe record. I think they're just the energy and the
excitement and everything.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
You know what, Haley, I'm curious how fast can I
change a tire?
Speaker 4 (13:08):
I mean they're changing the full wheel right, so they
remove the rear wheel, they shift it into the right gear,
They remove the rear wheel, they pop a new wheel
and with the tire after right my pressure that I need,
and then I go and they and they try to
get into the right gear too, because if it's in
too big of a gear and I can't pedal right
right right away, it needs to be the right gear
so I can actually pedal out the right cadence and
(13:30):
the right power right when I take off. But he
did it, I think in less than twenty seconds, which is.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
In twenty seconds. That is crazy.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
So what's going through your mind now? Are you thinking
my Olympic metal hopes are shattered? Are you thinking this
is doable? I can go Like what's going through your
head when you have a flat tire and a broken wheel?
Speaker 5 (13:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (13:51):
All of that went through my head when I first
broke my you know, when I hit my wheel on
the rock and I was like, oh, that didn't sound good.
You know, there's a chance that that's a flat, you know,
And then I could feel it going flat.
Speaker 5 (14:02):
When I was right, I was like, how could you lose?
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Like I finally moved in the metal positions, right, I'm
finally battling for the metals, and I was like, how
could you lose this opportunity, you know, And I'd already
had a bad start, so I was, you know what
what you know, this is the second time, and now
you're like, how do you mess it up? You know?
But you really have to switch your mentality from those
thoughts and clear that's away as quickly as possible and
(14:26):
just focus on the moment. And I will say, like
after he fixed my flat, it was like I had
this new energy in me, Like I went to a
place that I don't think I've ever been before. I
was just so I knew I was physically fit, and
it was like I had nothing to lose, right, Like
now I had I have nothing, or maybe I can
(14:47):
get a medal. So I just I had no pacing
to worry about. I had know I could take every
risk I wanted, right. I just needed to go as
hard as I could to catch you. And it was
like my like I really I felt no pain. It
was crazy, like I could just go so deep and
I could push so hard because I wanted it so bad,
and it was like all the adrenaline in my body,
(15:09):
you know, was helping me race at my fastest. So
it was crazy how quickly I caught back up into
the metal positions, and then one of the riders crashed.
Another rider also flatted, So yeah, it became like full
sprint all the way to the finish, you know, and
like now you're hearing there's so much excitement. You're you
also like not just all this, but the mechanicals, the equipment.
(15:31):
You're fueling every lap. You have to get your fueling
right for how much you need to fuel for the
duration of an hour and a half. And there's a
lot going on in these races, right, It's not just like, oh,
I went through the feed zone like sorry, guys. It's like, no, really,
I was racing for a silver medal I and I'm
in the moment. Everything's a blurb, right, You're just getting
there to the finish line as fast as you can,
(15:54):
and so yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
Mistakes happen. There's a lot going on and mountain bike racing.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
It's so cool they hear this because this is part
of what Robot and I've enjoyed in watching, because when
you get a commentator on who can explain things to
you because they've done it, and they're explaining technical things
that maybe we didn't notice. And here I thought you
were riding a bike. I thought you were just peddling
and making some lefts and rights. It's so cool to
hear you explain it the way you have at a
bad start, went too fast down a hill and busted
(16:22):
at tire and food zone. If you put together a
good race, you might win.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Right when you say you fuel, Hayley, I'm always curious
because we've were nowhere near being Olympians, but we have
run a few marathons and fueling's always like the issue.
I never know we're training for one, right now, what do.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
You especially for a marathon?
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (16:42):
But what do you eat or drink while you're biking
to have your optimum performance?
Speaker 5 (16:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (16:48):
So, I mean carbohydrates are key and obviously this goes
before the race start, right you're doing this for weeks,
leading in every day for years. Maybe you know before, during,
and after, but the key in a race in long
train or you know, any training from like two to
four hours. What you guys are doing a marathon that's
long fueling is like in my mind, when it comes
to endurance racing, that's win or lose, Like it's a
(17:10):
game of fueling. It's not a game of fitness. It's
a game of fueling. I you know, when I'm doing
training rides, I'm shooting from anywhere from ninety to one
hundred and twenty rams of carbohydrates.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
That's carbohydrates.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
That's not calories, right, that's looking at your your bar
and looking just at carbs and being like, I need
to have ninety to one hundred and twenty grams every hour.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
That's a lot.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Yeah, you do you ever?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
But like here's me, I'm asking for my own personal
I'm just so curious. Do you ever get ill by
consuming all that? Do you ever feel like do you
are these like the little power gummy thingies or the
the gels?
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Like what is it you're putting in?
Speaker 4 (17:47):
Yeah? I mean that's such a good question because this
takes years to figure out, especially for a marathon race, right,
Like you need to figure out what sits, what works
for you, how you're gonna maybe even preload a bit
before the race, you know?
Speaker 5 (17:59):
And what's that saying fuel early? Fuel?
Speaker 4 (18:01):
Often like you always need to just like every twenty
minutes be fueling. But no, it's it's years of figuring out, Okay,
what works for me?
Speaker 1 (18:10):
You know?
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Do I use a high you know? High carbohydrate drink mix.
Does I have a next you know, enough electrolytes and
salt for my sweat rate? You know, we do sweat
rate testing for heat, like how hot is it going
to be?
Speaker 5 (18:22):
You know? And then you.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
Also, yeah, maybe it's choos, maybe it's gels, maybe it's bars,
and you know sometimes when I go on a four hour, right,
it's a whole mix of all of those things, and
then making sure all those things are compatible, Like you
don't want to awful because you mix, yeah, too many brands, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Because if you have stomach issues, it's not it's not
going to end well. It's not going to end well
for you. I'm still I'm literally training for my sixth
moth and I still haven't figured it out.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Hailey. If you can tell she has stomach issues and
she is a she is a dry heaver. So that's what.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
I want to know. How you figured it out years
of trial and error.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
That makes sense for sure.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Yeah, But in a marathon, I mean you must just
have to eat one what you like and also just
drinking enough I can imagine and feeling they're.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Not drinking too much because it can be This is
like stuff I can't.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
Yeah, I can't imagine.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Hey, I'm curious how many calories? How much do you burn?
How many calories can you burn in one race?
Speaker 5 (19:29):
Oh my gosh, do you want me to.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Check of chefs?
Speaker 4 (19:31):
I would love I could tell you, like a in
a ride, In just a ride, I mean, it's pretty
easy to go to twenty five hundred calory, you know,
kj's or something. Yeah, so today I could tell you today,
just like a two out two forty ride, I burned
fifteen hundred kJ. So that's not crazy, that's not a
(19:53):
crazy day. But in a race, I mean for sure
fifteen hundred for.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Sure, maybe more.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
And you know what, you came back from a very
serious injury just last year, back in June of twenty
twenty three, you suffered a concussion in a training crash
in Austria. Coming back from something like that physically is
one thing, but also mentally correct What did you have
to do to I mean, the idea of crashing at
the rates of speed you're going at on the kind
(20:20):
of terrain you're writing in is frightening, to say the
least mentally. How did you get past that and through it?
Speaker 5 (20:28):
Yeah? For sure? That was my hardest injury so far.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
You know, I've I've had cuts and bruises, you know,
and bad crashes that are scary, but for sure concussion
one hundred percent was the scariest one so far. And
I think it's because it really affects your perception of reality,
you know, like puts you in this like fog right
or what I call like a fish bowl where you
just aren't experiencing life with the clarity and joy. That
(20:57):
is what's so great, you know about just like just
daily life, you know. And that injury was really hard
to because it took me a lot longer than I
expected to recover. It was I think like five weeks
before I could really get back to fully training again.
And that was because I that when I crash, it
(21:19):
was actually between two races, so I had done a
race the day before, and then I was on training
on the course to finalize some of my lines on
some of the technical sections and I crashed and it
wasn't even a bad crash. I didn't think I had
a concussion actually, so I got up, I kept riding.
I was totally fine, and I actually decided to race
the next day.
Speaker 5 (21:39):
And that was the number one mistake.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
So as I've learned, like since then, is a concussion
can those symptoms can develop within twenty four to forty
eight hours later. And so because I played with that
really crucial recovery window, you know, my blood pressure went up,
my heart rate, your you know, I was having caffeine,
all these things that were fully suboptimal for what I
needed to do to help my brain recost, and that
(22:01):
really affected my recovery timeline. So it took a lot
longer than it needed to and it made my symptoms
a lot worse. And yeah, it took me a lot
longer to recover. So that was really hard, and I
had a lot of amazing people supporting me and helping
guide me to the right things to do, because as
an athlete, it's really easy to try and get right
back on the bike or you know, get back to training.
Speaker 5 (22:23):
Or push through, push through, push through.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
And I think the lessons that that injury taught me
went way beyond just injury recover but has helped me
a lot as an athlete since then, of learning the
difference between working harder and working smarter, and being able
to listen to my body and how I feel, and
also just appreciating my sport even more and what I
(22:47):
do and why I love it, because an injury like
that makes you really reflect on why the heck do
I do this crazy thing?
Speaker 1 (22:53):
You know?
Speaker 5 (22:53):
Do I want to keep doing it?
Speaker 4 (22:55):
And just like gratitude for life and the sport that
I do and how lucky I am to pursue it
at a high level. So yeah, I learned a lot
during that time and it was really hard.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Oh well, it's good to see you. You're back, and
obviously it was certainly think it's worth it, But can
you tell me, because you Olympics, your your race just happened.
You got out of there and you're on to the
next thing. But did you get the full Olympic experience.
I'm just curious about our Olympic village if you got
to even hang out with a lot of other athletes.
(23:26):
I know you all were doing your race and kind
of a different spot than everybody else was in, and
so just what was the experience.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Like, Yeah, yeah, it was really cool because I was
in Tokyo as well, and that was just not quite
the same. You know, my family couldn't be there and
the fans, you know, and this year, yeah, we arrived
in the in the village with my teammates and we
did the whole USA team processing, right, So you're getting
these bags of clothes and trying everything on and getting
fitted and having the support from these amazing brands, and
(23:55):
you know, you go to the meal hall and there's
so many athletes, right, it's like the dream, right an
that you're walking around it. Everybody's spit and and you know,
the best at what they do and just so cool,
right or they're you know, you've seen them on TV,
and so that whole environment's just amazing, right, And yeah,
pretty quickly we went and we locked into to our
venue in Ellencourt, which was not inside the village, but
(24:19):
honestly it was okay with me.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
I didn't need to sleep.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
On the cardboard beds every night and of the village mood.
So we we locked into performance for sure, and that's
also the best part of what we do. And my
family was there, and then after the race, I yeah,
I got to go to the Team USA house.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
I did this whole media tour.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
I did the the the Metal ceremony that that front
that Paris did, which was incredible because I got to
share it with the Olympic gold medalist who was from
France in our event, so that was really special.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
And then yeah, I went out with my teammates and
we saw.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
The beach volleyball event the next night under the Eiffel Tower,
so that was super cool, and just checking out Paris,
and then I went on vacation in Portugal with my
family pretty quickly after. So I definitely got the experience
that I'm super grateful for, and the medal was definitely
the highlight for sure.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
It sounds like like probably the most amazing two weeks
ever in your entire life.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
What you just described trip, that's amazing. I wanted to
give a shout out to Arkansas. DJ is from Arkansas in.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Fact, yeah, and we were just funny enough in Ventonville
not that long ago and saw all the cyclists and
wasn't putting two and two together that it's the home
of the National mountain Bike team of USA cycling.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
Correct, Yeah, yeah, it is.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
They've supported us so much and as you saw, like
the infrastructure there for cycling is next level. And I
really believe that, like when a community invests in making
a city like walkable and rideable and cycling friendly, like
that is what every state needs, right kids can like
bike to school and bike to bike to work. I
think that's like the baseline of how biking is and
(26:01):
it's obviously translating there and to to some more world's
class trials and training facilities as well.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
So who can claim you? Who should claim you? Because
everybody wants to claim you. Santa Cruz wants to claim you.
Could you live there? Park City wants to claim you
because you brought up there. Now Arkansas wants to claim you.
Could you could train there? So which is it?
Speaker 4 (26:19):
Yeah, I mean, obviously you know, Park City is where
I grew up, so it has a special place in
my heart. But I think what's so cool about what
I do is that I I mean, like, like I said,
I'm in Girona part time of the year, and then
I'm going to this crazy place and then this, and
then I'm back in Santa Cruz. But then pretty quickly
I go off to the East Coast to do more races.
So I travel the world and I travel the really
(26:41):
cool places and they've all made me the athlete that
I am today. So home for me isn't a lot
of really special places. So I feel really lucky to
have the support of those communities as well. It's what
makes it so special.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Well, Haley, finally here, have you paid the fine?
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Yeah, we paid the fine as fast as we could.
I do all agory about that.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
And it wasn't tie to the metal. It's not like
they say we're going to withhold your metal until we
get your money, right.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
No, No, it really like there was no way that
the race dynamic would change based on that. It's really that,
you know, I made a mistake. I shouldn't have done that,
and to make sure those rules are followed to make
the racing go. Like you know, there's a lot going on,
like what we talked about racing, there's a lot of people,
there's a lot of feeds, mechanicals. We need to make
sure those feed zones don't have people just riding through
(27:28):
them for fun or or you know, doing something that
doesn't keep the keep the racing you know, running smoothly.
So yeah, you know, I'll take the fine if that's
what we need to keep our sport you know, running well.
Speaker 5 (27:40):
And yeah, next time I won't do it. That's pretty sure.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Like, hey, how do you pay it? Electronically? Write of
a personal check?
Speaker 5 (27:50):
Usa cycling did it for me. Honestly, I just want.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
To make sure you didn't have to come out of
that money.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
And I know you're obviously there and you're you're still
cycling and so races, but do you have are you
already starting to think about twenty twenty eight?
Speaker 3 (28:04):
La?
Speaker 5 (28:05):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (28:05):
For sure?
Speaker 5 (28:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
I mean I think as athletes, the planning happens many
years in advance, and for I think just the energy
of seeing like Pauline, you know, win her own country.
I was like, okay, you can have this one, but
the night and then you know, the next one's mine.
So yeah, I mean me and my coach are like, okay,
(28:28):
like like I visualized winning this race, you know, I
wanted to be an Olympic champion, silver medal. I feel
like in a hundred ways I won that race in
my mind, you know, Like and for me, I won
the silver medal right, Like the way I race everything
like was so amazing. But I also didn't have a
great start. I flatted right, I missed.
Speaker 5 (28:46):
The feed zone.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
These are things like for me, these are all controllables
of becoming excellent. And so every you know, after every
race that I sit down and I write like, how
can I be better? And I think you know that
preparation starts, you know, when you're motivated and you care
the most, And that's like right after the Olympic Games, right,
So for sure, I'm using this to motivate me and
my preparation moving forward.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
She got to do LA. I mean, can you imagine
LA is so close to her home of Santa Cruz
and her home of Park City.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
Oh yeah, I love it.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Going for gold in twenty twenty eight.
Speaker 5 (29:17):
That's amazing, exactly right.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
That's congratulations, Haley, And thank you so much for taking
some time out of your very very busy life right
now to talk with us. Just so inspiring and we're
so proud of you. Congratulations.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
Yeah, thanks so much for the good questions. It was
good to talk through everything.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
No, thank you for the education. And you know what
I meant to say this earlier. It's cool to see
somebody as passionate about their sport as you are. You
light up when you start talking about it, not talking
about the silver metal necessarily, just talking about the sport itself.
You clearly enjoy it and the technical parts of it.
I know you noticed it earlier. She was bouncing off
(29:55):
the seat when she started talking.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
It's beautiful to see that passion.
Speaker 5 (29:59):
Oh that's nice.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
So do you guys bike or what we run? My
city bike?
Speaker 2 (30:05):
That's about I get to a bicycle. But yes, we've
we've been running. But it's I'm just I'm always in
awe of people who can do those types of endurance
things that just take every single bit of of your
energy and your effort and your mental the mental challenges
that come along with endurance types of athletics is just
(30:26):
remarkable to me.
Speaker 5 (30:27):
We know it from the running for sure.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Yeah, but we're just loud of you and thirty minutes right,
you're inspiring. I know so many, so many young folks
out there who think if she can do what, I
can do it. So thank you for sharing your story.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
Yeah, thank you, and good luck in your marathon. I
hope you got thank you. Yeah,
Hey, folks, an American woman sets a teen USA record
in Paris. They give her her medal, and then they
give her an invoice for five hundred and sixty five dollars.
Welcome to this special episode of Amy and TJ. Robes. Now,
I think I described that correctly. The voice was not
for the metal, but for something else that Haley Badden
(00:25):
did in the race.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yes, apparently she went mistakenly through a lane that was
dedicated for taking on food or drink or having some
sort of mechanical issue. So the judges reviewed the footage
and saw that even though she went down the lane,
she didn't eat anything and she didn't fix anything, so
she was fine.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
So the thank goodness, she wasn't disqualified.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
She went and I didn't really we were learning so
much about rules of a lot of these sports, and
in this mountain racing, mountain bike racing, the race that
she was in, Yes, you could be disqualified for some
like that. So we've been talking about dramas and points
and scoring and protests. It was happening in mountain bike
and even though it didn't get as much attention, it
was going on.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yeah, well, you know what we should ask the young
woman who actually won the silver medal, Haley Batten, twenty
five years old, and congratulations Haley.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
You're coming to us from Spain.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Yeah yeah, I'm in Gerona, Spain right now, preparing for
World Championships.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yeah, okay, help us understand this? You preparing for You
should have been preparing for the Olympics the past four years.
Now you're preparing for something else already. Is this just
the schedule for you? I guess world class mountain bikers.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Yeah, I know, it's crazy how you invest so many
years in preparation for one day, one hour and a half.
Speaker 5 (01:44):
But yeah, no, pretty quickly.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
We still have a whole World Cup calendar and World
Championships events coming up, so yeah, it's you know, we
race for our factory teams as well and for you know,
our nations you know at THEIST championship events. So yeah,
the racing must go on for sure.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
I mean, it sounds like you're having fun while you're
doing it.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Tell me, can you tell us how you celebrated your
silver metal victory and really, you know, breaking that barrier
that TJ just mentioned you this was the highest ever
finished for an American in this particular sport, so what
an incredible feed not just a metal but a record.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
Yeah, no, it is.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
It's kind of crazy when you put it that way,
for sure. I I mean, everything's been a whirlwind for
the past week. I'd say, you know, you start the race,
there's so much focus and preparation, you know, mental and
physical to get to that start line and then to
execute the day with you know, all the excitement, energy, so.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
Much going on in the race.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
And then you finish and pretty quickly, you know, I
had awards ceremony, anti doping, you rushed off to media.
You're running all over the place and it's hard to
even process you know what happened when you cross the
finish line.
Speaker 5 (02:55):
But you know, it was really cool to go to
the Team USA house.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
I have in my family, my coach, all these people involved,
and you know, the excitement around the Olympics for Team
USA is huge, right, It's not just an athlete stream,
but it's really a childhood dream. So there's a lot
of energy and Team USA does it better than else
anybody else. I really believe, like it was really really
cool to be part of that.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Well, yes, congratulations, you are a part of that. You
add it to that metal count. So congratulations, And we
were asking because it's funny, we're waiting on Haley to
come back and get a Heroes welcome. You're not going
to be home with that silver medal for a while,
because you can on vacation. You went to Paris and
now you're there. When will you actually set foot back
in the US.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Yeah, so probably like the first week of September actually,
So I've got a home there wins month, Yeah, to
prepare for World Championships in Andorra, and then right after
that race, I have a couple of days to pack
up my bags. I've been based here in Girona between
all the races, and yeah, then I go back to
Santa Cruz, California to be back with my family, which
will be really nice.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
So nice, the silver medal can can finally come home
back to the United States.
Speaker 5 (04:04):
It's heavy too, right, It's not easy to lug around.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yes, it's heavy, but it's it's worth the wait.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Right, What was it like for you to have that
moment of glory realizing you won silver? But then how
quickly were you slapped with this fine and and how
are you feeling about that? Were you concerned it could
be an even harsher penalty. Give us a sense of
what that moment was like for you.
Speaker 5 (04:27):
Yeah, oh my gosh, no, you're bringing it back for sure.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
I mean you cross the finish line, there's all this
energy like I did it, you know, like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
And then you're pretty quickly, you know, you finish, people
are yelling at you, like to go through.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
Media and to get in line. You know, all these
people are asking questions. So you know, first I get
the media questions of oh, how is the race, like
how do you feel? And then all of a sudden,
I'm going down the line and somebody's like, oh, you know,
you know you did this thing and the look that,
and I'm like just saying, like, what are you talking about?
You know, I was honestly in shock. I had no
idea what was going on, and and they're like, you know,
(05:02):
I mean a lot of it is you know, it
is media. You know, they're getting excited about something, and
they're definitely you know, building it up a bit. They
you know, they told me people would protest, but I've
talked to both Jenny and Puck, so nobody actually wanted
to protest. So yeah, it was definitely a lot of
slap in the face for sure after the race, and
(05:23):
you're just like kind of shocked about like one, you know,
I'm never an athlete to try and ever take a shortcut,
you know, to win a race. You know, that's not
who I am. That's not what I want to do.
So to feel you know, one questioning, oh gosh, did
I do something wrong? You know, but to still hold
your head high was definitely a bit tricky. But no,
at the end of the day, you know, these things
happen mound bike racing. I don't This isn't my first
mound bike race. I've been racing since I was like
(05:45):
nine years old. So we do a lot of World
Cup races, we have eighty year and these yeah, the
rules are there.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
And it happens. You know, this happens a lot in racing.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
And the feed zone's always been like a tricky area,
you know, and when you're in the heat of the race,
and I think they announced that rule, you know, in
the days leading up, but when you're racing, you know,
you just you're in the moment you're going, you're getting
from point A to point B, and no, I respect
the rule and you know, I am you know, if
they need to find me for it, for doing something
(06:15):
just to keep you know, the racing, you know, in
the order that it needs to be.
Speaker 5 (06:18):
I'll respect that and I'll take it for sure.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
But can you tell during the race though I think
this happened on the next to last lap. You can
correct me if I'm wrong on that. But it happened.
But when it happened, did you in the moment think
that there was a questionable thing you had done or
a rule you had broken?
Speaker 5 (06:35):
No?
Speaker 4 (06:35):
No, Like I said, I finished the race and I
had no idea what they were talking about. I was like,
oh my god, did I in the last lap not
take a bottle or something like that? Like I said,
the feed zones are They're the same way at every
World's Cup. It's like this. You know, one lane is
to the left, one lane to the right, and so yeah,
I mean it was just I was just getting to
(06:56):
the finish line as fast as I could.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
That's weird to think that that that they said there
was an issue. You couldn't think of anywhere in the
race where it might have even been a question. You
didn't even think back to that. That's amazing that, Yeah, And.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
The wild thing is if you had grabbed a power
bar or something like that, it wouldn't have been an issue, right.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Yeah, if I had, if somebody had thrown something at me,
it probably wouldn't have been an issue. You know. It's
like a physio but like, yeah, like my physio had
already gone to the finish line to give me a
bottle at the finish line, so yeah, crazy, wow, Wow,
it's not a mistake, right, like it is and I
own that. You know, when you're in the heat of
the race and you're focus on one thing, and if
(07:37):
you know, if you you know, we take bottles every lap,
but not every lap, you know, you take a bottle,
you take a drink, you don't, you know, I had.
I got a flat tire as well, so I had
to come through. They changed my wheel and I kept going.
So there's a lot going on racing and go through
the feed zone twice a lap. Sometimes you take a bottle,
sometimes you don't, and if you don't, you need to
go around when you're with a group of people. And
(07:59):
so I think, you know, in my head, when you're
the point of the rule, right, which I absolutely respect,
is when you're in a bunch race. Exciting racing, right,
there's a lot happening. You need to make sure that
when riders are going through the feed zone, they don't
get it that they only take bottles and they don't
advance in the race because of that. So when it
comes to the last lap, you know when there's no
(08:22):
nobody's drinking anymore, right, you're not taking feeds in the
last lap. It's yeah, I guess you know. It just
spaced my mind that I needed to grab something because
we never do in the last lap.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
So wow, that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
And to give people who are listening and an idea
of what it is to race a mountain bike race.
In the Olympics, they're twisting gravel paths, I've learned, a
technical rock garden, a challenging climb. This is just under
twenty miles, is that correct?
Speaker 5 (08:54):
Oh? Oh gosh.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
I don't actually know how what the total amount of
mile inches, but the course is for four k yeah,
and we did about I think we did eight laps
of the course or maybe seven seven to eight laps.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
I'd have to go back to check.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
With Yeah, seven seven two point four mile laps, that's
what I got online. But I'm talking about the expert here,
but I was just trying to imagine what that is like,
just to have to go through and anticipate all of
that terrain.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Yeah, it's I mean it's really intense, right, Like the
start line is also a mass start, so you race
for an hour and a half and you start in
the start line. At the Olympics it's only thirty eight
riders I think, but at World's Cups, you know, it
can be over one hundred. So you're starting lined up
next to each other, eight people to a row. And
in the Olympics, I was second row, right and you
the We have a light panel, so it goes from
(09:45):
from red to green, so similar like Formula one. When
it turns green, you have a small pedal like this
big and you have to clip your pedal on perfectly
and from then you you go. And it's basically I mean,
it's endurance racing, but it's also really intense. We're basically
going maximal effort for an hour and a half. So
there's it's really unique to train for because it's not
(10:07):
a sprint, you know, but it's also not quite endurance pace,
so you have to be the full package of fitness
being able to do like high power but also sustain
your effort.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Haley, we're learning so much about a lot of Olympic sports,
from canoeing, the skateboarding to a lot of stuff, and
this is one as well. But can you explain the
folks this part, how it's possible you can have a
busted wheel on your bike but still end up just
to have to stop and get it repaired, but still
end up with a silver metal. How did this all
go down?
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Yeah, no, for sure. So I mean, like you said,
our courses are pretty intense. There's steep climes, there's gravel corners,
you know, but there's also these big rock gardens. So
you have to be physically fit, but you also have
to be very skilled and to set up your equipment
right for the demands of that course. So we're always changing,
you know, we're choosing our tires, we're setting up our suspension,
(11:07):
we're choosing the type of bike that will race, dependent
on you know, how big these features are and what
the demands of the course are. So I had just
I had a bad start off the line. I was
in maybe twelfth position or so, and in this course,
you know, I mean, this is very in their nitty gritty,
But it depends on, you know, when you want to
be forward, how you pace your race based on how
(11:28):
soon the track becomes you know, goes from dirt road
double track to single track where it's only single file
and you can't pass people. So there's a lot of
different elements that you're always thinking about. But I had
just caught up to the chase group, which was about
four to five riders really battling. First had kind of
taken off, and second and third weren't far off, and
I was racing with them for a while, and then
(11:49):
I just dropped them on one of the climb and
I was catching the bronze metal position at the time,
and I, you know, I went over the limit a
little bit. That's also a thing in mountain biking. You
have to balance, you know, how hard you go up
a climb, because if you do, you know, too much
effort and you're a little bit tired. As you go
into these rock gardens, maybe you won't choose the right
line and you might make a mistake or you might crash.
(12:10):
I didn't quite do that, but I went a little
too fast on the downhill and I hit this rock
super hard with my tire. I broke the wheel and
I flatted, and I was lucky because I was relatively
close to the feed zone. I still had to go over,
you know, a couple other rock sections, but I was lucky.
My mechanic saw me a switch back ahead and he
could tell the way I was riding. He's like, oh,
(12:31):
my gosh, I think she has a flat tire. And
I was as I was going around one of the
drops that I obviously couldn't ride with my flat tire.
The two riders, Jenny Ridsbed's who ended up up getting bronze,
and then my teammate from Specialized in from Austria. They
both went by and Jenny actually told my feeds and
my mechanic that I had a flat tire, so he
(12:52):
was ready for me, and so when I came in,
maybe I was in like sixth position or seventh position.
By then he did the fastest wheel chain ever, like
maybe record. I think they're just the energy and the
excitement and everything.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
You know what, Haley, I'm curious how fast can I
change a tire?
Speaker 4 (13:08):
I mean they're changing the full wheel right, so they
remove the rear wheel, they shift it into the right gear,
They remove the rear wheel, they pop a new wheel
and with the tire after right my pressure that I need,
and then I go and they and they try to
get into the right gear too, because if it's in
too big of a gear and I can't pedal right
right right away, it needs to be the right gear
so I can actually pedal out the right cadence and
(13:30):
the right power right when I take off. But he
did it, I think in less than twenty seconds, which is.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
In twenty seconds. That is crazy.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
So what's going through your mind now? Are you thinking
my Olympic metal hopes are shattered? Are you thinking this
is doable? I can go Like what's going through your
head when you have a flat tire and a broken wheel?
Speaker 5 (13:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (13:51):
All of that went through my head when I first
broke my you know, when I hit my wheel on
the rock and I was like, oh, that didn't sound good.
You know, there's a chance that that's a flat, you know,
And then I could feel it going flat.
Speaker 5 (14:02):
When I was right, I was like, how could you lose?
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Like I finally moved in the metal positions, right, I'm
finally battling for the metals, and I was like, how
could you lose this opportunity, you know, And I'd already
had a bad start, so I was, you know what
what you know, this is the second time, and now
you're like, how do you mess it up? You know?
But you really have to switch your mentality from those
thoughts and clear that's away as quickly as possible and
(14:26):
just focus on the moment. And I will say, like
after he fixed my flat, it was like I had
this new energy in me, Like I went to a
place that I don't think I've ever been before. I
was just so I knew I was physically fit, and
it was like I had nothing to lose, right, Like
now I had I have nothing, or maybe I can
(14:47):
get a medal. So I just I had no pacing
to worry about. I had know I could take every
risk I wanted, right. I just needed to go as
hard as I could to catch you. And it was
like my like I really I felt no pain. It
was crazy, like I could just go so deep and
I could push so hard because I wanted it so bad,
and it was like all the adrenaline in my body,
(15:09):
you know, was helping me race at my fastest. So
it was crazy how quickly I caught back up into
the metal positions, and then one of the riders crashed.
Another rider also flatted, So yeah, it became like full
sprint all the way to the finish, you know, and
like now you're hearing there's so much excitement. You're you
also like not just all this, but the mechanicals, the equipment.
(15:31):
You're fueling every lap. You have to get your fueling
right for how much you need to fuel for the
duration of an hour and a half. And there's a
lot going on in these races, right, It's not just like, oh,
I went through the feed zone like sorry, guys. It's like, no, really,
I was racing for a silver medal I and I'm
in the moment. Everything's a blurb, right, You're just getting
there to the finish line as fast as you can,
(15:54):
and so yeah.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
Mistakes happen. There's a lot going on and mountain bike racing.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
It's so cool they hear this because this is part
of what Robot and I've enjoyed in watching, because when
you get a commentator on who can explain things to
you because they've done it, and they're explaining technical things
that maybe we didn't notice. And here I thought you
were riding a bike. I thought you were just peddling
and making some lefts and rights. It's so cool to
hear you explain it the way you have at a
bad start, went too fast down a hill and busted
(16:22):
at tire and food zone. If you put together a
good race, you might win.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Right when you say you fuel, Hayley, I'm always curious
because we've were nowhere near being Olympians, but we have
run a few marathons and fueling's always like the issue.
I never know we're training for one, right now, what do.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
You especially for a marathon?
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (16:42):
But what do you eat or drink while you're biking
to have your optimum performance?
Speaker 5 (16:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (16:48):
So, I mean carbohydrates are key and obviously this goes
before the race start, right you're doing this for weeks,
leading in every day for years. Maybe you know before, during,
and after, but the key in a race in long
train or you know, any training from like two to
four hours. What you guys are doing a marathon that's
long fueling is like in my mind, when it comes
to endurance racing, that's win or lose, Like it's a
(17:10):
game of fueling. It's not a game of fitness. It's
a game of fueling. I you know, when I'm doing
training rides, I'm shooting from anywhere from ninety to one
hundred and twenty rams of carbohydrates.
Speaker 5 (17:21):
That's carbohydrates.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
That's not calories, right, that's looking at your your bar
and looking just at carbs and being like, I need
to have ninety to one hundred and twenty grams every hour.
Speaker 5 (17:31):
That's a lot.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Yeah, you do you ever?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
But like here's me, I'm asking for my own personal
I'm just so curious. Do you ever get ill by
consuming all that? Do you ever feel like do you
are these like the little power gummy thingies or the
the gels?
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Like what is it you're putting in?
Speaker 4 (17:47):
Yeah? I mean that's such a good question because this
takes years to figure out, especially for a marathon race, right,
Like you need to figure out what sits, what works
for you, how you're gonna maybe even preload a bit
before the race, you know?
Speaker 5 (17:59):
And what's that saying fuel early? Fuel?
Speaker 4 (18:01):
Often like you always need to just like every twenty
minutes be fueling. But no, it's it's years of figuring out, Okay,
what works for me?
Speaker 1 (18:10):
You know?
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Do I use a high you know? High carbohydrate drink mix.
Does I have a next you know, enough electrolytes and
salt for my sweat rate? You know, we do sweat
rate testing for heat, like how hot is it going
to be?
Speaker 5 (18:22):
You know? And then you.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
Also, yeah, maybe it's choos, maybe it's gels, maybe it's bars,
and you know sometimes when I go on a four hour, right,
it's a whole mix of all of those things, and
then making sure all those things are compatible, Like you
don't want to awful because you mix, yeah, too many brands, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Because if you have stomach issues, it's not it's not
going to end well. It's not going to end well
for you. I'm still I'm literally training for my sixth
moth and I still haven't figured it out.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Hailey. If you can tell she has stomach issues and
she is a she is a dry heaver. So that's what.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
I want to know. How you figured it out years
of trial and error.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
That makes sense for sure.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Yeah, But in a marathon, I mean you must just
have to eat one what you like and also just
drinking enough I can imagine and feeling they're.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Not drinking too much because it can be This is
like stuff I can't.
Speaker 5 (19:13):
Yeah, I can't imagine.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Hey, I'm curious how many calories? How much do you burn?
How many calories can you burn in one race?
Speaker 5 (19:29):
Oh my gosh, do you want me to.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Check of chefs?
Speaker 4 (19:31):
I would love I could tell you, like a in
a ride, In just a ride, I mean, it's pretty
easy to go to twenty five hundred calory, you know,
kj's or something. Yeah, so today I could tell you today,
just like a two out two forty ride, I burned
fifteen hundred kJ. So that's not crazy, that's not a
(19:53):
crazy day. But in a race, I mean for sure
fifteen hundred for.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Sure, maybe more.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
And you know what, you came back from a very
serious injury just last year, back in June of twenty
twenty three, you suffered a concussion in a training crash
in Austria. Coming back from something like that physically is
one thing, but also mentally correct What did you have
to do to I mean, the idea of crashing at
the rates of speed you're going at on the kind
(20:20):
of terrain you're writing in is frightening, to say the
least mentally. How did you get past that and through it?
Speaker 5 (20:28):
Yeah? For sure? That was my hardest injury so far.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
You know, I've I've had cuts and bruises, you know,
and bad crashes that are scary, but for sure concussion
one hundred percent was the scariest one so far. And
I think it's because it really affects your perception of reality,
you know, like puts you in this like fog right
or what I call like a fish bowl where you
just aren't experiencing life with the clarity and joy. That
(20:57):
is what's so great, you know about just like just
daily life, you know. And that injury was really hard
to because it took me a lot longer than I
expected to recover. It was I think like five weeks
before I could really get back to fully training again.
And that was because I that when I crash, it
(21:19):
was actually between two races, so I had done a
race the day before, and then I was on training
on the course to finalize some of my lines on
some of the technical sections and I crashed and it
wasn't even a bad crash. I didn't think I had
a concussion actually, so I got up, I kept riding.
I was totally fine, and I actually decided to race
the next day.
Speaker 5 (21:39):
And that was the number one mistake.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
So as I've learned, like since then, is a concussion
can those symptoms can develop within twenty four to forty
eight hours later. And so because I played with that
really crucial recovery window, you know, my blood pressure went up,
my heart rate, your you know, I was having caffeine,
all these things that were fully suboptimal for what I
needed to do to help my brain recost, and that
(22:01):
really affected my recovery timeline. So it took a lot
longer than it needed to and it made my symptoms
a lot worse. And yeah, it took me a lot
longer to recover. So that was really hard, and I
had a lot of amazing people supporting me and helping
guide me to the right things to do, because as
an athlete, it's really easy to try and get right
back on the bike or you know, get back to training.
Speaker 5 (22:23):
Or push through, push through, push through.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
And I think the lessons that that injury taught me
went way beyond just injury recover but has helped me
a lot as an athlete since then, of learning the
difference between working harder and working smarter, and being able
to listen to my body and how I feel, and
also just appreciating my sport even more and what I
(22:47):
do and why I love it, because an injury like
that makes you really reflect on why the heck do
I do this crazy thing?
Speaker 1 (22:53):
You know?
Speaker 5 (22:53):
Do I want to keep doing it?
Speaker 4 (22:55):
And just like gratitude for life and the sport that
I do and how lucky I am to pursue it
at a high level. So yeah, I learned a lot
during that time and it was really hard.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Oh well, it's good to see you. You're back, and
obviously it was certainly think it's worth it, But can
you tell me, because you Olympics, your your race just happened.
You got out of there and you're on to the
next thing. But did you get the full Olympic experience.
I'm just curious about our Olympic village if you got
to even hang out with a lot of other athletes.
(23:26):
I know you all were doing your race and kind
of a different spot than everybody else was in, and
so just what was the experience.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Like, Yeah, yeah, it was really cool because I was
in Tokyo as well, and that was just not quite
the same. You know, my family couldn't be there and
the fans, you know, and this year, yeah, we arrived
in the in the village with my teammates and we
did the whole USA team processing, right, So you're getting
these bags of clothes and trying everything on and getting
fitted and having the support from these amazing brands, and
(23:55):
you know, you go to the meal hall and there's
so many athletes, right, it's like the dream, right an
that you're walking around it. Everybody's spit and and you know,
the best at what they do and just so cool,
right or they're you know, you've seen them on TV,
and so that whole environment's just amazing, right, And yeah,
pretty quickly we went and we locked into to our
venue in Ellencourt, which was not inside the village, but
(24:19):
honestly it was okay with me.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
I didn't need to sleep.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
On the cardboard beds every night and of the village mood.
So we we locked into performance for sure, and that's
also the best part of what we do. And my
family was there, and then after the race, I yeah,
I got to go to the Team USA house.
Speaker 5 (24:35):
I did this whole media tour.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
I did the the the Metal ceremony that that front
that Paris did, which was incredible because I got to
share it with the Olympic gold medalist who was from
France in our event, so that was really special.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
And then yeah, I went out with my teammates and
we saw.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
The beach volleyball event the next night under the Eiffel Tower,
so that was super cool, and just checking out Paris,
and then I went on vacation in Portugal with my
family pretty quickly after. So I definitely got the experience
that I'm super grateful for, and the medal was definitely
the highlight for sure.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
It sounds like like probably the most amazing two weeks
ever in your entire life.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
What you just described trip, that's amazing. I wanted to
give a shout out to Arkansas. DJ is from Arkansas in.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Fact, yeah, and we were just funny enough in Ventonville
not that long ago and saw all the cyclists and
wasn't putting two and two together that it's the home
of the National mountain Bike team of USA cycling.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
Correct, Yeah, yeah, it is.
Speaker 4 (25:38):
They've supported us so much and as you saw, like
the infrastructure there for cycling is next level. And I
really believe that, like when a community invests in making
a city like walkable and rideable and cycling friendly, like
that is what every state needs, right kids can like
bike to school and bike to bike to work. I
think that's like the baseline of how biking is and
(26:01):
it's obviously translating there and to to some more world's
class trials and training facilities as well.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
So who can claim you? Who should claim you? Because
everybody wants to claim you. Santa Cruz wants to claim you.
Could you live there? Park City wants to claim you
because you brought up there. Now Arkansas wants to claim you.
Could you could train there? So which is it?
Speaker 4 (26:19):
Yeah, I mean, obviously you know, Park City is where
I grew up, so it has a special place in
my heart. But I think what's so cool about what
I do is that I I mean, like, like I said,
I'm in Girona part time of the year, and then
I'm going to this crazy place and then this, and
then I'm back in Santa Cruz. But then pretty quickly
I go off to the East Coast to do more races.
So I travel the world and I travel the really
(26:41):
cool places and they've all made me the athlete that
I am today. So home for me isn't a lot
of really special places. So I feel really lucky to
have the support of those communities as well. It's what
makes it so special.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
Well, Haley, finally here, have you paid the fine?
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Yeah, we paid the fine as fast as we could.
I do all agory about that.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
And it wasn't tie to the metal. It's not like
they say we're going to withhold your metal until we
get your money, right.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
No, No, it really like there was no way that
the race dynamic would change based on that. It's really that,
you know, I made a mistake. I shouldn't have done that,
and to make sure those rules are followed to make
the racing go. Like you know, there's a lot going on,
like what we talked about racing, there's a lot of people,
there's a lot of feeds, mechanicals. We need to make
sure those feed zones don't have people just riding through
(27:28):
them for fun or or you know, doing something that
doesn't keep the keep the racing you know, running smoothly.
So yeah, you know, I'll take the fine if that's
what we need to keep our sport you know, running well.
Speaker 5 (27:40):
And yeah, next time I won't do it. That's pretty sure.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Like, hey, how do you pay it? Electronically? Write of
a personal check?
Speaker 5 (27:50):
Usa cycling did it for me. Honestly, I just want.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
To make sure you didn't have to come out of
that money.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
And I know you're obviously there and you're you're still
cycling and so races, but do you have are you
already starting to think about twenty twenty eight?
Speaker 3 (28:04):
La?
Speaker 5 (28:05):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (28:05):
For sure?
Speaker 5 (28:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
I mean I think as athletes, the planning happens many
years in advance, and for I think just the energy
of seeing like Pauline, you know, win her own country.
I was like, okay, you can have this one, but
the night and then you know, the next one's mine.
So yeah, I mean me and my coach are like, okay,
(28:28):
like like I visualized winning this race, you know, I
wanted to be an Olympic champion, silver medal. I feel
like in a hundred ways I won that race in
my mind, you know, Like and for me, I won
the silver medal right, Like the way I race everything
like was so amazing. But I also didn't have a
great start. I flatted right, I missed.
Speaker 5 (28:46):
The feed zone.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
These are things like for me, these are all controllables
of becoming excellent. And so every you know, after every
race that I sit down and I write like, how
can I be better? And I think you know that
preparation starts, you know, when you're motivated and you care
the most, And that's like right after the Olympic Games, right,
So for sure, I'm using this to motivate me and
my preparation moving forward.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
She got to do LA. I mean, can you imagine
LA is so close to her home of Santa Cruz
and her home of Park City.
Speaker 5 (29:14):
Oh yeah, I love it.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Going for gold in twenty twenty eight.
Speaker 5 (29:17):
That's amazing, exactly right.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
That's congratulations, Haley, And thank you so much for taking
some time out of your very very busy life right
now to talk with us. Just so inspiring and we're
so proud of you. Congratulations.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
Yeah, thanks so much for the good questions. It was
good to talk through everything.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
No, thank you for the education. And you know what
I meant to say this earlier. It's cool to see
somebody as passionate about their sport as you are. You
light up when you start talking about it, not talking
about the silver metal necessarily, just talking about the sport itself.
You clearly enjoy it and the technical parts of it.
I know you noticed it earlier. She was bouncing off
(29:55):
the seat when she started talking.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
It's beautiful to see that passion.
Speaker 5 (29:59):
Oh that's nice.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
So do you guys bike or what we run? My
city bike?
Speaker 2 (30:05):
That's about I get to a bicycle. But yes, we've
we've been running. But it's I'm just I'm always in
awe of people who can do those types of endurance
things that just take every single bit of of your
energy and your effort and your mental the mental challenges
that come along with endurance types of athletics is just
(30:26):
remarkable to me.
Speaker 5 (30:27):
We know it from the running for sure.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Yeah, but we're just loud of you and thirty minutes right,
you're inspiring. I know so many, so many young folks
out there who think if she can do what, I
can do it. So thank you for sharing your story.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
Yeah, thank you, and good luck in your marathon. I
hope you got thank you. Yeah,
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Amy Robach
T.J. Holmes
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