I often wonder who reads these when I write them, but I suppose the fact that you can stop reading whenever you want to makes me feel a bit less self orientated! if you get what I mean? anyway. I hope you are well.
I am currently sitting in my house on the floor next to big brother Dan who is in his ‘electrical bed’ which we just bought, as he has broken his neck, he needs the raising and lowering that the bed offers. It will be 2 weeks today since he crashed, and today he came home to Llangynog. I could not be happier to have him back, his crash however is a whole different story. Today was also the day that Gee left for 2 weeks to go and race the next 2 world cups in Champery and Val Di Sole.
Gee, Clay and Browny left for the airport, and I went to see my physio. It is Tuesday after all!I should probably explain why I am not going to be racing the next 2 world cups, but it feels rather strange to be saying it all again after so short a time passed since last time I had to give a similar explanation.Things seem rather clear to me at the moment, I guess that when big things happen, everything drops into a rather more grounded perspective, and so it was with a clear, if somewhat sepia head that I decided it would be in my best interests not to race.
Leogang seems like a million lifetimes ago, I feel like I have grown a lot, both forced and voluntarily, I feel that now I am in the most grown up and wise place I have ever been. I learnt a lot from my crash in Leogang, and I realise that Yes, we only have One Life, but we also only have One Body to live this life with, and the importance of health has never been more prominent in my mind. Therefore I made the decision along with the rest of the Team, that instead of putting an already unstable shoulder to the test on two of the worlds toughest tracks, I would override my heart and use my head. To spend the next few weeks building strength in my shoulders and general self is a mixed affair really, I am looking forward to carrying on my physio and gym work unhindered, and the knowledge that i am going to be giving my shoulder the best fighting chance for the World Championships is of course delightful, but it is nevertheless gutting to be missing two whole World Cups. Especially as these races are firstly at Champery, a track I have never raced or ridden and was looking forward to more than Christmas, and then Val Di Sole, a track where, in every rut and root, lies a little piece of my heart. I exaggerate not, that place means the world to me, I have nothing but pure white and gold memories from there, various European titles and then, along with Gee, our World Titles.
The decision to not even go to the races was pretty simple, I wish to be there to support Gee, but i know he is a strong lad, with an amazing Team by his side, so I have stayed put in Llangynog, where my gym is, my xc bike, my Darren, my Jamie and My physio, Doug, my cats, and my Daniel. Everything that I need to become as strong and as machine like as possible in the time slot I have been awarded.
So, to everyone racing I wish good luck, girls and boys alike, have fun! To everyone not racing, I wish good times and fun, and to EVERYONE i say, ‘It is a long life to live’.
Just wanted to let you know that we (I) do read your blogs and they make great reading! Its nice to read comments from another female who gets as much of a buzz from 2 wheels as I do, even when they manage to cause us pain! I ride XC and DH and race DH (only local stuff) an everytime I read one of your blogs it usually makes me laugh and some of your comments help me to make sure I enjoy it even when the pressure is on! It also makes a tedious afternoon at work go abit quicker every now and then!! Hope your shoulders sort themselves out soon – look forward to future blogs!
Rachel,
I do so enjoy reading your blog entries, you write just like you sound in your videos ;D In support of your mindset I will say this, you are yet a young woman with the potential for many many years of racing ahead of you. It is rather obvious that you are one of the two top women racers in the world, and I think you know that very well. Take the time you need to heal up and race well and be focused.. find your center. Again, with your youth, time is your greatest resource at hand.. dont be afraid to use it wisely. Oh, and one last thing that has me wondering… is there a custom shoulder armor that could help protect your shoulders? And if not.. why not? Cheers Rach, to you Dan and Gee!!!!
Good read as always, i think you have a great way of writing and sharing quiet abit of the struggle along to the good parts of an prof. athlete in our sport. thank you
I´ts always great to hear from you!! not that much when it´s bad news… hope you and your brother recover fast!! sending some healing vibes!!! Keep on trainning the worlds jersey is waiting for you!
Hye
you are a very nice women
go fast
Don’t worry Rachel I read your entries as they come out, wouldn’t want the best downhill rider in the world to be out for too long or miss the world champs. Get well soon we all miss you, Sean.
P.S Sorry about your result at Fort William all those weeks ago, I was there and trust me I let out the biggest groan of frustration.
Another one who reads you!
Smart girl. This post, from first to last, is pure maturity. Another step in the correct way!
Take it easy. Regardless of what Scorpions said… life is so loooong.
Nice post…hope the shoulder heals quickly…you’ll come back wiser and faster ( if faster is possible !). I certainly admire the guts you have to go all out..not many people have that ability..most have too much self preservation too be really fast.
Stay strong and take care of Affy !
You will both come back stronger.
I wish both of you a good recovery, you don’t deserves these injuries…that’s the dark side of this sport.
We send you good vibes from the office here in Andorra
Dear Rachel,
your blog helped me a lot for my decision. I went ill for 2 days with high fever (40.5 C). Just 2 days before a downhill camp with the german national downhill trainer. But now it is important to decide intelligent. The risk would be too high to join to camp. On the other side, when i am really fit i can ride and train the whole summer.
I´m 13 years old and live in Germany. I´m a great fan of you, i love your riding style.
Greetings.
Jonas
i read your posts rachel! i think you are making a very wise decision! i hope everything goes to plan and you can be opening a can of whooparse on everyone asap! goood luck!
Rach!!!!
Good call girl….bite the bullet…stay home…get well…so we can welcome you to the states at Windham in August!!!! Me and my bros are driving 10.5 hours to watch the greatest racers in the world…and of course, that means you!!!
The closest we ever get to a WC is watching it on Freecaster, or reading about it in Dirt…so we are SUPER STOKED to watch the WC racers live and in person…and it just won’t be the same without you.
Wishing you and Big Dan nothing but the best…see you in August.
dear rachel,
in racesituations as well as in life. everything happens for a reason. keep on riding. you are an inspiration, as well as your brothers and the whole team. thanks for sharing. best wishes and healing energies from dresden, east germany.
me and my girl are whatching every episode of “the atherton project”. although we aren’t professional riders – but we are living close to the german bike scene and spending every freetime in the woods on our bikes. so – a close friend is professional road and cyclocross cyclist. three or four years ago he got german champion in cyclocross. last year he got hit by a car, when he was on a training ride. he lost a whole season and his sponsor. right now he is in the us and is wearing the leader jersey in the class of the sprinters while he takes part in the superweek 2010. so – what i wanted to say is that keeping your head up, beliving in your strenght, family and friends will help you through this time. it’s important to get to know the limits of your physics, too. but as fixie riders are saying: “don’t br(e)ake for this!” Although it’s important to brake – you know for sure
Seb
your blogs are great.
keep training
you’re a champ
i send you healing vibes from greece
Rach
Well said. A big decision i imagine but the i agree with all of the above comments, its a step in the right direction for you. Hope the shoulder is back to full strength soon and i wish you and Dan a speedy recovery.
Best wishes.
Ben
Yeah, don´t worry Rach. I always read your postings first !
All the best from Hamburg, Ger.
Just
Hope you heal well and look forward to seeing you race again soon.
You and your brothers are a total inspiration, even to old timers like me who took up DH a couple of years back, after
a lot of XC…
As a wise man once said ‘Listen to your body’. Good decisions like this will mean you’ll still be pinning it 10 years from now. Best of luck with your recovery, looking forward to seeing the three of you racing soon.
Good words, Rachel. For what it’s worth, I think you’re doing the best thing. After many years of competing as a climber, surfer, and now a 50+ DH rider, I learned that keeping the body whole and strong will give you years longer to compete. All the best and have fun at the Worlds.
Rach,
I know it can’t have been easy making the decision to stay home, but in my opinion (which admittedly carries no weight at all!) it was the right decision. It’s obvious how frustrated you get when you don’t win, which is what makes you such a great rider, but you wouldn’t have been able to push yourself as hard as you wanted with this injury, which would probably have frustrated you even more.
This way you can come back at full fitness and ride Sabrina into submission! We all want to see you win the World Champs again and wish you the best of luck in doing so.
Look after Affy, get well soon yourself, and keep posting. It makes excellent reading and seeing as I’m stuck in Afghanistan for the next 5 months, this is about as close to riding as I get!
Dear Rachel,
I wish you all the best a fast recorvery to you and Dan of course, I really enjoy watching the episodes of you three and reading the blog entries. Good luck at the World Champs, I am sure you will smash it and perform well as you did before you suffered your injury.
Best regards Reinhard.
Rach,
I do read the blogs every now and again and love the insights to your Team that they give. I was fortunate to get to hang with Gee a bit after his win in Fort Bill (I was the doping chaperone following him about!) and it was great to see how you guys are after such a good weekend.
Best of luck for the physio, sensible choice in the end, and hope it pays off in the Worlds. Best wishes to Dan for a speedy recovery as well.
Wise words rachel all the best for you and your family, and here’s to watching many more hours of you and your brothers showing us amateurs how its really done!!!!
Hi Rachel,
Even one month later some people, me and my kids, still read your message. Although ofcourse we will miss you during the cups, we feel it is a wise decision you made. For you and Dan.Our reaction is a bit late but we went on holidays, not in touch with the world, of course riding, leogang, Livigno, chatel. We saw you not coming through to the finish last race and were wondering what happened. We very much hope that you and Dan recover well and we will eagerly watch your website for any good news.
Stay well and love and streght also for Dan
Marcel and the kids
Rachel, Many thanks for coming up to Washington this summer, it was a great surprise to be able to watch you guys racing in Port Angeles PRO GRT. Keep up the awesome riding, health, and best wishes to you and your amazing inspiring family. Best wishes to Dan as he recovers!
Heya reachel, im lauren and im 14 ive only just read your blog and its pretty cool i think you shoud write another its been a while just so you can update people for 2011
good luck all the way and keep going 
i love you rachel. marry me please
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