Jenny McCauley

When did you start cycling 

I began cycling when I was still in school;  mountain biking was brand new on the scene, and my da bought a bike for himself, big heavy old gate of a thing it was too.  I wasn’t into sports, but Mountainbiking  captured my imagination – probably because it was new, exciting and ‘rad’, man.. (When most teenagers were mooning over some hunk in a soap, I remember painting a romantic sunset scene of my bike in art class! OMG what was I like!) I would buy the magazines and  hero worship the early pioneers like John Tomac, Tim Gould and downhill Missy Giove – she would say flippant things like ‘I don’t use brakes, they only slow me down’ and I would literally take it as gospel, robbing my da’s bike after school and hurtling down the descents in my local woods, nearly killing myself because I wouldn’t pull the brakes  - like playing chicken with the trees  really! I soon learnt that trees don’t get the same scars I do.   For me it was all about coming down, going up didn’t appeal, it just had to be endured.  How things change!

What is your greatest achievement to date

I think my best performance was finishing  top 5 in some of the World Cup Marathon races 2005, I’m really proud of that because they really are the hardest thing I’ve ever done, mentally and physically.  I finished 6th overall in the Marathon World Cups that year, which I was happy with .  I guess qualifying for and riding in the 2004 Olympics is up there too, personally I feel that was an achievement because I got there after only a year and a half of coming back to racing, having  stopped racing in my early 20’s (I REALLY wish I hadn’t! All you young ones – keep at it, don‘t stop or you‘ll never know how good you can be!)

What was your favourite race (and why) 

I think the best fun I’ve had in a race in a long time was the Kanturk 3-day last year, my husband rode it too, neither of us were all that fit but we had such a great weekend, and a great laugh.  I love being able to do events together, I always race better that way – in 2005 we travelled around the world in a campervan doing the marathons together and had a great time.  I think for a lot of women it’s important to have the support and encouragement of a partner, especially if they understand the demands of racing.  I can’t wait to do more stage races this year.

What was your least favourite race (and why)

I hate to say this, but.. Looking back, the race I still cringe over is the Olympics – I really felt awful that day, the worst I’ve ever felt on the bike.  It was 45 degrees that day, so hot that my sister who came to watch was vomiting – and she was in the shade!  I couldn’t seem to get any power out, I couldn’t breathe, no matter how much I drank it wasn’t enough, the dust made my throat close – it was horrible, and made worse by the fact that it was such an important race and one that I really wanted to ride well in! 

Having said that, there was a marathon race in Germany once – totally opposite conditions – freezing, wet and muddy , where I crashed real bad in the middle of it, and spent the next ten minutes riding along in a state of shock, crying like I hadn’t done since I was about 5yrs old – wailing, snot running down my face, the lot, and it was so funny to feel like that as an adult,  that at the same time I was laughing inwardly at the silliness of it!  Amazingly after about 15 mins of this I felt better and was able to race hard again!  But it was I think the worst moment in a race ever!  Well, after the one where I broke my ribs.. Ok I’ll stop now..

Where are you based for the majority of the year

At the moment I’m based in Wicklow, so if anyone fancies a spin with obligatory coffee stop, give me a shout..

What do you love about the sport

The best thing about cycling is the freedom to wander wherever you want over large distances – I love bringing my bike abroad because you just get to see so much more of wherever you’re staying, away from the usual tourist spots.  Mountainbiking increases that feeling of  freedom because you can just head up any mountain or trail and be away from it all, and the races are in the most beautiful and amazing locations in the world. 

And the atmosphere at mtb races is special – often its like a festival, the people racing are friendly and chilled out, there’s no stuffiness and everyone is open to having fun.

I just love the sensation of racing – its so totally engaging;  the nerves and adrenaline before a race, once it starts I feel so switched on, and it gives me a feeling of strength and confidence and awareness that I don’t get from anything else.  The aftermath of a race is just the best time ever, when you feel so proud  to have done something that only a tiny percentage of people ever experience, and risen to the challenge – just to get to the start line of a race is an achievement in my book, most people don’t even get that far.

I think its good to try all sorts of racing. It’s all bike riding after all, and although mountain biking is my first love and always will be, I can honestly say I love the buzz of road racing – it’s all about sizing up your opponents, calculating how much energy you have left, staying really alert, as well as just having the legs to ride well, so mentally its exciting.

Time Trialling is like mountain biking in a way, in that you have to gauge your effort to last the distance, so its more about  knowing your body really well,  and you’re riding against yourself more so than anyone else. 

What bugs you about it

The disadvantage of cycling I think is that it requires so much time away from other activities, and can be difficult to find a balance with other life demands. Also, you have to train in all weathers when you’d really rather not.  I tend to hibernate during the winter, and the season starts too damn early!

Did you ever try track racing 

I rode on the track only once and had so much fun – if we had a velodrome I’d have to consider coming out of hibernation for the winter! 

Which do you prefer downhill or cross country 

Downhilling is so specialized now that I couldn’t even consider it – it’s a totally different beast to cross country .  Irish down hillers are racing at an incredibly high level though, if there’s anyone out there interested in learning, Ireland has some of the best talent, the down hillers are a great crowd who are really helpful and it would be so cool if we had some female downhillers!

What do you like about racing in Ireland Vs overseas

The best thing about racing in Ireland is the people, the women racing are such a supportive and warm community that it’s a real pleasure to race here. There’s also a lot of road racing going on so you can get a race most weeks.  In mountain biking, the big disadvantage is that there’s so few women racing that you have to go abroad to get a large field to race against.  Hopefully that will improve in time – get on your bikes girls!

If you were given an unlimited amount of money to help Irish Women Riders – how would you spend it??

If money were no object, I would build a velodrome and hold womens league races so that even if the weather was bad we could all get together and race!  I would hold training camps in warm countries that we could all go along to in Jan and Feb when the weather is bad here.  I would have a pool of light wheels and equipment that we could borrow for the big races, so no-one would feel disadvantaged.   I would run an Irish racing team based somewhere nice in Europe where the weather is good  (this is a running theme isn’t it!) and the racing is great, to inspire more Irish women to race at the highest level, and be able to pay people enough to allow them to consider it a good career choice.   What I would love most is for more and more women to cycle, and to race too, so the experience is richer for all of us, no matter what our level.

Pedal on, girls, its all about the journey, not the destination! (..unless it’s a coffee stop, then the destination is pretty important..)

Jenny McCauley.