Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 307. Braving Anxiety: Olympian Nikita Ducarroz On Tackling Hurdles Head-On, Cultivating Community Around Struggle & Going For BMX Gold

Transcript

307. Braving Anxiety: Olympian Nikita Ducarroz On Tackling Hurdles Head-On, Cultivating Community Around Struggle & Going For BMX Gold · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: You get up and you try it again, and it's
0:02
Speaker 1: taught me to like transfer that into life as well.
0:05
Speaker 1: You know, you'll be there for like three hours trying
0:07
Speaker 1: to think over and over and over again, but get
0:10
Speaker 1: that reward at the end. You get that feeling of
0:12
Speaker 1: like accomplishment and not giving up, and it's such a
0:16
Speaker 1: good feeling.
0:32
Speaker 2: What's going on, everyone, Emily Abadi Here, You are listening
0:35
Speaker 2: to episode three hundred and seven of Hurdle, a wellness
0:39
Speaker 2: focused podcast where I talk to inspirational people about everything
0:42
Speaker 2: from their highest ties and toughest moments to essential tips
0:46
Speaker 2: on how to live a healthier, happier, more motivated life.
0:50
Speaker 2: We all go through our fair share of hurdles. My
0:53
Speaker 2: goal through these discussions is to empower you to better
0:56
Speaker 2: navigate yours and move with intention so that you can
0:59
Speaker 2: stride your own big potential and of.
1:02
Speaker 3: Course have some fun along the way.
1:05
Speaker 2: For today's episode, I am chatting with Nikita Dukero. She
1:10
Speaker 2: is an Olympic BMX writer and she's going to be
1:14
Speaker 2: making her second ever Games appearance this summer in Paris.
1:20
Speaker 2: I was so excited to have the opportunity to chat
1:23
Speaker 2: with Nikita because she is.
1:25
Speaker 3: My first BMX writer on the podcast.
1:28
Speaker 2: For today's conversation, we really dial in on Nikita's experience
1:34
Speaker 2: with anxiety. She talks to me about dealing with severe
1:39
Speaker 2: anxiety attacks starting at around age thirteen, which led her
1:43
Speaker 2: to isolation within her own home. She talks about how
1:48
Speaker 2: finding BMX was actually a major gateway for her, something
1:53
Speaker 2: that allowed her to learn how to navigate her feelings,
1:57
Speaker 2: to manage her anxiety, and to get outside and try
2:00
Speaker 2: something new. It wasn't long after finding VMX that she
2:05
Speaker 2: started to really excel, first on the local level, then
2:08
Speaker 2: on the national level, and finally on the world stage
2:12
Speaker 2: with some of the world's best VMX writers. Nikita talks
2:17
Speaker 2: to me about how she manages her anxiety, which still
2:20
Speaker 2: impacts her to this day, how she shows up for
2:23
Speaker 2: herself when so much feels beyond her own control, and
2:26
Speaker 2: the differences between anxiety and fear, something that is extremely
2:31
Speaker 2: prevalent when you're doing all of the tricks that she
2:35
Speaker 2: musters the courage to tackle on the regular. We also
2:38
Speaker 2: talk about what it was like for her to get
2:40
Speaker 2: signed by Red Bull, what their support means to her,
2:44
Speaker 2: and she shares a little bit about mind Tricks, the
2:47
Speaker 2: platform that she started on Instagram that shares stories and
2:50
Speaker 2: conversations about mental health from members of the actions.
2:54
Speaker 3: For its community, really really worthwhile.
2:58
Speaker 2: Follow over on Instagram that is mind tricks and the
3:01
Speaker 2: first I is a number one, so M one and
3:05
Speaker 2: d tricks. Of course, we want you to follow Hurdle
3:09
Speaker 2: as well. Follow the show over on social It's over
3:11
Speaker 2: at myrtle podcast. I am over at Emily a Body
3:14
Speaker 2: And if you have yet to subscribe to the Weekly Hurdle.
3:18
Speaker 3: Get in on that.
3:19
Speaker 2: You get so much of the same stuff you love
3:21
Speaker 2: from the show directly in your inbox every single Friday.
3:24
Speaker 2: The link to do that is in the show notes.
3:28
Speaker 2: With that, let's get to it. Let's get to hurdling.
3:39
Speaker 3: Today.
3:40
Speaker 2: I am sitting down with Nikita Ducuro. She is a
3:43
Speaker 2: BMX racer. She's heading to her second Olympic Games in Paris.
3:47
Speaker 2: How are we feeling today?
3:49
Speaker 1: Feeling great, super excited, super happy to be here.
3:52
Speaker 3: I'm happy to have you.
3:54
Speaker 2: You know, you're my first VMX racer on the show,
3:57
Speaker 2: which is exciting for me because though it's always such
4:02
Speaker 2: an awesome opportunity to not only learn more about other
4:06
Speaker 2: sports as someone who doesn't personally ride BMX, but then
4:10
Speaker 2: also just spread some awareness about what's going on for
4:14
Speaker 2: you when you're in the saddle.
4:15
Speaker 3: So thanks for making the time to hang out with
4:18
Speaker 3: me today.
4:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course, no problem.
4:21
Speaker 2: Now your story is super interesting to meet, Nikita, and
4:24
Speaker 2: that you got into VMX as a tool to cope
4:28
Speaker 2: with anxiety. I'd love it if you could talk to
4:32
Speaker 2: us first and foremost about how your anxiety is treating
4:36
Speaker 2: you these days. You've got a big competition on deck,
4:39
Speaker 2: and it's not the first and certainly not the last.
4:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's it kind of presents itself in
4:46
Speaker 1: different ways all the time, and as the years have
4:49
Speaker 1: gone by, you know, it's gone away, come back, turned
4:52
Speaker 1: into different things, you know. Now, definitely a feeling that
4:55
Speaker 1: like pre Olympic stress of just we're so close, almost there,
5:00
Speaker 1: and all those kind of like final preparations are underway.
5:05
Speaker 1: So yeah, these days, I think it's just like a
5:09
Speaker 1: lot of constant learning how to deal with whatever kind
5:17
Speaker 1: of comes up and just make it work and try
5:22
Speaker 1: to make things go as smoothly as possible.
5:24
Speaker 2: How does it present for you, because I certainly and
5:28
Speaker 2: I'm sure many people listening to this have dealt with
5:31
Speaker 2: anxiety at one point I went on medication for my anxiety,
5:35
Speaker 2: and I know that despite it being something that so
5:39
Speaker 2: many different people experience, it can really impact us each
5:43
Speaker 2: in truly different ways.
5:45
Speaker 1: Yeah for sure. Yeah for me, you know, it's usually
5:49
Speaker 1: a lot of like kind of physical anxiety symptoms, like
5:53
Speaker 1: the pounding heart and the trembling and the feeling like
5:58
Speaker 1: it's hard to breathe and stuff. You know, it can
6:01
Speaker 1: it can be kind of like a lower frequency where
6:05
Speaker 1: it kind of is just there in the background constantly
6:09
Speaker 1: on some days or some weeks, or it could be
6:12
Speaker 1: more of like a really sudden onset, like more like
6:16
Speaker 1: anxiety attack, just kind of depending. You know, there's there's
6:21
Speaker 1: not really a rhyme or reason to it. It just
6:24
Speaker 1: kind of happens. But yeah, that's that's mostly how it
6:27
Speaker 1: presents a lot of like overthinking, having a million thoughts
6:32
Speaker 1: going at once, and feeling like you can't calm it down,
6:36
Speaker 1: you can't really like rain everything in.
6:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, and understandably, that's got to be pretty frustrating. This
6:44
Speaker 2: is something that you've dealt with from a young age,
6:48
Speaker 2: So these days, how do you navigate when these moments
6:54
Speaker 2: feel beyond your control?
6:57
Speaker 1: I mean, I think The biggest thing I've kind and
7:00
Speaker 1: I've learned is like to find the tools and the
7:06
Speaker 1: ways to like help these things before it happens, so
7:10
Speaker 1: that when it does get to that point, you know
7:12
Speaker 1: I'm set up. Whether that's you know, if I am
7:16
Speaker 1: by myself going into that bag of tools and pulling
7:20
Speaker 1: them out to use, or you know, reaching out to
7:23
Speaker 1: a support system that I've already set up that I
7:26
Speaker 1: know will be there. I think that's really important just
7:29
Speaker 1: because you know obviously yet in the moment, you don't
7:33
Speaker 1: feel like you have the control. You're not in any
7:35
Speaker 1: state to be like, Okay, let's see, let me let
7:38
Speaker 1: me stop and think about this and think about what
7:40
Speaker 1: I need to do, Like there's there's none of that happening.
7:42
Speaker 1: So making sure that I've set up all these different
7:46
Speaker 1: things ahead of time, whether it's breathing techniques, talking to
7:50
Speaker 1: a specific person, like calling someone, whatever it is, because
7:53
Speaker 1: it can be different for everyone. Having that ready to go.
7:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd be curious to know if you have experienced
8:03
Speaker 2: something like this that felt beyond your control in the
8:07
Speaker 2: heat of competition.
8:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, I definitely have. I mean, like these days, it
8:14
Speaker 1: I do feel like right before the competition I would
8:17
Speaker 1: say the majority of the time, I start to panic
8:20
Speaker 1: like a lot to the point where I'm like, I
8:22
Speaker 1: can't do this, I need to go home, Like there's
8:25
Speaker 1: absolutely no way I'm about to I'm going to be
8:27
Speaker 1: able to go up there and drop in right now.
8:30
Speaker 1: And I've also had like maybe like once or twice
8:33
Speaker 1: at a competition where it was like so crazy that
8:36
Speaker 1: I was just like fully like melt down whatever. But yeah,
8:41
Speaker 1: at that point, it's the same thing. It's like I
8:43
Speaker 1: have my coach there and he kind of can see
8:47
Speaker 1: when I'm starting to go in that direction, and so
8:51
Speaker 1: he'll be able to kind of, you know, it can't
8:54
Speaker 1: necessarily like snap me out of it, but just kind
8:56
Speaker 1: of offer support however you can and bit manageable. And
9:01
Speaker 1: a lot of the times it is just in that
9:03
Speaker 1: like beforehand, like waiting, yeah, waiting time, and then once
9:08
Speaker 1: once it's go time, it's fine. It's just like those
9:11
Speaker 1: like moments leading up to it where you're kind of
9:12
Speaker 1: just sitting and you're not allowed to go yet and
9:16
Speaker 1: there's nothing you could do. You just have to wait.
9:19
Speaker 2: And that waiting, understandably so triggers this nervousness about the unknown,
9:25
Speaker 2: about what's supposed to happen. Forget if you're dropping in
9:29
Speaker 2: on a bicycle, right, Like, we experience these feelings, and
9:33
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't want to generalize, but so many
9:35
Speaker 2: of us experience these feelings regularly, and it's like to
9:39
Speaker 2: walk out of our front door and do who knows what. Nevertheless, again,
9:43
Speaker 2: compete at this level. So that's why it's so interesting
9:45
Speaker 2: for me to hear about the fact that you do, too,
9:49
Speaker 2: navigate these feelings and are still able to compete at
9:54
Speaker 2: such a high level.
9:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean sometimes it's crazy, Like definitely, there's been
9:59
Speaker 1: a couple competitions were at the end of it, you know,
10:01
Speaker 1: just like looked at my team or like, how did
10:03
Speaker 1: we just pull that off? But I think, yeah, I
10:06
Speaker 1: think it's really just been a matter of all the
10:11
Speaker 1: work we put in like beforehand, behind the scenes, so
10:15
Speaker 1: that when it does get to those moments, it's almost
10:18
Speaker 1: just like automatic as far as like attacking the panic
10:25
Speaker 1: or whatever, like not necessarily getting rid of it, like
10:28
Speaker 1: that's not necessarily always possible, but just managing it.
10:32
Speaker 3: Yeah.
10:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, something that has worked for me, and I'd be
10:36
Speaker 2: curious to know if you've leaned into this at all.
10:38
Speaker 2: Is when things feel beyond my control and when I'm
10:41
Speaker 2: feeling really anxious, especially before going and speaking in front
10:46
Speaker 2: of large groups of people, I lean into a tool
10:49
Speaker 2: that I call I AM statements, where I can stand
10:52
Speaker 2: there and either write down or verbalize or talk to
10:56
Speaker 2: someone else about the things I know to be true,
10:59
Speaker 2: like the things that are entirely within my wheelhouse, so
11:01
Speaker 2: that when I stand there and say them and hear them,
11:05
Speaker 2: or stand there and look at this piece of paper
11:08
Speaker 2: in front of me and read the statements, it's like, oh, well,
11:11
Speaker 2: this makes all of those thoughts that I was having
11:14
Speaker 2: a little less scary now knowing what I know to
11:17
Speaker 2: be true.
11:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, I think that works for sure. Like
11:20
Speaker 1: I've I've done similar stuff, and like even when I'm
11:24
Speaker 1: riding my bike, this is more like in a training
11:26
Speaker 1: setting if I know I want to try either new
11:30
Speaker 1: or just a scary trick and I'm having trouble getting
11:33
Speaker 1: over like the mental barrier of trying it. I've done
11:37
Speaker 1: that where even like in the middle of writing, like
11:40
Speaker 1: as I'm making my way to whatever ramp I'm going
11:43
Speaker 1: to do the trick on, I am telling myself these
11:45
Speaker 1: things like I know how to do it. Sometimes I've
11:49
Speaker 1: done it before, like just just kind of like those
11:51
Speaker 1: keywords because I am having all those like thoughts like
11:57
Speaker 1: going and going in my head of the negative thoughts,
12:00
Speaker 1: and so I found that by like saying them out loud,
12:02
Speaker 1: the positive ones, it's kind of like just a little
12:04
Speaker 1: louder than the little louder, and that it kind of yeah,
12:09
Speaker 1: like distracts me from those negative ones and then keeps
12:12
Speaker 1: me like focused in the moment and on what I
12:16
Speaker 1: know I can do. And that that's really helped a lot.
12:19
Speaker 2: I love that, And I think that there are two
12:22
Speaker 2: types of people, right There are people that can say
12:25
Speaker 2: positive things that are rooted in fact and find that
12:28
Speaker 2: those things really help them, and then there are also
12:31
Speaker 2: people that like to stretch the truth a bit and
12:35
Speaker 2: say positive things that might be a little bit more
12:38
Speaker 2: in the affirmation category. I know for me that saying
12:43
Speaker 2: things that are rooted in truth help me that can
12:45
Speaker 2: be positive, But thinking like a little too big at
12:49
Speaker 2: times just really makes me feel a little intimidated and
12:53
Speaker 2: sometimes a little bit even more overwhelmed.
12:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, definitely, I think too. I'm just so like
12:59
Speaker 1: I'm like so literal. I want it to be true.
13:02
Speaker 1: I want to if I'm saying something, I'm like, well
13:05
Speaker 1: can I can I do that? Like, I'll start to
13:08
Speaker 1: think that way, So I just make sure that I'm
13:11
Speaker 1: just like affirming what I know I can do.
13:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, no, I totally hear that.
13:18
Speaker 2: And I want to talk a little bit more about
13:20
Speaker 2: how you put fear to the side, because I know
13:23
Speaker 2: that anxiety and fear are very different, and you participate
13:27
Speaker 2: in a sport that has a lot of.
13:29
Speaker 3: Scary things involved.
13:31
Speaker 2: We'll get there in a second, but what I'd like
13:33
Speaker 2: to do is, because I did hint at the fact
13:35
Speaker 2: that you got into BMX as a tool to cope
13:38
Speaker 2: with your anxiety from a young age, if you could
13:40
Speaker 2: just talk us through a little bit about what it
13:43
Speaker 2: felt like for you the first few times you got
13:46
Speaker 2: on the bike, and for context, give us some numbers here.
13:49
Speaker 2: How old were you when you first did that?
13:51
Speaker 1: So I was fourteen when I first discovered BMX. At
13:56
Speaker 1: the time, I was staying with my grandma because my
13:59
Speaker 1: whole family had gone back to Switzerland as they did
14:01
Speaker 1: in the summertimes. And at this point I was no
14:04
Speaker 1: longer flying. I wouldn't get on an airplane, I wouldn't
14:07
Speaker 1: pretty much wouldn't like leave the house at that point.
14:11
Speaker 1: So I kind of found BMX through YouTube videos and
14:17
Speaker 1: thought to myself, well, I can do some of this
14:19
Speaker 1: stuff like at flat ground just in front of the house.
14:21
Speaker 1: I don't need a skate park yet. And I just
14:24
Speaker 1: remember being really excited to have something that I could
14:28
Speaker 1: look forward to, that I could do that I wasn't
14:30
Speaker 1: depending on anybody. I didn't have to schedule an appointment
14:33
Speaker 1: with anybody to do it. I could just go outside,
14:36
Speaker 1: be on my own, discover this new thing, like figure
14:40
Speaker 1: it out by myself. And yeah, I mean from the
14:45
Speaker 1: very first moment I was hooked.
14:48
Speaker 3: Yeah.
14:49
Speaker 2: I giggle a little bit listening to that, right, because
14:52
Speaker 2: I think, fourteen years old, what were the quote unquote
14:56
Speaker 2: new exciting things that I was interested in doing. I
14:59
Speaker 2: was like trying to learn like choreography from a in
15:04
Speaker 2: Sync music video, or do like lanyard bracelets or something,
15:08
Speaker 2: and you at fourteen, you're like, you know what I
15:10
Speaker 2: want to do?
15:11
Speaker 3: Get on this bicycle and try to do some weird things.
15:15
Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty much.
15:16
Speaker 3: What was it about BMX at the time.
15:18
Speaker 2: I love that you highlighted that it was something that
15:21
Speaker 2: you could do on your own and it was something
15:23
Speaker 2: that you felt challenged by. But so many things fall
15:27
Speaker 2: into that category, right, So yeah, was it about BMX
15:30
Speaker 2: that was the thing that you thought, Yeah, this one,
15:32
Speaker 2: this is for me.
15:34
Speaker 1: I don't know, like I don't know why I was
15:37
Speaker 1: like so drawn to it. Like I was always like
15:40
Speaker 1: a pretty like rough and tumble kid. I was a
15:43
Speaker 1: total tomboy, Like I just really like doing all those
15:47
Speaker 1: kind of like dirty sports and stuff. And I know
15:52
Speaker 1: I always liked bike because I always loved riding my
15:54
Speaker 1: bike and I would always be jumping off of anything
15:57
Speaker 1: I could find before I knew like that BMX was
16:01
Speaker 1: a thing, and so I think I just saw it
16:04
Speaker 1: as like an extension of that. I was like, oh,
16:06
Speaker 1: I can keep riding my bike, but there's actually like
16:09
Speaker 1: a sport attached to it. Maybe just because like I'm
16:13
Speaker 1: absolutely terrible on a skateboard, so it was like the
16:15
Speaker 1: closest thing. I was like, I can still go to
16:17
Speaker 1: the skate park. I don't have to get on a skateboard.
16:19
Speaker 1: I could do it on the bike. It kind of
16:21
Speaker 1: just like happened.
16:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, it just happened, But it obviously happened for you
16:26
Speaker 2: when you started. Now there really weren't many opportunities for
16:30
Speaker 2: young women or women in general on the BMX bike.
16:34
Speaker 2: And now, as I said at the top of this,
16:36
Speaker 2: you're heading to Paris to compete in BMX and the Olympics.
16:39
Speaker 2: What has it been like for you to be one
16:42
Speaker 2: of the women at the forefront as BMX gains more
16:46
Speaker 2: and more attraction.
16:47
Speaker 1: It's been pretty cool. Like like you said, when I started,
16:51
Speaker 1: you know, I could count on one hand how many
16:53
Speaker 1: like professional female riders there were, and at you know
16:58
Speaker 1: that they weren't even like making a living anything, and
17:00
Speaker 1: there was no competition. So to kind of be in
17:03
Speaker 1: that first wave of getting competitions and then having World Cups,
17:09
Speaker 1: getting the announcement that our sport would be in the Olympics,
17:12
Speaker 1: I feel like I've been able to go through all
17:15
Speaker 1: these different phases of the sport and now like right
17:19
Speaker 1: now I'm at X Games for the first first time
17:21
Speaker 1: that the women will be in X Games, and it's
17:24
Speaker 1: just it's so cool. It's so so much fun. Like
17:27
Speaker 1: we're such a tight group because I think we kind
17:30
Speaker 1: of just we've done this together. Like now we're you know,
17:35
Speaker 1: we're competing for our individual countries. At the end of
17:37
Speaker 1: the day, Like we all a lot of us have
17:40
Speaker 1: known each other since the very beginning, and we've got
17:43
Speaker 1: to witness how much our sport has grown together. So
17:47
Speaker 1: it's been really special.
17:49
Speaker 2: When did you realize that, as an endurance athlete, you
17:54
Speaker 2: weren't the only person in this community that you speak
17:58
Speaker 2: so highly of that was dealing with some of the
18:02
Speaker 2: anxiety that manifests for you regularly.
18:06
Speaker 1: I think, I mean as soon as I started being
18:09
Speaker 1: more open about it, like, and I was from a
18:12
Speaker 1: pretty young age, Like I did a my eighth grade project,
18:16
Speaker 1: I spoke about it. We had to like write an
18:20
Speaker 1: essay and then basically recite the essay like like a
18:24
Speaker 1: video out of it, And so I did that and
18:27
Speaker 1: I kind of and I talked about my anxiety, but
18:29
Speaker 1: it was also like about BMX and kind of how
18:31
Speaker 1: they tied together. And that was my first time being
18:34
Speaker 1: like kind of openly speaking about it, and you know,
18:37
Speaker 1: so many people around me and other writers kind of
18:42
Speaker 1: came up to me and were like, I deal with
18:45
Speaker 1: this too, And it was just kind of eye opening
18:47
Speaker 1: because it is something that like nobody, especially then nobody
18:51
Speaker 1: talked about and it's like, what is happening, Like this
18:54
Speaker 1: is not normal. Nobody else deals with this, nobody understands.
18:58
Speaker 1: So yeah, it was cool and just to see that
19:02
Speaker 1: it was more common, and like now it's like, you know,
19:05
Speaker 1: even more open and talked about and stuff. And I've
19:10
Speaker 1: only really had good things like both for myself. It
19:13
Speaker 1: just I feel like when I don't feel like I
19:16
Speaker 1: have to hide it, it kind of takes a weight off.
19:18
Speaker 1: It takes off like some pressure. And then also just yeah,
19:23
Speaker 1: being able to see that it could potentially help somebody
19:27
Speaker 1: else who hasn't gotten to that point of talking about
19:30
Speaker 1: it yet, if they can see that other people are
19:33
Speaker 1: and they're like, oh, okay this, maybe I can.
19:35
Speaker 3: Too, Maybe I can too. It's interesting.
19:38
Speaker 2: It makes me reflect on when I decided that I
19:42
Speaker 2: needed to go on medication for anxiety, which I've since
19:45
Speaker 2: come up off of as simply for reasons that it
19:48
Speaker 2: just worked for me at the time. With that said,
19:50
Speaker 2: I remember feeling as though I wanted to talk about it,
19:54
Speaker 2: that I wanted to share what I was going through,
19:56
Speaker 2: that it felt weird that it was a piece of
19:58
Speaker 2: myself that I was leaving out in conversations with my
20:02
Speaker 2: community or with people that I cared about. And someone
20:05
Speaker 2: at the time asked me if I thought that that
20:08
Speaker 2: was a good business decision in that me talking about
20:13
Speaker 2: my anxiety might be something of concern for someone that
20:19
Speaker 2: I could or maybe already had an existing relationship with
20:23
Speaker 2: do work for work wise, et cetera. And I remember
20:26
Speaker 2: being so taken aback because it was something that was
20:32
Speaker 2: a part of me, like this is who I am,
20:35
Speaker 2: right And while I understand that maybe you don't want
20:38
Speaker 2: to tell your entire life every little detail on the internet,
20:42
Speaker 2: when I think about the individuals that I come into
20:44
Speaker 2: contact with regularly and the fact that I'm working hard
20:48
Speaker 2: to help others live healthier and happier motivated lives, I'm like, well,
20:52
Speaker 2: like this is a part of what helps me to
20:54
Speaker 2: do that, and so I guess it's time to talk
20:57
Speaker 2: about it.
20:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, Like there is definitely still kind of
21:01
Speaker 1: that that feeling around it, I feel like for probably anybody,
21:06
Speaker 1: especially when if you're like an athlete or whatever, like
21:10
Speaker 1: you know, I remember at the beginning, I was I
21:13
Speaker 1: was scared at some point like could this ruin like
21:17
Speaker 1: sponsorships and stuff like that, And at the end of
21:21
Speaker 1: the day, it's like all my sponsors that I work
21:23
Speaker 1: with have always just been so supportive and stuff, and
21:25
Speaker 1: I feel like, like you said, it's a part of me.
21:28
Speaker 1: It's a part of who I am. And so if
21:32
Speaker 1: it's a problem I think for somebody or something, then
21:36
Speaker 1: they're not it's not a good fit anyways, because at
21:40
Speaker 1: that point it's like you're not aligning with what they believe.
21:43
Speaker 3: Anyways, right exactly.
21:46
Speaker 2: So for you, then in your come up within BMX,
21:52
Speaker 2: talk to me a little bit about when you realize
21:55
Speaker 2: that not only were you one of the few in
21:59
Speaker 2: terms of one on bikes, but you were actually really
22:02
Speaker 2: good at it, not just because you were one of
22:04
Speaker 2: the few women on bikes.
22:07
Speaker 1: Everything kind of just happened so naturally, I guess, just
22:11
Speaker 1: because like you said, I was in that like first
22:13
Speaker 1: wave of getting the competitions, and I just knew that
22:17
Speaker 1: I really wanted to do it and I really liked competing.
22:20
Speaker 1: Like I started just with like a local competition and
22:23
Speaker 1: then I wanted to go, you know a little further
22:25
Speaker 1: to southern California for a competition and then you know,
22:28
Speaker 1: get on a plane. So I was kind of driven
22:30
Speaker 1: by that, by like the competing, because I got to
22:32
Speaker 1: see new places, riding new skate parks, meet all these
22:35
Speaker 1: other riders from all over, and little by little I
22:40
Speaker 1: started to see like, Okay, I'm okay at this, Like,
22:44
Speaker 1: you know, I've been getting on a couple of podiums
22:45
Speaker 1: here and there. The sports growing eventually went to like
22:49
Speaker 1: an international competition. Yeah, at that point, like I never
22:53
Speaker 1: I never really had this like feeling of like, oh
22:58
Speaker 1: I'm the best. It was more of just like I
23:00
Speaker 1: can hang with this crew, and I really enjoy doing this,
23:03
Speaker 1: and I want to just keep trying it and seeing
23:06
Speaker 1: where it goes.
23:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, focused on enough feeling like it felt good, so
23:10
Speaker 2: you thought why not keep on going?
23:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
23:14
Speaker 2: Now, at the beginning of this journey, before you had
23:18
Speaker 2: sponsors like red Bull, how were you funding getting around
23:23
Speaker 2: and going to these competitions at.
23:25
Speaker 1: The very beginning. Like know, when I was younger, I
23:28
Speaker 1: was lucky that my parents were super supportive of it
23:31
Speaker 1: and stuff, and they would drive me to these competitions
23:35
Speaker 1: like within California, you know, we'd take road trips and stuff.
23:39
Speaker 1: And then once I was a little bit older, I
23:42
Speaker 1: was going to school completely online, and so I was
23:46
Speaker 1: able to work a little bit with my aunt and
23:49
Speaker 1: just kind of make some money to be able to
23:50
Speaker 1: get like plane tickets and stuff. I was still living
23:52
Speaker 1: with my parents, so I didn't have any like home
23:55
Speaker 1: fees or anything like that. But then once it started
24:00
Speaker 1: to pick up to the point of like actually being
24:04
Speaker 1: like needing to travel more and stuff, I was lucky
24:06
Speaker 1: to be one of like the earlier women that got
24:10
Speaker 1: some like a bike sponsor and stuff, and I was
24:13
Speaker 1: able to get like travel budget, so I was able
24:16
Speaker 1: to fund that little by little. And then obviously, you know,
24:18
Speaker 1: Red Bull came into the picture. Insane support all over
24:22
Speaker 1: just you know, they really care about like the whole athletes.
24:26
Speaker 2: And do you remember how it felt to get that
24:29
Speaker 2: first sponsorship. Is that when it really started to feel
24:32
Speaker 2: real for you.
24:33
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think when the sponsor started coming in that
24:36
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, this is I'm doing this. It's real.
24:40
Speaker 1: And you know, especially with Red Bull, that was like
24:43
Speaker 1: that's like the dream sponsor, getting that helmet and everything.
24:46
Speaker 1: So when that came in, you know, right before the Olympics,
24:51
Speaker 1: it was just I mean it was just a dream.
24:54
Speaker 1: And having you know, a sponsor that doesn't just they
24:59
Speaker 1: don't just give you a page. They really care about
25:01
Speaker 1: you as an athlete, like whether it's funding training video projects,
25:08
Speaker 1: all of that or the support we get, like the
25:10
Speaker 1: Athletic Performance Center. There's one in Austria, there's one in
25:13
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, so kind of both ends and you can
25:16
Speaker 1: you know, if you get hurt, they're still there to
25:19
Speaker 1: you know, take care of that, rehab you everything. They
25:22
Speaker 1: have all the training tools, all the best training tools, rehab,
25:26
Speaker 1: performance everything. So to have that type of support, especially
25:31
Speaker 1: in a sport like ours where you know, before the
25:33
Speaker 1: Olympics and everything, we didn't belong to teams or anything
25:37
Speaker 1: like that, so it was very uncommon for us to
25:40
Speaker 1: have that kind of athletic support and like high performance
25:44
Speaker 1: and everything.
25:45
Speaker 2: And yeah, taking a break from today's episode to talk
25:52
Speaker 2: to you about my sponsor at Element.
25:55
Speaker 3: Element helps anyone.
25:56
Speaker 2: Stay hydrated without the sugar and other dodgy ingredients in
26:00
Speaker 2: popular electrolyte and sports drings. Candidly, I love it for
26:04
Speaker 2: when I'm getting out there, when i'm active, when I'm
26:06
Speaker 2: on the run, when I'm on my shiny new.
26:08
Speaker 3: Bike, it is my go to.
26:10
Speaker 2: But really when it's hot out there, especially in the
26:13
Speaker 2: summer months, I look forward to drinking my Element every
26:17
Speaker 2: single day. I know you want to know the why
26:20
Speaker 2: why is it important. Well, Electrolytes are absolutely critical to
26:24
Speaker 2: help your body perform the way that it's supposed to.
26:28
Speaker 2: A deficiency or in balance, it can cause headaches, cramps, fatigue,
26:32
Speaker 2: brain fog, and weakness, and we don't.
26:34
Speaker 3: Have time for that.
26:36
Speaker 2: My go to flavor is their watermelon salt, but they've
26:39
Speaker 2: got so many goodies from citrus and orange to raspberry,
26:43
Speaker 2: and if you just want to go on flavored or
26:45
Speaker 2: maybe even chocolate, those are options too. And the best part,
26:49
Speaker 2: I know you're gonna love it, but if you don't,
26:51
Speaker 2: Element is totally risk free, which means that if you
26:54
Speaker 2: don't like it, they'll refund your order.
26:57
Speaker 3: No questions asked.
26:59
Speaker 2: Head on over to drink Element dot com slash hurdle
27:03
Speaker 2: to get your free sample pack today with any Element
27:07
Speaker 2: purchase that includes their new Element Sparkling, which truly if
27:12
Speaker 2: we want to talk about something that I cannot get
27:14
Speaker 2: enough of, yeah, that that's definitely it. Anyway again, head
27:19
Speaker 2: on over to get your free sample pack with any
27:22
Speaker 2: Element purchase at drink Element dot com. That's drink l
27:26
Speaker 2: m nt dot com slash hurdle. Talk to me a
27:36
Speaker 2: little bit about what the training is like for your sport,
27:40
Speaker 2: because I'm sure there are many people listening to this
27:43
Speaker 2: that have absolutely no concept of what goes into it.
27:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's pretty it's pretty funny because like there there's
27:51
Speaker 1: still is not really like a set way of doing
27:55
Speaker 1: things for BMX freestyle, Like there's no program that's been
28:01
Speaker 1: figured out to be the best, and everyone has very
28:03
Speaker 1: different ways of doing things. For me, you know, I
28:06
Speaker 1: think at the at the very top of it, fike
28:09
Speaker 1: time is always the most important, Like the more time
28:11
Speaker 1: you spend actually riding your bike, the better you will be.
28:16
Speaker 1: And then it's just a matter of like longevity, staying
28:20
Speaker 1: healthy and stuff, and so getting into the gym and
28:23
Speaker 1: you know, doing strength programs, mobility, injury prevention, just that
28:30
Speaker 1: type of stuff, like staying healthy overall. That's kind of
28:34
Speaker 1: my goal, you know, making sure that I can get
28:40
Speaker 1: through like a sixty second run and have the energy
28:43
Speaker 1: to do all my tricks, because not only are we
28:45
Speaker 1: kind of we're basically sprinting for sixty seconds, but we're
28:49
Speaker 1: also flinging this piece of metal around at the same time.
28:53
Speaker 2: For those that don't really have an understanding of how
28:57
Speaker 2: one competes in bmax, can you shuttle the litle bit
29:00
Speaker 2: of light on that.
29:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, So basically, we have a skate park, just imagine
29:04
Speaker 1: like a really big skate park, and we have sixty
29:09
Speaker 1: seconds to get around the whole park in any way
29:11
Speaker 1: we choose. There's no set direction or path or anything.
29:16
Speaker 1: Each rider can create their individual line, they can choose
29:20
Speaker 1: whatever tricks they want to do, so everyone has like
29:22
Speaker 1: a very different style and you just have sixty seconds
29:26
Speaker 1: to do as many tricks as you can make it
29:28
Speaker 1: look as good as possible and not crash, and then
29:32
Speaker 1: you get scored on that. Again, you know, it's a
29:35
Speaker 1: judge sport, so there's no set points or anything for
29:39
Speaker 1: specific tricks. It's really just up to the judges at
29:41
Speaker 1: that competition pretty exciting.
29:44
Speaker 2: And does the fact that it is no set scoring
29:49
Speaker 2: system so to speak, does that make competing feel a
29:54
Speaker 2: little bit more uncertain when you go into something like
29:58
Speaker 2: the Olympics and you don't I don't know how many
30:01
Speaker 2: points the same trick is going to get you there
30:04
Speaker 2: compared to what you may have gotten another time.
30:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely, there's always that bit of uncertainty because it
30:11
Speaker 1: can just depend on who the judges are, how they're
30:15
Speaker 1: feeling that day. Like you never really know. But at
30:17
Speaker 1: the same time, like, I think it's still better than
30:20
Speaker 1: like if our sport became about set points for set tricks,
30:24
Speaker 1: because it would take out so much creativity and so yeah,
30:28
Speaker 1: you kind of, you know, there's pros and cons for sure,
30:31
Speaker 1: but I think just kind of embracing that, knowing that
30:36
Speaker 1: it is kind of you never quite know what's going
30:40
Speaker 1: to happen, and just focusing on like doing your best,
30:44
Speaker 1: really leaning into your own style so that you stand
30:48
Speaker 1: out from the other writers the end of the day,
30:50
Speaker 1: it's like anyone could could have a good day.
30:55
Speaker 3: Anyone can have a good day.
30:56
Speaker 2: And this kind of brings us back to that conversation
30:59
Speaker 2: around anxiety, right, because all you can do is show
31:02
Speaker 2: up on any given day and give it your best,
31:05
Speaker 2: and some days your best is going to look entirely
31:08
Speaker 2: different than it did another or it will in three
31:11
Speaker 2: days from now, and that's fine, right. It requires a
31:15
Speaker 2: certain amount of grace and also is an important example
31:20
Speaker 2: of why it's good to know yourself for sure.
31:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot of grace, you know. That's that's something
31:27
Speaker 1: that I've you know, really had to work on to
31:29
Speaker 1: is just not beating myself up, because, like you said, like,
31:33
Speaker 1: some days your best is gonna be a very different
31:36
Speaker 1: level than other days, and just being okay with that
31:40
Speaker 1: and doing whatever your best is in that in that
31:45
Speaker 1: moment in time. And then yeah, just at competitions and stuff,
31:48
Speaker 1: it's at the end of the day, like, yes, you
31:51
Speaker 1: kind of need to see a little bit of what
31:55
Speaker 1: people are doing to make sure you're staying in that
31:59
Speaker 1: group that level of riding. But then at the end
32:02
Speaker 1: of the day, it's kind of like you have to
32:06
Speaker 1: just focus on yourself and putting down the best thing
32:08
Speaker 1: you could do because you're not next to people, you're
32:11
Speaker 1: not racing people, you're not it's just you. It's just
32:14
Speaker 1: one person on the course. So all you can do
32:17
Speaker 1: is your best and focus on that, do everything that
32:23
Speaker 1: you possibly can to look good, feel good everything, and
32:27
Speaker 1: then at the end of the day kind of you
32:29
Speaker 1: just have to step back and the rest is not
32:31
Speaker 1: in your control. And what the judges do, do what
32:34
Speaker 1: they do, do what they do.
32:36
Speaker 3: It's interesting.
32:36
Speaker 2: I just got back from the Olympic Trials for Track
32:40
Speaker 2: and field, and it's a very different scenario right in
32:43
Speaker 2: that you have the prelims and then you have the
32:45
Speaker 2: semi and then you have the final, and each athlete
32:48
Speaker 2: is going to give a different amount of effort in
32:51
Speaker 2: those races. Accordingly, it sounds to me, and please correct
32:55
Speaker 2: me if I'm wrong, that.
32:57
Speaker 3: That might not really be the case. For BMX.
32:59
Speaker 2: It's like you show up and you just kind of
33:01
Speaker 2: have one year. It's what do you have today to give?
33:05
Speaker 2: To give it all you've got?
33:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean to a certain extent, yes, But there's
33:10
Speaker 1: also so when we have qualifying, they take the average
33:14
Speaker 1: of both scores. Okay, so there you kind of do
33:18
Speaker 1: have to dial it back, but not too much because
33:23
Speaker 1: if you crash, you won't make it to finals, so
33:26
Speaker 1: you can't take as many risks. You really have to
33:28
Speaker 1: be conservative. And then once you get to finals, it's
33:33
Speaker 1: just your best run, so then you can kind of
33:35
Speaker 1: let loose. You have two chances. But then there's still
33:38
Speaker 1: moments where like say, for example, in this last event
33:43
Speaker 1: in finals, I messed up on my first run, and
33:48
Speaker 1: normally my plan is like, Okay, I have a first
33:50
Speaker 1: run to put a score down, and then my second
33:54
Speaker 1: run I can try to improve, but I can do
33:57
Speaker 1: some more riskier things. This event, I didn't do my
34:02
Speaker 1: first run as planned, and so for my second run.
34:05
Speaker 1: I had to decide do I still go for the
34:08
Speaker 1: riskier one risk crashing and basically being at the bottom
34:12
Speaker 1: of the list, or do I opt for a little
34:17
Speaker 1: bit of a safer run. I don't get to do
34:19
Speaker 1: everything I wanted to do, so I know I'm not
34:21
Speaker 1: going to make it to the podium, but I can
34:23
Speaker 1: end up in the middle of the pack. And so
34:25
Speaker 1: there is still kind of that game you have to
34:28
Speaker 1: play of like where do I want to finish? What's
34:30
Speaker 1: more important in this moment? You kind of have to
34:33
Speaker 1: make decisions based off of that.
34:35
Speaker 3: What did you choose.
34:37
Speaker 1: I went with a bit of a safer run because
34:40
Speaker 1: for that event, I needed to be in the top
34:42
Speaker 1: six ticket.
34:43
Speaker 3: To Paris, to get to Paris.
34:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, so at that point it was like, Okay, the
34:50
Speaker 1: one individual podium doesn't mean as much as kind of
34:54
Speaker 1: the overall picture here. So I wanted to try and
34:57
Speaker 1: you know, I think I was in like tenth place.
34:59
Speaker 1: I was like, let me try and get up a
35:01
Speaker 1: little bit and better that score. And it works.
35:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it paid off. It paid off.
35:07
Speaker 2: I want to go back to our conversation earlier when
35:10
Speaker 2: I said that I wanted to talk to you about
35:12
Speaker 2: the difference between fear and anxiety because they are wildly different.
35:16
Speaker 2: I go to the gym and I remember something like
35:19
Speaker 2: the first time that I finally was able to do
35:21
Speaker 2: a box jump after so many times of jumping off
35:24
Speaker 2: on a soft box and landing on my shins right,
35:28
Speaker 2: and there's so much fear that surrounds this.
35:30
Speaker 3: Unknown movement for you.
35:32
Speaker 2: Not only are there unknown movements, but you've got it
35:35
Speaker 2: like a whole tool that gives you access to these movements.
35:39
Speaker 2: Do you remember at first nailing some of those first
35:43
Speaker 2: tricks and how you got to a place where you
35:45
Speaker 2: were capable of befriending fear.
35:49
Speaker 1: I think, you know, with our sport, you become so
35:55
Speaker 1: passionate about it and kind of that dry I have
36:00
Speaker 1: to learn these new tricks that once you kind of
36:04
Speaker 1: lok into that and become so focused, everything kind of
36:08
Speaker 1: goes out the window. And a lot of times it's
36:10
Speaker 1: just getting that first one out of the way, and
36:13
Speaker 1: so you know, that can involve all sorts of things.
36:17
Speaker 1: For me, it seriously depends on the day. I sometimes
36:20
Speaker 1: I have that feeling like I really want to do it,
36:23
Speaker 1: and I just I know I need a little bit
36:25
Speaker 1: of extra motivation, so I'll like make a deal with
36:27
Speaker 1: my coach, like if I don't drop in and do
36:30
Speaker 1: it right now, I have to give you one hundred
36:31
Speaker 1: dollars just because I know I know that I'll like
36:35
Speaker 1: put that pressure on of like I have this one chance.
36:38
Speaker 1: I can't roll up to it and then decide like, no,
36:40
Speaker 1: I don't want to do it this time. Sometimes it's
36:43
Speaker 1: just about like I said earlier, like the saying the
36:48
Speaker 1: positive things to like remind yourself as you're going to it,
36:51
Speaker 1: so you don't have time to decide no and like
36:54
Speaker 1: veer off. But yeah, I think it's just you really
36:59
Speaker 1: have to like trick your mind to get that first
37:03
Speaker 1: run out of the way, and then I think a
37:05
Speaker 1: lot of the time, once you do, then you're in it.
37:08
Speaker 1: You're a lot of times it's like hard to stop
37:12
Speaker 1: until you get it. It's just like kind of like
37:14
Speaker 1: an addiction, like you just you don't want to you
37:16
Speaker 1: don't want to put it down until you've like accomplished
37:19
Speaker 1: that goal.
37:20
Speaker 2: And in BMX, is it like creating muscle patterns. So
37:25
Speaker 2: an example, again, if we're gonna bring it to a
37:27
Speaker 2: conventional gym setting, someone says, I can't do a pull
37:31
Speaker 2: up until they can one day right, and then they
37:34
Speaker 2: can do pull ups in BMX. Are there certain tricks
37:37
Speaker 2: or certain things that you do that you develop that
37:39
Speaker 2: muscle memory and then it unlocks a whole new suite
37:42
Speaker 2: of opportunities for sure.
37:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like it's it's so much about repetition, and yeah,
37:50
Speaker 1: there's tricks now that I remember, like a year ago,
37:52
Speaker 1: made absolutely no sense, and now I can do I
37:55
Speaker 1: don't even think about it when I do it. So
37:57
Speaker 1: it's it really is with I would say, you know,
38:01
Speaker 1: ninety percent of tricks, it's just about figuring it out
38:06
Speaker 1: somewhat so you're at the point where you can try it,
38:10
Speaker 1: and then once you get that one, you just have
38:12
Speaker 1: to keep doing it over and over and over again
38:15
Speaker 1: until it becomes second nature.
38:17
Speaker 2: When things go wrong, and I'm sure that it happens.
38:19
Speaker 2: Talk to me about your relationship with getting up after falling.
38:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that's such a huge part of it.
38:27
Speaker 1: We fall pretty much every day. Luckily for the most part,
38:31
Speaker 1: you know, it's not something that ends are riding. So
38:37
Speaker 1: it's really just I think we learned so much about
38:42
Speaker 1: you just get up, you get up, and you try
38:44
Speaker 1: it again, and whether it's like right, away so you
38:46
Speaker 1: don't have time to think, or if you need time
38:49
Speaker 1: to stop and maybe watch the video and analyze so
38:52
Speaker 1: you can adjust. Everyone has a bit of a different approach.
38:55
Speaker 1: I use all of those approaches depending on the day
38:58
Speaker 1: or what trick I'm doing. But yeah, I feel like
39:01
Speaker 1: I've it's taught me to like transfer that into life
39:04
Speaker 1: as well, because like learning a trick, you seriously you
39:07
Speaker 1: know you'll be there for like three hours trying to
39:09
Speaker 1: think over and over and over again and just slamming
39:12
Speaker 1: and slamming and slamming, but get that reward at the end.
39:15
Speaker 1: You get that feeling of like accomplishment and not giving up,
39:20
Speaker 1: and it's such a good feeling.
39:22
Speaker 3: What do you do when you don't land it?
39:24
Speaker 2: Because I'm sure there are days where you're going and
39:26
Speaker 2: going and going and it's just not clicking. And then
39:29
Speaker 2: has that as well transferred into the rest of your life.
39:34
Speaker 1: For sure, Like there's definitely days where things aren't working,
39:37
Speaker 1: and not even sometimes with new tricks. Sometimes it's tricks
39:40
Speaker 1: I do every day and then I show up one
39:42
Speaker 1: day and it's just not working. And I think for
39:45
Speaker 1: me it's just been really important to like not let
39:48
Speaker 1: that ruin my whole day because I used to like
39:50
Speaker 1: hold on to that and just get so mad at
39:53
Speaker 1: myself and frustrated and then go down this rabbit hole
39:56
Speaker 1: of like I don't know how to ride a bike,
39:57
Speaker 1: like what's going on? And so I really been working
40:00
Speaker 1: on like when that happens, just accepting it for that
40:03
Speaker 1: day and reminding myself that sometimes it just doesn't work,
40:07
Speaker 1: Like sometimes you go to the gym and you feel
40:10
Speaker 1: like crap and you can't do the way you normally do,
40:12
Speaker 1: and it's the same thing, So just kind of letting
40:16
Speaker 1: it go, saying like Okay, I'll just revisit this tomorrow,
40:19
Speaker 1: come back, try it again and ninety nine percent of
40:23
Speaker 1: the time and come back tomorrow, and it's like like
40:25
Speaker 1: that works. Yeah, No, just accepting it and yeah, not
40:29
Speaker 1: letting it completely consume you and drag you down this
40:33
Speaker 1: like big hole of negative thoughts.
40:37
Speaker 2: Right, And that hole is like so easy to trip into, right.
40:40
Speaker 2: The trick beating don't let a bad minute make for
40:43
Speaker 2: a bad day, like that one minute is such a
40:46
Speaker 2: small part of the bigger picture, but when you're in
40:49
Speaker 2: the thick of it, it doesn't feel like that, right,
40:51
Speaker 2: And that's entirely understandable.
40:53
Speaker 3: We are the sum of all of our minutes.
40:56
Speaker 2: We're not the sum of one bad thing that happens
40:59
Speaker 2: in the blip of an eye and the blink of
41:01
Speaker 2: an eye.
41:01
Speaker 1: You know, it's important to like step back and like
41:05
Speaker 1: see everything and not just that one moment that you're
41:08
Speaker 1: so like tunneled into.
41:10
Speaker 3: Which is challenging.
41:12
Speaker 2: You know, it's so challenging, especially like when you really
41:16
Speaker 2: want something right. But this goes back to that conversation
41:19
Speaker 2: of thoughts and feelings and understanding that we have the
41:22
Speaker 2: opportunity to respond to our thoughts and that we can
41:27
Speaker 2: feel all of these different ways, and all these feelings
41:29
Speaker 2: are entirely valid, but we are also not our feelings.
41:33
Speaker 2: So knowing that talking about feelings talk to me a
41:37
Speaker 2: little bit about how you're feeling right now. This episode's
41:40
Speaker 2: going to come out before you hit the park in Paris.
41:44
Speaker 3: So where are we at?
41:46
Speaker 1: I'm excited. I think I'm just you know, trying to
41:49
Speaker 1: keep having fun writing. I'm gonna go back to Europe
41:53
Speaker 1: on Sunday, spend the rest of the time there with
41:55
Speaker 1: my coach writing like three different parks, so just kind
42:00
Speaker 1: of like dialing everything in, having fun and I'm looking
42:05
Speaker 1: forward to like seeing the course. We haven't seen the
42:06
Speaker 1: course yet, so that's going to be a bit of
42:08
Speaker 1: a surprise. Hopefully we'll see it soon so we can
42:11
Speaker 1: you know, really dial in those last few things. But
42:15
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be amazing just to be
42:18
Speaker 1: at another Olympics, to like have it in Paris where
42:22
Speaker 1: the location is everything. It's just it's sick.
42:26
Speaker 3: That's awesome.
42:27
Speaker 2: And for you, are you a big visualization person, do
42:31
Speaker 2: you think that seeing that course is going to enable
42:33
Speaker 2: you or empower you to act think be a little
42:36
Speaker 2: bit different.
42:38
Speaker 1: I'm definitely a visualizer, like ahead of time, not so
42:41
Speaker 1: much like the pictures of the course are always very
42:45
Speaker 1: different from how it feels, so I try not to
42:48
Speaker 1: like get too deep into it ahead of time based
42:52
Speaker 1: off the picture. I wait till like the first practice
42:54
Speaker 1: and then I can really know like how it feels,
42:58
Speaker 1: what I like, what I don't like. But then once
43:01
Speaker 1: I do that, then you know, I'll work on my
43:04
Speaker 1: routine with my coach and at that point then it's
43:06
Speaker 1: like full on visualizing, like constantly basically riding my run
43:12
Speaker 1: in my head up until that point that it's time
43:15
Speaker 1: to drop in.
43:16
Speaker 2: Right, So outside of Paris obviously an exciting time for you.
43:21
Speaker 2: What else is going on in your life right now?
43:23
Speaker 2: Is there anything else going on in your life?
43:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we have X Games now literally today,
43:30
Speaker 1: which has been a long time coming, something that the
43:33
Speaker 1: women's field has been waiting to be invited to. So
43:36
Speaker 1: that's super exciting. It's super cool to be in that
43:40
Speaker 1: first group of women that get to compete here. And
43:44
Speaker 1: then beyond that, I mean, we still have more competitions
43:47
Speaker 1: after Paris, and you know, I'd love to film like
43:53
Speaker 1: some some video projects as well because I've been so
43:55
Speaker 1: focused on like competing, just having the two Olympics like
43:59
Speaker 1: kind of to back, because we didn't have a full
44:01
Speaker 1: four years in between, right, so it didn't feel like
44:04
Speaker 1: there was really a rest in between. It was just
44:06
Speaker 1: straight back into the Olympic cycle. So yeah, I'm I
44:10
Speaker 1: have a couple more competitions and then I'm also looking
44:12
Speaker 1: forward to maybe having some time to do some different
44:15
Speaker 1: things on my bike, maybe film some projects with Red Bull. Yeah,
44:19
Speaker 1: just enjoy it.
44:20
Speaker 3: What's changed for you since qualifying for your first Olympics.
44:26
Speaker 1: Not too much, to be honest, Like, I definitely think
44:29
Speaker 1: just in the world, our sport is a little more
44:32
Speaker 1: recognized now just because people know what the Olympics are
44:36
Speaker 1: and so it has brought maybe a little bit more
44:39
Speaker 1: opportunities as far as like sponsorships and stuff. But on
44:42
Speaker 1: a personal level, on a riding level, like it's kind
44:46
Speaker 1: of stayed the same, just riding my bike every day,
44:49
Speaker 1: same kind of training routine, just growing with myself, learning
44:54
Speaker 1: what works, what doesn't work. And I mean, the the
44:57
Speaker 1: level of the sport has changed. There's so many like
45:03
Speaker 1: women and girls riding now, like young girls getting into
45:06
Speaker 1: the sport that are so good.
45:08
Speaker 3: How does that make you feel?
45:10
Speaker 1: I mean, it's scary for us for sure, Like it
45:12
Speaker 1: pushes us a lot, but it's cool to see having
45:16
Speaker 1: come from that group of like the same three girls
45:19
Speaker 1: at every competition to now like having multiple classes. There's
45:23
Speaker 1: an amateur class, there's there's new girls that are just
45:27
Speaker 1: entering the elite class, and yeah, it's it's pretty amazing
45:31
Speaker 1: to see. It's where it's come.
45:33
Speaker 2: When someone goes to your Instagram page, they see a
45:36
Speaker 2: red bull athlete with something like eighty thousand followers that
45:40
Speaker 2: loves to ride her bike and is excited about another
45:43
Speaker 2: chance at the Olympics. When you look in the mirror, though, Nikita,
45:47
Speaker 2: what is it that you see looking back at you?
45:51
Speaker 1: I think, I mean, I definitely see just that little
45:56
Speaker 1: girl that wanted to ride her bike in the driveway,
46:00
Speaker 1: and I had no idea that it would that it
46:04
Speaker 1: would bring me here, And yeah, it's just it's pretty crazy.
46:08
Speaker 1: It still doesn't feel real all these all these different
46:11
Speaker 1: things we're getting to do because of riding a bike. Yeah,
46:14
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I mean, at the same time,
46:16
Speaker 1: I I really try to be transparent too on my
46:21
Speaker 1: Instagram because I know it's easy to get caught up
46:24
Speaker 1: in like all the perfect things and that everyone gets
46:28
Speaker 1: to do and stuff. So I really because I enjoy
46:31
Speaker 1: seeing it from athletes I look up too, I try
46:32
Speaker 1: to also show the overall picture and everything, and you know,
46:38
Speaker 1: it's the good comes with the bad, and it's important
46:40
Speaker 1: to like embrace all sides of it because it's all
46:43
Speaker 1: part of part of the process, part of the journey.
46:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's a huge part of the reason why
46:50
Speaker 2: you founded mind Tricks. For those that don't know, it's
46:53
Speaker 2: another social platform in which there are different stories and
46:56
Speaker 2: conversations about mental health. Why was that platform really important
47:01
Speaker 2: for you to create.
47:03
Speaker 1: It was important because you know, I was sharing my
47:06
Speaker 1: own stories on my Instagram, but I thought that having
47:11
Speaker 1: a dedicated space to continue sharing their stories and then
47:14
Speaker 1: maybe reach out to other athletes encourage them to share
47:18
Speaker 1: could be good. Just to encourage encourage people to share,
47:23
Speaker 1: allow people to see that their favorite athletes also deal
47:27
Speaker 1: with things and you know it's all not all sunshine
47:31
Speaker 1: and rainbows all the time and it's okay, and like
47:34
Speaker 1: that's part of it. And yeah, I just really wanted
47:37
Speaker 1: to have a space to like encourage the conversation and
47:40
Speaker 1: make people feel less alone in it.
47:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love that. Well.
47:45
Speaker 2: I appreciate all of your openness today and talking about
47:49
Speaker 2: the highs, the lows, the thing you're excited about, the
47:51
Speaker 2: stuff that still scares you. I think it's super relatable
47:54
Speaker 2: and I am sure that you have a few new
47:58
Speaker 2: fans now that are excited to cheer you on over
48:01
Speaker 2: in Paris. Before I let you go, I have to
48:04
Speaker 2: ask you right now if you had an opportunity to
48:07
Speaker 2: offer yourself a piece of advice, maybe before one of
48:10
Speaker 2: those competitions when you're about to hit the park and
48:13
Speaker 2: you feel like you can't go out.
48:14
Speaker 3: There knowing what you know now, what would you tell yourself?
48:20
Speaker 1: I think I would just tell myself, remember all the
48:25
Speaker 1: training you've put in, and trust yourself like you, you
48:29
Speaker 1: know what to do, and don't let the temporary negative
48:35
Speaker 1: thoughts overshadow all of that.
48:38
Speaker 2: Don't let them. I'm so happy that we were able
48:40
Speaker 2: to do this, Nikita. For those that don't know, give
48:43
Speaker 2: us your info. How do they follow along with you?
48:45
Speaker 2: How do they keep up with you?
48:47
Speaker 1: Most active on Instagram and it's at my first name
48:51
Speaker 1: Nikita dot, last name do grow at Nikita dot, do
48:55
Speaker 1: grow and then mind tricks and mind tricks is spell,
49:01
Speaker 1: so it's mind tricks. And the first I after M
49:05
Speaker 1: is a one is a one so the other one
49:09
Speaker 1: wasn't available, so I was the closest we could get.
49:12
Speaker 3: It's cute, it's edgy. I like it.
49:15
Speaker 2: I'm over at Emily a Body an at Hurdle Podcast.
49:18
Speaker 2: Another Hurdle Conquered. Catch you guys next time