Part II of my interview with Eszter touched on her 2009 season. After road racing in college for CU Boulder and being kept off the list of selected riders for collegiate road Nationals, Eszter quickly found a home on the mountain bike team. She turned professional only in 2007 and has quickly gained attention in endurance races on some of the hardest courses in the country.
Amy Thomas- You had a great list of endurance wins this season-Gunnison Growler, Laramie Enduro, Breck 100, the only female finisher in the Vapor trail, and Crested Butte Classic. How did you recover quickly between these events leading up to Moab?
Eszter Horanyi- They shortened Vapor Trail due to rain, snow, and cold temps. It was only 13 hours and 115 miles instead of 16+ hours and 125 miles, so maybe that helped. That was a month out. But in all honesty, after Vapor Trail I had said I wasn’t going to race Moab. I’d poured my heart and soul into getting ready for Vapor, was digging the ‘underground’ race scene and wasn’t sure I wanted to finish the season off at a big deal race like Moab. I was behind in life and didn’t know if I had the time to organize another logistical nightmare like Moab without getting kicked out of grad school.
Two weeks later, I agreed to do the Crested Butte Classic and ride it with then boyfriend Chris, because it gave us an excuse to head down to Crested Butte for the weekend. I was still completely over Moab at the time. We rode it single speed pace and not leaving Chris behind on the flat sections netted me a marriage proposal the following day. Totally worth it.
Registering for Moab ended up being the result of procrastination. Before I could send out my ‘I’m sorry, I’m not racing’ email to my volunteer crew, they’d planned transportation, food, music, etc. So I registered and mentally prepared for one more really hard effort. I was much more worried about mentally pooping out than physically pooping out.
Amy Thomas- You raced mostly endurance mountain bike races, races typically over 50miles. What’s the appeal with the longer vs. 2 hour races?
Eszter Horanyi- For cross country races, the training consists of going out, riding really hard for two or three hours, and then you go home. I really like going out on my mountain bike for 6 or 7 hours and just exploring the mountains around Boulder.
The race scene is also a lot more laid-back than the typical XC race, which I really enjoy, and generally the driving to riding ratio is significantly lower for a 100 mile race compared to a 20 mile one.
Amy Thomas- How did growing up in Boulder influence or motivate you to ride? How did you get into mountain bike racing?
Eszter Horanyi- ? Boulder is a community that sucks you into some sport. When I was younger, my parents made my brothers and I get involved in some sport, mostly to keep us out of trouble. When I was about 12 years old, they signed me up for Y-Riders, which is a mountain bike program through the Boulder YMCA (www.ymcabv.org). They take you out and teach you how to mountain bike during the summer. Then there was a really cute boy in camp. His bike had suspension (early 1990’s, this was big) and I was immediately in love. As horrible as it sounds, I got really into riding to impress said boy. After that summer, I was still swimming and was in the pool 5 hours a day and 6 days a week and pretty much stopped riding during high school.
I got back into bikes via the idea of doing a triathlon. I ended up quitting swimming and viewing running as good osteoporosis prevention, only to be done in winter months.
I started racing for CU Boulder on the road team in 2003. I got left off their National Team because I had the least amount of experience of all the girls, which just fueled the fire to train more. That fall, the mountain bike team needed another girl to take to collegiate nationals in Angel Fire, NM and I was immediately hooked. I loved the fact that if I was going to fall off my bike, it was going to be my own fault.
Amy Thomas- Racing as a professional mountain biker these days doesn’t necessarily mean you are making a living from racing. Do you think having to also work impedes or balances you as a rider?
Eszter Horanyi-? I have tried for two summers to “make it” as a pro, first as a road racer and then as a mountain bike racer. I got so ungodly bored just training. The first time around, I put on 15 pounds in 3 months while ‘training’. I do much better with my time when I have a schedule, when I have a specific window to ride and stuff to do with the rest of my day. I think it helps to have other things going on. I don’t make any living off of riding, but I don’t want to. I’m trying to keep racing as inexpensive and fun as I can.
Amy Thomas- A lot of women are mountain biking these days and maybe want to get into racing. Do you have any suggestions for beginner racers?
Eszter Horanyi- ? In Colorado, the Winter Park series (www.epicsingletrack.com) is great for beginners. Start with small, local races. Make a circle of friends from racing and riding. Half the fun is seeing your friends at races. Make racing a fun social event. Don’t take racing so seriously that it’s not fun.
Amy Thomas- What’s your off-season look like and what is on the horizon for 2010?
Eszter Horanyi- The hope is to do a lot of backcountry skiing on the weekends and bike riding on weekdays. I’d like to learn how to skate ski, too. For 2010, I’d like to do 24 hours of Big Bear in West Virginia in June as my major first-half of the summer race. I’m intrigued by the Colorado Trail Race for the second half. I’d love to pull the funds together to do the Breckenridge Epic, and maybe Moab again. Definitely the Gunnison Growler and the full Vapor Trail 125. There's so much to do and so little time.
Amy Thomas- Lastly, anyone you’d like to thank this season?
Eszter Horanyi-? Everyone who rode bikes, drank beer, or otherwise came out to play this past summer!
More specifically:
Walt of the infamous Waltworks Custom Bicycles, the best bikes in the world. It’ll take a lot to get me to ride anything else.
Brian from Fuentes Design. He sold me his two year old brakes for cheap after his/our mechanic threatened to stop working on his bike unless he got rid of them.
Chris - fiancé extraordinaire, who is a constant inspiration to ride downhill faster.
Mike – training buddy, inspiration to race Moab, head of my support crew, and constant nag to put a big ring on my cross bike.
Shep – Bike magician, I mean mechanic, who must have sold his soul to get my bike running flawlessly for 24 straight hours. I don’t think that’s ever happened in the history of my owning bikes.
And of course, my parents, who never told me that I should stop racing bikes and move on with my life, even though I got a good number of head shakes and sighs.
Once again we would like to thank Amy Thomas and the Yeti Beti team for their on going contributions to MTBracenews.com and the entire mountain bike community. Click here to visit the Yeti Beti site and learn more about the team.
