Why is it that we only crash when things are great? All those awful, cold, wet grovels where you’d pay good money for a legitimate Out, nothing. Nothing goes wrong. Except maybe a flat tyre, but that’s fixable. Now when you’re ripping through trails, performing well, loving it – that’s when life deals you a […]
Imogen Smith: The ultimate comeback
It’s been quite some time since I’ve written a blog for MarathonMTB.com. Far too long, in fact, if you read the fine-print on my contract. But it’s not by accident. The last time I wrote just after National XCM Champs I managed to compose a cheery-ish, superficial post that sufficiently, I thought, masked the utter […]
Crash course: Imogen Smith on her season-ending accident
Related Event: Australian XCM Championships
Seven weeks ago, I had a big crash in a women’s criterium that ended my racing season before it really began. Early in the final 200m sprint, where I was sitting in the top 10 (I thought I’d be safe there), there was a surge from behind and riders moved sideways. It took the girl […]
Five steps to positive injury management
As most readers are well aware; our sport is not the safest past time available to us. But as with most things in life, I believe the greatest joys always require a certain amount of risk and courage. Whilst I was growing up, my Dad used to wear a t-shirt that read- “If you’re not […]
On patience
I turned 35 last week. This unwanted birthday coincided with a periodontal abscess, a round of tortuous self-interrogation about my lack of (ahem) job or even employment prospects, and inevitably pressing questions about when I was going to start a family. From my mother. Mostly for me, my birthday brought home a pretty unfortunate biological […]