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Riding in East Germany
A Stanford University graduate, Nicole Freedman began cycling in 1994 with the Stanford team. Earlier this year the 28-year-old won the U.S. Olympic road race trials in Jackson, Mississippi, earning an automatic spot on the 2000 Olympic team. A native of Wellesley, Mass., the 5-foot-2 cyclist currently trains in Palo Alto, Calif. Check out Freedman's diary every other week on CNNSI.com.
Aug. 3, 2000
For the last week and a half, going on three years, I have been in East Germany racing the six day Tour de Thuringen with my Olympic teammates and the U.S. National Team. The goals of this month-long trip, which also includes appearances in France and Italy, is to gain international experience, practice riding as a team in preparation for the Olympics and to figure out why Europeans insist on using single ply toilet paper.
The total travel time was approximately 24 hours, not including the week or so the army of flight attendants spent prying my fingernails from the upholstery on the plane. "You can't make me go out there," I screamed, realizing that if any of the many people I have offended in my 28 years were plotting to get rid of me, they could find no better way than to force a petite pronounced-nose Jewish girl to ride her bike around East Germany with an American flag strapped to her back.
Furthermore, I will be rooming with Olympic alternates who probably wouldn't be as crushed as I would be if I were to accidentally slip out the third floor window and fall to my death. "One second she was staring out at the lovely view of the brick wall and dumpster just outside of out Youth Hostile, and the next second I heard a splat," my teammates would tell the police, praying she could summon a false tear for the charade.
In truth, my teammates have been wonderfully supportive throughout the week; they have not even complained about the massive bolts I put up on the windows. My position as an Olympian is unique.
I won the Olympic Trials Road Race -- a flat one-day race limited to only Americans. Unlike my two teammates who were selected to the team somewhat subjectively by coaches based on past results, I have little experience racing abroad against the competition we will be facing in Sydney. This has often come up in discussion: How good a selector could the Olympic Trials race be given that the actual Olympic race is much more hilly and the competition much stiffer?
Discussion aside, my teammates have gone to extremes to point out my new competitors and to explain differences with international racing.
International racers are superior bike handlers -- should you ricochet off their front wheel en route to a ditch, they instinctually avoid falling by riding over your head. While domestic racers typically peak once per season, an international racer defies physiology by peaking for the entire season, before taking a day of rest and peaking again for the next season. It is almost impossible to beat certain acclaimed international racers, like Hanka Kupfernagel (GER), Anna Wilson (AUS) and Petra Rossner (GER) who were born riding their bikes, making for a painful delivery for their mothers.
Riding in East Germany is safer than I predicted. Drivers are accustomed passing cyclists on the roads. Mere amateurs at environmental destruction, Germans routinely bike a quarter mile to the store to buy milk, instead of partaking in our country's more efficient shopping method of navigating a space shuttle sized SUV through quiet neighborhood streets to the store.
After my grueling one hour training ride, I was ready for the first of many memorable meals. Contrary to popular belief, butter is the dietary staple of Germany. For dinner I ordered Penne Augshfahrtausbrattruwfarm, which translates in English to: a gallon of butter within which a noodle might be found. All of the butter I had scraped off my food since puberty had suddenly re-emerged in this one dish.
Throughout the six days of racing, Germany presented its visitors with typical East German weather -- rain with intermittent showers. The other Olympians and I were all hoping the rain would last so we could whip around one of the many sharp turns, spill out on a slippery cobblestone, break a bone, and ruin our Olympic dreams that we had spent our entire lives pursuing.
The risks of injury and crashing are unfortunately real in cycling and in each race we are essentially taking a gamble -- a gamble we must take to improve. Our team did manage to stay upright and the racing provided a good opportunity for our team to work together and prepare for the Olympics.
We are now en route to France and Italy where we will race in the 14-day Tour Femenin, known mistakenly as the Tour of Women instead of the Women's Tour de France. This is known as the toughest race in the world for women, both in terms of competition and courses. I hope to regain my ability to walk after this race in time for the Olympics, thereby bettering my chance of success.
--Nicole
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