Peak Of Her Game

MOUNTAIN BIKER BOWEN TO GO PRO AFTER NATIONAL TITLE

9/17/04
By LEAH ETLING
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

Amy Bowen was poised to win her first national mountain biking title when a muscle strain threatened to take her out of the race.

One week before the last expert nationals competition of the season was to be held in Durango, Colo., she pushed hard to win a race in Big Bear and nearly hurt herself.

A week of ice, massage, heat and ultrasound treatments later, she was back on the bike.

"I needed a first or second place to win the overall title. For the first time ever I decided -- I'm racing for second," said Bowen, who only started mountain biking competitively three years ago.

She didn't aggravate the injury, ended up second in the race, and claimed her first National Offroad Biking Association title as an expert.

The 32-year-old Santa Barbaran is now getting ready to turn professional, just two years after she won her first race.

A recreational rider for about seven years, she jokingly blames her new free-time career on her husband, Jamie Goldstein, who inadvertently got her started in the sport by taking her along on rides with his friends. Goldstein, a county planner, is no slouch as a cyclist himself, and is currently leading the expert state standings in his age group.

The couple both compete for Platinum Performance, a local mountain biking team.

Bowen, a personal trainer, grew up in Hawaii, where she was a surfer and soccer player. She went to college at UC Davis and played soccer for the Aggies while completing her degree in sports psychology.

"I got into biking because I was looking for another sport after soccer had finished. I've always been really competitive and athletic," Bowen said.

She had immediate success, winning her first race as a beginner in the Firestone Walker cycling series in Santa Ynez.

That same summer, she jumped all the way from the beginning level of competition to expert.

This year, she has been riding for the Amgen team in her national and state races.

Next year, she will switch to a new team for the pro level. "It's a little bit like a job interview," she said of the team-selection process.

Prospective riders send out their information to teams before invitations are made.

"It's a huge jump," Bowen said of moving up to pro. "These are the gals going to the Olympics."

Because of the heightened competition, she'll have to increase her training significantly next season. Currently, she rides about 8 to 10 hours a week, but most of it is on a road bike. She hopes to finish among the top three in the state next year.

Among her victories this season: a first place in a NORBA race at Snowmass, Colo., and two second places at Durango and Big Bear.

In state competition, she had wins at Castaic and Big Bear.

The U.S. National Mountain Bike Championship, a single day title event, are this weekend in Mammoth.

Bowen and her husband also race a tandem bicycle competitively. Last year, they won the Co-Motion Classic, a three day stage race in Eugene, Ore.

Mountain bike races average around 15 to 20 miles and take about two hours to complete.

And the courses?

"You know what ski resorts look like -- you're going up and down the same trails. It's not like downhill mountain biking where you take a lift to the top. It's more of an endurance sport.

"We climb to the top, too, so half the race is going up hills."

Bowen hopes to introduce other local women to mountain biking, or encourage them to compete.

"There's a lot of women in this town that could be great mountain bikers if they just gave it a shot."