TRIPLE Exclusive - An Interview with Amber Rais, Part I

I am not a person who engages in the use of superlatives often. In fact, it is extremely rare. But after my recent conversation with Amber Rais (Team TIBCO), I was left with the assertion that a single superlative might not be enough in describing the 25 year old from Reno, NV.

Amber came into the sport of cycling later in life than most. She swam competitively as a child and eventually earned a partial scholarship to the Division I program at Stanford University. But after three years, and a career hampering shoulder injury, she suffered exhaustion from the sport.

With her athletic career in a tenuous position, Amber channeled her energies into her academics. Shifting her area of concentration to Marine Biology in 2001, she discovered new passions that in turn provided a much needed respite from competitive athletics. Amber would go on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology with a concentration in marine biology and environmental policy, and a Masters of Science in Earth Systems with a concentration in environmental systems and oceanography from Stanford University.

Her cycling career began like most, with a healthy curiosity. Amber actually began on the dirt entering a few collegiate mountain bike races, which isn’t too surprising since the Bay area is considered to be one of the birthplaces of the discipline. As she grew more adept at the sport and in confidence of her abilities, Amber switched to the road.

The switch to the pavement served to stoke her competitive embers, and in a short time Amber worked her way into becoming one of the top collegiate cyclists. With additional tutelage from her coach, Linda Jackson, the “all-rounder” now stands at the precipice of becoming one of the United States’ best.

In Part I of my interview with Amber Rais, we discuss stardom, her “hidden” talent, and some of her passions.

Granny's 30 (G): You've been touted as one of cycling's rising stars, how has it been dealing with stardom [fandom]? What do you feel is more difficult to deal with, stardom or the expectations that come with stardom?

Amber Rais (AR): This question will be much easier to answer if I ever actually become a star! I don't feel any extra pressure as I improve, but knowing that people connect with what I'm doing really fuels my motivation.

To be honest, not much has changed in terms of my mental outlook since I first dedicated myself to the sport. I just get more focused and motivated each year, and I don't feel any pressure except from myself, which is plenty.

What is really cool, however, is getting positive feedback from people at the races or from people who connect with something I've shared in my diaries. I am always surprised to get emails from readers or to be recognized at a race, but it is a great feeling to connect with people that way. Knowing that what I'm doing might have a positive impact on someone – anyone – is very fulfilling and motivating.

G: As an athlete, do you feel a responsibility for being a role model?

AR: I've observed that athletes are looked to as role models much more than they realize. It's obvious to most of us that Olympians and World Champions are role models, because we've looked up to them ourselves. What people often forget is that athletes of ALL levels are role models, and it's important to remember that.

G: You've mentioned your coach, Linda Jackson, and you are a participant in the USWCDP, how has each contributed to your development as a cyclist and as a person?

AR: Linda discovered me at the 2005 Cat's Hill Criterium in California, where she watched me race and said to my boyfriend David 'This girls has got it. If she wants to, she can take this as far as she wants.' Coming from Linda Jackson, this was huge. I always take compliments with a grain of salt to keep a realistic perspective, but Linda's belief in me was a major turning point. We began working together shortly after that. Her coaching took my fitness to a whole new level, and within a few months, I had signed with Webcor. Linda has been my rock from the beginning, and she constantly challenges me to improve and push myself.

I got involved with the USWCDP earlier this year as a mentor. I'm at a funny place in my career where I have enough experience as an athlete and cyclist to give back and serve as a resource for others, but I still have a long way to go and look to other mentors in the USWCDP for guidance myself. Michael Engelman has made enormous contributions to women's cycling, targeting unmet needs in the sport. He's got great vision, and we're working on some big ideas. I see a lot of progress in women's cycling already, and I want to do my part in targeting aspects where there is still room for improvement.

G: I'm a bit surprised by your statement that Linda's coaching took you to a whole new fitness level. Not to diminish any of Linda's coaching skills, but I would have thought that being an elite level swimmer you would have been at an extremely high fitness level. Were you speaking toward your general or cycling fitness in that statement?

AR: After I stopped swimming, I didn't think I'd ever compete in sport again, but I loved the vibrant feeling of being fit that comes with being an athlete. I took up trail running and loved it, but I was a fish out of water. I have a theory that swimming and running are mutually exclusive sports: if you get really good at doing one, you'll probably struggle with the other!

By the time I tried cycling, I had lost most of the fitness I'd had in swimming, but thankfully, my swimming career had developed a strong aerobic capacity, the foundation of which remained, latent, waiting for the proper training to be fully realized. My first year of competition, I primarily trained myself, with a lot of great advice from my fellow collegiate teammates at Stanford.

When we first started working together, Linda got me to push myself to a new level on the bike, and she hasn't stopped since! Swimming taught my body to endure an enormous training load and still recover well. I just needed Linda's guidance to get me on a proper regime of training and recovery specific to cycling. More than the physical training, she also helps me a lot with the mental aspects of training and racing, helping me stay positive and focused.

G: Why Graz, Austria?

AR: My boyfriend, David, and I have been talking about moving to Europe for a couple of years now. After finishing his PhD and minor at Stanford, he had job offers in Boston, Cape Town, Paris and Graz. Graz was the best of all worlds for us, since it offered great training for me and the ideal position for David. We've been here for three months now, and we're taking German language classes together. David is an Assistant Professor in Biomechanics at the Technical University of Graz, and I've been training and doing my research and consulting work from home. In addition to Graz and the Austrian wine country, we've gone exploring in the Czech Republic, the Alps and in Switzerland thus far. We're loving it here.

G: Do you speak any other languages?

AR: I speak French pretty fluently and am slowly learning German. Once I get the German down, Italian might follow, but first things first.

When I opened a menu on our first night in Germany for the race in Albstadt, I couldn't read a word of the menu. Now I have no problems with the menus and can read almost all of the signs I see around Graz. I really enjoy reading menus here for that reason: it reminds me of how much progress I've already made with the language. The speaking is coming along more slowly, but it will take time and practice.

G: What is one thing that most people don't know about you?

AR: For one thing, I play piano and compose music. I play any time I have the chance, but since I don't own a piano myself, those opportunities have become scarcer than I'd like.

G: Being in the land of Mozart, I would have thought that a piano would be in every household?

AR: My old apartment complex had a piano in the common area and was home to a lot of retired folks who loved to hear me play, no matter how horribly I might stumble. Whenever I needed a little ego boost, I'd go play and get a round of applause! Seriously, though, I loved brightening someone's day with a little music. I find playing very calming and rejuvenating.

When I was 14, I competed at Junior Nationals in Bryan, Texas (at Texas A&M, where they have a gorgeous pool!). I had a recital two weeks after the swim meet and needed to practice, so I asked the concierge if there were a piano in the hotel. He said, "Yes, in the bar." I went to the bar and asked the bartenders if it would be okay for me to play. They said yes, and that is when I realized that the piano WAS the bar. It was also at this point that a rowdy bunch of inebriated locals started heckling me about whether or not I played The Lone Ranger. I cringed to think what their reaction would be when I started to play Chopin and Beethoven, but I needed to practice. I sat down and played the pieces I was preparing, which included some very depressing waltzes and a somber Sonata. When I took a breather to chat with my coach, who had stopped in to listen, one of the locals came over - hat in hand - and asked whether I'd be willing to continue playing, as they were enjoying the music!

G: Who were your musical influences? What music do you enjoy listening to?

AR: My piano training included primarily what most people call "Classical Music" which generally refers to anything from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and even Modern Periods. My favorite periods are the Classical and Romantic periods, but I love it all. I used to listen to Vivaldi before swim meets to get ready to race. That said, I also had Led Zeppelin and White Zombie in my pre-race CD collection, so I guess you could call my taste eclectic.

Being in Austria, I got to see the building where Mozart was born in Salzburg, and the building where he lived later in life. It was like walking on hallowed ground for me. I still haven't been to Vienna, but it's on the menu. A lot of people go to Vienna to study classical music, but Graz attracts those music students focused on jazz. I can't count how many times I walked out our door to be greeted with the sounds of a full live jazz band playing down our street on the town square - it's amazing!

In addition to playing, I studied a lot of music theory, and that background has deepened my appreciation for all genres, which isn't to say I like everything. There is some really amazing avant-garde music out there, but some of the new experimental stuff is more about being different than about quality music. It's got to be both.

David and I have a good friend - Steve Smillie - in Minneapolis who owns his own record label called One Percent Records (http://www.onepercentrecords.com/), so we get to hear a lot of great new music and underground bands through him. He's also a realtor and has a Blog called Twin Cities Hardcore Punk Realtor. Seriously, you should check it out.

G: You started out in human biology; did you have designs on medicine initially? If so, was there a seminal event that led you to focus on the environment and oceanography?

AR: Wow. You hit the nail on the head. When I went to college, I had no idea what I wanted to do, but had a vague inclination toward medicine, as I loved biology and everything to do with physiology. The Human Biology program was the perfect fit, because aside from the core curriculum, it allowed students to create their own 'Area of Concentration.' After I stopped swimming, I took advantage of my new flexible schedule and studied for a quarter at the Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford's satellite campus in Monterey, where I fell in love with marine science and discovered a new depth to my passion for environmental issues.

I got to do everything: tagging live sharks, elephant seals, harbor seals and tuna, SCUBA diving for research, designing microbiology lab experiments, conducting oceanographic research for weeks at a time at sea, building biodiversity surveys via snorkeling around deserted tropical reefs, testing VO2 max values in mackerel, measuring cardiac function in tuna, swimming with sharks, performing surgery to implant archival tags in live tuna, and so on….

The Marine Station is right on the shore of Monterey Bay, so I used to swim out to the mile buoy and back on my lunch break, often accompanied by twenty or thirty harbor seals who loved the company. They would nose my feet and bomb around trying to get me to dive and flip with them, then they would watch me leave the water, their curious little heads bobbing above the surface, wondering why I wouldn't stay and play. Just as fascinating as the charismatic mega fauna were the tiny little guys living on the rocky outcroppings in the kelp forests - anemones and nudibranchs and gastropods and algae and tube worms - all so eclectic and elegant in their design and appearance.

I switched my Area of Concentration to Marine Biology and Environmental Policy, and studied on and off at the Marine Station for more than a year and a half. Later, I decided to pursue my Masters in Earth Systems, a program that offered the perfect combination of hard science and training in policy and resource management. I wanted to equip myself to get out in the world and do something to protect the beautiful, complex ecosystems I had come to know.

G: Is there a doctorate in your future?

AR: I applied to two programs back when I had first started racing. In my experience with research and watching a number of people, including David, go through PhD programs, it's clear that it would have to be my top priority. My personality is also such that I'm only satisfied with myself if I've given an endeavor my full effort. For now, my focus is cycling, and I'm giving it everything. A PhD program may well be in my future, but not until I've given cycling my all, and not until I've decided that I want to devote myself completely to a doctoral program.

In Part II of my interview with Amber we talk about her latest venture, Elemental Action, find out what "WWJD" means to her, and her goals for her cycling career.

Photos: Chris Norris (top)