Kristin Armstrong
Kristin Armstrong
Kristin Armstrongis a professional road bicycle racer and two-time Olympic gold medalist, the winner of the women's individual time trial in 2008 and 2012. Before temporarily retiring to start a family in 2009, she rode for Cervélo TestTeam in women's elite professional events on the National Racing Calendarand UCI Women's World Cup. She announced a return to competitive cycling beginning in the 2011 season, competing for Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12 at the Redlands Classic...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCyclist
Date of Birth11 August 1973
CountryUnited States of America
Runners, by nature, are intentional people and normally pretty light on our feet.
Whether I'm running, working, relating, parenting, learning - whatever I'm doing, I want to surround myself with people who push me.
It's tough though because of the whole part about getting sponsors and people out to watch women's cycling. I think the only way that women can really work it is that we have to work our way more into these big grand tours that the men have like the Tour de Georgia, Tour of Utah, and Tour of California.
In high school you just kind of go with it, you belong to a sport and you're lettering and there is a very social part. With cycling, a lot of people will steer away because you can't letter, and lettering is still cool and it's very important for scholarships and other stuff.
I think it doesn't happen overnight, that's for sure. As the first gold medalist since 1984, I think cycling needs to ride that wave right now, because people are excited.
The best thing to do when you find yourself in a hurting or vulnerable place is to surround yourself with the strongest, finest, most positive people you know.
Typically creative people are usually not clock-slaves or list-makers, so the idea of enforcing goals and deadlines can be somewhat daunting.
Unless you have a specific injury or a disease, I think a lot of people don't quite understand. I think a lot of people put arthritis in the same category. There's a real difference from someone whose joints swell, that's probably rheumatoid arthritis, than what I have.
What I've learned over the last 6 or 7 years, I would love to teach people. I still have a lot to share with people and especially within the US.
I think, as most of us do, I put such high expectations on myself that this spills over onto other people. And not everyone is wired this way. Some people can shrug expectations off their shoulders like a cardigan, remaining cool and breezy. Others wear them like a parka with a stuck zipper, hot and stifling.
I never imagined that divorce would be part of my life history or my family's legacy. When people say that divorce can be more painful than death, I understand why. But like any great trial, God uses everything for good, if we allow Him to heal us.
It was a long time in the hot seat and I was hopeful that I might hold on,
It would have been great to have an all-American sweep, ... but I think that this shows how strong the Americans are.
My main goal right now is the time trial at worlds and I knew that if I came here and beat the time standard for the talent pool, then everything above and beyond was a bonus.