Erika Tieszen
Bio
Erika Tieszen one of the Crocs Prepair athletes is truly remarkable, an endurance mountain biker whose passion for competing is only bettered by her passion for life. Learn a little more about Erika and what makes her unique.
My name is Erika Tieszen. I am 31 years old and have been racing 24 hour/endurance mountain bike races at a pro level for 4 years now. I moved to Breckenridge Colorado about 10 years ago for a modern dance/theatre company that eventually went to NY and I stayed in the mountains.
I was an endurance runner who became intrigued with mountain biking. A friend of mine took me to 24 Hours of Moab about 9 years ago to support a friend of his, who became a friend and a life changing inspiration to me in the coming years. Nat Ross. I was mesmerized by the fact that these people stayed up for 24 hours to compete in one of the hardest races in sports to beat the heck out of their bodies on a bike. I was pulled in, addicted and I was still paying off a bike that I didn’t even own yet.
After a few humbling years and many DNF’s I started to finish these races and doing well in them. I have learned more about the human will in the last four years than in other experience in my life. More probably from my competitors than myself… When you witness a human being put one pedal in front of another when they have absolutely nothing left… you can only be inspired. That is what keeps me going when I want to jump off the cliff into my sleeping bag. Are the ones who find the strength to keep the wheels in motion when their entire body is screaming no…
Keep up the great work Erika!
Training Tips
The number 1 training tip that I have learned is let your body recover. Take that time off it needs. I have learned the hard way. There is a reason why people harp on it so much. Because it is the most important. That does not mean house work or coffee with your friends. That means legs up, hydrate and eat nourishing foods. My number one recovery food is Whole Food Health Optimizer from http://sequelnaturals.com/vega. I am a vegetarian and about 99% vegan. I say 99% because I will eat raw goat cheese a few times a year. I thrive on this diet and recover faster now than ever before on meat.
Training tip number 2… Take care of your feet!! When I get into a stressful downhill on my bike I try and curl my toes around my pedal. After 24 hours of trying to do this, the nerves in my feet are in absolute agony. The first thing I do after I cross that finish line is take my bike shoes off, walk around bare foot for a few hours and then throw on my Prepair Crocs. They take pressure off those hot spots and take the stress off my toes so those nerves and muscles can start to repair themselves.
