CYCLISTS ARE RESILIENT

This bike life. It's a blood, sweat, and tears one. The highs are unbeatable, and the lows… well, you might know the crashing feeling of those too. A bobble, a hand out, a broken scaphoid. In a flash, the season you worked so hard for comes crashing down around you. A million questions get asked in the blink of an eye and far faster than the six weeks our bodies will take to heal. How bad is the damage? How many races missed? Is the season over?

For former world MTB champion Kate Courtney, it happened as she was kicking off her European season. A scaphoid injury—a setback of at least six weeks—threw it all off course. But if you know Kate, you know she's as resilient as they come. So this ain't a sob story. It’s one of handling adversity like a champion. As she ramped up her recovery protocol, we asked her about her injury, the psychology of setbacks, and how to focus on positivity, opportunity, and goal-setting on the journey back to top form. 

In cycling, setbacks are inevitable. But the difference is how you handle them. Remember the wheels keep rolling, and the comeback is worth the effort. 

ASSESS YOURSELF: THE FIRST STEP TOWARD RECOVERY

Injuries have many forms. This year, for Kate, it was her wrist. "I broke my scaphoid in my right wrist—a typically 'hand out when you fall' injury that is notoriously tricky to heal," she recalls. It's one of eight carpal bones in the wrist and one that's essential for performance on the MTB. If it's in pain or unstable, there's no chance of riding successfully.

Assessment is the first step toward recovery, and your awareness of injury can be situationally dependent. Crashing in a race is far different than on a ride. Adrenaline, grit, and pure stubbornness can fortify pain tolerance in competition (and not always to your benefit). Hell, our own Payson McElveen broke his hip at Sea Otter and still rode several miles afterward. We're not recommending that. It just highlights that we can tolerate a lot of discomfort to stay in the race, and it's essential to know that you can risk worsening the injury if you're not doing a thorough once-over after a fall. 

"All injuries are different, and it's important to listen to your body. Often, for me, it takes a little bit to assess whether something is just badly bruised, sprained, or broken," Kate says.

One non-negotiable we should all agree on with Kate: no riding after a head impact. "With head injuries, you can never be too careful, and that is the one type of injury that will see me pull out of a race, regardless of whether I can tell how serious it is at the moment," she says. Whether you’re dizzy or not, there’s a risk of long-term consequences.

POWER OF SUPPORT: HAVE A CARE TEAM

Whether you've hit your head or just hurt your ego, you need a solid team around you. A trusted group of friends and professionals will get you through what, for many, are darker times than they need to be. 

For Kate, her recovery began with surgery to install screws into her wrist. "I had four weeks in a cast, a few additional weeks in a splint, and a gradual return to the harder hits required to race MTB at the top level," she recalls. This particular one, she goes on, "is expected to be healed completely in about 6–8 weeks." Kate's been here before, too. Just a few years prior, she broke her arm at Nove Mesto, a race she's won before. Highs and lows (all part of the game). At this point, she had her post-op care program in place and knew how to maintain a positive mentality while being forced out of the sport she loved. 

Her advice is to take it step by step. "You can't make a call right away on the return-to-racing timeline. For me, it's all about having a great team around me that can help assess the best plan to get me back quickly, but safely. I have learned through experience that, even if my desire is always to get back on the bike as soon as I can. It is more important to let something heal completely so that you don't end up taking one step forward and two steps back."

PHYSICAL BENCHMARKS: EMBRACE THE TORTOISE

Recovery isn’t the same for everyone, but at first, it’s all about healing and adjusting your expectations. You can't rush it. "For the first few days, there isn't much going on aside from some little walks and letting your body heal and recover,” she shares. “I was able to get back on the trainer and start building up pretty quickly after that. I am lucky enough to work with an amazing physical therapist and strength coach, Matt Smith, who has been there from the beginning to help me work through each phase of recovery.” 

They rehabbed in a way you may not have heard of: BFR or Blood Flow Restriction. Blood flow restriction training is a method of reducing blood flow to a muscle group via a cuff, then working the muscles against resistance that is lower than their normal, healthy workload. With the reduced blood flow to the group, the athlete receives a training benefit without the risk of injuring the recovering wound. Less resistance + less blood = stimulus training. 

Small and manageable steps are crucial, too. You'll need to set micro-goals, and while you might be screaming inside to get back into racing, Kate recommends sticking to daily, attainable goals to keep progressing and avoiding FOMO. Remember, stay engaged with a long-term vision. 

I think there are two types of goal setting that can be helpful during an injury recovery. On the micro level, you can split your recovery into different phases. I kind of think of it like riding a long race where there are aid stations along the way. You just focus on getting to the next aid station.The first one was obviously getting surgery. Then it became about indoor training with a cast and aiming for the next aid station, where I could start riding road and gravel outside. The last aid station will mark my return to riding a mountain bike. And then it will be full focus on the first race back on my calendar! On the macro level, I think it can be really helpful to have a goal race on the horizon to keep you engaged. Although that race may be many months away, it can still be really beneficial mentally.—Kate

THE MENTAL GAME: SETBACKS ARE OPPORTUNITIES

Inevitably there’s self-doubt. You crashed. Got hurt. Who’s to blame? You’re maybe thinking it’s yourself. But Kate feels riders get lost in the muck and can spiral into negativity with that train of thought. Thinking too much about how things went wrong is usually not super helpful, she says, as a tool to navigate toward a positive outlook. To reframe the negatives, she says, “Yes, there are instances where you can take useful learnings away from how an injury occurred. But sometimes these things happen. I think it's much more useful to focus forward on what you can do and find the opportunities to make this a side step." It's too easy to think about how one wheel wrong can end your whole season, and that now you have to scramble like mad just to get back to where you were. 

Kate's found an outlet for these types of thoughts and shares her process for reframing your mental game during an injury. Here's a snippet from her The Monday Mantra Substack: Could this be good for me? 

But if I ask instead, how could I make this an advantage? I start to see things differently. Maybe this injury is giving me something I wouldn't have gotten otherwise: a real mid-season reset. A physical and mental break that could leave me stronger for the second half of the year. I can zig while others zag. And with that perspective, prioritizing full recovery feels less like a compromise and more like a strategy.—Kate

THE COMEBACK: RETURN TO RHYTHM

A return like you never left? That'd be the dream, right? But if you're out for 4–8 weeks, chances are you've got to find your rhythm again. For Kate, her injury timeline fortunately coincided with a bit of a summer break in the World Cup schedule, so she could have less stress about missing a huge chunk of competition. But even when she got cleared to ride outside, performance and confidence on the MTB couldn’t be rushed. 

Physically, I got back to being able to push as hard as I want in training on road/gravel and get all the benefits needed to come back strong for the end of the season. But, it has really just been a practice in patience to protect the healing wrist—taking my time getting back on the mountain bike and being conservative until I know I can withstand the hard hits of fast descending and possible crashes.—Kate

Her first race back wasn’t in the World Cup, but rather the Leadville Stage race, followed by Leadville. She finds test events let her find her feet at a more comfortable pace and help with the final body and mental checks before returning to the world stage. Most racers, she feels, should take it easy getting back into it. 

For the first race back, I recommend using a smaller race with less pressure to ease back in. I think it can be helpful to build back into racing the same way that you build back into training. If that's not possible, I think it's just important to be realistic about where you are. You can still have an incredible performance and achieve your goals, but going in with the knowledge that maybe your preparation wasn't perfect can help take the pressure off and allow you to focus on really giving your best in the moment. Often, I think you will surprise yourself!—Kate

THE WRAP-UP

We know crashes and injuries are part of the game. Not if, but when. With the right mindset, a solid team, and a recovery plan, getting back to top form is not only possible, it’s motivating. Kate’s journey serves as a powerful reminder that setbacks aren’t the end—they’re simply part of a stronger ride.

Kate returned to racing with a brilliant run of performances at the Leadville Stage Race, and then absolutely smashed the course record at the Leadville 100 to win in her debut at the event. No questions. Kate is back, bringing every sparkle-watt she can with her to the World Cup season, stronger and tougher than ever. And if you’re as motivated as Kate is to play bikes, she’s just launched BC40 in her She Sends Racing colors. More info below.

 RIDE KATE’S BC40

Kate’s on a mission to get more girls on bikes. So we teamed up to create a bike that does just that with this limited-edition BC40 in her She Sends Racing colors. When you buy this replica frameset, not only will you roll the sparkle-watts, but we’ll also donate a portion of each sale to the She Sends Foundation, supporting the next wave of women and girls who want to get on bikes themselves.

Every time I ride, this bike gives me a little sparkly reminder that my love for this sport is about so much more than any start or finish line. I hope that it inspires more women and girls to get out and ride, to be as joyful and sparkly as they are badass and driven, and to go after their dreams with all they’ve got.—Kate