Jennie Stenerhag Q & A

For the Full Sus ladies issue we decided to put some questions to one of the most experienced riders and prolific winners in South African mountain biking, the Swedish South African, Jennie Stenerhag.

FS: Jennie you’ve been a competitive skier, roadie and now a mountain biker. Tell us a bit about how you moved through the sports from Sweden to South Africa.

JS: I grew up with skiing. I started when I was three years old and both my older brothers were racing so it was natural for me to also start racing. I did my first skiing race when I was six and a half years old! I kept racing until I was 22. I went to a special skiing school and also a skiing university which made it possible for me to focus more on my sport without so much pressure from university – we could do a three year course in four years to get more time for our sport. I had a bad crash in a downhill race and tore my cruciate ligaments and needed five operations and that was the end of my skiing career.

I tried to live a normal life with normal jobs but I missed sport too much and six years after I stopped skiing I found cycling. I did the “Swedish classic” which is when you complete four endurance races (90km cross country skiing in March, 300km road cycling in June, 3km open water swimming in July and 30km running in September) within 12 months. It got me hooked on cycling! So I did a MTB race in Sweden and loved it! At around the same time I came to SA for the first time on a two week holiday and fell in love with the country. I basically returned to Sweden just to quit my job and rent out my flat and I was back in SA six weeks later and have returned for every SA summer since 2004.

During my first longer stay of three months I met so many cyclists and everyone asked if I was doing this Argus race and I got tempted to try so I bought my first road bike in SA just to take part in the Argus. I had never done a road race before. I did a 3.17 at my first attempt in 2004.

When back in Sweden in 2004 I started a very short MTB career which ended in a crash with a fractured spine after three or four races… and the season was over. When I recovered I got back on the bike, but mainly on the road since the MTB scared me a bit, though I did start the Cape Epic in 2005 but had to pull out after day three due to flu.

In 2006 I got in to my first European pro road team in Italy and the following year I was in a team in Holland. Once again the season got spoiled due to a bad crash with a broken elbow. The doctors in Sweden said I could never cycle on a high level again, since it was not possible to make my elbow straight enough, but my awesome physio in Stellenbosch, Pierre Kruger, assisted me to be able to straighten my arm and soon I was back on the bike again.

I had my golden year in 2009 when I won the Argus, Swedish road champ, Swedish national road series and the Alpha Pharm series in SA all in the same year.

In 2011 I felt that I had had enough of the road scene. It was too much travelling and since it was hard to get an income from riding, it was just costing me too much so I decided to stop. To top my road career off I broke my collarbone in a team time trial at the World Cup in Vårgårda in Sweden. I did not have the motivation to get back so that was the end of it.

I still came back to South Africa for the summer and a friend asked if I wanted to do the Joburg2C and I thought, why not? In preparation for that I did the Grape Escape MTB stage race with another friend, which was the first MTB stage race I finished, and I was crap! I have no technical talent and it has taken a lot of hard work to overcome the fear that crash in 2004 instilled in me (even though I ended up having worse crashes on the road).

After Joburg2C I was completely hooked on MTB and not much later I found myself wanting to focus 100% on cycling again. After that I have raced more and more on the MTB and have done three Cape Epics, three Cape Pioneers, two Joburg2C’s, three Sani2C’s and I am still loving every moment of it. I have also been lucky enough to find good sponsors, who make it possible.

FS: How does mountain biking compare to skiing for a female competitor?

JS: It is difficult to compare since I stopped skiing 18 years ago and by that time everything was the same for us girls and the guys, we trained together, did the same races on the same courses, had the same sponsors and no one had salaries since we were still at university. The one thing that is similar is that both sports are tough and might be seen as a man’s sport, but I think that is changing a lot in mountain biking at the moment.

FS: You’re currently in Europe for the World XCM Champs (Jennie finished 26^th after battling pneumonia for four weeks leading up to the race), what do you think South Africa can learn from the way they run the sport in Europe?

JS: Cycling races are run completely differently in Sweden compared to South Africa; I must say that on some points the European organisers should come to South Africa to learn how to run a race. A lot of the European riders racing in SA will agree with me. When it comes to stage races I think SA is a leading country, even though I have only done stage races on the road in Europe.

In Sweden all races are organised by clubs and the members work on a volunteer basis, so no one gets paid for the work. The income from entries goes to the club to help their riders, mostly kids, who are starting or young riders on their way up. Sport in Sweden is all about clubs, and parents helping out for free. In this way it also does not cost as much for a child to start with a sport, since a lot is covered by the club. You must just pay the yearly membership fee which normally is a few 100 Rands. I think SA can learn something from this in terms of making it possible for kids to start with sports, even if the parents cannot afford to send them to races. To help in the club where you are a member is so natural since we all grew up doing some sport where we had to help and work in the club. For example, when my club organises a race and I also want to do the race, I help before and after by helping to mark the route and take the markers away after race day. Everyone helps in the way they can.

FS: Being a partner in iRide Africa and a professional racer you must have a uniquely balanced view of ladies’ mountain biking, with that in mind what can be done to help grow the number of ladies taking up mountain biking, both for racing and trail riding?

JS: I think a lot is being done at the moment and we are on the right track to develop ladies mountain biking. There are a lot of skills clinics and mechanical clinics directed for ladies only and we are slowly but surely getting to equal prize money for the ladies. What can still develop is the amount of media time we get. It is still easier for men to find sponsors since they are seen more often in media than us ladies. If young girls see that it is possible to be a full time professional mountain biker as a girl and survive on your sport I think more and more girls will try to make it to a professional level.

I also think it would be good to focus more on age groups racing and not only professionals, it can motivate a lot of girls to train hard and develop and get out there to races if they can race even though they’re not on a professional level. Also have separate starts for ladies as we do at the Ashburton series races, sometimes it can scare ladies to start with the men since it is too fast from the start.

During the years I have been a partner in iRide Africa we have seen more and more girls as customers on our MTB tours and in South Africa we see more ladies riding bikes for fun. There are a lot more girls riding bikes in SA than in Sweden!

FS: You’ve had some great sponsors like CBC and Ascendis Health, what advice would you give a young female rider to find and keep sponsors?

JS: I would not be able to do this sport if it was not for my sponsors; both CBC and Ascendis Health have been and still are incredible sponsors who are very understanding and supporting. I think the most important is to know them on a personal level, not just as a business deal. You must feel proud to be representing them and it will make you feel truly happy to get good results when you feel that you are making someone else proud and happy by riding your bike! It is an amazing feeling and just gives racing a different meaning.

I think one should just be yourself, not try to be something you think your sponsors wants you to be, remember that they chose to sponsor you for you. It is important to always think about that you are representing your sponsors and advertise them in every way that you can. You must make sure that they always know what you are up to and how it is going, both when it is going good and bad.

FS: Speaking of Team Ascendis Health, how long are you and Robyn de Groot contracted to the team for and what goals do you two have insight for the next few years?

JS: Our contract is until the end of this year and we both hope that it will be renewed for next year. Robyn and I race very well together and we get along extremely well both on and off the bike which strengthens us as a team. I really hope that Robyn will be my permanent partner for a few more years to come. Our next goal is the Cape Pioneer and the Wines2Whales in the end of the year and hopefully we can tackle the Epic together again next year.

FS: Are there any plans to expand the team with more riders?

JS: You will need to ask our manager Malcolm Lange about this one J I hope they are looking at expanding the team; it would be great for situations like at Sani when Robyn was sick and I needed a stand-in partner.

FS: And on a personal front, are there any goals you’ve set yourself on the bike in terms of places you’d like to go ride or skills you’d like to master (as opposed to race results)?

JS: I don’t normally set goals, I am happy as long as I have performed my best. I do try to develop my skills at all times and am working hard on that point so I always have small things like certain corners or rock sections I want to be able to do or get over, and when I manage one I find another trickier one.

In terms of places I would like to ride my bike: After being in Val Gardena, riding a mountain bike for the first time in Italy and getting a taste for it, I would love to go to Livigno to ride. I have been there skiing before but never on a bike. I would also like to go to Åre in my home country of Sweden; it is a skiing resort which has developed a lot the last few years as a cycling town in the summer. I lived there when they held the MTB World Champs in 1999 but I had not started cycling by then so I have never cycled there.

FS: What keeps you motivated to keep racing your bike?

JS: I love riding my bike and that is my number one motivation. I am a competitive person and love challenging myself. It motivates me to always try to develop, learn more things on the bike and try to get faster and stronger. The day I don’t enjoy those things anymore I will stop racing, but I can’t see that day coming anytime soon.

FS: Any advice you’d like to pass on to young, would-be professional, female mountain bikers that you wish you learnt earlier?

JS: I do not regret anything in my career but if I would have to pick something it would be that I did not start mountain biking earlier, especially when it comes to skills. I would recommend anyone who wants to be a professional mountain biker to focus more on skills training. It will give you an advantage over others and it will save you a lot of energy if you do not need to concentrate so much on the technical parts in a race. A lot of professionals forget about this part and only train on the fitness and endurance.

The most important though is to have fun and sometimes just go out and enjoy riding the bike!

Bio:

Jennie Stenerhag races for Team Ascendis Health with the South African XCM Champion Robyn de Groot. Jennie is the reigning Swedish XCM Champion and when she’s not racing or training she guides MTB tours for the company she owns with Daniel Dobinson, iRide Africa. Follow her on Twitter at @jenniestenerhag.