IN CONVERSATION: GRACIE ELVIN
Just as the Women’s TDU was about to wrap up, we caught up with Mitchelton-Scott rider Gracie Elvin for a coffee chat.
Gracie Elvin. Canberra native, Mitchelton-Scott rider. Gracie was one of the first professional cyclists to throw a follow out way over on Instagram. She doesn’t quite remember when, why or how, but she’s glad she did as one thing she longs for is more weird and funny characters in the sport.
After getting acquainted outside a café in Unley, talking about weird senses of humour we jumped into a series of questions over coffee. We can’t thank her enough for giving us the time of day during what is deinitely a busy schedule during the tour.
I: THIS SUMMER
How has your Australian summer been?
It’s been really good. I love the lifestyle that I have, but the more I travel the more I love coming back to Australia. I’m really grateful that I get to go to all the places I go to because of my job but it’s always so nice to come back here, and it’s so relaxing. I grew up in Canberra so I spend a lot of time there and jump on the mountain bike which is about half of my training during the summer so its super nice to get off the road and get on the trails with my mates and not get stressed about being in traffic or training or doing efforts and instead just ride for fun.
Are there any bits of Australia that feel really nice when you get back here?
Canberra because its home and all my friends and family are there. I also love going up to the Snowy Mountains – I’ve got some mates with some places up there so I try and get up there when I can. I also love the South Coast which is unfortunately been ravaged by fires which is really sad. I can’t wait to get back there again and see how they can all rebuild again. Even coming to Adelaide is really nice. Really anywhere in Australia – it’s a pretty amazing country. It’s good to get away from it to realise how good it is when I come back and enjoy it again.
My parents have a bit of property down in the Bega Valley where it’s pretty much just basic sheds. There’s no electricity, it’s just gas, so since I was a kid I would go up there over Christmas time and totally get off the grid. It’s something that’s really grounding to me; drinking rain water, going to bed once it’s dark, reading books all day and just doing mountain bike rides or road rides. It’s only half an hour down to the beach too so heading down there to go surfing in the afternoons is super nice.
With results like a silver in last years TT Nationals, bronze in this years Crit Champs and the 2 road titles earlier in your career, what kind of expectations do you have for yourself heading into Road Nats week?
It’s one of the hardest weeks of the year for me to be honest, because you’ve just come off an off-season, you don’t really know how fit you are compared to everyone else. You haven’t really raced yet, and you’re actually trying to not be in peak fitness because you need to save that for March and April for the classics so it’s kind of that balancing act of trying to be fit, needing to prove yourself because you’re in Mitchelton-Scott. The pressure is on the team to win, you’ve got your own personal pressure to win and then because I’ve won there before I want to win there again because I know that I can so the days leading in to those races actually suck a little bit.
It’s really important to just bring yourself out of that bubble and tell yourself that it’s fine, the pressure is just from yourself, so I find ways to distract myself. This year I had my parents and a couple of really good mates there so that was really nice to just feel like no matter what happened, the people I care about, and who care about me didn’t care how I actually went in the races. It made it all a bit easier for myself.
Given they are held while a lot of cyclists are still in their “off-season” do you feel like you get a bit of a leg up on grabbing some early season form during the Australian racing calendar?
Compared to the Europeans that go straight into the Spring Classics, I feel like we’ve gotten the nerves out of the way, we know how we’re going in the races which definitely helps. Maybe 5 or 6 years ago we were way fitter going into those first few classics, or even the Tour of Qatar, and the Aussies were clearly better because of the way that we got to train in the weather during summer and the racing we got to do here.
Nowadays we can barely notice the difference because all the Euro’s are doing summer camps in South Africa or Tennerife, or they’re coming to Australia now to race too. I think everyone has caught up in that respect, but the advantage we still have is that chance to get rid of the nerves and get the racing started.
II: TEAM LIFE
How has the vibe been amongst the team during this week in Adelaide?
It’s been really good and special being with Mitchelton and being at the Tour Down Under because you feel a bit special. Going to the team presentation there was over a thousand people there so you feel like a bit of a rockstar.
We definitely come into this race as the favourites too, and there’s so many people on the side of the road for Spratty and for Mitchelton Scott and all the people cheering there’s definitely pressure to win, but we can still just enjoy ourselves.
We’re just grateful that we get to do this for a job, and being in Australia you do get to feel special in this jersey.
You’ve been part of the Mitchelton-Scott team for a while now, what are things like off-bike throughout the season?
This is my 8th year with the team, so it goes to show that the environment is really, really good. A lot of riders do stay in the team for as long as they can.
One of the important part of choosing riders to be in the team is will they fit into the environment so over the whole time they’ve been quite deliberate in who they’ve picked for the team not just for the results but for how they’re going to fit into the dynamic of the group. A majority of the riders are Aussie, so we all kind of have the same sense of humour, we all understand each other even if we are all different personalities. Even just the fact we are away from home for 8 or 9 months a year, so we treat each other a bit more like family. There’s not many arguments or confrontations because we’re mindful the whole time of keeping the atmosphere really good because that’s an important part of our success.
What’s it like between nice-ness with the team, and that killer instinct when you’re out racing?
We’ve done a lot of work with group psychology stuff, we’ve had different people come in to do bonding or team building and feedback sessions with us.
Sometimes Aussies can be non-confrontational in general, then again because we’re women and we’re over in Europe and we’re trying to keep the environment nice maybe we don’t say enough of what needs to be said, so all that stuff has been really helpful for us to have a structured way to give positive and negative feedback to each other. At the end of the day we’re professional athletes, we need that critical feedback to keep improving.
Something I really value in this team is that we’re always laughing at the dinner table, even in the camp, before the race. As soon as the gun goes though, we’re very professional, we’re switched on. We’ve worked so much on our communication in the races so we can turn that killer instinct on and off. It really is a skill you need to work on as a team and as an individual.
You mentioned you’ve been with the team for 8 years now, does that mean you’re taking long service leave soon?
Haha nooooo. We’re all contractors effectively so no long service leave for us.
Back to what you were saying about the chosen dynamic of the team, finding that balance must be super important and quite difficult…
Something that is super helpful that I’ve noticed over the years is the empathy and being able to understand where someone is coming from even if they have had a totally different life experience to you, or their personality is different. As long as you know that about them, then the conflict is a lot less. It’s when you don’t have that understanding about each other when you start getting annoyed at one another. Getting to know each other is an important part of that team building process.
Did you have any specific goals for yourself before the Women’s Tour Down Under commenced?
I just came off a bit of a rough last season, so I just wanted to get back into the racing an enjoy it number one. I didn’t want to feel so stressed and feel any self doubt because of the work that I had to do to get back to this level again. I’ve been trying not to put pressure on myself to get results because I always want to do better and better.
I was hoping to result in the sprint for the first stage, I finished fourth so I was pretty close. I also wanted to win one of the intermediate sprints because my best friends mother did all the flowers for that town (Echunga) and I won the first one so I was happy with that. I set myself little personal goals as well as those big result goals which is important.
Things are still pretty close up the top of the GC with just a few seconds between Ruth Winder and Spratty, what’s the plan going to be for the final stage?
We’ve got nothing to lose as a team, so we can be pretty audacious and go for as many free seconds as we can. We’ll turn Spratty into a sprinter and use my legs for good not evil.
III: WOMEN'S SPORT
What’s it like when you’re kitting up for Australia at events like the Olympics or the Commonwealth games versus when it’s time to race with your team or even for Australia at the World Champs?
It’s super special, surreal even. In Rio it felt like you were just in a dream – which is a bit cliche but when it’s something you dream about as a kid for a long, long time then you’re there in the kit, and there’s bags of kit that they’ve given you and theres people on the sides of the roads it’s like you’ve been transported into this alternate kind of universe.
Wearing Aussie kit no matter what event it is is something really special and something I’ve never tried to take for granted.
Professional women’s sport in Australia seems to be growing in leaps and bounds over recent years – take the growth of the AFLW, bolstering of the W-League and the huge popularity and focus around the Matildas. As someone in that sphere on a daily basis, are you seeing the same kind of growth and strengthening in the women’s side of cycling?
Definitely at a professional level. Internationally womens cycling has come a long way in the last 5 years. Less so in Australia, but it definitely has grown. The Tour Down Under has been a really great supporter of women’s cycling, same as Cadel’s Great Ocean Road Race, they’ve really made sure the conditions and the money is the same for the women which is super important.
Unfortunately for the rest of the year the domestic teams don’t get much more of a chance to race with the National Road Series, so January is super important for domestic riders to come and do these races. They’re not being able to as much anymore because the status of these races has been elevated so many aren’t even allowed to race.
Overall internationally the conditions have gotten better, the coverage has gotten better but I think it still needs more emphasis put on the individuals so that there can be fans of this rider or that rider or this team, and that’s where social media has been a huge help for that, and women have been able to create their own narrative through their own channels. We can only go so far before we need better coverage from media outlets to keep getting those stories out there so people can say “oh I didn’t know that back story, I want to follow her in the race now” or “that team is doing cool things off the bike”.
There’s not one thing that needs to change, just a whole lot of little things that build the bigger picture.
Tell us about how The Cyclists’ Alliance came about…
The leader (Iris Slappendel), her and I used to chat in the neutrals in some of races and she knew that I was interested in women’s cycling and trying to propel it forward. Even the conditions at races we’d often chat and say “what do you think about this? Oh I thought that was unsafe.”
She approached me in 2017 and proposed that she was going to start a cycling union and she asked if I would be involved as she really valued my opinion. I was a bit hesitant because I didn’t know if I could commit much time to it but after a couple of months of her persisting I agreed.
Now I’m really proud of what she’s been able to do and what I’ve been able to put in over the last 2 years to get a women’s cycling union going, and how successful we’ve been so far in helping a lot of women, creating a lot of changes within the UCI, getting a lot more information out there to riders about what they should and shouldn’t accept. It’s been really rewarding.
IV: LOOKING AHEAD
The WTDU wraps up after tonights crit – where to next from here for the rest of your summer?
I’ve only got Sun Tour left, so I’ll just do a bit more training to get ready for Europe, do Sun Tour then head to Spain early February.
What’s got you most excited for the year ahead?
I’m probably coming to the last parts of my career now so it’s probably about trying to stay present, enjoy each race as it comes, try not to put pressure on myself but still have big goals. I’m really looking forward to the spring classics again – they’re my favourite by far. I love the Belgians, I love the cobbled classics, Flanders is always number 1. I just want to race that this year, a big goal of mine is to get on the squad for that race and then just do my best.
V: LIFE & VIBES
What was it like growing up in Canberra and finding your feet as a professional cyclist there?
Canberra has got an awesome cycling community. I’ve been riding since I was about 13 or 14, and they’ve just got bunch rides every single day that you can go on. Everyone’s really welcoming so I cut my teeth on the bunch rides (Hour of Power, Hour of Terror, Semi-Pro) and club racing in Canberra – especially the infamous Wednesday night crits in Canberra (Wednesday World Champs).
I built up from racing women’s grades and now I can race in men’s A Grade which gives me a good benchmark of where I’m at because it’s sometimes harder than any of the races I do with the women. The guys really light it up.
The mountain biking is really good in Canberra too. I can do -6 hours on the mountain bike pretty much all on single track, it’s good for the head.
What were your earliest and fondest cycling memories?
I rode with my dad when I was growing up, that was pretty special to slowly get stronger as a teenager riding with him and sharing lots of really good, big days on the bike. We’d go out to the Snowy Mountains together and always get these personal bests together which was super nice. He’s come to visit me in Europe a few times which is really nice to be able to share that with him too.
I’ve just loved making friends through cycling in Canberra, I always had good friends at school but never heaps in common with someone, so once I found my tribe in cycling I got so many great girlfriends in Canberra. They road ride, they mountain bike, the do snow sports, they have really interesting jobs so it’s a good mix. I think whatever city you are in cycling attracts such an interesting range of people.
What is the best loop/climb/ride in Canberra, and where is the best coffee in Canberra?
Canberra is one of those sleepy cities where there heaps of good stuff hidden away in terms of food and coffee, but the riding is pretty awesome. The standard loop would be the Cotter-Uriarra loop which is out Stromlo way in behind the hills.
As for coffee I had some mates that owned a cafe called Toasted. I was sad this summer because they sold it, otherwise I’d go there every day while I was home. There’s so many good coffee places in Canberra. I also go to Farmers Daughter in Yarralumla.
What are three songs you’ve been bumping this week?
I’ve actually been listening to a lot of true crime podcasts. I’ve been reading a lot and listening to podcasts. The last piece of music I listened to was actually a piece of classical music. For the crit I warmed up to Recomposed by Max Richter Vivaldi the Four Seasons. It was actually great, I highly recommend it. I don’t normally listen to classical music but my sister sent it to me, I gave it a go and it was actually the perfect warm up music. I need to get back on top of music though because I need to know what the Hottest 100 is going to be.
What’s your favourite post race meal?
I have to eat a lot of rice because of our team nutrition, and a lot of protein shakes, but if I have a choice – a hamburger and chips and a milkshake.
Describe your ideal rest day:
Sleep in, get ready very slowly – I really don’t like being rushed. Get out on my bike, go for a little cruise, head to a coffee shop, read the whole newspaper, drink coffee and eat nice cafe food. Spend way too much money because it’s Australia. Go to the beach, have a swim, go for a surf, have a few drinks with mates. Eat a charcuterie board for dinner and go to bed.
What’s your favourite thing about being a pro cyclist?
That I don’t have to work. I’m really grateful that I’ve been able to do this for so long. The thing I’ve most go out of it is that I’ve got some awesome relationships and made some amazing friends over the last 10-15 years with people that I want in my life for the rest of my life. I love being outside for hours and hours, to train and exercise for work each day. I’m trying to devise a way for my next job to be similar.
What has been your favourite country to race in during your career?
I’ve got such a soft spot in my heart for the classics. The Belgians just love cycling. The Flanders weekend is like Grand Final weekend for them, it’s just insane. If we get good weather over the Flanders weekend there will be a million people standing on the course, and the rest of the country is watching it on TV.
Any kind of accomodation we stay in during the weeks leading up to the classics, the hosts know exactly what races you’re doing even if they’re not true cycling fans they still know everything that is going on. It’s not a particularly beautiful country but it’s the atmosphere and the whole culture is really, really cool. In terms of fun and pure cycling culture it’s Belgium, but in terms of beauty it’s hard to go past Italy because it’s Italy.
I also actually really love Norway, that’s one of my favourites – and Britain. It can be pretty miserable there, but the people are just always out, you get so many fans out there to come and watch.
From the photos you’ve shared your mum seems to have a great photographic eye, and you’ve got your own Instagram account dedicated to non-cycling photos. Is there a strong creative side to Gracie Elvin?
My whole family is very creative, and I’m actually probably the least creative purely because I’m just too tired from training too much. I love taking photos, I think it’s a really nice way to be present where you are and get you to look around more and see things from different angles.
I haven’t taken that many photos lately but I want to get back into it as it’s a nice mindfulness thing. I bought a nice camera for myself last year just so I wasn’t using my phone and getting all these notifications while I’m taking photos.
It’s nice to be able to do something different. In the future I’d definitely like to be a bit more creative, do a bit more photography and maybe a bit of painting, or writing which I really like doing.
Do you have a saying or mantra you live by?
I have a tattoo of a horseshoe. Part of it is about having horses when I was younger but another part is that you make your own luck. I try not to be superstitious and have rituals because I think at the end of the day if you work hard and you prepare yourself, luck finds you.
“Be honest with yourself, work hard and good things will come.”
VI: RAPID FIRE ROUND
Pub or Club
Pub
Sprint or Climb
Sprint
Beer or Vino
Vino
Aero or Lightweight
Aero
Drake or Kanye
Kanye
Trash Talk on the bunch ride yes/no:
Absolutely yes
Who’s the funniest on the team?
Me
How about the most fashionable on the team?
Also me
Apple or android:
Apple
Favourite emoji:
Love-heart eyes
Ford or Holden:
Neither
Plants or Flowers:
Plants
Coffee: milk or black?
Milk
Favourite type of soup:
A heart pumpkin soup. A classic.
Soon after posing for some pics, Gracie head off to meet up with her team again to prepare for the final stage of the Women’s Tour Down Under. What was planned to be 30 minutes or so ended up being closer to 2 hours, we feel blessed to be given the time of day. Be sure to throw her a follow on Instagram.