A_M _B_2015_02_03_

40 - AMB

some financial sponsors, I’m going to end
up broke. I’m at the stage where I have to
decide whether to kiss the 2015 World Cup
Series goodbye and just continue working, or
whether I should suck it up and ride the whole
season and the World Champs and come back
broke and with no job or place to live!’
When I ask her about her goals, it’s clearly
difficult.

‘The whole next season is dependent on
money – on how long I can stay over there,’
she says.
And the amount of racing she does will affect
her results.

‘If I can only make it to World Champs, then
of course that’d be the one I’d be aiming for,’
Janine says.

‘But my biggest problem is getting
competition experience, and I can’t get that
over here because we don’t have that many
competitions – they’re all overseas. That’s
why I want to go over, so I can ride the World
Cups,’ she says.

What’s holding me back in competition is that
calmness – not panicking, and it only comes
from doing comps, lots of comps.’

‘You’re so nervous for your first event of the
season, and it’s a sport where nerves can
play a big role, but then you ride another one
and it gets a bit better, and then the next
competition is a bit better again. I’m worried
about going straight to the World Champs
without that experience.’

‘I’m working on approaching some sponsors

at the moment,’ she says. ‘I’m not any worse

off if I try.’

Looking through the podium shots on Janine’s

website, I can see the difficulty of being

exceptionally good at a very small sport.

While the XCO, BMX, and Downhill podiums

are climbed by athletes in matching sets of

their sponsors’ hats, kit, shoes, socks, and

sunglasses, the girls on World Cup trials

podiums wear t-shirts and shorts, mostly

black, with barely a logo in sight.

While the best swimmers, cricketers, and

tennis players in Australia count their

achievements in millions: of dollars’ worth

of prize money, of followers on Twitter, of

households who recognise them, here’s an

athlete who measures her achievements in

centimetres jumped, kilograms lifted, and

in the number of times her foot touches the

ground.

Trials is called that for a reason. Far from

the impressive Macaskill videos, it’s a sport

that requires incredible patience. It’s slow,

it’s complex, it has a high failure rate – all of

which, to me at least, make Janine’s success

all the more impressive.

Follow Janine @janinejungfels or at http://www.

janinejungfels.com

Mountain bikers have,

by now, adjusted to the

fact that different wheel

sizes suit different types

of riding. In competition

trials it’s no different.

There are three sizes –

20, 24, and 26 inch – each

demanding different

riding styles and with

different applications.

This year Janine’s

back on a 20-inch, the

smallest wheel size, after

spending last year on a

24. Because there are so
    few female competitors
    in international trials,
    they compete in just
    one category, while
    men’s competitions are
    categorised according to
    wheel size.

With the bigger wheels,

you’ll roll more easily,

and there’s the potential

to get up bigger

obstacles, but bigger

wheels mean heavier

bikes, which means the

rider will need more

power.

‘My style has developed

for a 20-inch, and also

the women’s competition

sections are usually

small, technical, tight

lines, so it’s easier to

manoeuvre a small bike

through them than a

larger wheel size,’ says

Janine.

‘Out of 10 to 15 female

riders who compete at

World Cup level, only

one or two ride a 24-inch

wheel.’

Wheel size –

it’s a thing in trials as well