The last name “Bausch” may be synonymous with cycling in Southern California, but come August, the first name “Dotsie” will be on the world’s stage at the 2012 London Summer Olympics. Dotsie Bausch is no stranger to international competition. After all, she’s a six-time U.S. National Champion and two-time Pan Am Championship gold medal winner, but this will be her first Olympic Games. The OUCH Pro Cycling team member from Irvine, is part of a four women team that will represent the United States in the track cycling discipline. It’s usually an anaerobic effort to keep up with Dotsie and her husband Kirk, who rides for Surf City Cyclery, so Cycling Illustrated did it the easy way; through email. We caught up with Dotsie while she was in Mallorca, Spain training with Kirk and the rest of the U.S. Olympic Track Cycling Team.
Cycling Illustrated: How is the training going in Spain?
Dotsie: The training so far is going fantastic. The road training here in Mallorca is the best I think I have ever experienced anywhere in the world, and I have raced and trained in over 20 countries. This is some epic riding! It’s 100 degrees, so a bit on the warm side, but man oh man, is it welcome after training here for two weeks in January before the Olympic test event where a snow storm, I mean an ice storm, rolled in and brought us 10 degree temps and snow for the first time to the island in 56 years. We were miserable! The track feels good here. We are just getting going, but we have some killer training days ahead of us next week on the wood and its really awesome to be back with the girls and preparing for London.
CI: Who are you there with and what are your accommodations like in Spain?
Dotsie: The biggest blessing is my husband has been able to come over with me and stay the entire time we are here, so he is whipping me and the girls into shape already with a five hour road ride yesterday that has us all cooked. He is the best training buddy ever. We have a very cool apartment overlooking the town center in Alaro, about 20K north of Palma. It’s so killer with our balcony overlooking the town square where we can sit and sip wine, I mean coffee, and enjoy the hustle and bustle. Such a dramatic difference from our quiet neighborhood in Orange County.
CI: How is training for track racing different than training for road racing?
Dotsie: Well, there are similarities in that I race endurance track. Yep, three kilometers is considered endurance on the track, and so you would be surprised at how many road hours are logged to create the aerobic capacity we need. Our event is a mix of aerobic capacity mixed with anaerobic bursts, so I do a lot of strength training in the gym for the standing start, lots of big torque rides on the road in a big gears, and then of course on the track with the team.
CI: How much time are you spending on the velodrome leading up to the Olympics?
Dotsie: We are here in Mallorca for the next nine weeks training together daily and will head straight to London from here, arriving five days before our event on the 3rd and 4th of August.
CI: What events will you be competing in at the Olympics?
Dotsie: The 3 kilometer team pursuit.
CI: Tell us a little bit about your teammates.
Dotsie: Ah, they’re the best bunch! We are quite tight. Two of us originate from the road side and two of us from the track side. Lauren Tamayo is an Exergy Twenty12 rider and has raced for numerous domestic U.S. teams on the road and is one of the peloton’s most feared and dedicated riders. She did grow up racing the track though too, as she has been riding since she was 10 years old. She is a natural. She is very calm and low maintenance by nature so she brings a special element to the team and keeps us all drama free. She is a rock. Sarah Hammer has focused on the track her entire career. We did spend one year racing together on T-Mobile, but that was not her cup of tea and she went straight back to the track. She is a gifted fighter in everything she sets out to do. The individual pursuit has been her passion for a long time, and some might say she is quite good at it (4-time World Champ in the event), but lucky for us, they added team pursuit to the Olympic line-up, so we get to steal her away for this team event. Then there is Jennie Reed, who came from a career as a track sprinter and is a two-time Olympian in match sprints. She retired after 2008 and then we came calling and asked her to consider coming back to do this event with us because we knew how much raw power and speed she would bring the team. And her mental toughness and determination would really add to our team as well. As far as we know, she is the only woman in history who has made the sprint to endurance transition on the track at this elite level and succeeded. She’s insane!
CI: What are your plans after the Olympics?
Dotsie: I have many irons in the fire currently and I will embrace the post Olympic year and take it a day at a time and see what unfolds. I plan to give back to the sport, continue to coach athletes and definitely continue my work with eating disorder patients and animal welfare. I would also love to do some cycling commentating.
CI: What’s a typical day like in the Bausch household when both you and Kirk are home together?
Dotsie: We are home bodies and both introverts so it won’t sound too exciting to anyone, but we love our quiet life with our pups. We love hanging out at the pool, going to movies, training together, working together and traveling together.
CI: How many athletes do you coach?
Dotsie: I had to really cut back this past year pre-Olympics because when I coach I want to give 100% to my clients because that’s what they deserve and are paying for. I cut back from 18 clients to six. Post Olympics, I will be ready to add back about 8-10 clients and I look forward to that.
CI: What advice would you give to a budding pro cyclist?
Dotsie: Don’t take yourself so seriously. Enjoy the journey. The destination will come no matter how you navigate the process, so don’t waste the process by being negative and caught up with constantly comparing yourself to others. Be your best you. Always focus on skill building and safety and reach out to those who are even newer and give back to them. Cycling is a tight circle, so be kind and generous.
CI: And for the classic cliché’ question, what do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t a pro cyclist?
Dotsie: A missionary or an interior decorator, or both.
CI: You may not be able to keep up with Dotsie on the bike, but you can at least read about her Olympic campaign at www.dotsiebauschusa.com.
