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The Journey: Kate Fluker
Since first hopping on a bike in 2010, Kate Fluker's racing career quickly took a steep trajectory; setting goals, lining up at her first World Cup XCO event in Europe, and more.
From the hustle of racing life, to slowing down during the lockdown in New Zealand.
• June 17th 2020
Entry submitted by Kate Fluker -
Since first hopping on a bike in 2010, my racing career took a massive upwards trajectory in terms of goals, and by 2013 I was lining up at my first World Cup XCO event in Europe. My days were quickly filled with fundraising events to travel and race overseas, work, training, and a tiny bit of social life.
I had a great few years racing on the World Cup scene with my proudest moment racing at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. More recently, I chose to compete in long-distance marathon events such The Pioneer, Trans Rockies, and Cape Epic with my teammate Mark “Willy” Williams which resulted in a very fun and successful racing team.
2020 started slow for me deciding not to race for the foreseeable future, however, March 2020 put a pretty hefty stop to people's normal lives with the Covid-19 pandemic. Days that once were hectic, squishing in as many jobs, work hours, and training hours as possible - suddenly there was nothing to do!
This was a very challenging time for people mentally, however, I believe NZ did the right thing with compulsory isolation and in turn, saved lives.
At the time of first writing this entry - we were over halfway through Isolation and to be honest, I really enjoyed the weeks in my bubble. I learned from past experience due to a broken collarbone right before the Rio Olympics that being forced to stop was incredibly difficult on me mentally and I had to learn to enjoy a slower-paced life.
I felt I was ready coming into the lockdown period and I have enjoyed the time: to spend with my husband, to work on our property, to hang out with our animals, and of course to exercise. It was a slower pace of life but it was good for us.
I was fortunate enough to still have work with Colliers as a Valuer working from 9 am until 2 pm so I did my best to keep my “normal routine” as much as possible. I aimed to do an hour of exercise a day whether it be a run, walk, indoor bike, or F45 class before work, or I went for a ride with Reon in the afternoon after work once the property chores were done.
Being a very active person I find it impossible to just stop, sit, and do nothing. I felt best mentally and physically when I got outside - for a walk, a run or a bike ride in my bubble, close to home, and sticking to the isolation rules. I used this opportunity to do some yoga and flexibility work, which always seemed to fall to the back of the “to do” list on my normal day.
One of my sponsors – F45 Queenstown adapted to the times and created online training classes and while I missed the environment of the gym, this was great to keep some social interaction and fitness going. Zwift has re-entered my world - what used to be used purely as a machine to do training efforts on. Now, I have really been enjoying the virtual world of Zwift, “riding” with mates and making myself hurt a little. I am very fortunate where I live that there are some beautiful bike tracks on my back doorstep, so was able to keep mountain biking on easy terrain only. Rest assured, I made sure the wheels stay on the ground and was not pushing my technical ability in any way. I was very conscious of not making any additional work for all of the amazing health care workers.
It's been an interesting time and incredibly hard for some. One thing I learned from racing is to control the controllables.
I did my best to stay positive but on those tough days, I made time for myself, got some fresh air, and called my mates.
