Photograph by Robert Scheer
Olympic hopeful Don Myrah, who has been racing mountain bikes for eight years, takes a break from his grueling training schedule. Myrah is currently in fourth place in the competition for two spots on the U.S. Olympic mountain-biking team.
By Tim Persyn
As he zoomed through a downhill section of a mountain-bike race in Colorado in first place, potential Olympian Don Myrah had no idea that the ensuing disaster would lead to marriage.
Suddenly, as he raced down the slick hill at 35 mph, his handlebars snapped. Myrah hit the ground at a speed most people travel only when they are driving a car too fast down a residential street.
He snapped his collarbone, missed the world championships, and headed back to California. While in a sling, he visited Saratoga's street fair, where he met his future wife.
"I was looking all scruffy and dirty, and she was dressed nice," Myrah remembered. "It was love at first sight." The year was 1992.
This summer in Atlanta, Myrah, a Saratoga resident, hopes to race for the United States as mountain-bike racing becomes an official medal sport in the Olympics.
He is currently in fourth place in the trials to make the team, with one race left. The catch is, only two people will make the team, although one alternate will be selected.
The final race will be held in Michigan on June 29. "The pressure's on," said the 30-year-old Myrah. "I think you put it on yourself."
As if the self-induced pressure wasn't enough, Myrah's collarbone recently intervened yet again to heighten the challenge. Earlier this year, he was racing on a World Cup course in Portugal. He broke his collarbone again and spent weeks at home recovering. To some, his Olympic hopes appeared to be dashed.
But Myrah, who won the 1989 world mountain-biking championships, wasn't through yet.
"No one figured I would recover and be in contention," he said. Instead of giving in, Myrah persisted. He healed in time to ride to a sixth-place finish last month in the fifth of six U.S. Olympic trials races, this one held in Atlanta.
Though it dropped him one place in the overall standings, the finish was good enough to keep him in Olympic contention. "He has a very good shot at making the team," said Wendy Day, communications director for NORBA, the national governing body for mountain biking, after the Atlanta race.
Myrah commented on the Atlanta course, where the Olympic competition will be held, "It's really tough and demanding...It has short, steep climbs and with the heat and humidity, it's going to be a tough race."
Just hearing about the preparation necessary to compete at Myrah's level would make the average person want to take a nap. His weekly training includes intervals in which he sprints at his maximum level for one- minute bursts, followed by one minute of rest before the next sprint.
"Those are really hard. You go as hard as you can," he said.
He also rides to the top of Highway 9, a tall, steep hill that even cars must hate, in 25 to 28 minutes, and powers through five-and-one-half hour endurance rides.
Myrah's training regimen would put Weight Watchers out of business. He can take in as much as 4,500 calories a day and not gain weight.
On top of that, the average mountain bike race is two or three hours of constant exertion over terrain that includes steep climbing, treacherous downhills and seemingly endless flat sections. Recovery from these races can take two or three days.
So why does he do it? Well, for one thing, he makes a living at this sport he's participated in since high school. His sponsors are Trek, a bicycle company, and Volkswagen. There are other perks.
"It's a way to be employed outdoors, and I get to travel," Myrah said. His career takes him to places like Belgium, Germany and Portugal for races. "I have a unique lifestyle--a lot of people wouldn't put up with it," Don Myrah said. "My wife is very supportive."
His wife Yvonne hangs in there during her husband's three-week-long trips abroad. She commented, "I'm proud of him. It's time-consuming but fun." She gets involved in some aspects of training. "I try to make sure he eats the right things," she said.
Like any world-class athlete whose sport is an Olympic-medal competition, Myrah has golden dreams about medal ceremonies in Atlanta. He also has an interesting point-of-view on the significance of the Olympic Games. "It's the only time we can all get together and play by the same set of rules," he said.
Making the Olympic mountain biking team will be more a matter of inner strength than physical capacity. "We're evenly matched," he said of his competitors. "We all race at the same races and we've all beaten each other. The guy with the most desire will probably make it."
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, June 26, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved