Grand Rapids-based endurance racer Danielle Musto is not only a force to be reckoned with on a mountain bike trail, she’s also an incredibly down-to-earth and genuinely nice person, as I found out when I interviewed her in January.
MiMBR: How long have you been racing?
DM: I would say about six years, but I started at the end of August, so I had about two months then and I didn’t train really hard. I’d say about four years seriously.
MiMBR: Can you tell me a little bit about how you got into racing, how you started?
DM: Yeah. I was actually living with my best friend at the time and we were incredibly unhealthy. We were both working and going to school and that’s all we did. I met Scott [Chambers, Danielle’s husband] and he was this bike racer and was always talking about bike racing. I went to some of his races and was handing him water bottles and started imagining myself racing. Then I hopped on a bike with him and just fell in love with it instantly. We went for a ride on pavement around the lake and it was all I could think about. So about a month later I entered my first race at Ithaca.
MiMBR: So, that leads into my next question, which is can you describe your first race?
DM: I raced beginner cross country and it was a total disaster. I literally fell off my bike probably about 30 times. I didn’t even know what I was doing, but it was fun.
MiMBR: Before you got into racing did you participate in other sports?
DM: No. I took karate for a few years as a child, but I was definitely not athletic at all.
MiMBR: Why do you like racing? What does it for you?
DM: I’d have to say probably my favorite thing about racing is crossing the finish line. [Laughs] And then eating afterwards. Food always tastes so good then. But I guess it’s that racing is rewarding. You train so hard for something and then you see the results. Doing endurance races, too, the crowds are so nice. Everyone is so supportive of each other no matter if you’re first or last place. At the end of the race you all say “whoa, I rode for 100 miles.”
MiMBR: Do you have a favorite race course or favorite race that you’ve done?
DM: I have a lot of different places that I like. My favorite all-time race is probably Cohutta 100 two years ago when I won it. It was a race where I felt really good for most of the race and it came down to a sprint finish. My friend Carey [Lowery] caught me on the last bit of singletrack about two miles from the finish. I had led for the majority of the race. It was fun. It came down to a sprint, which never happens and I think I took it by one second.
MiMBR: Do you have any race you’ve done that you felt like everything was just a disaster? That was so horrible it made you never want to get on a bike again?
DM: I’ve had a lot of horrible races, but never one that made me not want to get on a bike again. When I first started racing I did the Mohican 100 and I had never even ridden more than 35 or 40 miles. Everyone got lost and I was out there for 12+ hours. I had no clue what I was doing. I ended up in an ambulance before at the Wilderness 100 and had to have knee surgery, but I always want to get back on the bike.
MiMBR: Your coach is Lynda Wallenfels. What do you like about having a coach? What does that do for you?
DM: There are many days when I do not want to get on a bike, but with Lynda I have to download my workout every day and there’s never an excuse really good enough that I can think of to not get on the bike. It’s nice having someone to answer to and getting an outside perspective, because while I like riding and racing a lot, I don’t necessarily know what I should be doing. It’s nice having Lynda, who has trained for a very long time. She tends to know more about me than I do.
MiMBR: I know you’ve had a lot of success racing, but do you feel like there’s still something out there that you haven’t accomplished? That maybe is a goal in the back of your mind that you feel like even though you’ve won races, you’ve had so many great races, that there’s still something that’s out that that you’re looking for?
DM: Yes. I’d actually like to win 24 Hour Nationals. I’ve gotten second place and third once, so I’m not stopping until I get that stars and stripes jersey.
MiMBR: What made you decide to focus on endurance racing as opposed to cross country?
DM: Honestly, I don’t know. I used to be a merchandising manager for the Gap and I used to do 24-hour shifts. I was racing beginner cross country and Scott told me about Mark Hendershot and how he would do 24-hour races and I just decided to try it. My first one was 24 hours of Boyne and I just rode four hours to prepare for it one time. It never occurred to me that I couldn’t do it. So, I just said “I’m going to try it.”
MiMBR: And how did that go?
DM: It went really well. I beat the second place woman by 70 miles and I think I ended up with 140 miles. It went well, but I should say that I was in no way prepared for it. I was crying at the top of the mountain on my last lap. All I had to do was ride down and I couldn’t do it. I was completely exhausted.
MiMBR: I’ve never ridden at Boyne. I’ve walked that course and I said to myself, “I don’t think I ever want to ride here.”
DM: It was terrified of it back then, too. It was definitely a huge learning curve those couple of years when I started endurance racing.
MiMBR: Does it ever freak you out when you’re riding in the dark? Does it even bother you?
DM: Yeah, it does. Well, it doesn’t bother me much because I’m on a closed course. There are other racers there, but I have the worst imagination. So I’m always imagining crazy things. You start to hallucinate. I’ll think “a mountain lion’s after me” or something. It happened more in the past. Now I’m a lot more focused on the race.
MiMBR: This is kind of a rude question, but I’m going to ask it anyway. Did you ever have a DNF that was not injury-related, where you just quit?
DM: No. The only reason why is that I never want to think that I can quit. You know, I think if you quit once, it’s a lot easier to quit the next time.
MiMBR: What is the hardest thing for you about racing?
DM: I’d have to say conquering my nervousness. I get really nervous before a race. You have to pretty much go into every race thinking you’re going to win it because you have to race like you’re going to win it. When you line up it can be really intimidating to see people who are sponsored completely, who are full-time, who have been racing a lot longer than you. It’s hard to think “yes, I’m going to beat them.”
MiMBR: You mentioned being in a sprint finish with your friend Carey and I know from reading your blog that you’ve formed a lot of friendships with other racers around the country. Do you ever feel like that becomes an issue when you’re racing because you don’t want to embarrass someone who’s a friend by completely smoking them?
DM: No. That was a rare situation. Usually when you’re doing races you tend to ride a lot by yourself. We’re all in it for the same reasons and afterwards we’re all congratulating each other and saying “good job.” And Carey and I hugged right after the sprint.
MiMBR: Is there anything special that you do on the day of a race to get ready? Do you have a superstitious routine or anything?
DM: I don’t have a superstitious routine, but I do have my lucky number tattooed on my foot, so I guess that’s a little bit of superstition right there. I am very detailed about what I do, though, and that’s something that Lynda’s helped me with. Usually I know what I’m going to eat the night before the race and everything’s very detailed up to the minute the race starts. You get a routine going and you don’t stray from it. You don’t want to try something new to eat the day before or anything like that.
MiMBR: Is there anything that happened after you started racing or during a race or because of a race that really surprised you that you didn’t expect to happen?
DM: [Laughs] I never expected to do as well as I have. It’s changed my entire life. I’ve become so much more athletic with working out and more confident. When I wake up the first thing I think about is working out. You just make decisions to be healthier and go in that direction.
MiMBR: Was there any advice that another racer gave you when you were first starting out that you thought was really valuable?
DM: Starting out, the best advice was probably not to wear underwear under your bike shorts. [Laughs.]
MiMBR: It’s amazing how our heads just won’t get past that. When I first started riding I thought that was the most ridiculous idea ever and I thought “I’ll never be able to do that.” And now it seems ridiculous to wear underwear.
DM: Well, it’s really crazy when you start getting into something like that because you just don’t know. I remember Scott taking me to buy my first pair of bike shorts because I was wearing little cotton sweat shorts to ride. And then he told me not to wear underwear with them. I was lucky to have someone holding my hand through all of the steps.
MiMBR: For those people reading this who are just starting out or who want to race, what advice would you give them?
DM: The important thing is to be easy on yourself. That’s something I tend to not be. If you go into a race and you’re constantly putting yourself down, then it’s not very much fun and you set limits within your own mind.
MiMBR: And you tend to live up to them.
DM: Yeah, exactly. That was the biggest mistake I ever made and to this day I still regret it. I did this race in Massachusetts and there was this other woman there. It was when I was still new to racing and I was just like “she’s going to beat me, she’s going to beat me.” And I was always just 15 minutes behind her and I never even really tried to push harder because I just thought I couldn’t.
