W.i.g.: There are lots of people out there that see your lifestyle as cake--traveling the world, racing a super deluxe downhill ride--is that an accurate perception?
Lisa Sher: We hear a lot of that. People look at us and say '"you get to ride your bike, aren't you lucky." But it's not just a trail ride where we go out and look at flowers. Let's put it this way, most people, when they bang their knees, are like Ooui! Well, that's our daily life--WACK! OOOO. So we deal with that and then the next day, WACK, arrggghh. And you've got like six different areas that are bruised and you're trying to hobble along pretending that it doesn't hurt but your body is all AAAAACK. So you try to get it together and race and as soon as that's over you say "holy shit, I am Soooo sore." Then you move to the next location, dragging 300-pounds of gear with you because downhill bikes weigh so damn much. But I love doing it.

W.i.g.: Sounds like a difficult existence.
Elke Brutsaert: Well, our lives aren't in a comfort zone, but that makes sense with what we do--racing isn't a comfort zone either.
LS: And relationships are hard. You've either got to deal with having someone on the road with you or you've got someone at home who hates you because you're never there. It's like here for two days, gone for three weeks, and so on.
EB: Life is on hold [right now], but I can do other things when I retire.

W.i.g.: What are the women like on the pro mountain bike circuit? Are you guys like one big happy family or like one big dysfunctional family?
LS: Well, we race against each other technically, but we're also best friends. It's like downhill skiing in that we do compete against each other, but we are also the only ones that can really understand each other, too. Most people aren't comfortable with being on the edge all the time.

W.i.g.: Is it a super-competitive environment?
EB: You're competing against each other but because it's not head to head, you never feel that competitiveness like 'oh, I'm going to kick her ass.' In the head to head, you do. You think, 'I'm going to get the hole shot, I'm going to beat everyone to the first turn.'
LS: Back at Mammoth this summer, the men's race was won by over six seconds. The women's race had the top three riders all within .7 seconds of each other. That's pretty damn cool--and that's how competitive it is out there. We've seen races where a place was decided by 1/100th of a second. It's really tight between 7 or 8 of us right now. So that says something about American racing now. We kick ass.
EB: It's probably more competitive for getting rides [sponsors] right now than it is for racing. But with Mikki Douglass, one of the top women, leaving the sport, that leaves an open factory ride. That should trickle down and open more slots but I don't know about how well paying they will be. With the industry hitting a plateau, manufacturers are really only spending money on the top riders, some people just want the chance to get on a factory team and they don't even really care if they get paid.

W.i.g.: But you'd race for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, right?
EB: Lisa is pretty much racing for sandwiches this year, unfortunately.