23.06.2014 @ 14:01 Posted by Tina Levin

Although Emilia Fahlin is now more dedicated than ever it doesn’t mean every day’s all sunshine and smiles, but it does mean that she’s taken a different approach to things, making it easier for her to handle those grey and gloomy days.

“I’ve learned that most jobs won’t be a joy every day, but I’m lucky being able to do something I truly love for a living. Sure it’s raining every now and then, but hey suck it up, I’ll be inside again in a couple of hours. It’s not the end of the world. I enjoy seeing different places, being in a team, the opportunity of living abroad, getting to know new people and experiences and the exchange you get from different cultures and people. All this together with the sport itself makes most days quite an easy task to handle.”

Naive

Something that also makes her everyday life as a professional rider easier to deal with is the great amount of experience and knowledge the 25-year-old has collected after 7 years on the professional scene. Fahlin joined the professional ranks when it was still much more of an unknown sport than it is today and didn’t really have any clue or expectations when she signed to join T-Mobile, something she considers was both good and bad.

“I was a bit naive in the beginning. I didn’t really know much about women’s cycling apart from once a year when they showed the Worlds on TV. Madelene Lindberg was trying to explain to me who Judith Arndt and Ina Teutenberg were, but I had no idea whatsoever I was completely clueless. It’s safe to say it was a huge step for me joining T-Mobile and I’m actually very proud of myself for taking that leap and just throwing myself into it. In some ways I think it was good for me not to know too much about it, because I’m not sure I would have been as brave and fearless going into it had I known how tough it really is when you’re on this level.”

A former professional, Lindberg, did her very best to introduce Fahlin to the professional scene and she is someone whom Fahlin considers to have played a key role in her professional career. Fahlin’s quite sure Lindberg’s been pulling her hair a couple of times though. The young Fahlin signed the contract during her last year in school and then went to Thailand for a school project and ended up staying for 3 weeks’ vacation, spending the Christmas holidays on the beach without really thinking too much about the fact that she had her first training camp as a professional coming up on January 12.

“I just figured I’d go on a few runs in Thailand and hop on my bike a couple of times when I got back home before heading to Mallorca to meet up with the team and I’d be fine,” Fahlin tells us as she shakes her head thinking back on her total lack of knowledge about what it meant making the leap from being a junior to a professional on one of the world’s best teams. “Then all of a sudden there I was, in Mallorca, with a squad all made up by the top of the top amongst the world’s greatest female cyclists and I realized that these girls weren’t kidding around. Friendly faces and lots of humour, but when on their bikes, they were not kidding around. Thinking back on it I sometimes wish I’d known better, but at the same time maybe that happy go lucky approach was a good thing for me back then. It gets serious enough along the way. We need to remember that every once in a while. Sure, there’s a time and place for everything, but we have to have fun and enjoy ourselves.”

Thinking back on her early days and where she’s at now there’s not a lot she would wish she’d done differently. She admits that being more structured with her training would’ve been handy and that’s something she’s been consciously working on lately. Her biggest regret is not thinking things through earlier to make the changes she’s now finally made.

“The years are rolling by. I wish I’d figured things out earlier, but what’s the point in wishing and regretting now? The important thing is what I’m doing about it now.”

Not only did she have to deal with her own doubts about her career on the bike, but being one of the more talked about female cyclists meant that she also had to deal with many others stating their thoughts and opinions about her when she wasn’t delivering anymore. Fahlin comments on one of the biggest misconceptions about her.

”Some people believe that I’m not serious, that I just keep on racing because I can’t do anything else, that it’s all I know, but I proved, to myself most importantly, that I still have it in me. I found the love and joy for racing again.”

Calendar girl

When talking about misconceptions we take a look back at 2008 when she did the Cyclepassion Calendar and what her thoughts are today when looking back at it. Every now and then focus is put on how female athletes are being portrayed and promoted within the world of sports and Fahlin has a pretty strong opinion about it herself.

“I actually brought my team kit to the shoot thinking I’d be wearing it, but it turned out they had something else in mind,” she says with a laugh before telling us about the reactions she was faced with after the calendar went out for sale. “I was really hurt afterwards by everything in the papers and what people were saying about me, but then at one point I was just like ‘What the hell…’People will always have an opinion and analyse some things too much and put a lot of energy into negativity instead of seeing the bright side of things. I actually don’t believe that that kind of thing takes away from the sport. I got to a point where I didn’t want to spend my time thinking and worrying about what people were saying, that’s for them to spend their energy on and I’ll happily let them. I’ve come to realize that I don’t have to be best friends with everyone and that’s a sense of freedom. It’s quite ironic actually how it’s mostly people who don’t know you who talk about you, so I just don’t bother with it.”

As we keep talking about promoting female athletes Fahlin makes it clear that she doesn’t think it should be necessary to strip down naked, that they deserve to be seen for what they’re doing on the bike, but that she believes finding a middle way to things would be good.

“Like I mentioned earlier, I don’t believe that doing the calendar, e.g., takes away from the sport. It shouldn’t have to be something we have to do to get attention for the sport, but I still think it’s important to remember that we’re women and we’re different from the men. We’ve got different things to work with and I can’t see the harm in using it, just like there’s plenty of male athletes doing spreads, commercials etc. We shouldn’t have to stand around in big t-shirts with no makeup just to be taken seriously, we shouldn’t have to turn into guys. Really we should be able to do what we want, look however we want without being judged for it. Finding a middle way to things is key, I think. We’re women. We’ve got what we’ve got, so why not glam things up every now and then? Let’s not dig too deep into everything, making everything a deadly serious matter.”

The insight not to take life too seriously came to Fahlin when being faced with the death of two cyclists being killed while out training. Johan Jelvin, a Swedish rider, set out to make his debut on the highly respected and talented Team Crescent where riders like Fredrik Kessiakoff, Gustav Larsson, Jonas Ljungblad and Tomas Lövkvist (when it turned into Team Bianchi Scandinavia) spent their early days, was killed during a training camp in Toscana, Italy, when being hit by a car. Fahlin was still a youth rider at that time, but remembers the impact it had on her. In 2011 when Fahlin’s teammate Carla Swart was hit by a truck and killed while out training in South Africa Fahlin describes the emotions going through her as the warning bells tolling.

“It was like an alarm just went off inside my head and I started thinking about things I never really thought too much about before. It’s a risky sport and when you’re young you don’t stop to think about the danger you sometimes put yourself in, but I think as we grow older we think about it somewhere in the back of our minds and we find a way to distance ourselves from what it is we’re really doing. It’s great and it’s fun and it’s important to us, but in the end it’s just sports and there are a lot of other things in life that matter as well. Like showing the people you care about that you do care about them. Not setting them aside and forgetting about them just because we have a race to do or training that needs to be done. We can still do these things while people who matter know that they matter. Life can end any second.”

Women's Paris-Roubaix?

As we shift our focus from the past and look into what seems to be a promising future for women’s cycling, it’s impossible not to talk about the awaiting and historic La Course. Giving women the opportunity to race at the same prestigious course and on the very same day as the men on the final day of Tour de France is a big and important step for women’s cycling and provides hope for bigger things to come.

“It’s an amazing step for us and of course we’re hoping for a women’s Tour. However, I don’t believe in focusing too much on the number of days or kilometres, but to rather focus on maybe 10 days of racing and making those days well organized and top notch, lifting women’s cycling to another level.”

A women’s Tour de France isn’t the only race Fahlin’s hoping to see in the future, she’s also hoping to see female versions of some of the toughest Classics.

“We’ve got a lot of the Classics already, but I’d love to see a women’s Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo.”

As women’s cycling is gaining more attention than ever, Fahlin points out that it’s vital to not just kick back and relax just because it’s on a roll. There’s still lots to be done and a lot of the responsibility lies with the riders. Team manager and team mate, Rochelle Gilmore, has highlighted the importance of giving back and taking responsibility to her team mates and riders.

“Gilmore has given me a deeper insight and knowledge to the world of cycling and how important we all are in the process of being acknowledged for what we’re doing. As we’re getting more media coverage we still have to give back, maybe even more now than ever to provide something with value. We shouldn’t underestimate the value of social media. Some people think it’s a bit ridiculous tweeting all the time, but it’s really important since Twitter is becoming one of our greatest tools for media exposure, fan contact and also interacting with our sponsors. We want people to pay attention to what we’re doing and to put their money and time into something just because it matters to us and it’s something we enjoy doing, so it really is an easy but extremely important way to give back.”

The season of 2014 has started out better for Fahlin than recent years and she’s riding on a positive vibe and feeling at the moment, feeling more and more confident about herself and her career on the bike.

“No podium spot yet, but I’ve found myself up front and being part of the action. If I can keep riding on this positive feeling then I’m sure I’ll get to where I want to be.”

I end the interview asking Fahlin whom she’d like to meet within the world of cycling, dead or alive, but she can’t really think of anyone.

However, when she can pick and choose freely the answer’s quick and precise.

“Harvey Specter from Suits. Give me Harvey Specter and a bottle of wine!”

The blonde Swede is laid back, fast with the jokes and quite an entertainer. However, she is not joking about Harvey Specter ...Or about the upcoming Swedish Championships. Being able to switch her focus on and off in the blink of an eye is something Fahlin’s well known for and she knows when play time’s over and it’s time for serious business. Coming up next for the young Swede is The Swedish Championships starting with the ITT this upcoming Thursday June 26. The road race takes place on Saturday, when Fahlin will try her best to defend her Swedish National Title as the ladies set out at 1.30 pm CEST covering 121 kilometres while fighting for the National Jersey.