No matter what, this is Ellen Noble’s year

The 2020 season was supposed to be Ellen Noble’s big comeback. After struggling in 2019 while unknowingly dealing with Hashimoto’s disease, she announced that she’d be starting her own program and training for a full racing schedule.

Almost immediately, lockdowns began due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and what was supposed to be a half year’s layoff from racing has tumbled into 18 months and counting. 

Noble learned a lot about herself in that period. She has always had racing to guide her since she was a kid, but suddenly she needed to build structure with no competition in sight. There were listless days, but she gradually trained herself to make the most of her time. She compared her improved efficiency to deciding to “go for a really good run for two hours” as opposed to “walking very slowly for 14.”

“And that’s what I’ve been trying to do lately is not just sort of pick away at stuff for an entire day,” Noble says. “I’m trying to have those boundaries and then kick ass during that window.”

Noble is planning to return to racing on April 9 for the OZ Trails US Pro Cup in Fayetteville. There, she’ll begin her next chapter in earnest. Earlier this month, she announced her new team called Noble Racing, which consists of Noble’s racing endeavors and a mentorship program that will give virtual guidance to young girls across the United States. The team also hopes to one day add a development rider as part of Noble’s long-running efforts to support women’s racing.  

“I came up in the sport very young, so I can relate a lot to everything that these juniors and these U23s are going through,” Noble says. “I’m really dreaming of creating a way for people to make themselves a part of the team.”

Whatever 2021 brings, don’t expect Noble to be caught off guard. She’s gotten good at adjusting to the circumstances. She’s focused on everything from the minute details of her training to the big picture of building up women cyclists. No matter what happens, this is Ellen Noble’s year.

In the following interview, Noble discusses finding her “magic” again in Colorado, learning her body’s quirks and taking joy in new training methods. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

How are you? Where are you right now in terms of health and training?

Ellen Noble: In terms of health I’m doing really well, probably the best that I’ve felt in my whole life. So I’m really thankful for that. And this past year, with all of its oddities, gave me a huge blank canvas to take advantage of that. 

I’m still working on some odd little things, but I feel really confident that by the time we get back to racing, I’ll have a lot of that ironed out. And I’m excited to see what I can do with that health, given that, you know, for my whole career I’ve been racing at sort of half capacity. 

And then in terms of training, I’m in kind of a holding pattern right now where I’m trying not to train too early, because obviously it’s a long year. But without going to Europe, there isn’t really a time to be peaking for. So I’m sort of doing what my coach has me calling being “civilian fit.” He wants me to be working on running and gym. And biking a lot, but not doing huge miles. 

So, it’s been kind of nice. I’ve gotten to find a newfound appreciation for sports other than cycling, and just get really, solidly fit and healthy.

When you say you feel as good in your health as you ever have, what’s that due to? Did you make a change in lifestyle?

Noble: Diagnosing food allergies has been pretty life changing. So cutting out a lot of allergens. 

It’s just little bits and pieces here and there. Like it’s not one major thing but a lot of little things that sort of move the needle. So I’m pretty focused on a full non toxic lifestyle in terms of beauty products, home products, food, all of that. It’s probably a little bit boring, but it’s something that I actually really enjoy the challenge of. 

And then yeah, definitely not having a race this past season let my body kind of reset, and I think it’ll be more able to handle the stress now that I’ve been able to bring that inflammation down.

You just mentioned having a blank canvas. What does that mean to you? What would you like to put on your blank canvas?

Noble: So like this summer was a really big turning point for me. I did a training camp with my coach Allen in Boulder, which is why I moved here. And we were able to do training differently than I’ve ever done before. 

Usually, racing two disciplines [cyclocross and XC] means that my training is always kind of rushed and I’m racing into shape, whereas this year I was able to do really big volume for the first time, and it helped me immensely. I feel like I improved so much, and I just feel so much stronger. Even now, months later, I still feel so much stronger. I feel like it really raised that threshold for me. 

Moving is also always sort of a fresh start. So I had that blank canvas of habits that I wanted to implement in my life, and people to have in my life, and all those sorts of complexities. It’s been really cool, and I get to work with some really good doctors out here that can help me with my health stuff. I’ve felt inspired to start fresh and just focus a lot on health and wellness.

What was the impetus to move to Boulder. Was it just to start training, and were you planning to stay?

Noble: I wasn’t. I had just come up here to do a two-month training block. But honestly, within a week of coming here, I was really feeling the magic. Like it’s something that I had talked about a lot in my life. For the last two years, I would go on these trips and be like “OK, I think this is where I’m gonna find my magic.” And I finally came to Boulder and I feel like I really found it and my momentum just picked up, and I just felt better pretty much immediately. 

Obviously I had a lot of work to do, but it just felt right. So I ended up just never leaving. It was kind of scary, but I knew that it was the right decision.

Your season begins on April 9 in Fayetteville, but what are your goals for 2021 as a whole?

Noble: I mean it’s so hard. This year is so challenging for goal setting because you want to focus on stuff, but then you also don’t want to put all of your eggs in any particular basket in case it does get cancelled. But I’m just trying to be adaptable and hopefully race as many mountain bike races as possible for the first half of the year, and then really just kind of do any races that I can, because I just really need points. And then focus on quality over quantity when it comes to cyclocross.

I know it’s been a bit of a layoff since you have been in the proper swing. In your downtime, what are you most proud about accomplishing? 

Noble: I mean, I’m honestly really, really proud of myself for figuring out how to train well. Like, I could put together a good week of training, but I never had so much time to train that I could mess around with anything and really, really push myself. We’ve had to stay so focused on getting ready to race. So this year I’m really proud of myself for putting together several good months of training and trying to feel the big picture. 

And off the bike, I’ve had to work so hard on structure, because we don’t have anything structuring our days. Like I have the odd meeting on certain days, and otherwise it’s been, like I said, a blank canvas. Figuring out rules for yourself and being your own boss is really cool, but it comes with its challenges as you navigate this new blank space. So I’m really proud of myself for putting in that work and adding structure to what can be a pretty structure-less time.

What are some of those rules or guidelines you just mentioned?

Noble: It’s still a work in progress, but I’m aiming for waking up every morning at the same time. No phone, no technology for the first hour of waking up. That kind of thing. Just focusing on getting ready for the day and then doing my first workout by nine. And I’m trying not to schedule stuff for the first half of the day in terms of appointments or meetings, so that way I can get my workouts done, and then have the second half of the day to do all the business side of things, like emails and all the logistical stuff. 

That’s what I’m focusing on right now, but it can be hard to set those boundaries. Because otherwise, especially with how short the days are, if you mess up and you get too involved in any particular project and you leave for your ride late, you’ll be finishing in the dark.

How big is your team right now? How many people are you working with?

Noble: At the moment it’s just me. I always say running my own “team,” but it really is just a program, it’s a privateer program. But it feels like a team. It’s a lot for me. But I have a lot of really amazing sponsors, and I have a lot of people who are affiliated with the team, like my coach, my manager and my boyfriend — all of us. There’s a lot of staff for a one person team. A lot of people behind the scenes who make it a little circus.

How do you escape the circus? As in, who is sort of your support that you lean on? How do you take yourself out of racing and separate yourself when you need to?

Noble: I’m not great about it. And I’ve been trying really hard lately to be better about it because I think if you could walk very slowly for 14 hours a day or go for a really good run for two, I feel like most people would rather a really good run. And that’s what I’ve been trying to do lately is not just sort of pick away at stuff for an entire day. I’m trying to have those boundaries and then kick ass during that window. 

I don’t have a ton of hobbies and I’m always so embarrassed when I say that. But I cook a lot, and I really like cooking. My boyfriend is super supportive, and we do everything together like training and stuff, and he helps me a lot with my creative ideas on my team. So we have a lot of fun doing it and it makes it feel like less work when you get to share it with someone. Like I’m not just staring at my computer. I’m running ideas by him and we kind of get to spitball.

In an interview with CX Magazine, you mentioned you wanted to create a program with a community focus. What are your ideas around that?

Noble: It’s been hard because literally the same weekend that I announced my team in 2020, we went into lockdown. Literally this team, this program, has only existed publicly since Covid. And so many of the things that I had dreamed about doing kind of got sidelined, and it’s hard for me to imagine a lot of the things that I really dreamt of doing with the team happening at the moment. So I have to be more creative if I can’t get people in a close space together. 

I’m really dreaming of creating a way for people to make themselves a part of the team. For people to be able to feel like they’re actually a part of something and have that sort of camaraderie. I think that could look like — whether it’s virtual rides or public rides — it’d be amazing to create events and a place for people to go and root for each other. A bike race would be really cool. 

My dream would be to have an intern rider, like a junior or devo rider that’s able to come and sort of intern with me for a couple of races. I think that’s something that a lot of people in the community would get excited about.

That sounds a bit like coaching. Is that something you foresee for yourself?

Noble: Yeah, I get so much enjoyment from mentoring young riders. But I don’t ever really see myself being a coach. I’m not really built mentally the right way to, you know, be prescribing intervals. But I came up in the sport very young, so I can relate a lot to everything that these juniors and these U23s are going through. I run a Junior Women’s cycling camp, and so that kind of stuff is what means the most to me. And they all have their own coaches but then they come together for a week and get to work on additional stuff which is really nice. It’s like the highlight of my year.

How long has that camp been going on? And what’s the plan for it going forward? I know it’s probably hard to say right now.

Noble: We had three years of it, so 2017, 2018 and 2019. And we had plans for 2020 and then had to cancel, which was really sad. I don’t really have any idea how we’ll be able to pull it off in 2021, but it is my goal. I want to do it without compromising the whole point of the camp, which is a really really tight knit group. Like, we want all the girls to be able to sit with each other and watch a movie, and ride together, and be teammates and have that camaraderie. If we have to be socially distant, I don’t think that it’s worth doing. I would rather wait another year, or another six months. It’s my goal to do it as soon as possible and still have all the same benefits.

You mentioned having to be creative with your program and some of your projects because of the pandemic. What are some of the things that you’ve done that take advantage of the conditions?

Noble: Probably the biggest one was my coach, who put together a training camp for me and three other riders this summer. And one of the riders is my boyfriend, and then the other two were a couple as well, so we were basically two pods meshing into one pod. We just had this really tight knit training pod this summer. It wasn’t your normal training camp, but it was really long. And so we just did it for a couple months because no one had anything to do. It was sort of odd; we were basically the only people that we were going to see all summer, but it was really awesome. I think it’s one of the positive things to come out of a bad situation.

Look out for Ellen at the OZ Trails US Pro Cup in Fayetteville on April 9.