Dirt and Pearls: The rising star of Emily Batty

It’s two minutes after a prestigious race in California and everyone wants a piece of Emily Batty. The media wants her comments, her team mechanic wants to know how the bike performed and her family wants to pass on their always-welcomed words of encouragement. But Batty has other plans.

A group of 13 young girls, assembled at the race as part of a learn-to-ride camp, are calling her name. Without a hint of hesitation, Batty hands off her bike to the mechanic and heads over to the side of the finish line chute where the girls are standing. She autographs their matching light blue camp shirts and poses for photos with the beaming girls. Emily Batty is who these girls want to be, and meeting her is a dream come true.

Just when it looks like she’s done and she starts to turn away, one more girl runs up to her group of friends and, realizing what she just missed, calls out “Emily.” Once again, everyone else can wait.

Not so long ago, Batty was one of those girls too. Standing at the side of mountain bike courses cheering on her older brothers Eric and Mark as they raced, Batty watched the elite women of the day fly past. She dreamed of one day racing professionally like them, and now she is.

Batty knows she’s being looked up to now, just as she admired riders like Marie-Helene Premont, Catharine Pendrel and Chrissy Redden, who once visited Batty at her house and gave her an old set of tires.

“When you hear your name being called and are asked to sign things for your little girl fans, it’s totally flattering. I’m still that little girl and I still want to ask for autographs,” she said. “You can’t look past those girls because they’re the age I was when I started. We need to get more girls involved. It’s amazing if someone wants an autograph or a picture because hopefully you’re inspiring and motivating them.”

If there’s such thing as a rock star in Canadian mountain biking, Emily Batty is it. Racing since she was nine years old, she is now part of Trek World Racing, a factory-backed team employing seven of the world’s top riders in both cross-country and downhill mountain bike racing. There are Swiss brothers Lucas and Matthias Fluckiger, American Nicholas Mulally, South African Andrew Neethling, Brit Tracy Moseley, New Zealender Justin Leov, and Batty, a farm girl from Brooklin, Ontario. Population 13,350.

At 22 years old, Batty is now racing with the big dogs. No more packing bikes up into travel cases and flying with them to races in the U.S. and Europe. No more worrying about whether or not she remembered to pack her shoes and a long-sleeve jersey just in case it gets cold. Now it’s all taken care of. She’s got three sets of gear – two bikes, one hardtail and one full suspension, and her full race-day wardrobe – all waiting for her. There’s a set that travels with Trek’s North American truck, a set with the European truck, and a set waiting for her at her parents’ home about an hour outside of Toronto.

“It’s amazing. It’s a stress-free environment for the athletes. We’re here to perform and that’s all we have to worry about,” Batty said recently while being interviewed under the awning of the Trek World Racing team’s massive hauler, which is similar to an elaborate NASCAR team truck. While Batty is interviewed, her bikes are being cleaned and prepared for the next day’s races. There’s a rack, normally used to hold four car tires, loaded with 30 or so brand new cross-country tires ready for when they’ll be mounted on her carbon fibre Trek bikes. The truck is filled with frames, wheels, drivetrain components and everything else needed to run a top-level  program.

Racing for a team of that magnitude could come with high expectations for success, but team manager MartinWhiteley said the opposite is true for Batty this season. “She’s got better support than she’s ever had before, so that takes the pressure off to a degree,” he said. “There’s certainly no pressure from our side. She’s a very young woman and has a long way to go. The top-level women are between the ages of 26 and 35 so she still has a way before she’s in full stride.”

After racing the past two years for Barry Near’s Trek Store Toronto team, Batty was picked up by the World squad for 2010. It was a result of both fantastic results and her reputation as a great representative for the sport and the brands she rides for.

“I would say she’s as good or better than Lance [Armstrong] for being an ambassador for cycling,” said Near, who has supported the Batty siblings for years. “Emily is genuine, honest and down to earth. At any event she’s in you can see that.”

Where people like Near and Batty’s parents gave her the backing to get to some major races in Canada and around the world over the years, it was her hard work in training and raw talent that produced the results. After winning multiple junior national championships, Batty continued the success when she moved into the under-23 ranks and started racing internationally. She has won the national championship in that category the past three years and finished 10th, sixth and 11th in the past three under-23 World Championships. Last season she won every Canada Cup race and won three World Cup races (finishing in the top five in the other three) and gold at the Pan American games.

But while her goals last year were less defined, this season there’s no doubt what the big focus is: The World Championships at Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec in early September. Batty’s last season of racing the under-23 category and the biggest race of them all is on home soil.

“Previous years, I’ve always come out of the gate pretty hot and ever-so-slowly tapered. This year, I want to do the opposite and peak for the World Championships. It’s a really big year for me. It is a big focus, but not my only focus,” she said.

With an expected crowd of around 100,000, Batty will have many fans at the race. Some will cheer for her because she’s a Canadian girl; Some because they’re impressed by her results; Some because, quite simply, they like how Batty looks.

She has almost 4,000 fans on her Facebook page and many are guys captivated by her blonde hair and blue eyes. Batty may be a hardcore mountain biker who is a tough competitor, but she’s also a self-professed girly girl who loves makeup and jewelry.

Her white pearl necklace, given to her by her mother 11 years ago, is around her neck whenever she races. And she always shows up to the starting line with earrings in place, her hair and makeup done and a ring on her finger, another gift from mom years ago.

“It’s important to be true to yourself. You have to embrace what you’re comfortable with. I hope I’m not judged for wearing mascara during a race. It’s just who I am,” she said.

But sorry guys, Batty is taken. She’s not married, as her Facebook profile listing says she is, but Batty and boyfriend Adam Morka have been together for years. “No we’re not married, but we basically are. If we were a bit older and could afford it then we would be. In years to come, absolutely, but we’re in no hurry,” she said.

Morka, who also races internationally for Near’s Trek Store Toronto squad, is Batty’s coach and training partner. “It’s a benefit to be with someone doing the same thing you are when you’re living this lifestyle,” he said.

Also in that massive crowd at the World Championships will be Batty’s parents, Rick and Cindy, who are their daughter’s biggest supporters – both financially and emotionally. They travel to as many races as they can and are the reason Batty has been able to compete since she was nine years old. They dipped into their retirement money years ago to help fund the early careers of all of the kids.

“We like to be there to support her. It’s not like a hockey dad kind of thing, We’re just a very tight family. Life is short. They’re only athletes for a relatively short period of time so we’re enjoying it,” said Rick Batty.

For Emily, it’s an added level of comfort to have them around.

“It has always been awesome to just be able to talk to them. I’m out of my element when I’m away from them. Doing all the World Cups I have to sort of have to get used to it, but they’ll always be there for me,” said Batty, whose race jerseys have “Thanks Mom and Dad” printed on them alongside the team’s major sponsors.

“Cycling is every dinner table talk. It’s cycling 24-7 and it always has been that way. Eric has been racing since he was 11 or 12 [he’s now 26] so it has been cycling all our lives and my parents have supported us since day one.”
With three kids racing bicycles professionally and a fourth that has also raced in the past [Charlotte, the youngest of the Batty kids raced as a junior expert] you’d think there was some Olympic cycling heritage. Physical fitness has always been important to the family, but Eric was the first Batty to get into the sport when a neighbour who raced bikes invited him to give it a try.

“My dad grew up on the farm, so he has always been athletic – he was a wrestler, a cross country runner. He was into everything. Genetics, I think, have a big role because both parents were very athletic,” Emily Batty said.

Whiteley agreed that Batty’s five-foot-two frame is a factor in her speed. “It’s a power-to-weight ratio kind of thing. My introduction to world class cross country was with Cadel Evans and when I first met that kid at 14, there was this amazing engine on a tiny body. I think Emily is very much like that. She’s slight in her build, but the power is there. And that’s really key. Whatever has happened genetically to give her that power-to-weight ratio is a gift.”

Clearly, Batty is a woman to watch in Canadian mountain biking. She’s talented, personable, attractive and, for all those reasons, extremely marketable. She’s a rock star travelling the world, and yet extremely grounded.

She showed up to a race at in indoor park in Cleveland with chocolate chip cookies she baked for her competitors and fans. Three and a half hours after a more recent race back at home in Ontario, she was helping the Trek Store Toronto crew take down banners and pack up the trailer.

Full of herself, Batty is not. But don’t let those pearls fool you. There’s a fierce competitor behind that warm smile and wavy blond hair.

Batty’s Bikes

When one of the world’s biggest bike companies is your title sponsor, riding the best equipment isn’t much of an issue. As part of the Trek World Racing team, Batty has her choice of racing either a carbon fibre full suspension or hardtail cross-country mountain bike. She’s got one of each bike in her size in the U.S., in Europe and at her home near Toronto.

The full-suspension bike, used on some of the more technical race courses, is Trek’s Top Fuel 9.9. The bike has a factory-tuned Fox 32 RLC fork and RP23 rear shock. The drivetrain and brakes are all Shimano XTR while the cockpit – stem, handlebars, seat post and seat – are all from Trek’s Bontrager parts division. The wheels and tires are also from Bontrager while Crank Brothers provides the lightweight 4ti Eggbeater pedals. Built up, the Fuel 9.9 weighs in at just over 20 pounds.

For less technical tracks, Batty and her teammates can choose Trek’s Elite 9.9 SSL hardtail which, like the Top Fuel, is built using the company’s top-of-the-line OCLV Red carbon fibre. The two bikes use the same component spec, but the hardtail weighs about 600 grams (1.3 pounds) less.

Talent runs in the family

Emily Batty might garner the most attention, but older siblings Mark and Eric are both accomplished racers themselves.

Racing for the past 10 years and professionally since 2008, 23-year-old Mark Batty signed with Steve Bauer’s SpiderTech powered by Planet Energy this year. He was the 2007 national under-23 cyclocross champion and then showed his diversity by winning the Ontario criterium title in 2008. Last season, he finished on the podium at races in all three of his disciplines – road, cross and mountain biking.

Eric Batty, 26, was the original bike racer in the Batty family. He did his first race at 10 years old and is still a regular on the Canada Cup mountain bike circuit. Batty took 2006 and 2007 off to focus on other interests, but is back racing on the provincial and national scene for Trek Store Toronto.

The Batty siblings are not as competitive against each other as one might think, said Eric.

“We kind of feed off each other. If Emily has a good result or I do or Mark does, we each get excited for each other. Everyone has good days and bad days. When you have good days we support that. There’s a little competitiveness there with town line sprints, but that’s totally just for fun,” he said.