Member of USA women’s team pursuit trio earns gold while setting new mark at the Pan American Championships

Toronto, Ontario: Dotsie Bausch’s body was covered with Spiders when she rode to a new world record as part of the USA women’s team pursuit at the recent Pan American Championships (May 12th). Supported by SpiderTech’s Lower Back, Hip and Upper Knee Spiders, Bausch earned the gold medal with teammates Sarah Hammer and Lauren Tamayo in the three-kilometer track cycling event held in Aguascalientes, Mexico. The Americans covered the distance in an astounding 3:19:569, which shattered the previous record by nearly two seconds set by the New Zealand team last March 25th (3:21:552). Bausch & Company is the first women’s team pursuit unit ever to eclipse the 3:20 mark.

“Women’s team pursuit in the U.S. has developed at a faster rate than we ever could have imagined. The support that USA Cycling has given us has been huge. To take ten seconds off of our Cali, Columbia World Cup qualifying time inside of six months shows our true potential in this event. We are ecstatic,” said Bausch, a six-time National Champion and two-time Pan American Championships gold medal winner.

At age 37, Bausch attributes part of her success and longevity to the use of SpiderTech products. “I absolutely owe part of my Pan American gold medal and world record to the people at SpiderTech. I use the tape to train, race, and especially for recovery. The Lymphatic Spider has become an integral part of my recovery routine after hard days at the track, and since I am no spring chicken, recovery is always a battle. The Lower Back, Hip and Postural Spiders became a huge part of my training regimen as I prepared for the record-breaking ride in Mexico. I could not have done my part to achieve this goal without SpiderTech by my side.”

A veteran road cyclist who began riding the track in 2007, Bausch helped establish the world record time that year riding the team pursuit with Hammer and Jennie Reed. Although she enjoyed a fresh challenge, it wasn’t until it was announced last winter that the women’s team pursuit would be an Olympic event at the 2012 London Games that Bausch, Hammer and Tamayo, along with the support of USA Cycling, committed to pursuing an Olympic medal.

“I am intensely passionate about the event (team pursuit). It is poetry in motion. After 10 years of racing professionally on the road, I began to feel a bit bored and slightly burned out. I love training and racing for this event. It has everything: technicality, elements of high anaerobic fitness with aerobic base, intensity like nothing on the road, and it requires complete perfection of execution to ride the best time. That’s my favorite part: the immense pressure to ride perfectly. You can mess up on the road a few times, or many times – a pedal stroke here and there – but in the team pursuit, every mistake costs you one-tenth of a second or more, which could easily be the difference between first and second (place).”

Bausch enjoys the camaraderie of teaming with Hammer, a four-time world champion, and Tamayo and is grateful for the support USA Cycling has given them. “They (USA Cycling) have backed us the whole way and have held training camps for us to work together every month prior to major events. The three of us have fun together. We really like being with each other and we work very hard when we train. We leave every camp completely blown, but we get stronger each time.”

The Irvine, California resident has been racing as a member of the U.S. National Team since 2002 and has traveled the world competing for her country and on several professional trade teams. Through her travels over the past year or so since she began using SpiderTech, Bausch has discovered another benefit to using the product. “SpiderTech is not only for training and racing at my best, but also for traveling on long flights across the globe. When I sit for long hours when traveling, my lower back and IT bands get very tight. The Lower Back and Hip Spiders keep me loose and the blood flow uninterrupted. I arrive at my destination feeling ready to ride and train the first day, instead of spending two or three days trying get rid of ‘airplane legs.’”

With more than a decade of racing her bike at the professional level and in international competition, Bausch knows that injuries are part of sports. She has successfully utilized SpiderTech to overcome physical setbacks. “SpiderTech’s Hip Spider has been instrumental in my healing from sciatica. Nothing worked before Spider Tape to help keep the pain at bay while I healed. I always had pain and since I always train hard, I lived on Ibuprophen, which had me very concerned for the health of my liver. SpiderTech makes it so I can take care of my body inside and out.”

Hoping to mine Olympic hardware in London with her teammates, Bausch will likely retire afterwards, thus she’s interested in helping introduce the next generation of potential female team pursuit riders to the track. “The future of U.S. women’s team pursuit has massive potential. We need a group of women to begin learning the track for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. USA Cycling is holding a few informational forums at this year’s road nationals in Bend, Oregon and I will come up to answer questions about the team pursuit. I am very motivated to see the next wave of youngsters learn team pursuit so they can crush it in 2016.”