Kristin Armstrong: Not quite finished

After winning a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, Kristin Armstrong often talks of all the doors that were opened for her.

Now, nearly a year later, Armstrong is pedaling through her final season before retirement.

And the 35-year-old road cyclist, who remains on top of her game, can decide just which door-or doors-she will walk through after completing the World Championships in September.

"There are so many open doors," she said. "I think it is going to be a hard decision."

She does have an idea, though.

In fact, she has a lot.

For one, Armstrong wants to start a family, which will be easier without having to travel so frequently for cycling events. She also hopes to continue the motivational speaking career that emerged after her gold medal in the women's individual time trial in Beijing, as well as continuing to work with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's My Victory campaign, which fights the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports.

She also will be working with her husband, Joe Savola, to promote the K-Edge Chain Catcher, a product Armstrong, Savola and some friends invented before the Beijing Olympics to prevent her bike chain from falling off. The K-Edge is now being sold worldwide.

But Armstrong, who is always involved in something, is especially excited about one thing: the Kristin Armstrong Cycling Academy. She decided this spring to open the academy for girls ages 15 to 18. It will offer junior development camps that she hopes will help introduce the sport to young women and help prepare them to compete at the top level.

"I've always been one to want to make a difference in people's lives and I want to give back," Armstrong said during a midseason break from her home in Boise, Idaho. "I've worked in both settings, nonprofit and corporate, and for me to have the opportunity to change people's lives, when you live in a town like Boise, Idaho, or a place where the community gets behind you, it feels like a family."

The first Kristin Armstrong Cycling Academy will take place in July 2010 in Boise, Idaho, although Armstrong hopes to add additional camps in other cities as well.

Her academy, sponsored by USA Cycling and the first of its kind for girls in the United States, is designed to help the students learn the skills and riding knowledge (like how to properly use gears, climbing, drafting, and other tactics) while also teaching them about proper nutrition, goal setting and other life skills.

Armstrong's ultimate goal is to help young riders excel early and to prepare them for the rigors of racing at the top level. Many American cyclists, like Armstrong, pick the sport up later in life and have to learn as they go. She is hoping to change that.

"I started the sport when I was 28 years old, I was out of college, I had done some triathlons, and here I was heading to Europe (in 2003)," Armstrong said. "There were some girls over there who were 19, 20, 21, and they were the best in the world. I was thinking 'I didn't even know you could compete on a bike at that age.' "

There are similar USA Cycling-sponsored camps for boys throughout the country, but Armstrong wanted to make sure that girls had the same opportunity.

"I've always been interested in younger women because role models come a little easier for boys," she said. "And for women, I always wanted to be an influence in their lives because a lot of kids either decide, 'I am going to be on the athlete track or I am going to do nothing.'

"At the end of the day, if these girls don't continue racing their bike, I hope I have influenced them in another positive way. I just want to help people succeed, and I think you can do that through the sport."

As excited as Armstrong is about her future endeavors, she still has plenty of miles left on her bike. And she is proving that she is still one of the best cyclists in the world.

She could have retired after capturing her Olympic gold medal. But after giving that some thought, she decided that she didn't have closure and needed one more year on the bike.

"I think I built up to Beijing with the No. 1 priority to medal, and now I feel like I can enjoy the sport even more without all the pressure," Armstrong said. "Because at the end of the day, if I had to leave the sport tomorrow, I am at peace with what I've accomplished and I think that really makes a difference in my mentality."

It's a decision that has proved to be worthwhile. In May, Armstrong won the Tour de Berne World Cup race in Switzerland, where she outsprinted former road, track and cyclo-cross world champion Marianne Vos at the finish line to claim her first World Cup victory. She later finished fourth in the nine-stage Tour de L'Aude in France.

Earlier this month, Armstrong competed in and won the final race of her career on American soil, the Nature Valley Grand Prix, a five-day stage race throughout Minnesota's Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

"I approached it like any other race," Armstrong said of the Nature Valley Grand Prix, an event she has now won for the past four years. "But it definitely meant a lot to me because I grew up racing with all the girls in the U.S. peloton, so when I do go race in Europe I race with my European team based in Switzerland; only maybe a half dozen Americans race in Europe."

Afterward, she returned home to Boise and then will head back to Europe for the remainder of her races.

Armstrong is enjoying her final season on the bike and trying to take everything in. But when the season wraps up in September, Armstrong said she will be ready to start this next phase in her life.

"To retire from a sport when you are still at the top of the world rankings will be difficult, but there are a lot of things I want to do with my life, like start a family," Armstrong said.  "But there's a time when you just have to say that I'm ready. Every goal I've set for myself in this sport I've accomplished."

And then she catches herself.

"One last goal is to leave the sport as a world champion."

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc. Chrös McDougall is a freelance contributor for teamusa.org. This story was not subject to the approval of the United States Olympic Committee or any National Governing Bodies.

http://www.kristinarmstrongacademy.com/