June 9, 2006 – Less than a year after a horrifying, near fatal bike crash, Vancouver’s valiant Leah Goldstein is back winning races, adding to her reputation as the toughest racer in North America and taking aim at her first BC Superweek win, July 15-23.

“Tough” is the one word everyone uses with reverence when they talk about the former World Champion Kick-boxer. “She is the toughest woman I’ve ever met,” says Mandy Poitras, Goldstein’s long time rival and now her teammate. “She’s lucky to be alive much less riding better than ever after her accident.”

“She is incredibly tough mentally and physically,” says Symmetrics team manager, Kevin Cunningham. “The test of any rider is how much pain they can handle. The ones that keep pushing harder even when they’re hurting are the champions like Leah.”

“Leah is tough, she has amazing courage and class,” says Cycling BC road race director, Allan Prazsky. “I couldn’t believe she could comeback from something like that. The crash was so bad that the crank arm on her bike was bent. I’ve never seen that in all my years of racing.”

“She is exceedingly tough and good humored,” says Dr. Carla Smith of Bend, Oregon who was the first to operate on Goldstein after the crash. “Those were career ending injuries. Her right arm was dislocated and wrapped around the back of her head. But after treating her for two weeks I knew she was one of the few who could come back.”

The former Israeli commando was marching toward her season long goal of winning at BC Superweek last year, with one dominating performance after another. She had won 9 of 11 races when her season and almost her life came to a sudden, terrifying end on July 7, 2005 on a high speed descent in the Cascade Classic in Bend, Oregon.

“A rider in front of me kind of lost her nerve on a corner and cut in front of me taking out my front wheel,” recalls Leah. “I went down face first at 70 kilometres an hour and everyone behind piled up on top of me. I fell so hard that I broke the roots of five of my teeth and now need implants. My lips got rubbed off, I had road rash from one end of me to the other. I broke my right arm, ribs, a cheekbone and my pelvis was in pieces.”

She lay on the road for an hour and a half in excruciating pain, no one able to move her until an air ambulance finally arrived. She spent the next five weeks in hospital in Bend and back home in Vancouver. Her father Sam says “When I saw her I couldn’t believe she was still alive. I told her she wasn’t racing again but you know Leah. She won’t give up. What can I do?”

She was in a wheelchair for the next two months, able to move only her left arm and leg, but she talked her mother and sister into driving her to a nearby school track everyday where she started doing laps. “It took me an hour to do two laps,” she says. “But I had to do something. You suddenly go from 20 hours of hard training a week to being bed bound and it drives you crazy. I had to be extra careful because I couldn’t move my pelvis. I had it constantly x-rayed. Doctors couldn’t believe how well and quickly it was healing.”

Three and a half months after the accident she was back on her bike, on the trainer, pedaling slowly and carefully. By December she was riding again and in February she started training. “It was painful but mentally I can handle anything,” says the Vancouver born 37-year-old who also holds Israeli citizenship and once spent nine years in the Israeli commandos and secret police.

Less than nine months after the accident and a series of operations, Goldstein astounded doctors, friends and family by returning to racing and winning! She took it easy in the first race on her comeback but has since reeled off four straight victories, including two of the FloraGLO BC Cup races in Hatzic Valley and Victoria. She even shocked herself by returning to successfully defend her championship in the difficult Mt. Hood stage race in the mountains of Oregon.

“I couldn’t believe it because of the field,” she says. “Mt. Hood was twice as tough as last year because of the size of the field. We had 80 riders and seven full teams all racing against me. I’m not quite there yet but my time trial was a minute faster than last year mainly because when I was recovering I couldn’t sit down on the bike. I could only stand and climb so I spent a lot of time in Vernon at Silver Star going up and down the hills on my mountain bike. That may have made me a little faster.”

“Leah is simply amazing,” says Poitras. “She claims she’s not quite as good as before the accident but I don’t agree. She’s just as great and going to get even better. She’s one of those few riders who can solo off the front and still keep going at 210%. It’s great to race with her again, especially as a teammate on Symmetrics.”

Goldstein admits the accident has left emotional scars. She is still nervous riding in a pack, on corners and racing downhill. She solves it by racing off the front as much as possible. Her long-range target is to become the first Israeli woman to ride in the Olympics in Beijing, 2008. Her immediate goal is to pick up her first victory in BC Superweek.

“White Rock is the course for me. I love the hills and I’ll be going hard to win there (on July 15, 16, 17). I’m still not comfortable in crits so I won’t race in Gastown (July 19) unless the course is dry. In Gastown and the Tour de Delta (July 21, 22, 23) I’ll be working hard for my teammates. Delta’s road race may be a little too flat for me unless I can get away and solo but I’ll be happy to just help out my team. I just signed up with Symmetrics and I’m having a great time with old friends like Mandy and Marnie (Hambleton). It may take a while to get back to 100 % but I’m enjoying racing more than ever.”

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