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Being world mountain bike champion has glamour, but there is also danger and stress in the role.
Yoga has helped Sabrina Jonnier (France) cope with the demands of the job.
The 28-year-old will be the star attraction in the Dunedin round of the national series on the Signal Hill course tomorrow.
She comes to the city with high credentials after winning four World Cup series and three world championships.
Add three BMX world titles and you see that Jonnier is the best downhill mountain bikerto compete in New Zealand.
Jonnier found the pressure of being at the top difficult with the constant demands and expectations of fans.
"I used to get really bad nerves on race day," Jonnier told the Otago Daily Times yesterday. "I'm now able to deal with the stress."
Jonnier has practised yoga for the last four years and found that it "has made a big difference".
She spends up to two hours a day on the physical exercises to aid her suppleness, does meditation to calm her mind, and relaxation and breathing exercises.
The world champion also takes her mind off the thrills and spills of mountain biking by reading PS Ahern's novels and the Twilight series vampire books, and enjoys painting and knitting.
Jonnier has won the World Cup international series in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009.
"The critics say I always have a year off and am not expected to win this year," Jonnier said. "I want to prove them wrong."
The challenge is to win a fifth World Cup and equal the record held by Caroline Chausson (France).
"Caroline is an amazing rider and I've always looked up to her," Jonnier said.
"I liked the way she easily handled the stress, always looked confident and never gave up."
Jonnier has the nickname of Pinky because of her pink clothes and bike.
"Yeah, I'm a pink freak," she said. "I love the colour.
"Mountain biking has always been regarded as a guy's world and I have just introduced some girly stuff."
But there was nothing feminine about Jonnier when she started riding BMX bikes at the age of 6 and went on to capture three world titles.
"I've always been a competitor and BMX was good for my technique and my fitness," she said.
Jonnier switched from the Iron Horse professional team to Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain last year and her contract has been renewed for another two years.
New Zealander Cameron Cole (Christchurch) is also a member of that team.
She won the junior world championship title in 1999 and the senior event in 2006 and 2007 and was runner-up to Rachel Atherton (England) in 2008 and punctured at Canberra last year.
Her big target this year is to recapture the world championship crown at Quebec in Canada.
The cross-country event will be held on the Bethunes Gully course today from 10.30am, with the elite races starting at 2pm. The downhill event will be held on the Signal Hill course tomorrow from 11am, with the elite final run expected to start at 2pm.
At a glance
The Jonnier file
Country: France
Age: 28
Sport: Mountain biking
Team: Maxxis-Rocky Mountain
Record: World Cup series champion 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009; world champion 1999 (junior), 2006, 2007 (senior), 2008 (2nd); 3 BMX world titles 1991-95.