We made it to Europe!
One of my main goal coming to Europe was to progress and to have fun. If you have been reading the previous newsletters, you might know that I have been struggling with my health, and mental health this summer and fall...so in some ways, this is the start of my cyclocross season. And as opposed to other years, I'm not showing up to my 'start of the season' in my best form ever.
That said, I've been feeling better and better. My form is slowly coming back, and mentally, I've been feeling great too. With our goal of progressing throughout the season, it puts me in a mindset where, instead of pursuing perfection and putting a lot of pressure on myself, I'm looking for all the ways I can improve, whether it be technically, physically, or mentally....and damn! That's been so fun, and so refreshing.
We arrived in Europe on Monday and right away, I put my goal of having fun to the test. Instead of doing a 2h ride on the same loop I always do here, I researched the best sourdough bread in the area, and used Komoot to create a route all the way to Maastricht to pick it up. It was awesome and set the tone for the rest of the trip. Later in the week, I joined a group CX Workout here in Watersley. I had so much fun!! For 2h, we rode in the rain on various short cx tracks, racing each other and pushing each other. There were riders from Finland, Japan, Netherlands, and myself. I made friends, learned a few Dutch words, and honestly, I really feel like I can progress technically if I do more of these group workouts.
For a first week, I'd say it checked all the boxes...progress, and fun! And David also checked his boxes as he ran or rode everyday, as he was busy building up 2 bikes and 5 sets of wheels.
Racing
On Saturday morning, we packed up our camper van and drove 2.5hrs to Gernelle, in France for our first race weekend. The races where smaller level, as we purposely chose to start with smaller races rather than jumping right away in a World Cup weekend. As I said, I still need to get fitter and more "race ready".
That said, as we showed up, we saw that French CX Champion (and U23 MTB World Champion) Line Burquier was also racing. Great! It would make for great racing. One of my goals was: Race to win. But you're not a looser if you don't. It may sound weird, but for me, that second part was important. I've lived with that "fear of losing" for a bit, and after a while, it becomes SO heavy. In my return to racing, I'm brining the joy of racing and fighting back, and throwing away this fear of loosing that can suck the life and energy out of you.
The course was hilly, a tiny bit muddy, and generally super fun. I raced at the front with Line and a Dutch rider for 3 laps. At some point, I was third wheel when the Dutch rider messed up in front of me, opening a gap to Line... and Line took advantage of it! She rode away and as much as I tried, I could never close the gap which maintained to around 20 sec the whole race. That was my mistake... honestly, I was a bit rusty technically, tactically, and also physically! Still, I got second and felt like I improved throughout the race.
One of the things I noticed was that I felt I had too much weight on my handlebars, making me ride technically weird. For the second day, I asked David to rise the hoods/shifters on the handlebars. Suddenly, I felt much lighter on the front wheel, and much more in control technically! Goal of getting the bikes fitted and set up: Checked!
On day two, this time in the town of La Grandville, the course was even hillier. Line Burquier was not racing as she opted to race the World Cup in Hulst. (She actually battled in a group from 7-8-9 in the World Cup, ultimately finishing 9th. Which was great for her, but also I was happy to see that she was topo 10 level rider after racing with her the day before). This time, I still wanted to win, and I wanted to push myself to my maximum until the very last second. I ended up creating a gap to the other riders on the first lap, but I kept pushing technically and physically, as if I was not winning. I loved it! I felt already stronger than the day before, and I was riding technically much better... the day before I was on the breaks a lot, and was super stiff. Today, I let it go and felt much more loose...which is was you need to be in the mud! I was happy to take the win and push myself hard.
In the end, it was a successful first week in Europe. We had fun, we progressed, we got our equipment dialled... we even had some sun! What else could we ask for?
Meanwhile, in Canada was the National Championships. 17 year old phenom Ava Holmgren won the Elite Women's title, and honestly, I couldn't have been happier to see that. She's a great rider and great person and it will be fun to see her progress as she represents Canada on the international scene in the coming year!
Now, we keep on training well this week so we can keep building our fitness!
We should return to World Cup racing in Val Di Sole, Italy, on December 17th. Until then we'll keep racing increasingly at a higher level, while putting all our efforts on training and progressing.
Maghalie Rochette
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