by Maghalie Rochette

When we decided to get back into the MTB World Cup circuit, we came in with a long term goal in mind. The goal is to be good in 2024, but we knew that to put all the odds on our side, I had to start early to gain experience, knowledge, points, etc.

I'm glad we did, because so far, we are not getting it perfectly right on our first try! Ha!

Let's go back a tiny bit... After CX Worlds in February, I was really motivated. Normally we take a longer break after the season, but with MTB races in mind, and because I was so excited and motivated, I started training earlier. We had planned to take a shorter break, but my excitement had me starting even earlier, and looking back, maybe this was a mistake. It worked out for a bit and allowed me to win the Cactus Cup, and to arrive fit in Brazil, but it has caught up to me now.

The goal of going to Brazil was to gain UCI points for MTB so I could have a better call-up position in Albstadt and Nove Mesto World Cups in May (which are usually the biggest World Cups of the year). Brazil is a big trip and we took a gamble... and it didn't pay off as I underperformed in Brazil. We then raced in Fayetteville where I double punctured in the XCO and won the Short Track. To be honest, I was already coming to the end of my roll there, but the short track win gave me momentum to keep going a little bit. From there, I won a gravel race in Canada...and this is where both David and I started being really tired. I lacked energy at the Rasputitsa gravel event in Vermont last week, but managed to dig again for the week of training in preparation for this trip. We had committed to coming to Europe to race those 2 World Cups which served as qualification for World Championships, so we tried to go for one last push, even though we knew we were coming to the end of our roll...and here we are now.

As we arrived in Germany a couple of days ago, we both found excitement in being here. I enjoyed the course and felt positive and excited to race it. I was starting from the very back of the grid, but felt up for the challenge of just doing a good performance and playing a game to see how much I could move up.

I started the race from the back and, despite a little hic-up at the start, I soon joined the peloton and followed my plan. I stayed calm and passed a few people on the start lap, then relaxed on the descents as I followed people. My legs felt super heavy. I had told myself I would smile when it hurt to create positivity, which I did multiple times. But damn! I was so slow. I did another lap and despite my best effort, I was being passed a lot. Then, as I passed the pits, I pulled over.

It takes a lot of energy to perform in a World Class race. You can't just show up and ride around or "ride on the wheels"...You are all by yourself and have to power yourself forward. You have to hype yourself, manage the nerves, and then you need all your energy and willpower to dig deep, embrace the pain and push yourself to go as fast as possible. If you don't have the energy to do that, it is going to be hard. Today, despite my best efforts and positive thinking, I did not have that energy.

After 30min of trying my hardest, I was just going slower and slower (I later found out that I even had my 2nd highest 20min HR of 2022) but it was bringing me nowhere. I decided then and there that this was it for me. My body said "enough". I decided it was not just over for this race, but that I would not be racing next week's World Cup in Nove Mesto. Czech Republic.

So here we are. It's never fun to not finish a race, but I think that sometimes the hard call is the good call. It's of course disappointing as we came all the way here, so it would have been fun to hold on for a little longer and have the energy to do a good race. But honestly, I'm happy with this decision. I raced only 30 minutes and weirdly, my legs still hurt so much this morning.

By stopping now, I get to rest now, rather than dragging myself for another full week. That means I'll be able to start training sooner after the break and try to come back fresher and stronger for Nationals in July.

At the end of the day, we are learning. Most of all, we are not giving up on the MTB goals, we are just adjusting ourselves. This is obviously not the start we were hoping for, but it is what it is, so no shame. We tried our best and it wasn't enough (or it was too much?). We are also taking many notes, and we already see many things we'll do differently next year as we try to combine CX and MTB goals.

For now, we are finishing this trip with a visit to Rapha in London, and then a visit to my sister who lives in France. We'll then head home, take some days off the bike to recharge mind and body, and then we'll get to work again.

Thanks to all for the support!

Cheers and see you all soon!

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