Catharine Pendrel

Winter training has begun and what a better way to kick off the ski season than with a ski camp.   After years of hacking away relying on my fitness, rather than an efficient stride to get me up the hills, I signed up for one of the Sovereign Lake ski camps. I was pumped to arrive and find out I would be skiing with my buddy Kris Sneddon from the Canadian national mtb team as well as a great group from California, Wisconsin, Quebec and Alberta.   The early season skiing was fantastic as Kris and I took to the trails on Skate skis with our fearless leader “Munny”.   The camp was awesome, catering to all levels of skiers and what we wanted to get out of the camp.   We even got treated to an afternoon at the Biathlon range where I shot my first rifle and became hooked on the sport.    So this week I have skied classic and skate, up and over the mtn a couple times, done a Biathlon relay with my group, eaten some awesome food, done Yoga, been treated to spas and massages and e

Yesterday I got to try racing the infamous Iceman Cometh, although this year it was renamed “niceman”.  Iceman is a 30-mile point-to-point race in Traverse City, Michigan.  North, even by my Canadian Standards being up near Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario. The race has been happening for over 20 years with participation growing to 4700 riders.  Some years have seen racers barging through 1 foot of snow, but this year the weather was fantastic and the course fast. It has been 2 months to the day since my win at World Championships and my first xco race since then.  Friday Waldek and I got out to pre-ride the 50km course.  It was going to be fast, mostly sandy double track with some fast single track mixed in.  The climbs were very short and punchy.  It’ the kind of course that is easy to ride, but can suck your legs in a race if you go out to hard or do too much work at the front. I mistakenly figured that the women’s race might be boring for the first hour with lots of cat and mouse and

A little update of what I've been up to over the last two months.  I wish I was better at actually taking pictures, but here's a quick recap   Home for a week and then off to Vegas for Interbike.  Got sweet posters! Home for a couple days and then back to San Fran for the Epiphany ride with ClifBar and a super fun Clinic with the Bay area Luna Chix.  Teamed up with my hubby for a 4hr enduro and had a great time riding with Kamloops friends at Harper Mtn. Keith threatened that if I let the lead male catch me he wouldn't do his share of the laps! Photo: kevin Bogetti-Smith No plane rides for an entire month!  Wahoo! Visits to Penticton, Revelstoke, Squamish  Went to Whistler and rode a BIG Bike with my bro, his wife and friends at the Bike Park.  I had no idea how confidence inspiring 8 inches and 2.5 tires could be! No picture…sad because I was bringing the early 90's back with my spandex and full face. Tore down a rotting deck and got a new one up, complete with