Catharine Pendrel

That first race, nerves are high as you line up to test whether you have it or not.  There is no hiding, there is vulnerability, there is pressure and there is opportunity. This year my coach Dan and I have taken a different approach to our training.  It is the start of another quadrennial.  The last quad was undeniably successful, but ended with a little heartache. To keep it fresh and continue improving you have to change up your training stress so we have taken more of a volume approach to training this year.  Typical I have tasted blood several times before my first event! This year we’re saving the real high efforts for later.  This approach has led to some fantastic training, but also meant I was going into my first event less sure of my speed.  Sea Otter is probably the most chaotic event out there.  It is about so much more than racing.  The opportunity to have so many riders, spectators and sponsors in one place at one time cannot be passed up and doing anythin

This year I have made it a mission to get my wet riding skills back. I used to thrive in the mud and wet, but that was closer to my east coast and Victoria, BC days.  You see now I live in Kamloops where most of the riding looks like this Kamloops trail sample It is fun and fast, but there aren't many rocks and roots and one season I counted that I only rode wet mtb trails 10x...not enough to keep a mastery of slick riding excellence.   So what does that mean for my training and prep?  Well living in BC it means just a couple more trips to the coast or Revelstoke.  Yeah, life is rough.  So this year I've spent a lot more weekends booting back and forth to the coast checking out amazing trails in Victoria, Squamish, Abbotsford and Port Moody.  The trips have been well worth the driving.  Lots of trail awesomeness and frequent exposure to gnarly trails have me feeling sharp and excited about mountain biking and going fast.  No more granny panties. You just don't f