Catharine Pendrel

          Luna again claims the number 1 team position in 2013 By Monday afternoon I was in Oslo and greeted by sunny skies, a beautiful 21 degrees and teammates Georgia and Dusty.  We settled into our condo in Hafjell for the week.  I liked Norway immediately…probably as it felt like home.  Driving from Oslo to Hafjell I could easily have been driving from Vancouver to Whistler…although highway speeds were much slower! The course in Hafjell was a nice change from the now normal charge from manmade feature to feature.   I felt like I was just out riding trails…unfortunately the RedBull coverage didn’t showcase the course that well.   There was a lot of climbing and rocky descents with enough shale to puncture more than a few tires on race day. After a relaxing week of good riding and team-time including dinners in Lillehammer and Oslo I was towing the line of the final World cup of 2013. It has definitely been a turbulent year for me, never finding my best form or confi

After World Champs in South Africa I got to spend another 2 days with team Canada taking in all-you-can-eat Sushi on the Indian Ocean in Durban, riding through Sugar cane fields and monkey havens with Maghs, David and Dan and of course the Tiger-Tiger Worlds after party.         Sushi sandwich  From there it was on to another adventure in Solothurn, Switzerland.  When I first raced World Cups in 2007, Sandra Walter and I stayed with her aunt and uncle in Bern for several weeks, loading up their Golf every weekend to head to the races.  There I also met the Schneitter’s.  Nathalie was one of Sandra’s teammates and her family welcomed myself and other visiting Canadians into their home.  They became my #1 cheering squad in Europe. Below Sepp, Prisca, nathalie and Sonya So it was back to my roots for a week with Nathalie and her family, speaking a mixture of English, French and hand gestures.   The weather was fantastic, great for rivers swims in the Aare, good

After a disappointing race it can take longer to put up a report.   What do you say when you’re not at all happy with the results of a race and that race happened to be World Champs and you went in feeling capable of getting a medal but instead get 20 th ? You focus on the positives, what was good and how that can make you great in the future.   There were a ton of great things about this trip.   The atmosphere on team Canada is so fun and supportive.   I loved going out training with the team and although I feel that as a veteran I should be the mentor, I often feel with the new style of courses that it is the younger athletes that are showing me what I am capable of! After Peter Disera took silver for Canada in the Jr. men’s race he said he loved every lap riding into the logs (an incredibly steep log staircase that had me more than a little nervous after watching Sabine re-break her collarbone in front of me). That’s the attitude I wanted; to be excited to ride the sectio