Catharine Pendrel

  After an amazing 12 days in France it was time to be lining up for World Cup finals.  I loved the area and the course.  There were 3 good climbs and some very fun technical, nuanced descending.  I was riding clean and smooth in training and looking forward to using the descents to my advantage. The race started well and I climbed into the chase group with Gunn-Rita and Pauline, Jolanda having already escaped off the front with her amazing starting abilities.  I was climbing well, but without my Windham fire.  Whether it was a bit of the altitude, training load or just race tension I started flailing when I entered the technical sections.  My ego and descending skills are closely connected:-) and I won't lie and pretend it wasn't distracting to be riding so poorly in the woods. Pretty much every lap I was making a time costly mistake or getting caught behind another rider making one. I never really found my flow but rather bridged and chased all day.  That being said; on

It has been a pretty hectic month.  But now I sit with Keith in our mountain apartment for the week in Meribel France enjoying the very non-hectic side of being a bike racer.  Training and relaxing in the mountains. Balcony view Above Meribel:  Rode up to 2300m then came down a trail that is best in hiking boots Most trips to Europe I make are full of course prep and recovery rides.  After a month of mostly racing, race prep and travel though it was time to log some solid training to maintain my form for World Champs.  So Keith and I headed straight over to France after the World Cup in Windham. I couldn't be happier with the way the last block of racing went.  Winning Nationals and regaining the maple leaf jersey, winning commonwealth Games, a fantasy accomplishment to follow in the footsteps of my Canadian Predecessors Marie Helene Premont and Chrissy Redden.  (Since mtb has been in the Games, Canadian women have not relinquished the gold) and then a 2nd and 1st at the