Catharine Pendrel

It feels good to be back racing World Cups and everyone on the circuit was all smiles starting in Czech.  The season seemed to take forever to arrive. With the slow build up I was able build a strong foundation in my training, but for the top-end speed I need to win, I really need to race and there is no better place to start than in Czech. What makes Czech special is both the crowds and the terrain.  Fans bus in from over Europe for their favourite racer, marathon athletes racing that weekend, fill the surrounding fields with their camper vans and locals arrive with costumes and creative noise makers (chainsaws).   The trails are like coastal British Columbia, flowy and root strewn.  This is one of the few courses where you feel like you get to spend a substantial amount of time going downhill fast, and the climbs are technical, especially when the rocks and roots are wet, demanding attention as well as power.  You have to be on your A-game physically and technically to perfo

4 races down and still 2 weeks out from the first World Cup of the season! With early season high UCI point races and wearing the rainbow stripes, I knew there could be a danger of me coming out hot this season and fading towards the end.    So I have patiently (nervously;-) committed to a plan of a slower ramp into the season.    Although at the first events it was hard to come up a little short at the end of my races (2nd, 4th & 2nd at Us cups 1,2 &3), I felt good, had fun racing with my team and learned a lot about racing in groups, something my pin it from the start preferred strategy doesn’t offer:-). The importance of always having a race plan and commitment to a goal even if I’ve raced hundreds of times was also reconfirmed.    You do not show up and win without a fiery spirit and focused mind. My persistence and learning was rewarded at US Cup 4 with my first ever Sea Otter Classic win, a race reputed for being a tactical game with large groups of racers typically

For me, it’s important to keep switching things up in my racing and training.  The past two seasons I had change imposed on me by broken collarbones.  The recovery from these gave me the opportunity for some midseason reboot time and a refocus on being in the moment. It also made me grateful to be able to train hard and race.  Remembering how much of a privilege it is to do what I do and be physically able to, is a gift I never want to take for granted.   In the past two years I’ve also taken time for a solo trip to Colorado’s mtns to see what living and training at 2800m feels like (ouch), relished 3 weeks training in France over famous mtn passes with my husband Keith before Worlds last year and most recently was able to share my “pro cyclist” lifestyle with him this past winter as he took a leave of absence from work to join me on the road to train.  We headed south in our sprinter van and logged some great miles on our road and mtn bikes.  The best part though was just getting