When things come together
The last
World cup felt good. Winning always
feels good of course, but it’s more than that, it’s executing what you set out
to accomplish. I sat out nationals to
focus on prepping for Rio and had a solid training block that for the first
time this season had me confident that I was going to a World Cup healthy and capable of
winning.
After a
fantastic ride at the La Bresse World Cup where I finished 2nd after
being 1min 40 back mid-race due to problems at the start, I made starts a focus
of mine. Starts have always been my Achilles
heel and as such the focus of a lot of training attention. Having developed a bone infection before Albstadt
in my broken thumb (surgical pinning got infected) I was encouraged to train
road-only until the eroded bone had strengthened. This led to a change in how I was going to
improve my starts. I was going to try to
do it with mental rehearsal.
What blew
me away the most was that I literally could not see myself starting fast. I couldn’t feel how my body was supposed to
move. What it would look like to
generate that speed and power quickly.
No wonder I always went backwards off the line! It took some time, isolating what it would
look like, feel like, sound like to start fast in a pack, to hold wheels, find
holes to move through. I felt good in
training but it wasn’t until I got to Czech for the world Champs that I got to
see if I had actually made gains. It was
exciting to start strong and in contact with the leaders there, to improve on
that in Lenzerheide grabbing 2nd wheel into the first singletrack
and then to take the hole shot in MSA and feel good! For me starting well will take continuous work to stay on top of, but its very cool to have found big progress in a
skillset after years of racing.
Taking
control of the race early in Sainte Anne allowed me to ride off the front and
focus on just riding well consistently.
I have been racing MSA since nationals in 2004 and every year it feels
more and more like home. I love all the
families and volunteers that come out to cheer us on, excited as riders and as
Canadians to see both Emily and I ride so well heading into the Olympic Games.
Last Sunday
I scored my 12th World Cup win, my 4th at MSA. It felt amazing and was a good confidence
boost headed in Rio. The Olympics are an
unique event. It is definitely the most
intense competitive experience you can imagine.
I know just how hard I will be challenged physically and mentally. There are more women than ever before capable
of winning a medal, but I am looking forward to the challenge and would love to see the Canadian flag rise once again.
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