Val di Sole World Cup - Learning to listen to myself

Val di Sole World Cup

The snowy mountains of the Dolomites are towering over us. Their beauty is majestic. I just finished a bike race in the snow, in some tricky conditions that challenged my technical skills and physical abilities, while requiring 100% of my brain power to focus on each meter of the course. This is one of my favorite race venue and these are some of my favorite conditions. I should feel an exhilaration from crossing the finish line after battling with the world’s best, through the wall of sound created by shouting Italian fans. Yet, I feel nothing… or maybe I feel emptiness. I’m completely exhausted, but not just from the effort. 

“What is going on?”

Photo by Billy Ceusters

The inner dialogue of a people-pleaser 

There is a thought that had been floating in my head for the last few days. The thought became clearer after an insightful conversation I had with two good friends, where we talked about the feeling of being ready and energized to race, and how we needed to create space for this feeling to happen. The thought was there, but I had not found the courage to speak it out loud. Instead, I’d been trying to push it away, choosing to focus on actual steps and actions I could take to bring the most positive, vibrant, and confident version of myself on the start line of my favorite race. 

Despite my best efforts, and despite many moments where I did manage to focus on the important things to do, the thought would not go away. Welcome to the inner dialogue in the mind of a — as Taylor Swift calls it in her most recently released song “You’re loosing me” —  “pathological people-pleaser”. 

• Me: “Despite trying everything I can to bring my best attitude and performance to each day, training session, and race, I feel like I’m getting worse every week. I’m lacking a spark and my body feels weak. I feel like I would need to go home to reset, recharge, and retrain. Then maybe my spark would come back”
   

• Other part of me: “But I said I would come here 3 months. I told my partners I’d be racing here for 3 months. I dragged Mia and David and all our life here for 3 months. I can’t back down and tell them that I feel like I need to reset.” 
   

• Me: “But how else can I turn things around? I’ve been trying different strategies for the last few weeks, and I can’t seem to make it work. We’re now approaching the busiest racing period of the year, and I do not feel ready at all.” 
   

• Other part of me: “Exactly, you’re approaching the busiest part of racing fo the year. You can’t possibly miss this. Everyone does the Kerstperiode. You can’t miss it. If you come to Europe for one period of racing, it HAS to be this one. You just can’t miss it. What will everybody think if I don’t race it? 
   

• Me: “But is it better if I show up to every race as a fraction of myself and I dig a hole all the way until the end of the season? What I want is not to do as many races as possible. I want to bring the best of myself to the races I start. Is my job to just be there? Or is my job to bring the best of myself to the events so I can offer the best visibility I can to my partners?” 
   

• Other part of me: “But it is your job to race. You’re here now and you have to do it. You would be letting everybody down if you took a small break to reset.”

….to be fair this inner dialogue went on and on to much further depts. Analyzing every aspect, opinions, feelings, etc.  But you get the picture. I felt that I needed to take action in some way to get back to where I want to be, but felt paralyzed to speak up because I didn’t want to hurt anyone, displease anyone, and because I was afraid of what making a decision would make me look like. 

Eventually, though, the truth came out and I was able to be honest to the people around me. 

The forgotten strategy  

At the beginning of the season, David and I sat down and established a plan which we believed to be our best strategy to find success this year. In light of the year we had had, the information we had at the time, and the way we felt, this is the strategy we felt was best: quality over quantity. We wanted to do things well, we didn’t care if it was not a huge amount. We wanted to leave ourselves some space to rest, prepare well, and perform. 

Initially, our plan was to race in North America, and then go to Europe for 2 or 3 short blocks of racing, with a simple and limited set up abroad. I've had all my best international results in that way. 

We followed our plan well in the beginning, racing successfully in North America. We travelled and raced well in the early season, but never more than 3 weekends in a row, to make sure we could keep our internal batteries charged, and to make sure I could keep training in between race blocks. I had some injuries and health issues in the past year which meant I did not train as much this summer as I wanted or normally do. To insure good performance throughout the whole season, I needed to make sure to keep training well in the season between races, which also meant staying energized enough to handle that training. 

This plan was working really well. I was feeling amazing on the bike, happy and energized, hungry in the races, driven to challenge myself and perfect my craft; all of which allowed me to perform at a high level, consistently delivering performances at my full potential. And then…? Well, then, the plan was working so well that I got carried away by my emotions. I got EXCITED. Blinded by my excitement and drive to challenge myself, I forgot the plan. 

We booked tickets and packed our lives (simplicity goal: forgotten) to go to Europe for the MAXIMUM amount of time as we legally could. My drive to succeed and my dreamer’s mentality have often been part of what propelled me in my life…but in this instant, they also blinded me. I was 4th in the World Cup overall, and suddenly, being highly ranked in that overall ranking became a goal. Quality over quantity goal? Forgotten. There are 14 World Cups; one every weekend (except one), for 15 weeks straight, and it suddenly became my goal to do them all. 

This brings me to now. December 12th. Three months into the cyclocross season, and 5 weeks into this European trip. Five weeks in which I raced 6 times, and travelled 8000km by car or plane throughout Europe. Quality over quantity? Ouch. Five weeks that I’ve been trying to find the best version of myself, by working and fighting to the best of my abilities, and where I keep falling just a little bit short. 

And this weekend in Val di Sole, I decided to take a step back and evaluate where I was. What I found was that I felt tired and missing a spark. And when questioning this state I find myself in, I realized that I’ve been riding away from my initial strategy. 

The conditions were super challenging and a puzzle for everyone to figure out. Figuring it out as quickly as possible is what makes a great CX racers. Others managed that better than me this weekend -- props to them! 

Photo by Billy Ceusters

Let's go build a shovel 

"Imagine a team of ditchdiggers working with their hands. A slight variation in the amount of soil moved per hour is barely perceptible. The only way to move more dirt is to dig for longer. Within this paradigm, the ditchdigger who takes a week off to experiment and invent a shovel seems crazy. Not only do they look like a fool for taking a risk, but their cumulative production falls behind for every day they are not digging. Only when the shovel comes along do others see its advantage." - Shane Parrish, from his book Clear Thinking 

I am now on a plane back home with the goal of finding the best version of myself to bring back to Europe. What is this version? A Maghalie that feels energized, happy, strong, confident, and ready to fight. If I had to describe this with an emoji, it would be this one: 😈

Now, all these words make this seem like a huge deal, and I don’t want to make this a bigger deal than it is. The truth is, my performances have not been that terrible. In the 6 races we did, I’ve been twice in the top 10 of World Cups, my worst performance has been 14th, and I now sit 7th in the Overall Ranking. Really not that bad. But it’s not about the result as much as it is about feeling like I can bring more. 

Additionally, if I was living in Europe, I could just say I’m taking a couple of weekends off to reset and train at home. Like everybody does regularly. It sounds like a bigger deal here because it so happens that I live in Canada and need to take a flight to go home…but really, just like any athlete, I’m choosing to reset to come back stronger. I’m not giving up on anything. If anything, this is me not giving up. This is me standing up for myself and choosing to not accept to be average all season. This is my quest to finding the best of me. 

It might look like a failure, but to me, it is anything but. If I ‘failed’ at one point, it may be when I got carried away by my excited emotions and ditched my strategy to chase ALL the carrots, instead for focusing on fewer targets, like I originally wanted to do. I'm proud of catching myself now instead of blindly continuing in that direction.

Anyway, if you made it this far in the text, congrats, and thank you haha. The one last thing I’ll say, if it isn’t already obvious, is that this was not an easy decision. I know that I’ll be watching the races on TV wishing I was there. I COULD have been there. This is to me the hardest (and the most costly) decision to make. But I feel confident this is the best way forward for me, and as hard as it was to make the decision, it gives me power that I did. 

Thanks again for following and happy holidays to everybody! I’ll be back racing soon. For now, let's go build a shovel!

-Maghalie

A new chapter

A new chapter

The cat is out of the bag!! After 5 amazing years of partnership with Specialized, it is with much excitement that we announced this past week that Canyon was our new title sponsor. 

It's important for me to say that Specialized have offered us incredible support throughout our 5 year partnership, and I'll forever be grateful to them. It was with them that I've achieved the biggest highlights of my career so far. We've created friendships there that I hope will outlast our official partnership for many years.

Why the change, then? Canyon is a young and very dynamic company. They approached us with an incredible offer that was hard to look past. But two things stood out and made the difference for me. For one, Canyon has a strong, burning case of the CX Fever. This shared passion for cyclocross was important for me, because it is the one discipline that holds my heart and my dreams. The second thing? When I asked Canyon what other events were important for them, they replied: "Whatever puts a smile on your face and some pain in your legs are going to be the most important to us". I know I'm at my best when I am happy, so having the freedom to pursue events that excite me, while knowing that this would be good enough to my main sponsor simply felt right!  Both David and I are very eager to build this relationship with Canyon and to achieve big things together. 

Along with the Canyon announcement, we've also announced other new exciting partners. 

First, came Zipp wheels! We've been partners with SRAM for years, and they truly feel like family to us, so adding Zipp felt natural. Plus, ZIPP wheels were my first ever "cycling equipment crush" as a young athlete...and damn! They've only gotten better, and prettier over the years! So this is exciting! 

Bivo bottles is another new partner. Bivo is a family owned company from Vermont and they make stainless steel bottles. David and I have goals to reduce our environmental footprint, and this partnership was a step in that direction. Can we do a full season with only 8-10 bottles?! And keep those for another year? And another? Let's see!! Read more about partnership here. We're even going to launch a special custom bottle together, stay tuned. 

More new partners will be announced this week on Instagram, so catch next week's newsletter to know more about them. 

We're excited to start this new journey and share our adventures with you all! 

First race: Grasshopper series!

The Grasshopper adventure series is a popular local race series in California. Some editions are on the gravel bike. some on the MTB, and what they have all in common is they take you on an adventure loop in beautiful location, and you eat a great lunch afterwards! Sounds like fun to me. 

David and I spent the last 2 months in Santa Cruz, California for training. We had planned to go spend the day in San Francisco to play tourists, as well as to meet chef Matthew Accarino and eat at his famous restaurant SPQR. So when we saw that there was a Grasshopper Mountain bike race in Lake Sonoma (1.5h away) the next day, we decided to sign up.  

Lake Sonoma was absolutely beautiful! We camped there in the van the night before and Mia got to swim in the lake. The course was climbing an almost ridiculous amount, but the good thing about it was that it brought gorgeous views of the area, and we got to descend on fun trails lined with colourful flowers! 

Learning from my mistakes 
This was going to be my first race on my Canyon LUX. Last April, I found myself being extremely fit in March and April, following the cyclocross season. But, as May rolled up, I started being fatigued and constantly having heavy legs. This started a summer pattern of : being extremely fatigued, taking time off, having a few days of feeling good..then feeling extremely fatigued again...and we'd start over. It was annoying and counter productive. The last nail in the coffin came when I caught covid and then I could never recover, until I had to take 2 months completely off during the cyclocross season. Needless to say, this whole thing was far from ideal! So this year, we're trying a different approach. I did not do any single interval this spring. Instead, I rode fun miles, and built a good base in the gym, and my goal will be to progress all year so I can perform at a very high level come September. I'll still race in the summer, but I've learned I can't overdo it and be top at all times.

The race
This brings us to the start of the Grasshopper yesterday morning! I was excited to take my new Canyon mountain bike into its first race, but I truly had no clue how my body would respond to this intensity. And let me tell you, them California people are STRONG! The race started on a 10minutes road climb. The pace was fast and damn! I felt like crap. I knew it was important to position myself well for the upcoming 20 minutes up and down single track, but all I could manage was very average placing, resulting in lots of walking behind people on that singlet rack. I eventually found a rhythm, and met up with my friend Caitlin. We rode the first lap of the race together and that was fun. We were sitting 2nd and 3rd place in the women. On the second lap, I had already figured out that I didn't have much speed in my legs, but what I was able to do was to ride a solid steady pace. So I settled into my own steady pace and passed many people. My left quad eventually cramped on the last steep AF* 10 min climb...gosh! This makes you appreciate those days when you are fit and you can do anything! I had to slow down a bit, but rode in to finish second to a fast Maude Farell. 

The good news is that my bike performed much better than my body! Plus, I had fun and it felt good to push hard for the first time since February. Other good news? We won a really nice bottle of win on the podium, from local winery Arnot-Rogers! I guess it was worth the cramp! 

Mia really loved the weekend...she was free-dogging most of the time and had a blast meeting all these cool people and hunting little creatures in the grass all evening. She hopes all race weekend from now on will include a night of camping! 

We're racing the Sea Otter classic this coming weekend! 

Cheers and stay tuned for all kinds of fun announcement coming up :) 

World Championships

Nothing to lose

A few days before the race, my sister texted me to ask what was my mindset going into the World Championships weekend.

I responded with a photo of that morning’s entry in my notebook. I had written: “Take a chance at greatness. Don’t just aim for good.”

Under it, there was a quote from famed basketball coach Phil Jackson that read: “Create the best possible conditions for success, then let go of the outcome.”

If you are reading this now and you’ve made it all the way to the end of the this season following us (thank you!), then you probably know that it wasn’t a regular season for us. Sickness, put a pause to the season, try to get back to top fitness, etc. To me, all of that meant that on the last race of the season, I had nothing to loose. It was already a bonus to just be here. So why not try to go for greatness instead of playing it safe for “good”?

That was my mindset. I knew that David and I had done what we could to “create the best possible conditions for success” considering the cards we had this year. Now, it was time to “let go of the outcome", and just go for it, because in my opinion, the best way to fully commit at trying to win is to be ready to lose.

World Championships 

On the morning of the race, my plan was clear. The field was smaller with only 34 riders, although all of these 34 riders were all of very high quality. I was still ranked on the 3rd row, but my thought was that the smaller field made it easier to navigate, and with the start being on a wide uphill pavement, I was confident I could move up quickly. My plan was to do a very aggressive start, 1 lap absolutely full gas, do whatever necessary to put myself in the game (in contention) at the front of the race from the beginning. I didn’t want to have an average start and chase alone all day like I did most of the season. I wanted to play at the front, and if I had to blow up, so be it.

I lined up in the row behind Puck Pieterse (1st row) and Marion Norbert Riberolle (2nd row). Considering Puck is one of the fastest starter and Marion is fast, powerful, and agressive, this felt like a safe bet! I was confident they would be good wheels to follow. My plan was ON!

The lights turned from green to red. I clipped in. Pushed forward. Right then and there, I saw Puck slip her pedal. Behind her, our row completely stalled. I hit Marion’s wheel, had to put a foot down, and everyone blazed around me as I stayed there on the line. Fuck. There was still a chance. I eventually took off and went flat out to pass as many riders as I could on the start straight. Already I passed a few. Then I tried to be aggressive and pass in the first corners, but didn’t manage so well. I felt like I was always in the wrong place. After 3 corners, I was last. (Luckily, I never looked back so I didn’t know!). “I guess it will be a chasing game after all”.

It was on. I started chasing and passing people one by one. I had a sense of urgency, thinking that the earliest I could pass people, the more chance I had to make it to the front groups. Halas, I never even saw the first group. But I kept to it. 20th, 15th, 13th…I pushed too much in a corner and crashed. 15th again. I found myself in a small group from 12-14th with 2 other riders for a few laps. I thought we could work together to keep moving up, but they seemed to want to battle between the 3 of us. This was slowing us down. I’d get to the front to try and push the pace, then they would attack me and slow down in front. At some point, I talked to them: “Hey, if we work together, we can get top 10”. BOOM! Just like that, they were on board. We started working together. With 2 or 3 laps to go, we almost connected to the group from 9-11th. David screamed at me that one rider was changing bike. If I wanted to connect, it was NOW. I sprinted and made the connection. 1 lap to go and I had to be smart. I knew which section I was doing faster, so I attacked there and never looked back. After being last, I finished the World Championships in 9th place.

I’ll be honest, I was so focused during the whole race that I barely saw the time go by, even though it was a long race. The fans were cheering, everything was loud, everything was intense. But at some point during the chase, I was really suffering and a thought popped in my head for a few seconds: “Is it worth it? I was aiming for great. Is it worth it going all in for what will be an average result at best?”. Then, I thought of David. It was worth it. At that moment, I also heard the Canadian junior girls scream my name. A few hours earlier, we had had the privilege of witnessing history as Canadian junior women Isabella and Ava Holmgren finished first and second in the Junior World Championships. Freaking World Champions!!!!! It had been an insane moment that gave me chills and made me cry. Although I have nothing to do with their success, I felt a huge sense of pride for them, I felt so inspired. It was an incredibly special moment. Now they were on the sidelines cheering for me. Any doubt I ever had vanished in that instant. “They are watching. LET’S F**KING GOOOO MAGH!”

I crossed the line exhausted but proud. It was not the greatness I was looking for. But damn! It was worth so it! I had so much fun out there, I loved every minute of the race. I pushed as hard as I could, I raced well and I raced smart. The result is not what I wanted, but my ride was strong and I’m very proud of it.

It’s always worth it.

I’m finishing this season in 9th place at the World Championships. Most importantly, I’m finishing this season absolutely in love with this crazy sport. This summer and throughout the fall, I often wondered if I was done with cyclocross or with racing. With all the struggles we had, I did not feel the passion (the fever) I normally have, and I wondered how I could keep going. But with the support of my family, my sponsors, and with David, I decided to give it one more shot.

It turns out, this season I learned to fall in love with racing and with cyclocross all over again. I feel so privileged to be a part of this sport and this community. Once again, I feel consumed with the desire of wanting to become a better cyclocross athlete, and to me, this might be the biggest victory of all!

The end.
Looking back, this weird season may have been a blessing in disguise. Although we produced less fireworks or standout results, I’m very proud of the work we did and the things we accomplished. Most importantly, by being forced to do things differently, I think both David and I learned a lot from it all. For example, by being less strong than normal for most of the season, I was forced to use my matches better, and I learned to be a smarter racer.

I’m really looking forward to putting these leanings to good use and to start working on next season! First, however, time for a little break…it feels weird having to take a break now, after finally finding the fitness I had been chasing for 3 months, but it's necessary, otherwise I’ve learned nothing! Mia dog is excited to be home after her European journey and looking forward to playing in the snow :) She has been such a good girl.

I’d like to take a moment to thank all of my sponsors for their continuous support, especially this season. It would have been easy to drop me when I decided to take an indefinite break from racing back in September, but every single one of them supported me wholeheartedly! There is no way we could have done it without you all. You made me believe, and allowed me to make good decisions!

Huge thank you to David as well. David already does a lot and always supports me immensely...in more ways than one could imagine (I'm not always easy and he's always the one wiping the tears!). But this year, when I was ill and unable to accomplish all of my responsibilities, he also took on a lot more workload, allowing me to focus on training and recovery. I am so grateful for him and couldn’t be more proud of him. He is the reason you saw me on the start lines this year!

Finally, thank you all for following and cheering! Your positive messages keep us going!

Besançon World Cup

Butterflies

I need to make a confession.

Over the last few months, when I lined up for races, I rarely felt nervous. And I’ll be honest, it bothered me. It bothered me so much that I wasn’t talking about it…I was afraid for the reason why I wasn’t nervous. Did I not care enough anymore? It’s hard to say, but I think it came from the fact that I just knew inside me that I wasn’t fit enough to compete where I want to be, so I didn’t have the nerves or butterflies that come with wanting to do well. Instead, I approached all the race preparation matter of factly, just ticking the tasks and doing the job. It worked okay, but for an emotion junkie like me, I felt like something was missing.

This morning, before the Besançon World Cup, I woke up and guess who woke up with me…the butterflies!!! They were back! I was nervous and I wanted to do well. I had never been so happy to be nervous!!

Having a good performance in Benidorm last week made me believe that I could do well. The course conditions in Besançon were VERY different than what they were when I podiumed here last year, but I had been feeling great in training all week, so I still believed I could do well. I was excited.

To add to the excitement and joy of the day, the Canadian Juniors absolutely smashed it this morning. Ian Ackert finished 5th in the junior men’s race, while Ava Holmgren and Isabella Holmgren finished 1st and 3rd. WOW! Isabella told me it was only the second time in history that the Canadian anthem played at a cyclocross World Cup…that the first time had been when I won the World Cup in Iowa a few years ago, and now today when Ava won. It gave me goosebumps.

As I lined up for the start, I was eager to get going. My butterflies were there, but they were flying in formation; I felt very much in control. In fact, I was confident the nerves would help me be more engaged and aggressive at the start. It kind of worked as I didn’t go backwards like every races so far, but no miracles happened either. 3rd or 4th row starts are my new current reality, and I’m still trying to adapt.

The race

The race was BLISTERING fast and there was no technical difficulty, so it was very hard to make a difference…at least for me. Puck Pieterse had no problem. I actually followed her wheel for a few minutes on the second lap (after she had a small mechanical) and loved following her…until she dropped me while bunny hopping the barriers. Note taken. It is now a necessary skill. I made my way from 23rd to 12th in a few laps. Then I could see the group from 5th-11th right in front of me, maybe at 10 seconds. They seemed so close and I so badly wanted to make the connection to contend for that 5th place. I tried and tried. They were so close, yet so far. I tried as hard as I could to bridge the gap, but for the life of me I could never quite make it.

I finished 12th and although it was my best effort, I still feel a bit disappointed. Like: ARGHHH! I wanted more. There are a lot of things I did well today and many good things to celebrate, so it's hard to be disappointed from a solid performance, but I still want more.

ARGHHH. 

In the end, maybe it’s a good thing that I want more. It means that I’m finally at a point where I feel I legitimately CAN achieve more. Gosh! Too bad it’s already the end of the season… I raced  only 4 of the 14 world cups, and I finally feel like I’m getting going!

Luckily, there is one big race left on the calendar next week. I’m ready to make it count and to use all my butterflies, and all my “wanting more” motivation to the nest version of myself on that World Championships start line.

Cheers everyone and merci to all the French fans for the warm welcome!

We’re now driving to our next check point in Hoogerheide, and stopped in one of the wonderful French gas station, where we picked up dinner for the road: A warm quiche lorraine and salad! Man I wish our North American gas station were as great as this!

Mia got some treats at the race, including pretzel sticks from a man named Jacques. 

Butterflies in Spain

FINALLY 🤩

I didn't sleep very well last night. I love my sleep, so normally I'd be mad about that...but I'm not. Instead, I'm excited, which is why I did not sleep very well. 

The World Cup in Benidorm was amazing! The crowds were loud, the course was fun and dynamic, and most importantly, I had so much fun racing. For the first time this season, I felt like when I was pressing on the pedals, I was moving. All season, I've never really found my top form. It turns out not training for several weeks in the beginning of the fall had repercussions...I stayed positive through it all, but let's be honest: It's not as fun racing when you're not strong enough to compete where you want to be. All season, if I got to a wide pedalling section in races where I saw people in front, I'd always think: "Okay, time to go and pass". Except, it always remained just a thought...every time I would stand up on the bike and try as hard as I could, but nothing happened. I'd pass 1 person if it was a good day. Then, I'd often end up riding alone between two groups. 

But yesterday!!! Yesterday was different, and I was so excited about it that I had a hard time sleeping. 

The race

I won't be complaining about my start position, because: 

1. It is what it is.

2. Gotta earn those points! They aren't free! 

3. The internet is filled with posts of people complaining about their start position. I don't need to add to that. 

4. It IS possible to get to the front quickly. Some people do it often (arg-hmmm Zoe Backstedt is the queen of that!) 

What I will say is this: I will never take a first or second row start for granted. It does, after all, make your life easier. 

Anyway, I had a bad start. It was chaotic, I got stuck, whatever happened, I ended up really f-ing far. Like, 40th-ish far. Somehow, I didn't get flustered. I just got going. The course was very fast, with many turns and many changes of surfaces. It looked easy on TV, but it wasn't. Going fast on that course, while staying safe, was very tricky. All the turns provided opportunities to pass, so I tried to use them wisely. Take inside corner, pass one person. Sand section: FULL GAS running. Pass another. Sprint into the corner and cut inside, pass 2 people. All I was doing was looking for opportunities to pass and go for it. Then, I got on the wide asphalt climb and saw a sea of people 🤩. "It's my chance". I went fast and was able to pass a lot of people at once. And then again as I gave another surge in the second hill in the woods. The race was very much like intervals...whereas some course are more like a long continuous effort, this one was really FULL GAS or RELAX. 

At some point (I have no idea which of the 7 laps), I got on the asphalt and as I looked up, saw the World Champion Jersey, some 777 jerseys, and a Baloise Lion. "OMG. I have not seen those all damn season!" Dave yelled this was the big group to 6th, so I got to work on the chase. 

Eventually, my friend Helene Clauzel and I bridged the gap and joined the group. When we joined it was a group from 9th to 15th. I tried to just go by and keep chasing, but it was then very difficult to drop this group. It became a tactical game. And oh was it fun! 

With one lap to go, our group of 7-8 riders were all together. Passes and small attacks were made left and right. I was fully focused and felt confident. On the paved climb, we all looked at each other, so much so that Marie Schreiber caught up and attacked all of us. It was ON! Only Helene, Marianne Vos, and I followed the attack. I went around Marie at the topo before entering the woods. I was 3rd wheel. On the second climb, I attacked and passed Helene and Vos. I knew if I got in the technical section first and rode fast enough, it was hard to pass. Only Vos followed. The 2 of us had a gap. How would I beat the GOAT? She passed me around the barriers. I got back on the bike really quickly and closed the gap. She was trying to put pressure on me. Only 3 turns left. She got on the pavement and swooooopppp. She slipped and fell. I barely had time to get around her. I crossed the line in 9th. It's unfortunate we didn't get to battle until the end, but luckily she is okay and that's part of racing. Good on her for pushing the limit and taking risk. It's not secret why she won so many races: She isn't afraid to lose (or to take risks)! Chapeau. 

Crossing the line, I was so happy with my race. That was the most satisfying 9th place I ever got! 

All in for worlds

David and I came to train in Calpe, Spain after the Zonhoven World Cup. We've been here for two weeks now. When we arrived, we made a plan. As I said, I did not feel "extra-world-cup-winning-fit" all season. But, for a disaster of a season impacted by health issues, we still managed to do better than I expected. So with 3 weeks until Worlds, what did we have to lose? 

I could keep doing what I was doing, and have a similar average performance. Or, I could go all in with the training, and try to squeeze every ounce of fitness we could until Worlds. The second strategy could have 2 outcomes: I get sick and do worse, or I get fitter and we try for a big results. 

We chose option 2. It would of course have been easier to choose option 1, but also what would have been the point... We'll see what happens at Worlds, but at least I'll have no regrets. And so far, it's been paying off. And let me tell you, I hadn't had that much fun racing in a LONG time. And that, my friends, is motivating and exciting!! 

Muchas Gracias Benidorm! 
Finally, just a quick note to mention just how cool the event was! Over 15 000 fans came, the event was flawless, the sun was shining, and each and every races was exciting! Way to go UCI for bringing the World Cup to Spain. Hear more about the event on the latest Muddy Mondays podcast. 

We're in Spain a few more days and then we drive to Besançon in France for the last World Cup of the season!