It really is pretty cool to race my bike on Boxing Day. Boxing Day is one of my favorite days. Not sure why really – guess because traditionally in my family it was a day where we could really unwind and just do “what we wanted”. Typically this meant, playing some road hockey with my brother and his friends and then relaxing with one of my new books. A perfect day for a kid growing up in Northern Saskatchewan.

And now, a great Boxing Day means racing in one of the biggest cyclo-cross races of the season and then coming home to relax with a good book and my favorite guy. For extra spice this year, this also means hanging out with our new friends from Denmark, Canada, and the U.S. Really doesn’t get much better.

I’ve written a race report. Not a race I’m happy with. No do overs. Just “do betters”.

Funny because I had a good warm-up today. Yesterday the “big” descent was not open. So today my mission was to conquer this descent. And I did this. In the warm-up I crashed the first time down. But I picked myself up, climbed up the descent and rode down it properly. I then rode the rest of the course and then came back to ride the descent again. Again, I got down it. Good. Feeling confident. Last year, this descent really scared me. So I was happy to roll back to the car knowing I could ride the descent. Rest of the warm-up routine went well.

Many thanks to Tim for taking my bike to the pits and to Jos for taking my warm-up clothes. Also big thanks for Jacob for looking after my bike during the race. Big shout out to everyone for the cheering and support before, during and after the race. Great to hang out with Luc again as well.

So when I approached the big descent the first time during the race, I was ready for it. Confident. Knew I could get down it. Well, I didn’t. I crashed. Hard. Damn it. Lost contact with the group and played catch up and survival. Then each time I came to the descent I would try but I didn’t try hard enough. I couldn’t ride it. It got the better of me. Damn it. This frustrates me. I’m a better rider than this. I let fear catch me today. Ridiculous because I’ve ridden down harder. Yes, I’m ticked off with myself. I need to do better. I have to do better. I put in the hard work physically and I need to ride better technically. I have the skills. I just have too much “brain” happening and not enough “freedom on the bike”.

Since I got lapped, I was pulled. So I rolled to the car… It was locked. I had no dry clothes to put on. Luckily I found Geoff Proctor and he let me hang out in the U.S.A tent for a bit. Then a super friendly guy helping the U.S. team staff member saw me shivering and told me to get in the van. So I surprised Brian Matter, Justin Lindine and Els Delaere. But luckily no one minded and I got warm in their van as these two guys got ready for the elite men’s race. Many thanks to Geoff and his guys/gals for helping me out.

I eventually hopped on the trainer and got a good cool down in. Talked to Luc about the race – always interesting to get another perspective on the race. Then Marc arrived! Marc raced today so he made it only at the end as I was finishing my cool down. But it was great to have him there. We made a quick get away from the race and managed to catch the end of the elite men’s race.

Many thanks today to all the people who helped me out: Tim, Jos, Jacob, Luc, Geoff, and Marc. Also super nice to have lots of people to talk with during warm-up and pre-ride. Gabby Day was super encouraging with the descent. Nice to talk with Nancy Bober as well. This type of friendship and community really helps smooth out some of the rough edges to race day. I know that even when I go to a race alone, I will have people to talk with, to help me out, and to encourage me.

So what’s next? Well, in short order – I need to get better. I have it in me. I really just need to unleash it. I need to ride my bike with the unbridled attitude of a 12 year old boy – no fear. Just going for it. Big smile plastered on my face, trying to beat my buddies racing around the block.

Not only is it Christmas Day but for us cyclo-cross racers it is also Zolder World Cup pre-ride day. This means it becomes a rather and hectic day. The day started off in typical bike racer fashion – slow to rise and then some quality time in front of the computer. And of course since it was Christmas Day, we did make the trip to the bakery to get some Christmas treats for everyone.

The pre-riding went really well today. Marc was super patient and gave me some very good tips and encouragement. It can be a challenge to do this with your spouse… But each time we go through the pre-ride we get better doing this. We did one lap nice and easy to check out the lines and then we sectioned the course piece-by-piece. This was the best way to learn how to tackle the various sections.

So, this course is challenging. But super fun. I actually like this course. Last year I was intimidated by it. But this year is a different year. I can ride everything. I can get down the descents. The descents aren’t graceful or blissertingly fast, but at least I can get down.

Had a blast today out there. Got to see lots of people. Wish everyone a Merry Christmas. It was just plain old fun on the bike.

The only twist today was that we couldn’t get our parking passes before the manager’s meeting… So Marc stayed behind and picked up the passes for the Canadians. I hopped in with the Hoppner’s and they dropped me off here at Blauberg. Marc had a long night at the meeting and is now slaving away in the garage cleaning the bikes.

Looking forward to a fun day at the races. I’m thinking of wearing the red leg warmers tomorrow. It is Christmas after all.

Today was one of those training days… Since it is Wednesday, we went to Floreal Lichtaart to train in the woods. This is our weekly routine. Well, it seems that is is the routine for most ‘cross racers here. So even though there is snow on the ground we loaded up the trusty Kangoo and made our way.

I’ll be honest here – it was a tough one out there. I got into that “trying too hard” thing. I was trying to do everything and do it all perfect. You know – spin, stay loose, look up, and nail all the technical sections as well. Of course, when you’re learning – it is not optimum to try to work on everything at once! Sigh. Luckily Marc was there to remind me of this and to give me some good tips.

Number one lesson I can take from this training session – I need to focus on my cadence. With a higher cadence, the bike will float more easily through and over the snow. When I get into the slow cadence I start to stomp, this causes traction issues with the rear wheel and causes me to sink in the snow. So the name of the game for me is “spin”.

I know that if I can get this, the other things will come as well. So this was a great training session. With Marc’s help, we identified the biggest thing to work on right now. No more of this trying to fix everything at once. Back to basics and put the puzzle together one piece at a time.

So I’m going to switch gears now….

As you a lot of you know, I’ll be racing at the World Cyclo-Cross Championships in Tabor, Czech Republic. I’m stoked to be able to represent Canada and to fulfill a goal I set last season. You may also know that in order to reach this goal, I switched to part-time work and stopped working entirely in October. This was a necessary move so that I could focus on training, racing, and recovery. Not an easy decision to make when I’m in the “prime” of my “career”. But you know what, last time I checked you only live once. To help make this year possible I’ve been super lucky to have the support of some truly amazing sponsor and of course Marc has been ever at the ready to do whatever it takes.

But now I need to do something I’ve never had to do before… I need to rustle up some money. The trip to the World Championships is fully athlete-funded. So I have to pay for my clothing, accommodation, various team fees, food, and travel to and from the Czech Republic. Needless to say I have a big bill pay to pay in mid-January. Yeesh, this is so hard to write. I’ve always said I’d never be one of those bike racers who quits her job and then asks for money from people. But now I have to. Plain and simple – I need some cash. I knew there would be a cost associated with going to the World Championships – I just didn’t know it would be so big. So there you have it.

So this being said – if you want to help support my trip to the World Championships, drop me an email.

I’m embarrassed to have written these previous paragraphs. I so hope you don’t read it and take it the wrong way. I am a planner and a saver – I just wasn’t ready for this extra expense. Next year, I’ll know and I’ll be ready for it….

(P.S. Check out my latest article on Cyclocross Magazine.)

Pretty quiet day here on the training front. After Monday’s three hour ride on slippery and snow-covered paths, today was all about recovery. I totally wimped out and rode the trainer… Yes, it was above zero and the sun was shining and I rode the trainer. Really, I just couldn’t face cleaning the bike and doing all the laundry afterwards.

So I rode indoors. Watched the last episode of Californication and started watching the first season of the Wire. But don’t worry, I’m not staying soft for long. Tomorrow will see me out ripping it up in the woods of Floreal Lichtaart. I’ve got a bunch of intervals to do in the woods. Should be a good fun day. Lots of time to practice riding in the white stuff and to get even better at “letting my bike do the work”.

It is a bit of a funny training week with the big race of the week on Saturday. Nothing like a World Cup on Boxing Day in front of 30,000 fans to keep you pedaling fast and staying off the front brake.

Onwards. Upwards. Forward. Moving ahead. Looking up.

Looking forward to the future. I’ve had a few good days of racing, training, and learning. Some highs and lows in both races. But all in all, lots to look forward to and more lessons to transfer from my brain to my legs. Of course, I always a higher result on the score sheet. (Who doesn’t it?)

But I can take satisfaction with the small successes from each race and really from each lap of the race.

If there is one thing I’ve learned this weekend is that a clean ride really is a fast ride. This is the trick to the sport of cyclo-cross. Going fast. Keeping the feet moving. Stopping the brain from doing too much work. Staying loose. And most importantly, staying upright. But on the flipside, a true sign of riding on the edge and pushing your limits, is when you hit the deck a few times. Granted, hitting the deck is not optimum. But mistakes have to be made to learn.

This being said, I’m happy to have stayed upright on my three hours in the snow. Had a great ride today. It has warmed up a bit and the wet roads were a nice change from the crazy snow and wind we experienced at Kalmthout.

Not sure what is up for tomorrow – I think recovery. On Christmas Day, we are off to Zolder to pre-ride the Zolder World Cup course and then on Boxing Day, I’ll be racing in the World Cup. Pretty cool way to spend Christmas. Definitely a true cyclo-cross Christmas!

Alright, I’m out for now. Time to chill out with the gang at the house here and watch Four Christmases. Hope your Christmas week is not too crazy. See you at Zolder.