As most of you know, I’ve been here in Belgium since November 3. I’ve been racing, training, thinking, smiling, and just trying to get as much into my brain as possible. This means asking questions. Listening to lots of advice. Trying things. Failing. Succeeding. And then doing it all over again.

This my third season of racing cyclo-cross in Belgium. While I haven’t been ripping up the results sheet, I have made some big strides forward. My fitness is in a great spot. My head is screwed on tight. My technical skills are improving. And I’m hungry. Actually, make that starving. I’m starving for improvement. For gains. For that extra bit of success. I really just want to learn and “get it” so that I can put everything together and ride like I know I can.

This is not easy. In fact it is damn hard. For me to make this jump, I actually need to un-learn some of the things I’ve been doing. And then I need to learn new skills. This cannot be done over night. Baby steps is all I can take. Sometimes it is hard to remember this. 10,000 hours as the deep thinker Gladwell pointed out. But what if you don’t have 10,000 hours?

Well, in my case you listen and keep your eyes open. This is what I did yesterday. Wednesday is the “woods” day. So Marc and I loaded up the Kangoo and made our way to Floreal Lichtaart (Kasterlee) to train on the cyclo-cross course. I’ve written about this place before but it is worth repeating that this place is the “bomb” for training. The course has pretty much all the aspects of any type of cyclo-cross course you will come across. Fast descents. Tight corners. Sandy climbs. Steep run-ups. And depending on the weather – mud or frozen rutted ground.

Here is a photo I took of the map attached to a post in the parking lot. It shows all the trails and riding you can do from the parking lot.

Marc and I rode around together with Marc giving me some great pointers on how I can improve and most importantly giving me massive heaps of encouragement. This makes such a difference when along with being told what to change, you’re reminded of how far you’ve come. After a bit of riding we hooked up with Bert and the fast Masters gang. This is where the real learning came in. Bert didn’t say much. He didn’t have to because his advice, will realize a different level of riding for me – if I can make the change.

So what did Bert say? He said:

“Let your bike do the work. Don’t be so stiff in the arms and the shoulders. Let your bike do it.”

Sounds simple doesn’t it? In essence it is. But in practice, it is hard to do. I’m working on it. I’m focusing on lightly gripping the bars. On relaxing my upper body. On looking ahead and taking a photograph of the course so I don’t stiffen up when I get nervous or start thinking. I’m focusing on constantly pedaling – this way the forward momentum will help me roll over and through things like mud, ruts, roots, etc.

Funny how the best advice is often the most simple advice. Doesn’t get much better. I’ll be out there again today working towards my 10, 000 hours and putting my bike to work.

It is now official:

Canadian Cycling Association press release

Many thanks to my sponsors for their support and confidence:

– The Cyclery

– KingsBridge Disaster Recovery

– Bell Lap Coaching

– Outdoor Gear Canada

– Clif Bar

– Stevens

When I saw the word “rest” on my training plan I was a bit nervous. I’m not very good at resting. I’m one of those athletes that likes to do lots of load, lots of intensity, lots and lots of everything. I’m one of those. I’m not so good at taking days off or recovering. So when I saw the word rest for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I was a bit perplexed. What does this really mean? I don’t like resting or taking days off the bike.

But after talking with my coach and understanding why I need to rest. Essentially to get the most bang for my body’s buck with the last four weeks of load, I need to give it some time to re-charge and get ready for the next phase. Makes sense. But still. Rest? Not ride? Hmmm.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, as ususal, Coach Steve was on the money. Today I woke up and really I was ready for the rest. Today I could ride – 60 – 90 minutes at a recovery/sightseeing pace. Perfect. The timing worked perfectly as two more housemates arrived yesterday. So I took advantage of a nice slow ride to show them around. We even stopped at a nearby cafe for some food and warm drinks. A true recovery/rest ride.

But I have to admit, it is still a challenge. I’m so conditioned to be out there riding hard or at least riding for a long time or even doing a double day. But I’m listening to the expert and taking it easy. This reminds me of some words of advice Tim Harris gave me last year “the hardest thing for a cyclist to do is to not ride”. How true. Especially now when I look at my race calendar and see some big races coming up. The temptation is to get out there and practice technical skills, to throw in some start intervals, and to get some long time in the saddle. But in reality this is not going to help my racing in the next few weeks. Probably it will just make me tired.

So I’m resting. Did the easy ride. Just about to go stretch out these old bones and muscles with some yoga. Then I’ll plunk myself down on the couch and do some reading. Come to think of it, I could get used to this! Ah well, plenty of time for a real rest in February when we’re home in the land of snow. Right now I’ll enjoy these few days and get ready for the upcoming races and get myself organized for the World Championships.

I’m racing on Friday at Scheldecros and then on Sunday at the Kalmthout World Cup, so be sure to swing by and say hello if you see me warming up or after the race. And of course if you’re watching the races – be sure to cheer loudly when I ride by. Happy pedaling or maybe if you’re lucky – happy resting!

This weekend, Marc and I loaded up our trusty little Kangoo and hit the road for Holland. On Saturday we drove to Amersfoort, Holland for a race and on Sunday we drove to Voldhoven, Holland for a race. Two great races in the Dutch calendar. It was nice to see lots of familiar faces – both Dutch and Belgian.

The races in Holland are great for us to do. They feature pretty much all the aspects that I struggle with – riding the single brown stripe through the woods, dodging trees, maintaining speed through fast corners, trusting the tires to keep you in contact with the ground through some super fast deep grooves and berms. Basically classic Dutch racing.

I’ve written race reports for both races and posted them over here.

Saturday was a good day on the bike in some aspects and a not so good day on the bike in other aspects. I found on Saturday that I was a bit tight and on my brakes more than I should have been. If I think I was braking too much – then I definitely was. Other flaw to Saturday was my start. Marc watched the start and he said I was right in there and then all of a sudden I just slowed down and let the other girls go by. So this put me you know where. So I had to do you know what. This was the good part of the race. My ability to keep getting faster and more smooth as the race progress. I find I’m not tiring during the races. This is also because I need to put more effort into my sprints out of obstacles (this is what Marc says – and as usual – he is right).

Today, I really just wanted to have a good start. And guess what – I had a markedly better start than I’ve had all season. But then I messed up. I was not prepared for the fight that happens the first time we hit the woods – I wasn’t ready for the girls to be super aggressive and to be pushed off my lines… Yes, so I gave up my lines. And ended up very close to the back again… To make matters worse – I rode myself into the course tape and had to stop. So now I was you know where. And I had to do you know what. But at least I know I can start better!

This race in Voldhoven did have an interesting twist to it. As is typical, we started one minute behind the junior boys. Today there were some pretty fast boys and they managed to catch me. Okay, no biggie – I usually know when the leaders are coming and I’m always very good about giving space and letting them go by. Especially for the top three boys. Well, today, I was in the second last woods section. I was just about to pass a girl in front of me – we were riding on the brown stripe but there was a big wide section of mud next to the brown stripe. This kid comes up behind me and yells at me to give up the line – now the leaders had long been by (this guy was probably in 6th place) – well since I was about to pass the girl in front of me – I wasn’t about to give up my line… Next thing I knew, the guy comes next to me – punches me in the face, yells at me and keeps going! To say I was stunned would be an understatement. Luckily I was able to keep myself up right. But as a consequence I lost some ground and wasn’t able to pass the girl in front of me. I was ticked off at this kid. I managed to see his bib number as he went by… So at the end of the race, I rode over to where he was standing. Tapped him on the shoulder – and gave him one back in the face… I’m not proud of it. But I was none too pleased with being punched. This resulted in a massive melee… Luckily for me, Marc was coming over to the finish and saw the entire thing happen. And also lucky for us, some Belgian friends came to our rescue and defended us from the rather irate parents of the kid. So in the end I had to make a formal complaint to the head official. He was not impressed with the kid and said it would be dealt with. Now, this is not something I do – go about punching kids in the face. But I really was quite ticked off. I could have been hurt rather badly if I’d ended up crashing or if his punch actually had any strength behind it…

Typically after races, we come straight home so we can get the bike cleaning and laundry done as quickly as possible. But today was the Blauberg Kerstmarkt. So we stopped to take part in the Kerstmarkt. It was a pretty small Kerstmarkt with about 20 stalls – all selling some type of jeneveer (many different flavors), hot chocolate, beer, and warm food. Typically each stall is run by a different club or foundation – for example today there were stalls run by the Scouts, Blauberg soccer team, Red Cross, a dancing club, etc. We took a walk around and decided to have our supper at the Kerstmarkt! We couldn’t pass up the chance to eat such tasty looking food. I had my iPhone with me so I snapped a few pictures:

A super fun way to round out our weekend of racing. The Kerstmarkt is still going strong right now. We might wander over again later tonight to take in the late night action.

So another great weekend of racing, traveling, learning, and enjoying life in Belgium is in the books!

Thanks for all the amazing comments, emails, and sentiments about my selection to the World Champs team for Tabor – it really does mean a lot.

This just arrived in my email inbox:

Dear Vicki Thomas,
I am pleased to announce that you have been selected to represent Canada at the 2010
UCI Cyclo-Cross World Championships in Tabor, Czech Republic.