Nothing like race day to get the blood flowing. Throw in a World Cup. Add in some Belgium fans. And you have a pretty heavy day. There is something about the World Cup atmosphere in Belgium that is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. The fans are out in the thousands. The riders are all a bit on edge. The spectacle is that much bigger. It is actually pretty cool.

For some reason, I let this all get to me. I got caught up in the excitement of the World Cup and of racing at Koksijde. I let myself wrap myself in a tight ball of expectation and pressure. Not the smartest thing to do. But it happened. I was pretty good all week – just reminding myself of the big goal and not putting any extra pressure on myself for an outcome today. And then it happened. I started wanting more. (Marc could sense this was happening last night, but I steadfastly denied it….)

I was pretty calm all morning. Went through my regular race preparation. Got there nice and early and snagged a spot in the same parking lot as the BKCP team and Erwin Vervecken. Hooked up with Pete Harris (Nikki’s dad) for a chat and met the rest of his family. They were super helpful today – from the warm mug of tea to taking my warm-up clothes at the start. Hung out with Kate and Ian of Australia for a bit. Got some last tips from Rudy. All in all a pretty good morning. I connected with my mechanic – Serge (from the BKCP team). Many thanks to Serge and Christophe who made the trip today just for me as their rider Philipp Walsleben wasn’t racing today. Serge and Christophe took care of the pits for me, checking my tire pressure, cleaning my bikes, cheering me on and just being there for anything that I needed. This helped so much.

Funny, so many people said to me today – “you’re from Canada? You’re here alone?”. I would just smile and say “yes”.

Also big thanks to the Mongolian team (Johan Museeuw’s team) manager – he got their mechanic to fix my shifter for me and offered to take my warm-up clothing and help out any way he could. This is the amazing thing about cyclo-cross – everyone is super supportive and willing to help out.

I’ve written a race report where you can read about the race. In short, it wasn’t one of my best performances. I fought the bike. I fought my head. Plain and simple – I struggled. Guess it had to happen sooner or later. I’m glad I’ve gotten it out of my system.

I had planned on driving to Gieten, Netherlands for tomorrow’s race. But I decided not to. Talked to a wise man after the race who suggested I just go home. So here I am. Not sure what I’ll do tomorrow. Just go out and have some fun on my bike. Ride the forest maybe and link this up with some road riding. Tomorrow is another day and it will be a good one.

I guess I should tell you that today wasn’t all bad. I did collect some very valuable UCI points…. I now have 91 points. I needed 75 to make the qualification standard for the World Championships. Cool. Very cool. This has been a big goal of mine for a while now. I still need to get selected (find out on Dec. 11) but I can proudly say that I got the job done. It might not have been the prettiest – but it is done. The other silver lining from today are the lessons. Can’t ever forget the lessons. And I think the biggest lesson for me today is that: things don’t come over night. It takes time and practice. And then more time and practice. It is coming together for me. I just need to keep plugging away. I have a super big engine – now I just need to get my technical skills to match the engine. I’m better technically today than I was when I got here. But I need to remember that this stuff takes time. The 2010 World Championships are in Koksijde – I intend on being there…

(Guess first I should get to Tabor, Czech Republic. But hey – I’m a forward thinker!)

I have to finish this post with saying thanks to my super number one fan – Marc. He really saved me today after the race. It was an expensive phone call but it saved my day. I’ll be so happy to see him on Monday. Monday really can’t come soon enough for me. Without Marc’s support I wouldn’t have been able to even race this race today. Thanks Marc – you are my rock.

Well, finally all settled into a hotel here in Koksijde… Bit of an adventure. I had booked a hotel. But it turned out to be like a haunted house… So I had to scramble to find a new hotel – not easy in a city overrun with cyclo-cross racers and fans. But I found one. Phew. Then I had to race back to the registration and give the UCI officials my new hotel information – in the event of a doping control. Only last snag is my phone has run out of credit – so I need to get this sorted – in the event of a doping control.

The pre-ride went really well. The course has changed a lot since Wednesday. The sand is a lot firmer now. There are a lot of ruts and tracks that make the sections more rideable. But sand is sand – one lap you can get through and the next lap you get stuck. Took it pretty easy and did only three laps. The weather is a bit rotten cold and wet so I didn’t want to be outside too much.

Got all my clothes hanging up and drying. Bikes are clean and good to go. Now I’m just trying to sort out my supper plans. I could eat here or go into town. I’m thinking of going into town. See how I feel.

The race is at 1:30 tomorrow. Feeling pretty good about it. The course is challenging but interesting. There are some sections which I think I ride really well and then there are sections that I struggle with. This is the same for everyone.

Pretty impressive to see some of the elite men ride today. At one point I was walking up a big sand climb and everyone watching (yes there are people out watching the warm-up) started cheering and gesturing. I smiled because I thought they were cheering me. Nope. Zdnek Stybar of Fidea was coming up from behind me – only difference was he was riding the sand hill and I was not!

Okay, I’m out. Sorry for the short post but I’ve only got two hours of WWW access here at the hotel. I’ll do a race report tomorrow night from my next hotel.

It has been another couple of most awesome days on the cyclo-cross bike. Lots of learning. Lots of laughs. Really just a great time. It has been awesome to learn from Rudy and just listen to the little subtle tips he gives that make a big difference on the race and in just being a bike racer.

So on Tuesday we all did our own thing in the morning – this meant that Rudy and I didn’t have to leave so early to make the two hour drive to Koksijde. But as we were leaving at 10:30, I still went out early for my ride. I got in a great 90 minute “sightseeing” ride – it was amazing. Got to watch the sun come up, followed a rainbow and just generally was able to open my legs up a bit from the efforts on Tuesday. Then quick shower and pack of the bag, dash to the health food store to buy some peanut butter for my sandwiches and we were off.

The drive was pretty easy. Well, especially for me because I just had to sit there! Had good conversations with Rudy about bike racing, life, and Belgium. We hung out with the Danish kids for a bit and then it was off to De Panne to hook up with Kate and Ian. We quickly hopped on our ‘cross bikes and rode over the race course.

When we got there we met the Mongolian team and we got to meet their prime sponsor: Johan Museeuw. Wow – I was kind of starstruck. I think I stuck out my sweaty glove and said “I’m really happy to meet you”. Surreal. The Museeuw ‘cross bikes are interesting they are made of flax carbon (yes, flax). Then we all jumped on the course to check it out.

What a course! I really really like it. It has so much going on in it. There is the sand. A lot of sand. But there are also some fun kind of bumpy power sections where you can really open it up. There are some fun descents. A couple of fly-overs. Some fast twists and turns. Probably the trickiest parts of the course are the sand descents. The sand is so deep it is hard to get going. One of the descents is quite steep – just push the bike over the edge and go! It is a really challenging course but also a fun course. The brain is always working and it is just fun to ride it.

The only negative thing happened yesterday was the theft of my jacket… Can’t believe it! I left it on the back of the Belgian team truck. And when I came back, it was gone. Ticks me off because unlike some racers, I don’t have a closetful of team clothing. I have one jacket. Sigh. Well, if I see someone wearing it tomorrow or on Saturday at Koksijde, you can be pretty darn sure I’m going to get it back!

After the ride we were treated again to some amazing tea – so tasty – and really helps you warm up after a ride in the rain. Then it was back to the hotel to get cleaned up and hit the road to drive home. I tried to clean my bike, but Rudy wouldn’t have it. He cleaned my bike for me while I showered! So amazing. Drive home was a bit slow because we got caught in rush hour. But still a good drive.

I was a bit wiped out though last night – hence no blog posting.

Today we did things differently. Rudy said it would be too much to ride the Koksijde course again so instead we met at his place. His wife had prepared lunch for us and then we jumped on our bikes for one of the best rides I’ve done since I’ve been here. We did a combination of on and off-road. Super fun. I had the Michelin Jets on and they were perfect. One minute we’re rolling along the bicycle path and then we’re in this super fun forest all trying to keep up with Rudy. Then we rode along a river on this little grass road. Then more pavement. It was super fun. Great way to keep the ride interesting. I’m definitely going to try to do more rides like that – great way to train for ‘cross with some time in the woods combined with some road riding. I think we were out for about 2.5 hours. Nice.

While we were showering, Rudy cleaned all of our bikes. That was five bikes that he cleaned and lubed. I tried again to clean my bike and help him out. But he wouldn’t have it! We were told to go inside and drink tea. We hung out for a bit and then went to a bike shop so we could all look at gear. Looks like I’ve found another pair of Mavic Fury shoes – yay! We had a great afternoon of just talking about racing, training, and some of the stories about Rudy’s racing days. Then we were treated to supper. Many thanks to Rudy and Anita for their hospitality and for letting us take over their house today!

All in all another great day. It was just what we needed – to get out on our bikes away from the race course and just enjoy being outside.

Tomorrow I’m off to Koksijde to ride the course a couple more times and then I’ll stay over night there. Racing on Saturday! I’m pretty excited. I have no expectations going into the race. I don’t know how well I will do in the sand compared to the other girls. I only know that I have improved a lot in the sand this week. There were sections that I really struggled with on Tuesday that I was able to ride yesterday. Sand is funny stuff. It is so unknown – one lap it can be almost easy to get through a section and then the next lap you stall out before you even get half-way through it. I can only go out and do what I can. I’m looking forward to it. The course is challenging and interesting. I’m bracing myself for the spectators as well. Luckily I have some experience with this at some of the races I did last year. Definitely it is going to be a good day. I’m super luck to have one of the BKCP team (Neils Albert’s team) mechanics helping me out on Saturday and on Sunday in Geiten, Netherlands.

Alright, time to go. I’ve said it before, but it needs to be repeated – many thanks to Matt Knight of the CCA for helping me register for this camp and supporting my desire to participate. It has been an invaluable week. I’ve learned so much on and off the bike. Also many thank to Rudy for everything this week.

I’ll check in with you tomorrow night (hopefully – I don’t know if I’ll have Internet access) with my pre-race thoughts. Thanks for reading and send me some speedy vibes on Saturday and Sunday. Also make sure you send some down to New England since Steve a.k.a Fearless Leader is racing this weekend.

Today was the first day of the much-anticipated UCI cyclo-cross training camp. I stumbled onto news of this camp in the summer, thanks to some poking around the UCI web site by my number one supporter. A quick email later and I was registered and set for a week of cyclo-cross training.

Many thanks to Matt Knight of the CCA for handling the registration process and helping me find out more about the camp. If the rest of the camp is anything like today, this is going to be one heck of an excellent week!

So the camp is basically on-site course training at Koksijde – the location of the World Cup on Saturday. I really didn’t know much about the Koksijde race course. I had just heard that it is quite sandy and that everyone says it is “special”. Well, they got that right. This course is mega-sandy and this does make it very “special” i.e. super challenging.

Anyway, back to the first day of the camp. I’m lucky this week that I’m able to get a drive to Koksijde and back each day with Rudy De Bie (Belgian National Team coach) and the coach for the camp. This saves me a lot of money on hotels and also I get to relax in the car and just chat and hear different stories. We hit the road pretty early this morning since we had a two hour road ride scheduled at 9:30 (so we left here at 7..). Got to De Panne (just outside Koksijde) and met up with Kate Potter (Australian mountain biker and cyclo-cross racer) and her husband Ian. They have a small hotel to themselves this week so we unloaded Rudy’s truck and then he set off to get the three Danish riders also participating in the camp.

Then it was off for a windy ride. This was wind like I’ve never ridden it before. There is quite the storm situation happening in Europe right now and the coast is particularly rough. At times I felt like my bike was sideways in the wind – making for some hard morning training. But after a nice lunch break and chatting with Kate, Ian and Rudy we were all ready for the afternoon session. We hooked up with the Danish riders (two guys and one girl) and went to check out the course.

Wow – what a course! Never have I ridden on such a course. The entire course is intense. There is a lot of sand. There is also a lot of grass. But the grass is not nice friendly grass. It is soft and kind of bumpy – seems like there is a deep layer of sand below the grass. So you feel like you are on the gas the whole time. There is short uphill sand run but it is the hardest 200 meters of your life. And then there is the descent right away – in super deep sand. Sounds easy to descend in sand… Nope. It is even more challenging than riding in the flats!

We weren’t able to ride all of the course today. But we did see some of the key sections. Already after riding the course for just 90 minutes, I know I have improved. I picked up a lot of tips and advice from Rudy about riding in the sand, the transition points, what to do in the start, etc. A super valuable day.

We did some “hot” laps and attacked the sand, sand run, sand descent. Then we’d recover a bit and then hit the finishing section with another key sand section in it. Recover a bit. And then do it all over again. Super fun.

I have to say that this sand dwarfs any sand I’ve ever ridden in before. It makes the 100 meters of volleyball court sand we have in races at home, seem like nothing. This sand is something else. But it is fun. Really fun. Sand riding as I learned today is a skill. Just have to learn the skill. The things I was told today: keep the feet turning over, stay loose on the bars (don’t hold on tight), don’t steer the front wheel – let it go where it wants. Just need to remember to do all this and hopefully the sand won’t suck you down. It is funny because one time you can get quite far through it, then the next time you stall out really early, and then the next time you can get all the way through. As Rudy said “also with sand you need to have some luck”.

I can safely say that I am definitely lucky to be participating in this camp. Especially with such a small group, we are all getting a lot of help and advice.

Now it is time for me to get my stuff out of the washing machine and get it dried so I can be ready to do it all again tomorrow. We’re heading out later tomorrow. We’re all doing our road riding separately and then meeting up for the afternoon. This makes it a bit easier for myself and Rudy as we don’t have to leave so early.

I’m only one day into this training camp and I do believe that this will be a very valuable week for me. I’m learning so much – just from being around Rudy and getting his advice on training, racing, recovery, eating (chocolate is not good for bike racers…) and also from meeting the other racers and learning from them and feeding off their energy. It is also super nice to be with a group of people all week. Helps chase the “quiet” time away.

Well, I best be off. Still have to get up a bit early tomorrow to get in a spin on the road before the drive to Koksijde. I’m sure I’ll have more lessons and stories to tell you tomorrow. Tomorrow the entire course will be set up and even the road section will be closed to traffic so that people can train. Nothing like being in a country that embraces bike racers so much!

(Thanks again to Matt Knight and the CCA for supporting me and registering me for this camp. Super valuable week.)

Been thinking a lot about my races this past weekend. I’m feeling pretty good about them. Yes, I can always do better, and I will. But these two races really taught me a lot about bike racing and myself as a bike racer. Both race courses did an excellent job of highlighting some of my cyclo-cross weaknesses. I did not let this stress me out or intimidate me.

Rather I adapted as the races went on. I had a few not-so-good-moments during both races. But I recognized this. Gave myself a kick in the head. And got on with the racing. I forced myself to improve through-out the races. I was able to get faster, more smooth, and smarter. This resulted in me passing people. In racing faster.

I essentially coached myself during the races. “Eyes up”. “Pedal”. “Stay off the front brake”. “Good job”. “Sand – okay dismount now and run”. “Look ahead and attack the base of the climb”.

Literally this is what I did during the races. And it worked. I listened. I improved. Especially on Sunday, I started picking off riders. As this happened, my confidence began to sky rocket and I rode faster and faster. Nice.

A breakthrough weekend of racing I think. Also a testament to the mantra “focus on performance and the outcomes will happen”. Two days of racing with two good days of racing and learning. I’m a pretty fortunate athlete right now – to be able to reap such rewards from my bike.

I’ve got an even bigger week ahead with the UCI cyclo-cross training camp in Koksijde. Will be some good hard days of riding in the sand and testing myself. Can’t hardly wait. The training camp is bookended with with the Koksijde World Cup on Saturday and the Super Prestige race in Geiten, Holland on Sunday. Sweet.