Sea Otter - Not just a race!

Sea Otter is much more than just a bike race. It's a gigantic bike festival and everyone in the industry is there. Even if the competition is tough and it is considered as one of the biggest races on the North American MTB calendar, for most people except the racers, the race is not the main event of the weekend. 

It is a whirlwind, it is busy, tiring and awesome at the same time. Luckily for us racers, our team mechanics and manager are working very hard to make it easier for us to race among the craziness. Nonetheless, it is always a good time and I'm always excited to head out there! 

Heading into the weekend, we had an ambitious plan of racing three events; Short Track on Friday, Cross-Country and Cyclocross on Saturday. Katerina was on the same program as me and I was pumped to be racing all these events and wear my new Garneau cyclocross National Champ skinsuit. 

Instead of the usual race report, I thought I'd give you an idea of how the whole weekend panned out for the CLIF Pro Team. 

Wednesday

• Fly in. Marla picks Hannah, Haley and I at airport.
• Drive to hotel.
• We are so into our conversation that we miss the exit and go 23 miles too far. Wow... We laugh. 
• Haley uses that extra car time and give me a really nice bday gift! "How nice of her!"
• Eat at Whole Foods and meet Michel and Chris.
• Rooming with Lea. Bed time confession: I tell her I feel kind of old because I'm going to turn 24 that night. 24 feels like a big number...the ind of number where you become an official adult.
• She reassures me that this happens only at 26.
• Lea says Bunny! (Her way of saying "Bonne nuit", which is french for good night).  We fall asleep. 

Thursday (Aging)

Then when we woke up on Thursday, I had aged. But I felt so happy and excited to be at Sea Otter with most of my best friends to celebrate my birthday.

• Breakfast with the team. 
• Catharine gives me a really cool cooking book (and a super sweet card) for my bday! "My teammates are so sweet!" 
• Pre-ride the XC course with the team. 
• Have fun lunch and interesting conversations about Olympic experiences and such at Whole Foods with the crew.
• Go hang out at Katka's room. She also gives me a super nice bday gift and very cute card. "Can't believe how nice they all are".
• We go for a team dinner at nice restaurant overlooking the ocean. Gary (owner of Clif Bar) joins us and he is awesome as always. 
• We see whales. Haley doesn't tell us that she has been watching them jumping and flipping for the last 10 min. 
• They bring a delicious cake and a tiny bottle of champagne. 
• I love these guys. It was a great day! 

Aren't they the best?! They got a cake! I thought it said 42, which made 24 seem pretty young after all.

Friday (Short track, Lemonade, meetings and party)

• Drive to the venue for the Short Track race. We are pumped.
• Warm up. Go time!
• I feel horrible but I'm in the front group.
• Group splits. I close the gaps twice. "Maybe if I go really hard a few times my legs will eventually wake up and get going!"
• Legs never get going. I get dropped. Not a good day for me. "Oh well. I guess it happens sometimes". Catharine says I probably need a longer warm up not that I'm older lol.  
• After Short Track it's time for the annual Little Bellas lemonade social.
  ***Little Bellas is a program started by Lea and her sister Sabra to bring more girls on bikes. They now have  over 800 girls in the program across the country. Every year at Sea Otter, we get to sit with 20-30 girls and answer their questions. It is awesome! 
• Little Bellas ask what is our favorite fruit and how we motivate ourselves to get up a big climb.
• As the tradition asks for, we start rapping for them. Good fun is had. For the first time ver, there actually is lemonade, which is pretty awesome. So we sing this: 
  • "I’m on a 24h Lemonade diet
    Spilling while I’m sipping, I encourage you to try it
    I’m probably just saying that cause I don’t have to buy it
    Little Bellas supply it, and Camelbak is cooling it"
• 1.5h break: Eat lunch with Katka and hang in the shade under a tree.
• Meeting with our new sponsor Rotor. We learn about the technology of our power meters and their oval chainring. Then, Catharine arrives and the rep of Rotor asks me to explain everything to her. Luckily, I had been listening! People who work there are awesome!
• Visit at Maxxis. They have exciting stuff coming next fall!
• Back to our team ten for the annual Clif Pro Team party. Eat delicious quesedillas and catchu up with many friends and sponsors.
• Waldek's hat is off: That's our sing to leave the venue. It's 6 O'clock and we've been there since 8AM. Even if we're having fun, it's time to go. 2 races tomorrow. 
• Massage. "Thank you Waldek".  Bed time.
• Lea says "Bunny!"

Early on in Short track. Bridging a gap thinking "maybe if I go really hard my legs will feel better" I did not happen. 

Stoked on that new partnership with Rotor!!! 

Saturday (Cross-Country, Cyclocross, Meetings, dancing and rapping) 

• Drive to the venue for cross-country race
• Warm up. Race start. Here's how it went: In the first group for 2 laps feeling okay, smash my wheel, start sliding around and get dropped a tiny bit, pretty certain I had a flat, stop in the pit, lose the group for good, turns out I don't have a flat, leave feed zone, start riding by myself, mad/grumpy at myself for 2 laps, finally get mentally back into it with 2 to go, not a great performance, not so proud of myself. Oh well. 
• Little cool down, go back to the tent. Eat 1 LUNA bar, 1 Clif Bar oatmeal pouch, change, relax stretch a bit. Little Bellas visit the tent; answer cute questions and sign tiny jerseys. Next race is in less than 2h. 
• Hang in the van with Katka - getting ourselves pumped for race number 2. Get change. "So happy to have a buddy for this one, makes it so much better!"
• Race starts, men and women together. Here's how it went: First 20 min hurts a lot "I think I'm a bit tired", finally settles down as Cody Kaiser sets a good pace and let's Katka and I sit on his wheel "thanks Cody", I face plant in the sand, lots of people are cheering, push hard to catch up to Katka and Cody, face plant again in the sand, catch up again, our teammates are cheering hard, last corner; Cody lets us go, we exchange a few words, sprint to the finish, Katerina beats me. 
• We eat an apple and share a bag of chips and head to Garneau booth. We chat and sign posters. 
• Go to podium. 
• Finally go to van and get out of our shammy. "Yes!"  
• Go to CLIF Bar party. DJ J-Pows and DJ Peanut Butter are jamming great music. 
• Everyone is dancing. "THIS IS FUN!" I finally eat lunch, it is now 5:30 PM. "So great!" 
• They introduce the team. Baby Got Back from Sir Mix-a-lot is on...Can't control myself, I "turn around, stick it out" sign and dance. The whole team is also into it, Katerina even does the worm. "AMAZING!" Click here for a video: https://www.facebook.com/ClifProTeam/ 
• Then, as if we hadn't make fools of ourselves enough, they give us mics, the beat drops and we decide to do our team rap. Everyone is kind of weirded out. We have a blast! This is great. 
• CLIF Bar party is amazing. Favorite company ever! 
• Gary brings us back to hotel. Super fun team dinner. 
• Lea says Bunny! We sleep. 

Cross-Country-ing.. 

Cyclocross-ing... 

Saw a chip in the sand, had to taste it. Missed it first time though, so I went for it again a lap later. Get the whole video on Instagram @maghroch

First ever Sea Otter podium. Obviously I had to borrow that woman's fancy fur jacket. 

Finally decided to take the jacket off... 

From left to right: Quick C, H-Spin, Missy K Tang a.ka Magic Mystique, Mag Dogg, L-Diggity, Lil Spice 

Always fun hanging and racing with that one - Still smiling even when I make her crash!  

Sunday

On Sunday, we ended the weekend with our annual team ride on the beautiful 17 mile drive along the ocean. 

We are now headed in separate ways for the next few months as some of the team will go to Europe and others (like myself) will stay in North America for most of the summer. 

As usual, Sea Otter was super busy, but super fun at the same time. My races weren't great, but I still had a big smile on my face the whole time! Now I'm back in Tucson and looking forward for the Whiskey Off road this coming weekend. 

I don't think I'll need much external help to get pumped for Whiskey, but in case it's needed..."Turn around, stick it out. even white boys got to shout, BABY GOT BACK"!

Redemption at the California races

So many times in the past, I’ve done races that weren’t honest. I mean, my performances weren't honest. I was either panicking because things were not going as I had planned, or I was subconsciously holding myself back because I was scared to know what I was really worth if I gave 100%. For some reason, I didn’t want to show myself what I was really capable of. I wasn’t able to leave it all out there, because I was afraid that the result of it would not be as good as I hoped, and that it would affect my self-confidence even more.

It was a weird situation, because I was tricking myself in thinking I was giving it all...by panicking, my heart rate usually still averaged 190bpm for the race, but it was completely inefficient and didn't make me go fast. 

Basically, I was lying to myself over and over again...and when you think aout it, that’s a pretty shitty thing to do. After all, if there is one single person in the world I can be honest with, I think it’s myself. 

And how can you know what you need to work on if you never truly show what you’ve got? That’s like shooting yourself in the foot. There is no way to know what are your strengths and weaknesses if you don’t really try your best and offer an honest performance. Consequently, you can’t improve as efficiently as possible.

Anyway, 2 weekends ago was the first US Cup of the season in Fontana, CA. Heading into the event, my record at this race was horrible: DNF in 2014, 16th in 2015 (I had to google that one) and another DNF in 2016.

Bonelli hasn't been much more positive in the past for me. When I think about that race, all I remember is crashes, bandages, tears, disappointment, more bandages and a couple more tears. But I was determined to turn it around this year! As Beyonce says in her song Love Drought, from there: "Only way to go is up"!

After a successful race in Fontana and a busy week at team camp, we were happy to go to Bonelli to end the trip with another weekend of racing. Click here for a quick recap of Fontana! 

Tired after a busy team camp...but clearly fired up to race!

Here's how the race went: 

• Ride to the course with the team. Thinking to myself: "They look so cool all riding as a group!." Sign to myself "Okay ladies now let's get in formation!" 
• Eva receives her little gift from Katka and I! We laugh, we hug. 
• Warm up. Eat a pack of the new CLIF Bloks Salty watermelon...Miammm! 
• Call up. Announcer calls up everyone. Haley and I think we are funny as we shout all of our teammates rap names. 
• "Catharine Pendrel"... QUICK C!!! 
• "Lea Davison".... L-Diggity! "Notorious EVIE" etc... 
• Start! 
• Amy Beisel and I get tangled up. We fall off our bikes. Run for a few meters. Get dropped. "Well, that is not an optimal start!" 
• "Try to catch the end of the group in the start loop". See everyone slowing down..."Ouff, I wish I could slow down too." 
• "Come on Magh, take advantage of this and catch up!" 
• For 3 laps, I move up through the group. 
• Head starts being tired... "Eat a gel Magh!" 
• See Eva and Haley Smith in front. "Gotta catch up!" "Don't brake in those downhills!"
• Slide in a corner. My left foot catches me before my brain even realizes I'm sliding. "Nice work left foot!" 
• Finally catch up to Eva and Haley. 2 laps to go. 
• We are battling for 6th place, but Rose is not too far in 5th. "Let's do this!"
• Try to accelerate. Everyone follows. "Well, that wasn't very convincing Magh!" 
• Eva tells me to wait until the next lap to try to attack. "Got it. Smart!" 
• Last lap. I lead on the pavement (not smart). Attack at the bottom of the hill (not smart). Haley counter attacks. I panic for about 10 seconds. Get dropped. "CRAP!" "Stop panicking". 
• Eva gets a gap on Haley. I finally calm down. Chase for a full lap. 
• Finish in 8th. Super happy with my effort and race! "That was so fun! Fitness is slowly coming together!" 
• Big improvement - I only panicked for 10 seconds instead of 1.5 h! "Going in the right direction!" 
• At the finish line, Eva explains to me the strategy she was trying to tell me in the race... "Oh, now I get it. I completely messed it up! Oops."  
• I'm lucky to be learning from the best in the sport! 
• Eat Dave's banana bread. Exchange race stories with everyone. Cool down and ride back to hotel. Shower, chill, massage by Waldek. Order from the Lucky Elephant Thai place. Team dinner in the hotel lobby with our take-out thai food 
• Make strategy for tomorrow's short track. Mayhem, Excitement and Confusion happen. We are pumped. 

Alexis goes around another rider on the singletrack climb. "Brilliant, I'll do the same thing!" Alexis messes up. I mess up too. "Not so brilliant after all. Be patient Magh." BY Dave McElwaine

Post race. "Oh, that's what you meant!" 

Short track:

• Little spin to coffee shop. 
• Team breakfast. Review short track strategy. We are pumped. 
• Ride together at the venue. Warm up on XC course with Eva and Andrea. 
• Start! It all goes well. I AM PUMPED! 
• After 1 minute. 2 girls crash into each other right in front of me. No time to react, I crash too. 
• "CRAP!" Chain rings and wheels are coming from everywhere. "Stay in a ball until the whole peloton passes Magh." 
• Stand up. Check if I'm okay. I'm okay. "Should I just give up now?" 
• I am DFL at least 30 seconds behind. "Let's give it a shot Magh! Maybe I can still help the team if I can catch up!" 
• Start chasing. David, Ryan, Waldek are cheering on me to get back on the group. "This is hard, and not that fun." 
• Start picking up one girl at a time. Go full gas in fast corners to gain time. "This is super hard, but it's getting more fun." 
• I finally catch up when there is 3 laps to go. "Phew!" I can finally chill for a few seconds.
• Tell my teammate Haley: "Haley, what's happening in the race? I just got here!" I learn we have 3 girls in the first group. 
• Nothing really happens in the last 3 laps. 
• At the end: Bummed I couldn't be a player in the race. Happy with my effort! 
• Our team strategy didn't really work out...But it was fun!
• After the race: Cool down with Lea, pack up everything, Waldek cleans my wounds, little team briefing, say goodbye to everyone. 
• Dave and I drive to Parks BBQ in L.A. We eat delicious Korean BBQ. Drive to LAX, fly home! 
• It was a great week end!

Chasing by myself.... Pretty much all I did in the short track. Photo by Rachel Pageau.

When I finally catch up to the main group! Phew! Photo by Dave McElwaine

In the end, I was super happy about these races. I didn’t win and I got beat because I wasn’t fit or strong or good enough on the day. But you know what, I’m okay with that. Actually, it is great, because it was an honest performance. I couldn’t have gone any faster and now I know exactly what I need to work on. 

I used to panic and hold myself back because I wanted to protect myself form facing my fear of not being good enough, but it only hurt me and made me feel bad because deep down I knew that I wasn’t doing my best. This weekend (and last weekend in Fontana), I saw that I wasn’t good enough yet, and I was so freaking happy about it and about the way I raced! I was present in the race, I had fun and I was trashed when I finished, but at the end of the day, that’s exactly what I came here for. When I think about it, my fitness was probably not as good as the last 3 years I did these races, but my performances were the best I have ever had on these courses and I’m psyched about that.

Now it’s time to head home for the next week and keep up with the work/rest so I can bring my fitness to where I want it to be.

We really have a good team spirit this year. I think it must be all that rapping together that helped us create a strong bond...

After all these years, I think I finally caught MTB Fever! I'm excited for what's coming this season. 

Cheers everyone.

P.S
Stay tuned as I'm working on a little behind the scenes recap or our team camp. 

Just got hit by MTB Fever. Photo by Dave McElwaine. 

Korean BBQ - Suggestion of Anthony Bourdain! 

US CUP Fontana

This weekend was the first US Cup of the season in Fontana, CA. Heading into the event, my record at this race was horrible: DNF in 2014, 16th in 2015 (I had to google that one) and another DNF in 2016.

It couldn't really get any worse that that haha.

Here’s how the race weekend went.

• 9PM Thursday: Flight cancelled.
• Change plans. Rent a car, David will drive me tomorrow (still too young to rent a car. Crap. Lucky me, I have the nicest boyfriend ever!)
• Friday: Drive with David from Tucson to Fontana.
• Arrive to the venue. Say hi to everyone. Receive 2 giant Oakley bags full of stuff. “Nice!”
• See Steve Blick. We chat, he gives me a bunch of sweet Oakley shades. “THANK YOU!”
• Get new bike. Thinking to myself: “This day is pretty amazing so far!”
• Set up new bike with Dave and Michel. “That bike is SICK!”
• Go ride a lap of the course. “That feels SO good!”
• Go ride a 2nd lap of the course. “This bike is just wonderful, it’s blowing my mind.”
• Get back to hotel. Quick shower. Head to dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory.
• Haley doesn’t know what Parmigiana means. Hannah is appalled.
• Quick grocery stop for breakfast.

Race Day:

• 5:20 AM wake up.
• Breakfast (Oatmeal with fruits, couple nuts, maple syrup, yogurt and coffee).
• Leave hotel. Drive to the venue.
• Blast to Jay-Z & Linkin Park’s Encore song. Andrea and Eva are not too impressed.
• Get dressed in the “porn van”. (Andrea calls it like that because it has a strip of light on the ceiling…). “I wonder how she knows about that?”
• Do warm up on course.
• Start!
• After 3 minutes… “Not feeling awesome. Hope it comes back.”
• Move up on pavement climb. I can catch everyone but Kate. Enter single track in 3rd behind Eva.
• Pass Eva. Before the descent, Rose Grant yells at me: “Come on Magh! Let’s fly down that descent!”
• “Okay, lets fly down!” Catch up to Kate.
• Clif teammates Andrea, Eva and Haley catch up to us. “Man this is cool. Haley is killing it!”
• Ride together for lap 2. Kate and Rose get away. Clif train stays together for lap 3. “Haley is killing it”.
• End of lap 3. Haley decides to lead the group and accelerates. “Haley is killing me now!”
• I get dropped. “Hang on to a good pace, stay relaxed Magh, you might catch them back.”
• Legs muscles are twitching. “Maybe I can just slow down until the end.”
• “Fuck this. Get that thought out of your mind Magh” “Just keep pushing - smooth and steady”.
• Last lap. Evelyn is catching up to me on the climb. “Stay cool, try to pin it in the descent.”
• Get a little gap on the descent. Hit the last flat section. Legs are on the verge of cramping.
• Evelyn passes me.
• Dave screams in French “you can win this battle!” I think “Not too sure about that.” Then I think again. “Let’s do this!!!”
• Take last corner really fast. Catch up to Evelyn. Arrive on loose gravel on her wheel. “Be smart Magh. Seated sprint to keep pressure on rear wheel.”
• 150m to go. SPRINT.  Bike throw.  
• Yes! Got it by 1cm.  6th place for me!  Eva got 3rd, Andrea got 4th, Haley got 5th and Hannah had a killer last lap. Good day for the team!

Now it’s time to head to team camp for the next week and keep up with the work/rest so I can bring my fitness to where I want it to be.

Waldek played Lou Bega's Mambo No. 5 in the car today. Eva loved it a lot more than my Jay-Z song.

Cheers and I hope you will all have a great weekend with “a little bit of Sandra in the sun or a little bit of Mary all night long !”

Post race chit chat

Searching for my Mojo - Moab ROCKS

 Okay, I have a confession. In the past 2 years, I had almost lost all pleasure in racing my mountain bike. However, luckily, I always loved riding my mountain bike and I always had a blast training. On top of that, my team kept supporting me and believing in me. So I knew I had to keep at it and give XC racing another shot.  

The truth is, most of the races I've done in the last 2 years feel like a blur to me. I was negative, I was panicking and I was stuck in my head during the races, so I wasn't even aware of what was happening around me. My heart rate was stuck at 190 for the whole race and I was riding poorly. My body was on the race course, but my mind was in another dimension. After a race, I couldn't even tell you what had happened. David and I had a name for that horrible version of myself: Baboune la Vielle Poune. It doesn't really translate in english...

That being said, starting the 2017 season, my only goal for the MTB season was to find the fun I had once had in the races. Or the same fun I easily find in cyclocross races. At the end of the day, the races aren't much different in the two disciplines, so I thought it would be a good goal to keep the same mindset as I have in cross, try to recover my "mojo" and eradicate Baboune la Vielle Poune from the surface of the Earth.

After cyclocross worlds, I took a full month completely off the bike (except 3 rides in Sedona) and I started training again at the beginning of March.  My strategy to achieve that goal of "finding the mojo" was to register in fun events and make sure that my personal self-esteem didn't rely on race results. The key would be to be aware and mentally present in races and make that my new racing habit. At the same time, entering some early races would help me get back in shape and help me find that competitive mindset I had left in Luxembourg.  

With that in mind, I entered two 3-day events; The Cactus Cup in Arizona and Moab Rocks in Utah. The Cactus Cup was a great weekend and it was a perfect wake up call for my body and my mind. My fitness was not very good, but I was able to stay calm, aware and present during the races and I achieved a better performance (and had way more fun) than almost any races I had done last year when my fitness was much better. Success in my book!

The next event was Moab Rocks. This one promised to be a good one for many reasons; two of my teammates were racing, my dad, my boyfriend and many other friends were in town to race or hang out, the city of Moab has gorgeous views and we were going to race on some famous rocky and beautiful trails! Needless to say, I was pumped. 

My weapon of choice for the event was the Orbea Occam. A trail bike with a 140/140mm front/rear Fox suspension (that I can fully lock, put in trail mode or fully open). I had a Maxxis Ikon EXO (2.25) tire at 18 psi in front and Ardent Race EXO (2.25)  at 19 psi at the back. I was racing with a Camelbak with water in it, 2 Clif gels taped on my frame and a bottle of Clif juice. David prepped my bike everyday and was somewhere on course to hand me another gel or bottle. I think it was a perfect set up for that kind of racing and the courses we tackled. 

Orbea Occam! Photo by John Gibson

Stage 1 - Porcupine Rim.  41km, 1100m D+.  (25km Dirt road climb followed by a long and sweet downhill on the famous Porcupine Rim trail). 
Result of the day: 4th
Overall: 4th

• Neutral Start 
• Start the long climb. Catharine goes away. 
• Not able to go with her. "It's fine, just keep up your own pace". 
• Jena and Marlee pass me. "Let's hang on to them" 
• After about 45 seconds... "Nope. I guess it's not happening today. Hang on to your own pace."
• Thinking to myself... "Man, this is a long climb.Keep it up Magh!"  
• Eat a couple of gels. Finally make it to the top of the climb. 
• Unlock all suspensions. Embark on chase mode. 
• Ride like shit for the first couple of minutes. "Alright Magh. Calm down, look ahead, loosen up, ready position". 
• Left eye contact pops out. "CRAP. CAN'T SEE ANYTHING." 
• Eyes adjust. "I can see!" Keep chasing. "This is so awesome." 
• Think to myself: "I hope dad is loving it!" "Poor Lea with her non-dropper-post bike". Mess up my line. "I should stop thinking about dad and Lea". 
• End of stage.  Everyone hangs out at the bottom and tells race stories. We all ride back together. What a fun day! 

So happy to have my Occam trail bike on Stage 1! Photo by Jen McAllister

Stage 2 - Klondike Bluffs 42km, 700m D+ (More of a XC style course) 
Result of the day: 2nd
Overall: 2nd

• Start
• Jena is on fire. "Let's follow her!" 
• Let a couple of guys go between her and I. One of them messes up, Jena gets a gap. "Not smart Magh!" 
• "Go get Jena!" This turns into a tiny panic mode. Can't stop thinking about Jena's gap.  I keep messing up. 
• Mess up on a rock. Smash my shoulder in a tree. Crash in a corner, my seat flips around and gets stuck sideways. "Arrghhh!!!" Arrange seat, take a deep breath. 
• Lea catches up to me. She says: "I knew you wanted to ride with me. Come on, let's do this!" 
• Lea gets me back in the game! She sets a great pace. Ride together for about 1h. 
• Dave gives me a gel and says we are 40 secs back.
• Lea keeps riding fast. We can see Jena! THANK YOU new teammate!
• "Okay, I'll try to get her in the downhill" 
• Both eye contacts pop out! Blink, blink, blink, blink!!!! "CAN'T SEE ANYTHING!!" 
• Better now. Keep chasing. Never pass her. "Man, she is strong!!" 
• Stage finishes. That was fun. Thank you Lea! My contact lens is glued to the inside of my Oakley glasses!

Lea setting a good pace on Stage 2! Photo by: John Gibson

Photo, bike prep and feed by David! 

Stage 3 - Mag 7. 46km, 800m D+ 
Result of the day: 1st
Overall: 1st

• Heading into the last stage, I am about 1min30 behind Jena, who is the race leader. Lea puts a rotten carrot in her Camelbak for the race. She's going to be my carrot for the day. Good motivation! Lea and I are pumped! 
• Staging. Everyone jokes about the carrot! 
• Go! Climb the first hill. "Hmm, I feel surprisingly good today". 
• I'm spun out in the fire road descent. Jena passes and drops me. 
• 150 RPM!!!!!!! "Stop being stupid Magh, you are not going any faster. Just tuck down and relax"
• See a sand trap at the bottom. Think "Ooohh Cyclocross! :)" 
• Float on sand, catch Jena. Get a little gap on next climb. 
• Follow the guy in the fluo kit all day. Remind myself "stay smooth, look ahead, relax." 
• Every now and then, I panic. "Arghh, she must be right there!!" "Just stay calm and ride well" "Look for the green lines" (Some green lines were painted on the rocks to help you see the trail better).
• Enjoy the super fun trails of the day. Get out of the trail, hit the energy-sucking sand trap. "Ouch". 
• Hang on to the Kona guy's wheel as long as possible. Finish stage. 
• Yay I won! And I snagged the overall! First MTB win of the year (and first ever appart for a couple AZ regional races).
• Lea gets second!! THAT LUCKY CARROT WORKED! 
• Eat cookies. Celebrate with Lea, Dad, Katka, Dave and Geoff at the finish! (BTW, my dad killed it all weekend!!) 

Trying to focus on the trail. Not easy when scenery is so pretty! Photo by Jen McAllister. 

The lucky carrot!

All in all, it was a great weekend. I had so much fun riding the trails, racing, pushing myself and hanging out with friends. Baboune la Vielle Poune didn't even make an appearance, so I guess it was a success!

I think it will never be easy to overcome that bad side of myself and I will always have to fight against my own demons, but this weekend sure was a step in the right direction in having a good mindset and creating new positive racing habits. 

After the weekend, I only have one conclusion:  Moab does Rock.
I would totally suggest doing that race in the future! 

Maghalie :) 
 

Photo by Kenny Wehn. Hanging out with good friends at the awards ceremony. 

Photo by Kenny Wehn. Feeling like gangstas in our new Garneau kits. Maybe a new rap is in the making? 

Overall race podium with Jena Greaser (2nd) and Marlee Dixon (3rd) Photo by John Gibson

Bye Moab, thanks for the fun times! Photo by John Gibson

Cyclocross Worlds

I’m sitting in the plane on my way back home and it feels like my heart beats a little too fast and my thoughts are turning a bit too quickly.

This whole past week has been so much fun and I have a hard time explaining how it feels inside me right now. There is definitely an overflow of emotion going on in there… A mix of excitement, love, happiness, gratefulness and pride.

Ever since Louisville hosted the CX Worlds in 2013, I always dreamt of racing cyclocross Worlds one day. In the previous years, I have qualified to represent Canada, but with the team (Clif Pro Team), we decided that I wasn't ready. Although this fall, something kind of clicked in my mind and I found some new confidence, calmness and peace towards racing. I don't know if I became more mature, or more independent, or whatever it was, but something changed in my approach to racing and we decided that I was ready for a first experience at Worlds. I was thrilled to start preparing and the team's trust in me boosted my confidence even more.  

With such an opportunity, David and I sat and prepared a plan. My palms were sweaty, knees weak, arms were heavy. But luckily I had no vomit on my sweater already, none of my mom's spaghetti. I was nervous, but on the surface I looked calm and ready to drop bombs.

I mean, what if you had one shot, one opportunity, to seize everything you ever wanted? Would you capture it? 

We decided we weren't going to let it slip. 

Following Eminem's wise advice, we prepared well and we had a blast doing so. After 2 months of intense, focused, sustained and creative training (and good company/motivation from Canadian extra-festiver Ruby West) I felt ready and excited to head to Europe.

The trip started with a few days with Cycling Canada in Belgium until I joined my Clif Pro Team teammates for the Hoogerheide World Cup. I had a blast and a half racing there and felt like I had a great performance. The result wasn't anything amazing (I got 18th), but I was super proud since I knew I had had a good race. We also had great fun, which made the weekend a success. 

The next day, we traveled to Luxembourg where we had an amazing week. Eva, Katerina and I were rooming, eating, riding, crashing, stretching and laughing together every day...I wonder how they never got too tired of me! We had so much fun that week and I felt so grateful to be preparing for the race with those 2, Waldek and Michel. Everyone was super positive and the vibe was just  great; I felt calmer and happier than ever. To me, that trip had already been a success and I was just fired up to race and give it my all. I felt as excited as a fat kid on a fallen piece of chocolate! 

After a few course pre-rides and some good riding and line choice advice from my teammates, race day finally arrived. 

Necessary visit to the Chocolate outlet in Belgium. 

Early pre ride with Eva and Katerina. We ride together and we crash together - one of the funniest day of the trip. 

Race day - Pre race:  

• Get to the venue at 12:30
• Wait in the car with Katka. We have at least 4conversations going like this: "It's probably time to get ready now." "Yeah, I think so too...Ugh never mind. It's been 2 minutes since we last checked". 
• Finally time to get dressed. Tiny warm up on rollers, listen to the very exciting U23 race on the microphone.
• Pre-ride lap with Katerina. She gives me a few pointers. "She is so awesome." 
• Verdict after pre-ride:  It’s slippery and fun. We are pumped.
• Come back to the car. Change in race clothes.
• Michel does his thing and by the time I finish to dress up, all my bikes are ready to go. 18psi front and rear on PDX Clement tires.
• Think to myself : “That was so smooth. Michel is awesome”. 
• Warm up on Feedback Sport trainer.
• High five + last words of wisdom from Dave!
• Get to the line.
• Vote for Athlete representative. Couple of sprints.
• Last minuet freakout about what gloves should I wear? Thin or thick? Thick or thin?
• Thin gloves.
• Last sip of water and high five from Waldek. We repeat our new favorite moto “No balls, no glory”. Fist pump. 
• Ready to go. 

Race: 

• Start!
• Get stuck between the curb and people. "Crap I am almost last!" 
• First corner: everyone slows down. “My chance to bomb down and pass from the outside”.
• "IIIHHHHHHHH!!!" Success. Didn't crash and I'm not last anymore.
• Same thing on second corner. “Yiihaa!”
• Someone crashes. “Get around Magh”. Only got tangled up a little bit with the Japanese girl - all good! 
• End of lap one: “Holy shit, the first group is right there!" Let's get there! 
• Catch up to Katka on 2nd lap. “WTF! Amazing, I will follow her. I can do this, like in training”.
• “Oh no, she has a flat!” Worry about her for a few seconds. “I better not follow her now, wouldn't want to crash into her.”
• Infinite amount of “Iiihhhhhh” and “Ohhhhh” and “phew!” going on in my head as make my way up the field on the slippery course.
• Finally get around the Luxembourg girl after many attempts.
• Katka catches up to me. “Yes!! I’ll try to follow her”.
• Riding with Katka and Eva in top 5. “OMFG. This is so awesome!”
• "Stop freaking out Magh, focus!" 
• Almost bridge to the first group of 3 on many occasions, but never quite make it.
• Maybe I’m too starstruck to actually believe I can go? Try to convince myself. “N-n-no, I belong here. All good, just stay calm”.
• “Breathe."
• Hands are frozen.
• "Should have gone with thicker gloves." "It's all good, stop worrying about that!"
• Eventually settle into 5th place.
• Get on the final pavement. Hear that Katka got 3rd. “YES!”
• “Holy crap I got 5th “
• Clap hands with the crowd.  
• Eva got 6th. “What a day for the team”.

A few seconds before Katerina passed me. Photo from Rob Jones

Post Race

• Hugs with Scotty, Waldek, Eva and Katka at finish line.
• Stay around for Katka’s podium. Overflow of happiness, so proud of her/happy for her!
• Celebrate with David and Michel and Waldek at the team truck. So much excitement. 
• Lots of dancing/rapping to Kanye West’s “Through the Wire” in the car with David. 
• Team dinner. Celebration. Freak out. 
• Some English, French, Czech and Italian is spoken. “I love my teammates.” “J'adore mon équipe.” “Miluji Te everyone!”
• CX is so awesome.
• Some chanting (yelling?) happens: “When I say Cyclocross, you say Fever.” Cyclocross! Fever! Cyclocross! Fever!
• “Dobrou Noc”
• Conclusion: Cyclocross is awesome. I feel so grateful.

Love these two. Couldn't dream of a better team (Finish line hugs with Katerina and Eva)

I'm still trying to make sense of my emotions. The more I think about it, though, the more I realize that even though I'm happy of the result, it is just the cherry on the cake. What really makes me smile is thinking about the journey up to that point, the people who helped me along the way, the many laughs and tears that were had and the memories that were created. Mostly, I'm feeling extremely grateful for the support I have received before and after the race and feel so lucky that I was able to share this experience and these good moments with the people I love.

For believing in me, teaching me, helping me grow up, supporting me in good and bad moments, for providing me with the best exemple, for challenging me, for forcing me to be honest with myself and become a better person/athlete, thank you: Clif Pro Team, all of our sponsors, Waldek, my teammates and dear friends, mom & dad, my sister, my family, my boyfriend/coach/partner in crime David, my friends and training partners,my personal sponsors, my fans and all of you who caught the CXFever; THANK YOU! 

There are so many people I want to thank. Including you, Eminem. 

Can't wait for the next adventure! 

Maghalie  

Happy. Photo by Rob Jones

Katerina and I. Feeling empty. 

Group hug. Mucho love here! 

Post race waffle with my favorite extra festivers! 

Celebration. One of the best thing about CX is the camaraderie between racers of different teams/countries. So fun to celebrate with all of them. 

Lots of fun was had with this crew too! 

Thanks to these two for the great company, good vibes and motivation!