Boston Rebellion

Ever since I started racing cyclocross, I've always loved coming to New England for a bike race. Not only the region is cool, but most importantly, the bike scene is huge, people are big fans of the sport and the races always have such a fun and positive vibe. This weekend, to the soundtrack of Notorious B.I.G, we headed to New England with David and Lea for the UCI HC Boston Rebellion race. 

Nowadays, I don’t really get super nervous about the race itself. What stresses me out the most is whether I’ll be able or not to do my absolute best during the race. It sounds super cliché, but if you’ve ever experienced it, you know what I’m talking about…

Sometimes in races, I have a hard time getting out of my own way and when that happens, I never do very well. Most importantly, when I do that (getting distracted and then being stuck in my head for an undetermined amount of time), I don’t really have fun and I am not proud after the race because I know I could have done better. I call that bad version of myself "Baboune la Vieille Poune" which could translate to "Grumpy Old Chamy". 

The good thing is that this happens less and less theses days. And when it does happen, I am more able to get out of it than I used to.

Anyway, last week, after a few mistakes, I got in that mindset for about half the race at Nationals before getting back to reality on the last 1.5 laps and finishing strong. So before the Boston Rebellion, I was a bit worried I would do it again.

My strategy to counter that was to take a minute before the race and set my head straight by setting some tangible goals for myself. Basically, I reminded myself what I was about to do and what I should focus on. For me, that meant:

• Remind myself of the start and couple few features.
• Focus on myself, not others. 
• At the start, I wanted to go as fast as I could to get in a good position in the first singletrack. I was not starting on the first row, so to do that, my focus was set on looking ahead and searching for opportunities to pass.
• Have some key points I could control to think about during the race: Looking way up the trail, breathe, accelerate out of corners. 
• Embrace the pain: Smile and say "Heck yeah, that's good" when I was hurting instead of saying to myself "Ouch that hurts, maybe I need to slow down..". 
• Have balls, don't hesitate. Or as one of my good friend always says: "Go fast, take chances." 

With that in mind, I was excited and felt ready to race. I'm happy to report that Baboune la Vielle Poune never showed up during the race, it was only me, and I had a good, fun, and clean race! Yahooo! 

The race was relatively uneventful for me...

• Lea got the hole shot and was leading, we were a leading group of 5.
• "This is good!"  
• Lea broke her chain. Me: What happened?! Are you okay?!" Lea: "I broke my chain!" Me: "Crap!" 
• To myself... "That sucks...Okay Magh, come on. You gotta do it for the team now!".
• In the feed zone, I told Dave that Lea broke her chain so he could get ready to fix it. 
• I kept riding with Rose, Emily and Kate for a while and let a gap open on the second lap after a small mistake.
• After that I pretty much rode by myself the whole time and finished in 4th. The course was very fun and I was happy about my race and my performance! 

However, in my book the "Champion of the day" award totally goes to Lea. She broke her chain on the first lap, very far from the tech zone. I honestly thought she would drop out of the race. I think I would have. But L-Diggity took her bike and ran all the way to the tech zone with her two "surgery-ed" hips, got her chain repaired and started riding in last place. She set out a super strong pace and made her way through the field to finish in 8th in a stacked field. To me that's the attitude of a true champ. Thanks for showing me how it's done Lea! 

The day finished off with a cool down with my official New-England-races-cool-down buddy Crystal Anthony and a fun dinner at whole foods with more New Englands friends (Ian, Jack and Jeremy). 

That drop was a fun feature of the course. Although the whole course was great as it was mostly single track.
Photo by Mark McCormack

High fives after the race. One thing I really love about racing is the camaraderie between racers. Rose is definitely a super nice and classy competitor :) At some point during the race, Rose and I were riding together and I thought "Okay Epic Rides team, let's do this together!!"
Photo by Mark McCormack

David took care of the bike fixing, bottles handing, driving, cheering, and way more! Thank you :) 

Short Track 

Sunday was the Short Track and my excitement level was high. In pre-ride, I had tried a couple of different liens in the rock garden because it was the main feature of the course and I knew the race could be separated there....(I'll leave it up to that for now.)

• I started off strong taking the hole shot and leading the first minute. "You got this Maghs!" 
• Before the rock garden, 3 girls pass me. "No prob, I'll take a different line to not get stuck behind if they mess up." 
• 10 sec later, my face is stamped in the rock, I can't breathe and I'm tangled up in my bike. "Great." Everyone passes me. 
• A guy helps me to get back on my feet. "Should I even keep going?" "Oh come on Magh, Lea did it yesterday. You can do it too. At least get a good workout in!"
• I thank the nice guy and get back on my bike, 1+ minute behind the rest of the fields. 
• Rode by myself and caught up a few people until the end of the race! "Glad I kept going!" 
• The day finished with a fun spin with Rebecca Henderson from Australia. She is super nice and it was fun to get to know her a bit better :) 

ave drove us back home (thanks you Dave!) and now I'm getting ready for my first World Cup of the season in Mont Ste-Anne! 

Thanks to the Boston community for the fun event and good cheers!

Can't believe the next time I'll cool down with Crystal it will be on our cross bikes...

Short track start! 

BCBR Stage 7

Stage 7: Whistler, 30.3km, 1041 m D+ 

When the alarm goes off at 6AM on the 7th day of a mountain bike stage race, you don't really want to get out of bed. Your eyes don't open much more than 12% of their full capacity for the first 30 mins, your brain is still stuck in your last dream and no matter how much you love eating breakfast, you are not thrilled to be shoving cereals down your throat. However, today's racing conditions were exciting and I didn't need extra motivation to get out and do my best; I was thrilled. Today was the last stage of BCBR and entering the day, I was sitting 12sec behind Katerina on the general classification. The stage was shorter, but packed with very steep climbs and fun, steep descents. 

 My strategy was quite simple; attack until Katerina or myself collapsed. I wanted to win and if that didn't work, I didn't really care if I totally collapsed and wobbled to the finish line. I listened to Eminem "Till I Collapse" song in the RV while getting dressed up to get even more excited.

The lyrics are sick. First verse: 

‘Cause sometimes you just feel tired, feel weak
And when you feel weak, you feel like you wanna just give up
But you gotta search within you
And gotta find that inner strength
And just pull that shit out of you
And get that motivation to not give up
And not be a quitter, no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face, and collapse

The race: 

• We didn't start too fast. All my eyes (2) were on Katerina's Camelbak. I had to make sure it didn't leave my sight and that no one would get between the two of us. 
• First singletrack climb. I let her lead. "Let's warm up a little bit." The race was supposed to last about 2h and I wasn't confident enough to lead for the full duration. 
• We climb a lot. "Okay. I'm comfortable enough." "I'm sure she is also very comfortable too, don't be fool by the slower pace Magh." 
• "Maybe I should attack now?" "Only 12min in. Calm down Magh." 
• "What about now?!" "14:30 in...just wait" 
• "Now?" "18 min in. Just relax." 
• We pop out of the single track climb and arrive on a super steep, wider fire road. 
• "Okay, now I gotta go." "Wait for it...." 
• WWAAAAHHHHHH! It's on. Don't look back Magh. I pass about 10 guys that were in front of me. Garrett from Clif Bar encourages me. "I think I have a gap, but I can't look back." 
• "F*ck this climb is way longer than I imagined. I'm really suffering now. I have a gap though, keep going Magh!" 
• "SO. F**KING. LONG" That climb just gets steeper and steeper and longer... I look under my arm pit and see the orange FOX fork about 40m back. "Come on Magh, hold on." Finally hit the descent. I'm so freaking cross eyed that I you could film a Jerry of The Day video of me going down the thing. 
• Katerina rides back to me. Oh well, I'll relax a little and try again later. 
• A little later, we are climbing another steep climb that is loose at the top. I here her mess up behind me. WAHHHHH!! I go again. Although, that attack is not as decisive as the previous one, because I was already out of breathe before starting. Still, I get a gap. 
• Eventually, she rides back to me. WAHHHH I go again. "Crap I surprised myself there!" "okay Magh, you are feeling like shit, but you have a tiny gap again, so try to keep going". 
• She comes back soon enough. I slow down and eat a gel. 
• We hit a technical downhill and Katka leads. She goes so fast and I lose sight of her. "SHIT! Try to go faster Magh" 
• Get out of the singletrack, Katka takes a wrong turn, I come back. 
• We ride next to each other on the pavement. "Hmm I'm hungry". Then we see the 3 pink ribbons indicating a left turn into a trail. We both start sprinting. She gets in first. I mess up in the technical climb entering the trail. "Shit. Try to come back. This is so hard I wanna fall flat on my face". I finally bridge back up. 
• We hit a descent, she opens up a gap. Then we start climbing again. I try to close. Not happening. "Oh boy I think that's it." "Oh come on Magh! Don't give up in front of Katka (actually, I'm behind at that moment, but you get the idea), you can do this!" I finally bridge back. 
• We hit another descent. "Gotta stick to her wheel Magh!" "Man I'm so out of control to follow her." She eventually opens a gap. 
• I ride as fast as I can until the end (which is mostly descending), but can never catch up. "I guess I'm the one who collapsed." Cross the line with a big smile on my face. 
• Big hugs with Katerina at the finish. "That was FUN!" 
• "I'm still hungry." Go to the finish line snack tent and eat 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwich to which I add potato chips in the middle. 
• Hang out with Dave, jump in the lake! Chill at the finish line with good friends and watch people's smile while crossing the finish line. It's so inspiring to see people so happy and proud of their accomplishment! And believe me, completing this 7 day stage race is quite the accomplishment! Congrats everyone. 

BC Bike Race is now done and it was the best week ever! I'm happy I get to sleep in tomorrow but I'm also a little bit sad that this action packed and thrilling week is over. 

We got to race incredible trails and beautiful courses all week and I feel so lucky I got to take part in this adventure. I'll miss hanging out and hearing the stories of everyone at the race and I will miss pushing myself and spending fun times with Katerina. She really pushed me to my limits every single day this week and got the best out of me - I couldn't be more happy.
She's the best :) 

Now, David and I will hang out in Whistler for a bit and then start heading to Canmore for our National Championships next week. I'm excited for the next couple of days of rest that are on the program, which should leave plenty of time to jump in rivers, take nice walks and explore new small paradises in BC! 

Thanks for following along this week! Your encouragements meant a lot to me. I hope you enjoyed BCBR as much as I did. If you are looking for a good challenge to push yourself and have a good time on your mountain bike, look no further!

Final big thanks to everyone who made this possible and everyone who made this week awesome.

Now, I can finally fall flat on my face and collapse. :) 

Week totals: 
Time of racing: 17h40:51   (It came down to 53 seconds between Katka and I in the end.)
Time total: 20h46min total including small warm ups and cool down. 
Calories: 12305
Distance: 353km
Elevation: 8006 meters of elevation 

Podium after a week of racing! I had such a good time racing with Hielke and Katerina. 

Keep following. 

Rolling down a rock

Lola and Dave relaxing post BCBR

Previous Stages Recap: 
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 5
Stage 6

BCBR Stage 6

Stage 6: Squamish, 53km, 1415m D+ 

Oh boy. That's not how I imagined today would be. 

That's not either how I imagined I would cross the line in front of Katerina for the first time in my life... Spoiler alert: not an awesome feeling! 

In the past few days, I've been talking and joking a lot about how I could beat Katka. The truth is, I don't really care about beating her. In my opinion, she is the best bike rider and racer in the world across all disciplines. The only reason why I want to race with her and be competitive is because I know that the closer I get to her, the more I improve and the closer I get to be one of the best in the world. 

Actually, there are other reasons too... One of them is that I think it is just respectful for her, every other racers, our sponsors, everyone who helps me out and for myself to do my best everyday. Secondly, I'm trying to prepare for XC Nationals, so it would be stupid not to do my best. 

Anyway, here's how today went... 

• 6:30 AM. Super hard to get out of bed but pumped to go explore Squamish trails. 
• 8:20 AM. Getting dressed. "Man I don't feel like putting sunscreen on today". It's the little things that get you after 6 days... (Don't worry, I still toughed it up and put it on!)
• 8:40 AM. Warming up with Katka. Ironically, I told her this morning that even if I was writing all about our " daily battles" I really just saw it as a positive and friendly competition. 
• Start. After 15 mins, Katerina flats her rear wheel on a fire road. 
• I yell: "Are you okay?! Do you need help?". She says "I'm okay." 
• For the next hour, I am confuse.  "Should I wait? Shit. I don't know what to do. I should've asked her what to do". "F*ck this Magh, she has other cats to whip** than telling you what to do. Make a decision for yourself." "Okay, just keep riding, but not too fast, just the same pace".
  **It's a french expression...not sure it translates, but I'm going for it. It means she has other stuff on her mind.
• I keep riding and a bunch of guys are passing me. I'm kind of stuck in my head and super unsure of myself. I also struggle at finding a rhythm. Then I get drop from a big group and start to feel lonely. "Hmm...it's way more fun when Katerina is riding with me." 
• I look up. There's a group right in front of me. "Oh come on Magh! Man up. Just catch up to them and ride with them, it won't be as lonely." I catch up, but then we enter a singletrack and I'm kind of stuck behind. I tell myself : "Okay, Magh. Get it together. She's not there but I can still enjoy the day and have fun in the trails. Get in front of them so you can ride your pace!" 
• That's what I do. I eventually find a rhythm. I get to the front of our group and start riding my own pace. After about an hour, I kind of got comfortable in my discomfort and was able to set a good pace. 
• After a while, I look back and only our Aussie friend Brett is riding with me. 
• The views on the side of the course are breath taking. "Brett look at how beautiful it is up there!" "Ya mate!" 
• Have a blast in the fun descents. "Trails are SWEET around here!" 
• Catch up to Corry Wallace who is having stomach issues. He guides me down one fun descent. "That was so fun! Thanks Corry!" Then, he drops me in a pedalling section. 
• Ride by myself until the finish. 
• I'm hungry. 

In the end, maybe it was stupid to feel bad. It wasn't my fault if her tire went flat. That's bike racing after all, mechanical problems happen. It totally could have been me and I would not have been mad if she had kept going. I felt pretty bad for a few hours, but I'm good now. There was one thing I wanted to make sure of and that's that she didn't have to lift off my spirits and console me. I'm old enough to do that on my own!  So I am over it and now I'm excited for tomorrow, because we only have a 12 sec difference in the overall standings. 

Also, Katerina was not mad at me. I know because she invited me to go jump in the river with her... Hmm. On second thought, maybe she invited me because she wanted to drown me? 

Nah I'm kidding. She's professional and knows how to deal with that stuff. I'm the one who needs to learn from that experience. I think I did learn; once I got out of my own way today and got over that little incident, I was riding well and really had a blast on the fun Squamish course. 

12 seconds... Who knows! Maybe she did it on purpose to make things exciting!? 

We'll get everything figured out in Whistler tomorrow. 

Tent city had a beautiful backdrop today. 

Everyday, I stick the course profile on my top tube! 

Dropping in to the last stage tomorrow!

YAHOOO!!! Dropper post on the Half Nelson trail was a must. 

BCBR Stage 5

Have you ever ridden with a broom up your ass? 

(Make yourself a mental image for a second.)

Yeah, that's pretty much how I felt today...not the smoothest way to get down the gnarly North Vancouver trails. 

After yesterday's crash, I was pretty sore in the back and ribs so I went for a chiropractic treatment with Collin, who works for the BCBR wellness center. That's one more cool thing at BCBR; the wellness center is always set up at Basecamp and amazing professionals (massage therapist, physio and chiropractor) work there all day long to help the racers get through the week. Collin was awesome and after a couple of cracks, I felt much better. To my delight, when I woke up this morning, I felt even better, except for the third boob (bruise) that was starting to grow on my chest... No complaint here, I can sure use more volume in that area!

Anyway, after a coffee and bagel, I felt excited and ready for a short and intense stage in North Vancouver. Only 18km long, we had to go up for a few kms, than down some techy trails, a bit more up and all the way down back to the park. "Easy peezy" I thought, "I'll just go as hard as I can in the climbs and shred and relax in the downhills". Cute plan Magh... Spoiler alert, it did not go as planned. 

• Neutral start
• Pavement climb. "Okay, time to go fast now."
• Hmmm Geoff (Kabush) is riding mid-pack with us. That must mean we climb for a long time, Geoff is a smart guy. 
• Riding in the pack. "Probably not smart to go in front and attack all these pro guys...I'll stay chill here." 
• BAAAAAMMMMMMMM!!!!!! Suddenly, all guys start sprinting. Me too!! 
• Following Katerina. "Ouch, I'm hurting today." "Hang on Magh." 
• We arrive to a steep loose climb. No traction. "I can do this." 
• Wheel skids.  
• Katerina get's off the bike. I mess up too. Start running off the bike. Me too.  
• 3 steps later: Now walking next to our bike. I convince myself we are power walking. 
• Start pedalling again. I am hurtiiiinnnng. "Here's an idea Magh: start signing to forget the pain" 
• I have an Akon song stuck in my head..."Baby we're stuck with each other, stuck with each other, there's nothing you can do about it!" Thinking to myself and finding myself pretty funny: "Haha, baby we're stuck with each other Katerina! There's nothing we can do about it" (Except in real life, she was just about to do something about it...) 
• Still hurtiiing...I need another song. Akon is just not doing it for me right now. Jay-Z is better. "C**ksucker take one for your team, and I need you to remember one thing. I came I saw I conquered, from record sales to sold out concerts..." 
• That strategy works and we finally hit the singletrack. 
• The soils is loose, trails are steep and I'm not riding super well. Magically though, I'm still hanging on to Katka. 
• 1 min later. A guy passes me. "Try to follow him." Nope! 
• Lose sight of Katerina. "Bye". 
• 30 mins of braking waaayyy to much and holding on for dear life. Stuck between two mindsets: trying to go fast and being careful. 
• Just try to relax Magh. Smile, relax, look up. "Man I'm slow..." 
• Finally make it to the finish. Phew! 

In the end, today wasn't my best stage. All week I've been really enjoying the downhills, but today I just didn't have it; I was way too stiff in the descents. The trails were fun, but I feel like I would've needed a couple of laps to figure them out and be confident enough to let it go on that lose soil. Oh well! 

In Belgium last year, Waldek, Katerina and I went to a place called Balls of Glory (they served all kinds of meat balls). It became kind of a joke between Waldek and I to say "No Balls, No Glory" before every race. It was a way to motivate me and put myself into a good fighting mindset. Well, today, I had no balls going down the trails. So I had no glory either. 

However, I didn't have time to dwell on it too much as after the race, we went out of a little spin to a juice bar with some good friends from the race.

It was quite fun hanging out at the finish line and seeing the smile on everyone's face. I think the whole group of 625 racers was split in two: half was super stocked on the trails they had just ridden and the other half was super proud and happy they made it out unscathed from these legendary North Shore trails. The good thing about these 2 feelings are that the end results was a big smile on everyone's face so the vibe at Basecamp was super positive once again! 

We drove to Squamish after the race and the drive was gorgeous. Now, Dave and I get to hang out with Lola, Rubi and Katerina for the evening! 

Hopefully I can take my broom out of there before tomorrow morning. 

Pizza last night with Dave! See those pockets under my eyes? Yep! 5 days of racing. 

Dave is being creative with a repair-rack! He changed my brake lever yesterday after I broke it in the crash. Special thanks to Catharine for sharing her rack with us this week! 

Iiiiiihhhhh

Podium. 

Juice bar with Katerina and Hielke! 

Tim, Geoff, Troy and Dave also joined us. 

Links to previous days: 

1: http://www.maghalierochette.com/news/2017/7/7/bcbr-stage-1

2: http://www.maghalierochette.com/news/2017/7/8/bcbr-day-2

3: http://www.maghalierochette.com/news/2017/7/10/bcbr-day-3

4: http://www.maghalierochette.com/news/2017/7/10/bcbr-stage-4

BCBR Stage 4

Stage 4: Sechelt to Langdale, 48.6km, 1400m D+ 

In a mountain bike stage race, you never know how you will feel. Sometimes, even if you are super tired, your body can surprise you and feel awesome. Other times, well, it can also feel horrible. Today was neither of these two options. I felt kind of in the middle.  

This morning, I had a hard time getting out of bed and was wondering how I'd get it together to jump on the bike. I soon realized there is nothing a cup of Barista coffee and some french toasts from David can't cure! My brain was still feeling a bit groggy at the start, but I was optimistic things would turn around, especially since my legs were feeling okay. 

In the morning, I carefully studied the course profile. It was going up and down, and up and down and up and down with a mix of trails and fire roads and some more ups and downs. After that deep and detailed study of the course, my strategy for the day was very elaborate: See how things go and how I feel and respond accordingly. Rocket science right here. 

Race: 

• At the start, given my groggy brain, I decided to not go too hard. Still, it was pretty steep and I had to pedal at a pretty decent pace to stay in touch with our usual group. I still made sure to keep it somewhat comfortable...(According to my Garmin, that was 275w AVG for 10 min...which is usually  not that comfortable for me, but I guess all these BCBR hard hours are starting to pay off? Or I'm so tired that my heart rate doesn't go up and it feels easier...Whatever, I won't complain!) 
• After 30 min..."Hmm still don't feel amazing, but the pace isn't too high. That's fine with me, let's just fake it for as long as possible and follow". 
• Hielke (3rd girl overall and Netherlands Marathon MTB champ - cool girl) rode with us for about the first 45 min- 1h. 
• Still following Katka.
• In my head: "Nowadays everybody wanna talk like they got something to say...Did they forget about Dre." Thanks Eminem for the song distraction.  
• An hour in, I started feeling better. Took the lead a few times. 
• THESE TRAILS ARE FUN!!!!! 
• "....But nothing comes up when they move their lips" Some more Eminem stuck in my head.
• Feeling better and better as the time goes by and having a blast in the trails exchanging the lead with Katka. 
• At 37km, we had been climbing for 2 km and I could see on my profile that we should be climbing for another 2-3km. Katerina and I were climbing together, I was at the front and feeling pretty good.
• Suddenly, I got an idea. Maybe I can try to attack? (I never had the guts to attack her before...I really look up to her and somehow it never quite felt right). I know that's stupid and she told me many times she'd be happy if I attacked the hell out of her.
• Inside dialogue: "Nah, don't attack." "Yeah, you should totally do it Magh" "Nah..." "Oh come on, at least try, otherwise you will regret". "Okay. If I do, I have to go quickly". 
• "I'm going!" Open a tiny gap. "AHHHH Keep pushing Magh!" I get over a roller, and the road is flat..."Crap, that wasn't the plan...Keep pushing anyway!" 
• Anyway, it didn't work. Once we hit the flat, Katka came back to me. I almost laughed at myself. 
• 2km later, we sprinted to get first in the last singletrack downhill. I got it. 
• Messed up in the first corner, she goes by. Not impressed with myself: "Wow. Newbie moves festival Magh..." 
• Shredding fun singletrack descent together until "AHHH!!" I crashed and fell off a bridge. "UGHH" breathe cut for a second. 
• Katerina is the nicest person ever. "Are you okay!?" "UGh, I think so!" She stopped and ran to come and rescue me from under the bridge. She makes sure I'm okay and we start riding again. 5 min later, she crashed. I stopped, make sure she is okay. "Lets just get to the bottom of this one and have fun!" 
• We finished together. 
   

Today was a super fun stage with amazing trails and fun fire road climbs. I'm super happy with the race. Mostly, I'm super grateful Katerina stopped to help me when I fell off the small bridge. That was a perfect opportunity for her to gain more time on me (especially after I had just attacked her), but instead she ran to help me. When she crashed shortly afterwards, I immediately stopped. It didn't even cross my mind to keep going. I care about her a lot more than about the competition, and I think she feels the same way. Never doubted that, but I sure appreciate it! In my book, good friends are a lot more important than a yellow t-shirt. BTW, I'm happy to report we are both okay, except for the fact that I might have a bruised boob. 

Tomorrow is the North Vancouver stage and I'll do my best to not fall off any bridge! Should be fun :) 

Sam Schultz is a cool guy! Dave has been enjoying riding and taking some race pics :) 

Tim has been here all week and it's been fun catching up with him!

Ferry!