by Maghalie Rochette
Over the past few years, I had missed racing CX nationals. The race always happened at the same time as a World Cup and I was usually already in Europe by then. But this year, with the World Cup starting later, I was finally able to attend Nationals -- in fact, I made it my fist big goal of the season!
For those who may not know, National championships are special because you are competing to earn the right to wear a National Champion jersey for the rest of the year. The winner of this race, on that particular day, is named the Champion of Canada for a full year following the race.
Coming into the race, I felt ready, excited, and also a bit nervous. But I was okay with that. I have been working a lot in the past few weeks on putting less importance on how I feel, and I've learned that I can perform well while feeling many different things. What was important, however, was to clear my mind, and give myself a few simple tasks to execute well and focus my attention on. Nerves, for me, have a tendency of creating chaos in my brain and make me flustered. So I developed some tricks to keep things simple, and once I had my few key things to focus on, I felt calm and ready to go!
The race
The race started and I put the gas on right away. On the first lap, Sidney McGill (Pan American Champion) and I were together in the lead. Right away I felt that Sidney was confident coming off her recent win at PanAm Champs, because she was racing more assertively than normal. "It's on!" I thought. Behind us, U23 Mountain Bike World Champion Isabella Holmgren was charing a few seconds back.
My first thought was to put the pressure on Sidney right away by going hard, and I was also trying to increase the gap on Isabella. I know that Isabella gets stronger and stronger as the race goes on and I thought it could help me to increase the gap early. After a lap, I had managed to get a small gap on Sidney, but noticed that Isabella was getting closer. And that's where I made a mistake: for just a few seconds, I let my mind slip to thinking about where was Bella compared to me. In those few seconds where my focus was on Bella, I slid out a tiny bit, loosing precious seconds. Isabella caught up to me a few minutes after that. "Okay, we're together now. New race." I thought.
I took a gel on the start finish straight and Bella used the opportunity to attack on that climb.
"Crap".
"All good, respond, just follow, stay calm".
I stayed with her, and rode with a mouthful of gel for quite some time. I was going hard and couldn't swallow. I finally forced myself to swallow and that made it better.
Bella and I rode together for a lap. I could tell she was really strong in the climbs, so I tried to use my power on the flats to make a difference there. However, she wouldn't budge. The course was muddy and you couldn't really stand up and make a quick acceleration, which is one of my strengths. It was more of a low cadence grind, and she was excelling. I stayed locked in.
With about two laps to go, Bella attacked in an off-camber climb. I tried to follow, but the more power i put out, the less traction I had. Meanwhile, Bella kind of flew away. One second she was with me, the next second I looked up, she was ten meters in front.
For the remaining two laps, I tried as hard as I could to close the gap, but I ran out of ideas of how to go faster.
In the end, I crossed the line in second place.
I didn't lose... I was beaten
Part of me was a bit bummed I didn't win the race...because of course, that was the goal. Yet, I kept thinking and I could not figure out how I could have done better. I stayed calm the whole race, I stayed focused, and I really did my best. Maybe I could have taken more chances technically? Maybe. But I actually felt like I did a really strong performance.
In the past, it happened many times that I lost races because I beat myself. I panicked and didn't race to my full potential. I sabotaged myself by crashing when I shouldn't have. Or any other things like that, where I finished the race feeling like my biggest nemesis had not been the other competitors, but my own self. But this race was different. I raced really well, and Bella was faster. For one of the rare times, I "lost" the race, and still felt happy.
Canadian Cyclocross is a thing
At the end of the day, that's what racing is all about. Everybody brings their A game, and you compete to see who's best on the day, on that course, in these conditions. Someone wins, someone loses...and then we do it all over again the next day or the next weekend, and often the order changes. That's the essence of a good competition. Actually, the exact same field raced on the exact same course, with slightly different conditions, only 24h later, and the result was different. This time, I managed to get the best of Bella and win the race. That's racing!
So yeah, I am happy about how I raced. In fact, it's quite cool to see how the level of the Women CX racers increased over the last few years. Our field had some depth!!! We had the U23 MTB World Champion, the current Elite Pan American Champion, we had Ava Holmgren who podiumed at U23 Short track World Championships and finished 4th at Road World Champs...and many other strong women. I mean. Come on. This is pretty cool. I actually feel pretty proud to be a part of that group and am excited to get a chance to race with those champs. I'd rather get second and have a solid battle in a strong field than winning alone by a huge margin.
The CX FEVER has hit Canada
The race was awesome. But honestly the best part about the weekend was the vibe around the race site. Cyclocross is alive in Canada, and that made me feel so good. I feel so much love and gratitude this morning.
Firstly, the race was in my home province, meaning we got to see friends and people of the CX community we have raced with for YEARS, but don't get to see often. So many kids, families, and cyclocross enthusiasts were there. My parents came to cheer, our close friends were there, the fans were cheering LOUD along the course. Man. It was so so so awesome.
I think I can say this was my favorite weekend of racing so far this season. The course was absolutely World Class and it was the most exciting I've raced this season. And the vibe was so positive, so vibrant, and full of love.
I loved every minute, I feel lucky to be a part of this passionate community, and I tell you what: I will not wait another 5 years before I race Nationals Champs again. I'll be back next year to try my chance again! In the mean time, I have no doubt Bella will make this special jersey shine bright :)
Canada has definitely caught a strong case of the CX Fever.
Thanks for reading xx
Maghalie
What's Next
World Cup Dublin, Dec, 1st
World Cup Sardeigna, Bec. 8th
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