I think this past fall and winter has been my least “off” off-season yet! It’s is a good thing (thank you Martha), though, because it means I’m staying fit AND my head is in the right place. In some years past, I’ve taken two months completely away from the bike, because I’ve been mentally “burnt out” from training, travelling, and racing. As you can guess, when I get back on the bike after two months off, it ain’t pretty.

This past season, I was more excited than ever to ride my bike. And when the racing season was over, I just kept on wanting to ride. I did have a month (or more?) during which I refused to touch my road bike, but my coach told me to ride for fun, and FUN=MTB for me!

I think the desire and eagerness to keep biking year round are thanks largely to my coach, Keith. He sees the whole picture and recognizes training is not just physical. He puts as much importance on me staying mentally fresh as he does on my physical recovery. Another aspect of this was really paring down my racing calendar. Before, I tried to cram as many races into my schedule as I could, because I LOVED racing… until I crashed and burned mid-season, that is. Now I pick and choose my races, so I’m always excited and eager to race when I get to the start line.

My Off-Season Adventures… and Beyond!

Test of Humanity
Technically, the Test of Humanity in Summerland last September was a race, and technically I won the solo women’s category, but the whole shebang was totally for fun. I didn’t train specifically for it, there wasn’t any prize money on the line, it wasn’t for points… in fact, it was for a good cause. All proceeds from the four-hour enduro went to Canadian Humanitarian and their projects in Ethiopia, as well as the local food bank. Organizers Nic and Shei did a stellar job and the volunteers were spectacular. Have you ever been in a race before in which they rake the berm for you right before you rail it? A huge crew from Local Ride came out and it was one big blast. We also turned it into a nice three-day weekend at my family’s cottage on the lake in Naramata with some good food, good friends, and fab trails.

Cyclocross
So why did I end up racing ‘cross this year when for the past several years I’ve had an utter aversion to the discipline? Partly it was because I still felt FAST and itched to do something with my leftover speed. Another reason is the Local Ride gang is so keen on ‘cross and it’s infectious. Plus, Barry (owner of Local Ride) offered to let me race a brand new 2012 XS women’s specific Giant TCX W. Actually, it wasn’t really his to offer, since it belongs to his cool 12-year-old daughter, Maggie, but she ok’d it. I ended up finishing second overall in the BC Cup series and placing second at the BC Championships and I even led some races on a couple of occasions. Of course, ‘cross is still the most fun when you get to dress up, which I did for both Local Ride’s Pumpkin Cross and Kika’s Cacti Cross.

Bend Burn Session
In the words of Bend, Oregon resident and U.S. pro mountain biker Adam Craig, we needed a “shred-cation” and we chose Bend as our destination. If you haven’t been mountain biking in Bend yet, YOU HAVE TO CHECK IT OUT! Seriously. Ryan, Steve, my Xprezo-Borsao teamie Jean Ann “Animal” Berkenpas and her hubby, Mike, basically left everything out there on the endless miles of fast, cruising singletrack. By the end of our trip, we were all completely knackered, but oh-so satisfied. We camped in a beautiful state park and went to bed super early every night, because we were so bagged. Lame? Sort of. Awesome? Totally!

Victoria Training Camp

In November, I was invited to participate in a Canadian MTB Team Olympic Preparation Camp in Victoria. It was a week full of riding, learning, and inspiration. Sure, I came down with a nasty cold as soon as the camp was over, but it was worth it! I was surrounded by an amazing group of motivating people, including Kika, the legendary Alison Sydor, my coach Keith, National Team Coach Dan Proulx, Andrew Pinfold, Viper, and my teammates Matt and Animal, just to name a few. We went on super fun road and mountain bike rides and worked on a bunch of important factors of our game, from skills, to fitness to tactics. In addition to riding, we went hiking with Alison (and her Yorkie-Poo, Daisy), had lots of coffee dates, went swimming (yeah, even I went swimming… sort of…), took part in an informative strength training session (ask me about Kika on the “Death Bike”), and much more. In some ways it was exhausting, but I loved every minute of it. Even rooming with you, Viper!

Squamish, I Love You
Before the big mid-January snowfall, we made several trips to Squamish for some sweet singletrack. The more we rode there, the more trails we discovered. It’s quite a magical place, Squamish. I especially enjoyed our New Year’s trip, which included an unforgettable New Year’s Eve ride, followed by a rad New Year’s Day pedal.

Snow
So I was able to avoid most of the snow so far, but I couldn’t get away from it completely… not that I necessarily want to. Unlike Ryan, I don’t absolutely hate, despise, loathe, and detest snow. I find it quite pretty sometimes and I also enjoy the odd snowy gallivant – like a good snow hike, snowshoe, or ski. I’ve gone for a couple of snowshoes this year – an easy mosey up at Seymour in late December with Lisa, Alistair, Young Alex, and Jeanine, and another on New Year’s Day at Whistler with Jeanine and Ryan. I’ve also been on a few snow hikes… can you believe I dragged Ryan into the snow ANOTHER time? It was a three-hour hike up Halvor Lunden in Port Moody. We got up into this beautiful winter wonderland in November and meandered between little lakes and tall trees. Boy, were my legs sore for the next week after that!

A couple of weekends ago, Jeanine and I went for a brisk hike up Burke Mountain and got into some deep snow. (How deep?) Then on Sunday, we tried to go for a mountain bike ride on Bear Mountain. We found NEW TRAILS (Woohoo!), but couldn’t ride very much of them, due to the slushy, deep, heavy snow. And just yesterday, I went to check on how the snow melt was coming along here on Burke, considering this warm weather we’re having. Verdict? There’s still snow up there, and lots of it! I ended up running with my bike for 30mins to get to the trailhead and then running a ways down the trail before I could actually start to ride for more than a few seconds at a time before bailing. Good times!

Epic Rides

This past year, I managed to fit in a few truly epic rides, including the annual bagging of Comfortably Numb in September. This trail never seems to get easier or less fun. In August, Ryan and I set a blistering pace on Seven Summits and Dewdney Trail. Even better than I remember from the first time I rode it in 2008 – now THAT’S good! Then there was the North Fork-Flagline Loop in the aforementioned Bend, followed by Mrazek a couple days later (when we met Adam Craig!). Plus, we showed Stevie most of Squamish’s 2011 edition of the Just Another Bike Race course, which took us nearly four hours’ rolling time. And I can’t discount the amazing singletrack adventures we had in Fernie in July (I know, that wasn’t off-season at all, but it sure was EPIC). Fernie is also near the top of my list of favourite places to ride. And I can’t wait to experience what 2012 has in store!

Walking off the plane and into the dry warm air felt immediately therapeutic and my doubts about the trip began to fade – even more so when Annie (another training pal) and I went for an easy spin to Trilogy golf course and back in – get this – shorts and jerseys!

The total kicker, however, was when a few days after I arrived in Palm Springs, a series of big snowfalls hit home, blanketed the roads and trails in a heavy layer of white stuff, and made outdoor training out of the question for an entire week. Finally, I was convinced that my timing for this warm weather camp could not have been better!

Leah, Annie, and I logged some quality miles on the road. We crushed some of our favourite routes, like Box Canyon, Thousand Palms, and Highway 74. I benefitted from Leah’s intense training program – she had to giv’er at close to race pace, basically until she cracked, which meant at least two hours (she’s a monster)! So while she pushed herself to the limit on the front, it was all I could do to stay on her wheel. I yo-yo’d back and forth, counted the minutes, silently willed her to crack (sorry Leah), but she just kept on hammering. I give her huge cred. She is going to have an awesome season and I got in some wicked motorpacing!

Probably the coolest part of my trip was discovering the area’s off-road offerings. I had been to Palm Springs three times before, but I’d always only brought my road bike. This time, I was determined to bring my mountain bike too, because I had heard rumours of fabulous trails and I was dying to check them out. However, I did not want to pay the huge extra baggage fees for two bikes, so I managed to cram – yes cram – them both in one hard case. It was a bit challenging, but thanks to my brother’s excellent puzzle-solving skills, both bikes (two frames and two wheels – the other two hoops fit into my giant duffel bag) fit into the box and the lid closed. He was a bit concerned though: “Should you really be sitting on the box?” And I replied: “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. I always sit on the box.”

When I opened the box and started to reassemble my bikes, everything seemed fine. No scratches, everything appeared unscathed, until I tried to put my rear mountain bike wheel back on. For some reason, it just would not fit in the dropouts. Somehow, the wheel seemed too wide for the frame… wait a minute! It appeared the frame’s rear stays had been compressed. I got Leah to pull apart the chain stays while I inserted the wheel, and everything was fine. Thank goodness for steel!

Nels (Leah’s Dad) took me on my first mountain bike ride in Palm Springs, and it was amazing! We did a 3-hour ride with a large chunk of excellent singletrack, including a super nice climb up the Hahn Buenavista Trail that wound its way gradually into the desolate brown desert hills. At the top, we were treated to a panoramic view of the Coachella Valley and the mountains of Joshua Tree National Park beyond. It was a really nice change to get out of suburbia (Palm Springs and that whole valley is basically one big sprawling mass of golf courses, gated communities, box stores, and strip malls – but the weather’s great)! Everything was just so quiet up there.

Following that climb, we hopped onto another amazing piece of singletrack called the Art Smith Trail. Despite how dry everything is in the desert, the trails are still very technical. Instead of slippery roots and mud, you have to navigate steep loose climbs and tight switchbacks or figure out how to shoot the narrow gap between sandy rocks while maintaining traction. It was super fun and challenging and a great break from the pavement.

I had two other opportunities to mountain bike down there, despite losing my trusty guide, Nels, back to the wintery north. One of the days, I met up with fellow Xprezo-Borsao teammate Matt Hadley, who had flown down to escape the true winter of the Rocky Mountains. We drove 18 miles up Highway 74 to over 1,200m (nearly 4,000ft) elevation and found the Palm Canyon Trailhead. Palm Canyon started off with a ripping fast downhill – super fun, but also painful due to all of the desert vegetation. Basically, everything in the desert is dry, hard, and pointy – the plants are no exception. Riding some sections felt like we were being flayed by tiny whips, which we kind of were. Our legs and arms were criss-crossed with thin red scratches. It was so good, yet it hurt so bad!

At one point on the ride, Matt commented on how he felt a little guilty shuttling the ride, because there was so much downhill. I, however, had an idea of the nature of the trails from when I rode with Nels. I knew that although it was a net downhill ride, it would definitely not be ALL vertical loss.

At the end of the Palm Canyon Trail (named this, because it follows a rocky crevice that is punctuated by running water, oases, and tall palms growing in the middle of an otherwise barren landscape), we came to a fork and were directed up a sandy dry wash. Riding uphill in sand is much like riding uphill in snow. It’s difficult to maintain momentum and it becomes a full body effort to keep moving. We rode and rode for 15 minutes up this wash and appeared to get nowhere. We were supposed to meet up with a dirt road, but there was nothing of the sort in sight. Finally, after a lot of going nowhere fast, I decided we should turn back and take our chances on a bit of singletrack we had seen earlier. Riding down the wash was much quicker and it made us realize how far we had actually ridden up it.

Getting onto the singletrack was a huge relief and immediately brought a grin back to my face. When we reached another intersection, we were suddenly on a trail I recognized – one of the ones I had ridden with Nels! Matt and I chose to finish our epic ride with the super cool Hahn climb, followed by the Art Smith Trail, which we popped out of near dusk and after 4 hours of mostly singletrack (with the exception of our dry wash foray). Now that was a solid ride! Matt finally admitted he no longer felt guilty about shuttling, so we called Leah, and she picked us up and drove us to Matt’s vehicle, 18 miles up the road. It would have been a solid 1-2 hours of riding uphill on our mountain bikes to get there otherwise.

The last ride of my two-week trip was also on dirt, and this time it was with Matt, his wife Catherine “Viper” Vipond, and Catharine “Kika” Pendrel aka World Champ. By this time, I had two solid weeks of training in my legs, but I was determined to end it with the best ride ever. We immediately started climbing and so my legs pretty much went immediately into rejection. I was tired! No matter how hard I pushed, I just could not ride any faster. Gaps opened to the others as I trucked along. It was a little frustrating (come on, being at the back always is), but I rode on and hoped I wasn’t annoying my riding friends too much by constantly making them wait. As usually happens when you’re having an off-day, pretty much everything was off. I kept spinning out on tricky sandy sections and had to give myself some stern talking-to’s in order to keep it together.

Finally, we took a bit of a longer break about halfway through the ride and I told the gang that basically, I was bagged and that they would need to get used to waiting for me (which they had been so patiently doing already) or go on without me. They agreed to keep waiting for me, so we turned and rode up my favourite Hahn Buenavista climb and I silently thanked Matt for setting such a sane pace. I was able to hang on no problem. I told him as much when we paused at the top, and he assured me he hadn’t been taking it easy. Kika confirmed that she had been riding a solid clip.

Basically, my ride completely changed at that point. Kika got on my wheel on a descent and urged me to “Catch them!” So I got aggressive and attacked the trail, took more risks, and wasn’t afraid to let my tires drift a little as I closed the gap to Matt and Viper. Suddenly, I felt energized and I had way more fun. Kika commented that I had become a completely different rider. This is the rider I want to be all the time! It’s way more fun, plus, it’s faster. You can always count on your friends and training partners to pick you up and help you improve!

Palm Springs was a fantastic two weeks for me. I gained some quality fitness and replenished my stores of Vitamin D. Plus, I got to experience NEW TRAILS, which is always super exciting for me. I live for NEW TRAILS! It wasn’t all sunshine and lemonade, however (yes, I made at least five jugs of freshly squeezed lemonade from lemons grown in Leah’s backyard). One day, a huge wind/sand storm hit the area. Luckily, I got back from my ride before it hit, but Leah and Annie were out there and I had to drive on a rescue mission to pick them up. The wind gusts were so strong (80kph), that they were getting knocked off their bikes, and flights couldn’t land at the airport (including Matt’s). Sometimes sand drifted and swirled across the road, obscuring it, like snow does at home. Crazy!

Another day, Matt and I went for a road ride and we got caught in a rainstorm. Luckily, it was relatively warm, but we did get soaked. But I’m not complaining – it was a quality training camp and good times with great people.

Being back home is fab too, but it has been a bit of a shock. No snow at my house, but the snow line is pretty low and I have been up close and personal with the stuff a few times already…. But that’s another story.

Deadline to Apply: August 26

There’s nothing quite like mountain bike World Cups in Europe, where the competition is steep and cycling is close to the hearts of everyone, including the thousands of screaming fans that come from far and wide on race day.

Experienced European traveler and veteran World Cup racer Sandra Walter has stepped up, along with Pedal Magazine, to help more riders get the chance to race World Cup #7 in Champéry, Switzerland and World Cup #8 in Schladming, Austria. She is pooling resources, her extensive experience, local knowledge, fluency in German, and management skills to organize a cost-effective, hassle-free, and fun trip – the inaugural Canadian Privateer Project presented by Pedal Magazine, September 9-21.

According to National Mountain Bike Coach Dan Proulx, our best riders need more experience racing in Europe. “The CCA supports a National Team project that attends each World Cup, but we still need to get more Canadians racing over there,” said Proulx. “Canadian racers have to be exposed to the highest level of racing to become more competitive on the world stage.” Walter’s initiative will follow the lead of many European and Australian domestic teams who follow the World Cup circuit throughout the year in order to expose future National team riders to a higher level of competition.

“I’ve raced in both Champéry and Schladming before,” she said. “I speak the language, and I have lots of experience with getting around and competing in the area. I know where to go for the best deals, so we can make this trip as easy on our pocketbooks as possible, but we can also be sure we’re getting everything we need in order to have our best performances.”

Depending on the number of participants, the package will cost between $1,500 and $2,000. The package will include ground transportation, logistics, race support, and accommodations. Ri ders will be responsible for paying their own flights, race entries, food, and incidentals in addition to the package price.

Walter is requesting that all interested riders email an expression of interest and a brief racing résumé by 3:00 p.m. EST on Wednesday, August 26 to sandra@sandrawalter.ca if they would like to participate in this “privateer” project. Feel free to contact Walter with questions or for more details. The program is open to Elite, U23 and Junior competitors.

Details
Package will cost between $1500 and $2000 (dependent on # of participants).
Includes:
- 12 night’s accommodation
- Airport pick-up at ZRH on Wednesday, September 9 and drop-off on Monday, September 21
- Transportation, van rental and fuel for 12 days
- Race day feeder/tech support
- Coaching/Management
- Local knowledge and logistics by experienced European traveler and World Cup racer Sandra Walter
- Post-race team dinner in Schladming on September 19, courtesy of Pedal Magazine
- A stylish Pedal T-shirt
- Prizes from Pedal Magazine for the winners of Canadian Privateer Project contests

Riders will be responsible for:
- Flights
- Food costs
- Race entries
- Travel insurance
- Incidentals

Our cottage, I should add, does not have internet, telephone, or TV, so it wasn’t like I just had my head in the clouds. It was finally Melissa, who after listening to the news on the car radio during the drive over, told me of the happenings.

Melissa is forever the optimist, however, and comfortingly parenthesized the news with, “But I’m sure it won’t affect your flight.”

Eyjafjallajökull, though, was in no mood to be optimistic, and continued to spew jet- engine-destroying ash into the atmosphere, resulting in the cancellation of my flight to England on April 19. After waiting on hold with Air Canada for eons, I was finally able to reschedule for arrival on April 26 – the day after World Cup #1 (very useful). I was told that as flights started to go and airlines added extra flights and larger planes, I was bound to be bumped up in line. I therefore called Air Canada every day at least twice a day only find that planes were still not flying, would-be passengers were piling up, and April 26 was still the earliest available flight… to ANYWHERE in Europe. (Believe me, I had considered flying to Rome, like National Team mechanic, Scott, and U23 athlete, Cody, who then took a train ride of over 1,500km to Brussels, rented a vehicle there, and drove another 700+km and over 8 hours to England.)

When the ash cloud finally dissipated enough for flights to resume, I called again. And again. And again. Nothing new. April 26 was still the day to go. The frustrating thing, however, was that almost all of the other athletes were getting on earlier flights and slowly arriving at Dalby Forest with time to spare before the big race. I felt stranded and frustrated. Why wasn’t I getting on these early flights? I soon learned that I had been Tier One’d – a term we (all of us yahoos on the National Team Project) developed to describe when someone with higher “status” (be it elite Aeroplan status or Tier One National Team status) waltzed to the front of the line and scooped up an earlier plane ticket, the last pastry at the bakery, the final massage of the day, or the National Team’s Ford Focus fun car. Being Tier One’d is just a fact of life, I suppose. I’m just looking forward to the day I’m on the good end of the deal.

Finally, when I wasn’t on a plane by Thursday, I realized the World Cup at Dalby was out. I did make the best of it, however, by getting in some quality training at home and spending time with friends, including one last BOC at Local Ride Bike Shop. Ah, good times!

The second natural disaster to affect me in Europe was the failing of my body in World Cup #2 in Houffalize. Yes, I did finally make it to Belgium. Everything went off without a hitch, I slept most of the way across the Atlantic, and was met at Brussels airport by Amanda and the rest of the team. I prepared as best as I possibly could in the short time before my race (I slept a tonne, ate well [waffles and Nutella - yum!], trained smart, and spent a lot of time focusing and recovering).

My race detonated at the start. My legs felt heavy and slow (like big hands were gripping my quads, squeezing and pushing them down – try pedaling like that!) and I felt like I wasn’t getting enough oxygen. By the time I reached the top of the start climb (a 3-minute 19% mother also used in Liege-Bastogne-Liege), my vision was going black around the edges and I was trailing near the back of the pack. My World Cup experience and Frogger savvy allowed me to bound ahead a little once the 125-woman field hit singletrack (which meant “everybody off your bikes!”), but once we all remounted and actually had to pedal, the hands were back on my quads and it was all I could do to move forward. To make matters worse, a cold rainstorm before the race had soaked me to the skin, hindered my warm-up, and made the Houffalize course a slip-slidy mess. Zinging out-of-control around corners did hold an element of excitement, but the steep open climbs (with which organizers decided to replace fun, rooty singletrack ascents from years past) were not-so enjoyable.

The start climb – I’m still working my way up! (photo courtesy of Canadian Cyclist)

It was amazing to be racing at the front of the pack, even for such a short time, but it gave me a taste, and just the fact that I could be there at all is a huge confidence boost. Also, watching riding/training buddies like Catharine and Nathalie have such great results gave me an even bigger shot of motivation.

The course was as great as always, with a great mix of everything from rolling, rooty singletrack, steep drops, switchback climbs and hold-on-to-your-helmets descents! The weather leading up to the race had been rather cold and drizzly, making the course very slick, and at one point during the race, I overcooked a sharp left-hander on pavement and went down. Just to show once again how competitive and tight these races are (116 starters): crash on pavement – lost 2 spots, dropped chain – lost 1 spot, dab on descent – lost 1 spot…. The spectators were great as usual. Nothing like Belgians, bikes and beer to make for a rockin’ party!

Mical and I stayed in a cozy little suite about 12km away in the village of Nadrin. During our stay, we enjoyed views of green pastures, got lost in an eerie forest, ate wild boar (mmm!) and indulged in fresh Belgian waffles (my post-race goal). We also had coffee in Luxembourg (it’s way cheaper to gas up there too).

Eatin’ baguettes and cheese in France!

Thanks to the Boyz of SRAM, for being so helpful, friendly and generous (as always), and Sylvain, for ensuring that I didn’t get thirsty during the race!

Thanks for the sweet poncho, Christian!

I’m excited for the upcoming World Cup #2 in Offenburg, Germany this Sunday, where I will be joined by X.O-Felt teammate, Fabienne!

Peace out.

Sandra

Elite Women

1. Ren Chengyuan (Chn) 2:11.06
2. Irina Kalentieva (Rus) Topeak-Ergon at 0:35
3. Marie-Helene Premont (Can) Rocky Mountain 1:08
4. Margarita Fullana (Spa) Massi 2:23
5. Georgia Gould (USA) Luna Women’s MTB Team 2:47
6. Gunn-Rita Dahle (Nor) Multivan-Merida 4:00
7. Nathalie Schneitter (Sui) Colnago 4:13
8. Petra Henzi (Sui) Fischer-BMC 4:26
9. Tereza Hurikova (Cze) Ceska Sporitelna MTB 5:06
10. Sabine Spitz (Ger) Ghost International 5:38

25. Sandra Walter (Can) X.O-Felt Women’s MTB Team 13:00