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Season 2020 vol. 2

7/29/2020

And just like that, we’re back at it. Or back at it as much as ‘it’ really is. No matter what, this season is abnormal. I’m referring to racing when I say we are back. Because, yes, I finally pinned a number on my skin suit again! The first race of the 2020 season 2.0 were the Copa Catalana in Val di Boi. A race course in the pyrenees. A different kind of race, with temperature mesurements, risctrictions and new rules, but nevertheless a race! Still the same format, do x amount of laps as fast as possible.

Am I even fast yet?
That questions bugged my mind a bit in the week leading into the race, because after so many months away from racing it’s hard no to let the anxiety creep up on you and start asking questions. But over the past few months I have worked really well and I felt confident in the work I had put in. Still, time for a test.

We (my team) arrived to the venue Friday evening, so we were ready to try out the track Saturday morning. We went together to check it out and figured that we arrived in a really cool mountain area. The track was great, natural, steep, good dirt and fun. 3 long steep climbs, followed by steep downhills and then a ‘long’ flat part to mix it up.

I was just racing my bike as I have done a million times (or at least it feels like that) before.

I spent a couple of hours riding it and trying out different tire options. Ended up riding a Michelin Jet in the back and a prototype with a bit more grip in the front. I hadn’t tapered coming into the race, so I was curios how my freshness would be. But as the start gun finally went off I completely forgot all the questions and there I was just racing my bike as I have done a million times (or at least it feels like that) before. I went to the front half way up the climb to make sure I was in the front for the downhill.

Which is always a nice thing in cross country racing. We had 4 laps of around 20 minutes, and after making a gap to PFP and Claudia on the first lap I continued on the good pace till the very end. What a feeling to cross the finish line first. It has been a while since I won a race, so the rush was amazing. It’s never easy to win, so it felt great to pull it off and a big confidence boost that I’m going in the right direction.

The same for the men racing after me, Victor and Milan took home 1st and 2nd spot, so a great start for us. Now we are onwards to the next one - French Cup Alp d’Huez. I’m in Nice preparing for the race and hopefully our team can have another good day between the tape. Going to be exciting!

Thanks for all the nice comments and messages after my race,
it’s really heartwarming and cool to read all of them.
/M

1 Comment

Navigating through change

7/11/2020

3 Comments

The past couple of weeks has been a real rollercoaster. So many questions have popped up; Are we racing soon? When? Is it fair? What is best for the sport? This year is challenging in so many ways. One of them is the ability to reset and rethink. Planing to change the plan. But a good plan is a bad plan if it can’t be changed, right?

During the past week we have had 2 race cancellations of our World Cup. Which is our biggest series of races in xc mountainbike. that means we are down to only 2 rounds (both held in Nove Mesto Na Morave). This year sucks, honestly. There is still smaller races on the calendar here in Europe, but none of them is in the same league as the World Cup. Beside the races in Nove Mesto, we will also have the World Champs. Worlds is hosted by Leogang, which I had looked much forward to, but as the situtationen is developing it starts to feel strange. Are we going to have a world championship without the whole world able to compete?

Are we going to have a World Championship without the whole world able to compete?

The other night I drove through Barcelona with Loic, we saw the statue of Columbus. And Loic was like ‘The Navigator!’ (in a prober french accent, hah). And it made me think. We have to be great ‘navigators’ this year. There are plenty of waves and obstacles on our way, but if we are smart, and keep on taking that, ‘step back’ to see the bigger picture, I’m sure we find our way.

I kept this blog short. But if you are curious on more ‘normal life’ I started a Vlog - the first episode will be online on Youtube tomorrow! It's a channel where I will try to take some videos now and then, from my life. It’s my first vlog so please bear with me, hah, the editing and Iphone footage might not be the best, but it can only go one way from now, no? It will be online this Sunday! So stay tuned!!

Stay safe. And ride on.
/Malene

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Season 2020 vol. 2

Navigating through change

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