The past is your lesson. The present is your gift. The future is your motivation.

I know, it’s kinda cliché. But I learned that cliché’s are just a truth that has been told too many times. That doesn’t make them less true, right? 
Nevertheless it hits me. I finished the 2017 season three weeks ago in Australia with the World Championships. The week had a big up’s as we took home the silver medal in the Team Relay and I had reached a real good form. The week had big down’s too. Saturday’s cross country race was my main focus, but I felt like I missed a change to do a real good job. Shape was great, riding was good, but I just didn’t make it happen. I felt like forgot to do my-thing and stressed out a little bit. Definitely not my day. However it was a good week with the national team, and many good moments and memories can even make a bad race easier to let go. 

I went straight from the whole Championship circuit out on the roads of Queensland’s east coast and got into holiday mode. Didn't speak a word about Mountain bikes. Didn't even really think about that race, or any other. It was just me, my boyfriend, a van and a new country to explore. (Okay, that’s a little lie. Loic and I went out one night to celebrate the fact that he earned the World Champ stripes one more time! One of the most touching moments I have ever had, seeing Loic’s run being the wining time and just feeling so much happiness for him. Proudest girlfriend ever).
But now I’m home. And I have used a few days on gathering my thoughts and writing them down in my book. Making a little graph of my race feelings in the season, trying to find some links between good days and what lead up to those days. I definitely improved Malene in 2017. As an athlete and as human.
So as the cliché says “The past is your lesson” I wonder what it taught me. 

After every lesson I try to improve, but it’s like you need to run down the stairs in your slippery socks and have massive crashes many times before you really get it. Its a bad idea.

​It definitely reminded me how much everything else than riding bikes determines how you ride your bike. 
I found stability in Malene and whoops consistency in racing. I got insecure about my skills and whoops I crashed in every race almost. I was in a plane at least ones a week traveling around and whoops my body felt stressed (which has many side effects not really cool for training). I finished school and whoops suddenly more space for doing what I love and therefor a happier Malene. Btw. with whoops I mean “=“ :-)

And as it continues “The present is your gift”, I must say this is the hardest part. After every lesson I try to improve, but it’s like you need to run down the stairs in your slippery socks and have massive crashes many times before you really get it. Its a bad idea. I tried all season (not the stairs haha), and I succeeded with many things. I guess the present is a gift cause you have the opportunity to give your best in the moment, but it also make you blind for what’s actually going on. Maybe it just takes a more experienced life, with a longer past of lessons, than mine, to take the right choices every time. Which leads me to the future and the ability to make choices that will lead to the change of the past’s mistakes. And motivate me to continue working on Malene. So what will I do? 

A Malene 0.2?? Haha, no, too many good things happened in 2017 to start over. I’m having a good fundament. Now I just need to build. But I guess, with all the things starting to shape up in my life these years and with the right people around me, (many thanks to my team Ghost Factory Racing), the journey will take me to the right place I just gotta feed it. 
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So to be more concrete for you guys, some of my goals is now to get better in planing and seeing the consequences of what I decide to do. Listen to myself, believe in myself, trust my skills and train them. 

All the best 
Malle

Ps. Thank you so much for being here and reading my stories. I'm trying to tell the story of what's going through my brain, and I really appreciate all the nice and interested messages you guys give back! 
I will try to update more about how I'm preparing for a new season and what I do to get better :) 

So again 
​All the best 
Malle