​You guessed it, world cup numero dos is around the corner. I have had a couple days at home, but for the next week I will head to Andorra and meet up with my coach and a few other riders to accompany them for a mini training camp. And hopefully get some good training in. Thinking about Albstadt makes me both excited and a little nervous. Going to be great. But now I really must go pack my car so I can get to Andorra.
​At this point I should be professional at packing, but still, I wish I had a magic spell that could do *Pliing* and the bag is ready to go, and nothing forgotten. Is that a business idea for my post cycling carrier? Maybe I need a letter from Hogwarts first tho. But one can always hope.
 


Ciao for now
Malene.

​Well then, what has been up?
I came back on home* soil the Wednesday after the Brazil World Cup.
       *Home is a blurry thing for me, I got a few!
Together with Loic we wanted to do a little get-away, so we drove to the middle of france, and that’s ’away’. I think the french even call it the butthole of France. But I must say I love this butthole, hah. It’s so green, beautiful, calm and just a rad place. Would love to spent more time in this part of France. It’s a 6 hours drive from Nice.
​After arrival the legs needed a spin so we geared up quick and did 1 hour of loamy trails with friends. The next 4 days I did 4 solid training days. Always feels great to get back into the training-routine after a big race week.

After that we drove 1 hour south, to the Pierron Bike Park, in order for Loic to ride DH (and to get a sneak peak into the Pierrons home track?? ;-) ). We stayed in the cutest french bed & breakfast for 1 night, and I managed to get 2 more rides sneaked in. Loic was done testing and I was done with my ride, so it was time to head to the next destination – Andorra.
For me it was time for a rest day, so I layed on the sofa watching the Pyrenees mountains out of the window most of the day. Felt so good to do nothing after the past week of moving around so much.

​But no time to settle for me - time to fly to Stuttgart to participate in the KMC sponsored Heubach race. ”Bike the rock” as they say. I guess its true, we ride up a mountain in one long strecth and then one long downhill. And then we continue to do this for another 5-6 laps. Lovely! Haha.

The new Michelin tire range is now available for everyone who wants to try out these world-class tires. On my team, KMC-Orbea, have we been riding them for a while now, and we all loved them. The feedback we had from the previous range were taken into account and personally I find the new ones awesome to ride. So. There’re the ‘Michelin Jet XC2 racing line’ for fast and mostly dry trails, then we have ‘Force XC2 racing line’ for when the trails get sticker and steeper​

(I often choose this in the front for extra grip) and last we got the ‘Wild XC racing line’ which is a bigger tire that really can handle some more slippery tracks- those were my weapon of choice for the Olympics. I wanted to make a write’ about the new tire range of Michelin, because when I thought about the new tires my brain started to think about being grounded, finding grip - what does it even mean? And can we have more of that? ​

Google says that being grounded means that you are connected with earth and present in your body. If you aren’t grounded, you're like a leaf in the wind - thrown off balance real quick. Next google search: “What does it mean for a person to be grounded?” Mentally stable, realistic, remains calm and connected to who you are in the face of uncertainty.
Hm. ​

Being grounded is such a rad personality trait. Like people who can stay calm (and cool) and doesn’t get thrown off balance when things doesn’t appear the way they wanted them to, are always impressive. I think in elite sport, you got to work on your grounded-ness.
Going on course practice on a muddy day when nothing is going your way, but staying present, calm and finding the grip. Making the good choices (also regarding tires, hah) are so crucial. You gotta get the grip on your nerves and the dirt. ​

I don’t think it’s possible to always have the perfect travel, training, workday, off-day, race day, you name it, but I think it’s always possible to take a breath and find your ground. I want to be more grounded - not a leaf that easily get thrown off balance. That’s something to work on this season.

Now step one - find the right tire set up, so I can feel grounded on my bike - everyday.

/Malene​