The UCI MTB Marathon World Championships : When the going gets tough, the tough gets going

When I was 20 I decided that in order to give myself a chance, I needed to escape my childhood and many sad memories. I decided to move as far as I could, all the way to New Zealand. I researched what I needed to do to finish my veterinary studies there, organized all the necessary paperwork, begged for references from the Belgium University where I was finishing my 3rd year veterinary science whilst going against any ones advise, packed up, left everything behind and graduated from Massey Veterinary University in New Zealand in 2002. BOOM. Easy. No it was not easy, I worked hard. I cried a lot. But with the help from some amazing  people and grabbing every opportunity presented to me, somehow I did it.

How did I get here??

Standing next to the massive UCI MTB Marathon World championships sign in Val Gardena in Italy wearing my National team kit, I wondered for a moment, how did I get here? It was an overwhelming feeling. I wondered sometimes if growing up with a manic/depressive father was the reason behind my ultimate believe that anything was possible with hard work, with a mentality of not giving up.

star struck with Annika Langvad

My goal of trying to get to the World Championships was inspired by British rider Rachel Fenton. I read her blog about her impressive finish in 33rd place in 2012 and I decided after a bad 2014 season that racing Worlds would be an awesome goal for 2015. I researched what I needed to do in order to get on the Dutch team. I applied for an Elite UCI license knowing that my MTB results had been strong enough, looked through the UCI calendar for a World cup race to qualify, and found one in Belgium which fitted in my calendar. With the support of Michael and my uncle Aede, I sneaked into a top 20 finish which gave me an automatic ticket to the World champs. BOOM. Easy. No not easy, it was bloody hard work, for the last 5 years I had completely devoted myself to the sport and I had trained on average 15hrs/week across three disciplines (swim,bike,run) whilst trying to maintain a fairly normal life as a full time working veterinarian. It takes a lot out of a person to race at international elite level. But I got there.

MarathonMTB buddies with Will Hayter

I have said it many times before, and I will say it many times again,  I would not have achieved what I have achieved without the help of MarathonMTB boss Mike Blewitt. And even more importantly, Mike is responsible for some amazing friendships, including mine with UK XCM rider Will Hayter with who I conquered the Singles du Ventoux (three climbs in one day to the top of Ventoux) in 2013 and who also qualified for Worlds in Val Gardena.

Through MarathonMTB I also got connected with the two Ozzie representations  Eliza Kwan and Sarah Riley. I had been in touch with Dutch CX champion Sanne Van Paassen and was hoping to meet up with her before the race. There were heaps of other familiar faces and I was looking forward to seeing old friends, meeting new ones and sharing this amazing experience.

Our nerd mobiel! 

The trip did not go without hiccups. I seem to have a very good way to make life just that little tougher for myself without really knowing how I do it. Bike problems a few day's before our departure added serious amounts of stress, big thank you to Colin Murray from Nicholson Cycles for fitting me in such short notice!! Just for added pressure on the way to the airport my car decided to have a fit which meant Michael and I arrived at 3am at our hotel for our 5.30am flight. If we hadn’t had enough for one night, the hotel had given our room away because of overbooking. Seriously! What else could go wrong!! Not the best preparation for a World Championships.

Car breakdown

At the airport the next morning we met the lovely Lee Craigie, a Scottish MTB legend. Having followed her impressive MTB career I was very excited to meet her and as you often get with like minded people it felt like we had known each other for years. Lucky we did all get on so well because what was supposed to be a quick travel day on Thursday from Venice to the Dolomites ended up in a long ever lasting day in the car!

The Ozzie girls

Friday was spent stressing about my bike, meeting the lovely Eliza Kwan and Sarah Riley and catching up with the UK delegation Will, Mel, Tim, Rachel and Chris. Michael and I stayed over the hill (mountain), in a very nice apartment in Colfosco, unfortunately this meant a lot of driving backwards and forwards to Val Gardena which added a little bit to my already maxed out levels of stress!

I woke up tired on race day, not surprising after the week I just had and there was nothing I could do about it. The day seemed like a bit of a blur. Everything went so fast!! Waiting for the start felt very overwhelming, I tried to take it all in, this was one big race!! Before I knew it we were off and headed to the biggest climb I have ever ridden. I panicked, I did not feel good, my lungs were screaming, my stomach turned and it was the start of a very long mental battle to the finish line. I wanted to finish, that was my aim, I did not want to give in. Never before had I been so scared of a course and rightly so, 62kms, 3700m elevation gain, 4 big passes over the Sella range. The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful, I made sure I took the time to look around, it was spectacular. I am not sure why I had been worried about my gears not working on my bike because all I needed was my littlest gear. We were either climbing or descending each at equally steep gradients. There was not much in between. The first half of my race was pure hell and I wanted to quit every km but I battled on, feeling embarrassed about my own under-performance. "people must think I am a joke" I thought to myself. The 2nd half of the course I started to feel a little better, I started to get in my rhythm, although my lungs were the biggest problem, my legs kept on giving which gave me some confidence. When I spotted Rachel on the side of the track with a mechanical my heart sank, that was the end of her day. With that in my mind I decided to push a little harder, at least I was still riding. I absolutely loved the descents, I surprised myself how well I rode them and it gave me such an adrenaline boost! This course was incredible. The best feeling was passing a few men on road bikes on a short road climb, they had to look twice, “a girl?” “a girl on a MTB???”

Finding good friend and super star Kathrin Muller at the start

The last descent seemed to last forever, my body was aching at this point, I wanted it to be over with. And then suddenly it was. I found Michael through the crowd and I fell apart in his arms, I was overwhelmed with a huge amount of emotions. My whole body was shaking. I was happy I finished but hugely disappointed with my performance. I knew I would be outclassed, that was not the issue, but I was disappointed because I knew I was capable of much more. It was just not my day, my body had been fighting me every step of the way. It had been a very tough day on the bike and it left me feeling deflated.

The best thing for a disappointed race is debriefing with great friends who have been through the same emotional roller-coaster and that’s exactly what we did the remainder of the day whilst eating lots and lots of food! What an adventure it had been!! It was in the end a very special experience! Very impressively my XTERRA friend James Walker finished his first Mountain bike marathon in the non license holders category, what a course do your first marathon on!! I wonder if he will do any more!!

The most brutal, most beautiful, most challenging course I have ever ridden. It had pushed me into some dark areas of my brain. It had pushed me to fight against myself. It had partly broken me, but it had not beaten me. 57th. I had done what I came out to do, I finished my first (and possibly last) UCI MTB Marathon World Championships.

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams"

I did it!!

                                                                                    

Ten Under The Ben; A No Fuss Experience

 “This is Nienke, she beat me at the Aviemore triathlon” this is how Marie introduced me to her friends. I had to laugh!! We met on top of a hill at the Aviemore triathlon in 2014 when I had just passed the turn around point running down and offered her some sweeties we got handed out, whilst she was hot on my heels running up. How I managed to beat her I am still not sure, I wonder if she did a 300 miles cycle the day before because this girl is super human!! She races anything she can find to race, week in, week out, and does this with a smile regardless of the results, she never makes excuses for herself, she just shows up, does the job and has fun. All this whilst maintaining a full time job as a teacher. I don't think many people really understand what it takes to do this and how tough she actually is. Modest as they come she has some big races behind her name including the 2014 Celtman triathlon. Marie has a level of endurance which is second to none in this country. Like me she struggles with the shorter sharper races but she will not use that as an excuse not to race them, instead she said she uses them to sober up her ego (if she had one in the first place). An attitude I could learn from!! We decided to pair up for Ten Under The Ben MTB race in the female pairs, Marie was one week away from defending her title at the Celtman and I was one week away from racing my biggest race in my career yet, the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Champs. A good idea? I thought so but Nico had a different view!! He wanted me to take it “easy”. For both Marie and I the most important thing was not to get injured!!

Marie to a t, all smiles 

I loved teaming up with Marie!! The day started with her forgetting her MTB shoes! Thank god it was not me who forgot them because that would have been a long way back to get them. Donnie only had to drive 15min to their house to pick them up. Next thing she had forgotten her drink bottles!! Haha!! Another trip home for good old Donnie!! I was so glad that I was not the only one who was slightly disorganized at times!!

I felt a little nervous, the worse thing about racing in a team is that I did not want to let Marie down. I had fallen quite badly on this course in the 24hrs MTB World Champs that it did give me a little bit of a sickening feeling to be back here. Marie had such a de-stressing attitude though that I did not even got to the level of stress I normally got to. She started us off and put us in a huge leading position that the only thing I had to do was trying to maintain our lead!!

Like with all No Fuss Events the atmosphere was amazing, the course was as tough as can be in true Scottish way and I congratulate anyone for racing!! A special big thank you to the awesome volunteers on course, cheering us on all the way. Such a positive vibe all over the place.

I can’t say I felt the best in the race!! My legs had not quite recovered from the massive block of training I had done in the lead for the World Champs and it took me a few laps to master the technical parts!! Other than the long climbs which I loved,  I was pretty much out of my comfort zone 90% of the time. Sobering for my ego indeed!! The other slight hiccup was my brand new lovely Open bike, I had already managed to crash it in the first week of ownership and I had  issues with the gears to the point that I had two gear’s left on one of the laps. Worried that I would damage the bike further I decided to continue the race on Marie’s old full suspension bike. Marie and I differ about 10cm in height… I felt like I was sitting on a BMX!! On top of that the back suspension was way to soft, when I tried to power up the climbs it felt like I was moving just as much up and down as I was moving forward!! After a nasty fall right over the handlebars I decided I needed to try and stay in one piece by befriending this mini bike and slowing down a touch.

Last time I raced at Fort William this was the end result

Lucky Marie was on fire and kept on smashing her laps very consistent!! With a couple of hours to go we had such a good lead that really all we had to do was finish the race in order to hold our position. It actually felt quite comical riding Marie’s bike, and all I could really do was laugh about it!! I learned from Marie that unless you are physically impaired, there are no excuses to stop riding!!

Very happy with our race Marie and I finished 1st female pair, and 17th overall out of close to 100 teams!! We were stoked!! What made my day though was my Flare teammate Kerry Main finishing 3rd in the Solo Senior Female category!! Her pretty and petite blonde looks house a powerhouse of a girl with a toughness which gets to shine the longer the event lasts!! I had never any doubts she would do great so it was awesome to see her confidence grow by finishing on the podium!

Supporting a very nervous Kerry at the start

What a day, great people, great racing and great results! A big thank you to the guys from Angus Bike Chain who'm themselves ended up winning the male trio teams and came in 2nd overall! These guys were a great help in keeping me positive and making me laugh!! Also a huge shout out to Marie's partner in crime Donnie for giving his time being there for us all day! A big thank you to No Fuss Events and Fiona for being spot on once again, I love these guys!! Very happy my race did not end with blood on my face this time!! Last but not least a big thank you to Marie for pairing up with me!! We both have some serious races ahead of us so hopefully this is a good omen!! Time to rest, pack and head to Italy for the UCI MTB XCM World Championships!!

"There are people in life that make you laugh a little louder, smile a little bigger and just live a little better"

Woman and racing, a personality thing?

Photo credit to Tom Beddis

I have been thinking about this topic for a while and was not sure what to write about it. After Imogen prompted a response with her blog http://www.marathonmtb.com/2015/06/17/why-dont-more-women-race/ and Jodie Willet’s http://www.jodiewillett.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/some-thoughts-on-why-more-women-dont.html view on things, I decided to give my perspective.

To be honest I think this discussion goes much wider than the question of why there are so few females racing Mountain bikes compared to males as it is something you see in all aspects of life. Why are there less women running big companies? Why do certain professions attract fewer women? etc. But I will stick to the topic of mountain biking. Well I will actually extend the topic to mountain biking and off road triathlon as I believe they both suffer from the lack of women racing.

I must admit that having raced in Australia and Europe, I find that the sport in Europe is much more popular to females than in Australia, you only have to look at the MTB World Cups attracting 70-80 girls on the start lines for the XCO format and 40-60 girls racing the XCM format. Enduro and Down Hill mountain bike races are also growing very fast which is great to see. I reckon it must be because the sport is much older and more professional in European countries and therefore it has had a chance to grow. But saying that this is at the very elite level, and there is definitely a lack of female participants compared to their male counterparts at smaller events.

I am starting to believe that partly it is a personality thing. I surprised myself this year by joining two female only teams: Aloha racing http://aloharacing.com/ a female only off-road triathlon team, and the other one being FlareClothingco http://flareclothingco.com/ a female only MTB team who are mainly Enduro and Down hill focussed, but luckily for me there are also a couple of XC riders. I have never been someone who has felt comfortable in a group of females. I don’t like shopping, unless going to a bike/ outdoor shop, I don’t wear any make-up, I own one piece of mascara for special occasions, my hair is a mess 90% of the time, and my wardrobe mainly exists out of sport clothing. I am not a girly girl by any means. On top of that I drink very rarely so I have always felt out of place hanging out with a group of girls and a girly night out is something I have managed to avoid most of my life. Because of this I have always naturally gravitated to hanging out with boy’s, playing sports with boy’s, riding my MTB with boy’s, going on adventures with boy’s. And yes you get pushed to "just get on with it". If you can not do it, you learn how to. If you do not want to, you get left behind. If you are scared, you eat a rock and toughen up. Life is simple. I never forget a guy friend of mine saying  “where is your sense for adventure”  after I complained whilst I was carrying a bike above my head wading through a knee deep mud pool after 5hrs of trying to find our way back. For many girls this is not their idea of having fun. Whether these experiences have made me slightly more extreme I don't know. I do know that I struggle finding girls with a similar attitude as me and when I do find them they are often off-road racers.

My team mates from Aloha racing

As a generalization I do find boys to be more competitive than girls, the amount of times I have been dropped on bunch rides and had to find my own way back. I must admit this has pissed me off at times. It will never happen on a girls ride out. There is no easy riding when you go out with boys. I personally do not see that as an obstacle, I will not choose to ride with certain guys if I want an easy ride, but if I want to be put through my paces I know who to call.

Being a competitor myself I know there are heaps of tough competitive girls out there who push themselves to their limits,work and race hard, just look at my teammates on Flare and Aloha, but from what I have seen we are a minority in the female population. If boy's in general were not more competitive than girls than we would not be having this conversation right now. Nothing stops a competitive person. It is when competitive females are discriminated against compared to competitive males that it upsets me. But that is worth a whole separate blog post.

I believe that racing itself, whether this is to just finish an event or to be fighting it out for the podium also requires a  certain mind set. My sister for example who I see as having much more natural athletic ability than I have, does not like racing at all. Yet she would be happy to accompany me or anyone else for that matter on extreme training adventures. Put her in race however, all the effort seems to be wasted on her. She does not enjoy the pressures that come with competition.  Ironically enough Flareclothingco founder and team manager Hannah Meyers told me she is the same, she does not like to race herself, yet throw her off a cliff on a DH mountain bike and she is very happy to do so. My sister used to get angry when I tried to push her to race as I got excited about how fast she was, she would say “I don’t want to, I don’t enjoy it, so why should I?” and rightly so.
I can't speak for Down Hill racing but I personally have never felt a race was female unfriendly, I have questioned whether a girl should be doing this far more often in my job as an equine veterinarian than when racing mountain bikes!!

I would love to see more females racing in both MTB and off-road triathlon, and would love to inspire girls to just give it a try. If the fear of not having the technical ability to ride the MTB course is a problem, you can always get of your bike and walk. If the fear of holding people who are behind you up, remember you have the same right to be there as they have. If the fear of coming last is holding you back, no offense but someone has to, and to be honest no one really cares!! Coming last, being slow, falling off, it does not define who you are! Not giving up, getting back on the bike, working hard, that does.

18th in a XCM MTB World cup and qualifying for World Champs to me felt like winning a race

I race because I love it, not to get on the podium, not to get media attention, not to beat people.I race because I know it will get the best out of me as an athlete, I race because it makes me want to get better, stronger and faster. Winning is an awesome feeling but a perfect executed race for 10th place can be equally as satisfying. Racing is hard work, there are no short cuts, there is no easy way, it is like a work of art to get it right and it takes a lot of time to be fast. When you do get it right though whatever level you are competing at, it is more than worth all the effort you put it. That’s why I would encourage anyone to give it a go, just give it a try!!

"It's impossible said pride, it's risky said experience, it's pointless said reason, give it a try whispered the heart"