by Maghalie Rochette

Whoooo!! Another cyclocross weekend in the bag, and another Monday morning Cyclocross hangover...The kind that involves no alcohol; only cowbells and full gas sprints. The best kind!

This weekend, we raced in Waterloo Wisconsin for the final stop of the US CX Series. I have not been part of the full series this year because I missed the first round in Roanoke, and I was initially supposed to miss this last round to participate in the Gravel World Championships in Belgium. But after a rocky start will illnesses, I decided to change my plans and focus my attention to one discipline to make sure I could come back to a good level instead of spreading myself thin. Therefore, I was very happy to add one more weekend of cyclocross in Wisconsin this weekend!

I have many good memories of that race...when I was just starting out in 2013, I had a breakthrough race that I still remember 11 years later. A few years later, I raced there wearing the World Cup leader's jersey which was a career highlight. And last year, I finished 4th in the World Cup, just a few seconds off the podium. That said, I also had many bad days there over the years. But somehow, my memories are very positive. Mostly, people in the midwest are always so kind, and I love the energy around this event.

Confronting my demons
I don't know how open I want to be about my disaster on day 1... but here is what I want to share. The truth is I've been working on some things lately. Throughout my career, the thing that has been holding me back the most is myself. I've always been my biggest enemy in racing. I train well, I do all the little things right, but when it comes to racing, I am not always the best version of myself. Sometimes I am, and boy do I love it when I manage to do it! It's the best feeling. Sometimes, I’ve even managed to be consistently my best for a long period of time. But this is still the main thing that’s been holding me back from finding my full potential. Bluntly, I think too much. Wayyyyy too much. And I sometimes get very lost in my own mind.

I’m tired of it. I want to be my best friend, not my own enemy. So I've been working really hard on making some changes. And right now, I feel like i'm in this awkward phase where you are trying to implement changes but are kind of messed up and confused. Anyway, I don’t want to get into the details, because I have not fully grasped some of these concepts and am not ready to share. But let's imagine that I was a caterpillar, and now, I'm all messed up in the tissue of my cocoon...before hopefully becoming a butterfly. What I’ll say is that on Day 1, I was very confused and decided to try something different to prepare for the race. Among other things, I ate differently (WTF was I thinking?), used a different strategy. In my confused state, it seemed like a good idea to me. Long story short, I'll save you the details, but it was a disaster. I’ll leave it to that.

Bouncing back
The Day 1 disaster made me even more nervous for day 2. David helped me to make sense of it all, and clear up my mind, and I decided to show up on day 2 with a blank slate. Day 1 was behind me and I didn’t want to carry any shame. It was a new day.

A timely reminder came in the form of the “Brain Food” Newsletter that Sunday morning: “You are under no obligation to remain the same person you were a year ago, a month ago, or even a day ago. You are here to create yourself, continuously.” - Richard Feynman

Right. Let's start fresh!

I figured I had to keep things simple. My only goal (and truthfully, all I could manage), was to focus on the basics. Back to my normal routine. Nothing new. And for the race, I was going to execute every little thing the best I could; looking up, carrying speed in the corners, following wheels, mounting and dismounting quick and clean, running fast, etc. Nothing more, nothing less. Simple.

Guess what? It worked! Of course it did. One more proof that keeping things simple is often the best way to go. I wasn’t quite fast enough to hang on to Helene and Manon who hammered at the front, but I chased them hard for a few laps. I eventually realized we were not going to make it back to them, and it became a battle for third with Sidney McGill, Katie Clouse, and myself. I was very engaged and looking for where to make my move.

I made one attack at the beginning of the last lap which brought our group to only Katie and I. How was I going to win this battle? It turns out, Katie and I had the same idea of where to attack. She went first, but I didn’t give up; I stayed right on her wheel. The last feature of the race, 1 minute before the finish line, is a steep downhill, followed by a very steep short wall we need to climb. On other laps, I felt like I was riding this better than Katie. So when she beat me to enter the feature, I decided to leave a tiny gap behind her I so I could ride the feature faster than her and pass her by the top. She really went for it and unfortunately crashed at the bottom. Thank god I had left a gap. I just managed to get off the bike before hitting her. Both of us were now running, but I passed her. I thought she was just on my wheel so I kept the gas full on until the last u-turn. I had a tiny gap and managed to win that battle for the podium!

Small victory!
I had so much fun in that race. It was a drastic contrast from the day before and I felt proud that I was able to turn things around, building a bit of momentum at the same time. Solidifying the fact that keeping things simple is often a good way to go. One step in the right direction of trying to transform from a caterpillar to a butterfly!

This race marked the end of the USCX Series, but truly, it’s only the beginning of the season for me. I’m very motivated to put in the work to get to my best level physically, as well as mentally.

I want to say thank you to everybody who was involved in making this series so fun. Even though I had some ups and downs the last few weeks, I feel so in love with the sport of cyclocross, and so thankful for the awesome people who make the CX scene as special as it is.

In fact, I feel a renewed sense of love for the sport. One that is not based on winning, but on competing and being a part of something special.

CX FEVER
- Maghalie

What's Next
Kings CX in Cincinanti, Oct. 19-20
Really Rad Festival of CX, Massachussets, Oct. 26-27

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