by Maghalie Rochette
Rochester cyclocross has always been one of my favorite races. It seems like this would be an easy thing to say, considering I've won the race many times. Yet, the reason why I love it is not (just) because I found success there.
In fact, Rochester has often been the first race of my cyclocross season, so it carries a special kind of excitement to it. I can recall many years where I was so excited that I had to repeatedly remind myself to calm down on the 6h drive to get there, because it was getting out of control. But above this, the course there has a really good flow, and this is where, every year, I feel like I reconnect with my cyclocross bike and how it flows over the terrain, how the tires grip the turns, how my body finds its way and its efficiency on the bike.
This year, I was excited to go, but my feeling felt a bit different. I certainly did not have to remind myself to clam down many times over the 6 hour drive. Maybe that's partly because I'm getting older and I can contain my excitement better, but I think it is also because I was a bit scared. I normally show up to this race beaming with confidence over my fitness and preparation, but this year I showed up with a big interrogation point and a lot of doubt.
A rough month
To make a long story short, if the race had been a month ago, I felt super fit and ready. But the last month has been a bit of a fiasco for me. I got COVID, it kicked my ass for over two weeks, then I recovered and caught another cold/flu/illness one week later. I then made a few bad decisions that had me travel to a race in Wisconsin where I did not finish because I felt too weak (read more here). What followed was a full rest week, and then I drove to Rochester. Mix all of this together and you have a good melting pot of things that will rattle someone's confidence and form.
Yet, I convinced myself to keep an open mind, and that things could still go well. My great summer preparation was not gone. I told myself I would use my experience to play my cards right, and that I'd use this race as a starting point to build upon, and not as an end in and of itself.
The race
One of the awesome thing about this year's USCX series, is that two top European women have decided to made the trip to compete with us; French Champion Helene Clauzel, and Dutch World Cup winner Manon Bakker. This is exciting as it truly raises the level, and increases the depth of our field.
On Day 1, the race started and although I had a bad start, I felt surprisingly well. I was further back than I would have wanted, but never doubted I could make my way back to the front. Admidetly, it took me a good 1.5 laps to get back into the rhythm of racing. A 1.5 laps in which I missed the start signal, crashed on the pavement and opened my knee, made weird passes, got stuck in a bottle neck that had me run too much, and chase back to the front every time. After that though, all the "goofiness" was out of the way, and I raced well. I was positioning myself well, and making good moves. I eventually opened a pretty significant gap, but there was still 30min of racing left, and I didn't trust my fitness to keep pushing at the front alone. Instead, I chose to be patient, and was confident I could play my cards right to play for the win in a tactical battle. The race ended in a sprint between Helene and I, and I unfortunately got second.
Looking back, my mistake was that I waited a bit too long and never truly grabbed the race in my own hands. If you want to win, you have to take it in your own hands, make a move, take a risk, commit.... And I failed to do that well Saturday. Still, I felt pretty happy of how I raced considering I had no clue how I would feel.
The day ended with an hospital visit. Turns out I opened my knee pretty badly on the crash and had to get 8 stitches on it.
Showing up! /b>
On Day 2, I initially wondered if I could race confidently with me knee, but a good warm up on the course confirmed I was all good! From the start I just felt tired. I tried my best and honestly I did many moves I'm proud of. But truly I lacked the power and energy the make the moves I knew I had to make. I had to dig deep to cover moves and bridge gaps. With about 2 laps to go, I started fading. I ended up in 6th place, which is probably the worst result I had in a US race in years.
Yet, I've decided that I don't want to be hard on myself on that one. Actually, there are a lot of positive and good takeaways. The race was tactical, a battle for positioning, and a great practice of following wheels at speed and asserting your position. This is extremely good practice for the season.
Also, I'm just very proud that I just showed up and did my best, with an open mind, and without judging. It sounds simple, but it is not easy. I won the race the last 8 times I showed up to it, and it takes courage to show up to this when you know you are not at your best. So I'm proud and happy!
And I did achieve my goal: We established a baseline and I can now build upon!
Thank you Rochester for another fun weekend of cyclocross! And thanks to my competitors for some good racing out there.
-Maghalie
What's Next/b>
See you at Charm City Cyclcoross next week!
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