Belgium World Cup

Hello!

So I am in Belgium, 3 days out of the World Championships! Sunday, I raced my first World Cup Cyclocross race in Hoogerheide, Holland and it was quite the experience! It was one of the muddiest, slipperiest, most unforgiving and taxing courses I have ever raced. Some of the straight aways were so muddy that you couldn't ride them! There was also a killer 42 stair run up... ouch! I raced Elite Women (there was no u23 category) and despite having very few UCI points and getting one of the last call ups, I had a great start! I used running to my advantage around the first muddy section where everything backed up, and passed quite a few people! On the first steep descent, someone braked hard in front of me and I kind of ran into a tree (oops). I crashed and dropped my chain which kind of sucked, but hey, it got me on TV! Catching up was tricky, since everyone had passed me. However, I had finally caught up whennn I crashed again and was furthermore pulled from the race going into my last lap. Despite the crashing (which is all apart of cylcocross.. kind of ;) it was a great learning experience + I got to do bike changes in the pits thanks to Cycling Canada and the team of 7 mechanics!

One of my crashes


Up until this race and afterwards, my days are spent living the life of a pro cyclist! Hanging out with the 12 other National team members, eating, and getting my bike cleaned and tuned up for me! I am having a total blast and cannot wait until Worlds, where I get to race with the u23 women in front of an estimated crowd of 75,000 to 100,000 people!

Canada's two u23's post our first World Cup race :)
Ruby West and me

Thanks so much to everyone who has supported me and helped me get to this point and a big thank you to the Canadian National Cx Team for taking care of me here in Belgium!




Peace out until the flight home!

Maggie :)

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