Summer Update!

July is almost over and it is time for another update! Since my last update in May a lot has happened, I have raced Unbound, Ghost of Gravel, and Oregon Trail. The last months of racing have been both physically and mentally demanding. I have learned much concerning my physical limits this month and knowing when to push and when I need to pull back. In this blog I want to share my thoughts and experiences on these past couple months of racing, and what is coming up for the rest of the season. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you enjoy!

Enjoying the mountains :)

Let’s start off with Unbound! The leadup to Unbound was not easy and I questioned racing it many times this season. Going into Unbound you need to be 100% confident in your physical and mental form- especially with the conditions that we faced this year. I was having trouble recovering from my crash prior to the Traka, where I suffered a concussion, and whiplash. The crash and the race took a lot more out of me than expected and the recovery was up and down. Most of my training rides going into Unbound were not great and left me feeling quite concerned for the race. In the end I decided to go. I was not 100% confident but felt I had done enough to do the race. The weather conditions two days out from the race were concerning to say the least. I was mentally prepared for these very hard conditions on race day, but I never expected what that really meant. I could write pages and pages of what this day was like, the endless miles of solo riding, peanut butter mud, mechanicals, thunder, lightning, the list goes on. Looking back at that day and all I can say is that I am proud I fought through every obstacle to make it to the finish line. I don’t think I have ever been so wrecked after a race before in my life! After Unbound, I took a few days to recover from one of the hardest days of my life. The recovery from this race went smooth as I have learned from the past 2 years of doing Unbound how my body best recovers. I had a month to go till my next race, so I had a bit more time to make sure I was back to 100%.  During these few days of recovery, I finished my last two University assignments and officially graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Women and Gender Studies! It has taken a long time to get to this point, while racing full time and suffering many injuries along the way, I finally did it! So far graduating has been the highlight of my summer.

Battling the mud in Unbound!

Photo credit: Marc Arjol Rodriguez

Once I recovered from Unbound, I started my prep for my next race, The Ghost of Gravel, which was part of the UCI Gravel World Series. I was really looking forward to this race as it was both a home race for me and a UCI race. In the past two years of competing in this race, I have come 3rd and 2nd. This year, I really wanted the win. My preparation for the race was going well and for the first time since before my crash back in May I was feeling strong again on the bike. Race day came, I was feeling strong I attacked on the main climb of the day and a group of 3 of us got away. It was not until 55km where I finally got away solo, I stayed solo for the next 70km and finally got the win! This was also my first UCI Gravel win! I was very excited to finally accomplish this goal of mine. It was also a special win for me as I got to celebrate with my family as I crossed the line. After the Ghost of Gravel my next big race was the Oregon Trail race. Oregon Trail is a race I have been thinking of for a while and one of the first races I planned back in the winter. I have always wanted to do a proper Gravel stage race and this race seemed like the perfect opportunity. The one part of this race that did make me nervous was the element of camping. As someone who has never camped before, I was nervous about this but figured I could make it work. Now that the race is over… I will say that I don’t think I will be camping again for a long time! In all seriousness I did really enjoy the race, it was some of the most beautiful riding I have ever done and really enjoyed all the people I met along the way. I was happy overall with my performance, apart from an unlucky mechanical on the first day. The following days were better, where I finished 4th on the mountain top finish and 5th on the queen stage. However, realistically I am not sure I could do this race again the way I did it this year. Every day was full out racing, back to the campsite, build your tent, wash your bike, wait for a shower and food, then what felt like a million more little things to make sure you were ready for the next day. Some of the girls were staying in the campsite and some of the girls were staying in RVs with extra support where that made a huge difference to performance and recovery. If I were to do this race again I would 100% figure out a way to have support + a camper or RV for the week.

Photo Credit: David Miller

Ghost of Gravel Podium!

Photo Credit: Wil Matthews

Oregon Trail Race!

The race was also a lot more physically exhausting than I imagined. It was not only the physical fatigue from the race, but I think what really got me was the lack of sleep. I really did not sleep or recover well in those 5 days and in the end that is really what did me in. The overall recovery after the race took a lot longer than I anticipated and I probably pushed too hard too soon. Looking back, I think I needed 5 days of complete rest then start building again. However, I had planned to go to a race in Montana about 10 days after Oregon Trail. Now knowing how my body reacted I would have never planned to race in Montana. The week leading up to the race I was not feeling well and should have listened to my body right away, instead I pushed and ultimately cracked. The day before the race in Montana my pre ride went terrible. It was 40 degrees outside, and my body was just not responding. I could hardly pedal and my heart rate was 155 bpm + and I was hardly pushing any power. I thought it was just the heat, and I would feel better for the race, but only 1.5 hours into the race my body gave completely out, and I had to call it quits. One of the hardest things for me is stopping, I will normally push my body to the absolute limit to finish a race. However, this time I knew I could not keep going. Although I was filled with disappointment I had to be happy that for once I listened to my body and now, I need to focus on recovery. I took the following three days off after the race to make sure I was feeling 100% again. I am now riding again and feeling recovered and ready to push for a final block of training in Canada before heading to the United States for Core4 and Gravel Worlds Nebraska. I am extremely excited about this trip and thankful to ASSOS for helping make this trip come to life. Make sure to stay tuned as we have exciting stuff coming!!!

Following Core4 and Gravel Worlds I will be heading back to Europe for an unfortunate surgery on my mouth which was caused back in 2023 when I was hit by the car. I have been a regular at my dentist the past 3 years! It will take me around a week to recover from this, then it will be my final push for the last part of the season- now I am still planning what this will look like! That was a long overdue update with a lot that has happened in the last couple of months. If you made it to the end, thank you! Make sure to follow me on my Instagram and here for continued updates on my races and the rest of my season plans!