Defending champion Catharine Pendrel talks preparation for the 2014 cyclocross nationals

Entering competition as a reigning champion isn’t new for Catharine Pendrel.

Last month, Pendrel won her second mountain bike world championship title, matching the number of World Cup titles the Kamloops, B.C., rider holds. She’s won five Canadian XC mountain bike titles, including the most recent edition, and stopped off in Scotland to win a gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Coming into cyclocross is a different challenge. So much so that last year Pendrel opted to do some extra CX events in the U.S. to prepare for the 2013 Canadian cyclocross championships. The extra work paid off, and Pendrel won the title by a margin of 20 seconds over then-reigning champion Mical Dyck.

Coming into the 2014 Shimano Canadian cyclocross championships as the reigning champion, Pendrel has spent her time differently than in the previous year.

“I haven’t focused my fall around CX nationals as much this year as I think it is important after such a thrilling end to the mountain bike season to turn off the racer brain for a bit,” said Pendrel “But I have been having fun keeping fit doing some epic mountain bike rides. I looking forward to a good showdown.”

Cyclocross offers a great format for developing skills that transfer to mountain biking, which is part of what fuels Pendrel’s enthusiasm for the discipline.

“’Cross allows you to work on all the finer skills: starts, cornering, accelerations, tactics, smoothness, reaction time—and of course it’s fun!” said Pendrel. “Every course I race I look at where I feel my relative strengths and weaknesses will be and how to work them to my advantage so I will wait to see a bit, but in a 45 minute race there isn’t much time to be wasted.

“You need a good, strong, clean start and then stay smart and upright. Mistakes usually happen when you are rushing, so staying relaxed but focused is key to a good CX race.”