For XCO star Catharine Pendrel, racing at the Andorra worlds is all about balance and finding the positive

Like fellow Canadian cross-country veteran Geoff Kabush, Catharine Pendrel remembers the 2008 race in Vallnord, Andorra as if it were yesterday, back when the UCI mountain bike world championships first tore up the tiny European country’s high-altitude soil. Placing fourth, Pendrel looks back on that race positively. She seems to remember the experience of it all first, and the competition second — something reflected by her somewhat Zen-like athletic credo.

Going into this weekend’s world championships, it’s that calm, cool confidence that will likely serve the Canuck rider well.

“I really like the riding here,” Pendrel told Canadian Cycling Magazine. “The course uses more natural terrain than man-made features. It has rocks and roots and good fun. There is also a significant amount of switchbacking up and down on grass that could get pretty mucky if the current weather trend continues!”

What’s tripped up a lot of other competitors, with the resulting exhaustion sometimes dropping riders out of contention altogether, has been that tricky, challenging terrain combined with the altitude of the trails. For Pendrel and her fellow Canadian riders, though, it may well be a ride in the park. “The big difference between this course and others is that it’s at 1900m,” she explained, “which can be a factor for sea level riders. But much of Team Canada has been preparing at 1800-plus metres, so we should be good to go.”

Hearing Pendrel talk with such unflappable ease, it becomes apparent that her confident, positive approach to the competition — a winning approach for the Canadian cyclist — is a product of her overall philosophy as a rider. “I think the thing to remember going into a world championships is that it is still just another bike race where you are going out to give 100%,” she said. “You have to keep cool and focus on the process, the little things that help you ride well like staying relaxed, having fun and focusing on the fundamentals.” That philosophy, it seems, is all about finding balance as a rider, and that balance has been the general theme of Pendrel’s 2015 season, one that’s seen her take silver in Pan Am women’s mountain bike competition, for example.

“Every season you learn more about yourself as a racer,” Pendrel said, “and how to find your best. I learned a lot this year about finding the right balance with racing and training to keep fresh and excited to go out there and charge hard.” What remains to be worked out, she joked, is figuring out how to tweak that balance a little more effectively, considering the ferocious, seemingly tireless season’s performance that yielded so many kilometres under her tread.

All those kilometres, though, brought Pendrel a 2015 season well suited to her efforts, alight with high points. A third place podium finish in Switzerland was one of her personal claims to pride looking back, she said, as well as that silver medal at the Toronto Pan Am Games. Monte-Ste.-Anne also tops the list with another second-place finish, and of course, there’s her Elite women’s championship win at the mountain bike nationals in July. But when she considers the field of riders waiting for her at Vallnord’s start line, Pendrel acknowledges that even with such a season behind her — perhaps especially because of it — she’s in for a grind.

“There are so many riders to watch this weekend,” she told Canadian Cycling Magazine. “I feel like the depth of the women’s field is incredibly high right now. Based on recent form, the number one riders to watch are Annika Langvad from Denmark and Pauline Prevot from France, but obviously Jolanda Neff, Gunn-Rita Dahle and myself will also be aiming to win.” Maja Wloszczowska of Poland, Russia’s Irinia Kalentieva, Lea Davison of Team USA, and of course, Canada’s Emily Batty are also potential game-changers this weekend, Pendrel offered.

Two weeks after Vallnord, Pendrel heads to the cross-country World Cup in Las Vegas, then it’s preparation for the Olympic test event in Rio, happening on October 11th. As large as the 2016 Olympiad looms for Canadian cyclists, though, Pendrel says it’s the other racing opportunities coming up next year that she’s looking forward to the most.

“Obviously with the Olympics next year, that is the focus of 2016,” Pendrel said, “but I’m really excited about all the World Cup venues next year, as well as having the world championships in Czechoslovakia at the end of June.”