Q and A at the Grand Prix Cycliste Gatineau: dream feeds and the season’s funniest moments

The Grand Prix Cycliste Gatineau brought together riders from around the world and teams from the U.S. and Canada. At the races eighth edition, Canadian Cycling Magazine had a few , for the most part, lighthearted questions to ask the riders who were racing the 104-km road race.

What would be your dream handout during a race if practicality and nutrition were of no concern?

Kinley Gibson (Cyclery-4iiii): “Ouu, that’s a really hard question. I would say a piece of lemon meringue pie on a really hot day.”

Leah Kirchmann (Team Canada): “I think I would probably take stroopwafels. Maybe it’s too practical.”

Lex Albrecht (Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank): “My oma or opa’s cooking.”

Did you have a favourite bike during your youth?

Gibson: “My first road bike was this grey Specialized Allez and I had that for a very long time. It was very sturdy, it was a good bike.”

Kirchmann: “There are two that stand out. My first, I got to choose it, so I chose the pinkest bike possible with streamers. It was pretty amazing. One of my first bikes my coach welded for me. He had two broken frames and he welded them together. So I had a Frankenstein bike which was really nice of him to make but I will admit I didn’t ride it for very long because I didn’t know how safe it was.”

Albrecht: “The bike that stands out the most is my very first road bike I bought for myself. It took me a couple of years to get it and save up the mine so that’s probably the one that is most significant to me.”

What is the funniest thing that’s happened with a teammate this season?

Gibson: “Oh that’s a hard one. Swinging Taylor Swift in the car. We do a lot of Taylor Swift.”

Kirchmann: “This was at breakfast before racing [Trofeo Alfredo] Binda. Coryn [Rivera] always comes up with these crazy facts or challenges and so she bet Ellen [Van Dijk] that she couldn’t crush a hard boiled egg with one hand. She tried so hard but couldn’t do it. We passed the egg around the table and nobody could do it and then Coryn took it a crushed it in one blow and then won the race.”

Albrecht: “Maybe the funniest thing was we all thought these VEO strips were like really ridiculous and we couldn’t believe they even existed then we started trying them. We felt bad for laughing so much because they are really amazing. They are to deviate sweat from your eyes.”

If you were only going to win one race during your career, which one would it be?

Gibson: “The Olympic team pursuit.”

Kirchmann: “The world championships. I should say Gatineau.”

Albrecht: “Well Philly has always been my favourite race ever since I did it for the very first time in my career in 2010 and I came close finishing second one year. Unfortunately, it doesn’t exist this year I think. Second to that would be any race where I could sing the national anthem on the top step.”

Which country do you wish there was a race in so you could travel to it.

Gibson: “Japan.”

Kirchmann: “New Zealand.”

Albrecht: “Canada is my favourite country. I ahve been so fortunate to travel all over the world to bike race and I always feel it’s such a special occasion to actually ride my bike here at home. It’s been cool to have been able to travel so much because it’s shown me how much I love Canada and how lucky I am to live here. Parc de la Mauricie maybe.”