Canadians Racing at the Pan Ams

Canadians will be making their presence felt at the Pan American Mountain Bike Championships from April 7 – 11 I Guatemala. These four days of racing also the Continental Championships for North, South and Central America. There are three different courses for racers to test their skills on: cross country, downhill and the four cross course.

Among the Canadians competing this week are Mical Dyck (Trek Canada) and Andrew Watson (Norco Factory). Dyck and Watson took a few minutes before hopping on the plane to answer a few questions about the upcoming racing:

Andrew Watson – 26 years old and has been racing for 15 years:

How are you feeling going into the Pan Ams?
Now that I have at least one race in my legs, Good Friday, which went well, I feel pretty good. I’ve never had an “A” race this early in the season so the training has been a little different this year.

What are your expectations for the Pan Ams?
First time doing Pan Am’s so its tough to pick a place, I want to feel like I’m racing, not just surviving. And get some of those sweet sweet UCI points. I’ve always wanted to do a Pan Am Championship race, so I’m pretty excited.

How has your racing being going this season?
Well, Good Friday went well, I was definitely in the race and was able to respond to any accelerations and finished strong in the bunch.

How do you train during the winter to get ready for these early season races?
This year was great I never really had to put the bike away at all, but I was able to get some good kilometers in on the cross-country skis, both classic and skate, snowshoes. Barrie was a great place to be for all my base building this winter. Early March I headed to South Carolina to get some mountain bike miles in and some warm weather road rides. Usually I’m just doing lots of long 5-6 hour rides in March then race myself into shape using the first O-cups, Paris to Ancaster, this year I’ve had to change that up and include intensity.

Any season goals you want to share with us?
Top three at Nationals(both cross-country and cyclo-cross) is my main goal.

Tell us a bit about how you got into mountain bike racing?
Basically, I got hurt dirt biking, my brother almost tore my foot off, thought mountain biking would be safer. I went to a Tuesday night race at Coulson hill near where I grew up in Bradford. Did that first race and swore I would never race a mountain bike ever again, but for some reason I just kept going back.

What’s next for you after the Pan Ams?
The first two world cups in Europe, also Paris to Ancaster sandwiched in between the Pan Ams and Europe.

Mical Dyck – 28 years old and has been racing for 8 years:

You’ve had a good start to the season, how are you feeling so far?
So far so good. I was pleasantly surprised with how the first biggish race in Fontana went last weekend. Going from trainer rider to mountain bike trails is a bit of a tough transition, my first couple rides were a little sketchy. Pretty excited about the season.

What are your expectations for the Pan Ams? Is this your first time racing at the Pan Ams?
.First time racing Pan Ams. Not too sure what to expect, I’ll be racing a lot of the same girls I’m used to racing at the US Cups, but there will be some girls from South America that I’ve never raced against, so you never know. My goal is a podium spot for sure.

How do you prepare for an international race like this?
For me, I typically do better coming off of volume, so I had a really good week of training back in Victoria, and heading into a little bit of a rest week going into the race. Unfortunately due to safety reasons the CCA wants us all to arrive in Guatemala at the same time, so I have to fly to Toronto one day to meet up with the team, and then continue down to Guatemala City the next. Two days of travel on each end of the trip definitely aren’t ideal, but I’m really confident in my coach Steve Neal to have me properly trained and rested for these long travel days.

Any season goals you want to share with us?
I have a couple result based goals, podium at Nationals, top 10 at World Cups, top 15 at World Championships. Outside of result based goals, I want to continue developing my technical skills and fitness…..and ultimately have fun all summer.

What’s next for you after the Pan Ams?
After Pan Ams I have 2 days of travel home to Victoria, I’m home for 2 days and then fly down to the Sea Otter Classic on the 17/18th of April. From there I fly to the UK on the 19th for the first World Cup in Dalby Forest on the 25th. After that I fly to Belgium for the second World Cup at Houffalize on May 2nd….getting prepped for some mud. After the next 4 long weeks of travel and racing I’m home for a while to rest and recover…and do some fun riding with my boyfriend, Regan