We arrived in Geneva, Switzerland after a long 7-hour flight with little sleep. Surprisingly enough, I wasn’t even tired...the excitement of being in Switzerland kept me awake!
After we settled into the chalet in the mountains we were staying in, we headed to the velodrome to unpack bikes and took a look at the track we would be racing on in a few days.
 |
| First time seeing the track...all smiles from Maggie! |
The Track is in a town called Aigle, and the velodrome just so happened to be the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) headquarters, which was pretty cool!
Unlike the track I was used to in Milton (250m), this track is 200m. The first time we walked in the infield, I was absolutely blown away by the fact that I was at a World Championship event... The energy in the velodrome was unreal and made me so excited to race amongst the best in the world.
We went for a road ride later that day to spin out our legs from the flight. As we biked down the cycling trail, I took in as much as I could of the beautiful views! There was a specific moment where we were riding along a river, with green grass and purple flowers along the path, huge snow covered Swiss Alps up against the blue sky...it was like a postcard!
The next day we had our first training session at the velodrome. Today was a good opportunity to feel out the differences on the track. Since it is a different size than Milton, the corners and straights are also quite different so it was very important for us as a Team Pursuit to adapt to these differences before race day. After training, we went grocery shopping and I found it really interesting to look at all of the different European foods. A Lot of them were familiar to me because of my Dutch Dad and Oma and Opa, which was comforting.
On July 18th, two days from racing, Devaney, Tristan, Alex and I decided to go on an adventure to the Aigle Castle (Château d’Aigle). It was very cool!
On the last day before the first race, all of us girls painted our nails red for Canada and exchanged positive energy and advice. At this point, we were all starting to get nervous, so talking through our nerves and anticipation helped ease the anxiety. If I look back to the first day of the pre-worlds camp in Milton and our relationship then, we have come so far as teammates and friends. I feel so lucky to have become so close with these amazing girls, and am going to miss them a lot. Going into this project I didn’t really know anyone except for my Kallisto-FCV teammate and close friend Nick, but I feel as though I have come out of this experience with so many new connections and friendships with people all over Canada!
 |
| Yep, those mountains are real!!! |
 |
| Team Canada 2016 |
Finally...the moment we’ve all been waiting for...RACE DAY!!
I woke up early this morning and carried through my normal race day routine…
- Drink a bottle of water
- Make coffee and oatmeal
- Write my intentions and goals for the day in my journal
After this, I went outside, took a couple of deep breaths of the crisp Swiss air and spun out my legs on the rollers while overlooking the mountains.
I packed my bag and we headed to the velodrome!
I had a few hours to kill at the track before my races, so I did some mindful breathing and listened to music to get into “race mode”.
First up, I had the points race qualifier...There were two heats of the points race, with 12 girls in each heat and 9 girls from each heat moving on to the final. I attentively watched the first heat race and got a bit of an idea of speed and racing style.
The qualifier race was not as quick as I thought it would be, I almost lapped the field, crossing the line solo to receive 5 points, which basically secured me a spot in the final. Then the last lap came, and, well……..Let's just say I will be taking a few pieces of the Aigle track home with me..in my butt!
 |
| Where else was I suppose to go????? |
 |
| I think the French girl broke my fall.....sorry! |
Despite getting caught in a crash, I still qualified for the finals. The finals was a 100 lap race, which is 20km.
I went into the finals with the same mindset as I did with the qualifiers. I set three goals for myself:
- Deep breaths on the start line
- Recognize the fast wheels and stay on them
- Be attentive and ready at all times for attacks
To be completely honest, by the time I was halfway through the race, my goal was just to finish...so technically I met my goal! ;)
That race was by far the hardest race I have ever raced in my life. I was maxed out the entire time, and by the end of it had given so much that I actually had goosebumps all over my body and started shivering. I have never put my body through so much pain!
And somehow I enjoyed every minute of it!
The next day we had the Team Pursuit finals. I was getting ready for my warm up, and I looked up in the stands to see my cousins from Holland waving at me! It was an amazing surprise to have them travel from Holland to watch me race.
We faced France in the fight for bronze. It was a tough battle, and unfortunately, France came out as the stronger team. It was a bit emotional being so close to a spot on the podium, however, we raced our hearts out and are still extremely happy with a 4th place in the world.
Racing at this level was extremely eye opening. I’m now done racing, I can say I completed my first world championships and had a blast while doing it! This was a life-changing experience, and I learned a lot about myself. I can’t wait to get home and work as hard as I can to be the best I can be.
**Some of the big take-aways***
-Unless you want coffee with a bunch of ice cream in it, don’t order an “iced coffee”....I learned that the hard way ;)
-Knowing this is a major competition, I guess I expected that all the athletes would be ultra focused all the time...but it was amazing to walk by different countries and exchange smiles and even chat a bit!
Thanks to the support of Kallisto-FCV, Ontario Cycling and Cycling Canada for granting me this incredible opportunity. I will never forget this experience and it I know it will help me become an even stronger bike racer and person.
