Worlds came to Andorra

Oh yes, back in Denmark and back into daily routines for a few days. World Champs is over, and even though my hand luggage on the homebound flight contained a Team Relay silver medal, I have to be honest and say that my World Champs was a bitter sweet feeling.

After the World Cup in Val di Sole I went with the national team to Livigno to train at altitude for the following World Champs in Andorra (2000 meters above sealevel). We had a great time and I even managed avoiding the flu, that shortly circulated through our camp. Time flew by and soon we headed off to Andorra. I raced the World Cup here in 2013, so I knew the course a little from then, even though some new sections were added this year. When we did the Team Relay on wednesday I hit the lines on the course spot on and actually set the fastest female time. Wow! All riders of our team rode extremely well and like that we took silver in Team Relay and made history for Danish Mountain Biking. Pretty cool!

I managed to stay grounded and approach the “real” race, my race on Saturday like all the other races, I’ve done recently. Throughout the season I feel, that I’ve found a winning formula how to approach racing rather relaxed, which has been working pretty well and also made me take a World Cup win in Val di Sole.

But then, saturday on race day, I kind of lost that good feeling. In the days leading up to my race it rained a lot! And the course hosted many races in those days too, so it got very worn out with lot of exposed rocks and roots. On race day, I went out for a course check in the morning and realised how much it had changed since I rode it last. It actually felt like a completely different course. I guess that put me very much out of my comfort zone and I lost a lot of self confidence. When the startgun went off, I felt completely blocked and couldn’t go as hard as my otherwise great shape would allow me to, simply because I was scared to do so. I was too scared to ride for the medals, I just didn’t have it in me on that day..

And so the two hours (!) of racing felt like 2 days of racing. Yes, I was disappointed when I crossed the finish line in 16th position. Mainly because I know I can do so much better than riding around as a random statist in what felt like the pace of a training ride. Nevertheless, I now had a few days of digesting the race and am able to sum it up: Skidt pyt! (I don’t know the translation, but it means something like “oh, well, what the h…”)

2015 has been one of my most amazing seasons so far. I don’t know where to begin or end the list of great moments this year. I’ve had a consistently high level and the best thing is, that I leave the season still hungry and without feeling worn out (which often has been the scenario towards the end of my season). I’ve even reached one of my biggest dreams, winning a world cup and already I long for putting the hammer down again at the World Cups.

Next week I’ll be in Switzerland treating myself with cruising sweet trails in good company at the Swiss Epic, can’t wait!