World Championships
Les Gets, France
September 12, 2004

After making my sixth trip to Europe since last September I’ve decided that my new best friend is Ambien. I don’t take a lot of supplements, I don’t take antibiotics when I get sick, but I have fallen in love with the sleeping pill Ambien. It is the greatest thing to get over jet lag. Don’t worry it’s not addictive. I take it the first few nights in Europe right before going to bed. It kicks in within thirty minutes and then lasts a good five to six hours. By 3am it wears off so when you wake up there are no drowsy side effects. I’ve tried all the other methods of staving off jet lag but after almost thirty trips to Europe since I started racing at the elite level in 1992, I’ve decided Ambien’s the only way to go.

The World Championships were in the beautiful ski town of Les Gets, (rhymes with Jay). Les Gets is only about an hour from Geneva so the town, even though it is in France, is very Swiss. Rolling green hillsides with goats and cows freely roaming around, quaint Swiss chalets and the best was the view of Mt. Blanc from the top of the gondola. We also had picture perfect weather so our week before the race was quite enjoyable.

I was recovering from a head cold so I kind of lucked out and got my own room. It had a small kitchen so I was able to cook my own pasta. I didn’t realize what a treat that was until we started eating dinners with the US team across the street in Hotel Stella. It makes me laugh when I think about how much time I spend talking about food in these race reports. But when you’re an elite cyclist, food is all consuming. The kind and quantity of food you eat will make or break your race. So food is a big part of my day. Unfortunately the food at Hotel Stella was less than desirable. For example, the evening after our cross country race we had BBQ pork ribs and white rice for dinner. Nothing else. No salad, no veggies, no pasta. Gotta love the French. Haha!

All week we had gorgeous weather which meant the course was in fantastic shape. The course started with a long traverse up the main ski slope and then went into the trees for some fun rolling single track. There were three technical descents that gave your heart rate a big spike. By the end of the week I was riding all of them without any trouble thanks to the dry course. The hardest part of the lap was a brutal, small chaining climb straight up a steep ski slope above the start/finish area. It was so steep that the course designers laid down the equivalent of a chain link fence on the grass to give the riders better traction. It came at the end of the lap and was like pouring salt in an open wound. Very painful.

Our gorgeous weather fell apart the night before our race. I think it must be a Murphy’s Law that it always rains hard enough to turn our super fun fast dry course into a miserable sloppy treacherous mud fest. I did one World Cup this year that was dry and dusty, all the rest followed Murphy’s Law of mountain bike courses. Race day was cold, gray, and it was pouring rain. It’s hard to keep a good attitude and stay motivated when the conditions are so miserable. But that’s what we have to do because it happens ALL THE TIME!

Luckily we had two vans and an easy-up tent set up for the US riders so we were able to stay dry while warming up for the start. I was called up 11th and was standing on the front row until an obnoxious French official forced me back to the second row. Oh well. We stood there for over five minutes in the pouring rain waiting for the start. Oh so good for the legs. Finally the gun went off and the World Championships were officially underway.

I had a great start, great legs, and led half way up the first climb. I was passed by a few riders by the top and unfortunately passed by a few more riders as I struggled down the slippery descents. I’ve decided that I’m truly a Colorado rider because I can’t for the life of me ride down slippery muddy roots. I never train in those conditions so it is quite challenging to race in the slop, especially when your heart rate is 180bpm, your glasses are covered in sweat , and your cleats are so full of mud you can’t get your feet clipped in. So I did a lot of running. You figure out the fastest way to get down and when the conditions are bad it’s usually not on your bike.

I stayed in seventh almost the entire race. My legs were strong and I had fun. There were lots of US riders running around the course cheering us on so it was quite entertaining. Knowing this was going to be my last World Championships I tried to enjoy everything about the event, even the build up of lactic acid in my legs. I had a huge grin on my face as I crossed the finish line knowing that this was going to be the last time I’d have to suffer in conditions this miserable. Haha! Gunn Rita Dahle won again, a Polish girl was second and the ever consistent Alison Sydor was 3rd.

We had another mediocre team dinner in Hotel Stella, packed up all our stuff, and then drove to Geneva. Waldek dropped us off at the Holiday Inn Express. We caught a 7am flight the next morning to Munich and then back to the US. Twenty-four hours later I was finally giving my husband a huge hug as he met me in baggage claim. I was lucky enough to get upgraded to business class on the flight from Washington/Dulles to Denver so I got dinner on the flight. My stomach was full, my heart was happy, and my brain was so foggy from lack of sleep that I hit the sack as soon as we got home. It’s so good to be back. We’ve got one race left and then we’re done for the year. Yippee!

Until then…

Alison