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belgium, castelli, castelli women, cx, cyclocross, Denmark, woman, Women -

My favourite training session: 15 – 15 – 15

When I see this on my training schedule, I know it’s going to be one of those days. I will go training for a maximum of two hours and come home broken. Even though it is hard, I also know it is one of my go to sessions to get ready for racing. Due to illness and injury I did not make worlds selection and as it is important to me to end this season on a positive note I decided to skip the January world cups and instead go on a training camp to get fit for the last cyclocross races of the season in Belgium in February. So I did this session twice while in the last block leading up to the races. What does 15-15-15 mean; 15 seconds sprinting, followed by 15 seconds maintaining the speed, followed by a 15 second rest. Do this for 10 minutes, have a 10 minutes break and do it again. I usually do this 4-5 times, so it simulates the length of a cyclocross race. What I like about this session is that it is very versatile and yet very specific. And as a bonus, you can do it both on ...

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belgium, castelli, castelli woman, castelli women, cx, cx world cup, cyclocross, Koksijde, Women, world cup -

A comeback is seldom without ups and downs

On Tuesday morning, I wrote a small post on my personal website about my first UCI race since January 2016. I had wanted to write it on Sunday night or at least Monday morning, but when disappointment hits, writing a post to tell the world about how badly you feel about a race, isn’t the first thing you want to do – or do at all. I spent most of the travel home and Sunday night being annoyed with myself, doubting myself and asking myself if I maybe should have just retired after all. I choose to return to cyclocross because I wanted to show that I have still more to give and mostly proof to myself that I could come back after a series of illnesses and injuries. But one thing that I have battled with more than ever since I made the decision to come back is my own thoughts. I have always said that my head is my Achilles heel and worst enemy when it comes to racing, sometimes I think it is worse dealing with that than the injury I have dealt with over the last 18 months. I am lucky to have a great partner ...

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belgium, Contest, cycling -

‘Guess the location’ Photo Contest #2: WE HAVE THE WINNER!

Right !  “Muur van Geraardsbergen, Belgium“ If your name is Oriol Hernandez then you are probably pretty happy right now! That’s right, you’re the lucky owner of the Castelli Linea Pelle Combo Pack. Stay tuned for the ‘GUESS THE LOCATION’ Photo contest #2, we’ll give away an other interesting product this time. If you haven’t signed up yet, you can still make it by clicking here.

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belgium, cycling, flandern, gruber, jered, kermis, race, Racing -

Chasing dreams, racing in Belgium

Bike racers are all tough, but the suffering that is guaranteed by a wet, cold, and nasty conditions will separate the driven souls. Dressed fully aero and protected from the elements wearing the aerodynamic Gabba Jersey, Body Paint Bibshorts, Nano Flex warmers, Diluvio gloves and shoe-covers, Jered Gruber is finally getting his chance to race in Belgium. This weekend, he headed south into Wallonia for a race in the never-ending hills of the Ardennes. I’m climbing the Cote de la Vecquee in the Ardennes. It’s a typical part of the 260 kilometer Monument, Liege-Bastogne-Liege. It’s not a major, prominent climb that forms any real selection in La Doyenne, but in today’s race, it’s doing a good job of sorting the good fruit from the bad. The once frantic group that fought so hard for position in the three uphill kilometers (plus the 50k before that) leading to Stoumont and the hard left hand turn, which signifies the start of the climb, is suddenly quiet. The profanities yelled in French, Flemish, German, and English are no more. There’s just breathing. It’s 3C°, it’s raining, I can barely see 10 riders in front of me in the fog, but it doesn’t matter, ...

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