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behind the scenes, castelli, Castelli cycling, Castelliwomen, corvara, dolomites, mountains, Photo, photoshoot, sellaronda, Women -

A glimpse into our latest photo shoot

ATTENTION! You are about to read the one-day journey of a Canadian lady attending a cycling photo shoot in the Dolomites. This may content pastries, coffees and mountains. Reader’s discretion is advised. 7:30 AM— leaving the office Leaving the headquarters moment before the first ray of dawn, crisp morning air, we knew the day wasn’t going to be warm and hoped the changing weather of the mountains would be on our side. Heading up and down through the meandering roads leading right into the monumental Dolomites, Corvara in Badia. 9:15 AM— the arrival All the way to get there until the first location, a continual feeling of amazement inhabited me. The powerful attraction led by the numerous peaks (no wonder it’s a UNESCO world heritage site) made me feel so little but such in peaceful state of mind at the same time. 9:45 AM— meeting with the crew … but first coffee I could then feel that even if the weather were not likely to be on our side, we would have a good day. The models, the team and the Gruber’s (Ashley and Jered, photographers and dear friend of Castelli), everyone had an optimistic energy ready to chase the sun and authentic ...

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Bogense, castelli, Castelli cycling, castelli women, cx, cyclocross, Women, world cup -

A week in my CX training

What does my week look like? No two weeks are the same, the training I do, depends on a number of factors and what my race calendar looks like, but I want to give you a rough idea of an “average” training week. Monday—Recovery The main thing for me on Mondays is recovery and planning the week, do laundry, a food shop, etc. I can focus on training and work the rest of the week. After getting my race bags emptied I get on the bike to do an LSCT test, which is a 20-minute sub-max test designed to track levels of fatigue and adaptation to training (read more about the test). If I am really tired I get straight off the bike after the test, other days I do an easy hour. Tuesday—Technical day Tuesday is a double day: I start with a 30-minute run before breakfast. You use your muscles differently when running, so for it did not affect my cycling performances in races, I need to train my running ability. In the afternoon I spend up to 2 hours on my cross bike in the park or local forest. I focus on skills work and add efforts ...

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Castelliwomen, dolomites, Fall cycling, Fall rides, sella ronda, Video, woman cycling, Women, women cycling -

Riding the Sella Ronda

The Dolomites have a lot to offer to cyclists: spectacular peaks and legendary passes. To race or simply to get a glimpse of one of the many rides that the Dolomites are offering, Sella Ronda is maybe one of the most reachable circuit with a length of 55 kilometres and a gained altitude of 1780 metres. We have gathered five women, part of our women’s cycling community, to experience the mythical Sella Ronda pass in the Dolomites and share their passion for cycling. State of feverish excitement, joyful anticipation, fears, advices, were all shared by every single one of them during the three days journey. Surrounded by a spirit of camaraderie and mutual help, the group was challenged with different types of weather conditions (rain, sun, mist, cold) which they were easily able to defeat with the right piece of clothing like the Gabba and the Perfetto. Some of them have even witnessed the state of bliss riding with a group of women by combining different visions of the sport: for some, the happiness of riding, for others, the performance, brought all together by several factors such as the gear, the place but also the people. They have joined their forces and weaknesses to ...

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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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Bogense, castelli, cx, cyclocross, Denmark, woman, Women, World Championships -

My journey back to cyclocross racing

Hi all! My name is Margriet Kloppenburg, 29-year-old Danish cyclocross racer. Some of you might have seen me showing off some great wet weather gear in the past and current Castelli catalogues. If you follow bike racing, you might also have seen my name in some road and cross results over the years or even seen me pop up on your TV screen on the occasions where our races have been streamed or televised. I met the amazing people of Castelli about 2 years ago while I was still living in Belgium (I moved to the UK in November 2016 with by British partner, James Spragg). Through some friends they contacted me to see if I wanted to help them out with a photo shoot near Oudenaarde, where I lived at the time. I had time, so I jumped in the project. It was a fun day out and we stayed in touch. I was over the moon when Castelli decided to become the clothing partner of Inthemud.cx (the cyclocross team we were, me and my boyfriend, until the end of 2016) for the 2016–2017 season. Our main sponsor very unexpectedly pulled out and we were left with no money ...

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