August 24, 2009 (Windham, New York) – At the recent U.S. Cup Pro XCT #6 in Windham, New York we caught up with top Canadian women’s XC racer Catharine Pendrel (Can) Luna Women’s MTB Team. She went on to place third in the event, which was won by Willow Koerber (USA) Subaru-Gary Fisher. Pendrel secured first overall in the series after winning three of the six races. In this interview, Pendrel gives us some insight into her fabulous success so far this season and lets us in on what’s to come…

Catharine Pendrel Interview

March 6, 2009 (Palm Springs, CA) – We caught up with top Olympic mountain biker, Catharine Pendrel (Luna MTB Women’s Team), who recently attended the Cycling BC Training Camp in Palm Springs, a week-long road training camp following the Valley of the Sun stage race in Phoenix, AZ. Pendrel, who finished second overall in the 2008 MTB World Cup series, and was just off the podium in Beijing placing 4th, was there to stretch her legs as she prepares for 2009 and she shared her thoughts with us on the camp and her season ahead – click here for our camp report.

July 13, 2007 — Pedal caught up with Catharine Pendrel (Can) Norco Factory Team before she headed off to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to represent Canada at the Pan American Games (July 13-29), which come around only every four years.

The mountain bike race will be held at Outeiro Hill, 5km from the Games village on July 14. Pendrel is Canada’s third-ranked female XC racer in the UCI standings (36th overall), the silver medalist at the 2006 Pan American MTB Championships, had her best-ever performance at the Mont Ste-Anne World Cup MTB XC #4 finishing 11th, and was racing in seventh place at World Cup MTB XC #5 in St-Felicien, Que. the following weekend on July 1 Canada Day, until her pedal fell off and she had to run half a lap to get tech support. Pendrel took the time to speak about her stellar season.

Why do you think you’re having such a breakthrough season in 2007?

Catharine Pendrel: I think it’s just the cumulative result of training years and getting to know myself better.

I also think a lot of it has to do with how great a support network I have. Norco showed so much faith in me by offering me a good contract. Having my parents out there, Keith (Wilson, Pendrel’s husband), Kamloops being such a supportive community. I feel so fortunate.

My race finishes are stronger this year. It used to be that I’d always fade, but now I’m faster and have better endurance. I don’t know if it’s because I can dig deeper or just that I’m hungrier for it.

What are your thoughts before heading to Brazil for the Pan Am Games?

CP: I have no clue what to expect. I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s going to be a cool experience just to meet all those other successful Canadian athletes (from other sports).

What are you imagining the race will be like?

CP: I’m anticipating that it’ll be a race between Mary (McConneloug) and myself. During the race (in St-Felcien) I caught and passed Mary and I felt good and confident riding ahead of her.

I race pretty well in the heat. I’m not going there for a silver medal. I’m going for a gold medal.

How will you handle the timing with the Canadian National MTB Championships being held the following weekend?

CP: Because of Nationals being the next weekend, I definitely won’t get the full Games experience, because I’ll have to be pretty focused to have a good race in Rio, and be ready for Nationals.

What are your goals for the MTB Nationals?

CP: Realistically, I can be second. I don’t think I’m ready to catch Marie-Hélène (Prémont). Second would be a good challenge.

Assuming that you’re going to the 2007 MTB Worlds (a safe assumption at this point), what will you be aiming for there?

CP: I’d like to get a top 15. I think if I put everything together, I can make it. When Mical (Dyck) and I raced the MTB World Cup there (Fort William, Scotland) in 2005, we were 15th and 16th.

How do you feel about your MTB World Cup race in St-Felicien, other than the part where your pedal fell off?

CP: Looking at lap times from the previous two World Cups, I knew I could be there, but to actually do it”¦ ride with those women and feel strong”¦. It was really nice to have a strong ride in front of a very supportive Canadian crowd.

What were you thinking during the race?

CP: I was thinking, “All right, who else can I get?”

Good luck at the Pan Am Games.

CP: Thanks.

October 26, 2006 – Catharine Pendrel (BC, Norco Factory Team) is quickly establishing herself among Canada’s top female cross country mountain bikers following a breakthrough season during which she recently won a silver medal at the Pan American MTB Championships and placed fourth at the MTB Nationals, behind top guns, Marie-Hélène Prémont (QC, Rocky Mountain/Business Objects), Alison Sydor (BC, Rocky Mountain/Business Objects) and Kiara Bisaro (BC, Team R.A.C.E.).

Finishing second at the Pan Am Championships in Balneário Camboriu, Brazil on October 15 was “definitely an exciting finish to the season,” said Pendrel, who lives in Kamloops, B.C. with Keith Wilson, her fiancée and dedicated training partner, and their two kittens. Pendrel placed fifth at the 2005 Pan Am Championships in Mexico and was thrilled at the difference another year can make. She was informed only a week before this year’s event, that she had been selected to replace Sydor, but that didn’t faze the upbeat 26-year-old, who laughed about her low-maintenance “flip ‘n go” hairdo – which she demonstrated, using her shoulder-length blond hair during lunch at a popular café on Vancouver’s West Side.

“I really enjoyed crossing the line at Pan Am’s in second with the Canadian team kit on. It feels really special,” she said between bites of her chicken enchilada, followed by a giant chocolate chunk cookie (which she shared with Wilson) and a cappuccino. The two had left Kamloops at 4am to make the start of the cyclocross race in Vanier Park, and were just making a quick pit stop, before heading back home.

Pendrel shared the Pan Am podium with first place, Mary McConneloug (USA, Seven Cycles-Kenda) and third place, Jimena Florit (USA, Luna Women’s Team). McConneloug has graced many a World Cup podium, won NORBA’s left, right and centre, and is one of the few names that has appeared above four-time World Champion Gunn-Rita Dahle’s (NOR, Multivan-Merida) on a results sheet in the past few years. Florit also sports an impressive résumé that includes two NORBA Series overall titles.

Pendrel, however, does not consider the Pan Am Championships to be her best race ever. “Nationals was my best ride coupled with result,” she said, but “Mount Snow was an awesome race for me, just not the result.”

Although she ended up ninth at NORBA #3 in Mount Snow, Vermont, it was a breakthrough for Pendrel. “Catharine had two-thirds of a spectacular race,” said Wilson. “At the start of the last lap she was in second. Unfortunately, she blew up rather spectacularly on the last lap and had the field come screaming by her. “She just needs to work on pacing,” he added.

Despite that disappointing finish, Pendrel claims: “It was the race that gave me the confidence to be able to race at the next level.” And the next level is where she’s headed. Her plan for the 2007 season is to rip up the entire NORBA Series, where the competition is deeper than at the Canada Cups, which have been her focus since 2004. “Really, I’d love to hit as many races as I could,” she said, since she loves competing so much. She realizes, however, that in order to stay fast through to the World Championships at the end of the season, she needs to choose her races carefully.

Pendrel has come a long way since her first race as a junior in her home province of New Brunswick in 1998. It was her brother, Geoff, a successful downhill mountain bike racer on the Canadian scene, who introduced her to off-road cycling when he gave her a hand-me-down bike and convinced her to race. Pendrel dabbled in the sport at a recreational level, but it wasn’t until the Canada Summer Games in 2001, where she finished sixth in the mountain bike race and “when I was racing a field of more than four women, that I thought this could be really cool,” she said. Since then, Pendrel has attended three World Championships with the Canadian National Team.

She moved to Victoria, B.C. not long after to complete her undergraduate degree in Sociology and Psychology at the University of Victoria. It was there that she met Wilson and her coach, Dan Proulx. Pendrel credits the support of Wilson, Proulx, her team, her brother, and her parents, for the success she’s had to date. “They’re just so excited every time I do well and go around bragging about me,” she says of her mom and dad.

When asked what it’s like to live with a pro racer, Wilson smiled mischievously and replied: “To be honest, it was really cool till she got faster than me.”

One day, Pendrel sees herself racing with the cream of the crop. “Like most cyclists, the Olympics is definitely a dream.” When describing her ideal job, she spoke of a position with flexible hours, three days a week, doing something satisfying. It wasn’t until a few hours later that she wanted to revise her answer: “I guess I still have a hard time thinking of being a racer as a job. I think of jobs as being those things I do so I can afford to race my bike, but making a living racing and training would definitely be a dream.”

What is it about being a professional cyclist that is so great? “Being able to have fun with biking, being able to see amazing places, and finding success in what I do,” she lists off. “The ability to see room for improvement and every year seeing the dream come closer to reality,” she continues. “I like that wherever I go, I get this intimate knowledge of the area. I get to experience it in a way no other people get to experience it.” She isn’t quite finished her list yet. “It’s fun to go fast,” she concluded with a triumphant smile.

However, when she asked about looking 10 years down the road she said, “I’ll probably be starting to think about a family. There’s more than one dimension to life than biking.” Pendrel and Wilson are getting hitched on December 16th in Chase, B.C.