May 16, 2007 (Hasliberg, Switzerland) – Kiara Bisaro (Can) Opus and I went for a cooling down ride together after we finished Swisspower Cup #4 in Hasliberg, Switzerland on May 13, where she placed fourth. We chatted about Swiss cheese and bike racing as we coasted side by side down the narrow, twisty mountain road, and marveled at the striking, unobstructed view of the Alps. It was great to have a Canadian to speak English with again and I think Kiara felt the same way, as she has been living in France with her boyfriend Sylvain Badia and his non-English-speaking parents for nearly a month. She has about another month left in Europe, with the next two MTB World Cups — Offenburg, Germany on May 27 and Champery, Switzerland on June 9 — as her main focus.

So your French must be pretty good.

Kiara Bisaro: Ha! My French is not good. The last time I had French was in grade 12 and I was 17 then. Now I’m 32. That was a long time ago. No, my French isn’t good.

So how did your race go today? How did you feel?

KB: It went well. I didn’t feel that great for the first two laps. I didn’t feel very good at all, but in the third lap (of six) I started feeling better and from then on, it just got better.

There’s something about this course that’s really special. I don’t know exactly what it is, but there’s something about it that I really like.

I was disappointed that I didn’t get a hunk of cheese on the podium though.

Only the top three girls got cheese?

KB: Yeah, they got these really big chunks of cheese. I mean, a good hunk (she demonstrates with here hands, using both of them to show the size of her imaginary cheese). I would’ve loved it. I bet those girls don’t even eat cheese!

How do you feel about your season so far?

KB: It’s getting better. After Houffalize (MTB World Cup #1 in Belgium, April 22), I realized I didn’t have the overall body strength I usually do at this time of year, because I hadn’t been on my mountain bike very much. I was good for an hour, but after that my body just got really tired. I had a good Sea Otter (April 13-15, where Bisaro placed second in the XC), but that’s probably because it was like a road race. But now that I’ve been on my mountain bike more, I can tell I’m stronger.

What have you been doing since Houffalize?

KB: The weekend after, I did a race in France. It was only about 300k away, but the last hundred k were all on rally-style roads and it took us forever in our Volkswagen van. It was a hard race, I started with the men and it was one big loop.

Were you the first woman?

KB: Yeah, I won the women’s category. Get this, the first-place man got 700 Euros.

How much did you get?

KB: Zero.

That’s ridiculous! I didn’t think that still happened.

KB: Yup.

So what else have you been up to? Have you been racing every weekend?

KB: Every weekend since Sea Otter. The Open de Espana I did last weekend was funny. I was one of the last people to get called up and nobody recognized me. Marga (Fullana) wasn’t there, so I knew I could win. After the first k, I thought “This is kind of slow,” so I went to the front and nobody reacted. I bet they were all thinking “Let her go, she’s going to kill herself in the first bit and then we’ll catch her.” It was no challenge. They were strong enough to challenge me, but they just didn’t try, because they didn’t know who I was. One girl came up to me afterwards and asked where I was from. She thought I was from Portugal.

So what’s up next for you?

KB: I’m not sure yet. There’s a race in France this weekend, but also one in Italy that I was thinking of doing.

There are so many races. Basically you choose a place you want to go and there’s a race there.

So no weekends off?

KB: No, I’m going to try out how I feel doing an MTB World Cup after racing the weekend before, then before Champery I won’t race, and see how I feel after taking the weekend off. That way I can plan for the Worlds.

At the end of our cool down, Kiara and I rode down an even narrower road to a tiny studio apartment she and Sylvain had rented for the race. The infamous teal VW was parked out front. Kiara leaned her Opus Fhast against a wooded table outside, took a long look at the stunning mountain view, then invited me inside. We continued to talk as we snacked on fresh bread, thinly sliced ham and a small round of cheese.

How do you like your new bike?

KB: I really like it. It’s really nice to be riding a hardtail again.

What are your goals for the season?

KB: A podium at an MTB World Cup would be nice. I’d really like a podium at a World Cup, or the World Championships. It’s feeling less realistic now though, than after my podium in Fort William in 2004 (where she placed third at MTB World Cup #3 in Scotland). For that to happen, everything just has to come together on the day. Everything has to be right and it’s so hard to predict.