Sailor / Cyclist
Isabella Bertold has been ranked top 10 in the world with a career-high number two. She's been named a Canadian Female Athlete of the Year and is a multiple World Cup medalist .... as a sailor.
To quote Isabella: "Fast is fun. It's that simple." Reaching over 90km/hr on a sailboat has transferred well to her career as a cyclist, where she's raced in road, criterium, and gravel races, and is a staple of the UCI InstaFund Racing team.
Tour of the Gila
Recently, Isabella took her cycling skills and sailing nerves to the Tour of the Gila for her third time at the event.
A road race through New Mexico, the Tour of the Gila traverses through sweltering heat, challenging climbs, and a landscape that inspired the creation of the Wilderness Act.
Read about Isabella's experience in her own words below.
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You know that feeling when you’ve never ridden a route before, you’re maybe halfway through and it starts to feel really hard…maybe you’re wondering what the next part of the route will be like, or you may be worried that the next climb is going to be really hard – then the next time you ride it, it feels way easier? Well, racing a stage for the first time without spending much time looking at it before feels like that, or often worse!
There are many things that impact how a race plays out – the terrain, the weather, the time gaps heading into a stage, and how many teams feel they have a shot at the win.
This was my third time racing Tour of the Gila, but the first time where I did not have a support role on the team. Past years there was always a team objective, often simplifying the homework I had before lining up on the start line. This year I was taking on a new objective, looking for a result for the team on specific stages – stage 2 and stage 5. On paper, neither stage really suits my strengths as a rider, so I knew heading into the stages that I couldn’t afford to make a mistake, and that I would have to race smart to give myself the best opportunity.
We were really fortunate as a team to have a few extra days to “recon” the course for those stages. Riding the route with a teammate, thinking about key moments – where to conserve energy, where other riders may look to attack, where might my opportunity be to make a move, and how the wind might impact the outcome of the race. It was also the first time that I felt like I really used all of the features of my Hammerhead head unit, marking key points along the route after pre-riding so that on race day I would have a bit of a cheat sheet if needed. When race day arrived, the race nerves were there, but for me that was just a sign that I was ready to race!
"Many things that impact how a race plays out – the terrain, the weather, the time gaps heading into a stage, and how many teams feel they have a shot at the win."
It can feel funny, the little things that give comfort during a race, the things that help calm the nerves. For example, while pre-riding up Pinos Altos, I learned all about Alligator Juniper trees (they are really cool!). On race day, it was passing “the granddaddy of all Alligator Juniper trees” that calmed my nerves ahead of the second QOM acceleration.
Another thing that helps me stay focused during a race are little mantras. Reflecting back on the race, there was a quote that really stuck with me from the book (The Power of One) that I was reading during Tour of the Gila, “First with the head, and then with the heart, that’s how a man stays ahead from the start.” This was very much how I had to approach the racing as well as the recon process – and this mantra was one that I found myself reciting in my mind at times when my nerves would bubble up, or when my mind would get antsy.
Come race day, for both stages the plan we made was executed as a team to the best of our ability. We learned and grew, and knew that the work we had done before we lined up on race day, was time well spent.
This season is showing me how new I still am to bike racing, and that also makes it really exciting! This is my first year trying to race for the win (it sounds funny saying that…but it’s true!). I’m learning new skills, new ways of thinking about a bike race, and yes, I am making many mistakes. But every mistake I make I also learn, and it only motivates me to keep working harder, to try to learn more quickly, and to continue progressing in the sport.
PS
If you want to check out the craziest thing we encountered on our recon ride, google “Tarantula Hawk” – but note, it’s not for the faint of heart!
