Narrator: What does it take to be a world
champion?
Natural talent, hard work, dedication?
Lots of that for sure.
What's it really like to be the world's best and how do they compare to everyday riders?
Who better to ask than a world champion?
Not just one but two, which is why Blake is here, at home, on a static bike.
He's going to virtually meet and ride with the 2018 Mountain Bike cross country World
Champion, Kate Courtney, and the 2019 Road World Champion Annemiek van Vleuten.
Not just ride with but also ride against in a sequence of challenges.
Yes, that's right.
Blake against both road and mountain bike World Champs on one ride.
Yes, is he ready?
No.
Can he keep up?
Who knows?
Although American Kate Courtney is just 24 years old, her prodigious talent has seen
her rise fast and brightly.
In 2018, her first year in elite, she beat everyone to win the Elite cross country World
Championship title before following it up in 2019 by winning four out of seven World
Cups to take the World Cup overall, becoming the first American to do so in 17 years.
Dutch Annemiek van Vleuten is the reigning women's road race World Champion, a title
she won thanks to a phenomenal breakaway.
We saw her ride solo for 100 of the 149-kilometer race.
Phenomenal pretty much sums it up.
She's also a two-time world Time Trial champion, has won pretty much every women's road race
title going.
You could say they're both pretty good, but they're also both sponsored by SCOTT bikes.
Together with Swift, we've teamed up to get us all together so we can find out what it
takes to be a world champ.
Blake: Hey guys, thanks for coming along.
It's an amazing day for a virtual ride, isn't it?
Kate: Absolutely.
Blake: All right.
Are you ready?
Annemiek: Ready.
Blake: What does it take to become an XC world champion?
I bet it's hard work, it's not easy going.
Kate: Absolutely.
I think from my perspective, it really takes consistent hard work.
It's not one day, one moment of committing yourself, it's really being committed over
a long period of time.
For me, I would say, a lot of people in 2018 said, "Oh, she came out of nowhere."
Which, in many ways, I felt like I did, too, but I also can look at my progress over the
past 10 years and I basically made the same jump in power every year since I was 14.
It's that small, incremental progress that, at a certain point, really makes a big difference.
Blake: How long have you been racing bikes for? and when did you know you were really
good at doing it?
Kate: I started racing bikes when I was 14 in high school as a freshman.
My high school team had, or my high school had a mountain bike team.
I joined it in the spring of my freshman year and started racing.
For me, I think it was interesting because as I was introduced to the sport I kept discovering
new levels.
You win at the local level, you get to Nationals.
You win at Nationals, you get to go to a World Cup.
You win in a World Cup, you get to go to another World Cup, you get to go to the World Championships.
For me, it was really step-by-step.
I think the fact that I didn't grow up watching this sport, I didn't grow up knowing about
the sport helped me in some ways because I was just focused on that next step.
I didn't have that big picture expectation in mind.
Annemiek: I started just at the end of my study time.
I finished my master's degree in epidemiology.
Then I was 22 when I finished my university studies and went from riding my bike.
The other thing, in that year I also did a physical test, the VO2 max test.
That showed that I was already a bit on the level of the Dutch National Federation of
the girls.
[unintelligible 00:04:09].
Yes, that was maybe the first sign that I was quite fit and quite a powerful rider with
a high VO2 max naturally.
I think that first VO2 max, that was the first time I had maybe some talent for this kind
of sport.
Blake: What does it take, how much training do you have to do?
Kate: Okay, Annemiek does a lot of training.
I follow her on [unintelligible 00:04:38], she rides, rides the most of any pro-women
I know, which is so impressive and I have a lot of respect for her.
For me, it's anywhere from 17 to 25 hours a week.
0ccasionally I'll do really, really big weeks like next week, which will be closer to 35
or 40 hours.
Usually, it's in that range.
I have strength work, as well, that I do two to three days a week.
The thing that people often forget about with pro athletes is most of my time is actually
dedicated to recovery.
If you ride for six hours and you need to ride for six hours the next day, you have
to use every minute that you're off the bike to recover your body and mind and make sure
that you can hit it just as hard the next day.
Blake: If you don't, you just burn yourself out.
Kate: Exactly, yes.
My coach likes to say there is no over-training there's only under-recovery.
Blake: [chuckles] You just look and people from the outside looking in think it's all
glim and glam.
If you look at it, 30 hours, that's a workweek or a big work week for some people.
You've got to work hard.
Kate: Yes, it's interesting.
I love to ride my bike.
A lot of the times I do feel just really grateful to have this as my job.
It's fun to go ride my bike.
I also think that there's a lot of challenges with just training that hard.
Also trying to make every watt in every ride count.
It's very different to like going out for a spin with your friends.
Annemiek: It was quite funny that Kate just said that I am really the boss of the hours,
and then she mentions 30 hours.
That's going to be a really big week, 30 hours.
I think she's also quite [inaudible 00:06:30] 30 hours is maybe my max.
Usually, I do it in blocks of three days, sometimes two days, depends maybe if it was
really hard on the day I'm at altitude.
I do only two days with one day rest.
A rest day is like nothing, or just go for a nice [inaudible 00:06:50].
Just let your legs fall down and then take it easy.
It's also a 400-kilometer ride actually last Monday with my neighbor.
Blake: I did see that.
Annemiek: There's sometimes I do [inaudible 00:07:06] 11 hours on the bike as well.
Blake: That's a lot.
Just how fit are you guys, right?
Let's play a bit of top stats, if you like.
What is your resting heart rate?
Mine is 40, 38.
Annemiek: 38.
Kate: Off-season, 45.
Blake: What's your max heart rate?
Mine, judging at it, looking at it now, I was 161 but I've seen a lot better.
188.
Kate: Last week I hit 196.
Blake: Wow.
Annemiek: I'm a little bit older.
I would think I have 185 or something.
Then again, just [unintelligible 00:07:49] I see that.
Blake: Nice.
This is my favorite one.
Max power.
Mine's 1228.
Kate: Depends for how long, but the highest number I've ever seen was actually when I
was quite a bit younger and working on the [unintelligible 00:08:05].
It was my goal to get over 1,000, so I did a couple of times.
Blake: Nice.
Kate: I don't think I can do that anymore.
Annemiek: Long ago I have seen 1,000, but that's long ago.
Though it is lower.
I think now it's 900 or something.
Blake: Okay.
Power's important when it comes to racing XC and on the road.
Kate: Yes.
Blake: You'd need to train for it or do you just-- It comes naturally?
Kate: You definitely have to train for it.
Every watt is earned.
[laughs] Blake: I think we should put down a sprint
race.
[music] Blake: We'll race to that big boulder.
See, at the left, there's one middle one, a sign.
Are you ready?
3, 2, 1, Go. [music]
Blake: I don't know, I don't know.
You're still going.
Annemiek: I don't know what happened.
Kate: Are we still going?
Blake: No. [laughter]
Blake: [unintelligible 00:09:15] It's not a race.
Just left me.
Kate: You okay there?
Do you have a new max heart rate to share with the group?
[laughs] Blake: Yes.
175.
It's not quite higher.
What's yours?
Annemiek: 112.
Kate: 112?
Mine's 145.
Annemiek: At the moment I didn't see, it was also high when I did the sprint.
Kate: It's 140.
It's coming down, but I got up there people.
Blake: Mine's not even there.
It's too high.
Kate: Disconnected.
Blake: I've got to ask you, what is it like winning your first world champs, but especially
being at your first ever one?
Kate: It was incredible.
It was my first Elite world camp.
I've been to the event as a junior and a U23 and never gotten those rainbow stripes.
It was really a dream come true to win my first year elite.
I think more so because it was a bit of a surprise to me.
I didn't expect it.
I think that can make for some really special and magical moments when you achieve something
you weren't necessarily expecting to achieve.
Blake: How did it feel in the morning waking up, getting to the start line, and then finishing?
Kate: Waking up and on the start line, I was really just focused on preparation.
I think I did a really good job of staying focused for that race, and partially, because
there was no pressure on me to win.
I was really focused on just having the best performance I could have.
I would say it was pretty relaxing and just keeping my mind on one task to the next and
doing the best thing I possibly could at every step.
Then, of course, crossing the finish line was a pretty emotional and special feeling.
My family was there, which made it even more special.
Blake: Annemiek, so far, you've won three world championships in two different disciplines.
What does it take to do that?
Annemiek: For me, a lot of hours on the bike, just work on my general fitness, I do a lot
of altitude training, a lot of time in the mountains, and to be able to able to ever
escape for the 5 kilometers, so I think you need to be quite fit.
I just do more my races on general fitness, so I need to be really fit and I do a lot
of hours on the bike.
Blake: Then, it was time to hit the virtual dirt.
A man bike challenge, a race to the end of a 3.1-kilometer trail called the Reapack Reach.
[music] Blake: Let's go.
We're a cross country course.
Okay.
Good line.
[laughs] What the hell?
Kate: [laughs] Just have fun.
Blake: See you.
Ah, shitty rocks.
Kate: Is that sand?
I think it's sand.
[cheers] I'm pretty sure if I stared like this in a real mountain bike race, I'd be
dead.
[laughs] Blake: Yes, I think so.
Ambulance would have called.
Annemiek: Oh.
[laughs] Kate: I know what Annemiek can get it to.
It's like pedaling in one place.
Annemiek: [unintelligible 00:13:15].
Blake: Yes, you have to stay on the track.
It's like treacle when you go off it.
[laughter] Blake: Where did you come from?
Kate: I think I got you.
Blake: Yes, you did.
You sound so composed.
How are you getting on Annemiek?
Annemiek: I think it's not my talents.
[laughter] [music]
Kate: Where are you at?
Come on.
Blake: At the bottom.
This is exactly where Nino said it.
I was at the bottom of the climb.
He was at the top.
Kate: I feel like Nino would do well on this.
Blake: He did.
Kate: He'll win whatever game you put him in.
Blake: Yes.
[music] Blake: Yes.
Done. [music]
Blake: Cor, that was intense.
Let's spin these legs for a bit, shall we?
Have you ever raced road, and how do you think you'll get on?
Kate: A little bit as a junior, I'd love to again, but I think I need to learn some tactics
first.
I tend to just go flat out, and then lose.
[laughs] Blake: Then die and blow up.
Kate: Then die.
Yes.
Annemiek: I'm happy.
Finally, it's my territory.
After all those sprints and mountain biking, time to rock and roll, but I think Kate can
do a good job together, so we give Blake a little bit advantage.
We'll chase him down, I think, together Kate.
Kate: Yes.
Blake: What?
You're going to give me a 10-second head start?
[music] Kate: I better learn to draft quick when I'm
riding with Annemiek.
[laughs] Blake: I'm going in 3, 2, 1, Go, 10 seconds,
don't put down on power yet.
Annemiek: Oh my God.
Seven, eight.
Blake: Five, six, seven.
Annemiek: Go.
Kate: Here we go.
Blake: Power's my friend.
Get in front.
Kate: We're coming.
We're coming for you.
Blake: Yes.
Yes.
No, you're not.
You're going the wrong way.
I'm joking.
Now watch this.
I just burn myself out.
Okay, I'm dying.
Kate: We're coming for you.
Blake: Yes, you are.
I can see your names coming up behind me.
That's not a good sign for me.
Annemiek: He's quite good [unintelligible 00:16:40].
Kate: Oh, out of the saddle.
We're going.
Blake: Freeride power.
Freeride power.
Yes, man.
Kate: Five seconds.
Blake: No.
No.
Your names are getting bigger.
Kate: I see him.
Annemiek: I see you.
Blake: No, you can't.
That's not me.
Kate: Two.
Annemiek: Come on Kate.
Blake: No.
Kate: Teamwork makes a dream work.
Blake: Yes.
Kate: Hello.
Blake: See you.
Whatever.
That was too good.
Hope I gave you a bit of a fight.
Annemiek: High five Kate.
Kate: Got him.
Annemiek: High five.
Blake: High five.
This is a quick glimpse to see what it's like and what it takes to be an absolute monster
at racing on the road in cross-country, what it takes to become a world champ.
Thanks very much, guys.
That was inspiring actually.
Kate: It was fun.
Annemiek: Good stuff, Blake, and keep on training.
You're doing a great job.
Blake: Thanks very much.
Thanks.
Kate: Yes.
By the end of this quarantine, they're going to not know what hit them.
Blake: Yes.
I'll be on your tail.
Probably not though.
Narrator: Thank you very much for watching this video.
This is a glimpse to what it takes to become a world champ in each of these disciplines.
It's not for the faint-hearted, and it takes a lot of work and discipline.
Something that I don't think I'll be taking on.
See you.