Zandstra
HOW DEREK ZANDSTRA IS BECOMING MORE AT HOME ON THE TRAIL
A few years ago, Derek Zandstra was in pain. The group in the Sea Otter Classic mountain bike race was pushing really hard. He was certain he couldn’t hang on any longer. His teammate Geoff Kabush and a few other friendly riders were right behind him, so Zandstra turned his head to spit out a short message.
“Bye,” he said, intending to drop back from the pack to finish the race at a slower pace.
“Hold on. Hold on,” said Kabush, encouraging Zandstra to stay on it.
The pack reached a section of dusty doubletrack. Zandstra started to recover a bit from the effort. Kabush came alongside and said, “Everyone is on the same rivet right now. Don’t worry, just hang on as long as you can.”
In the fall of 2016, Zandstra reflected on that event. “Looking back, that was a huge lesson for me,” he said. “At the end of the race, I came to the realization that it was the kind of race I could win, but that mentally, I was just in that hurt locker. I thought that was just me, but realistically it was everybody.
“That was the first time that I really, clearly saw it. It’s hard, and that’s what it is, but you have to push that extra little bit.”
Zandstra and Kabush became teammates in 2012, when Kabush signed on with the 3 Rox Racing team. Zandstra then learned a lot about the sport from his senior teammate. It was in part through those lessons that Zandstra had one of the best seasons of his career in 2014.
A year prior, the racer from Trenton, Ont., had won the national cross country championships with support from teammates Kabush and Cameron Jette. For a rider who was consistently on the podium, but never as champion, it was a huge high. But what followed after was a lot of disappointment. “I don’t know if the jersey was bad luck, but I just couldn’t win after that. I think the only race I won as champion was the Sudbury Canada Cup,” said Zandstra.
Once 2014 rolled around, things started to improve. The start of the season was unremarkable, but by the time the Mont-sainte-anne and Windham, N.Y., World Cup races took place, Zandstra was on form. He finished 19th in Sainte-anne, and 13th in Windham. It was the first time since 2009 that he had scored so well at World Cup races. Buoyed by those results, he raced hard at the world championships, working his way into a 15th-place finish overall, despite suffering a flat tire.
The following year, Zandstra was selected for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games. During the race, something felt off. He couldn’t stay with the lead group and ended up out the back. Reviewing power numbers after the race with team manager and longtime friend Kyle Douglas, it was clear something wasn’t right. Within a few days, Zandstra fell ill. Advil helped mask the symptoms, but at Canadian championships a week after Pan Ams, Zandstra only finished one lap before pulling out of the race. Normally, an athlete would take time off to recover and return healthy, but sponsor commitments meant Zandstra had to travel to the United States and continue to ride at a sponsor and media event. Although he recovered in time for worlds, mechanical problems with his shifter forced him out of that race.
“It was a really hard way to end the season heading into an Olympic year, especially after how well things went in 2014,” said Zandstra.
Zandstra joined the fledgling 3 Rox Racing team in 1999, a year after the team had been founded. He and Douglas had known each other through racing in the cadet division. As the team grew larger and then condensed to a smaller roster, and while other teams came and went, the pair continued as teammates and friends. When Zandstra and Natalie Top were married, Douglas emceed the reception. Zandstra will be in his friend’s wedding party in October.
“I remember his first date with Natalie,” Douglas said. “We were hanging out after his first date with her and he said ‘Oh, I really like this girl.’ We went on a road trip together to go training, and he would only talk about her, and now they’re married.”
Natalie and Derek met while working at the same Tim Hortons. A few years before getting married, the pair built a house together in Trenton. Zandstra got his hands on design software and put together the plans himself. An analytic person, he researches every detail of everything that captures his interest. That trait has made Zandstra the go-to person for renovation advice.
“If you need to ever buy anything, talk to Derek,” said Douglas. “I mean it. Like if you need anything from a dishwasher to a sheet of drywall. He will literally let you know where to get it and who has the best deal right now.”
Zandstra’s hometown isn’t known for its mountain bike trails, but he’s made it work. Long training rides are a mix of trails with road sections serving as connectors. It’s a lonely program, but it has allowed Zandstra to fine-tune his methods to suit his needs.
“Sometimes I think it would be really good to be at a place like Durham Forest,” he said of trails east of Toronto, “where there are other people to ride with, and when weather is bad, you’re still expected to come out. But when it comes down to it, in the summertime or spring especially, I go out riding there, but it’s not the ride I necessarily want. I finish with the group and wonder if I should be out riding longer.
“I think being on my own, I understand what works and what I need to do. It’s a more controlled environment. So I think that’s a benefit in where I live in that I can focus on my own needs.”
Sometimes though, the training regimen ends up off-plan and off the bike. “He sometimes will not do his training to work on his house,” said Douglas. “I’ll call him sometimes and ask how his training went that day and he’ll say, ‘Oh, I didn’t ride, I built a shed today.’”
Another of Zandstra’s quirks is his signature core workout. It’s a topic of conversation and the butt of jokes for the team. “It’s basically a sideways sit up kind of thing. Lately I’ve been coming up with ideas to help keep the core fit on the road. To be honest, I really don’t do it very often, but the team came up with its name,” said Zandstra. “You’re on your side, and your elbow is supporting your head. And then you lift your legs sideways and up, but keeping them straight. You’re sort of on your side, and kicking your legs up.”
According to Douglas, the team caught sight of the
exercise – which now has a name that comes in part from one of Zandstra’s favourite comedy movies – during a training camp. “We walked by his room one time and he was doing it, so we called it the Dere-liques. It’s part a Zoolander reference, but it’s also Derek and he’s working on his obliques. We probably had an hour of just pointing and laughing at him.”
While a willingness to do his own research was crucial in developing a system that works for him, there was a vital skill that was missing from the early part of Zandstra’s career. Described as “under the radar” by Kabush, Zandstra didn’t outwardly present the confidence he held inside, and perhaps never quite believed in his own capabilities. The race at Sea Otter was a big part of improving his confidence, as was his first national title and his top result at worlds.
“He’s quiet. Well, not quiet – he can talk a lot,” said Kabush. “But he’s not a self-promoter. He comes from a really grounded family, and he loves to ride his bike, but when he’s away from the races, he really likes his life at home, and working on the house.”
Through the dynamic of the team, and working with Kabush, Zandstra has developed more outward confidence. He knows he can win races that previously might have seemed out of reach. Douglas and Kabush both point to that change as being at the root of Zandstra’s
“At the end of the race, I came to the realization that it was the kind of race I could win.”
success in recent years.
“He was not hugely accomplished as a young guy, and was in the shadow of myself and others, and had to fight to improve himself,” said Kabush. “That’s made him resilient and given him the drive to stick with it. It’s pretty cool to see him in the past several years really reaching high at some events. He’s started to assert himself, winning some important races.”
During the 2012 Olympic selection, Zandstra was just starting to arc higher in his career. Kabush had earned the No. 1 spot on the men’s team, but the second spot was up for grabs. Zandstra seemed to be a strong contender. Then, late in the qualification period, Max Plaxton blasted through a few key performances that landed him the spot, while Zandstra stayed home.
Following Zandstra’s breakthroughs in 2013 and 2014, he once again seemed well placed to represent Canada at the Olympic Games in Rio. Then 2015 failed to live up to expectations, putting Zandstra’s position in jeopardy. When the Canadian Olympic Committee and Cycling Canada announced that Raphaël Gagné and Léandre Bouchard would race for Canada in Brazil, Zandstra was crushed. An appeal process didn’t change the result. Zandstra was left frustrated, but fired up. He won nationals; the anger and frustration was palpable.
“Derek doesn’t swear,” said Kabush. “You know he’s super pissed off if he ever goes past the word ‘frig.’ You know he’s mad if he uses a real swear word. ‘Shit’ is OK, but the F-word is another level.”
“This past summer, he dropped so many F-bombs, and I asked him about it,” Douglas said. “He said. ‘Well, I’m pissed.’ It sucked, and it took a lot of wind out of his sails, but it also created a beast at the same time. It’s kept him motivated. It’s probably not the right motivation, but it has motivated him.”
As the summer became fall, Zandstra digested the experience and made his point on the racecourse. The sting of missing selection is unlikely to go away, but Zandstra knows that staying angry isn’t the way forward. “I’m putting the Olympic selection behind me. I have to,” said Zandstra. “I can’t fault the other riders. We all do our best to try to win races and earn those spots.
“Sport is really good at teaching how to deal with difficult situations and about making them better. Missing the Olympics sucks, and will always be there in the back of my head, but I just have to show what I can do. I still feel like I have lots of years left in me. I want to prove that point next year.”
Zandstra will be making his point as part of a different 3 Rox Racing team in 2017. Scott Sports didn’t renew its contract with 3 Rox. The team has partnered with a new bike manufacturer to become 3 Rox-cannondale. That development has also led to a change in the team’s roster. Kabush has his own commitments with Scott Sports and will no longer wear the 3 Rox name. Zandstra and Erin Huck will be joined by Raphaël Gagné and Keegan Swenson.
“It’s really sad that Geoff won’t be part of the team next year. I’m sure we’ll still be talking about stuff a lot, and still ride together when we’re at the same events,” said Zandstra. “Stuff will change a bit, but with the new teammates, we’ll all get better. It’ll be good for Keegan because he’s so young, and I think Raph and I will feed off each other and will both get better.”
Heading into the 2017 season, Zandstra has started to produce performance numbers he has never seen previously. The athletic and mental strength he’s developed over the past five years have resulted in a potent new Zandstra ready to show that he’s still on the way up.