Crossover Successes
From snow to singletrack and mud
Three years ago, it seemed as if Jenn Jackson burst on the mountain biking scene, and cyclocross shortly after. But the former elite cross-country skier was cautious. Now, her diligence, and cookies, are taking her places
Jenn Jackson spent less time on the decision to pack up her things and move across the country this past spring than she did deciding if she wanted a career in mountain biking a few years ago. The latter took a little more contemplation. Rather than bursting onto the racing scene, Jackson was kind of nudged into it. But then she started to win races.
In 2016, burnt out from a successful under-23 career of cross-country skiing, Jackson was enjoying the pace of a summer job back home in the Barrie, Ont., area at a local bike shop. She liked the change in pace from being a full-time national athlete and a student. Riding a bike was just something she did with friends in the summer (those friends included elite mountain bike national champion Peter Disera) or to commute to university when she was in Thunder Bay (where she was on the XC ski team).
“We’d go ride and I’d be like, ‘Holy crap, you’re fast.’ But she’d crash every two seconds,” remembers Disera, explaining how Jackson kind of flew under the radar when it came to mountain biking. “I was like, ‘Jenn, what are you doing? Just go do an O-cup.” That summer, Jackson won the under-23 title at the Ontario provincial mountain bike championships. “It didn’t make sense that I could win these races with people who are very good,” Jackson says.
That summer seems to have been the tipping point, where her heart took a detour and pointed to singletrack. Jackson committed to one more season of skiing, winning the under-23 title in Canmore in March 2017, knowing it was the end of her ski career. By this point, she had her sights set on qualifying for the Canada Summer Games in mountain biking.
Back in Canmore that same year, but this time in the summer, Jackson won the under-23 national championship title. She not only qualified for the Canada Summer Games: she took home two silver medals and a bronze, which qualified her for the world championships.
Jackson is one of those natural athletes who is always on the move.
Cross-country skiing was the sport her family did together. She’s also always been a runner. Grade 10 was when Jackson decided she wanted to start XC ski racing. Her brother Ryan, who is on a varsity scholarship for cross-country skiing at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and two years younger than his sister, says the two were competitive, but it was more of a “watch and learn from each other” type of thing.
“Jenn was definitely the early bloomer when it came to athletics, so I spent most of my years trying to learn from her,” he says. “Once I began to get a bit stronger athletically, we began working together to push each other to be better.”
“At the core of her existence is movement in some form,” says Disera, who remembers he’d be starting a ride relatively early and he’d run into Jackson coming out of the Copeland Forest, finishing a two-hour run. “She’s very impressive for the amount of hours she can put down in a year while working.”
“I want to be good at something before I commit to it,” says Jackson, acknowledging the prodding it took from friends and peers to compete in mtb races. But knowing the speed piece was in place, she hired coach Andrew Watson of awi Coaching to conquer the technical aspects. “She’s a very coachable athlete; she brought a big engine with her,” Watson says.
“He’s really good at distilling technical elements,” explains Jackson about her coach. “I could ride a bike, but
wasn’t really conscious of how I was riding.” Jackson says 2017 was the year she rode the most tenaciously. “Being mentally so fresh coming into mountain biking, my mindset was that I do not have the race experience or the refined technical skills, but I know I’m fit and I have to try harder.”
Jackson remembers how some of those first venues she raced at had features she’d never seen before. “I chose to put myself in the positions, but I wasn’t quite ready to be there – the fitness I expressed was greater than my actual ability at the time.”
This mix could have been what led to a frustrating end to a stellar 2017 season: a broken kneecap at the World Cup in Mont-sainte-anne. Jackson loves a good story, so it was hard to have such success and then not be able to attend the world championships, which would have nicely wrapped up the season. But, she says, the setback, which left traces of bitterness, also fuelled the fire.
When it comes to manoeuvring through the mental aspects of being a professional athlete, Jackson leans on friends and her brother – people who live the same life. “We’ve always shared ideas and advice with each other, but the biggest thing is that we keep each other grounded and share ways to stay motivated through challenging parts of the training and racing seasons,” Ryan says. “Being in two different sports now is pretty valuable to get some different perspectives outside of each of our fields of expertise.”
And even though Jackson and Disera have only done one race together (in Greece early this year) since Jackson joined the Norco Factory Team, Disera predicts that the
family-based environment of the squad will be a good fit.
Jackson has also made friends with some of her fellow
Canadian racers, including Sandra Walter and Catharine
Pendrel. Walter noticed that Jackson fit right in on the
World Cup projects she joined last season. “Obviously we’re there to do a job and everyone wants to perform and succeed,” Walter says. “I don’t think you can do that without getting along with your teammates and helping each other.” Jackson talks about how cool it was to come into that environment and jive with Walter and Pendrel, and how it helped her to see certain courses with fresh eyes. “Having teammates to race and travel with is super valuable,” Jackson says.
That friendship lasted into the winter months, when they would chat periodically. Then when the pandemic hit, Jackson, wanting to make the most of her time, took Pendrel up on the “if you ever want to train in Kamloops” offer to stay with her and her husband Keith Wilson. “It’s been awesome being here having a friend and mentor to train with,” Jackson says. “I’m always picking up little things.”
While Jackson’s move was pretty spontaneous, it also hinged upon a job opportunity at a bike shop in Kamloops, B.C., Spoke Bike & Ski. She’s discovered from her bike-shop work back home in Ontario that it’s important to be a part of the cycling community outside the world of competition. “You can go anywhere with Jenn and she’d wave hi to some 45-year-old dude,” says Disera of her recognition in the local cycling scene.
“As an elite athlete, working in a bike shop and competing as I do is unusual,” says Jackson. “It lets me connect with people in the community and be part of the cycling world at the most grassroots level. It’s cool to have a place in the cycling world where you exist and racing doesn’t matter. I could race at the World Cup and the Canada Cup and still that bucket of rust on my stand doesn’t care.”
It’s probably fair to say that the time in B.C. riding new trails, getting to know Pendrel and Wilson, and being part of a different bike-shop community will reinvigorate Jackson’s drive and determination.
The 2018 and 2019 seasons saw a roster full of mountain bike races followed by a fall of cyclocross events. Jackson has excelled in both categories of cycling. “There’s a certain fluidity and physical literacy and ability to react and move that I think I’ve picked up on pretty well,” Jackson says. “Reading the trail is something I still need to work on.”
Jackson, however, says CX has more in common with
“Her work ethic – and I mean this completely sincerely – I’ve never really met another athlete with her work ethic and her drive.”
cross-country skiing than mountain biking does. The race duration of less than an hour for ’cross matches up more with her on-snow efforts. The 90-minute mountain bike races have taken some getting used to. Still, what has helped in both disciplines is the ability to learn technique, which was instilled in Jackson from a young age on crosscountry skis.
“I believe she can be equally as successful as she is in ’cross,” says Watson when referring to her mountain biking career. “We still have to work on a few things – longer races and some pacing – and that takes time.”
Jackson definitely loves ’cross. “Riding mountain bikes is fun, but racing ’cross is the best,” she says. Yet, this past winter, Jackson and Watson had decided to lighten the CX part of this year and focus on mountain biking.
Jackson admits to being a bit relieved when the 2020 season was just shut down completely. “I was more stressed about racing than excited,” she says, adding she felt like she could use a breather. She also decided to press pause on school after finishing her summer courses: she has been taking the environmental technology program at Georgian College in Ontario. Jackson felt this was one element that had to go for now so she can focus on racing.
And so Jackson spent the summer riding as much as possible, experiencing the different terrain in Kamloops and enjoying her work at the bike shop. Watson still coaches her virtually. Of course things are a bit iffy in the world, making it hard to plan ahead. During the summer, Jackson was hoping to go to the Czech Republic in the fall to race the mountain bike World Cup event if it’s a “stable opportunity” pandemic-wise.
“Truly, her work ethic – and I mean this completely sincerely – I’ve never really met another athlete with her work ethic and her drive,” Watson says. “Keep an eye on Jenn in the next few years and if you see her at a race, just say hey. Who knows, she might have some cookies for you.”
Cookies?! Jackson explains that she started baking cookies for the coaches back when she was going to XC ski races. And pre-covid, when Jackson and Disera were both home, their competitive spirits fostered an ongoing freestyle baking competition – no measuring cups, no recipes. Incidentally, their parents both currently live on the same street in the Horseshoe Valley area. Although she hasn’t been baking much during the pandemic because she doesn’t see as many people, Jackson likes how it’s something she can share. “I guess I can project a very extroverted, outgoing personality, but it’s still kind of tough sometimes to break the ice and meet people. Everybody loves a cookie.”