Catharine Pendrel on balancing motherhood and racing
“I thought Zwfit was kicking my butt,” Catharine Pendrel said this past summer. The cross country rider was speaking about the fatigue she had felt during her first trimester. She found herself taking naps, and then sleeping through the night. (She’d never been a napper.) On-bike, Pendrel was mixing online riding with riding outside. On one occasion, she couldn’t even manage the outdoor ride and had to head home. The next day, the pedalling wasn’t a problem. As she learned more about her pregnancy, she knew it wasn’t the virtual riding that was wiping her out. “People don’t tell you how tired you get in the first trimester. I think they forget,” Pendrel mused.
In mid-september, the rider announced that she and her husband, Keith Wilson, were expecting, which explained Pendrel’s absence from the rosters of the World Cup race in Nové Město, Czech Republic and the world championships. The baby is due in early February. Pendrel plans to return to racing later in 2021. She’s not sure, however, how that return will play out. She has the support of her team, Clif Pro Team. Wilson is able to take some paternity leave. Maybe the family will head out on a road trip? Maybe she’ll do Epic Rides events or head to Mont-sainte-anne? She’s even keeping her eyes on the rescheduled Olympics. “I’m sure there will be many more days of expectation-checking. But I’ll deal with that when it comes,” Pendrel says. “It’s a really cool challenge. What kind of level can I return to? I want to go through that process and see what that’s like. I’m totally open to whatever next year looks like, but I don’t think I can have any clue of what next year will look like until next year.”— MP