Rebecca Henderson

Age 18

Sport Played Mountain Biking

Years Played

Tell us about yourself

I am an 18 year old cyclist from Canberra, Australia. In January 2010 I won the Under 23 Australian Championships, Oceania Championships and Australian National Series. This was my 7th consecutive National Title. My website is www.bechenderson.com.au

Proudest Sporting Achievements

Touring Europe in 2009 with the Junior Australian Mountain Bike Team in preparation for the 2009 World Mountain Bike Championships in Canberra, Australia, in which I raced as a second year U19 and finished in 7th place.

What are you hoping to achieve

In 2010/11 I will contest MTBA national events including the Australian National Series, Australian National Championships, and will compete in international events including the UCI World Cup Series and UCI World Championships. My goal is to be selected for the 2012 Olympic Games.

How does LineBreak help

My Blog

15/11/11

Just thought I would send a quick picture from the Cycling Australia awards on Friday night in Sydney.

I was super happy to receive the Female Mountain Biker of the Year award!

Thanks for all of your support and I hope that bigger and better things are to come in 2012!

12/9/11

World Championships
Staying in Altitude 2 weeks out from Worlds gave me a really good lead into the race and with many practice laps under my belt I felt confident I could have an awesome race.

The weather 1.5 weeks out from the race was looking promising, possibly even too hot with the weather reaching over 40 degrees a couple of times. But as the race neared it was looking like there would be a change.

I raced the Team Relay in premium dry conditions on Wednesday evening. The Team Relay is a once a year Championship event where each Country is represented by four riders – 1 Elite Male, 1 Under 23 Male, 1 Junior Male and One Elite Woman. I was privileged enough to be selected as the Elite Woman.

Chris Jongewaard took the team out on lap 1 and after a having a crash and going out a little hard came through to transition with Jack Haig in 18th position.

Jack had a pearler of a lap, although he had one small crash he pulled back 3 positions. At the finish of his lap he came through in 15th – it was now my turn to go out.

I had a nice short warm up and was ready for a hot lap. My plan was not to go out full gas as there were two climbs which could make or break your lap. Once over the first climb at the start of the lap I started to ramp it up. I was riding really smooth and made a couple of passes early. I had caught Rie Katayama, the Japanese woman and couldn’t get passed. She was quicker on the open sections but I had her measure in the single track. When we reached the last climb I gave it everything, all the way to the top. I passed the Japanese but was also passed by a few men and came through the finish holding 15th position.

Our final member of the team – Paul Van der Ploeg brought us home on an amazingly fast lap time to put us into 10th position. (2 spots better than the Aussie team last year). It was a very successful race and we were all smiles.

Once we arrived home it was time for me to get dinner, have a stretching session and hit the hay.

I woke up Thursday morning ready as ever for a big race. I had a bit of an interrupted sleep, I woke up to the thunder and rain coming down throughout the night and was stressing a little. In the morning I had my pre roll and then relaxed until 3pm when it was time for me to ride down to the course. (Thanks to my escort Paul Van der Ploeg for making sure I arrived safely).

I had a good warm up on the wind trainer in the Aussie tent and headed to the box for the start. Ranked 17th I just snuck onto the second row. I had an awesome start and was at the front, then an attack went from the outside which I was not expecting. I ended up getting boxed and was a little nervy, wheels were going everywhere. I drifted backwards. I made up some good spots on the finishing climb of the start loop but got caught up in a messy single track bottle neck. I came through the start loop in 15th.

The next lap I rode strong and was making passes and riding smoothly. I was confident I would gain positions throughout the race as long as I kept my head and did not blow up. The course was really slick from the rain but I was getting through until Lap 3 I think it was, I had a nasty crash. There was a small drop into a rooty section which I had dialled in practice and the relay. I hit it with confidence (and I’m still not sure what I did wrong) and next thing I was on the ground. I smashed both of my knees on the ground and felt shaken. I took a minute to pick myself up and tried to get going again.

From here on in my race was monotone. I was trying hard but had lost my confidence completely and didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. I went from attacking all the slippery roots to detouring around them and riding slowly every time it came to a technical section. I was riding way too defensively. I held my position for the rest of the race, not seeing anyone. Only hearing the cheering for the same riders behind me all the way to the finish. With Julie Bresset leading the race I was pulled at 80% with one lap to go.

Only 15 riders finished the race. I was 20th. I am really disappointed with the way my race panned out but I am still not sure what I could have done to avoid it or to improve my result. I was still exhausted at the end of the race and I feel that there was nothing more I could do. I gave it everything.

I have learned a lot though and I do look forward to improving on my result next year. I am very happy that I still have one more race before I return home to Australia on the 14th September. Stay posted for what I hope will be a good result to finish off the trip. (Let’s hope I don’t consume too much chocolate between now and then!)

Thanks to everyone at home for their support and to the Aussie team for an enjoyable week. It was great to meet all of the Juniors who will be coming through the ranks. We have definitely got some good potential! Thanks to all my sponsors for their support all year!

17/5/11

Today I had my best result ever! Houffalize, Belgium has haunted me for the last two years! Failing to have a good race at the World Cups held here I wasn’t exactly looking forward to racing at this venue. It was an important race, a ‘Hors Categoire’ is ranked just below World Cup which means there are plenty of UCI points up for grabs!

Houffalize is a hilly, hilly course with punchy and steep climbs and minimal recovery. The only flat you have is the start / finish through town. The famous start loop, which is in the race every year goes up an incredibly steep 15% bitumen climb which takes approximately two minutes to get up, at full gas! Not really my ideal race course.

Warming up ready for a 10:35am start I had only done my spin before Dan comes with the news that our race starts at 10:20, it was 10:05. I do my only efforts on the way to the start line and wasn’t expecting to have too much off the gun. The plan was to work into it due to an average warm up.
The gun went off and I was first out of the start, I lead into the climb and then was passed by two girls. I held their wheels and halfway up the climb it flattened out for 20 meters and they seemed to blow, I was still feeling reasonable and decided to take the front. I got a gap and rode smoothly down the first descent. By the time we got to the feed zone just before the finish of the lap I had about 15 seconds on second. I rode the lap shaking and a little uncomfortable thinking what am I doing here, I don’t belong at the front of the race. I was, of course getting excited but doing my best to keep my cool and not to blow myself up. I knew I would get caught (maybe I didn’t have enough confidence in myself) but wanted to string it out so that I would only get caught one rider at a time.

I got caught on the second lap but jumped straight on the wheel and we rode around together for the next lap. I used this time to recover as much as I could. On the third lap I was still sitting comfortably on her wheel. For some reason I had already counted myself out for the win and made the stupid mistake of looking behind on one of the climbs and stuffed up. This is where she got the gap and that was the race. I gave it everything and got back onto her wheel, only an elite rider got between us and was stubborn and wouldn’t let me through. The gap from myself to first got as big as 40 second and as close as 25 seconds on the last lap. I was closing in on her but didn’t have enough in the tank to catch up. I’m not sure what the final gap was but I was stoked to cross the line in 2nd place, especially in such a highly ranked race.

At the beginning of the trip in South Africa, before our first race I said to Ben and Dan ‘my goal for this trip is to get as many drug tests as possible’. Today was the first! Although I wasn’t too happy to be having one you know you are riding well when you’re getting tested ;-)
Straight after the race we had the presentation, It was a great feeling on the podium with the Aussie flag up behind me. After a few kisses I got handed a big silver cup, a bunch of flowers and a 1.5L bottle of local ‘La Chouffe’ beer! Fun times!

Thanks a lot to Dan for his support out on course today, and for the feeding! It would have been a tough day out by myself! Thanks to all my sponsors and friends at home, I hope this is the start of a great season to come and the right track towards Olympics!

Next race: Racer Bikes Cup – Solothurn, Switzerland next weekend. Stay tuned…

22/3/11
Oceania Championships and National Series Final Round
Coming into the last round of the National series and the 2011 Oceania Championships I was feeling good, training had been going well and with some good intensity I was ready for the last race of the Aussie season. Tying the Mountain Bike and Road Oceania Championships together meant that the Cross Country was moved forward to Friday and the Short Course to Saturday evening.

Arriving early Wednesday afternoon allowed for two easy practice laps before settling in to the accommodation. Practice went smoothly and I was very happy with the course. The hill had been shortened this year which was a pleasant surprise and the tracks had worn in nicely over the last 12 months. The climb was open, but only single track, which left limited opportunity for passing but incorporated some rocky sections to catch out the tired riders. The same technical section from 2010 of both climbing and descending was included, which meant the ‘Waterfall’ was not left out. Last year this section intimidated most riders, including myself and the general vibe was that it was too risky so only the best of the elite men were riding it. This year it was a different story. Waterfall is a tricky rocky section on the descent. In order to be able to ride Waterfall you ﬁrst must ride down an off-camber rock face into a sharp right hand corner and then line yourself up into the Waterfall which is the most intimidating part, lean back and then hold on for the ride. After you descending back to the race village the lap ﬁnishes off with a 1km open and dead grassy section climbing up for a minute or two before re descending into the start ﬁnish.

On Friday morning Niki Fisher and I left the accommodation at 7am arriving at the course not long after 7:30. After a late entry by Niki we kitted up and cut a lap of the course before the start; sussing out all the last minute lines. With 25 minutes left before the start we ﬁnished the lap but I still didn’t feel like I had a good enough warm up so I headed down to the road for some efforts. Getting carried away with riding I lost track of time and before I knew it, there was 10 minutes left to the start, and I was not at call up! I had a good warm up just getting to the start is all I need to say!

On the start Under 23’s were put 10 meters behind the Elite Women and set to go on the same gun, which meant we had a pack of riders to get through before my race could even begin. In the starters hands: Elite Women 5 laps – Under 23 Women 4 laps.

The gun went and my start was far from perfect. I couldn’t quite get my foot into my pedal straight away and had just hit the back of the elite ﬁeld. Up around the corner and through the feed zone I made it to about mid pack in the elite and had the two Kiwi Under 23’s straight on my wheel.

Due to the lack of passing on the climb the three of us rode patiently amongst the pack, taking every passing opportunity we could. It wasn’t until the technical section and Waterfall that we started to make a few passes. With the girls getting off their bikes all over the place in preparation for Waterfall it was a perfect opportunity for me to make up some ground. I still had a smooth ride into Waterfall and had passed about six of the women, and dropped the two Kiwi girls as they were also running down the Waterfall section. I was now out onto the open and fast, but single track descent where I had to again keep my cool and be patient with girls holding me up in front. I was happy to see the open grassy section and decided to push the pace. Through the start ﬁnish I was already over one minute down on the leader of the elite category but now had a reasonably clear track. I climbed up the second time at a solid pace and then relaxed and recovered through the technical climbing. Just as I reached the top of waterfall second place in Under 23 had rolled onto my wheel but had to get off to walk down, so I had the gap again. This time I had clear track all the way to the start ﬁnish and because I was enjoying myself and descending well I made up a bit of time. At the beginning of lap 3 I was starting to pick off riders at the pointy end of the elite ﬁeld. Just off Jenni Kings wheel the whole climb, then she made a mistake down waterfall and I just got past. I had just passed 4th place in elite.

Coming through the feed zone I just got the next rider in sight, Rowena Fry. 30 seconds to the next rider I was told as I grabbed my bottle, took a drink and pushed on. Row held the gap at around the same time for the whole of the climb and through the technical section. I caught her at Waterfall but she was just getting on her bike as I rolled down and didn’t quite have the opening to get past and sat on her wheel for the descent before passing Row and leaving what I had left in the tank on the grassy climb. I ﬁnished the race ﬁrst in the Under 23 women, had caught all but two of the elite riders and was the fastest Aussie girl on course. I was all smiles crossing the ﬁnish line. Unfortunately this meant it was less than a minute before the UCI chaperone decided to pounce on me for a drug test. This was only my second time having a drug test and after a bad experience at World Champs in ’09 I was keen to get it over and done with, and after quickly drinking a few bottles of water it was all done before the presentations.

Being the last round of the National series as well I was happy to seal the series win for Under23.

Short Course:
For the ﬁrst time in a National series the Short Course was held in town. The course boasted some great elements for spectators and was a mountain bikers course. It was approximately 700 meters long and included a long grassy section through the start ﬁnish, a drop into a gully followed by a tree which had to be jumped over onto a fast tar section before a slight rise of grass and ﬁre road into the start/ﬁnish with a 180 degree turn on loose gravel into the start ﬁnish once again.

Due to the lack of numbers in the women’s ﬁeld our race was shortened to 10 minutes + 3 laps. The race went quickly and it was only a couple of laps before the pace was on. Rowena Fry and I were at the front and had a short gap to Katherine O’Shea in third. Pushing each other hard and swapping the lead frequently time was running out. 3 laps to go and neither one of us could drop the other. 2 laps to go and I was at the front and coming through the start ﬁnish for the last lap. It was on. Row and I both sprinted with everything we had to get into the single track ﬁrst. We were dead even, side by side. I had the inside line but as we approached the drop into the gully Row’s wheel was just slightly in front of mine. And there was only room for one bike. I let up. Row lead into the single track but as we came out onto the tar she appeared to sit up. I took the chance and gave it everything down the tar, around the corner and up the last bit of track. She was straight onto me. We battled up the last rise and Row just got the better of me, I jumped onto her wheel and as we came around the last slippery corner into the ﬁnish we sprinted, but it was too late. Out of the corner there just wasn’t enough time. I crossed the line second, with nothing left and the closest I had been to a short track win.

A great race and weekend to ﬁnish the season, with a 5 month block of racing in Europe coming up including the World Cups and World Championships. I am going to have a short break before getting in some good training in preparation for the ﬁrst World Cup in South Africa on the 23rd of April.

A great big thankyou to all of my sponsors who looked after me for the entire Aussie season. I had the privilege of showing off my new bike with the new Dyna Sys XTR, a few new sponsors came on board and the same continued support from Crowne Plaza Canberra and Onya Bike Belconnen & Civic. Thankyou to Pete Dowse from Capital Bicycle Hire for all his hard work as Manager and Mechanic, I look forward to giving you 5 months of rest!

Stay posted on www.bechenderson.com.au for all the news straight from Europe!

13/02/11
National Series Round 3 – Mount Buller
Lovely weather conditions awaited us as we hesitantly packed the car on Thursday morning for the drive down to Mount Buller. With torrential rain predicted for Saturdays cross country race and a max of 1 degree on Sunday it was a quiet drive down.

We arrived at Mount Buller at 8pm and were greeted with a massive thunder storm. On Friday we all managed to sneak in a couple of practice laps with only a small amount of rain.

Although feeling quite average in practice I was still feeling quite happy as I was nice and dry with my rain jacket and rain pants.

Saturday morning was looking quite miserable, the rain hadn’t started yet but the fog had set in. After a 6am alarm going off I rolled out of my some what lumpy bed and got some brekky into me. Still walking around like a zombie I kitted up, procrastinated a little then got out onto my bike for a warm up.
All was going well and as I was getting warmer I started to feel a little more keen. Then the call up started and Dad just decided to have a feel of my front tyre to see if it was still up. To Dad, Dan and my disappointment it was going flat. So after a quick change to my spare dry tyres I was on the start line with a cross mark on the front and a muddy on the back. Now I wasn’t feeling quite so happy…

The 2 minute call went and Dad and Dan come running to the start line with my front wheel. They managed a quick change and a tube in the tyre and with the 1 minute call I was back in the game!

Being the first race of 2011 we were introduced to the new UCI rules. Under 23 and Elite races are now separate in all UCI events. Which included this race. This now puts me out of contention for the National Series as we had 1 lap less than elite but the options were clear. I had the choice to continue to race with the Elite girls and sacrifice my UCI points in the Under 23 category or sacrifice my chances in the National Series to earn Under 23 UCI points.
The decision was made to earn the UCI points in the Under 23 category. Although I would have preferred to race with the Elite Women, UCI points are so crucial and make such a difference when racing overseas.

I had a flyer of a start… for the first 50 meters and then it all seemed to go downhill from there. My technical climbing was going well and I was riding everything but I just didn’t have the speed. I was at a slight disadvantage this weekend as whenever it gets muddy the strength and power of the other girls is more than I can compete with. I was giving it all I had but seemed to be making little to no progress. But I got around and still managed to stay in front of the only other Under 23 in the category. Although a disappointing ride and day in general I rode and finished the race and earned the points I needed.

I was hoping that Sunday was going to be a little more exciting. It was nice that the rain had stopped but the temperature was getting far from warmer! I turned up to the short course to find out there were only three of us foolish enough to consider racing. We had our race reduced to 10 minutes plus 3 laps. We all raced with leg warmers and jackets it was that freezing and within three laps I couldn’t feel my face. It was horrible. Rowena crossed the line first with a yell of pain as she was absolutely freezing and Katherine did the same in second. I crossed the line third, only feeling sorry for myself.

Overall a pretty average weekend of racing for me so I am looking forward to racing in some warmth in Adelaide and hope to defend my National title where I will be on my brand new Giant Womens Anthem with the latest and greatest Shimano Dyna Sys XTR. Can’t Wait!

14/12/10

Round 2 - Australian National Series
The second round of the National Series was held in Hobart, it was my fourth time racing here. The Glenorchy course is one of my favourites. The course has is split into two halves and has two signiﬁcant climbs with some fast and ﬂowing single tracks allowing conﬁdent riders to make up some good time.

Arriving on Thursday we cut an easy lap of the course and to our pleasant surprise they had cut out a small climb and made the course a little shorter. I was feeling pretty dead out on the course but this was because I had a solid massage on Wednesday night.

After a good sleep in and a cruisy Friday morning we headed out to the course at around midday. I did two laps of the course and was feeling better and better as the day progressed. After a few short efforts and a warm down ride back to the accommodation I was ready to go.

Saturday morning wasnʼt so cruisy with my alarm going off at 6am. I felt like I had only just gone to sleep. I rolled out of bed half asleep and sat down for a bite to eat. I walked around the house like a Zombie for an hour getting my bits and pieces ready before starting my warm up with an easy ride to the course. I did a few efforts on the course and then was on the start line ready to go.

The start didnʼt go as well as I hoped and after the ﬁrst climb into the single track I was in about 10th position and felt like I was only going to go backwards. The girls at the front took off and were almost out of sight. On the second and main climb of the lap they started playing tactics and Row sat up and the pace was slow. This gave a few of us struggling the chance to catch back up. I wasnʼt really feeling in race mode, I wasnʼt feeling fast but the pace wasnʼt on enough to make me hurt so my head wasnʼt really in race mode. The descent into the ﬁnish I was riding behind a few girls who dropped the wheel to the leaders. I ﬁnished the ﬁrst of ﬁve laps in 6th, 34 seconds behind the leaders.

On lap two I decided that it was time to get my head into the right space. I pushed it up the ﬁrst climb from the start/ﬁnish to the top and gained a few positions. Over the lap I passed a few riders and put it in on the descent in order to gain some time. This was my fastest lap of the day and I crossed the line in 3rd and 30 seconds down. The crowd in the feed zone started geeing me up as I had come into third from nowhere in the ﬁeld. I now had Fry and King in my sights on the climb.

Unfortunately my third lap wasnʼt quite as fast as my second but I still continued to push it on the climb and was now feeling a bit like I was in no mans land. Out of reach from the leaders but enough gap to the rider behind. I was riding the descents well but was only half way through the race. I was still getting a lot of encouragement throughout the lap to try and catch the leaders but I knew that it wasnʼt going to happen.

The fourth lap I still held my position and pace and my times were quite consistent.

On the ﬁfth lap Dan was on the main climb yelling at me to put it in. The two at the front were still together and were playing cat and mouse and I was going signiﬁcantly faster up the hill. I got them in my sights again but there wasnʼt enough time to catch them before the ﬁnish and I didnʼt have enough in me. I rode the last descent within myself with the intention of getting to the bottom safely and holding my position. I crossed the ﬁnish line third overall and winning the Under 23ʼs.

This was a really good result for me, after the You Yangs round I had barely ridden due to the wet weather we have been having in Canberra and work has been quite busy. I also managed to get a bit of a cold and had very little conﬁdence going into the race.

Sunday morning was another early one with the Short Course taking off at 8:30am. The course was another good one with two short punchy climbs and a ﬂowing berm descent. I was feeling quite average in the short course and had another poor start. I couldnʼt hold the wheel up the climbs but luckily for me I was descending much better than the other girls and managed to roll back onto the wheel at the end of each lap, to be dropped again on the climb.

This went on for several laps until the girls in front managed to gap me enough on the climb that I was unable to catch up on the descent. 9 minutes into the race (of 15 + 3 laps) and I was thinking of pulling out because I was feeling so average. Next climb I thought that I may as well give it a go and hopefully I would come good. I started to feel a bit better and started catching the girls in front. Next lap I passed Jodie Willett who was in 3rd position and gapped her on the descent and then caught up to Katherine OʼShea. The next climb I put it in and attacked Katherine and got a gap. At the bottom of the descent we got the 3 lap to go board and I timed it perfectly, I didnʼt have to hold on for much longer. I was now sitting in second but Fry in ﬁrst was well ahead and dominated the race the whole way. I ﬁnished in second and holding second in the series.

It was a good weekend of racing and nice to surprise myself with my results. I am looking forward to getting in some good base training over Christmas and testing my form at the next National Round in Mt Buller before heading over to Adelaide for the National Championships in February.