Chatting with Mike Garrigan before Worlds

A few days before Mike packed his things and went to Europe to race in the Cyclocross World Championships, CXO visited Mike for Mom's homemade pizza and a chat about his experiences and plans for his racing career.

Double winner at Kelso Halloween weekend.
5th at '06 CX Nationals
3rd in '06 MTB Ocup series
'06/07 CX World championship team member
2001 Ontario Espoir CX Champion

CXO: So… You’re off to ‘cross worlds… Can you tell us about how you got here?
MG: This is my 6th season racing mountain bike now - At 19, I started a bit older than some of the guys I'm racing with now. I started out in Mansfield, in a Tuesday night series there. I was keen on trying it out, because I knew there were people mountain biking in the area. I used to live near there and I went to school there for a few years.

I made the team, but that winter I was lame

I raced there for 2 years in the citizens series, and then I decided I wanted to be a mountain bike racer because I was doing well in the citizens races, like I told you before I did some o-cups, found out that there was a National team. I moved up to Barrie since that is where a coach I knew, Steve Neal, worked. He was originally from Orangeville and worked at the bike shop I shopped, so there was some sort of connection. I moved up there, started training really hard and made the National Team within a few years and that was it.
I took a year off in 2004 because of a knee injury - it was a muscle imbalance from getting into riding so quick and then putting in so many miles. Things just got out of whack - I didn't know anything about massage or therapy or anything like that, so it was kind of inevitable with the amount of riding I was doing. I was set on my goals of making the Espoir National team in a short amount of time, I knew I had to ride tons to make it... then I made the team, but that winter I was lame, I couldn’t ride at all. So I took 2004 off to regroup, then last year I started racing again and now, I'm at here where I'm at now.

Now I'm re-evaluating my goals and I'm going to try and make the senior National team now.

CXO: How'd you get into 'cross?
MG: My first season I didn't buy a road bike, I bought a 'cross bike. When I started racing, I was working co-op at a bike shop, so we had deals on Konas. My coach, Steve Neal, told me I needed to have a road bike. I saw the 'cross bikes and I thought they were cool, so I bought a cyclocross bike and just started doing 'cross.

I was always a runner. I ran the 800m in grade 8, so I knew that I liked running - I've always run, my whole life I’ve run for no reason, really. So that helped me get into ‘cross, too.

That year I won 2-3 'cross races and I won Espoir Provincials in Port Hope. Greg Reain won Provincials that year and we drove together in my car and that's pretty much how we met (he was living in Barrie at the time). I've always been into cyclo-cross for riding, for my training I've never liked getting stuck on the road. I'd jump off the road and do some railtrails or do some singletrack for a bit, then jump back on the road, so the 'cross bike was perfect for me. We've always had some 'cross videos at the house where I train in Barrie and I was always kind of intrigued by it.

This year, ‘cross was kind of an afterthought – last year I didn't do much, and this year my plan was to do a bit again, but one thing led to another - I went to Nationals and did well, so I decided to just do it for real.

CXO: Last October, you went down to Gloucester, was this your first big race?
MG: That was my first big 'cross race ever and that was my first 'cross race of the season. So it was a total shock - I wasn't expecting that at all, the caliber and the depth of the field. But that’s a good way to get your season going, to get your head around that. You learn you have to push harder and that you have to work on 'cross skills.

the top riders can do 'cross skills all day and they stay aerobic

I work on 'cross skills a lot on my own – like mounts and dismounts, but now I know I need to learn some other skills like riding in sand. Next year I’m going to be much better prepared for ‘cross season because I'm going to start doing 'cross specific skills in August and learning how to ride a 'cross bike better. Maybe you've noticed with your training, you can't stay aerobic doing 'cross drills. If you do some drills, riding some sand, or barriers, and you're up right away at least in your tempo zone That’s what I think is different with the top riders is that they can do 'cross skills all day and they stay aerobic. So I'm going to set up a course with a six stair run up, some barriers and maybe a sand section.

CXO: You're going to try and keep it easier so you can stay in your zone?
MG: Yeah, so I can do endurance training on a course. You can do an endurance ride and jump off every once in awhile, but as soon as you're off, your heartrate is going up.

When I watch these guys in the World Cups, you can see that they're staying in their zone. They’re recovering going down the hills. If they're jogging over the barriers, they're just jogging. I think they’re racing a lot different than people think. Everyone thinks you have to pin it, but they’re not, they're paced for an hour time trial, so I think I need to work on some of that stuff.

That's my plan for next year, but for this year I'm going by the seat of my pants.

CXO: You're heading over to Worlds, are you going to do any other races while you're over there?
MG: Right when I get there. I'm flying on the 17th, and then I'm doing a WC (Hoogerheide) on the 21st. So I'm not expecting anything for that. Just looking to experience it, keeping my elbows out and go as hard as I can. I talked to Peter Morse about it and he said to just go as hard as you can and when Sven Nys passes you, just hang on for 10 seconds and learn as much as you can.

CXO: You haven’t raced since Provincials, so what were preparations like for Worlds?
MG: Since Nationals really... I did Nationals and I was super excited with my result and my fitness was great, then I went to Tucson for a road race, which went well, but then I got sick. I was doing races back to back to back. I don’t think I had the foundation for that kind of racing - in 9 weeks, I did 12 races.

I got sick in Tucson and wouldn't have raced Provincials, if it wasn’t Provincials. I figured I might as well and I was happy - I was 5th or 6th... well, no I wasn't really happy with it at all - I wanted to win.

I had a lot of goals this year, but I came up a bit short, but I know why. I know what I did wrong this season and I’m definitely not doing any of those things again.

CXO: Want to share?
MG: Um, No... Some things you learn as you get older. You learn about distractions and you learn what's important. I let myself get distracted this year with things I shouldn’t have.
But... no comment.

Since Provincials, I took a bit of time off because of sickness, then I planned to go into a big base period because I hadn’t worked on endurance for awhile and that went okay for 2 weeks, but the sickness wouldn't go, so I had to take some more time. So now I'm on a get fit quick program, with lots of intervals – 3 days of intervals together. I’ll do ‘cross skills in the morning, then in the afternoon I'll do intervals... Just trying to get in 20 minutes of hard effort into a workout, but we've had tons of snow the last few days at Hardwood – I’ve been riding leaving footprints in the snow with my pedal. It’s been harder to get a workout, but it’s been good for the skills… if we have snow at Worlds I'll be ready.

CXO: They've been a bit warmer this year, not much snow.
MG: Yeah lots of mud, but I'm praying it’s a clean race because I only have one bike.

just want to see what these other riders can do

I’ll do one more stint of intervals, then I’ll be traveling and I have an idea of what I want to do when I’m out there, but mainly I want to ride my bike as much as I can when I get out there. I just to experience it, to be on the course when the top guys are out there. I just want to see what these other riders can do, just to ride behind them.

That's what I did in Gloucester, following Tim Johnson. I was always following him… He came out one time in front of me and looked at me crooked... I told him "Stop following me" - and he pretty much looked at me like "whatever".

I was fortunate enough to go to Europe for Mountain biking when I was an Espoir. I was there with Andrew Watson and when we’d ride with some of the top World cup guys and just be floored. We thought we were pretty good riders, but these guys were total technicians. We came away from that with more experience and able to use those skills. After we came home, I’d remember so and so riding something with slicks and I’d be able to ride similar things in the same manner, since now I know it’s possible.

So, that's what I hope to experience out there, just to ride with those guys.

CXO: After Kelso, Peter Morse was talking about your technical skills... He said he could catch you, but when he was following you downhill, you’d ride away and it was like you had no fear. Where does that come from?

MG: I don’t know…

CXO: What did you do before riding?
MG: I have a very diverse background. I started in Tae Kwon Doe, when I was four. Then gymnastics and I got to a high level, where they wanted me to start coming all the time, and I didn’t want to, so I stopped that when I was 10.

Then track and field, and I did well - I set a field record for the 800m in running, but for the highjump, I couldn't jump.

We’d move every few years and I think it was really good for me, because every time we moved I tried something new. I kind of got out track as a teenager... I did skateboarding and snowboarding everyday, all the time till I was 16 or 17. I think that helped me to develop a lot of my technical skills.

If I don't clean something, I go back until I get it

I’ve always put a lot of emphasis on technical riding. I like to go and work on things and I think that comes from a skateboarding background. Trying things over and over – it extends from skateboarding to my mountain bike - trying to clean something. When I go and ride my mountain bike, if I don't clean something, I go back until I get it – you see others who usually just keep going.
I think about things a lot too… Visualization. A downhill like that corner at Provincials, I'll think about all night.

I’m still not satisfied with my technical riding; because I've seen people ride things better, so I know I can improve.

A diverse background really helps you... When riding gets technical, all the fitness goes out the window. You have to be fit so that you’re not anaerobic and you will be able to focus, but if you have the fitness to get to the technical section…

CXO: Confidence too?
MG: Yeah, I had problems with my (ex?)girlfriend over being too confident...

We're also a very competitive family. We had a pushup contest a few nights ago and my brother beat me by one push-up. It was embarrassing because I made a t-shirt saying “I beat my brother in a pushup contest” and I was planning on wearing it, but it didn’t happen. I haven't done upper body strength for awhile and it shows. We have a rematch in a couple of weeks.

CXO: So while you're in Europe, you'll be training for the push-up contest.
MG: Yep, that’s what I’ll be doing off the bike.
So my family is pretty competitive, my Mom and her husband are into Horse racing. I’ve always been competitive, except for school - I was never competitive for marks.

CXO: What is your goal for the worlds?
MG: I want to say "to not get lapped", but I hear that is a retarded goal. I heard Greg Reain saying that he's going for top-30 and he’s totally right, top-30 is a great performance. But if I finished 5% behind Greg at Nationals and if I’m starting so far behind him, I don’t know if I can even have a goal. Maybe I'll be able to set a better goal after the world cup. I think my goal is to pass people throughout the race. Off the start line it will be fast and I’ll be fighting for my position... That's what I like about Worlds is everyone is a hometown hero from wherever they're from. If I can pass people through the race, I’ll feel like I’m making progress and I’ll be really happy with that.

CXO: Next year do you think you'll focus a bit more on 'cross?
MG: Definitely.

CXO: Any Olympic intentions for mountain biking?
MG: For sure... I’ll be 26 for the 2008 Olympics, so I don’t think its realistic for that year, but for 2012 - I'll be 32 and I think for the amount I’ve been riding and for the years I’ve been in it and if I can keep my head on straight and keep improving, then it is a realistic goal. This year I saw myself in the 3rd group; there is the first group who are definitely Olympic guys. Then there is a second group of all the guys just behind them, like Federau and Plaxton, Kindree and Toulouse. I'm part of the next wave with me, Watson, Sneddon, probably 10 of us, but who knows.

I think if I can make it a real priority in my day when I wake up in the morning that I want to go to the Olympics, I’ll do it.

I don't think I've made it a goal yet in my head. As an Espoir once I wanted to go to worlds, every day, that's all I thought about... I was counting down to that day, but once I made it, it was a kind of letdown – I didn’t know what to do after.

But right now its just time to evaluate. There are more short term goals to accomplish. Senior National Team is a big goal.

CXO: You do some coaching, how has that been going?
MG: Yeah, I coach some kids... Since the year I took of in 2004. I was still living at Hardwood and there was a development program going there that I wanted to be involved in and I knew I wanted to work with kids.

It’s evolved over the last 3 years – I was a part time coach to start; now I'm pretty much the head coach of the devo program at Hardwood. Meeting with them twice a month during the winter and weekly during the summer when I’m around.

CXO: Is it a National Cycling Centre?

they must just stay home and watch TV all the time

MG: It's not a National Cycling Center anymore... Ontario doesn't seem able to sustain two cycling centers. There doesn’t seem to be enough high level riders up there. Well, there is, people like Andrew Watson, Adam Morka, really there are lots of good riders in the area. but they're all a bunch of hosers. I don't know what they do, they must just stay home and watch TV all the time.

They tried for a bit, but there wasn't enough support. If we had have gotten the Olympics, things would have been different – it would’ve been an Olympic site and Hardwood would have been built up. But we didn’t and I still think we’ve got a thing going with these kids.
I'm a level 2 coach now and I'm going to start working on my level 3 at some point, for something to do. It will something I'll be involved in for the rest of my life, but maybe not as a profession.

CXO: Any ideas what you would like to do?
MG: I'd like to be lots of things... I'm interested in Real Estate actually… When I make the National Team, they’ll help with funding towards tuition and for Real Estate, there is a limited amount of training. I can see myself doing that .

Also, I have an idea for a personal business, but that'd probably involve some education and learning as well... I'd like to have a coffee shop/laundrymat together in a town... I'm not going to tell you where though.

You never know though, right, you always say you know what you want to do, but in 5 years you’re doing something completely different.

I'm definitely going to stay with mountain biking for a bit, though.

CXO: What can you tell us about your team and sponsors?
MG: I’ve got lots of people who have been super supportive. The store that I ride out of, Epic Ride and the club I ride with, HBCC. I’ve been based out of HW hills for a long time and they've always been supportive, with a place to ride.

There have been lots of individual people who’ve helped me out - people I know through the store, who have been insanely supportive. I can’t even fathom how supportive some people are. That's the only way that some of us can race our bikes. Like you guys know with the fundraising, you've raised quite a bit of money, but in the grand scheme of things, it's a lot of money to race in Europe.

Kona has been a good sponsor for a long time.

Larry Bell, a Chiropractor in Orillia at Back to Function. This guy brought me back from the dead when my knee was buggered up. He's a smart guy who runs a small practice in Orillia. He goes to all the Olympics and he's worked with tons of big names. He knows what he's doing and, along with Steve Neal, he's structured the way I think and the way I coach.

There has been a lot of people that have supported me and helped me to evolve to who I am.

CXO: Well, good luck at Worlds! We’ll be looking forward to hearing more about your experience there