Ask Anneke – The Beerten Interview

You asked for more Ask Anneke so here it is; an interview where she shares hew thoughts on her career, training, and ‘what size wheels’ for enduro…

ST: How would you sum up your career so far?

AB: My whole cycling career? Pretty amazing. If I stand still and look back on it it’s been really cool. I started at the age of four with BMX, got junior world championships there, then went on to downhill and even got a World Cup podium with a fifth place in Switzerland one time, and then I moved to 4X. 4X was really hard in the beginning, I absolutely sucked; couldn’t even qualify at some races, but then ended up winning the World Championships after a lot of years. That was definitely a dream come true. I looked for a new challenge, and I’ve definitely found that in enduro. I can’t wait to win at that one day.

ST: You’ve had really consistent results this year

AB: That was my main goal, because last year I was so inconsistent. Some races I could put it together and others I was totally off. The one thing with enduro is being constent. Also this year all the other girls were really consistent so that made the racing very steady. So consistency is one thing I really got under control.

ST: So with you coming from the Netherlands, and racing downhill, where have you been training?

AB: Last winter was the first year I’ve really had that dialled. I bought a little apartment in the US, in California. So I spent most of my winter in California, partly close to Laguna and Brian Lopes’ stuff, and partly up with Specialized. Riding in Santa Cruz and training with Specialized. It’s kind of funny when people hear I’m from Holland and racing in a downhill discipline.

ST: And in summer, how does your training change?

AB: I like to do a lot of races, because I think a lot of racing makes me stronger and faster. This year might have been a little bit too much, I did a lot of racing and it’s hard to recover. Enduro is such a hard thing, it’s such a long weekend on the bike so I have to balance that out a bit for next year. But one of my things this year was to ride and race more to learn enduro, as it’s all about experience. Anne Caro and Tracy have so much experience in this kind of riding and I’ve had absolutely none. I’ve gone from 45 seconds racing (in 4X) last year to a minimum of four hours this year. So the plan was to race a lot, ride a lot, and try and have fun.

ST: I guess after you’ve trained your body for sprint style racing there’s a bit of recalibration and refocus needed for enduro

AB: 4X you could compare to a lot of BMX training; a lot of power and sprint training. I did endurance but really I didn’t go over two hours on the bike for a road ride. So I changed my whole programme, my gym programme has changed, a lot more circuit and interval training and a lot more endurance. I’ve mixed in some cross country races and stuff like that. I think I’m still adjusting to that, you can’t easily be a road racer if you’ve done a lot of track. It takes a year or two to change that. It’s definitely getting there.

ST: So next year that podium has got to be within reach.

AB: Yeah definitely. I’ve felt faster and faster throughout this year and I’ve felt really close and I know what I’ve got to improve on. I’m still not super strong when it comes to putting the power down especially on the uphills. I still need to work on that. I just need to get a little more track speed downhill.

ST: You’re one of the few people racing a 29er on the World Enduro Series. Do you see that as an advantage?

AB: Definitely on some tracks. This year we had some stages where, without question, a 29er is faster. But when you come to, for example, Whistler and in Italy you can start to doubt that a little bit. I want to do some more testing this winter, I’m going to set it up with Specialized and we’re going to back to back testing, I really want to know what the clock tells me, every rider is different and what you feel best on is what you should ride. I rode 27.5 in Whistler, and it was awesome, but then went back to the 29er where the courses more suited that. For the last race I stayed with the 29er because if you keep switching it just becomes a mind game. So this winter I’m going to spend time on both and let’s see how many switchbacks it takes for the 29er to be slower. It’s got to be a mx of what the clock tells you and what you feel comfortable on.

ST: We’ve asked a lot of racers what makes enduro special, so now it’s your turn to share.

AB: I think what makes it special is it’s kind of an adventure, it’s something you can do where you’re all friends. In Whistler we all struggled to the top of one of the stages and everyone was helping each other out, making sure everyone had water and food. We’re competitors but at the end of the day we all want to finish the ride, and when you do finish it’s very emotional. I remember finishing at Whistler and just wanting to cry. The same at Finale, it was such a big day, people don’t see what we do in between the stages, it’s like a marathon race, you’ve got to be fit for enduro. I really enjoy the suffering, when you get to look back. And there’s such a big variety between all the events. At the end you really have the best mountain biker in the world.

ST: And where do you think it’s heading?

AB: It’s going to grow, for sure. I think it’s the mainstream of mountain biking. There’s more and more series coming and there’s more and more interest too. The Enduro World Series is such a good event, it reaches so many places, and we get to ride with people from all over the world. We get to race in amazing places, you get to find out there’s so many people who ride in chile, who knew? It’s so cool you can finally go to those continents and ride with all those people. I think that’s really cool.

Photos: Sim Mainey