Kaitie Antonneau trudges through the sand at Worlds. © Bart Hazen
After an amazing 2011-2012 cyclocross season, with a second place at Nationals and a dominant win in the collegiate race, Kaitie Antonneau should have been able to relax and enjoy her spring semester of college. Of course, she still had cyclocross worlds to contend with, and then a collegiate road season. There’s no rest for up-and-coming pros like Kaitie, but she still managed to finish the school year strong, both on the bike and in class. Finally done with school for the semester, Antonneau checked in with us to let us know how her off-season/road season has been going. Hint: pretty darn well.
Cyclocross Magazine: Tell me about Collegiate Nationals! What were you expecting?
Kaitie Antonneau: Collegiate Nationals was really fun! Utah was beautiful and I had an awesome week previewing courses, hanging out with my teammates, and racing! I was expecting to do really well in the TTT with my teammates Jackie Kurth, Sinead Miller, and Coryn Rivera. I had been quite sick at the beginning of the week with a flu bug, so I didn’t really set any individual goals for myself.
CXM: Any other great results so far this road season? What are your goals?
KA: I am happy with how my Collegiate road season went! I haven’t raced anything outside of collegiate yet this season. As for goals, I’m training hard so I can be there to do the jobs assigned to me during races for my team. Just being there is really important to me.
CXM: What’s next for road season?
KA: For road season, I’ll be doing a few races around the Midwest and then Nature Valley and Nationals are on my schedule with Exergy. The rest of the seasons’ races with Exergy are still up in the air, so I’m not sure yet.
CXM: How did the semester finish?
KA: My semester finished really well! I finished with a 3.5 GPA. I’m really excited and proud of that number because doing well in school is really important to me.
CXM: Do you spend more time on schoolwork in spring than in fall?
KA: I take more credits in the Spring than I do in the Fall. I don’t travel as much in the Spring, so it’s not as stressful if I take seventeen or eighteen credits. In the Fall, I take around thirteen, which turns out to be plenty due to all the racing and traveling every weekend.
CXM: Where will you be this summer? Any cool plans?
KA: I’m in Wisconsin right now, which is nice because I haven’t been home in a long time. I’m planning on spending some time in Colorado, Utah, and Oregon for a little while this summer for training and to spend time with friends.
CXM: Will you have any breaks/vacations from riding over the summer?
KA: Last year I got a small break from the bike toward the end of summer and spent that time with my family. I’m not sure what’s on the schedule for that this year though.
CXM: When/how will you start prepping for cyclocross?
KA: In my mind, the things I’m doing right now in my training are going to help me this Fall (both the training and the resting). I think I’ve gotten to a level now where I can’t start training for cyclocross season two months before it starts, like I did when I was a junior. I’m going to do some mountain biking this summer which will help me with my technical skills, and the stage racing on the road is always beneficial.
