Maghalie Rochette Would Rather Go Full-Gas on a Bike Than Worry About Eating Cake

From Bicycling

For Canadian cyclocross star Maghalie Rochette, spending quality time off the bike is just as critical to her success as working hard in the saddle. At home in Quebec, the 26-year-old fills her downtime with cooking, woodworking, tending to her chickens and beehives, and going on easy runs in the woods.

“When I’m happy and not depriving myself of anything, I feel really good mentally and physically in races,” she told Bicycling.

Heading into the 2020 Cyclocross World Championships in Dübendorf, Switzerland, earlier this month, Rochette, who won the Canadian cyclocross national championships in 2016 and 2018, felt fully prepared to go for the win. “My races leading up to the world championships kept getting better and better, so I felt ready to go,” she said.

Unfortunately, she came down with a bad cold the day of the race and fell off her game, finishing in 14th.

“That’s just cyclocross, though,” she said. “Part of the challenge is dealing with bad days. It wasn’t the race I wanted, but I’m just using it as motivation for next season.”

With her cyclocross season wrapped up, Rochette is currently taking some time off in Canada. Over the past few months, she trained hard at her parents’ vacation home in Tucson, Arizona, where the climate was much more conducive to riding.

“We have a foot of snow here, so biking outside is not really an option,” she said. Instead of logging her typical double of a four-hour morning ride and a 45-minute run in the afternoon, she’s now focused on spending time with her family and exploring other hobbies.

“I’ve always loved cooking and eating,” she said, “Whenever I’m stretching at night, I usually browse cookbooks for recipe inspiration. I love baking bread, and I like getting creative with whatever produce is in season.”

Rochette describes her diet as fresh, simple, and mostly made from scratch. When she’s training hard, she makes sure to listen to her body for signs that it needs more protein, carbs, or fluids that day. And she also listens to her cravings for sweets, such as cake or ice cream.

“If there’s cake around, I’m going to eat it. I love cake. I’d rather spend my energy going full-gas on the bike than worrying about whether or not to eat cake,” she said.

Here, Rochette shares how she typically fuels for a day of training.

Eggs and Toast for Breakfast

I don’t need an alarm to get up—I always wake up around 7 a.m. Sometimes I’ll do an easy morning jog on the trails before I eat, but if I’m doing a harder bike session that morning, I’ll skip the run and have breakfast. I’m usually really hungry when I wake up.

My boyfriend makes us coffee—my favorite drink is a cortado, which is espresso and steamed milk—while I cut up whatever fruit is in season. I usually avoid citrus fruits before a hard workout because the acid hurts my stomach. Then I’ll make eggs, which we get each day from our four chickens. I’ll have two eggs with a slice of my homemade sourdough toast, fruit, and coffee, plus water with Nuun.

On-the-Go Muffins During a Long Ride

If I’m doing a longer endurance workout, such as a four- or five-hour ride, I’ll pack homemade muffins from home in my jersey. Since we make so much sourdough bread, we try to use the extra sourdough starter to make all kinds of muffins. If I’m doing a shorter ride, I’ll take a Clif Kids’ Z bar—which I can digest super easily—a few sleeves of Clif Bloks, and two water bottles—one with a sports drink and one with water and Nuun. I’ll snack on the Clif Bloks in between my intervals.

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Colorful, Energy-Boosting Salads in the Afternoon

Once I’m home from my workout, I’ll throw together a big salad with seasonal vegetables from the farmer’s market, hard-boiled eggs, cheese, and an oil-based dressing. I try to make my salads as colorful as possible. And of course, I have a piece of sourdough bread on the side. My lunch fills me up just enough to have energy for my second workout of the day—which is usually a running workout, like a tempo run or hill sprints—without weighing me down.

Harvesting Honey Straight from the Backyard

After my second workout, I immediately make a Clif recovery shake. I have the same thing after I finish racing—it holds me over until I can have a real meal. Along with the shake, I also have a snack while I’m cooking dinner, such as crackers with cheese or yogurt with berries, granola, and honey. Last July, we set up two beehives in our backyard, and so far we’ve harvested 25 pounds of honey.

Homemade Pizza for Dinner

At dinnertime, my boyfriend and I love to get creative with our meals. We don’t have one staple meal we eat each week, because we like to switch it up so much. Sometimes we’ll do barbecued chicken with roasted vegetables, or a salad with goat cheese, figs, and prosciutto and bread on the side.

One of our favorite dinners is homemade sourdough pizza with a mix of different topping combinations. I love a simple pizza with tomatoes, good mozzarella, and basil, but sometimes we get fancy. I recently made my own spruce oil by soaking fresh spruce tips in olive oil for two weeks—it came out smelling just like pine trees. We used the spruce oil on a woodsy-inspired pizza, with mushrooms, garlic, cheese, and pine nuts. It was delicious!

Listen to What Your Body Is Craving

I don’t have dessert every night, but when I’m out with friends who are getting ice cream, I’m going to get ice cream. The same thing goes for cake—if it’s there, I’ll have it. At home, my boyfriend and I sometimes bake cookies, but most nights I just have a few squares of dark chocolate. If I’m hungry before bed, I’ll listen to my body to see what it’s craving—sometimes that’s sugar, and sometimes it’s protein—and give it that.

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