Megan Bedard appears to be peaking at the right time.
She's hauled in six consecutive medals as of this writing: four B.C. Cup podiums including a victory, bronze at the Crankworx Whistler Air DH and silver at Nationals in Sun Peaks earlier this month. Now she's on her way to represent Canada at the UCI Mountain Bike World Championships.
It's quite the reversal of fortune for a 17-year-old who often found herself grounded in 2023, her first proper race season.
"Last year I did not have a good time, so I'm just happy to come in this year, know how to ride my bike confidently, be able to get down the track and have fun," Bedard said. "My mindset really changed…if I'm having fun with all my girls, and if I really just love what I'm doing, I'm going to get the result that I want.
"If you say you just want to win and you don't get the result you would like, you're going to try to go faster and crash. I wouldn't use my brakes when I needed them, and just ended up crashing before my race runs."
Growing in confidence
Bedard was inspired to take up mountain biking by her twin brother, Ryan. Around 13 years of age, she bought her first downhill bicycle—an old, ratchety GT Fury—to engage in the Whistler Blackcomb (WB) DFX kids' program. As a former gymnast, Bedard feels that experience on balance beams and uneven bars helped her progress in her current sport.
"When you're riding and you come to a scary feature, you learn a lot from gymnastics on how to work through your mental blocks," she said. "And knowing how to fall in gymnastics really helps me. I don't want to put my hands out when I crash, or else I could break an arm. I want to roll out from my biking crashes."
ZEP Racing has also factored heavily into Bedard's development. She was shy and green in equal measure last year, intimidated by faster teammates and opponents, but sound coaching has brought her out of her shell.
Bedard is one of only two girls currently on ZEP's roster in her division. The other one doesn't train in Whistler, meaning she usually rides with a bevy of boys. Although many young ladies prefer the companionship of female peers in sport, Bedard has acclimated to being around guys and even credits them for helping her in specific ways.
"They've grown on me, and they push me to go faster," said Bedard. "I feel like all of us girls who compete in the same category want to have fun, and we all just end up taking the same line down the trail. But there's so many guys…they all have different line choices, and it's whatever suits you. Having a different opinion on line choice really sets you apart from the group, and I'm going to go for the guys' lines to see if they work out better for me."
Adrenaline rush
In any case, Bedard didn't think she would podium at Nationals.
She was shocked to place first in seeding amidst a deep field of promising Canadian talent. She raised even more eyebrows by winning a silver medal as one of only three junior women to break the six-minute mark.
If not for an ill-timed mishap, Bedard would have struck gold.
"The weather was so terrible. It would hail, rain, snow, and then be sunny," she said. "There were these two flat corners at the end of the race run, and I slipped out, and all the pros slipped out there too. I should have gone slower in those corners, but since I had adrenaline running, I was going so fast.
"Sometimes I talk to myself and hype myself up when I take a tumble. The guys got a video. It's funny, but I was just so upset."
It took Bedard a while to realize she'd just qualified for Worlds. The first-year junior intends to put her best foot forward, but also hopes to enjoy herself and meet lots of athletes from abroad.
"I have no clue what I should expect, so I'm just hoping all the girls and guys—because they're older than me—can be role models for me," she said.
The 2024 UCI World Championships will be held from Aug. 28 to Sept. 1 in Pal Arinsal, Andorra. View the full Canadian roster here.
