While they call Orillia home, the bike has taken the Holmgren family around the world – training, racing, winning medals and making memories.

With dad Rob Holmgren being a Cyclocross National Team Coach, his wife Lisa a physiotherapist and coach and three out of their five children racing for the National Team, the entire family has developed a profound love for the sport over the years.

“The girls [Isabella and Ava], Gunnar, myself and my wife race road, mountain bike and [cyclo]cross, but predominately mountain and ‘cross,” explains Rob. “Our other two kids don’t ride anymore; they did at one point, but they do their own thing now.”

Like most families, traditions started early when the children were still little. Wednesday nights were reserved for riding, not only to help them get some energy out after school, but also to spend time as a family. What started out as a fun activity quickly turned into a passion for the whole family.

“For the kids, their first exposure would have been the Hardwood Wednesday Night Series, so that was a weekly ordeal,” said Rob. “Kind of like a pizza night. We would do the race, and then have ice cream after. It was fun that way. When everyone was old enough, there was a lot more travel involved with O-Cups and Tremblant which have always been a big race for the family. And then when they started racing in the States for ‘cross, that’s been five years
maybe, those became family trips as well.”

While they transmitted their passion for cycling to their kids, Rob and Lisa both got into the sport as a means of getting from point A to point B and only began racing later in life. “My sister bought her first mountain bike in ’87 and I bought my own the next summer with money I earned from summer jobs and that’s when it all began. There was a local organizer in Montebello, Quebec who was putting races on. I did a couple of those and got hooked.”

From there, Rob realized that his love for the sport would never fade and decided to become a coach in the late ‘90’s, never looking back. While part of the journey has been building a career that revolves around his passion, another important part has been witnessing his kids represent Canada and win medals on the world stage.

Just this past year, the Holmgrens have seen plenty of success nationally and internationally, with Ava becoming Pan American Junior Champion, Gunnar claiming two top-10 finishes on the U23 Mountain Bike World Cup circuit and all three children plus mom Lisa winning medals at the 2021 Canadian MTB Championships.

“They’ve always done well racing in Canada and the States for ‘cross. To go over as first-timers and to race their peers and even the Elite field at Christmas Cross is impressive. Both girls had a really good race at Hulst with Ava finishing with the lead lap and both girls hanging on. It’s pretty cool that everything they’ve done up until now has led to this and to see them realize that they certainly belong here.”

While his kids’ success has been thrilling to watch, one of Rob’s fondest memories was being able to travel internationally as a family and getting to experience the world together. The one trip that sticks out the most was a training camp in Girona.

“We were there for the month of February; Gunnar was there training and doing his own thing but he would join us as our ride guide so to speak. The girls were training and my wife was a coach with the OCA for a couple of weeks as well. That was pretty awesome. That was the girls first time travelling to Europe, with the bike bags and all that stuff and they managed to do it pretty much on their own. They learned to live with others – I mean I was there, but I wasn’t there as dad, I was there as their coach. It was awesome to sit back and watch the different relationships with the different athletes and coaches evolve. Girona is a pretty magical place.”

While the family is constantly on the go with travel, training and racing, it’s also the common denominator that keeps them connected and allows them to constantly improve within the sport by pushing one another. The bike has had such a profound impact on the Holmgrens, showing the power that cycling can have not only on an individual basis but for families as well.

Cycling Canada is looking to highlight other pillars of the community and share their story! If you know a volunteer, club, coach or cycling enthusiast who deserves to be recognized, please fill out this form.

By Sharleen Hoar, PhD., CMPC

Sharleen Hoar is a Mental Performance Consultant and a member of the Canadian Sport Psychology Association with post graduate training in sport psychology, sport science and psychology.

My first experience meeting a mental performance consultant (MPC) came at a national figure skating camp. I was 15 years old and had been selected to attend based on my results in the provincial competition the previous fall. I remember the gentleman was older and kind. He asked me to complete a questionnaire that was to alert me to my mental strengths and weaknesses. It was a pleasant exchange and I think that I was surprised at how the questionnaire could reveal so much about myself that I didn’t really have words for. But that was the last time I would have the opportunity to meet with a mental performance consultant despite continuing with the sport competitively for another three years.

When sport psychology concepts are applied to performance, the term used is “mental performance”, which is understood as the capability with which individuals use cognitive processes (such as attention, decision-making, perception, memory, reasoning), and mental/self-regulation competencies (e.g., knowledge and skills) to perform in their changing environment. Examples of competencies include goal setting, planning, motivation, self-confidence, arousal/emotion/attentional control, imagery, resilience, self-talk, stress management, communication, leadership, and evaluation.

Thus, mental performance is focused on developing mental competencies, much like a strength and conditioning coach is focused on developing muscular strength and endurance. Sometimes I like to refer to mental training as “brain training”. It’s taking your mind to a “mind gym” with the intention of engaging in ways of thinking, feeling and/or behaving to develop the neural circuits needed to execute movements automatically.

Let me provide you with an example of mental performance training. It is normal for cyclists to feel pain while riding at the upper limits of their physical capacity. This results from a physiological mechanism that is directed from the brain to protect the body from injury. In other words, this a biological “hard wiring” phenomenon. However, the pain that one can withstand differs across riders. That is, some cyclists can ride with more pain for longer periods of time compared to other riders. Why is this? There are many theories to describe this phenomenon including psychological.

Sport psychology research demonstrates that riding with others can distract the attention to the pain, enabling the cyclist to push harder for a longer period of time. Other research demonstrates that stating positive words, that are regarded as authentic truths, such as “[your name] is a fast rider”, “[your name] will push to the top of this hill”, “[your name] dances on these pedals” and the like contributes to perseverance, increased problem-solving, higher levels of effort, and, in many instances, increased performance.

The crux of mental performance training is that it needs to be practiced regularly, every day. These mental competencies often are not our “natural” way of doing things. When we feel pain, we want to stop. That’s natural. However, during racing, when you are pushing your limits, when it matters to you most, you want your brain to search for those positive words to get that extra bit of physiological capacity or muscular power that you’ve trained.

Top performing athletes are healthy, happy, and physically competent to meet the demands of the competition. The mind works with the body to produce performance. I wish I had known this when I figure skated and strived to compete at the highest level in my chosen sport. I spent so much time on the ice physically training while disregarding how I was training my mind. The growth of the field and the number of professionals that athletes can now access is a testament to the importance of mental performance training for athletic performance. I feel fortunate to be working with Cycling Canada to support athletes, coaches, and staff at their stages of development on their cycling journey.