Deer Valley XC

You know your hurting from the altitude when your soft pedaling and your heart rate is up into the hard working zone. The start of the the cross country course is at about 8000ft, and there is a fair bit of climbing each lap. Off the start I settled into what I thought was a good hard pace, but was quickly left in the dust, literally, as I found myself in about 15th by the top of the first major climb and hurting. With decending definitely being my strong point, I was able to recover somewhat and settle in again. Each lap I started to find my groove a little more, and maybe my "slow" start was good, because I was able to pick off a number of positions.

Going into the last half of the third and last lap, I was sitting in 8th position with Luna rider Chloe Forsman and Trek rider Jenny Smith just in front of me. Up the last gradual climb, I clawed my way up to them and managed to gun it past Chloe and catch up to Jenny by the top. But I'd missed my last good chance for anymore passing. The remaining couple of klicks was predominately downhill (my forte), so I just calmly road behind Jenny waiting to see if she'd slip up or blow a corner (I mean, you can't make an aggressive pass on your own teammate). She road super cleanly to the finish and she finished 6th and I finished 7th ..awesome.

After my race, I had a quick cool down spin with Catharine who pulled off a great 3rd place in the Luna train at the front...congrats...oh yeah, I must mention the fact that she's officially been named to the Canadian team for the Olympic games!!!!!!!

Then cleaned up half assed and ran up the hill to feed and support Dallas in his first NMBS race ever!!! Racing against guys like Geoff Kabush is a whole new experience and it's tough to know what to expect. He raced hard and definitely felt the effects of the altitude...I'm super proud of him for giving it all he had today.

Just finished a nice lovely ice bath...I'm pretty cooked right now...going to rest up and try to hit the short track hard tomorrow...it's supposed to be a really tough course...yippee :)

Park City

Wooooowwwieeee.....the course in Park City is definitely fun. After 10 hours of driving yesterday, from Helena, Montana to Park City, Utah, we finally got lycraed up and went for a ride at 7:30 pm....just as the weather was starting to come back down to bearable....30ish.
The course is long with lots of really windy tight and flowy single track, which is how mountain bike riding should be. Start off with a long climb up the side of the main artery of the Deer Valley ski hill, once you hit the top, you decend for what feel like 20 mins. It's going to be tough for racing though, because it's so tight and no room for passing..oh well, have to just enjoy the trip. The base elevation at Park City is about 7200ft, which you can definitely feel right off the bat....

Just enjoying a coffee and heading out for another spin of the course.

Road Trip

This afternoon, Dallas and I are heading out, driving down south to Deer Valley, Utah for the fourth stop on the NMBS series tour. I'm checking out the forcast for the area, 32 degrees and sunny, all the while looking out my window at the solid stream of rain beating down....yes, I'm excited to go south. From all accounts,I've heard that the riding in that area is absolutely amazing, so that pumps the excitment level up another notch. Oh yeah, not to mention the pink shorts I'm supposed to pick up to match my Trek jersey..no more looking like a giant valentines card, though the red and pink combo was kind of starting to grow on me.

This past weekend was the Suffer Springs race in K-country, the hardest and funnest (I don't know if that's a realy word) 2 hour race course around. The elite men and women and expert men and women all started at the same time, so the narrow start was a pretty hectic. It was cool getting to ride with some of the people that you don't usually ride with. The first lap I got to watch as a Hardcore rider in front of me lost his front wheel in a huge bog and endoed into the mud...always great for entertainment :)

My dad raced and broke his goal of two hours for two laps...great job poppa. And congrats to fellow Terrascapers Jeff Neilson and Nicole Muzechka for their wins in their respective categories. Thanks to the Deadgoats for hosting the race!!!

Off to finish my packing, and printing off my resume....I'm going to try to learn how to sell myself this weekend to teams like Trek and Luna, so I can support my biking habit...wish me luck.

Worlds Start List???

Not sure what this is all about....

http://www.mtb-live.com/EN/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=57&Itemid=1

"A Letter to the CCA ..."

Very well put Daniel Sessford.

http://www.pedalmag.com/index.php?module=Section&action=viewdetail&item_id=13619

Thanks from me and many other canadian cyclists!!!

Oakley

Steve Blick from Oakley was super nice enough to help me out and set me up with two new sets of really awesome glasses (after complaining that my eyes were sore in the blazing California sun ...though the blue iridium lenses of my Radars are super stellar for the treed areas. Here I’m sporting the new women’s fit Enduring Edge in a sexy cinder red (both the Luna girls are sporting the Enduring Pace, which has the rounded lens versus the curved lens of the Edge).. they are super comfortable, lightweight and awesome for riding or even just bumming around. I was told the lenses have a hydrophobic coating (which repels water), it’s really neat because the water just beads up on the lens when it rains instead of coating the whole lens and making it impossible to see. The women’s line of glasses has slightly narrower frames designed to fit the narrower faces of women..yippee. The second set I received are the ultra cool casual Script, and I have to say I like these. Mine have the Cappuccino frame (perfect for a coffee lover) with the brown gradient lens…love them! Perfect accessory for any podium shot or coffee run.

Check them out.. http://www.oakley.com/

Canmore Iron Lung

Canmore is always a super cool place to ride and race, and this past weekend's Alberta Cup (Iron Lung) course didn't fail us...even in the rain it was lots of fun. Thanks to the organizers for the great event and thanks to all the other racers, spectators and feeders that came out and braved the weather.

This is a neat pic that Patrick took (aka Lungsnot)...love it (though my helmet always seems to be a little off center :)

Hardwood Hills Canada Cup

My "rest" week of no crazy flights, driving or worrying about school was just exactly what I needed. I woke up Sunday morning feeling great and super excited to race..only to look outside to see Barrie engulfed in a cloud. Warm-up was chilly and there was a constant mist that kept everything cold and wet.

Off the start, Jean-ann McKirdy took the lead and pulled up the first km of wood chipped doubletrack. I was feeling really good and punched it a little and entered the first bit of single track just a head of Jean-ann. Cyclocrossed over the first wet rock and held an easy but constant lead through into the second set of singletrack....then all of a sudden I was ripped off my bike...what the?? My shoulder is really sore....oh no...I've totally ripped the shoulder out of my favorite jersey on a tree...oh well, no time to worry about it right now....back on the bike and in line with Jean-ann and Emily Batty.

For the first two laps the three of us ride together, taking our turns to pull through different sections and trying to put as much time on Amanda Sin as possible. Amanda is super good at coming from behind and closing gaps. Entering into the third lap I'm feeling pretty good and punch it for about 30 seconds and open up a gap from the other two girls. Jean-ann reacts and pulls through and now it's just the two of us.

By this time we've been caught by some really anxious juniors...many of which are starting to blow and we end up getting stuck behind in the singletrack....arg. The mist is still in the air, and while racing it keeps the temperature great, and the trail in perfect shape (no puddles but keeps the sandy course really tacky), but the roots are pretty slippery and some are pretty tough to navigate.

Going into the fourth and final lap Jean-ann pulls through for the feed zone and I hop on her wheel. Up the first hill I roll up beside her and hear that she's breathing pretty hard so I decide go. I pull in front of her and push the pace. I look over my shoulder and see that Jean-ann has grabbed my wheel and holding on, so I put my head down and keep trying to accelerate up the last crest into the first single track. I can feel my lungs and legs starting to burn, but I'm determined to make my attack stick so I keep pushing. Coming out of onto the double track I venture a peek over the shoulder and see that I'm starting to put some space between us. Slowly I'm able to pull away and with this course it's totally "out of sight, out of mind", but the time gaps are always very close. I end up riding the last lap by myself, but never feeling very comfortable because it's so easy to make one little mistake or slip up can make or break your race. My goal for the last 20 mins is just to ride a clean but solid race and keep trying to put power into the pedals.

I come around the last couple of corners, down the BMX course and through the finish...managing to ride a clean last lap and hold my lead of only 37 seconds over Jean-ann. Yippee.....my first time on the top at Hardwood, and third Canada Cup win...I'm definitely happy (need practise opening champange though). Emily and Amanda are not far behind in third and fourth.

I'm heading home for a couple of weeks, which I'm totally ecstatic about, to rebuild and get ready for nationals and the second half of the season...and spend some time with my neglected boyfriend, family and friends.