Sunday 28 June 2009

DAY ! !!!! BC BIKE RACE

Super crazy awesome trails on the north shore..hehe, Jeff and I had huge s*^! eating grins the whole day. Day 1 starts up MT Seymour, good little road climb through a residental neighborhood off the start. Holy Moly, I can't believe how hard and fast we started and for how long. I was pinned just trying to stay with Jeff...he was rocking it today :) We managed to stay with the lead group to the whole shot, just behind Georgia and Ryan (Lune and Kona)..right where we needed to be. From there we settled in and had a great ride.

The downhills were super gnarly..hehe, yup very gnarly. I've never had the pleasure of riding this kind of terrain, and it's not like anything I've ever riden before. The first downhill was something else, I thought I was going to kill myself, getting bucked around like crazy. After struggling and fighting the bike with all my strength, I was finally able to get into the groove and things started flowing much better.

Hammering the finish Jeff and I finished a solid 2nd place in just under 2 hours, behind Georgia and Ryan, and just ahead of Sandra Walter and her partner. The finish and tent city is set up in Lynn Valley. Tomorrow is an early morninng ferry ride to Naniamo and 70km up to Parksville. Jeff is riding amazing and it's really cool to be able to ride out here with him.

Can't wit for supper time ... hehe ... love it.

Thursday 25 June 2009

2 days to go....

And leaving tomorrow morning for the BC Bike Race :)

cool pic from David Roberts (Hardcore) at Edmonton Canada Cup

Monday 22 June 2009

Canmore

pic courtesy of the infamous Patrick Graham


Alright, I'm a little slow on this post, I know, but I've got excuses...I was riding my bike. Canmore Canada Cup was on Sat, always an awesome race, love the course. Sunday did a wicked 3 hour (riding time) mountain bike ride with Jeff Nielson (my BC Bike Race partner) and we didn't get rained on once. And monday, today, did a 3.5 hour city commute running errands and waiting for the $1349 bill for car maintinence...yikes. I guess the howling my car was making was the loose wheel bears and the reason my car overheated in traffic was a blown fan motor....who knew it would cost that much. So needless to say I just got back from an awesome core class that helped me crunch away my car frustrations in the now infamous and very painful "muffin top" workout.





Back to sunday, I had a great race, really can't complain about. Though I am in full favor of weight categorizing .... at 165 pounds (still can't shake the camp pounds...mmmmm apple pie) I've got at least 50 pounds on most of the other women in my field...I totally think I should be allowed a head start up the climb, especially on a course with this much climbing.





Off the start Danelle Kabush took the lead up the open climb, I managed to tuck in behind her. But I knew that my best chance for doing well in the race was to be first into the single track decent, so I pushed hard into the second corner (maybe going a little too early...but hey, you never know) and took the lead. I even managed a little gap :) but not for long. Shortly after entering into the double track climb, Emily moved around me and pushed the pace. I managed to hold onto second going into the decent, but Emily had put a pretty good gap inbetween us. A quick glance over my should showed the tall lanky Karine Travaillaud from Quebec not far behind. The high speed technical decents of Canmore seem to be a strong point for me, and I was able to put a little time into Emily and a fair bit of time onto Karine, but not enough to catch Emily or completely shake Karine.





As we crested Georgetown Karine had closed the gap to me, I managed to again put a little time on her through the technical section at the top, but on the open gravel just before the start finish, she passed me. I have to say, I suffered alot just trying to stay in touch with her as long as I could up the climb, but it wasn't long bef0re she opened a gap to which I couldn't close. At the bottom of Georgetown, Emily was still within our sights, and it actually looked like Karine was going to catch her on the climb. I am really amazed with how well that girl climbs....if only... :)





Part way up the main climb on the final lap, 3Rox rider "Fudge" passed me. I had seen her slowly gaining on me during the previous lap. As she passed me, I grabbed another gear to try to stick with her, and shortly thereafter she fumbled with her waterbottle and had to get off to grab it. She was off and back on really quickly, but I managed to pass her and pushed the pace again to hold her off to the top of the climb and into the decent. I had a really solid downhill on my last lap and managed to put a good enough gap to hold onto third place all the way to the finish.





Although I wasn't able to defend my title, I was actually pretty surprised I was only 2 mins 35 back from Emily and 1 min 07 back from Karine. Good weekend again for the Trek Toronto Team, with two women on the podium, 1st and 3rd, Adam 6th, Peter 7th and Eric 12th. As well, super good weekend for Terrascape racing :) Jeff Nielson 1st Expert Men, Alana Heise 1st Expert Women, Nicole Muzechka 3rd Expert Women, Lisa Le Poole 9th Expert Women.

Thursday 18 June 2009

Not drinking the water anymore...

too many of my friends are prego!!!!!

Congrats to everyone, you know who you are :)

Sunday 14 June 2009

Awesome Event

I just wanted to start off with a huge thanks to the Edmonton gang that organized the first Edmonton Canada Cup this past weekend. The course was awesome, the venue was great, the atmosphere was cool...overall a really great cycling event. Too bad to everyone that didn't come out, you definitely missed out.

And the weather was stellar, hot and humid 28 degrees, okay, maybe a little hot, but I'm definitely not complaining after all the rain and snow I've managed to find lately. The race was down in the river valley near the Kinsmen Center in a beautiful park. Mixing a little paved cycling trail with really neat and fun single track. There wasn't a whole lot of climbing, but the climbing there was was really steep. Nothing like an 16% grade start to get things rolling.

We had a pretty small womens field of only 14 elites, but it was pretty stiff comp none the less. I have to say, I'm really impressed with the calibre of the women's field in the Canada this year, there are some really strong ladies coming out of the north, makes racing the Canada Cups very exciting.

Off the start, Joele Guynup took the hole-shot and lead up the steep soft wood chip climb, and then up the even steeper pavement climb. As we crested the top, Emily moved into the lead and I managed to slide my way in behind her. Like the previous Canada Cup in Hardwood, Emily set a hard pace and I worked hard to stay with her. We jockeyed back and forth for the first lap, working together to put a gap on the rest of the field. Going into the second lap up the start climb I found myself in a little too large of a gear and when Emily jumped past me I couldn't quiet match her pace, and she managed to put a little gap on me.

From there on in it was again a game of cat and mouse. I would reel her in slightly through some sections only to have her extend the gap again in other sections. I managed to keep her within 45 seconds through out the entire race, and within sight through most of it. Half way through the course there was a really technical drop with a pretty sketchy roll out at the bottom. During pre-riding, including a run of it first thing in the morning, I only managed a 50% success rate of cleaning the drop...two good crashes on it left me a little scared of it. On the first lap riding with Emily we both ran the drop, which I actually found pretty difficult too, and left you running the next hill just to get momentum back up before hoping on the bike, so the last three laps I decided to ride the drop...heck I needed all the extra seconds I could just to stay in contact with Emily. I managed to clean it each time, though not very pretty mind you, nothing like closing your eyes, taking your hands off the breaks and pointing your bike downhill..hehe, just joking.

My last lap I actually felt pretty strong and charged hard with everything I had. Along the closing straight, which was about 1 km of gravel path, I could see Emily up ahead and could tell I was making good time on her....but it wasn't enough and I finished 17 seconds down. Definitely not complaining though, it was the best race that I've had all season so far, finally feel recovered from Steve's crazy intervals, and kind of feel strong :)

Joanna Harrington from Whistler finished 3rd (three Trek bikes on the top three spots..hehe, just had to point that out), Catherine Vipond (Norco) finished 4th and fellow Fort McMurrayite Kate Ardal (Hardcore) finished 5th. I just wanted to send out my best wishes to Jean Ann McKirdy (Local Ride) who took a pretty nasty spill on the nasty drop, hope you have a speedy recovery.

On the mens side, teammates Eric Batty finished 5th, Adam Morka finished 14th and Cam Jette finished 17th...good job guys. It was also great to see local guy Tim Heemskerk back on the scene with a third place....riding a Trek ..hehe.

It was unfortunately my first race of the season back in Alberta, I have to admit I really miss the Alberta crowd, so it was super cool getting to see everyone and catch up a bit...more time for that this weekend in Canmore. Big thanks to my parents for feeding, the definitely earned their "Mom and Dad" spot on the Trek Toronto Store jersey, yup it's really there :) And thanks for everyone that put the event on and everyone that stayed to cheer us on. Hope to see everyone again this weekend.

Tomorrow....dr's office, gotta find out whats wrong with my ear/jaw....blender food isn't appealing, but taking an hour to eat my salad is a little ridiculous.

Tuesday 9 June 2009

Back in town...for a little

It seems everywhere I go, I bring the rain and snow and hail.....and this morning was yet again another day of nasty weather. Though things seem to be looking up, started my ride at noon in about 9 degrees and rain, finished 2 hours later at 13 degrees and sun, and BBQ'ed at 6pm at 22 degrees...crazy Calgary weather for ya.

After the Hardwood Hills Canada Cup, I spent a week in Winnipeg visiting Garrett and putting on some wet miles. You know what's absolutely amazing, my heart rate monitor tracks elevation, when I downloaded my files from my rides in Winnipeg, there is absolutely no relief....I can't believe how flat everything is. Really quite good for recovery riding, though the wind can make it feel like you're climbing a 16% grade at times.

Just finished unpacking my bike and giving it a really, really, really good cleaning, much needed too. Supposed to be getting a hardtail this week, just in time for the Edmonton Canada Cup. It's been a couple of years since I've raced a hardtail, here's hoping to remembering how...it's like riding a bike right.

This weekend Edmonton Canada Cup
Next weekend Canmore Canada Cup
Next weekend - the next weekend BC Bike Race - really excited about this one ;)

Thursday 4 June 2009

Crossfit

So as part of my recovery I thought it might be a good idea to meet up with my coach Steve Neal at his gym and go over some Crossfit technique/exercises two days after the Hardwood Hills Canada Cup, and a day after a 3 1/2 hour mtb ride which included getting lost (big surprise with me) in the forest....Peter, you said it couldn't happen on those trails, I proved you wrong. I just wanted to say thanks to Steve for putting me through the most gruelling strength workout I've done in a long time...it was awesome. And thanks to Stef for letting me join you in her workout.

Check out http://www.crossfitorangeville.com/

Killer...I'm still sore.

Monday 1 June 2009

Hardwood Hills Canada Cup 2009

Yesterday was the 2009 Hardwood Hills Canada Cup just outside of Barrie, Ontario hosted by team sponsor Trek Toronto Store. This is the I think the 5th time I've travelled out east to compete at this race, and I always enjoy it. It's not the type of cross country course that you think of as a mountain bike course, no big long climbs no big long descents, but the whole course is fast, flowy and fun. This was my first Canada Cup of the season, I passed on the first two in Baie St Paul and Mt Tremblant, Quebec this year in favor of my sadistic intervals..hehe....and only my 4th race of the year.

Off the start a Quebec rider took off into the head wind, and the rest of us more then gladly tucked in behind her for the first km. At the bottom of the first climb the pack bunched up and started to move around the lead rider, and Emily Batty took the lead into the singletrack. For the first half a lap I tucked myself in behind Emily and Jean Ann McKirdy behind me. I do have to say, Emily doesn't really give off much of a draft for someone twice her size :)

We followed close behind for the majority of the first lap, but Emily was able to put a small gap on Jean Ann and myself up the steep climb near the end of the lap and I was never able to close the gap. From there Jean Ann stayed on my wheel as I tried to reel Emily back in for another half a lap.

I was actually feeling pretty good, which surprised me...I really wasn't sure what to expect coming out of the big interval sets that I had completed two weeks before, but although there is still a little fatigue still in my legs, I can feel the huge boost in my fitness that I've gained. Up the longish climb following the Bone Shaker, Jean Ann moved to pass me and I was unable to match her pace at that point. I managed to keep a gap of about 30 -40 seconds for the next two laps, loosing a little more time in the last half a lap, but still holding onto third place. Emily kicked butt for the third weekend in a row, Jean Ann finished 2nd, me 3rd, Amanda Sin 4th and Sandra Walter finished 5th.....awesome race.

Thanks for the awesome race Barry!!! And thanks for the awesome ride today Steve and Peter ...I got sooooo lost when you left me (great way to add up a couple more miles :)