Freeeeeeedom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Done.....and done......

Finished up my last night shift, packed up and flew home saturday night....yippeeeee :)

Last minute decision to do the first island cup....can't miss a local race in Victoria at the Dump. Regan raced intermediate at noon and rocked the fully riged steel 29er to a solid 3rd place (great job babe!!!)

Catharine Pendrel (and her hubby Keith) made the road trip out to the island and decided to do the race, as well as Melanie McQuaid and Joele Guynup....ended up being a great race. I really wasn't sure what to expect from my legs, I've just been doing trainer rides for the last 3 weeks and only going on about 6 hours of sleep in the past 2 days..uggh. Warm up was painful, only thing that kept me going was my brand spanking new super sexy full carbon Series 9 Trek hardtail.....oh my goodness, after a winter of riding a 30 poundish 29er I feel like superwoman on this thing!!!!

Off the start I had a pretty good jolt of energy (the beer preem at the top of the climb was good motivation......somehow we got missed though and never did get the beer) and lead out the group up the major climb. We quickly started moving through the expert men's field which started a minute ahead of us. I managed to put a couple of guys between myself and Catharine...I was feeling pretty proud of myself...hehe. But with a quick shoulder check I noticed she'd managed to move back in behind me...with Melanie in tow.

Coming up to a small steep rock face, there was a guy on the left line off his bike, and a guy on right line straight up the rock) off his bike. I quickly decided to take the right line and half way up I clipped my guy as he was turning and slide 10 feet down the wet rock listening to the pedal of my new bike grinding down the rock.....ahhhhhh!!!!! Picking the left line, Catharine cleaned the rock and quickly put 20 seconds on me. As I'm picking myself and running back up, I hear Melanie coming up behind me encouraging me to get back on the bike.

For the rest of the first lap, Melanie and I motor along just outta reach of Catharine. Going into the second lap I hear Melanie slip up on a small rock face and I grab a couple gears and hammer up the start climb...outta sight outta mind.

For the last 2 laps I kinda find myself in no mans land....not able to see Catharine, but getting reports that she's 40secs, 30secs, 60 secs ahead of me, and just outta sight of Melanie. Finish off the first race of the season 2 mins behind Catharine and 2 mins ahead of Melanie.

Great way to blow out all the oilsands from my legs and lungs. Love, love, love my race bike, Trek Series 9. Gonna clean it up really good and pack it away for Fontana in 2 weekends. Special thanks to my mechanic for building up my race rig and again to Barry at Trek Toronto.

Also big thanks to the guys at Pro City Cycle (Trek Victoria) fo hosting the awesome race...super fun course and very well run. Next week, Port Alberni :)

Cool new canadian cycling site

http://cyclingmagazine.ca/

NORTH

I've had my camera up north here the whole time, and I've been meaning to take pic's......but I'm kinda lame in that department right now.
Here's a few though :)



Plus 15 reeks havoc on the roads around here.....everything is filthy!!!



Here's the outside of my rig, Clifford....I'll get a pic of my core shack...wahoooo!!!



And this is where I am spending all of my training time right now :) I guess I'm pretty lucky to have my own shack with satellite TV, I hear up at Suncor you have to set your trainer up out in the muddy parking lot....yikes!!

One week into my last rotation

Yippeeee...almost done. Unfortunately I think I might have to find some part-time work at home when I'm done here...so if you have any athlete friendly ideas I'd love to know !!!!! Please, please!!!!!

Found out recently that I have been invited to Continental Championships (Pan Ams) in ..... wait for it....Guatemala!!!! at the beginning of April. Really excited about that, I've always wanted to go to Cenral America. On the flip side, I also found out that I'm still an unfunded athlete as far as the CCA is concerned. Ya, a little bitter about that one, not carded, not tiered for funding....ugggh. I don't like to complain too much, because it can't be easy to make those decisions, and maybe I'm truely not good enough to deserve any support, I don't believe that, but maybe I think more of myself then I should....hehe. It just seems that I'm being knocked down every step of the way....sorry, a little self pitty moment, I'm done. "Stay Positive"!!!!!

Getting lots of trainer time up north here, great for keeping in cycling shape, really, really tough on the rear:) Had some 5 min intervals today, and although I had troubles motivating myself to actually do anything this morning (recovering from an all nighter the previous night), I felt great during the intervals. I rather surprised myself, love it when that happens!! Olympics is always motivating to watch while working out. Uber excited to get back outside, hopefully soon.

For all you beet lovers out there

This one is actually pretty good. I didn't have honey or agave nectar, or anything nice like that, so I had to just use sugar, but it still turned out pretty good.....definitely wait till it cools cause it tastes completely different when cold.

Recipe : Beet Oat Squares
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup whole rolled oats
2 small beets
1/2 teaspoon baking powder(alum-free)
1/2 cup fruit juice
1 Organic egg(Vegan substitute : 1 teaspoon Ener-G Egg Replacer mixed with 2 tablespoon of water)
1/4 cup Agave nectar or Honey or other natural sweeteners
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon canola oil

Method
Roast the beets as in the recipe.Peel and puree in a food processor.
Coarsely grind the oats in a food processor or grinder.Transfer in a large mixing bowl.Combine with baking powder and salt.
Whip the egg or the egg substitute with the beet puree ,Agave nectar,oil and fruit juice until well combined.Stir this beet mixture in the oat mixture.
Line the baking pan(8x8) with parchment paper or lightly spray with oil.Spread the mixture evenly on the prepared pan.Bake at 350F for 18-20 minutes until firm to touch.Let cool slightly,score and separate.Cool completely before storing in air tight container.Can store up to a month in a refrigerator.




For other really cool different ideas for recipes, I love this site (I already gave my mom heck for letting out the secret..hehe)
http://yasmeen-healthnut.blogspot.com/


I am back up north in Fort McMurray for my last rotation. Not too sure how long I'll be up here, there's only 5 more wells and I'm up here till they are done. It's really tough coming back up here to -20's when it felt like a chilly summer day all week in Victoria...I'm totally on summer mode now.

Just finished a good interval workout on the trainer...OUCH!!!! I don't have my skiies up here anymore, so it'll be a lot of trainer time...oh well :)

New Rigs and Fun Rides

What to do when the day is sunny and dry and...and...and....ya, you betcha, 4 plus hour mtb ride...the last one on the 29er too. We just happened...hehe...to swing by the shop on the ride home and found 3 bikes waiting for me...hehehe....just like Christmas!!!!!

My highly trained mechanic quickly put my road bike together.....



Uber hot ride...and he even gave me the gentle nudge to head out on the 6am Triple Shot ride. Pretty neat to have almost 30 people meet at 6 am with lights to do hill intervals.....OUCH!!!! Haven't pushed that hard in a long time....but it was really nice to have breakfast waiting for me when I got home just after 8am :)




Really nice kit too!!! Skinsuits this year!!!!!! Really excited about that, good motivation to keeping the camp pounds off this winter.



Last night Regan finished putting together my 8500 and I got out for an awesome MTB ride this morning with fellow former Calgarian Megan (I don't want to rub it in too much, okay maybe I do, +13....too hot in the sun...hehe). The bike is awesome, I was a little nervous getting back on small wheels after a winter of getting used to the 29er, but I'm finding that the smaller wheels are a lot more responsivem, especially in the tight technical stuff. Squishing in as much riding as possible before I go back to work on Monday, so just heading out the door to pick Regan up for a night ride.

Sunnnnnny Days

Sooo, spent a couple days in Calgary on my way home to Victoria, and of course, need to ride. The only bike I have left in Calgary is my 10 year old green machine, the Brodie Quantum, and a very eclectic mix of bike gear....but hey, gotta ride :)




The weather has been awesome since I got home. 2 1/2 hour mtb ride with Calgarian Caeli Barron (thanks for the ride) on sat. Hard 2 1/2 hour hammer mtb ride with Regan at the Tzou (love the riding there), super busy day out there. And awesome 4 hour mtb / road on mtb ride at the Dump with Regan (awesome day....knackered now)





Annnnnnnnd, today a couple of my bike arrived and lots of kit and tires....yippeeeee!!!!!! I'm cracking the whip tonight and Regan is building my road bike for me so I can do a long road ride tomorrow...hehe. I am such a slave driver....thanks my dear.



Nope, no pics of the new rig/kit yet....but sooon