Snow Dayssss

Nope, SNOW, it ain't going to stop me from enjoying my time back in Victoria, no matter how hard it tries!! After one day of creative cross training, including walking in knee deep snow for hours on end, swimming and other gym activities, I threw in the hat and headed back outside to ride. Being an Alberta girl I figured -4 in the snow wouldn't be too bad...ya -4 in Victoria, for 3 days in a row!!! Well, I was very wrong, the cold damp wind off the ocean made for a couple really really chilly wet rides. But I MUST do volume so I am proud to say that I managed two 3 hour mountain bike rides without crashing on the gnarly ice.



Saturday I managed to con Regan into a mountain bike ride with me, which actually ended up being really really great. The snow packed singletrack trails added that little extra technical and physical demand that left us both whipped at the end of the day. Sunday wasn't as enjoyable, with warmer weather it was raining instead of snowing, and the soft snow was turning to thick wet slush. .....very, very hard to ride in.....on the other hand it turns into a great strength workout (both upper and lower body).

I want to welcome Genuine Innovations to my team of sponsors for 2011. Genuine Innovations is the World leader in high pressure valve products such as CO2 inflators. Not only as a racer, but just a rider in general, nothing can put a kink in a great ride like a flat tire, and although you never want to have to use their products, it's inevitable that you're going to need to at one point in your career and nothing beats having a Big Air CO2 to re-inflate your tire and get you riding again as fast as possible



I do have to say, my new favorite product is the Tubeless Tire Repair Kit!!!! I've been a cyclist for 8 years and I've seen the beginning of the tubeless tire revolution, but for some reason this cool product eluded me. About a month ago, I was mid way through a 4 and a half hour mountain bike ride with Regan and Melanie McQuaid and I flatted, small rip in the tread of the tire to which the Stans seemed to just not want to plug......something that has been happening a lot to me lately. I was getting ready to put in a tube and pump it up....when Mel said "Do you want a tire plug??" Well, I've definitely heard of those for vehicle tires, but I really didn't realize there was such a thing for mountain bike tires. I've been riding that tire hard with the same plug in it for a month now and I haven't lost any pressure. If you know me, I have a hard time getting rid of something if it still has life in it so this is awesome. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't start a race with this tire (that's just tempting fate), but I am thrilled that I can still train on that tire!!



Just when I thought things were looking up, it starts snowing again...haha.