Wine and cheese and coffee and pastries and crepes...oh my

After a couple of days of relaxing and riding in Montreal (or Point Claire to be more exact), I've made my way east again to Quebec City. Just hanging out in the airport for a couple of hours waiting for the rest of the national team to arrive before we make the trip to Mont St Anne. The rest of the this week will consist primarily of more rest, a couple laps of the course (keeping everything crossed that the rain isn't too bad this year), some coffee, tour watching (hopefully we have that channel), and some yummy, yummy pastries (when you're in Rome...hehe).

Hope all is well around the country and I'm really excited to head west again. The east is nice, but I really miss the west.

Oh yeah, Jeff Neilson (my awesome BC Bike Race partner) and I are doing the Transrockies Aug 9-16..yippeeeeee!!!!

Ciao

PEI Pic's

Red Sands Beaches



What's this??? little jelly fishy thingy....they do sting



Jumping off the wharf at Basin Head beach



Little Harbour Beach - wedding photos day

PEI

Yuppers, on the far east coast of Canada....get to put my feet in both oceans in less then 3 months. Spending the weekend here for a wedding, doing a little touring, a little fresh seafood eating...yummmmmmy....experienced the "COWS" ice cream experience (though I ended up wearing more of the mint chocolate chip then eating it..hehe)....even yummmmmmmier.... and a little biking. There's some pretty nice roads for riding around here, you can link up lots of quiet highways for a really nice ride. Did my first set of intervals today since the BC Bike Race (minus the race last weekend), and everything actually felt really good. I was very pleasantly surprised for a change. It's been a little tough mentally recovering, getting out on my bike everyday, feeling tired and just ending up spinning easily again...but alas, I smile today at how things feel, maybe it's the fresh salty air.

Just getting prepped to get dressed up...doesn't happen very often so I have to work myself up to it...hope no one minds all my scrapes and bruises...and my lack of make-up (never mastered that feminie skill).....and going to enjoy a good ole' east coast wedding. I hoping to slip out sometime and go flouncing in the ocean though :)

Monday I'm heading back to Montreal to spend a couple relaxing days waiting to meet up with the national team in Quebec City on Wednesday.

Ciao

Bath Time for the Rig

After a dirty weekend in the office I figured the 9 was in need of a little TLC...



Oooops, looks like I got some more scrubbin to do. Wonder if that's from the bike or me???

Ciao

Interview

Check it out, local alberta photographer Patrick Graham interviewed me for his site!!

http://phoyote.blogspot.com/

Thanks Patrick

Nothing like a little ride..... Followed by a little coffee....YUM

XC Nationals 2009

After listening to the sounds of rain on the roof most of the night I really wanted to just snuggle down deeper under the covers and sleep, but the damn ducks outside my window would have none of that…..hehe. The course however was in remarkably great shape considering the rain, there is so much sand that the water drains away fast.

I’ve taken this whole past week really easy to recover from the BC Bike Race, and I ended up doing a long warm-up before the race just to get my heart rate to react. Off the start I felt surprisingly great, I managed to stay relatively close to Catharine and Marie-Helene through the start loop without feeling like I was over extending myself.

Through the first singletrack I don’t know what happened but I found myself smacked off my bike and flat on my face so fast I couldn’t even say ‘OH NO!!!”. Amanda was really was really close behind in fourth and by the time I jumped back on my bike she was right there. I got things cruising again only to look up and find myself going off course on a sharp left corner….this time I had time for the “OH S*&^!!!!” right into the tape. Amanda slipped by me here and I hoped on her wheel as fast as I could.

Amanda and I road together for the first 2 laps, she’d pull away in a couple spots and I’d pull her back in through other sections. I still felt really strong, surprisingly strong. Half way through the 3rd lap my legs started feeling the tiredness I was expecting from the start and tthhiinnggss ssttaaarrrtttiiinnnggg slllllloooowwwwwiiiiinnnggg ddddooooooowwwwwnnnnnnn. I finished 4th place, best nationals finishing for me ever, and all things considered I’m really happy with how the day went. Huge congrats to Catharine Pendreal, Canada's newest national champion!!!!!

Check out www.cyclingdirt.org for some cool video coverage and interviews.

Hanging out in Montreal for a couple of days, trying to dodge the crazy rain..yikes, thought I was going float away in todays storm. Wednesday I’m hoping another plane out east to PEI…really excited, never been east of Quebec. Out in PEI for the weekend, then back to Quebec for the next 2 World Cups…

Ciao