Catharine's Blog

The Best of BC

2011-12-19T21:33:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you can feel pretty spoiled by BC. One day I am skate skiing in beautiful snow, the next road riding in the sunshine on dry roads. One week at ski camp in the interior the next riding the awesomely fun trails in Victoria with my friends. True it is not always like this. Typically about 2 months of my winter involve no outdoor biking, but hey I love skiing so no big deal. It's always a good wake up call on how good life is when my day's dilema is deciding whether to ride from my house in the cold or drive 30 minutes for a ski.

My winter steed on the Ferry to Victoria for a training camp

My family has now come out for christmas leaving -19 deg celcius in New Brunswick this morning to step off the plane to 2 degrees here in Kamloops... okay not balmy, but it is winter! We're looking forward to a holiday week with lots of hikes, bikes, skis, snowshoes, good food, family time and some presies!

2011-11-25T17:28:00.000-08:00

Winter training has begun and what a better way to kick off the ski season than with a ski camp. After years of hacking away relying on my fitness, rather than an efficient stride to get me up the hills, I signed up for one of the Sovereign Lake ski camps.

I was pumped to arrive and find out I would be skiing with my buddy Kris Sneddon from the Canadian national mtb team as well as a great group from California, Wisconsin, Quebec and Alberta.

The early season skiing was fantastic as Kris and I took to the trails on Skate skis with our fearless leader “Munny”. The camp was awesome, catering to all levels of skiers and what we wanted to get out of the camp. We even got treated to an afternoon at the Biathlon range where I shot my first rifle and became hooked on the sport.

So this week I have skied classic and skate, up and over the mtn a couple times, done a Biathlon relay with my group, eaten some awesome food, done Yoga, been treated to spas and massages and enjoyed a delicious coffee at Bugaboo’s each afternoon. Yes the life of a professional athlete has its perks!

My Wickedly fun group

Jen loving the sunny day!

I’m sad to see the week ending way too quickly. The campers and coaches have been so much fun and the skiing awesome too. At least I have bike camp next week to look forward too. Changing gears!

Iceman

2011-11-06T17:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I got to try racing the infamous Iceman Cometh, although this year it was renamed “niceman”. Iceman is a 30-mile point-to-point race in Traverse City, Michigan. North, even by my Canadian Standards being up near Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario. The race has been happening for over 20 years with participation growing to 4700 riders. Some years have seen racers barging through 1 foot of snow, but this year the weather was fantastic and the course fast.

It has been 2 months to the day since my win at World Championships and my first xco race since then. Friday Waldek and I got out to pre-ride the 50km course. It was going to be fast, mostly sandy double track with some fast single track mixed in. The climbs were very short and punchy. It’ the kind of course that is easy to ride, but can suck your legs in a race if you go out to hard or do too much work at the front.

I mistakenly figured that the women’s race might be boring for the first hour with lots of cat and mouse and nobody wanting to work, but it was much, much faster than expected. Kelli Emmett set the early pace and then Chloe Forsman and myself took over. About 10 miles in Chloe was leading into a corner followed by Kelli, myself and Heather…. and still an entire women’s pack when Kelli went down in a corner into a climb taking me out and stopping the rest of the pack. Chloe attacked up the climb and Kelli and I ran to get up the hill and back on our bikes while Heather, staying upright behind us was able to ride. I lead the chase and had to bury myself to catch Chloe who by then had a solid gap. The crash, attack, bridge allowed the top four of us to separate from the group

The first hour of the race was harder for me than I had hoped, as I knew I would need my legs in the last 7km, but I was nervous to not be at the front in case another rider let a gap form in the singletrack. (Still learning to be patient and trust other’s speed!) My lack of any speed work training in the last 2 months was being felt, but I was having a lot of fun being in a 4 woman pack railing past the elite men that started 30 seconds in front of us.

With 8km to go there was going to be a long sequence of popper climbs and I knew all the girls would have their attack points, but again I was nervous not to be leading because the passing lines were quite sandy … so I sat at the front for way too long. Being World Champ does not make you superhuman and my legs eventually succumbed to the attacks from behind after a solid 1hr 30 of racing. It was at this point I noticed Kelli was no longer with us. Chloe got off the front while Heather was content to let me do the chasing. My chase was gone though so I flicked her through to the lead, a little too late for me though as she attacked and eventually bridged up to Chloe, taking the win. Chloe finished a well-deserved 2^nd having done a lot of the pace setting in the race. I came in for 3^rd and the final podium spot to some pretty amazing and loud cheers from the oodles of fans. Thanks Michigan, It was fun!

Worlds to Iceman: 2 months, 1 post

2011-11-05T16:29:00.000-07:00

A little update of what I've been up to over the last two months. I wish I was better at actually taking pictures, but here's a quick recap

Home for a week and then off to Vegas for Interbike. Got sweet posters!

Home for a couple days and then back to San Fran for the Epiphany ride with ClifBar and a super fun Clinic with the Bay area Luna Chix.

Teamed up with my hubby for a 4hr enduro and had a great time riding with Kamloops friends at Harper Mtn. Keith threatened that if I let the lead male catch me he wouldn't do his share of the laps!

Photo: kevin Bogetti-Smith

No plane rides for an entire month! Wahoo!

Visits to Penticton, Revelstoke, Squamish

Went to Whistler and rode a BIG Bike with my bro, his wife and friends at the Bike Park. I had no idea how confidence inspiring 8 inches and 2.5 tires could be!

No picture…sad because I was bringing the early 90's back with my spandex and full face.

Tore down a rotting deck and got a new one up, complete with Pergola. Tried to do something with a tree full of pears and gigantic zucchinis.

Turned 31 with some sweet accomplishments under my rainbow belt

Caught up on organizing the Interior cross Series and got in 4 cross races, 2 in costume and one with moustache hand ups. Baked and decorated 100 Gingerbread cookie medals. Yes sir

Did some photo shoots. Have had more make-up on in the last 2 weeks than the previous 2 years….wait for Canadian Cyclist in January and the Velo Award issue

Registered for a 5 day/2 lessons a day ski camp!

Raced Iceman and now headed to visit mum and Dad in NB and pay a visit to my Old High school in Harvey Stn, New Brunswick

40 days, 4 big races, 4 big wins and Rainbow stripes

2011-09-04T21:35:00.001-07:00

I couldn't be happier with the way this race season has finished. World Champion. I will have to repeat that to myself many times and keep staring at my jersey and medal to make it feel real.

This season I have matured as a racer. Having a competitor as strong and consistent in performance as Julie Bresset forced me to look at what I could change in my racing to come out on top. How do you win against an equal?

In the past I have had so many races where I felt I was the stronger rider, but somehow missed out on the podium or lost the battle for position at the end of a race. The continual progression of my training from year to year and some insights into racing more efficiently have left me feeling more confidence in my endurance and power and in my ability to race with diffent tactics. That I don't necessarily have to solo away to win a race. I can be patient and wait for the right moment.

That is what happened yesterday at the World Championships in Champery, Switzerland. I knew the start and position into the first single track would be critical and that most of the races this week were won by early moves, but so did 2010 World Champion Maja Wloszczowska.

I had a good start and had the legs to move to the front on the big climb. Only Maja showed the dangerous climbing speed I was watching for and she held me off to lead the descent. Through the start finish we were away with Lechner and Kalentieva chasing. All the women I had pegged for medal threats were at the front.

I wasn't sure whether to make a move on the next climb or try to work together with Maja. Still a creature of habit, I decided to test out her strength on the next climb, but she was ready and determined to not have me leading the single track and surged the crest of the climb for first tracks into the drop. From there it was a bit of back and forth, trading up the lead. I knew she was a real threat on the climbs, but felt I had the edge in the single track.

With just over 3 laps left of the 6.5 lap race I was able to claim the lead into the longest, roughest descent of the course and I attacked it, quickly gaining seconds. At the base of the descent where the course loops back on itself I saw I had opened a gap, but she was still in sight. By the time I reached the start finish line however the gap was larger than expected and as I headed out towards the feed/ tech zone I could hear the announcers mentioning her flatting, being overtaken by Lechner and needing a wheel change in the tech zone.

I stayed on the pace and grew my lead over Maja and Eva to over a minute. Champery demands focus and a mistake, as Maja discovered could be costly. My goal out front was to be as smooth as possible, minimizing mistakes and conserving energy to finish strong. With over a lap to go my quads started cramping, but I forced it from my mind as I started getting time splits from Dan that Maja had repassed Eva and was closing on me quickly.

I drew on the inspiration from my Luna teammate and 2001 World Champion Alison Dunlap that you have to treat the last lap of worlds like it was a tt, that you haven't just done most of a bike race. That year she moved from 3rd to 1st in the final lap. I knew Maja would be thinking similar thoughts and began my tt.

The last time through the double tech with one climb and descent to go my mechanic Zak was pounding on his chest. I knew it meant one of 2 things. I was giving him a heart attack or I had to race with heart. I raced with heart, I had to.

That last climb was one of the most painful climbs I have done. If not for the amazing energy coming from my Canadian team mates who lined the climb yelling and screaming for me every lap I would have climbed much slower. It was the most amazing support I have ever felt in a race and I feel in debt to them all.

I made my way safely down the descent and as I was about to enter the stadium team Canada was there to yell "flag on your left". I had to hold back the tears, realizing that the finish line was so near and I had done it. I think it was actually my brother that passed the flag, but i was so fixated on the finish line i am honestly not sure. I grabbed the flag and held it over my head all the way to the line and quickly hugged anyone I recognized. It was amazing to see the smiles of my team mates as I got wrapped in bear hugs and high fived.

Changing into fresh kit for the podium only the cramps every time I lifted a leg brought me back to reality. We were on the podium before the race was even finished and I got to watch my teammates cross the line and see their smiles when they heard the Canadian anthem playing. It was amazing. I could not have been happier to share the podium with such talented riders as Maja and Eva.

After the fact the media kinda muted my moment by asking me if Maja's flat took away from my win, as if it should have.

No. Had she not flatted I still feel confident I could have won, the race just would have played out differently. In bike racing you sometimes take risks to stick with a faster rider or to get away and sometimes that ends up costing you, but you still have to take risks to win. There is no question that Maja was on great form and the race would have hurt more had it stuck together, but I was ready to win.

Congrats to all of team Canada on a stellar week of racing!

Raining Champagne at World Cup Finals

2011-08-22T06:57:00.000-07:00

Phew, what a world cup season! This year was a career best season for me with 3 world cup wins, 2 seconds, and a win at the Olympic Test event. Yesterday the World cup season wrapped up with me finishing 2nd overall. This goes to show how amazing a year 22 year old Julie Bresset has had equalling my 3 wins and 2 seconds, but also never finishing worse than 4th. I had an incredibly consistent season and for the first time this weekend won World cups back to back, a great mental and physical challenge.

After a few days in the Czech republic visiting with Katerina's parents the Luna team drove to Val di sole Italy for World Cup finals. The weather was hot and sunny all week and the organizers had made some nice changes to the course from last year. Steep climbs were still the dominant feature of the course, but the descending had also been extended so that the course felt more balance between time spent going up and down.

After last weeks win I was feeling upbeat. I knew the WC overall was pretty much out of reach, but that i could still go for another win. Last year in Val di sole I finished 2nd in a sprint with Maja. I knew I could go early and hard on this relentless course and be successful.

Some early week start practice with Waldek and team Canada helped me move into a great position early in the race, wasting no effort getting to the front and from there I was able to solo away. A race for 2nd-4th developed behind me between Julie Bresset, Gunn-Rita and later Maja.

Everything was looking good. I was steadily pulling away bringing my lead up to over a minute when I had one of those Kika moment's similar to last lap in Mont Sainte Anne. Loosing focus? or at least loosing my front wheel I went down hard on a seemingly innocuous corner. The sound of my bike hitting the ground was gut wrenching. I thought for sure I had taco'd a wheel, but it was just the sound of my stem being forced crooked. I tried to straighten it, but wasn't able to. I reached for my tool, but it had flown from my pocket and was gone. I hopped back on my bike, but my handle bars were so crooked I would for sure crash again. Back off. Another reef on the bar with the wheel between my legs. Straighter? I hoped back on and cautiously rode to the tech zone where Zak was able to speedily straighten my stem as best as possible with me anxious to get going again. My lead had shrunk to 15 seconds. Dread.

Team canada staff was all over the course giving me time splits, so I knew I was still gaining on the climbs and had clawed back 3 seconds heading into the final lap. I was desperately afraid that Maja would spring across to me from Gunn-RIta's wheel and close the gap in one climb, but I was able to fend them off and extend my lead to 30 seconds by the finish.

It was such a relief to cross the line, to have fought back for the win and triumphed and to have done my best to finish the world cup with Strength. Maja took 2nd ahead of multiple time World Champion Gunn-Rita Dahle and Julie Bresset rode in to finish 4th. Team Luna and Canada claimed many top 20 results on the day and we are set for our final preparation for Worlds in Champery Switzerland in 2 weeks.

So now a couple days in Italy and then we're on the train to Champery. Whooo Whooo

Nove Mesto Na Morave World Cup

2011-08-17T00:42:00.001-07:00

The first time to an unknown country and venue you never quite know what you will get. In Czech we got a fantastic course, a well run race and amazing crowds which rivaled those in Quebec during the World Championships. With riders like Katerina Nash and Jaroslav Kulhavy hailing from the Czech Republic it's no wonder.

After three solid weeks of training at home and in Europe, lots of driving across Europe and having Keith going home, i was feeling pretty tired and worn down. My legs felt good, but I wasn't sleeping that well and knew that mentally I would have to be extra prepared in case the race didn't go the way I wanted it to. That if I had a mechanical, a crash, got passed by too many women, that I would have to be able to regroup quickly. Mental fatigue can cause most of the inconsistency you see in race results. But I had a great sleep before the race and woke up with good energy.

I wanted to win here, not just because I always want to win, but because I want to win the World Championships and don't want people thinking that I won because the actual fastest women this year (Julie Bresset) has to race under 23. Winning at these last two world cups could show I am the fastest woman during the 2nd half of the season.

I liked the course. It reminded me a bit of Revelstoke, BC with loamy forest floor and lots of roots. The descents were like pump tracks, the climbs wide, but wooded and rooty and some small rock garden obstacles were added in for variety.

We raced 6 laps plus the start loop. I had a good start, immediately grabbing Eva Lechner's wheel. Into the first descent I was 6th wheel with Julie leading, but as I had guessed this was too far back as Julie started pulling away and I was trapped a couple riders back and lost 15 seconds by the time I could clear traffic and reach the start finish.

Into chase mode I tried to claw back the gap. By mid lap I had contacted Julie. I trailed her into the descent and up the trickiest climb where taking an alternate line I passed her. She didn't want to give up the lead though and raced me into a drop with us both airing off of it at the same time. Pretty exciting. Back following it was all good till we hit the rock gardens and I forgot how to ride my bike and lost 18 seconds with 2 awkward screw ups.

Chasing again and now with Irina and Eva chasing me hard. Argh. Mental regroup and chase. Eva was gaining on me on the first climb, but the pace was too much and she had to back off. I held steady and one lap later I was reeling in Julie. By the main climb I had caught her at the base and seeing she was fading I attacked immediately. I looked back at the top and had a good gap. I built the gap to 35-40 seconds and held it for the rest of the race with Julie holding onto to second and Irina taking 3rd.

Katerina had an emotional 13th place finish in front of the home country crowds and Georgia followed her in in 14th. Canadian women had a great day with Emily taking 8th, one position ahead of Marie Helene who was struggling with a sore stomach.

So I have moved closer to the overall lead, but it would take another win by me and Julie finishing outside the top 8 or 9 to get it so I may have to settle for another good single day and hopefully a great World Championship.

After the race the Luna team travelled with Katerina's family to her hometown of Prachachice for 2 days rest in the country.

The Olympic Test Event in Essex, England

2011-07-31T23:08:00.000-07:00

Under clear and sunny skies the men and women of many nations lined up to race the Olympic course for the first time.

Team Canada had arrived on Wednesday for the Sunday event to test out our accommodations, driving routes and log some serious training time in London. The four of us athletes had a great time chasing each other around the course, trying out the drops and gap jumps and seeing what lines helped us carry the most speed. I think as a team we did a great job of collecting information for whoever ends up racing at the Olympics, we had a lot of fun and despite some good training load going into the race, we raced well.

It was a little surprising how real it did feel. All the workers, volunteers and fans were so excited and happy to have us there. There was a ton of media and helicopters hovering over the spectacularly open course. There was definitely more excitement than at a regular World Cup.

The women raced first and were paraded around the start loop before going to the line. Many of the top riders of 2011 were there, but missing from the mix were 2008 Medallists Maja and Irina who chose to sit this race out and instead focus on the European Championships. Marie-Helene Premont and Emily Batty of Canada also chose not to travel over for the race.

We lined up to what had to be the most intense start line music ever and looked up to lines of people stretched out on the horizon. Our mechanic Scott Kelly said he half expected the people to lean down, string a bow and shoot a row of arrows skywards.

My start was mediocre, but Julie shot to the front followed by Lechner, Georgia, Osl and Schneiter. Passing was tricky, but by the 2nd set of tight switch back corners I was able to get past Osl at the crest and slowly work my way back up to the leaders. On a tough grassy climb I made contact with Julie and Georgia and we just sort of pulled away. I sat on for a lap or 2. Honestly with 6 laps and a course that loops back on itself so much it is hard to remember how it all played out, but I got off the front earlier than I had planned or desired so was happy to be rejoined by my Luna teammate Georgia. It's always great to have some horsepower to share the front.

It was looking like the race would come down to the final couple of minutes when around a loose corner last lap I heard Georgia slide out behind me. Unlike road racing though, when there's a crash you keep going as staying upright in the loose is part of the challenge of our sport.

I rode the race in solo with great support from the British fans and my cousin who had come out to watch. It was a pretty cool feeling to win this event and no matter what happens next year I'll have this incredible memory.

Huge thanks to the Canadian Team & staff, Keith and Waldek who became an honorary Canadian for the day.

Fellow Canadians Amanda Sin finished 14th, Andrew Watson 18th and Big Wheels Evan McNeely finished 33rd.

Some stories and photos from the day http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12040_7074671,00.html
http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/olympic-test-event-hadleigh-farm-international-2011/elite-women-cross-country/results

Fast and Female

2011-07-19T22:46:00.001-07:00

So I did two other things Fast and Female outside of the women’s Canadian Championship race this weekend.

The Fast and Female mtb camp, the brain child of Olympic gold medallist Chandra Crawford. We had over 40 girls age 9-15 come to learn some mtb skills, be inspired, dance and just have fun with the women of the number 1 ranked country in women’s mtn biking. That’s ride Canada. Whoot whoo

Super cute Event video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w35G9lfjqE0

I also had the pleasure of meeting Olympic silver medallists in Bob sled Hellen Upperton and Shelley-Ann Brown and teach them how to mtn bike as we filmed a segment for “How tough are these sports?” for CTV Olympics. What fantastic women and great sports! I don’t know if I would have been so gutsy learning to bob sled….but would relish the opportunity! You have to wait till next August to see the show, but you can follow these ladies on twitter (which they have gotten me onto)

Hellen, myself and Shelley-Ann

Good things come in 3’s

2011-07-19T22:46:00.000-07:00

Photo: Rob Jones canadiancyclist.com

Last weekend we had our Canadian National Championships in Canmore, Alberta. The course was fantastic. Lots of great trails, some fast that you could really set your bike into, others requiring you to back off to make a tough step up or uphill switchback. The course was demanding, but very fun (actually so demanding a section was taken out (but luckily after I overcame my mental demon and rode it smoothly a couple times…a story to come here later).

Coming off of 3 sleeps at home and some pretty intense world cups I was having a bit of trouble switching gears back into battle mode. This worried me as at the last world cup Marie-Helene was less than a minute off of me. I knew her and her team were hungry for a win and with the different dynamic of not sharing the start line with an additional 60-80 women the race might play itself out differently.

MHP took to the front on the start loop and as we headed into the lap I took over. Emily Batty was sticking to our wheels. Through the first singletrack, and they were on me like glue so I launched an attack into the next climb. Emily didn’t follow, but MHP was not going to give up the lead with out a fight.
Up the singletrack we climbed with only the sound of our heavy breathing to accompany us. Normally on a climb like this I can get some breathing room, but not today. I am already starting to look at plan B. Where on the course can I get an advantage, what lap?

We crest the climb and I hear that great sound of the rider behind you downshifting rapidly. Okay so she was working maximally. Phew. I attack across the flat and into the descent and just try to be smooth and focused.

By mid lap I have 15 seconds, but I mess up “get up” (the step up) and nervously check my shoulder. I feel fast on the 2nd part of the course, well the down hill at least. The climb back to the start is a suffer fest, but I know it is a critical part of the course so I push with everything. The effort with MHP and the altitude make climbing hurt more than usual, but this is for the national title so I push to create a gap I hope will buffer any late race surges MHP comes back with. After railing the trails in practice I feel sloppy at 180+ bpm, but resolved to keep searching for smoothness.

In the end I was able to build my gap to 2 mins and take my 3rd Canadian Championship. MHP rode solidly to 2nd, 2.5 minutes into Emily who was 3rd in her first Nationals as a senior. Congrats! The battle for 4th-8th was more hotly contested. Unfortunately a bee sting to the eye 1st lap meant my friend Catherine Vipond raced with only one eye open, climbing like a billy goat, but wanting that other eye on the descents! She pulled off a strong 6th place after Amanda Sin and Sandra Walter in 4th and 5th respectively.

A HUGE thank you to Luna mechanic extraordinaire for driving to Nationals from Windham even though he had to be back in Idaho for the Us short track nationals the next day. Greatly appreciated!

Thanks also to all the cycling fans and family out there cheering and congrats to everyone who had their best nationals yet!

Windham World Cup

2011-07-10T20:26:00.000-07:00

Photo: Rob Jones. Check out canadiancyclist.com for all race news

Yesterday was one of the best World Cup battles I have had. After a slow week in the countryside of upstate New York, staying in a farm house without the usual time occupiers of cell reception and internet I was looking forward to some race action and Action is what I got Saturday.

After recovering from a mediocre start, I was able to grab the lead and pull away with only Julie Besset coming with me. It's always neat to have number 1 and 2 duking it out blow for blow for an entire race and there was an amazing Canadian and American crowd cheering the entire time. Even all the team managers were getting into it and every word of encouragement was appreciated!

To have a hope at winning the World cup overall, I could really use another win. I was entering world cup #5 140 points behind, but a win would bring it down to 90. I also had set a goal of achieving back to back victories and winning the end of a race. Often in a head to head, I am the one settling for 2nd.

Although I didn't win the race I still feel like I hit many of my goals. I raced strong two weekends in a row, I battled hard and felt strong and challenged Julie the entire race right up till the last hill sprint to lead the single track. Julie barely nipped me for it, but went on to put out very strong surges on the 2 single track climbs that were mixed into the descent. She opened a 7 second gap, but I wasn't giving up and with less than 2.5 minutes to the finish it was down to 5 seconds. I chased her hard and felt that the lower section of the descent was where I could hopefully make up some time.

Then some misfortune struck. The spare tube attached under my seat unraveled and went into my rear wheel. I ended up losing around 30 seconds and any hope of closing on Julie.

So in the end I did have to settle for second, but I feel good about my form and the knowledge I gained of what I need to improve in my riding to be able to win a head to head next time....not to mention I will always mount my spare tube on stem from now on! I also feel inspired by the challenge of earning another World Cup win.

It was a good day all round for the Luna team with Georgia claiming 5th spot on the podium and Katerina finishing 7th. We also took the number 1 team position for the 3rd consecutive race.

Canadians rode strong with Marie-Helene finishing 4th, Emily 18th and Amanda, the 3 amigos (jean-ann, Catherine, Sandra) and Mical between 30th and 40th.

Next up, National Championships in Canmore, Alberta

Racing World Cups at home

2011-07-03T14:12:00.001-07:00

You realize how big Canada is when you are talking about growing up pretty close to Mont Sainte Anne, only a 7hr car drive away. But the trails feel like the trails I learned to ride my bike on as a teenager. Challenging single track through dense forest, exposed roots and rocks and when it rains, mud and lots of it. To me the trails in MSA, Quebec are mountain biking. The course there has always allowed me to excel from Nationals in 2004 until yesterday, my 34th World cup (incl championships) event. Wow, how have I suddenly become a veteran having only started doing the WC series in 2007?
No matter, I am still loving it and the people that surround me at these events. Over the years the locals have come to embrace me as a favourite alongside local Marie-Helene. I even had a french woman yell out during my race “we are proud of you Catharine.” That is why racing in your home country is so special. To be able to make those that share a connection with you proud. It’s what makes the Olympics special and inspires greatness and gives meaning to what I do.

So yes, with my mom, dad, aunt, uncle, husband, brother and sister in law all out there cheering I was able to claim my 5th World cup win.
The race got off to a worrisome start as traffic ground to a stand still in the woods before the first climb. What should have been the fastest line was completely stopped and women went streaming by me on alternate lines. Up the first climb I was somewhere in the twenties and then got to experience what the women with less favourable start positions always see the walking lines in the first single track. I swear women are way more aggressive when running with their bikes than when they’re on them. Luckily they’re also creatures of habit and tend to follow each other’s line so I was able to take a couple alternate line options to try to regain the top 10.
By the Beatrice (the sketchy rock chute descent) I was closer to this goal and kept working my way forward. The course zig zag past itself a lot and I saw the Georgia and Katerina had stellar starts and were leading in the top 5.
Through the start finish heading onto lap 2 I was able to grab the tail end of the top 6 all riding together. I picked off a couple to better position for the steep climb and then set my hardest pace on the climb and moved into the lead with Georgia and Julie Bresset following me into the single track. Julie used an alternate line to get ahead of Georgia and I lead into the Beatrice. Down the descent, up a switch backing climb and single track and then down a fast, but mucky switch backing descent I was able to put 11 seconds in to Julie who had also opened on Georgia. From there i had to keep on the charge.
On the right side Julie brought in a couple seconds on me, but I had a bit more climbing speed on the day. Julie crashed on the Beatrice that lap and the gap opened to over 40 seconds. Georgia also had some bad luck crashing near the Beatrice and damaging a wheel.
For me the rest of the race was just a charge to stay ahead and stay focused even though it seemed like all sorts of stuff was happening in the race behind me. Irina overtook Julie for 2nd and Katerina finished 4th after getting up to 3rd before Bresset clawed her back. Unfortunately Georgia, who had amazing legs, lost a lot of time after flatting. Still Luna walked away as top team once again and 2 podiums.
It was a phenomenal day for Canadian women, taking 1st, 5th (Marie-Helene Premont and 7th Emily Batty, not to mention a host of ladies from 27th to 41st.
Kabush later went on to continue the good rides with a 7th in the men’s race and Lauren Rosser our DH World Champ won the women’s xc followed by her Canadian team mates.

My Big Bro got married

2011-06-30T15:03:00.001-07:00

We celebrated the fantastic outdoor wedding of my brother Geoff and his love Liz Johnson in Fredericton, New Brunswick last Friday.

Here are a couple pictures from the day.

Eric Goss, Me, Kirk MacDonald, Geoff and Dad with the old Sunbeam Alpine

It was so nice to spend some time with friends and family in NB. I really have to get back more.

On Tuesday after some nice NB riding Keith and I drove to MSA, Quebec for the world cup. On our way we totally lucked out with a stop in Edmunston where within 15 minutes we found an amazing and well mapped trail network that totally energized us for the rest of the trip. The espresso and ice cream may also have helped. Great work on the trails Edmunston crew. We’ll be back!

Test of Metal

2011-06-30T13:01:00.001-07:00

Once again the Test of Metal was a great event, bringing over 800 riders from the north west together for some good riding, racing and of course a little suffering and good eating.
This year I decided to race my dually, the Orbea Oiz and tricked it out with some light carbon wheels. I had been feeling sharp on it and find it just helps me maintain speed over rough terrain a bit better. I also decided taking 5 minutes off my last record would be a sweet goal. Time to really race the boys, no getting complacent by leading my category.

The Blow by Blow
This year was my 7th Test and I could definitely use the experience of years past to pace or pin it depending on what seems necessary. On the opening climb I hang in on the tail end of the main group and then try to pin it to maintain a wheel on the rolling fire roads where guys usually swarm around and pass me that I could out-climb.

Into the first single track it’s about maintaining a steady tempo. I had managed to stick with Roddi Legga and we bridged up to Tyler Trace, who had apparently blown a bit on the climb so Roddi and I got around in the woods and led into Alice Lake. A couple guys bridged up and we started trading pulls. It felt great to be racing the men as an equal, trading up pulls, well actually 3-4 of us pulled and some other guys just had to sit on!

I was definitely feeling my lack of time on wet roots in the first techy sections so had to work hard between to stick with my group. The only problem of being fit enough to ride with guys like Roddi Legga and Adreas Hestler is that i also have to be able to descend like some of the best male descenders out there, but I like a challenge and although they opened on me a bit in some corners, by staying on it every where else I was able to enter the climb in a group of 6. Thanks to the guy in the orange jersey who worked with me on the fire roads, I’m sorry my draft wasn’t as beneficial.

Up the 40 minute climb I pushed steadily, trying to stay on it when the grade wasn’t as favourable to my body size and was able to shed 4 of the guys from my group with Roddi always close by.
Down the Ring Creek Rip Roddi reminded me how to attack the little popper climbs which helped me keep a high pace. Into the plunge I pinged around. Maybe I shouldn’t have added air to my fork? Or maybe it’s just greasy and I need more time in fun,wet, gnarly singletrack. By this point Tyler Trace had recovered and ridden through the group of guys i started the climb with and grabbed my wheel. We caught and passed Roddi fixing a flat near the base of the plunge and hammered on to the final feedzone. Always a fun experience when you’re racing well with so many familiar faces and getting to weave in and out of the newer riders on the first pass through the feed zone.

Tyler stuck my wheel through crumpit woods and we caught up to Ben Thomas who I spent some trail time with in BC Bike race last year. The three of us hit the pavement together and started trading up pulls.
At this point I realize I am freakishly close to my race goal of shedding 5 minutes from my record. How? I’m not exactly sure, but I know I just stayed motivated the whole race and had fun. The record became my goal and hopefully a top 10, but having Tyler and Ben to contend with I was happy to also just push the pace for a best time.

We crossed the line with Tyler taking the sprint, then Ben and Me just missing top 10, but clocking a 2:45:50 in wet conditions. Wahoo.

Post race Keith and I joined up with the local ride crew for some burgers and beer. The next day we got in some more awesome trail riding in Squamish. Such an amazing place to ride in! Thanks Squamish.

June at home

2011-06-15T09:26:00.000-07:00

Wow how have I managed to get 2 consecutive June's mostly at home?

Kamloops is wonderfully green with the rain we've been getting and I have discovered that Dill is a gardening menace!

The Art walk is now on and Susan Helly a mountain bike enthusiast created this fantastic piece (sponsor correct no less with Mavic rims and Maxxis tires!)

Taking advantage of being at "home" I haven't actually spent a weekend here. I get in my Kamloops time and miles in the week and find new playgrounds on the weekend hitting up some of my favourite trails in Revelstoke and even doing a twoonie race and then heading to the coast this weekend and doing my first road race in i think 5 years? It was pretty fun and left me wanting to try one of the bigger North West races.

Next up is the Test of Metal, a classic mtb race in BC with a 1000 mass start. Kamloops is also hosting a 6hr enduro this year and already has 85 participants so I see another classic in the works.

JumpShip Contest. Go watch it!

2011-06-07T07:53:00.000-07:00

Anyone with the chance to get to Victoria this weekend has to check out JumpShip contest. My brother Geoff has organized this dirt jump comp on a floating barge in the inner harbour as part of Victoria's 5 week cycling festival.
http://www.jumpshipcontest.com/

Not only do you get to see some of the best dirt jumpers doing their tricks, but doing it while out on the ocean! There will be 16 Dj's creating a party atmosphere and beer gardens stocked with local brew from Vancouver Islander.

Like Hockey? Checkout game 5 for free on the big screen while enjoying the downtown Victoria vibe and then come back saturday for JumpShip qualifying and Sunday for the finals! Check out the complete schedule of events here
http://www.jumpshipcontest.com/node/3

Offenberg

2011-05-30T16:23:00.001-07:00

The Black Forest area of Germany reminds me a lot of the Okanagan Valley. Beautiful hills lined with intricately formed vineyards, orchards and fruit stands selling fresh strawberries and asparagus. Needless to say I love it there. I always look forward to it and feel right at home.

Like last year, we chose to stay at Edy's Hotel in Ortenberg and just like last year we were spoiled with gorgeous food at their family run restaurant. On Mondays they close to prepare all the spices that will flavor their week's dishes. Each dish was cook and flavoured perfectly and had us well fueled for the race. Maybe that's why I felt good to do another lap in the race!

I had another good start. I always knew how hard you had to go at a start, but now I believe it and make myself do it! It's still a work in progress though and sometimes I forget the start is as long as it takes me to be at the front so sometimes I start well, loose spots and then get it back together. That's what happened in Offenberg.

By the end of the first lap we were still a large group of about 13. Through the start/finish I inserted myself as 3rd wheel. Never one to wait to see how things will pan out I attacked into the woods and by the end of that first section , which included the dual line descent and a solid single track climb Julie was the only rider on my wheel. She attacked me into the North Shore descent. From that point we raced together till the 4th lap. At this point I tried to make a pass before the North shore descent, but Julie could hold me off, i tried again, but another shut out. Julie led into the north shore and eked out a slight gap. I tried to close the gap on the fire road, but she was on it and over the next lap and a half she grew her lead and took the win.

I was happy to put out a great, if not a perfect performance. I'd still like to be the racer that makes the right move at the end of the race, that moves up in position, that can put out that decisive attack to get away or hold off the chasers. That's my homework for the next one!

It was a great weekend for Canada with Marie-Helene finishing 4th and Emily Batty claiming another 15th. Katerina finished 14th and Georgia 20th after a mechanical took her out of 6th position on 4th lap. We won the top team and a 3l bottle of champagne which between the 3 of us girls we managed to polish off by the end of a late lunch (I'll admit to being the lightweight).

Now it is back home to see how that garden is doing and what mischief my husband has gotten up to.

In Other Race News

It's been a busy two weeks of racing with former house mates Matt and Catherine winning the opening Canada cups of the year. Matt went on to win round 2 while Keith's other athletes Jean-Ann McKirdy and Sandra Walter knocked Catherine off the top spot this weekend.

Keith also did some racing taking 2nd in his age group at the newly started Nimby 50 Epic race in Pemberton, BC, a great event to take in if you get the chance and love great trails.

2012 Olympic Course

2011-05-30T16:20:00.002-07:00

From Dalby we traveled to London on way to little sleep. My typical post race midnight wakefulness combined with a 5am wake up call meant I was pretty much a wreck. But the organizers of the Olympics were giving us the opportunity to ride the Olympic course and training started at 11. Getting to ride the. Olympic course did help to energiize me though!

Driving there I was thankful to live in a town Kamloops's size. I hate traffic! It took almost 6hrs to get to Hadleigh farms, but we got there thanks to Zak and Waldek and enjoyed some beautiful sunshine on a great course.

Just as it had been ridiculously windy at Dalby, Hadleigh farms, located on the south shore of England was equally windy and on certain sections of the course we were blown up or felt like we had hands pushing us backwards or over.

The loop is fast, hard packed dirt with some loose rock sections to challenge climbing skills. lots of rocks were brought in from northern England (where the rocks are harder) and arranged around the course to offer various rock gardens, both up and down, step ups and drops. Most of the climbing is switch backing to create more climbing out of only 74 m of elevation change (Beijing had 64m and was one of the hilliest races I've done). The climbs in London are not steep, but with the fast track we will be seeing them all at least 6 times in our race.

All in all I think the organizers did a good job. It should be a great course for spectating and fun to ride. Because it is so fast and there nothing that will really separate riders like a monster climb or super tricky section the race will really stick together. It will require patience, smarts and decisive moves. I'm looking forward to the test event July 31st.

The county of Essex has adopted team Canada and the town councillor invited us out to dinner and to visit a local school. They had transported 1000 kids out to watch us train on the course. It's pretty neat to be so welcomed into a community.

Is it June already?

2011-05-30T16:20:00.000-07:00

After Arizona, I was treated to some home time. With all the rain that always seems to come while I'm away Kamloops is a lovely green (for Kamloops), little veggies and flowers are starting to poke out of the garden and I am toying with my yearly Reno ideas. Before I can get up to too much destruction however I am off to England and the 2nd world cup race in Dalby Forest.

I really like the course in Dalby. It's a fast course with some fun technical challenges. Last year the start proved to be critical and the course hard to move up on if you had any challenges. Team luna would be returning to our comfy self catered cottage, a renovated stable with an inner courtyard and about 10 mother and foal couplings in the back paddock. Zak saved the day when after hearing a large crash he found a foal tangled up in a fence with both hind legs in the air. Grabbing his wire cutters he freed the foal with the owner's help and the foal was back to his blitzing around.

Diner again at Spice 4 you, ah Indian food! A staple while traveling in the UK.

Traveling and training were good. I seem to sleep well in Dalby and race day I felt ready. I had a fantastic start, for me, only to have 2 riders go down in front of me across the trail in the first single track. Now I was leading the chase and hoping to regain contact with the leaders. It took almost the full lap to clear traffic, but a massive effort took me into 2nd position with Ren in my sights. Remounting after the run up I realized my chain had dropped and as I put it back on and got going 3 women passed me and I was back in 5th.

I felt good and raced strong and moved up to 3rd, still seeking the lead, but I had used my super match and could neither get up to the lead two nor get a safe margin ahead of the chase group of 4 behind me. In the final 10 minutes I came very close to Ren. I turned on the turbo diesel, but then the terrain went from flat to hilly and the torque faded. Rather than bridging up to Ren I watched first an unknown rider (Anika Langvad) and then Sabine Spitz pass me. Not much later Eva Lechner and Maja bridged up to me and passed me into the run up. I followed them in and was able to pass Maja afterwards when I saw she was letting a gap form between her and Eva, but she grabbed my wheel and Eva had gotten the gap. Into the final minute and Maja goes by me again in the bmx track. From 3rd to 7th in the final 10 minutes of a 1hr 40 race. Tough love. Races that allow groups to stick together are always so interesting and results always seem to only tell part of the story.

Katerina was riding strong in about 6th most of the race before puncturing on a fast rocky descent, while Georgia got pushed back to the 30's off the start and worked all race to get up to the top 15. Marie-Helene finished 11th after some derailleur issues and Emily took 15th. Not a bad day for Canadian women, but we're looking for more!

Arizona

2011-05-02T15:41:00.000-07:00

From South Africa I went solo to Arizona. I stayed in Tempe for 2 nights until Luna mechanic Chris joined up with me. In Tempe the friendly guys at Cactus cycle pointed me to some super fun trails on South Mountain and I did my best to not go too hard on the punchy trails as i recovered from jet lag and adapted to the really warm weather. I tried out my Camelbak racebak with ice in it and it was awesome to help keep me cool out in the desert.

On Thursday Chris and I headed up to Prescott to pre-ride the 25mile loop of the Whiskey off Road race that I would be doing that weekend. Chris doesn’t get to mountain bike with us all that much, typically taking care of our bikes, but that boy has skills and showed me how to rail on the loose San Luis Obisbo type descents.

The view from the top (somewhere around 2000m is Prieta overlook)

After leaving cool scenery in Tempe and going through some uninspiring areas of Arizona for riding I was relieved when we arrived in Prescott (pronounced Preskitt). The trails were fun and fast and there was lots of single track on the 25 mile loop. The 50 mile loops adds a 12 mile out and back fire road descent one way, 12 mile climb the other.

Some things I quickly learned about Prescott was that it was at altitude, just over 1600m. This made it both substantially cooler than Phoenix and a little more painful to race at. The town loves mountain biking and has an insane amount of great coffee shops and restaurants, seemingly way too many to be supported by the population but they are all hoping. I’m sure the 1500 racers helped.

The vibe was great. Mtn bike enthusiasts galore and curious citizens and passers by. I even met a family from Kamloops! Chris and I teamed up with Peter Glassford to do some restaurant and coffee sampling so I was well fuelled and caffeinated come race day.

Chris and I sample the Prescott Brewing company's Porter and Amber. No whiskey for us though.
Friday we raced a fat tire crit. I was curious how it would go, thinking that slick tires and pavement can lead to way more pack racing and accelerations which hurt my slow twitched legs, but the climb in the course was so selective pack dynamics were not an issue and I went on to lap all but two of the field. This had me feeling pretty good about my legs and chances for the $4000 prize purse in the 50 miler.

I definitely did not want to underestimate my competition, particularly Kelli Emmet and Pua Mata who are both experienced xc and endurance racers. Pua being former endurance national Champ and Kelli also a great Super D racer. I imagined the sketchy fire road and loose descents putting her in her element.

The race: My first 50 miler (okay so it was really 75km)

Today I would get to see what endurance racing was about. I have done the Test of Metal a number of times and of course the BC Bike race, but for some reason the unknown of the Whiskey made it feel a little more intimidating.... Or was it just that 12 mile fire road out and back? The women started 10 minutes behind the men, I think unfortunately, as it would have been nice to have a faster rolling pack on the pavement and more carrots to help me dig for speed early on in the race.

Having laid the smack down in the crit, no one really felt the need to help pull on the pavement, fair enough, but Pua was a good sport and helped share the load and was rewarded with good karma.

Once the climbing got steeper I decided to go and Kelli and Pua gave chase. We entered the woods in that order. I was able to sneak away, but never by much. The numerous step ups on the climbs were quite challenging at race pace and I have to admit to not feeling super sharp mentally or technically.

We were treated to some great descents though and I started finding my mojo and reeling in the men. The fire road descent was way more entertaining than I had expected. After I learned to slow down for the corners I was much faster too. My triceps were tired from tucking between turns when after 20-30 minutes I reached the turn around in skull valley. I could see that Kelli was disturbingly close and Pua not far behind her, but I guess I was too confident in my climbing and had settled into a pace that would prove to be too slow. The climb was long, much longer than expected. I think the whole thing took about 1hr 10min.

It was such a great group of women racing. I think i got a "go girl" from every women out there. The guys around me must have been amused at how diffently women interact in racing.

About 40-50 minutes in I looked back and saw Kelli had closed on me and internalized a big "oh shit" before ramping up the pace, hoping she had already used up her pace to get to me. I was able to gap her, but was riding hard and scared. The top of the climb took way too long to reach and I felt exhausted. The descent rejuvenated me and I felt good punching the fire roads and climbs in between.

I thought I strung together a pretty good descent, particularly the rocky sections and was hoping it was enough to hold off Kelli. When I hit the pavement I wasn't sure if it was the light shining through the trees or whether I really was seeing stars. Just 10 minutes of paved descent to the finish line. I went into full tuck, hardest gear i could turn, gut and legs protesting and spun my legs as best I could with my police escort guiding the way. Several minutes in though there was another police moto flying by and " You've got to be kidding me", several minutes from the finish and running on empty Pua was powering by me. I had lived the last hour in fear, riding in urgency to not be brought in before the finish after such a long race and here it was happening and not even by the rider I thought I was riding from. And I had nothing. The last climb was intensely painful physically and emotionally and Pua found a minute on me before the finish. It was an extremely hard end to the day, but as always happens from this kind of ending I get super mentally charged to kick some serious but at my next race.

Pua claimed the victory demolishing the old course record with her 3:30 and establishing herself as a force to be reckoned with. Although feeling sorry for myself, I was pretty pumped for her win and was consoled by the knowledge we were pretty damn fast among the men too. Kelli put in a solid ride trailing me by only 30 seconds at the finish.

In a town like Prescott you can't stay down for long. Even though I was disappointed with my ride, the party kept rockin, people were smiling and despite a tough day it was undeniable that life is pretty darn good.

Thanks to the town of Prescott for supporting such a great event, I'll be sure to spread the word, to chris for all the bike support and Peter for the ride and dining.

South Africa

2011-05-02T15:23:00.001-07:00

Despite logging over 60-80hrs of travel in the last week+, I seem to have found very little time to tell you about any of my travels.

The first World Cup of the Season was in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. The course was fantastic. The organizers had obviously put a lot of time into it and the weather conditions, unlike the previous weekend where they got 100mm of rain, were fantastic.

The Luna crew flew into Johannesburg and then did the 5+hr drive south. The scenery was much like Colorado and Utah until we were almost to our destination about 100km from the south east coast and it became more lush and rolling.

We were caught out by the season change to fall (having changed hemispheres) and got to the course ready to ride at 4:30 only to have it be really dark and start thundering by 5:30. Bummer. We did get to see some vervet monkeys though.

South Africa, doesn’t look too different from North America, however the obvious racial distinctions in economics and life left me feeling unsettled there, not to mention all the talk of crime rates and the fact that every home and hotel was lined with electric fencing, often advertising an armed response to prevent home invasion.

My race was good. I still don’t feel like I have achieved that top end speed, but then I haven’t really trained it yet so am pleased to have finished 4th with room to go in my training. The first lap of the race was very controlled as all the climbing was singletrack and passing was virtually impossible which meant the best sprinters lead the climbs until there were fire road sections where you could hopefully outsprint them for the woods. I had moved up only to get caught behind a crash in the tricky rock garden and lose positions again.

I was shocked to go through the start/finish and be able to see the 3 leaders just ahead of me. I never was able to get into contact with Julie who was the first to clear traffic, instead I settled into a familiar spot, battling for a medal with Irina. A couple laps in the Chinese Rider Ren Chengyuan bridged up to us. I rarely have a woman urging me to descend faster, but she was on it and went on to catch Julie and take the win. She definitely has to be commended for being the most aggressive descender on the day, not to mention having the fastest legs by far.

In my battle with Irina for 3rd I noticed I could eek out a small advantage on the climbs and in the rock garden leading, but she would close it in the transitions. I decided to follow her for a lap and see what i could learn. I learned being 2nd wheel into the rock garden allowed gaps which I wasn’t successful at bringing back and Irina went on to take 3rd while I settled for 4th. I know I am capable of more and will be up there this season, but to be the best I have some small technique things to work on and have to bring up my top end speed.

But enough of racing, off to the Safari!

Uphobia trees are extremely poisonous and can blind you

My favourite, the Giraffe!

Classically Sea Otter

2011-04-19T21:52:00.000-07:00

Classically Sea Otter

26km/hr, thanks to our new sponsor Garmin I have the details to back up how hard and fast Emily Batty and I rode this weekend in the cross country portion of the 2nd Us Cup of the season. That also tells you a little something about the terrain, fast, smooth, some pavement, some smooth dirt roads and some bumpy grassy sections and unfortunately for me only 600m of climbing in 45 Km.

Both the short track and the cross country were very tactical races, favoring not only fitness, but a rider with good jump. In the short track my team mate Georgia got off the front pretty much from the gun and never looked back before sailing into victory after 26 minutes of full out racing. Lea Davison was trailing her in 2nd for a couple laps, but between myself, Emily, Katerina and Katie we were able to bring her in. She went down in a corner losing critical seconds reducing the field to four chasers. Near the end, lapped traffic started to get intermingled with us while I was sitting 4th wheel. A gap opened between Katie and Emily and Katerina and they cruised off the front while Katie and I chased. With 2 laps to go I pulled away from Katie, while Katerina maneuvered to take 2nd over Emily. luna Claimed 1st, 2nd and 4th with country mate Emily Batty took bronze and Katie Compton 5th.

Enter a Friday night luna party where we got to hang out with sponsors and friends and then it was Saturday and the cross-country. I have to admit I was feeling a little bummed about the lack of technical challenge on the course, but Keith cheered me up saying "hey, think of it this way, you never get to road race!". I was cheered and went into the race looking forward to a different challenge and it was fun. Not every course is your ideal race course, but it can always be good racing if you want it to be.

To my surprise Emily and I soloed away early first lap only to have my teammates Georgia and Katerina bridge up to us with Katie Compton on the 2nd of 7 laps. It's always a little interesting to figure out the working dynamic in a drafting race, but we soon did, only to have Georgia burp her rear tire hoping a ditch and lose gobs of positions running to the tech zone. Katie later fell off the pace and then ran into a bee (to which she's allergic) and had to end the race short.

With 2 of 7 laps left to go Katerina got gapped in a corner and Emily and I continued a hard pace trading up pulls on the pavement with me choosing to always lead on the dirt and climbs. Emily is a talented racer and a better tactician than I, we worked together superbly, but I felt the need to drive the pace on the climbs (perhaps to my downfall?) knowing she had more jump in a sprint. Too bad for me, I couldn't drive the pace quite high enough and after 1hr 41.23 of racing Emily claimed victory in a sprint finish. Congrats on your first US Cup xc win Emily!

After that it was bike packing for south Africa and a little party and amazing tunes with the ClifBar crew. Our trip to South Africa is getting off to a chaotic start with vehicle issues and forgotten passports, but the team is now on a 4hr flight to Washington, to be followed by a 16hr flight to Johannesburg via Dakar and then a quick 5hr drive to Pietermaritzburg.... And no we don't get to fly first class!

Race season Kick off

2011-04-03T13:39:00.001-07:00

Racing in 2011 got off to a great start with a win at the first US xc cup. Going into your first race you’re never sure quite what to expect. You can feel good in training, but if you train solo most of the time it’s hard to know just what feeling good in training will me when you have a number plate on.

The short track the following day wasn’t quite as great. I felt good, had good legs, but just not the ability to change pace yet that you need for that kind of event. Former Luna teammate Chloe Forsman took a well deserved sprint win over the group of 5 of us that got away from the bunch early into the race.

At 5:45 that night we were in our sweet new sprinter van and headed for team camp in the San Francisco area. We pulled in at 1 am, got some sleep and then were up early to head to Napa to visit Gary and Kit Erickson (ClifBar owners) at their latest inspiration Velo Vino. Combining their passion for cycling with their developing winery the offer wine tasting and Cycling tours in the St Helena's area. Their boutique is great. You can enjoy wine and espresso while munching on Clif and Luna Bars between rides.

Velo Vinoin Napa Valley

Gary Erickson preps some espresso

A group of us did a spectacular ride back from Petaluma to Sausalito going over the ridge of mt. Tamalpais. Beautiful! We’ve been getting beautiful weather for camp and visits from velonews and sponsors camelbak and fox as we get our new bikes dialled in and check out the latest Luna products.

Always a highlight is getting in to ClifBar for Breakfast with the staff and packing goody boxes to send home. Eating has definitely been a significant part of the camp experience, but then we do ride for a food company!

On Friday Luna Summit Began. 160 women from Luna local teams across the USA arrived to get run, swim and bike clinics, play,eat, and learn about Luna and the breast cancer fund. What a fun, energetic crew!

Marin County, 10 min ride from our hotel

It has been a busy and fun filled week and no time to go home for a rest before Luna tackles the Sea Otter, our first World cup in South Africa and then divide ourselves between Mellow johnny’s and the Whiskey 50. Thanks to everyone, sponsors, Lunas who made this last week so fun and full.

Check out this video of my brother's event JumpShip planned for this summer. Well worth it!

2011-03-23T21:53:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS9603FFv8M

Also the lovely Cheryl at the Bicycle Cafe has been doing some interviews with local riders on what makes Kamloops an awesome place to ride a bike. You can check out what I and others have to say right here on NSMB.

http://nsmb.com/4251-behind-the-loops-part-v/

Can you guess my favourite book?

Kamloops, you are very loveable

2011-03-12T17:24:00.000-08:00

Today was one of those great training days. With the Masters ski World Champs last week I cross country skied for the first time ever in March. Ski conditions right now are great, but usually I have traded skis for bikes long ago. This year winter kept hanging on and it wasn’t until last week that I could ride outside consistently. Kamloops being the climate it is, it would snow in the am, but if I waited till noon I could do a 4hr ride on dry roads. You gotta love when the sun starts packing some heat.

Sure today winds gusted up to 60km/hr, but those winds are drying out our trails and I got on my mtb for 4hrs. I even got to do a 20 min loop at race pace on dirt without my thermal jacket or booties! Yippee!

Aside from enjoying the many new coffee shops that are popping up around Kamloops, Keith and I also found a great new restaurant here called Crush. It is very good quality and inexpensive and best of all they source locally and make health conscious sauces. Keith had a delicious teriyaki chicken burger and I tried the open faced Portobello sandwich with goat cheese, caramelized onions and a blueberry balsamic reduction. it;s a bit messy, but very tasty!

So if you are in or passing through Kamloops check them out http://www.crushonvictoria.com/

The 30km

2011-03-11T07:34:00.000-08:00

Phew, just finished up another tough day on the Skis. Today was the 30km race at Masters Worlds. I went in hoping to be faster than I was in the 15km and try to catch some of those 40+ gals, but it just wasn’t going to happen today. I was able to clinch another title in my age group though, didn't fall off the start, and luckily have several more years to improve before I have to race the uber fast gals!

Thanks To julie Melanson for the photo!

Today’s race was 1h35.07 for me, perfect prep for the mtb. My group started behind all the other female categories and all the men doing less than 45km so there were lots of people out on the trails. Sarah Purslow of Canada took second and Sara Calegari of Italy third. Big Shout out to Nikki Kassel who drilled it to win the 35+ in 1:28.18. As per usual both 2x Olympic skiers Laura Mcabbe and Lesle Hall (nee Thompson) were ridiculously fast with a 1:22:51 and 1:26:23. I’ll have to look up who won the men's 45km, because I have never been passed by anyone so fast and it took over 8km for 2nd place in the men’s to catch me! He was on fire.

Congrats to Peter Findlay of Kamloops who took 5th in the men's 45km! I thought you said you were tired?

Sparkling Hills Masters Ski world Championships

2011-03-06T19:58:00.000-08:00

Okay, so maybe I’m a sandbagger, but only because they don’t let the 30 year olds race the 40 year olds! Those women are fast! Although I became World Champion (muahahaha) in the 15km free for 30-35 year olds, former US Olympian Laura Mccabe blew us all away with a time of 41.12 (21.85 km/hr). The tightest race was in the 45-50 crew with Leslie Hall taking the win in 42.26 and 5 other women chasing her in in times faster than mine….ohhh how I wish we could have all started together!

Okay i have to work om my celebratory salute

My start was hilarious. We start double poling in tracks and I felt amazing, leaping off the ground and really moving…that is until I lost my balance and fell on my but before we even cleared the tracks! Oh the shame! From there on it was chase mode. I thought the Italian racer was going to be the one to beat (having FIS points and all), but instead there was a tall powerful woman, a Canadian, leading the charge. Familiar with chasing the start I went into overdrive to catch the leaders. I was successful and then took a while to watch Marta ski so powerfully, wondering if I would be able to get away from her. Unfortunately I don’t have her grace on skis, but I do have an engine, so I put it to use and moved into the lead. The conditions and course were fast and lovely with sparkling snow falling in sunshine.

I have to say that the masters ski crew has to be the friendliest group of people out there. It was so much fun hanging out and getting to know everyone. There were definitely some familiar faces out there, and not only our awesome Kamloops crew. Mitch Bailey’s (mtb) parents raced with momma Bailey claiming 5th in her category!

And although Keith likes to now tout me as the “World Champion of old people”, I can really only fairly claim to be 9th fastest old gal on the day!

Thank you Cheryl for your witty commentary: “Ya where ever an old person is in danger....she'll be there. Whenever there is an injustice to the elderly....she'll be there! Whenever an old person cries out.....”

The Skier cyclist phenomena

2011-02-27T20:00:00.000-08:00

Well since I am now 30, that makes me a master. No I will not be racing Masters on the bike, but I am going to try my hand at Master’s ski racing. Why not start with the Masters Ski World Championships? They are being held next week in Vernon, BC only 120km from my home so why not?

I am hoping that my fitness can make up for my lack of skill. Master skier I am not. Signing up could be the best thing I have done for myself though as it is really cold here and after spending 3 of the last 4 weeks riding my bike in warmer climes I needed some motivation to get back on the skis and an escape from freezing off my digits and face on the bike.

But I am far from the only cyclist turned skier and vice versa. I recently got to catch up with Alison Sydor over coffee and she has adopted skiing with passion. Likewise I got a visit from old friend Ricky Federeau, not to mention a good a** whopping on skis by him. Watch out for this guy on the bike this summer.

On the flip side Keith complained of more Olympians racing in his category at mtb nationals than in the elite races. Two 2010 Nordic racers took 2/3 podium spots in masters men. This year’s Under 23 xc ski world Champ went to my first couple of mtb worlds as a juniour on our team and of course there’s my team mate Katerina Nash who went to the Olympics twice for Nordic skiing on top of cycling.

So what’s the draw? Both sports are awesome! They compliment each other so well in physical demands and give us athletes a break from our normal routine, while still playing outside for hours. I have tremendous respect for good skiers and look forward to having my but kicked by them shortly!

Life is Good: Skiing and Gold Medal Plates

2011-02-27T19:59:00.000-08:00

I got back from California on a Friday (and aside from studying for 2 final exams in Anatomy and Physiology) I managed to find time for some great skiing and food!.

Lucky me got invited to attend the Gold Medal Plates Dinner aka the Canadian Culinary Championships and a COC CPOC fundraiser.

There I get to meet Maielle Ricker and see her snowboard cross Gold medal, meet rising star triathlete Paula Findlay as well as Barney Bentall, Colin James and many other great people.
One chance meeting was with one of the event’s sponsors, Michael J, the owner of SilverStar Ski Resort. He generously offered us skiing at his resort the next day, where Keith and I had been heading anyhow. Thanks Michael!!!!

The resort was amazing. The weather and snow were perfect and Keith and I had an amazing day. SilverStar has a pretty wide range of terrain and was the perfect place to try out my new skis. I’ll definitely be back to check out the Bike park.

Getting to do these winter weekends on wither side of warm weather bike training is heaven!

But of course the food! Delicious. Set up as stations you travel around meeting lots of fantastic people and sampling Canadian wines paired with amazingly looking and tasting food prepared by chefs from across Canada. A Montreal based Chef won with a pork and beet dish, followed by NFLD’s star chef presenting a rabbit dish. The chef of Vancouver's C restaurant took Bronze, but I thought Saskatoon also deserved honourable mention for their Pickering dish. For more details check out
http://www.goldmedalplates.com/ccc.html

I wish I had pictures from the evening, but balancing high heels and some wine kept me busy enough!

Warm weather is oh so nice

2011-02-27T19:36:00.000-08:00

So the National mtb team camp has finished up in Oxnard, Ca and it was great. Every year the national team keeps getting better. The athletes, staff and general atmosphere is so positive and fun to be a part of.

We did some really good rides there through the mountains. Our most epic day had us climbing 0ver 2500 m to some beautiful views and a great descent. It was kinda crazy chasing fast guys down brand new descents, but luckily I had my BCBR partner’s wheel to follow and Geoff led me safely down to Sea Level.
Another day had the park rangers out chasing after us, but apparently we were the first people to ever evade their road blocks (and completely unintentionally) we had no idea we had crossed onto off limit trails at any point but luckily we were on and off them quickly enough to not be a problem! Poor Scott had to do the appeasing work as he waited by the uhaul for us and our bikes.
The road rides were equally beautiful and the neighbouring town of ventura offered some great coffee at Palermo and an awesome restaurant cafe Fiore. Good food, coffee and riding. I may be back to visit this little touted town of Oxnard.

Peter takes us to the best Java in Ventura at Palermo

Winter and Warmth

2011-02-13T07:44:00.001-08:00

Well Duty calls so I am off to California for training. Amanda, Fudge and I head to the beach for some shockingly cold ocean time.

We’ve done two road rides, one with the Canadian Women’s road team and two fun mtb days with plenty more to come.

Keith, on the other hand got some new powder skis and headed to Revelstoke to visit his family for the weekend and try out the skis.

Best news of the Week

2011-02-08T07:48:00.000-08:00

1 square of good Dark Chocolate (75% or greater) has the equivalent amount of antioxidants as 5 cups of fruit. Sure not the same nutrient or fibre content, but that’s why there’s fondue.
From the mouth of a sports nutritionist. Thanks Susan!

Victoria

2011-01-28T08:02:00.000-08:00

An overnight turn around from Rossland had me heading to Victoria with 2 bikes excited for some trail time. I was also getting to visit great friends and my brother so it was going to be a good 10 days.

West coast based national mtb riders were descending on Victoria for some good riding. The tables were turned as I camped out at Matt and Catherine’s place in Vic. They were pretty awesome hosts and combining in jean ann and Sandra’s culinary skills we were also feasting tremendously.

Since I left Victoria so many phenomenal trails have sprouted up. The trails were wet, challenging and fun. The forest felt thriving with life; moist, mossy, green, it was invigorating.

After the weeklong camp I stayed around to get in some rides with my brother and take advantage of his knowledge patience to work on my manual, drops and jumping!

Pretty tired out I headed home and took a recovery DH ski day with Keith, finding some untouched powder to play in.

An Amazing winter weekend

2011-01-19T18:08:00.000-08:00

Keith and I took off last Friday for Rossland, BC to revisit the Ram's Head Inn and Granite Mtn. On our way we looked for new ski areas to explore and found a great one right on the route. McCullough Nordic ski trails, located near Big White ski resort just outside Kelowna offered us perfectly groomed and blessedly flat(ish) skating trails. We had some of the weirdest snow we had ever skied though with new rain, and a mix of sun and shade. We flew up the climbs on the shady side only to be almost thrown from our skis as they stopped on the descent and our bodies were still in motion. When the snow suction would increase dramatically was a bit unpredictable, but there were fast enough sections between to make it a nice ski and enjoying a picnic in the snowy sunshine really tops off a good winter day.

After a Pizza break at The twisted tomato in Greenwood we traversed through dense fog at 35km/hr over the Blueberry Paulson and arrived to the cozy ambiance of the Ram's Head inn. The next morning we awoke to more sunshine and a delicious warm breakfast to fuel us for a day on the slopes.

Yesterday's rain and warm temperatures suggested icy skiing so we left the face of the mountain and went directly for the backside. We made the right call as the snow was amazing and got better as the day warmed up. We spent most of the day in the trees, both trying to get some good ski legs and experience. It was probably the best day of downhill I've had. Last run we decided to see if the face of the Mtn had softened and i wanted to see if the bowl was any less steep and intimidating than I remembered. It was, but it was still Really Steep and really icy. I made my way down with memories of skiing in NB on my mind, corning when the ice allowed you to gain an edge.

Italian Dinner a Gabriella's was delicious and allowed us to plan our next adventure. A snowshoe up to mt Lepsoe, the first of Rossland's infamous Seven Summits trail (http://www.rosslandtrails.ca/cms/SEVEN-SUMMITS-TRAIL.7.0.html). We awoke to very wet and heavy snow, but were still game and as we climbed to the Nancy Green summit the snow depth increased and we had great snowshoe conditions. I definitely gained an appreciation for the workload of snowshoes as we broke trail to over 2000m (from about 1500m, but that was enough!). Now we are definitely thinking of acquiring some back country gear.

Back home with a stop in Rock creek, a tiny town, but equipped with its own micro coffee roaster. Now to unpack and repack for a cycling camp in Victoria!!

The Search is over

2011-01-13T13:55:00.000-08:00

I have finally found a coffee that I love in a bodum. Kicking horse’s Kootenay Crossing will make life on the road that much better this season.

Winter

2011-01-01T20:53:00.001-08:00

After moving to the interior of BC from Victoria in 2004 I’ve had to embrace winter training. Initially I’d hang on to riding way too long (and have fingers and toes hypersensitive to the cold to show for it). Now that I’m half proficient at skate skiing though winter is much more enjoyable, surrounded by sun reflecting off white snow (and at slower speeds less wind and cold!)

I had the neat opportunity this December to stay with and train with the Alberta World cup ski academy as the prepared for an early season race in Vernon, BC. It’s always interesting to see how other sports train and prepare, how technical their sport is with waxing and how different training can be when technique must be perfect and weather isn’t always cooperative, but also the similarities in preparation and training.

The team was mostly juniour and under 23 athletes with a lot of talent. They were very grounded and ambitious so it will be fun to follow their racing. After getting a skate and classic lesson from the coaches during the day…and learning, not unexpectedly, that I have a long way to go, the girls made me an amazing dinner that night and had tons of questions to ask me about racing and training.

Aside from lots of Nordic skiing, Keith and I decided to get in a bit more DH skiing this winter too so over the holidays we have hit the slopes a couple times here and in Revelstoke. Some cloudy days meant low visibility and more exciting than expected runs with Keith going off of a several foot drop and me hitting at least a 1 footer…which relative to my ski level was pretty exciting!

Changing Seasons

2010-12-06T16:32:00.001-08:00

November was an interesting month. It began with above normal temperatures and sunshine, making cross nationals much more enjoyable racing than expected, upon arriving home though it was quickly double, double season. No not a Tim Horton's coffee with 2 cream, 2 sugar, I'll stick to my double Americano thanks, but rather double sock, double bootie and hot shots to keep the toes warm in sub zero temperatures. Luckily, this did not last long and the following week, snow arrived and I was getting in lots of ski miles.

Oddly enough after a super consistent season, one where people asked if it was my best yet I felt dissatisfied with it. I didn't feel like I was as good an athlete last year as I had been in the past. I felt like I put out some great races, benefitted from experience and years of hard work, but that I was capable of more. So as I train for next year I feel focused and committed in that way that feels so good, that strengthens you because you know you're doing the ground work to win when it matters most.

A weekend of Cross in the centre of the Universe

2010-11-12T22:06:00.001-08:00

This year after a two year hiatus from cyclocross (my previous experience being 4 races), Keith and I decided that I should organize a cyclocross series in the interior of BC so we could do some cross racing, but not have to do a ton of travelling every weekend.

The series was a huge success introducing lots of people to this new discipline and giving Keith and I the cross bug. Then air Canada emails me info on a seat sale to Toronto. Cyclocross nationals are there, I've got lots of family there, I have been racing cross and I figure a trip to the Big city could be fun.

Hosting my race the weekend before I was pretty busy and stressed out and looked forward to a trip to TO for a fun race with Keith. Racing cross is a nice mental change for me, I don't have to put the same mental and emotional energy into it. Race morning I started getting super grumpy about things that weren't a big deal though. Ahhhh, so I guess I do care about my result. The fact that I was dismounting way too far in advance of barriers and am inexperienced at cross was making me nervous. I got a grip though and took to the start line.

I had a great start, but then relaxed a little thinking I was safe in the train. Then came the realization that in cross you never rest and I've allowed riders to gap me from the leaders. I spend the rest of the race chasing. With 1\2 a lap to go I see 3rd and 4th place unravelling a bit and decide I can make the podium. I dig hard for my fastest lap of the race and quickly catch 4th. Then in the last corner I'm able to sneak past Pepper Harleton to claim bronze.
Wendy Simms and Katy Curtis dominated the day with Wendy winning the sprint for her 4th national championship.

But racing isn't over now. Sunday is Nationals revenge, the day where everyone who's nationals doesn't go as well as hoped gets to give it another chance. For Keith this was the case and he moved up 10 positions! I was happy with the way my race finished, but I wanted the chance to start harder and see if I could win.

After yesterday's practice I was much smoother at the barriers. The course designers had also dug trenches at the base of climbs to try to force people to dismount. It didn't work for the earlier start groups and so 10 minutes before the women's race they dug a deeper wider trench. I tried to ride it unsuccessfully on lap one and was forced into an unplanned slow dismount. The girls around me ran past and attacked the crest getting a gap. At the crest of the painful run up I dug deep to bridge up and by the end of the lap had successfully made contact.

At the crest of the run up the next lap I attacked again and got a gap over 2nd that I was able to hold till the end. Natasha Elliot never let me ease off the pace though. After a mechanical the previous day she showed she was riding strong. The run up definitely made an already tough physical course harder. Unfortunately Wendy wasn't able to stick around for Day 2 of the fun as she has a 1yr old to go home too. So it was me in 1st, Natasha 2nd and Pepper Harleton in 3rd just ahead of Katy Curtis.

After a fun weekend of racing, visiting family and sightseeing I think we may add cross nationals in toronto to next year's schedule as well!

Wow do I ever suck at doing blog updates in the "off Season".

2010-11-05T19:22:00.001-07:00

So what's been happening? Lots as always.

Currently I am in Toronto for cross nationals and some family visiting. We shall soon see how I am as a cross racer when I go head to head with Wendy, Mical and Natasha and I'm sure lots of other gals with superior cross skills. It should be a lot of fun though and I'm looking forward to watching Keith race.

Toronto has already proven eventful. Within 2 minutes of pulling out with my rental car (the acquisition of which was lengthy) I get pulled over by the Police. When I ask if I have done something wrong the officer informs me I have Quebec plates (is this a crime in Ontario?) He checks my license and as a good BC gal I am let go.

We get to my cousin's apartment and as he shows us the view from his 23rd storey apartment, Keith notices a house is on fire. We promptly call 911 and run over to see anyone is inside as all the lights are off, but luckily the fire truck beats us there. 17 fire trucks later the flames are being doused and we get to bed at about 1:30.

What will tomorrow bring?

Cross

2010-11-04T19:27:00.000-07:00

Ron Ellis, Evan Guthrie and Dan Macdonald at Kamloops cross

This year I organized a cyclocross series in the interior with the support of Clifbar, Cycles Lambert and Oakley as well as many other fantastic local sponsors. Penticton and Kelowna had fantastic organizers and I had little to do, but Kamloops was my baby. I figured this meant I should really do some cyclocross racing! So between making a cedar shed, starting an Anatomy and physiology course and organizing my Kamloops race Keith and I were booting it down to the coast for some cross racing. We hit up two BC cups, one being the infamous pumpkin cross where we got to get costumed up and jump over horse jumps.

Sandra's kickass carving

Whistler
I got an email from Fox asking me if I wanted to go to Whistler to do some filming. Silly question! So between races and weddings and exams I was off to Whistler for a couple days of filming and relaxing with the Anthill film crew. We did some really neat shoots with Darcy swinging from overhead cables as I crisscrossed rock faces and Johnathan driving a truck while Collin filmed me "hopefully" shredding some trails. We had phenomenal weather and I was pretty pumped to be able to get in a bit of trail riding in whistler. Look for some fox and whistler tourism videos this spring.

Stringing the cables

More Cross
After Whistler, Pumpkin cross and 2 exams we were in the final days leading up to my cross race. I knew organizing a race would be a lot of work, but wasn't quite prepared for how much time and energy it would consume. My normal routine was constantly interrupted and I'll admit to losing a couple hours of sleep.

Everything came together amazingly though, even the weather. I was blown away with how supportive the City of Kamloops was by meeting with me numerous times to choose a park, mark irrigation lines, paint lines etc. The local shops and riders were equally supportive giving prizes, racing and volunteering. Tons of racers came together to help set the course up Saturday afternoon. The local kids didn't tear it down overnight even though it was Saturday night and the next day was Halloween. We got 54 people out to race and tons wearing costumes. The racing was fast and entertaining (see the results page) over a BMX track and twisting through a park. Keith beat me and is now retiring from competition, at least against me.

Evan gets more air than me. Definite style points and not only for the shorts.

Afterwards everyone hung out to enjoy the beautiful day smoothies from pure cuisine and coffee from Juniper Market as I with my trusty sidekicks Cheryl and Bevin handed out the gingerbread cookie medals and about 40 prizes.

Married on a Mountain

2010-11-03T19:27:00.000-07:00

Also in this time our beloved house mates of 2 years got married and all the family and friends descended on Kamloops for several days. Matt and Catherine's wedding was perfect, up on a mtn, looking over a ski run they tied the knot and then we dined on a conscientious catering buffet, before Keith and I delivered our speech and assigned the bride push ups in her dress. Dancing and roasting marshmallows over an open fire completed the evening in style.

Turning 30 and the Epiphany

2010-11-03T19:25:00.000-07:00

In September I turned 30 and then made another attempt at the 150 mile epiphany ride with ClifBar in Napa Valley. Always epic, last year I double bonked, starting at only 4hrs in so this year I entered it afraid, well more afraid but better prepared. Not only did I have a bigger summer base of riding miles, but I did my best to draft for the first couple hours and eat lots often. I ended the ride feeling strong enough to duke it out with the masters men up the final climbs with some painfully placed attacks. It is so much better to finish strong then spending the last 3 hrs just trying to make it and hoping desperately that someone will stop their car and offer you a ride.

Salmon Run
Not far from Kamloops you get incredible glimpses of the salmon run so when Geoff and Mom were in town for my big 30 we took them out to see it.

Geoff and mum, Ahhhh

Vegassed out

2010-09-25T13:57:00.000-07:00

Party at ClifBar. Best at the Show Foosball, beer,and live music

Interbike has come and gone and with it my last trip to Vegas. The show now moves to Anaheim, CA. Vegas is an interesting place to say the least. I'm glad I've seen it, Cirque de Soleil and Phantom, but I'm glad I do not have to spend more time here. A couple early morning runs down the strip alongside homeward bound revelers, gamblers and the leftover smells and discards of a night of partying has me wondering how people survive here.

For an athlete, or those that like fresh air, dislike shopping and waste it is overwhelming to say the least. Some of the hotels and displays are definitely impressive, as are women's abilities to walk in 4 inch heels. With sufficient funds you can see some amazing shows with sets that won't be traveling to smaller towns like Kamloops, but you see it at the expense of witnessing the more depressing parts of our culture as people don't go to Vegas to use moderation.

The show started with Dirt Demo in Boulder City where the Luna Chix took 22 female bike and clothing shop owners and reps for a mtb ride in the desert in their new Luna Sport outfits and camelbaks. It was crazy hot out and the trails are tough, but we had a great time.

From Dirt Demo you move indoors for 3 days. 3 days of perfumed air (to cover the cigarette smoke), parties, dimly lit paths through casinos and full days at the expo definitely wear you down, but it was great to connect with my sponsors, check out their new products and visit with friends. It's also one of the few chances I get to hang with my Luna Ironman bud Terra who's belief that if she isn't helping someone through her involvement in sport than she's not doing her job, epitomizes the philosophy behind the Luna program.

Ohhh the Labours. Terra and I sign some posters

Interbike shows me how lucky I am to be with the Luna team and our group of fantastic sponsors. The Luna sport line is looking awesome, ClifBar and Luna have some great new products (Luna chocolate chunk, Clif Crunch white chocolate macadamia, Luna protein bars and the revamped Clif shot gel...when you can actually eat gels on a spoon you know they're good). Shimano, Avia, Mavic, Fox, Orbea, Maxxis, Vetta, Camelbak, Oakley thank you for a great season of support and innovation!

Now it's back to reality, and cyclocross race organizing! Come race in the interior!

www.interiorcross.weebly.com

The show down

2010-09-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

So I’m sure you’re dying to know who won the bet, Matt or I. Well Matt did win the race, but not the bet. He redeemed his man card by catching us a fish, with his hands.

Sunday dawned to rain, lots of rain. I can’t say I was excited to race. You know I just wasn’t really into racing up a mtn so close to Worlds, but there was a lot of trash talking happening so I had to suck it up.

Mt Revelstoke is a beautiful climb. It averages about 5.5%, climbed 25.4 km and 1400 m of elevation change. On a clear day you see beautiful mtns. This Sunday you say the rain dripping off your nose and a lot of mist. With 10 km to go I was having trouble shifting, my fingers were so cold. I couldn’t squeeze my bottle hard enough to get water out of it, but at least I was climbing.

I reached the crest in 1hr 16 min and 45 seconds and Matt had not caught me. Wahoo. As I descended down to the cabin where organizers had goodies and hot chilly waiting for us I saw Matt charging up to the finish line. He did a respectable 1hr 14min 08. 2nd and 3^rd place were separated by only 1 second 1:15:46 and 1:15:47, fast times put in by Jason Kilmartin and Patrick Paquette. 2010 Nordic Olympian and current Masters National mtb champion Gordon Jewett took 4^th ahead of me with a time of 1:16

In all there were 59 hardcore finishers including 13 year old Kellen Visaugh and 72 year old Jerry Livesey.

Complete results on the Flowt bikes and skis website. www.flowt.org

2010-09-10T08:48:00.000-07:00

Back home and the garden looks like something Alice would have stumbled into and not resurfaced. I did find this Zucchini though, 15inches makes a lot of zucchini bread.

Rainy weather isn't too conducive to activity, but I need to keep some miles in my legs for the Epiphany ride. I am determined not to double bonk on the 9hr ride this year.

I've been reading "Talent is Overrated" and highly recommend it.

Matt and Catherine are home, but only for a short while. We had a farewell get together for them last night as the head off to Victoria for the winter on Monday.

Before they leave though, Matt and i have some trash talk to sort out. The 27km Revelstoke Hill Climb. He thinks he can put 5 minutes into me, has recruited light wheels from a friend to do so (Derek I thought you were my friend!).... sunday will be the test.

Matt does the math and it doesn't look good..for anyone

Reflections on a 4th place finish

2010-09-10T08:12:00.000-07:00

Willow Claims worlds Bronze, Irina Silver, Maja Gold

Well, I'm sure you have guessed that 4th wasn't my goal for the World Championships in Canada. I had a lot of momentum behind me with two world cups wins and the world cup overall, a win at MSA last year and a huge group of supporters that traveled from New Brunswick, Ontario and BC to cheer me on. The crowds were insane. It was the loudest race i've ever done. Kids with NB flags ran alongside me screaming, the switchback climbs were lined with roaring fans and the descents exploded in noise as you came through.

My preparation was good. I felt strong and ready. My head was good. I didn't feel overwhelming pressure, just confident. The race started with my best ever World cup start and some good line choices saw me move into 3rd for the start loop.

Eva Lechner, Maja and i got off the front, but into the woods on lap one i wasn't able to enter first and the chasers caught back up to us. On leaving the first woods Eva slipped and I got out front. everything was looking good. I was out front with about 10 seconds, but on the 2nd half of the lap I had some costly slips and lost my advantage on Maja.

We entered 2nd lap together, but again i couldn't grab first position into the woods, lost focus and lost contact with her.

Canadian Cylclist captures the amazing fans

I felt strong, but Willow caught up to me. This time I was determined to grab first wheel into the woods. I did, but barely. Willow and I rode together the next lap before she pulled away from me. I don't even remember the details, just the suffering and the amazing noise of the crowds.

The best part of the race by far was the last 10 minutes. I don't know if there has ever been a tighter battle for the final positions. Irina had bridged up to me and I was having flashbacks of the Olympics. But going into the climbs we could see Willow. In the woods she was off her bike and then again in the rock garden. The two slips put us into the rock garden at the same time. Willow rode the alternate line while I rode the rocks and Irina ran them behind me. Willow and I entered the base at the same time and the crowds erupted. We raced to the base of the next climb just trying to keep our legs turning over when Irina came by on the climb. Into the final switchbacks she dabbed, but I had to as well and gained no advantage. We chased each other into the final descent. Irina, Me, Willow. Through the feed-zone and to the finish with just 2 corners and a bridge to go and then Willow was passing me through a corner. One last chance around the next corner if she made a mistake, but she had the bit between her teeth and I would finish 2 seconds off the medals, 6 seconds from Silver and about 54seconds from Maja's winning time.

Had we all not put up such an epic battle for the podium I wouldn't have felt nearly as pleased with my ride. But I was there. I battled hard and in the end i got beat. Medals are important yes, but more important is that I'm there. The other girls are just also damn fast. It was by far my best Worlds, not what I wanted, not what I was maybe capable of if i had played my cards slightly differently, but i'd rather put my energy into getting faster for next year than be-groaning what i could have done differently.

I've lost some sleep over it already and now it's time to move on; and yes losing Worlds makes me hunger for it more next year.

Canada put on a great Worlds and our athletes rose to the challenge. Lauren Rosser, the little ripper from squamish is now the JR World Champion with another year of Juniour left. Steve Smith took Canadian men's DH to a new level placing 2nd behind Sam Hill. Our juniour women's xc had their best finishes since the early 2000's and our juniour men showed we have some great talent coming up with a couple top 10 finishes. Emily Batty grabbed a 5th in the U23 race, Mikaela 14th. Team Canada rode well in the relay and Kabush rode a strong 8th in the men's xc. Housemate Matt Hadley had a great ride finishing 45 after losing at least 15 position reinflating a tire. In my race Marie-Helene rode to roaring fans to finish 9th while Amanda Sin held onto a top 30 after double flatting, finishing just off Mical Dyck. Catherine, Jean ann and Sandra rounded out the top 45. In all we were 68 riders with a great team of support staff. I can't mention everyone, just that they all rode extremely well with lots of heart.

World cup Finals

2010-08-31T06:04:00.000-07:00

What a season! The World cup series has now come to a close and in a pretty darn fantastic fashion. The World Cup finals in Windham, New York saw myself and the Luna team achieving many season goals. Luna put a rider on the podium at every World cup this season and we took the team overall in a dominating fashion. I achieved my 2nd World cup win of the year and my first World Cup overall title.

After a 5 year absence, the USA once again saw themselves hosting a World cup and the town of Windham put on a great event. You could feel the positive vibes sent out from the town. Church signs welcomed us with "You Pedal, We Pray" and coffee shops marveled at the amount of espresso consumed and by so many different accents. There were nightly parties and lots of entertainment outside of the racing.

Keith was traveling with me and we made it more of a trip than just racing. Flying into Montreal we made our way slowly to Windham with a stop at the Kingdom Trails in East Burke,Vermont. Having Keith with me makes life feel more normal and helps keeps me grounded for these big events.

With him, the team and my parents coming down for the event I felt more like I was vacationing than heading into World cup finals as the number 1 ranked rider who had some serious work ahead of her in order to retain that position.

Race day dawned and I was still in my relaxed mode, perhaps because I new bigger stressors were still to come! Sunny, clear skies greeted us on our way to Daly's (our local coffee stop). Sitting in Daly's we ran into Blick from Oakley, my parents and some other racers and sat around chatting for an hour before heading to the venue.

I started strong, which seems to be a welcome trend. By strong I mean I maintained top 10 and didn't let myself get pushed out to 30th. Marie Helene led the charge followed by Georgia. By several minutes in I made contact with them and by mid lap had moved into the lead and kept on charging. At the top of the long 13 minutish climb I had a small lead which I was able to extend on the descent to about 20 seconds.

MHP was climbing strong though and would bring in several seconds every climb while I would put the time back into her every descent. Georgia was maintaining a close gap to Marie while I had a little safety as 2nd and 3rd overall in the WC series, Eva Lechner and Willow Koerber, were sitting outside the top 5.

With Marie charging hard I couldn't relax, but I couldn't shake her either. I knew she was coming for me. She later said "I had the eyes". If i couldn't extend my gap I could at least make myself hard to catch. Last lap she closed about 20 seconds on me and took the lead into the final climb,but she was breathing hard,really hard. I took a moment to gather myself on her wheel and then made a surge on the final climb into the descent. She followed me into the woods and through the first tricky singletrack. With that section completed the major spot for error was over and I tried to open it up on the descent. I had a near slide out in one section, but railed through others and was able to gain precious seconds. We charged towards the finish line where I enjoyed a 4 second advantage to celebrate a world cup and world cup series overall win in front of my family and Sponsor LUNA.

Georgia rode in with a strong 3rd place welcomed by her plentiful cheering family while Katerina struggled with mechanicals sure to giver her fire for next week.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this weekend and Season such a success!

I guess it's good we're in Revelstoke for training...do have a monday flight though

2010-08-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

Forest fires cause air quality in Kamloops to plummet to hazardous levels

Poor visibility forces cancellation of airline flights while the elderly and those with health conditions advised to stay indoors

By CAM FORTEMS, Kamloops Daily News

Hanging with the Seattle Luna crew

2010-08-10T17:25:00.000-07:00

tuckered out by the end of the day! Lavonne, Sara, me and Carrie

This weekend I had the fantastic fortune of heading down to Seattle to hang out with the Seattle Luna Chix. I was invited to give a skills clinic at Duthie Hills in Isquaa to Luna riders and local women.

We got a great group of enthusiastic women who had decided to brush the dust of their bikes and get back into riding, or gain some more skills for their tool bag. It's always amazing to see women's confidence grow and how much smoother and relaxed of riders they can become in 3hrs!

Duthie Hills was fantastic for the event. I had traveled to Seattle expecting to be coaching out of a soccer field or school yard when in fact we were treated to a skills park with a cloverleaf of trails branching off from the park. A trail named Bootcamp was reminiscent of a 15 min pump track. wicked! The area was created and maintained by the Evergreen Club and is well worth checking out.

From Basic body position to climbing, cornering, descending and small obstacles we covered it all just before the skies opened up. A couple hard cores stuck around after the clinic for a ride and then we headed back to my host's (Sara) place for a potluck. (Gabe we need your pictures!)

Thanks so much to Sara and Andy and the Seattle Luna crew for hosting Keith and I and showing us the trails.

A brief comparison

2010-08-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

Kamloops Pre and during Forest fire season

World Cup: Val di Sole

2010-08-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

So we're all settled into a nice apartment, good coffee and ah yes we found a nice pizzeria right by the venue. Prep went well. The course was pretty simple; steep ass climbs and fast fun
descents. I did a hard work out on Wednesday as I need to feel fast on my mtb again and rid the bad energy I was still carrying from Switzerland. After a couple intervals and laps on the course I had figured out how to ride through the tenderness in my arse and the grumblings in my head.

Thursday Waldek and I scouted out some mtn view lakes for a photo shoot (not every team can claim to have 3 national champs). It rained pretty hard but we found a trail down from the mtn top lake so all was good. Our hotel served some amazing multi-course meals, venison seems very popular here. One more day of race prep and I was set to race.

I actually had one of my best world cup starts ever and it was on flat rough grass. Go figure. I came through the start loop in 9th and moved my way up so that about midway through lap 1 I was leading. I opened a gap on the first descent and was able to have about 5-20 seconds until lap 3. Then I guess I slowed down as there were some fast charging women coming up behind me. It's pretty scary to see a pack chasing you down when you don't really feel you can find more speed, but luckily I had enough and only Maja bridged up to me. We worked together for a lap, pushing each other to stay ahead of the chasers. I tried to shake her on the final climbs, but she was on me like glue right to the finishing stretch where she attacked for the win and won. I was happy with second and moving back into the leaders jersey as it's curse continued and Eva Lechner finished outside the top 10. The curse is being abolished at Windham!

My team had a great day with Katerina claiming the final podium spot in 5th and Georgia in 7th. We took the team lead again and all went out to celebrate over, but of course, some delicious Italian thin crust pizza.

Champery to Val di Sole

2010-08-01T16:36:00.000-07:00

Champery was a tough week for me, a crash in training had left not only my but, but my confidence bruised. Not many things frustrate me as racing below my ability level though so I was determined to turn things around for the next World Cup in Val di Sole, Italy. How can things go wrong after a week of good Italian food and coffee?
After the race in Switzerland, the Luna crew hung out for another day. On Monday we climbed the Col de Cou...for cappuccino of course. Once atop we appeared to have 2 options for descending back to Champery. Georgia and Waldek both remembered riding a different trail down. So as Waldek and I tried out the hiking trail, Georgia and Zak opted for the other route. Both worked out and Wadek and I got to do some fun switchbacks and a fast descent to our meeting point.
Tuesday was driving day. An 8hr drive took 12, but we got to stop for freshly picked apricots, autogrill coffee (some of the best coffee in Italy is served up by baristas on the freeway. I think Waldek had 7 espresso shots on the way) and a meal and swim at Lake Garda. We arrived in the dark to less than stellar accommodations. It looked like a sardine can with train size aisles and sleeping berths. After one night there, where Waldeks head and toes touched the wall at the same time, he was scouting out other options and by the time I finished training we had a nice little apartment to move into. Waldek is a real trooper.

World Cup Champery, Switzerland

2010-07-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

Zak enjoys some of Katka's family's baking brought in from Czech republic

Ooh yeah that's good babowka

After Nationals I got a day with Keith and then i was off to Europe again. I was excited to be hitting the World Cup circuit, particularly after being able to confirm good form at Nationals.
My brother Geoff was traveling with the national team as an assistant coach so I was also looking forward to some hang time with him and the other Canadians. Travel was smooth and our entourage of two vans and 2 cars, all fully load, made our way from Zurich to Champery.

Champery is in South east Switzerland in the Alps. It is one of the most beautiful places I've been too. The view from our hotel seemed out of a painting or fantasy movie. The weather was amazing, actually a bit hot, and by Wednesday we were out for our first look at the course.

yes this is the view from my hotel, unreal.

Champery is hosting Worlds next year so I was eager to spend some time on the course and find out how to be most efficient on it. This year they reduced the length of the long climb, also removing some rough descending, but added another climb and descent section. It had a good size drop with a gap in it and some tricky corner chutes into it. First time through I slipped out on the corners and went down hard.

Unfortunately hard crashes have a habit of making you timid and I was never able to master those corners. I eyed the drop eagerly but just wasn't feeling technically sharp enough to risk it. My but was pretty darn tender under load. Thursday brought a big change in the weather with on off hard thunder showers for 24hrs. The course turned ugly. Thick rutted mud and slickness. I was okay with that. I'd prefer dry, but I kinda like it slick too. I had embraced the weather, but I guess not the amount of running that would ensue.

The day before the race I was the most nervous I had ever been for a race..and it was still 1 day out. Wearing the number 1 plate I was feeling some internal pressure, but a good chat with my bro helped me relax and look forward to racing.

Race morning dawned sunny and bright and I wasn't nervous. I think the highlight of the day was being Surprised by Kiara Bisaro showing up with husband Sylvain and their gorgeous daughter Georgia. I was feeling good, maybe not my typical confident, eager self, but excited to race.

From the gun things were good. I maintained my position to the left hander over the bridge and then onto the dirt. This is when things started going backwards however. Once on the soft dirt girls started charging by me. Into the disgusting thick wood chips trails even more went by. I entered the first climb already 1 minute back.

Being used to this type of situation I floored it on the climb and picked a lot of girls off both there and on the first rough rocky descent. Thanks for the lines Geoff! Through the start finish i was up to 13th, but still 1 minute back. I was on the hunt though and had lots of girls in my sights.... and then the sucky moment when you go to shift in a mucky, dirty race and your chain gets lodged between your frame and cranks. Off the bike and reefing on it as the traffic streams by. It doesn't budge. The chain has looped back on itself about 3 times and is really wedged. I start running, but then realize how far I'll have to run and try to relax and figure this thing out. I get my chain out and am back at the chase, although a little deflated.

I run the chutes and take the chicken line, more deflation. Normally I'm pretty good at taking chances, but still tender from day one, today wasn't the day. The rest of the course was pretty decent for me and I slowly made up spots and time. Slowly. When I realized I was trying to stay on my bike way longer than other girls and that they could run by me and gap me I had to change my tactic and start running.

It was a frustrating race. I'd make up time in one section and then be behind someone and lose whatever seconds i had gained, or get my head up my but feeling bad about my race and lose time. At least I felt technically sharp in most sections, and always reeled people in on the climbs. As consolation I could see my team mates riding well up ahead when the course looped back on itself.

I worked my way back to about 14th and then burped my tire on some rocks. Being only a couple minutes from the tech zone I rode it in, changed my wheel and headed back out for the last lap. Thanks guys. I went hard to the finish, but it was one of those days when you suffer a lot, but don't go a speed that justifies the look of discomfort on your face.

Canadiancyclist.com captures my suffer face

I finished 16th, 7min 49 seconds of the win. Ouch. It's been about 3 years since I've been that far back. I'm a bit thrown off by the race, even without mechanicals I wouldn't have had my best day, but I'm trying not to beat myself up over it. Just a race after all. Saturday is another race and another chance to ride my best.

The World cup overall is still within reach. I'm now 3rd overall at 56 points back. That and another world cup podium will be my motivation.
Thanks everyone for your support and congrats to my team mate Katerina who made the podium in 5th, Georgia who placed 11th and all the Canadians that had great rides from our juniour men and women to Clair Buchar's fourth consecutive 7th in DH, to Geoff (21) and Derek (37) in Elite, and MHP (13), Emily (23), Amanda (28), Sandra (41).

Canadian Nationals

2010-07-21T10:33:00.000-07:00

C-squared

As Keith and I drove from Revelstoke to Canmore I started getting excited to race. Marie-Helene Premont was sure to be on form after her 4th at the last world cup and she was going to force me to be on my A game.

After a beautiful and sunny drive through the mountains with some rest stops we arrived in Scenic Canmore with it's vertical mountains on either side of the valley.

Although Canmore used to be a regular stop on the World cup circuit, that was before my time and I was excited for the chance to not only race there, but ride as well. Our house mate Matt had spent the fall there building trails.

Keith and I got in some good rides and preparation (including some river dips), some good visits and dinner with friends and were ready for race day. The only thing that disappointed was receiving word that Marie Helene would not be attending due to Bronchitis.

It felt anti-climatic as I had prepared myself for such a great battle on the bike, however I knew Amanda Sin was on form and awaited my next challenge. I was also luckily to have my in-laws and my father there cheering me on. There were so many great people out on course keeping us motivated to push. Thanks guys.

Race day approached and it could not have gone any better for our household. I got off the front early and worked on extending my lead by racing the best race I could on the hilly, rough, rooty course. Amanda Sin Chased me down, herself being pursued by Mical Dyck, my housemate Catherine Vipond and Sandra Walter. The Under 23 category, starting 45 seconds back, saw some of our strongest women (Emily Batty and Mikaela Koffman) race through the elite field to post top 5 times in the Elite category.

Photo by Patrick Grahm

My race was thankfully uneventful with the awesome support of Keith and the Maxxis team of Garry Wolffe and James Sullivan having my bike race ready and the pits manned. The rest of the luna crew was busy as well winning both the US National Champs (Georgia) and the Czech Republic Champs (Katerina). Go Team!

1. Catharine 2. Amanda 3. Mical 4 Catherine 5 Sandra

Catherine, matt, Nick, Keith and my Dad post race dinner time!

While the gals gave urine and blood samples to doping control, the guys were lining up to race. Obvious favourites were Geoff Kabush, Max Plaxton and Derek Zandstra. But any number of guys would be hotly contesting 4th through 8th and hopefully earning themselves a position on the team for World championships.

Our housemate Matt got off to a good start and settled into 7th position. By 5th lap it looked like we might know our race results Geoff had gotten off the start and Max and Derek were chasing. In the battle for 4th Watson was moving though the field as was Hadley. After sitting in 4th for the entire race Kris Sneddon was caught by Matt in the last km and launched an epic sprint for the line which he took with a massive effort and huge smile.

1. Geoff Kabush, 2.Max Plaxton 3.Derek Zandstra 4. Matt Hadley 5. Kris Sneddon

A first and two 4ths for our house and 3 national championships for the Luna team as well as an xterra win by Shonny, made it an awesome weekend.

Canmore was a great venue for Nationals with a lot of course potential, lots of great restaurants and of course good coffee shops!

Catherine and I now head to Europe while Matt and Keith head on a biking road trip to Fernie, Rossland and wherever their hearts desire.

Stoked to get Spanked in Revelstoke

2010-07-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

Revelstoke has always been one of my favourite places to ride. Not only do we get to ride some of the best trails in the world, undulating interior rain forest funness, but we get to do it while visitng my in-laws who spoil us daily. This weekend we also got to try racing on the revelstoke trails.

Friends Carter and Christina came with us to Revy for the racing and riding. BBQ's, enough time to watch the tour before riding or racing along with coffee shop stops with friends Sandra, Jeanine and Ryan who were camping nearby made it a fun, relaxing weekend.

The race sent us through some solid amounts of single track and tough climbs making it not an easy, but a rewarding day on the bike. We capped off the fun race with another bbq and some Mt. Begbie brews with the other racers.

Now a couple days to rest and prep for nationals.

BCBR: Final stage

2010-07-04T20:32:00.001-07:00

Last week was an awesome week of riding and racing with my race Partner Geoff Kabush. I'll sum it day to day with some highlights from each stage.

Last year my luna teammate Katerina Nash and I raced together. We were so perfectly matched and could rail the singletrack I was a little nervous of trying another partner, particularly an uber fast elite male, but passing up on the opportunity to race with Geoff Kabush, fellow Canadian National Champion and World cup winner and getting to follow his lines on some of the worlds best Singletrack for a week, was an opportunity I would have been foolish to pass up.

My Team for the week

Geoff "Super Domestique" Kabush

Amanda Soigneur and gourmet sandwich maker.

James "Jimmy" Sullivan: team mechanic. Yes I will fully admit that those people that do stage races without this kinda stellar support are doing a whole other level of endurance racing.

Day 7: Whistler. After another great sleep in Squamish we headed to Whistler for the final stage. I felt great, but know with today's short stage I should really get a warm up in. No time though so it's to the start line. I felt awesome for about 10 pedal strokes and then nothing. Sorry Geoff, no chicking was going to happen today.

Whistler put on a great stage this year. Sending us up easy does it to the Crank it up descent down the Bike Park. Due to a tight area we went off in waves of 50. Unfortunately our wave after climbing a 20+% climb took a turn down singletrack and had to climb back up, reaching the summit just as wave 2 did. A bit of a cluster, but we pulled ahead again. Geoff took advantage of the open climbing to get in an all out effort and chased down the lead guys while I settled into a maintainable pace.

Crank it up was a giggle with beautiful bermed corners, table tops, doubles and jumps. From there we headed to the lost lake trails which consist of gazillions of rocks and bridges to ride up, over and down. The Stage was a short 1h34.23. Definitely my worst legs of the week, but a good day none the less.

Check out the helmet cam videos at cyclingdirt.org

Geoff and I took our 8th consecutive win, while Wendy Simms and Norm Thibault challenged Mical Dyck and Jeff Neilsen for 2nd Place. Jeff's gunshow on the final podium showed their team's winning edge!

Awards, Dirty Burgers, nap, shower and final Banquet. It was an awesome week and I couldn't have asked for a better team mate than Geoff. All the riders were so much fun to race with and the race staff, volunteers and riders wicked to hangout with all week.

20hrs 27minutes 54s of racing, 5th fastest team overall. Same tires all week (Maxxis Ikons 2.2) and no flats, no mechanicals, no blow ups, no bad days, just lots of good riding, new friends and beautiful travels. I feel recharged and excited for the rest of the summer's racing!

Check out BCBR to see how you can have that much fun too! www.bcbikerace.com

BCBR: Day 6 Squamish

2010-07-04T20:25:00.001-07:00

Day 6: Keith has finished school and joined us as a guest racer. Really it's not fair for me to have all the fun! We stayed with friends Dwayne and Renee and I took advantage of a King size bed getting some needed sleep.

The Squamish stage incorporates the infamous test of Metal and gear Jammer courses offering riders tons of good descending. Some descents are more like jump trails where as others are rugged tests of agility and skill. I liked it all.

After Yesterday's wicked day Geoff and I were amped to have another chick show down. We marked the top ten, but climbed within ourselves (by this I mean within my limits). We were riding in a large group containing the 2nd and 3rd place men's team and all the solo guys from 6th to 9th place. We strung together some good descents. On the climbs some guys tried to get away, but we kept them in check. The legs are definitely feeling yesterday's race, but still feel good.

Through aid station 2 Geoff and I take advantage of being a team. He fills my bottle as I ride through and set a hard tempo. He bridges up, but we have gapped some guys that had to stop for fuel. Through the last single track I start fading a bit, but only Marty and Steph and Tonkin go by us for the finish and we claim another top 10. 2hr 42

The intense racing up front early on is taking it's toll on the immunity of some of the guys with colds starting to appear. Geoff an I have raced smart and really came into our legs on the singletrack these last two days.

That afternoon I got to hang out with the Shimano R&D guys and learn more about the new xtr as well as give them feedback. It has been phenomenal. The brakes are fantastic, they've done lots to prevent overheating, even with small rotors on the rear wheel. The shifting is smooth and dependable in all conditions and it feels and looks sharp.

I also entered my second race of the day. The kids race with categories from 2 year run bikes to 7 year old hammer heads. I got worked over and Amanda had to give me mid race leg rubs to keep me going. Geoff Played 18 holes of Golf with some very respectable shots.

BCBR: Hump Day and Chixed day

2010-07-04T20:23:00.001-07:00

We left beautiful Powell River (only accessible by Ferry and float plane) in the am and headed by Ferry to Earl's Cove on the Sunshine coast.

Day 4: Ah hump Day. So far so good. 4 days in, 3 to go. Geoff and I have been a good team. We've had some good laughs, some good mishaps and lots of good riding and racing. We've been able to stay close to the front at the start and then gradually settle in with a fast, but not the fastest group (Barry, Kris, Corey, Collin, Chris, Jason).

Hump Day: Earl's cove to Sechelt. I started with a slight headache and a delicious breakfast before heading to the Ferry. Then another race from the Ferry. This was the hardest stage last year and it was tough again today. There was tons of climbing, steep climbing and not a lot of single track until over 2hrs in. Fire roads make your mind and legs feel flat and missing a turn lost us our rhythm and time advantage over Jeff and Mical, but we got back into rhythm and pulled away through some loamy singletrack and kept working for the advantage the rest of the day. Finally we were rewarded with singletrack. Unfortunately still lots of up hill before the down, but the down was pretty sweet and we still came in in under 4hrs. Pugsley sprinted us for the finish. Today was 3:41.

Geoff captures me and Pugsley climbing mid race
Day 5: Sechelt to Langdale. One of my favourite stages from last year thanks to the sweet long descent down to the Ferry Terminal. The day started pretty rainy and we had a large creek crossing to Fjord. The neutral road start would be the messiest and from there a dirt climb and then mostly singletrack. We got a good position into the woods. Managed the stream crossing. Geoff wanted an inflatable raft that he could ride ahead, inflate and then porter us across on, but Peter didn't have one. Jeez Boss!

Photo by Patrick Grahm. For more great shots check out www.flickr.com/photos/lungsnot

I felt great in the singletrack and after a while we started catching the 3rd place men's team and lots of fast guys. We realized we could be in a position for a top ten overall that day if we rode well. With this motivation we snaked our way through the woods, past guys and into 8 and 9th position. At the crest of the singletrack all we had to do was maintain our lead on the guys on the descent. It was tricky railing a descent while keeping our eyes out for pink ribbon and having to pee like a race horse, but we managed it. Manny Prado road up on us as we were less than a km from the finish, but a little scoop on the corner and down the chute to the finish and we held our top 10 finish. Geoff got a kick out of chixing the guys. 2hr50. Sometimes he even had time to twitter about it mid race or take photographic evidence!

Showers and then onto the ferry to Horseshoe Bay and Squamish.

BCBR Day 2 and 3

2010-07-04T20:21:00.001-07:00

Day 2: Cumberland. I like this stage. Big Climb, BIG descent. We got to stay at the Kabush's home for 2 nights which was great and after a good sleep I was looking forward to racing Cumberland's flowy trails. We initially lost the race leaders Chris Sheppard and the Kona Boys, but then tucked in on Geoff's wheel on a fire road we came up on a group. It was all the leaders. After sitting in a bit i went for a fake attack off the front to rile up the guys, but then eased off to let them have the singletrack first. We were able to stick with them for an hour through flowy singletrack and until the base of a 20 minute climb up to Forbidden Plateau. From there, the guys really started racing and I waved them good bye and settled into my own group with geoff.

We crested the climb with Andreas, Blake and Ron and headed into a super fun rocky descent. Entering the descent Geoff went for a v ramped bridge and I followed. When we were both on it we realized there wasn't a ramp, but a large drop. Luckily I survived and we all got a good laugh before railing down the rest of the descent and back to the finish. Time 3:04

That night I got to have an awesome dinner with friends Emma, Jon, Aya and Solay at their newly built Yurt. Thanks Guys!

Day 3. New to BC Bike race was a stage in Powell River. This stage was mostly flat singletrack. Some of it very fresh through some of the most beautiful mossy cedar forests I have gotten to enjoy.

Kelly Sherbinin sadi it right when she said "I was afraid the moss would grow over me if I went too slow through the forest." The day was tough, hard to hydrate during and not always easy to keep momentum, but we went pretty damn fast through the woods. Going fast is always fun so it was another enjoyable day with only one course detour. Time 2:51:52

That afternoon I got to enjoy my first real down time of the trip with a walk in the ocean, maybe too much time in the sun and a water front massage! Amanda, James, Peter and Keiran from Rocky Mtn:Maxxis adopted me as one of their own for the week. Amanda had delicious gourmet sandwiches ready for us after the race and prepped our legs while James washed and dialed in the bikes. Peter (Boss) and Keiran managed the fort logistics.

BCBR Day Zero and -1

2010-07-04T20:19:00.001-07:00

Friday: Day -1 Geoff and I arrive at Endless Biking to get the new xtr dyna sys put on our bikes. Nice and shiny and over 400km of racing to put it to the test!

Day 0 was a short individual TT in North van over some pretty rooty trails. Geoff and I raced individually and teams took the slower rider's time as the team time. 8min 55. Racers are on their own till we hit Nanaimo, then I join the rocky Mountain team for the week as we travel around with the race.

Day 1: A way too short sleep of about 4.5hrs after getting to sleep at midnight and having people waking up at the hotel way too early. Those beeps when you lock and unlock cars should be banned. 4.5hrs is a scarily short sleep to head into a stage race with.
We all hopped a ferry to Nanaimo and started racing right off the boat. Well actually two police officers on bikes escorted us for almost 30 minutes through town to the trail head. The poor officers got quite the workout with 500 racers bearing down behind them.

The Lead out

Into the singletrack it was a whirl of riders and dust. I felt pretty good on my bike and the new xtr was working great. Yeah 36 tooth cassette! Geoff and I worked our way to the front of our group only to miss a turn and end up at the back of our group again.

Today was a comedy of errors as Geoff and I took turns snagging branches and flying off the trail, stopping for small bike adjustments thinking we had some room on second place only to have Mical and Jeff ride up on us again and not being able to drop the guy with 3.25 tires (Pugsley; okay so the bike is actually a Sandman with some front suspension, but that boy can ride!) till quite late in the race. We got sorted and Geoff pulled me into the last couple km of paved road to the finish at 40km/hr for first place. Not sure if my arms are tired from all the singletrack or from tucking in behind him! Sweet. 3hr 35

Test of Metal

2010-06-24T10:42:00.000-07:00

The Test of Metal in Squamish, BC is always one of my favourite races. The race sells out on January 1^st in about 20 minutes, but luckily they still let elite riders in on race day. This year over 1100 racers ranging in age from the teens to the seventies signed up.

This was the 15^th anniversary of the race and festival weekend and all 15 past male race winners were brought back as well as many of the female past winners. The weather was perfect and the course only slightly slower than the previous year due to weeks of rain leading up to the event and i had been talking smack to a bunch of guys leading up to the race so the competition was going to be fun.

The great thing about the Test is the people. This includes the fans out lining the streets with sprinklers, out on the trails, often only semi-clad and the people racing alongside you. The whole community gets into the race and make it loud and vibrant. Afterwards there’s a big BBQ and lots of local parties. This year we were hosted by Squamish Locals Dwayne, Renee and Livy who treated us to an amazing weekend and lots of scrumptious food.

The Race: 1000 person mass start. Wahooo! I was able to hang onto the front group of 13 men cresting the paved climb and claim my first of 10 women’s primes. I was a little nervous that it would come to a sprint with Wendy, Sandra, Catherine or Jean ann as a large pack stayed together most of the climb, but lucky for me it broke up right before the last pitch and I didn’t have to humiliate myself. On the men’s side Kris Sneddon out raced Kabush for the first prime, Geoff went on to grab the other 9 and solo in with a new course record of 2hrs and 29 minutes.

I was super happy with how I was able to ride the race. I was surrounded by elite men for most of the race and ended up 19th overall with a time just under 2:52. I didn’t match my record from the previous year, but definitely felt the competition depth and racing was just as good or faster this year.

My housemates Matt and Catherine pulled off great rides despite mechanicals finishing 5^th and 3^rd respectively, while my housemates of the weekend Dwayne and Carter raced with me for 2hrs before riding off to sub 2.50 races. Renee got the awesome claim of beating her sister by a couple hours. Yeah that’s right! And Livy took her first steps. And yes Drew Mckenzie, you beat me fare and square. it's on for next year!

Thanks Keith and Christina for the bottles and weathering the heat and feed-zone for me!

Women's night at Flowt Bikes in Revelstoke

2010-06-11T09:08:00.001-07:00

the always popular and useful lesson on how to fix a flat tire!

talking suspension

Delicious appies from La Baguette. If you're driving through Revelstoke you have to try their chocolate almond bread, or gelato, or .....the list is long

Brendan Macintosh from Flowt bikes invited me down to participate in my first women's mechanics course last week with a bunch of great gals from Revelstoke. With over 20 women attending we broke into three groups all lead by female instructors. Amanda taught them how to change a flat tires, I discussed on the trail maintenance and flowt's resident wrencher Theresa, got into the nitty gritty of more in depth mechanics.

We started with great appetizers and ended with fun door prizes and some Luna bars. Every year the night get's better so you might want to keep an eye on Flowt shop events.

http://www.flowt.org/Flowt_web_page/Home.html

a couple pics from Pete's Bday

2010-06-09T20:32:00.000-07:00

Martin, the pants have been censored out

Km and Logan

Deb

Ellen and me

Aaron and Pete

Catherine and Matt

Mike

Nick

Me going gray

Barb looking very chic

Salmon arm to Sicamous

2010-06-08T19:05:00.000-07:00

This weekend our household headed to Salmon arm to ride the Salmon arm Sicamous traverse. It was a fantastic ride which ended in one of the best single track descents I've done.

For you locals and trail hunters, we parked in North Canoe and road up to the trail head by a combination of road, trail (salty dog) and ski trails...and maybe some bog short/long cuts circles. Once we found the trail head we had huge grins. The single track was way more than we expected and well marked. We cruised the twisty singletrack for over an hour before a long switch-backed descent (34) dropped us out on the highway just west of Sicamous. From there we cringed in the draft off of Matt as he pulled us back to the car at 32km/hr on our mtbs for 30 minutes!

Great day!

2 leader Jerseys, 1 house

2010-06-08T19:02:00.000-07:00

Catherine is leading the Canada Cup Series. I'm leading the World Cup. Not too shabby.

Nimby Fifty

2010-06-04T21:14:00.001-07:00

Keith and I had pretty much the perfect weekend. We headed down to Pemberton last friday after work for a weekend of camping and riding. We camped at Nairn Falls, and although it rained all night, the air felt so good and we slept awesome. After a week of 6hr jet lagged sleeps I got 9hrs our first night tenting and 10 the next.

We did realize in the morning that out tent fly wasn't as waterproof as it once was, but we stayed warm and mostly dry. That morning we raced the Nimby fifty. A combination of Pemberton's new and established trails. After a controlled start and some fire road climbing we worked our way up an 11km, 1hr single track climb. The trails were beautifully made and lead us to some stellar descending down rock faces and twisty forest trails. The second part of the course was tough. A lot of steep climbs greeted tired legs, but lots more fun descending was also to come!

The event capped off with a party dj'd by papa Josh, burgers, salads and drinks. The rain even let off. I love these smaller grassroot races with a real community feel and lots of people that just love riding their bikes. Good times!

That night we bailed on our soggy tent, that had gotten wetter since the morning, in favour of our truck and canopy. We feasted at the Wildwood (salmon and Risotto) that evening with friends, slept amazingly and the next morning, post camp-style oatmeal headed to the Blackbird Bakery for some delicious espresso and to top up with cinnamon buns before another great day of riding. Thanks Glen, Ken and Karen for the great company! Russ and Dean for the great racing!

All you need to know about how our household approaches bike racing

2010-05-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

When you are all out of Bubble gum...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp_K8prLfso

Huge congrats to my housemate Catherine Vipond on her second career Canada Cup win! Watch out for this gal! Matt hadley also kicked some but finishing 5th in the men's elite race. They are both racing next weekend at the Hardwood hills Canada Cup where

Yes I am still just a little excited

2010-05-25T08:28:00.000-07:00

Wow. Now that was a good day! (check out more Photos video interviews and coverage by Rob Jones at Canadiancyclist.com)

After two weeks at home, some gardening and fun rides with Keith I felt recharged and ready to race. I felt like I could push the pedals hard and that mentally I had more desire for racing. I carried this good energy with me to Offenburg.

One day out from racing the sun came out and the course went from slick to perfect by race day. Everyone was visibly and audibly cheered by the good conditions. We also lucked out with our hotel (Edy's) having an amazing restaurant and we treated ourselves to gourmet food each evening.

The town and race in Offenburg is definitely one of my favourites. The countryside is beautiful and the course fun and twisty. I went into the racing hoping to grab the lead before the first single track, but a rider veering into me right off the start altered that plan. Instead it was Georgia who took the lead and quickly established a strong tempo. I settled into my familiar game of catch up working my way through the field until I had reached Georgia by the second descent. Georgia and I then rode together for about 2 laps. There were a lot of chasers behind us though and my coach Dan was invaluable on course giving us splits.

By 3rd lap it was time to go so I dug in for the climbing legs. For the next 3 laps the gap between Georgia and I was anywhere from 10 to 28 seconds with Marie Helene and Ester Suss chasing hard. Everything went perfectly for me though. My bike worked well, I was smooth in the woods and aggressive everywhere I needed to be attacking hills and descents. It felt so great to be riding at the front, and motivating to have Georgia right there with me. Of my 3 world cup wins I think this was the hardest earned. With such a tight field I could never relax.

Coming into the finish was pretty emotional. I knew my parents and Keith would be watching on freecaster and my team thrilled with Georgia and I pulling off the 1,2 at a world cup. (Katerina had decided to sit out this round, but I'm sure she would have been up there too.) My icing on the cake was learning I would also be taking over the World cup overall title and jersey.

So for Luna it was 1,2, top team and World cup leader. Pretty sweet for less than a week in Europe! I don't know how many liters of Champagne and beer we won, but it was a lot! The spectators were amazing and so loud all race. Thank you!

Waldek, Georgia, Me and Chris. The Luna team was smooth operating perfection this weekend. Part of the top team was my coach Dan, who's feedback on course was invaluable.

We capped off the day with some champagne, lots of toasts and great food. Offenburg was the first race that we start collecting Nation points for positions in London 2012. With my win and Marie-Helene Premont's fourth Canada now leads the way for the women.

Emily Batty had a rough day, flatting before a drop, crashing as a result and breaking a wheel. She was able to recover and keep racing, but it made for a tough Day. Amanda Sin also had a great day finishing 29th. On the men's side Kabush finished a solid 15th out of 200 finishers and Derek Zandstra overcame the heat to hold onto 66th. thanks for the sweet lines Derek!

Offenburg

2010-05-21T23:35:00.000-07:00

Ahh Germany, where they sell beer in vending machines for the same price as water. Unlike the previous 2 world cups that started sunny and rained race day, Offenburg is reversing the trend with slick mud leading into the race and promises of sunny skies and dry(er) race conditions. The course is the exact same as previous years, fun and deceptively physically fatiguing. My coach Dan headed out for a lap with me and we laughed our way around the slippery course. I started on a fast rolling tire, but was sliding all over. A quick switch to Ignitors though and I was grinning ear to ear as i played in the mud.

Offenburg is surrounded by vineyards and I have to admit feeling rather spoiled as I stair out of my bed up at a castle.

Yes I was lying in bed taking a picture of what I see from the balcony!

Race in T minus 26 hrs

Mischief managed

2010-05-21T23:22:00.000-07:00

Ha, ha now that I have raced well it is safe to post this!!!

When I'm home I feel like i'm always getting into mischief, at least from my husband's perspective. When he comes home from work I am often surrounded by the evidence of my latest whim. Sometimes it's bike components that came apart easily enough, but don't want to go back together. Other times it is intensive -house altering work like stripping the paint from our stairs or building some piece of furniture. Often I undertake projects without quite realizing how much work will be involved and am in over my head when he gets home.

It's like the Marauder's map in Harry Potter, where after devising their latest scheme, which inevitably gets them in trouble, they snap their wand and say mischief managed to make the map and it's incriminating details disappear. For me it's when I look at the time and realize Keith will be home in 10 minutes from work so I should really go clean up my sprawl of crap before he sees what I have gotten myself into and, will inevitably need his assistance to get out of. Luckily he is often amused.

What can I say, I like to learn by trial and error. My latest project has been xeriscaping our front yard. It just feels wrong to be watering it enough to keep a lawn green through a Kamloops summer. So every ride I do I am distracted by what shrubs my neighbours have or where good stashes of rocks and mulch might be found.

Phase 1 of the yard has actually gone quite well and I am happy to say my yard looks good (at least in my opinion) and I did it completely without relying on outside help...well maybe I relied heavily on Art Knapp staff for their knowledge. The city of Kamloops also gives out some pretty excellent guide books at the market too.

Working on the yard was a good mental distraction from the cycling world and has left me feeling more energized for life, riding and my garden.
Here is Phase 1.

Phase 2 will be taking care of the portion along the sidewalk and the hard to mow slope with some warm coloured rocks. Maybe a japanese maple and a diablo ninebark, lots more mulching and some dandelion removal!

Houffalize

2010-05-21T23:19:00.000-07:00

Seeing as I race World cup 3 tomorrow, thought I should finally post on WC 2!

So what do you do with yourself for 4 days of light training and heavy recovery when you're out on a farm in Belgium with no internet, phones of english tv? Rides and yoga in the am and a pot of coffee, good books and chatting in the afternoon. We were pretty stir crazy by the end of the week so went out to the "Big city" of Bastogne for some delicous thai food. I got to practice my french a bit in Belgium which is always good and some forced recovery probably wasn't bad either.

After another sunny week, like Dalby it rained race morning. This time it didn't just rain though, it poured. Luckily we now had our mechanic Zak with us and he got us changed over to some gripper maxxis tires for the super slick course.

Determined to not have a repeat of Dalby I had a stellar start and entered the woods in the top group. Unfortunately a couple crashes on the first descent meant that 3 women got off the front. Houffalize was a frustrating race for me. I feel I had the legs, but was slipping and sliding so much on the descents I got tentative and couldn't get into a good rhythm. I was close to the lead for much of the race, but never got to the front and although I did nab that last podium position this week I again got out ridden for a spot near the end. A 5th tells me I'm on track, but I'm still hungry for a result higher up on that podium.
Although not the Luna train in pursuit of the previous weekend we still claimed the top team position with my 5th, Katerina's 9th and Georgia's 14th and got to celebrate with some gigantic beers.

London

2010-04-29T04:24:00.000-07:00

Waldek, Katerina, Georgia, and Tom

Westminister Abbey with the house of Commons in the Background

Tower Bridge

Monday we packed up the van and drove to London. We had met a BBC World correspondent in Dalby doing a story on Absalon and after drawing us a very convoluted map of London and places to see, figured he'd just take us on a biking tour.

So within 3 hrs of arriving in London we had had two cappuccinos, lost Katerina, found Katerina, had ridden over London bridge, tower bridge, and around Buckingham palace, Westminister Abbey and the House of Commons. Pretty exhausted at this point we went to Ping Pong for dinner where we got to try some great dumplings, soups and rice wraps.

We over nighted outside London and then drove onto a train to go through the eurotunnel to France and then on to Belgium. It was a long day of travel with a failing rental van, but we made it and the sun is shining!

Now in Houffalize we had our first ride on the new course. It's pretty climbing intensive in Houffalize style and at the moment dry and dusty. They're calling for rain tomorrow, but a dry weekend.

Dalby World Cup

2010-04-29T04:22:00.000-07:00

Dalby was awesome. The course was super fun and I'm feeling great on my bike. If only I could learn to start and not go from 3rd to 33rd in the first 30 seconds!

Katerina had an amazing start and Georgia and I moved up together to the top 10 by lap 2. I crashed pretty good and then caught back up to Georgia who had joined Katerina by lap 3. From there on out we formed the Luna train. It was super nice to have team mates to ride with and we stayed together till about 3 minutes to go when Georgia put in a surge and Katerina went with it. I tried, but I had used all my surges early on and there was nothing left. I could see a rider behind me and was trying to push hard to the finish to nab the last podium spot, but it wasn't to be and I got out sprinted on the finishing stretch, finishing sixth.

Katerina out sprinted Georgia for 3rd and Luna grabbed the top team spot. A pretty solid day, but a bit disappointing for me as I felt with a better start I had the legs to do better. The thing about racing though is that it comes down to more than just legs.

2010-04-27T11:42:00.000-07:00

This foal was born on the farm our last night in Dalby

Sunny day at the venue

our cottage grounds!

The El pacas would follow you around if you went into the fields. I guess the do a good job of keeping the foxes away from the sheep too

Eruptive travel plans

2010-04-23T06:21:00.001-07:00

Yes I made it to Dalby! With Iceland's Volcano erupting last week things weren't looking good for many people getting to Dalby Forest in England for the first World cup of the year. My journey began monday as one of the 27 international flights that were allowed to land in Germany that day. The flight that was scheduled to leave 30 min before mine was canceled, and although they checked me in to the flight they would only check me as far as Frankfurt, not Manchester and wouldn't actually confirm my flight.

Waiting at the airport the flight got pushed back an hour and it wasn't till we were actually flying south of Iceland and the skies were beautifully clear that I was confident we would actually land in Europe.

Tuesday was a lot of hanging out at the airport. Luckily for my sanity I found wireless and coffee and was able to keep an eye on Manchester airport and German airspace to see if either would open soon. Nope. I grabbed a hotel and took my bike for a spin. Waldek would hopefully arrive the next day and we'd drive to England via a ferry.

I got to the airport Wednesday in time to get the last Van. Although we had a reservation, they would give our vehicle choice to first come first serve so I signed up for the 9 passenger van and hoped Waldek would arrive! Our mechanic Zak wasn't able to get over, but Waldek got in just an hour after scheduled and we made a mad dash to get on the road in time to make our Ferry. We got to the sold out Ferry with 10 min to go.

Once on the boat it was a great way to travel. The ride took about 10hrs but there were restaurants, cinemas and sleeping rooms. I had my first sleep on a boat and got in a solid 8+hrs of sleep, before they were announcing it was breakfast time.

3 crappy coffees later we were off the boat, had visited Hull a bit and were on our way to Dalby where Georgia and Katerina would hopefully be arriving from the flight into Manchester. As it usually does all worked out...except for Zak's arrival and we were moved into a great little house on a sheep/horse farm.

The course is pretty cool. I did my first lap solo and had a couple moments where I was a little spooked to try some drops or steep ride ups, but after I got over the mental bit I had a blast and am looking forward to Sunday's race.

Internet and phone reception are pretty absent, but I'll try to keep in touch guys. It sounds like almost all Canadians have made it, or will make it to Dalby and the weather is awesome so should be a fun weekend.

Racing and travelling has begun!

2010-04-23T06:21:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I joined the Luna team for Sea Otter. The weather was awesome and this year they gave us a new course rather than the 0ld 2 x 19mile loop. The old loop definitely had some nice scenery and trail, but the new course offered more interesting racing and a sub 2.5hr race. If it had rained it would have been hellish (read: soggy grass), but it the dry, although not fast, it was challenging.

The week was pretty chill with lots of seaside rides and the racing was lung and leg busting as I blew the cob webs out.

ST: A crappy start in the short track meant chasing the lead for several laps, but I thankfully bridged up eventually and then felt completely justifeied in sitting in for a couple laps. This was made easier by willow sliding out in front of Lene and I on a mucky climb. Georgia got off the front and I yelled for her to go for it. We both later shared our mutual feeling of "aw crap this is too early in the race to go off the front!". But Georgia pulled it offf convincingly and I sat in until 2 to go when I attacked willow and Lene. I dug deep and went fast, but only for a lap and the Lene Reeled me in and countered to grab 2nd behind Georgia, leaving 3rd for me.
Luna had some fun with the fact we're making our women's cycling clothes and had some fun outfits for the short track.

xc: My lungs and legs were burning for the race, but a massage by Waldek and a delicous cashew pesto tilapia at the fishwife and I was ready to roll next day. With only 4 laps it was going to be a short race and came down to the same crew as yesterday withHeather joining the mix. With a fair amount of the Laguna Seca raceway track within the course the race was pretty on off with some cat and mouse on the track and hard pace on all the off road. Again I had to learn the lesson that I can't get away from world Class riders just by setting a hard pace up the climb, you have to make a holy crap attack. Last lap and we were all still together. I tried to push the pace on the first climb and at least neutralize attacks, but Lene could handle it and put in a surge around me at the top. We all stuck with her till the next climb when she went again and I wasn't able to stick her wheel. Georgia had the legs though and got by me to chase her down. Willow and I were left to push eachother to the finish. Georgia ended up catching and passing lene for the win while Willow and I did a sprint for 3rd mano o mano which i surprised myself by winning for my second 3rd of the weekend.

So I guess it is time for another update.

2010-04-14T08:24:00.001-07:00

Resist Corporate Coffee...Amy and I do our part to support the local guy in Seaside... Ahh the sacrifices

Chris and Zak getting ready for Breakfast at Mama's in Mill Valley

Wouldn't be a trip to San fran without a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge. We actually had sun at this photo shoot! Ethan took lots of people pics which hopefully I'll share later

Our photo camp started off with casual shots at Picolo's coffee shop in Sausalito. Good idea Dave

I'm now healthy and already on my second trip,first team camp and then Luna Summit, but have yet to have tested my form in a big race.

I'm hanging out in Seaside California with my new team mate Amy Dombrowski. Seaside and Monterey are pretty awesome with bike paths all along the coast line where you can check out otters bathing on rocks,oh yeah and it is sunny now!

This past weekend was the Luna Summit, where 130 women from Luna local teams all over the USA come to learn more about the Luna program, learn from the pros and other accomplished women and feed off of each other's energy for a great weekend of learning, networking and having an awesome time. A rainy weekend didn't slow these gals down at all as we headed out on the mtb, road, for runs and swims (some even in open water).

We learned how the Luna program has contributed over 3 million dollars to the Breast cancer Fund and how only 10% of Breast cancer cases are genetically linked, environmental causes being linked to the other 90%. Scary. The Luna program began its relationship with the Breast cancer Fund about 10 years ago with ClifBar's goal to bring these women an energy bar that wouldn't be rock solid when they climbed summits in support of Breast cancer prevention research. Check out http://www.breastcancerfund.org/

After this great weekend, the Luna Pros went their separate ways till Sea Otter, while Georgia, Amy and I rented a mini van and drove to Monterey for a fox demo. I got to play soccer mom while Georgia and Amy were my navigators. We made great time even through the deluge of rain and got out for a great coast line ride and Bajito Bowls and fish tacos at the fish wife. We spent Tuesday hanging out with the wicked crew at Fox and Bike media from as far away as Germany testing out forks and shocks while riding out at Laguna Seca.

Fox was awesome taking the time to make sure we knew how to best dial in our forks and understood how everything works. The terra Logic fork (stable platform) has been perfected this year by creating a more supple fork that still has a distinct on/off option.

We now have 2 days event free to train and rest up for racing this weekend!

Race report: No Racing

2010-03-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

Since Wednesday my wardrobe has altered between double hoody and vest and tank top and pajama pants rolled up to the knee and an icepack held against my skin as I altered between between feverish heat and chills. At some point Friday night I sweated out every last drop of water, kicking the fever and feeling 100% better, well almost.

Friday I decided my trip to race in Fontana just wasn't realistic and reorganized my travel to Sunday when I hoped I'd be through the worst and still be able to make team camp. Sunday I woke up early enough to get in a light spin before heading to the airport and eventually San Fransisco. Riding felt great and Keith was super acting as my super domestique shielding me from the ever revolving wind. I excited to be back on my bike and looking forward to the seeing the team again. Yeah.

Island Cup huddle

2010-03-23T08:14:00.000-07:00

Tom, Dan, Craig, Keith and I huddle together for warmth after the race. Silly Spandex just isn't that warm for standing around.

Keith's athletes claimed the podium with Craig taking first followed by Dan and Tom. Keith rode a solid race staving off the desire to hurl from a first race effort finishing mid-field. On the women's side I edged out Mical who kept the pace high early on and Mel took third. The three of us actually got mixed in with the boys so early that they missed all 3 of us for the beer prime. Ah well next time!

Part 2

2010-03-17T16:01:00.001-07:00

Part 2 of our journey began with rain, rain and more driving rain. We hit the trails in Oakridge only to slowly slog our way over soft spongy trails. The next day...when it was still raining and Keith was getting a sinus infection we decided to bail on riding in the rain in favour of driving in the rain. We passed through some torrential storms, but by the time we hit Seattle it was clear and sunny.

We over-nighted in White Rock and while Keith headed to a medical clinic to get antibiotics I headed out for a road ride in dry weather! Then it was onto the Ferry and over to Victoria to visit Geoff, deep in the throes of renovating the Bike shop they hope to open this weekend. Geoff and 3 other friends are opening Oak Bay Bikes West Shore in Langford and it's going to be the best shop on the island so go buy a bike from them. Please note also how spot free the floor is that I scrubbed clean.

Dan struts his stuff

Chris and Jammer discuss cabinets

What will soon be a fine looking shop for Geoff, Ken, Chris and Dan

Keith,Geoff and I got in some racing at the dump on Sunday with a little Island Cup action which turned into a good women's field with Mical Dyck and Mel Mcquaid showing up and Keith's athlete's taking 1,2,&3 in the men's race. The dump was super fun techy riding and I think everyone had a great time...except maybe Geoff who flatted half way into 1st lap. We had kinda lost track of time with him making ome delicious pancakes that morning and he had about 5 minutes to race prep his wonderful girlfriend, Liz's bike in order to borrow it for the race. Prep did not include inflating tires.

So now we've gotten in some great riding, some sushi feasting with friends and a little elbow grease into Geoff's shop. A bit more riding and elbow grease and it's back to Kamloops for our 16 degrees on Saturday.

Road trip

2010-03-11T18:56:00.000-08:00

Keith is on Spring break, so we have hit the road for a road trip. Neither of us have spent any time in Oregon so we decided to check it out with a pit stop in Penticton on the way to visit some friends and enjoy the ever fantastic road riding there.

Our route to Oregon took us through Dry Falls and along the Columbia River Gorge, a super scenic and diverse area with huge gorges formed by the river and neat rock projections created by lava flows. We would have been itching to ride on our rest day had it not been for the killer head wind...which we later realized was bringing a cold front to Oregon.

We had some awesome mexican food and coffee in Goldendale before getting to enjoy th ePost Canyon trails in Hood River on our way to visit friends Matt and Karen and their little guys Ava and Miles.

Buy this point, it is not just raining, but driving rain. But Corvallis is very bike friendly with bike lanes everywhere and we got a rain free pocket to get out for a great ride. We couldn't climb far up Mary's Peak due to low snow so will just have to come back in a more summery time of year.
After a great visit we're on the road to Oakridge and then Bend or Mckenzie River or both,before making our way up the coast to vancouver Island where my bro is working away to get his new bike shop finished and opened asap.
Wish us good weather!

Getting a cold

2010-02-28T08:49:00.001-08:00

Getting a cold is never fun and always kind of shocks me as I rarely get sick. Maybe the 4am wake up for a 6am flight after a training camp is the culprit, or maybe I'm just a bit worn down from all the Olympic excitement. Either way head hurts, muscles ache and skin is super sensitive. If I had to choose a time to get sick though, a week that offers total TV indulgence with hours of Olympic coverage is a pretty good time. You can spend a day on the couch and enjoy it guilt free. I kinda wonder if it allows my body to recuperate though as my heartrate and metabolism are probably firing like they would during a work out!

Tucson Training

2010-02-28T08:48:00.001-08:00

About 12 miles up Mt Lemmon

I got back last Sunday from a great 10 days in Tucson Arizona with the Canadian Mtb and road team. Of course I had heard of Tucson, but never actually been there. We travelled with 2 bikes (road and mtn) which seemed like a hassle in the beginning, but was well worth it. The road riding was pretty good, but it was the mtb rides that really made the trip a blast. Combining the road and mtb crew was great. Aside from Games events and maybe some cross the two disciplines don't overlap in the race season so we finally got to put faces to names and just hang out with everyone at the pool post ride without worrying about a competition the next day. It was a great team and tan building trip that helped us get in some miles and dirt riding mid winter.

Favourite rides (Big thanks to TJ and Chloe for taking us out on great loops)

Dirt: Reddington road to 12 miles across Bellota and down Milagrosa (through cacti forest and over some pretty rocky gnarly terrain)

Milagrossa

TJ and Amanada still smiling even though we're now out of water and still in the desert!

Starrs Pass: Tons of boulders to ride up and over and some fast descending
50 year trail: take the upper trails for the most fun
Fantasy Island: Near the infamous plane graveyard, is a small but maze like interlooping of twisty trails. Look out for the Cholla cactus

Road...Of course the 24 mile climb up lemmon to fantastic pizza and ginormous cookies has to go in there

Up, way up on Lemmon

Saguara Park Rincon side. You need $5 to get in but the one way traffic on a super fun8km circuit is worth it. Watch that first corner though!

Best coffee shop had to be the Marketplace in Phillips square right beside our hotel. How can you beat a place that has fantastic espresso and that's pastries are made by the only four diamond restaurant in Tucson which shares its kitchen?

2010-01-28T21:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was an amazing once in a lifetime experience
(well maybe ;-)

I took part in the Olympic torch relay in Blind Bay British Columbia. A beautiful little town about 75km from Kamloops. The torchbearers arrived and were briefed on what was going to happen, We were shown how to light the torch and encouraged to try running with it so we knew how it would feel. With full fuel the torch wasn’t the only thing burning!

From our meeting point we were bussed to our run point. Along the way we watched videos featuring amazing Canadian athletes like Clara Hughes (medals in cycling and speed skating) and Cindy Klasen (5 speed skating medals in 2006). We also watched a video showing the torch relay which definitely helped us get excited to run.

The energy among the torch bearers and the collection of stories we shared made it a very memorable experience. The bus dropped me off to my awesome “family” fan club. Thanks guys! And I waited for the torch to arrive.

Sues, Matt, & Catherine carry signs as Keith, Tanya and Grainger carry cameras

Seeing someone running towards you (Tyler) with the torch is a beautiful moment, as is holding up your torch to accept the flame. Despite the burn in my arm the smile never left my face, even as I passed the flame on to Don and he ran onwards to the cheers of his children.

Ski race time!

2010-01-28T21:10:00.001-08:00

I guess skate skiing is one of those things that looks beautiful in motion, but not necessarily in photo!

Ahh winter. Can I call it that when we are riding snow free in the valley? This winter has been very cooperative to training with temperatures often ranging from 2-7 degrees in the day, the roads becoming clear and dry and the city even sweeping the streets for us. I do kinda feel like I’m cheating a bit, not slogging it out on the trainer and choosing to ride rather than ski some days, but when you’re given a gift you take it!

Skiing has been phenomenal too though. Sunday marked our houses ‘ annual ski race. This year, the 30 km skate loppet at Stake Lake. Last year Catherine V and I raced it to the finish with her powering away from me in the final Km. This year I was hoping to use my improved ski technique to contest the finish. After feeling demolished last year in the 50km race Matt joined us for 30 and Keith had to sit out the racing and just try skiing without hacking up a lung.

This year Catherine and I started faster and stayed in a front group … not with Matt and Martin though. By the end of lap 1 and into Lap 2 we were skiing in the top 10 and going fully anaerobic at times to stay with our group and stretch the gap to the chasers. I was able to slowly edge away with 2 other guys and then just hold it together for a final climbing charge to win the women’s field and finish 6th overall in a time of 1hr 33min. Matt won handily by over 5min in a time of 1.22 (and will be forced by us to race the 50km again next year!) Catherine finished close behind me to grab 2nd female. Go Team!

Luna Teammate Katerina Nash wins Cyclocross World Cup!

2010-01-18T08:54:00.001-08:00

Photo:cyclingnews.com

Yesterday, January 17th, 2010 Katerina Nash (Luna) took her first World cup win in France over a stacked field. The World Championships will take place in her home nation, the Czech Republic at the end of the month.

Newest Luna member, Amy Dombroski (USA) finished a solid 14th for her 3rd consecutive top 15 finish at a cyclocross World cup. Both will represent Luna at the world championships.

Go Luna Go!

Results from the UCI World Cup #8 in Roubaix, France

Elite Women

1 Katerina Nash (Cze) Luna 0:40:55

2 Hanka Kupfernagel (Ger) Itera-Stevens at 0:13

3 Marianne Vos (Ned) DSB Bank - Nederland Bloeit 0:52

4 Daphny Van Den Brand (Ned) ZZPR.NL 1:31

5 Sanne Van Paassen (Ned) ZZPR.NL 1:52

6 Caroline Mani (Fra) Vienne Futuroscope 2:03

7 Eva Lechner (Ita) Gauss RDZ ORMU – Colnago 2:28

14 Amy Dombroski (USA) 3:55

Christmas, weddings and winter training

2010-01-16T19:34:00.001-08:00

Geoff prepares a delicious dinner from the "White Water" whie in NB

On December 21st Keith and I were off to NB. NB greeted us with 24hrs of snow which had us pretty excited for skiing. Unfortunately the warm temperatures and Christmas break meant the trails weren’t groomed for skating, but that just gave us the opportunity to do a lot of snowshoeing around my parents farm.

6 days at home passed very quickly. It was great to be home for Christmas and get to spend it with my brother and parents. But Keith and I had more plans for the holiday. After 2 sleeps at home and a great ski at Stake we were off towards Calgary of a snow venture. We skied Larch hills and Golden, both were spectacular, discovered a delicious restaurant in Golden (mountain view Bistro), as well as getting some awesome home cooked meals in Revelstoke with the in laws.

After waking up to –27 in Canmore we bailed on skiing or snowshoeing and went out for Breakfast. Our friends Jen & Chris were getting married in Calgary at 1 so we were off again.

Since getting married I’ve discovered I really like weddings. They’re all about celebrating life and love with all your friends and family. It’s hard to create a better day or moment. Biker weddings also mean getting to see all your bike friends get dressed up! The wedding and reception we’re great and a fun way to bring in the New year. The quality street chocolates decorating the tables were a brilliant idea.

Keith and the lucky groom Chris

Jen and Sandra

Sandra had her eye on the prize

As we left Calgary and entered the Kananaskis we had been admiring this crazy cloud.

Turns out it signalled a Chinook and as we drove our windshield, side windows and side mirrors suddenly iced over…as did the road. After a couple sketchy seconds we could see again, but it was definitely one of our weirder driving experiences.

We stopped for an amazing ski in Field, BC on New Year's day for a classic ski on skier set trails. We really got to enjoy the mountains here.

Now warm weather means the best of both worlds. Riding in town (no mtb yet) and skiing up high. Yippee for Kamloops winters! The next few weeks should be fun with a 30km ski race at Stake and the Torch relay on the 27th.

Back to Work

2009-12-13T20:20:00.001-08:00

Brrr. Kamloops is cold. Keith and I headed out skiing the day after I got back from Cuba. The wind was soo cold it hurt my face., but skiing was good. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to enjoy the slight tan I got as the change from hot to cold made my face break out in a rash. Lovely.

I thought that I’d be super motivated to train when I got back, but after the ocean the trainer or frigid temperature exercising weren’t super appealing. But as it’s already December it’s time to suck it up Princess and get to work.

After a weekend with Keith skiing in SilverStar and Sovereign lake; skiing beautifully groomed trails around and over the mountain I’ve regained my love of winter.

We got to check out some of the Nordic Olympic hopefuls in action Saturday and Sunday at Sovereign. We also rode the chairlift with our xc skis. I fell on my but getting off, but stayed upright for the sweet descent from 1900m to 1600m.

Keith’s highlight of the weekend was me dragging him to see Twilight: New Moon. I’m sure he’ll agree.

Temperatures climbed to above zero and the next weekend we were off to visit Keith's parents in Revelstoke and drop of presents and the 3 Kitties with them before we head to NB. Thank you! Visiting Sues and Grainger always means great meals and company, and at christmas an endless supply of delicous baking.

To contain our blood glucose levels we got in lots of skiing and snowshoeing between Revelstoke and Salmon arm and got home pleasantly tired in time to celebrate Christmas early with Matt and Catherine before we all head off to our separate family adventures.

Thanks Sandra for the exciting present unwrap countdown! I wish I had pictures, but was too caught up in the frenzy.

Keith and I are now on our way to NB

Snow to Sun

2009-12-13T20:10:00.001-08:00

I’ve been intending a blog update for ages, but with being home and actually able to keep in regular contact with friends and family I guess I just get a little lazy!

November 14th marked the beginning of ski season here in Kamloops and Matt, Catherine and I took advantage of opening day at Sun Peaks to play in the snow and soak up some sunshine. Poor Keith stayed home with the flu.

Catherine and I happy for some snow

Just as I was getting my ski legs though I was off to Cuba for a trip with my parents. In 2001 I lived in Cuba, in a small town called Pina, or Ciro Redondo for 3.5 months. I lived with an amazing family and cuban counterpart, all of whom became good friends. So my trip to Cuba was both a chance to visit with them, visit my parents who live on the other side of the country and take a training get away.

The cheapest, although definitely least authentic, way to visit cuba is with an all inclusive package (particularly in the low season). My parents and I arrived in Cayo Coco before lunch time and as they headed down to the beach I thought I’d get in a little run.

I had forgotten just how horrible it feels to exercise when you have zero heat acclimation….not to mention getting up at 3am (midnight in BC) to catch your flight. After pushing myself through the first 15 minutes I came across some guys fishing and took advantage of the opportunity to stop and meet some locals and practice my spanish.

They were resort workers on some off time. Although Cayo coco is a beautiful little island populated by hotels, there are no accommodations for staff so each morning and night they are bussed in from nearby towns. This adds a minimum of 2.5hrs to everyones’ day and for some is more like 5. Private cars are uncommon in cuba . If you do own a car it is expected that you pick up hitchhikers who are usually just trying to get home from work or visiting family.

Thankful for the chat break I headed back to the hotel and the beach. There’s nothing quite like a beach and no bicycle for a clean break from “training” and I relaxed into being on holiday.

The next morning we had rented a car (not cheap in Cuba) and were headed inland to visit my friends. I had my first driving experience in Cuba. First along the almost hour long causeway off the island and then through farm fields and finally winding through streets full of bicycles, pedestrians, bike taxis, tractors, stray animals and 1950’s vehicles (many of the vehicles in Cuba entered the country before the Cuban revolution was won in 59).

Everyone was there awaiting our arrival and the rest of the day was spent catching up and visiting the neighbours and extended family. My parents headed back to the beach the next day, but I had way to much catching up to do …and it was Rosa’s (my host mother) birthday. Rosa knows everyone in town and we spent the morning visiting, I’m pretty certain, half of the town.

Anna, rosa. mom and Ahmel with our rental

Rosa and mom

While Ernesto (my host father) and Ahmel (host brother) got the outdoor oven going for the pork roast; a neighbour came over and painted our nails. There are lots of home businesses like this where you pay in cuban pesos something equivalent to less than a dollar. Right now cuba has two currencies. 100 CAD gives you 80 convertible pesos, but about 2000 cuban pesos. Tourists are expected to pay in convertible pesos whereas Cubans can buy a lot of things in Cuban pesos. There are many items they do have to pay convertible pesos for (soap, shampoo, electronics, appliances etc) so when you earn about 20-25 conv pesos a month these items can be hard to come by. Raul Castro plans to remove the ration card system as well as the double currency system this year which we’ll have to wait and see whether it will be positive or not for the Cuban people.

Ahmel gets things started

Ernesto preps the feast

Rosa gets her nails and toes painted

Back to the birthday though. The guys prepared a great pork roast with congrise (rice and beans) and Yuca, Cuba Libres and Bucaneros. We also had two cakes, one made with sugar cane juice (typical) and another with Guava. Everything was delicious and the company great.

mom and Rosa both celebrate their birthdays

A week is way too little time to visit. After two nights I felt like I was just starting to get into being back in Pina and we were off to Trinidad with Marisol and Rosa. Trinidad is a cool old city on the ocean and near the mountains. Apparently it’s where a lot of the cyclists train, although with the ratio of potholes to smooth pavement I think they might need mtn bikes.

Trinidad

After an amazing pizza that could have been in Italy my dad maneuvered us over the rough roads and the topa de collantes. We stopped midway for a driving break and to pick some Guavas before Marisol took us to an amazing hidden waterfall. Having lived in this area, where she was a teacher she new a local family. We parked on the road and walked through their cow pasture to their home. The family invited us to pass through their home. From there we went through their small banana plantation, more animal pasture and then, in front of us, surrounded by lush grass and trees was a lovely waterfall draining into a small pool.

It didn’t take long before I was down to my skinnies and in the water. The cubans of course thought I was crazy swimming in such cold water, but it held nothing on the North atlantic.

We dropped Marisol off at her home in Santa Clara. A modest 2 room apartment which she has worked hard to furnish with a fridge, tv and vcr.

Marisol looks like a photo in a magazine posing in front of her home in Santa Clara

We got back to Pina late and Ernesto convinced us not to head back to Cayo until the morning. A good thing too as, remember those horrid roads I mentioned; well when we woke up the car had a flat tire. In Cuba, mornings begin with a super sweet espresso. Espresso is poured into a thermos with a ton of sugar and divvied up amongst whoever is there. Workers walk the streets yelling Pandero and from them you get your fresh bread. So with a lot of sugar and a little coffee Dad and Ernesto put on the spare tire and then Ahmel took Dad to get the other tire repaired.

We said our farewells with promises to visit again, and next time Keith is mandatory! I’d love to cross the country by bike, so maybe this and going on his vacation time (hot time) is the key.

The next 3 days were to be spent at the resort. After working fulltime while writing a book my mom was in serious need of some real down time. I was a little worried at the prospect of being sedentary so long,

but the time past way too quickly with a snorkelling trip, kayaking, tennis (if you can call it that when you don’t actually make contact with the ball that often) and for my mom’s 60th birthday paraglyding.

dad Glyding over us

Everything was amazing and it was so nice to hang out with my family when I didn’t have a race or tough training days to log.

2009-11-01T19:18:00.000-08:00

Kamloops from a hike up Mt. Paul

horses wandering free on mt Paul

And of course one of Kamloops' many mtn. sheep

Matt and Catherine hoping and sliding down the face of the mountain. Those ski poles weren't for help on the way up!

Keith and I in Whistler. Going there in the "off season" is the best. Lots of fun trails, hot tubbing, hiking and good eating.

Catherine put some surprises into Matt's tires for our weekend in Revy. Got to slow him down some how.

The Off-Season

2009-10-23T10:52:00.000-07:00

So what does this look like? Well after about 4 weekends at home between March and October I relish the opportunity to stay put at home. My nesting instincts kick in and I become a cooking machine pickling the cucumbers and beets from our garden, making pear/apple sauce from our fruit trees, and salsa from the abundant cherry tomatoes that seem to keep growing even though I deprive them of water much of the time.

For me the off season is about living life like I hope to when I retire from racing professionally. This means keeping active and enjoying the great weather, but broadening my activities to hiking, running, swimming…frisbee, whatever. It means if it’s rainy and cold I can sit on the couch or bake muffins instead of riding. It’s also the time where I can do some learning, like take a french course, put in some volunteer hours with local community groups and catch up with friends and family.

I don’t like to let my fitness drop too much however. Aside from the fact I would go crazy if I didn’t keep fairly active and the fall is the best time for exploration mtb rides, getting back into shape after getting out of shape just hurts way too much. I found this out when I did the ClifBar Epiphany ride October 3 in Napa Valley (See Epiphany post). It seems that tapering for about a month and a half isn’t conducive to great endurance when it comes to 240km bike rides!

Epiphany

2009-10-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

For those that haven’t heard of it. This is the day Clif and Luna folk get together to ride our bikes for 30-150miles to have fun and remind ourselves why it’s so important to have good quality tasty biking food! Terra, Katerina and I joined about 35 others at 6am to start the 150 mile ride (That’s 240km for us Northerners). It was dark and cold for the first 45 minutes with ¼ riders having lights, but the camaraderie and sense of adventure were great.

The weather was warming with the sunrise as we finished up the first 55miles and joined up with the 100 mile brisk ride group. About 23 miles later I was done. We had just finished up a fast revolving paceline in a cross wind and were heading into what I had remembered as a “nice” climb when my quads completely gave out and I had no power. Luckily at the top of the hill there was a feed station where along with some delicious Clif goodies a coke also helped to rejuvenate me. I convinced the group to just drop me and settled into a slower pace with some friends.

25 miles later, I had cracked again and was seriously asking myself why I had chosen this ride distance. Asking for mercy at the next food station did nothing to help me get home faster so we pedaled off again with Terra, Cathy and Alex keeping me distracted from my humbled suffering. Luckily the last 70ish km seemed to be primarily flat or downhill so we made it home in one piece 8hrs and 40 minutes of riding and over 4200m of climbing later. Phew.

Gary and Kit then threw us a wonderful feast and provided comfy beds which we were settled into before 9pm. This event is such a neat way to get to know the ClifBar company and staff and experience Napa Valley. Riding the 150 miles was a great accomplishment… and now I can say I’ve done it I might sign up for 100miles next year!

3 Continents: 1 Week (The Schedule)

2009-09-17T01:03:00.000-07:00

In Cortina D'Ampezzo Italy we found an irresistable ride along an old railway track that took us through the mountains and tunnels

Now there's something you don't see every day. If you're going to Super Size something it may as well be Nutella. Eat in moderation of course ;)

Old rail tunnels through the Dolomite mtns. Yes Italy was a bit of a detour going from Switzerland to Austria, but worth it.

Champery. Host of World cup #7 and the 2011 World Championships.

Now to that continent jumping schedule

10:45 am Sunday September 6th left Worlds in Australia, flew 15.5 hrs to Vancouver. I got to fly first class with an upgrade certificate. Yes it is as good as it looks.
10:45 am Sunday September 6th Yes that’s right. Departed Vancouver for Kamloops (the time change worked in my favour). Enjoyed coffee and a hike with Keith
Sunday to Thursday am enjoyed being home in Kamloops. Freak out when Keith drives wrong way down the road, only to be thankful I wasn’t driving when I realize I’m still thinking Aussie rules.
Thursday September 10th Leave house at 6:30am. Fly all day to Europe. Arrive in Europe Friday am, put bike together at airport and go for ride as I wait for teammates to arrive. There are bike paths right from the airport. Europe is great this way
Friday September 11th 9pm Arrive in Champery, Switzerland
Saturday training on course 9-11am. Course is awesome. Half of the course is my strengths; steep climb and steep rough descent. The other half of the course I enjoy but am mediocre at; it is undulating terrain, lots of transitions and short power moves.
Sunday September 11th Up at 6:30 am for race breakfast. Race 10:45
I really like the town of Champery. Large, rocky mountains loom all around you while lush valleys surrounded by mist promise great riding and hiking.
The course is fun and challenging and one I thought I could do quite well on. I am in a 5 way battle for the world cup overall win and really need a win or at the least a podium to secure a top 3. I felt awesome at home riding with Keith. Being on home trails with worlds form left me feeling excited for this trip and the chance to earn some top results.
I felt like my body handled the time change and travel fairly admirably and that with a different approach (getting back to basics and racing by instinct more than planning and being super focused) I could have a great ride. Saturday afternoon the skies opened up and the rain came down in sheets soaking what was already a fairly slick course. Sunday morning Georgia and I switched to Ignitors to give us a bit more grip on the loose chutes and slick roots.
The start was fast with a 4+minute paved climb where I kept getting pushed off the pavement as I tried to maintain my position near the front. As we crested the climb the race was still very much together and I entered the singletrack in about 13th. People were flailing down the descent and it was difficult to remain patient. Girls were walking down sections I was trying to ride and not going to move. By the time I got to the bottom of the descent I had already lost 45 seconds to the lead rider. I had crested the climb in the bunch, but that’s the difference between a clean run down the descent and riding in traffic.
The race was very competitive. I would try to eek out an advantage on the climb only to be caught behind a slower rider on the descent. On the half of the course where I was weaker I would constantly be out sprinted for the singletrack and then, not being great at following or recovering quickly from mistakes I would loose positions or time and have to reclaim it on the other half of the course. It was a real yo yo race for me, but I felt strong and focused and like I really pushed myself.
Unfortunately this hard effort meant 10th on the day. With Irina and Marga both dropping out of the race however this result was enough to move me up to 3rd overall in the series with one more race to go. Mathematically 1st and 2nd are out of reach but with a good ride in Austria I can maintain 3rd.
I think my family was worried this finish would really rattle me, but in a sense I think it helped to ground me. I thought I was handling performance pressure well; people’s and my own beliefs and assertions that I could win Worlds, Bromont, this race. Maybe those results were possible, but not unless I rode to perfection and perfection takes time and rarely happens more than a few times a season. This being my 3rd year on the World cup circuit, I am still relatively new and have a lot to learn. When I’m on I’m on, when I’m not I lose time in frustratingly large chunks.
I am going to World cup finals in Schladming with the podium in my sights. I feel good and know that if I put it all together on the day I am a podium rider. So off to Austria we head with some days in the mountain on the way.

2009-09-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

At the moment I’m just trying to keep my eyes open. I’m coming home from a good trip to Australia. I say good, as it was a good trip; I had fun with both my Canadian and Luna team, helped secure Canada a silver medal in the relay, went to Pancakes on the rocks at midnight, the zoo, learned all sorts of interesting facts about Australian animals, enjoyed amazing cappuccinos at Sfoglia almost daily, had my coach Dan and brother Geoff with me at the races, saw cherry and apple trees blossoming and experienced the brilliance of spring sunshine. And yes, yes the whole point of the trip, had a solid result at the World championships and finished 6th. For the 3rd year in a row.

This is where the twinge of disappointment lies however. Placing 6th in 2007 blew my socks off, overtaking Gunn Rita for 6th last year proved that I wasn’t a flash in the pan, placing 6th this year is a little frustrating. I rode as best I could on the day and felt like I had the form to ride to the podium, but I didn’t have the course figured out. There’s some terrain that’s easy to go consistently fast on, but I struggled with this course. It consisted of windy, false flat ascents, an uber technical punctuated climb, a fun bermed descent and dual slalom into a flatish maze of tight corners followed by a couple table tops into the finish.

Don’t get me wrong. It was a super fun course and I felt awesome at times flying over gap jumps or around berms and over rocks. It’s just the self driver, the analyzer in me sees the weaknesses to be improved upon and the preparation that went into what I had hoped would be a podium ride. What I did learn – again - is that the top girls are so close in ability that everything matters. You have to have good legs, a good clear head, sharp skills on the climbs, descents and corners. If you’re missing just one of those components you won’t win the race or claim the podium. Aside from Irina no one really stood out on the day as being heads and tails above. A Worlds podium is possible, it’s just a matter of time.

The race was close. I rode within 25 seconds of the podium for 3 of 5 laps but just couldn’t find what I needed to bridge the gap. It was an exciting race, even going into last lap there were 6 girls in medal contention but it would be Irina, followed by Lene and a fantastic ride by Willow that would claim this year’s podium.

The Canadian women rode very well, all riding top 26 with Mical unfortunately having a flukey crash last lap that sent her to the hospital with a broken wrist. After the race we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up and packed but made it back to the venue to catch some impressive last lap riding by the leaders of the men’s racing including Geoff Kabush’s 5th place finish. Max Plaxton also had a stellar ride finishing 22nd while Derek and Seamus finished top 42.

To watch the races with commentary visit freecaster.tv

The Luna chix and our stellar support crew are off Switzerland Thursday. Georgia and I have a world cup this Sunday and the following Saturday in Austria. These two races will wrap up the World cup series. From there is straight to Las Vegas where I’m going to see a cirque show (Yeah!) with luna mates terra, Dave and Phoebe and help Georgia, Katerian and Alsion kick off their cyclocross season.

Canada Silver at World Championships

2009-09-01T20:47:00.000-07:00

L to R Evan Guthrie, Geoff Kabush, Raphael Gagne, Me
Photos by Rob Jones. Check out Canadiancyclist.com for complete race coverage

Another race down to the wire

World Championship racing kicked off Tuesday, Sept 2nd in Canberra Australia with the Team Relay event. For the relay each country selects a Senior man, U23 man, Jr man and a female rider. The countries decide for themselves in what order to send out their racers and each rider does one lap at maximal tagging off to the successive rider.

Canada chose to send our Under 23 rider Raphael Gagne first. Raph put in a strong start, but the riders were funnelled into a narrow tunnel less than 100m from the start and he got pushed out of the way entering in 12th position. On the technically challenging singletrack climb and descent passing is nearly impossible. Raph was able to hold onto 12th position and tagged off to our senior rider Geoff Kabush.

Geoff put out the fastest lap of the day while coming though traffic and moved Canada into the bronze medal position. Next off Evan Guthrie put out the 3rd fastest jr men’s time and brought in another position moving Canada into silver and less than 10seconds back of France.

Last to go, my job was to reel in France and hold off Italy for what we hoped would be a gold medal team effort. France’s Cecile Rode Ravenel was not going to give up the lead easily however. I hunted her down through the meandering rock littered climb, but a couple dabs cost our team precious seconds and I had to chase extremely hard on all the power sections to bring her in. On the last climb the Italian rider, an under 23 man, caught and passed me, but I was able to ignore the burn in my legs and lungs to grab his wheel and close the gap on France. Through the single track we were both of France’s wheel. While they fought for the front I tried to conserve and find the right spot to make my move.

Italy got by at a split in the trail but I was not able to get ahead. Through the feedzone Italy extended its lead while I attacked the French rider to take over the silver medal position and put out the fastest woman’s time. Into the finish it was a tight race with me only able to eek out 2 seconds on the French rider. Italy won by 6 seconds….granted they did take the time to pick up and wave their flag before claiming goldJ

This secured Canada its first medal of the championships and we got to enjoy standing on the podium at a world Championships. Canada and Luna (Georgia, Chloe and myself) hope to secure more podiums before the week is out so wish us luck!

Home Sweet Home

2009-08-26T20:46:00.001-07:00

My greeting party

Now that's a Garden!

All I have wanted to do this past week is dive into home life. With new windows being installed, crazy cats demanding my attention, a garden bursting with veggies and Keith always ready to share a cup of coffee this wasn’t too hard.

As great as it was to be home (and thanks to Tanya our house sitter who has been fantastic!) it was hot, really hot. My “recovery ride” on Thursday was done in 39 degrees. Keith and I cut it short questioning the ability to recover while riding in an oven. I like temperatures below my core temp thanks. So after some good play time with the cats we headed off to visit Keith’s parents in the mountains. I haven’t seen Keith’s parents in forever and haven’t been to Revelstoke to ride yet this year. Riding in Revelstoke always helps me feel good on my bike. After feeling completely off in Kamloops dry and loose trail conditions the loamy & rooty forest trails of Revelstoke were a welcome relief. Riding in Revelstoke is like riding an unending pump track. Well ok you do a lot of pedalling too, but the reward for pumping your bike through the trails is high. The cycling club has put in some awesome new trails over the last 2 years so we got in some spectacular long rides. Brendan and Bart joined me for my Sunday intervals too, Thanks guys! It made my workout feel just like a fast fun group ride.

The Columbia River, Revelstoke

Keith on the trails in Revelstoke where he grew up

But I didn’t neglect our overburdened garden either. I brought a big tub of cucumbers with me and Sues and I set to work making Dill pickles and a sweet relish. All and all the weekend helped me recenter and refocus my energy so I would be ready to hit the road again on Wednesday for Australia and the World Championships.

Now tell me those don't look like delicious pickles

I’ll be racing the relay on Sept 2 and the xc on September 5th, (that’ll be sept 1st and 4th back home). From Australia where my brother will be joining the national team as the Volunteer National DH manager I head directly back to Canada for a couple days before hoping on a plane for Switzerland and another World cup just 7 days after worlds! Yikes. The Luna team will travel from Switzerland to Austria for World Cup finals and then head directly to interbike in Las Vegas. It’s going to prove to be a crazy month, with a lot of high intensity racing and travelling, but also high reward.

It’s a wrap!

2009-08-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

Domestic racing has drawn to a close with the US cup finals this weekend in Windham, NY. I have to admit I am more than a little excited to be getting home after being away since June 26th! Yes, I had Keith with me for most of the time, but there is nothing quite like being home.

Chloe, Zeph and I passed a pretty quiet week in West Dover Vermont, getting together with the Fisher team a couple times to keep life interesting. The road riding in Vermont and upstate New York is beautiful and I fully enjoyed getting to do a few long rides. Bringing road bikes this trip was great. As much as I love Mtn. biking, it’s nice to get away from the mud and really feel like you’re covering some distance.

Racing went fairly well. I felt pretty good on Saturday for the xc, Willow was just climbing really strongly and descending equally well. Georgia too was never more than a few seconds back and got ahead of me in the final 200 meters as we chicaned through a paved loop to the finish. The Windham course was fun. It’s a bout 15minutes of climbing to 5 of descending…which definitely tallies up after 5 laps. There’s singletrack nicely mixed into the climb and the descent was a combination of rocky woods and open undulating, air catching slopes. The weather was sticky hot so I was thankful for our 11am start.

3rd on the day was good enough to secure me the series overall. My first Elite overall title after finishing 2nd overall on the World cup in 2008, Canada Cup (3 times 04-06) and BC cup (03)! It’s nice to finally be consistent.

Saturday night the Luna team was invited to a delicious pasta dinner at the home of our number 1 fan in Windham, Courtney. Thanks guys and look forward to seeing you next year!

Sunday was the short track and even hotter weather. It was the hardest short track I’ve done all year. Katerina was ranked 2nd overall, 30pts behind Heather so in order to help her win the overall she needed to win and we need Heather to finish outside the top 5. Our plan was to keep the pace as high as possible. Katerina had great legs on the day, but unfortunately I didn’t. I managed to make it to the front for 2 hard efforts which hopefully helped string it out, but I didn’t have enough to stay up there for the team. Georgia launched a decisive attack that Katerina was able to go with as Heather, Lea D and I tailed off. Unfortunately for us though Lea bridged back up and after sitting in for a couple laps outsprinted Katerina for the Line. It was a great ride by Lea, Katerina and Georgia. I came in for 4th and Heather 5th. Katerina narrowly missed the overall, but happily claimed 2nd, Georgia 3rd and me 4th overall. Chloe also finding her form claimed 11th in both the XC and ST and 10th overall.

I think everyone is happy to have wrapped up the series and are now focused on preparing for the Worlds in Australia Sept 5th. I’m on my way home!!!!!

Mt Snow Vermont: Relaxing, Crashing, Cross Country & Short Track

2009-08-10T10:02:00.000-07:00

Photos courtesy of Dave Kraus dbkraus at earthlink.net

Looks like Chloe and I could be doing a lot of this next week!

The week leading into this race was mellow. We went to see Harry Potter at the small local theatre, hit up the local dinners and Keith and I got out for some superb road rides. Oh yeah and we went to Kingdom trails on our way down from Bromont. The trails were amazing and are the hub of the little town of East Burke.

It’s been 3 years since I’ve been able to race in Mt. Snow. The last two years it has held US Nationals. It was here in 2005 that I kinda had my break through ride. I raced up to 2nd position behind Shinny Vanlandingham with about 20 minutes of racing to go when I blew spectacularly and finished 9th.

This year went much better for me… well at least the xc. I decided to race my Orbea Oiz, our carbon full suspension bike, to give me a bit of a mental break from the intense racing I had done over the last month. It did the trick as I had a lot of fun out there and climbed as well as I would have on my hard tail. Katerina and I got away early and she quickly showed me the day would be won not by who had the most suspension, but by whoever was willing to descend more aggressively. We climbed together and flew down the descent. Just after the first tech zone she hoped off her bike and was checking her tires. As she had passed the tech zone already she wasn’t allowed to back track and would have to ride to the next one or fix the tire herself.

After that I was by myself and got to settle in. I felt good and the sun was shinning. A gap was growing between me and the chasing duo of Willow and Heather until I crashed 3rd lap going down on a slick root in a puddle. Last lap I tried to ride consistently, which may have proved fatal in a longer race as Heather and Willow were racing each other behind me and bringing down the gap. It would have been great to have Katerina up at the front to race with, but will have to save that for Windham next week! Congrats to Chloe for her first xc top 10 of the season.

Short track

A post race team dinner at the local Italian restaurant Ravello had us fuelled for the short track the next day. Mt Snow, which was also hosting a bike festival that weekend with lots of kids activities and entertainment, put together a great short track loop. There was a solid climb, a winding descent, some flats and sharp corners. All the ingredients for a but- kicking 20 minutes of exertion.

Luna wanted to get back to the good old days of team racing so planned to keep the pace high. Georgia, Katerina and I got into the lead group with Heather, Willow, Mary and Lea. After a couple laps it was down to a Luna/Subaru GF battle with Katerina and I taking turns at the front. 15 minutes in I decided to make an attempt to get away. Things were going great until I flew into a right hand corner and came out flying off…but not on my bike I did a full summersault and flatted in the process. I’m not sure exactly what happened, but the same corner claimed 3 people that day.

Katerina Launched a flyer next lap and held off the fast charging Duo of Heather and Willow to take the win. Georgia rode in for her 2nd 4th of the weekend and Chloe took another top 10. Aside from a couple more scratches and some tight muscles I made it out of the crash ok.

Keith's on his way back to NB & BC and half the team has gone off to visit family so it's a quiet week for me, Chloe and Zeph in West Dover, Vermont.

Bromont World cup: How Expectations Change

2009-08-03T17:23:00.000-07:00

I’ve come off a couple of fantastic weekends of racing. Races where i just seem to be able to get to the front when I need to and stay there. Yesterday’s World cup in Bromont Canada was a little different. I got off to a good start and was at the front of the race by the top of the climb. I knew I wanted to be ahead of fullana into the woods but didn’t pull it off and was stuck behind her hearing all the girls we had just climbed away from riding back onto our wheels.

The day started off dry, but the woods were still slick. It seemed that every time I earned myself a little advantage I would loose it by slipping off a slick root, rock or climb. It went like this for 2 laps and seemed to be a battle for the lead between Irina and myself until on the climb 3rd lap Lene Byberg of Norway bridged up and moved to the front.

Having made my moves to gain the lead in the first 2 laps I was having trouble staying with the girls in the 3rd lap. I lost my head a bit and started riding internally…not a good thing. I went into the race confident that I would be fighting for the win and now it seemed I would be left behind. I didn’t feel smooth in the woods and lost focus.

My brother being course side cheering reminded me of a lesson I learned years back fighting for the canada Cup overall title. It was about expectations and how they change. Where riding in3rd should have been a thrill I was dissappointed. I needed to get my head out of my ***. With that memory triggered I made the decision to ride for my best result on the day. Waldek gave me splits and the advice to keep my head up (not in my ***). I started riding better again and held off the two women quickly charging up behind me to maintain the last podium position.

All in all in was a good day for Luna with my 3rd, Georgia’s 8th, Katerina’s 9th and Chloe scoring her best ever World cup result with an a 24th overall and 5th under 23. This put luna securely into the top team position. I’m now ranked 5th overall in the World cup with only a few points separating the top 6. The last two world cups should be interesting as whoever rides well there will earn a top 5 overall.

Up next are the two US cups in Vermont and New York.

Mont Sainte Anne World Cup

2009-07-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

Yeeeehaaaa!

Sue, Rod and Luna (their dog) came up from Fredericton New Brunswick to watch the Luna team race

Keith was there for the finish as well as my mom, Dad, Luna Team and some great people from NB. (Thanks for the nice picture Dave. Check out coverage on cyclingdirt.org)

I’ve been racing in MSA, Quebec since I started racing elite nationally in 2004. It was always one of my favourite venues and a course I could do well on with its steep demanding climbs and fast rugged descents. Sunday topped all my other race days in Sainte Anne with my first World cup win of the Season and sharing the podium with teammate Katerina Nash.

For those that like the nitty gritty race details here you go. This year the organizers made some substantial changes to the course lay out. The hallmark descent was removed and replaced with a rough rocky one, the course looped back on itself even more than usual and 2 short but challenging climbs were added.

The women were scheduled for 4 laps and it promised to be slick if not actually raining. The start was going to be critical. After a relatively short climb up a mix of dirt road and grass we were fed into singletrack where passing would be impossible unless someone dabbed and let you by. Based on world cup points I was called up in 5th position. From the gun, things were a little dicey with a rider veering over into me, but everyone stayed upright. I let myself get forced off to the side on the grass climb and a surge of riders swarmed me. I entered the woods in 9th, but not in the top 3 which I thought would be critical to winning.

A gap of about 20-30 seconds opened between me and race leader Marie Helene by the first feed zone (<8minutes>