Thursday, June 19, 2008

13 in 14 - A Success!


If you are curious - that's 13 races in 14 days...and I think I'm finally recovering!
The madness started in Tulsa, OK where I attended Tulsa Tough with my Vanderkitten teammates. Personally that leg of the journey is one I would prefer to forget, but you have to have the bad days to appreciate the good!
After three days of crits in Tulsa, I was off to Montreal for le Grand Tour de Montreal - and there is no rest for the wicked. I left Tulsa at 6pm on Sunday (arrived in Montreal at 3am - but that's another story - although it's a good 'un) and raced in Montreal at 5pm Monday. I joined up with the National team (including VK teammate Moriah) under the direction of Luc Arseneau for the 5 day, 4 stage, Stage Race. It took me a couple of days, but eventually my legs came around and I was able to come 18th in the crit - although I really think I could have done better...but come on man - that finish was worth a WOPPING $20.75...watch out - I am making the big bucks!
From Montreal we made the trek out to PEI by car (about 10 hours by car - 15 hours by bus I would find out on the way back) where we were given 1 travel day and 1 day of rest before starting the Tour of PEI. For me, this was the real highlight of the trip. It was super cool to be in PEI (even got to see Anne of Green Gable's house) and I rode the best I have all season. I started the tour with a 4th place finish behind Rochelle Gilmore (Menkini), Tanja Hennes (Specialized Designs for Women) and Sophie Creux (ESGL 93). However, the more exciting part was that in this case, 4th was NOT the worst spot as I got to sport the top Canadian jersey (as seen above) - lemme tell ya, it was a pretty special feeling.
The rest of the week continued to treat me well as I got another two top 10s (8th in the 3rd roadrace and 10th in the crit after taking myself out in corner 2) and as a team we got MJ into the top 10 on GC to finish 9th! Way to be MJ! It was a great group of girls to work with and I truly enjoyed my couple of weeks. My two requirements for bike racing: 1) to learn, and 2) to have fun - were fully met. A big thanks to Luc, Andrew, Nena and Sophie for keeping everything running smoothly - I was sad to move on back to Montreal.
Watch out PEI - I will be back!

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