So apparently it takes a podium to get me back on the blog - mostly I just like the pictures :P. I constantly resolve to myself that I'm going to start blogging more often - well you all know how well I've been keeping that promise! :P
Now that the preamble is out of the way - Sunday was a blast. It's always a blast when you win - especially when things don't work out exactly how you would have liked. The race was fun - I teamed up with Karol Ann (who is off to race with her team Vienne Futuroscope in France next week) for the Calabogie Classic. We worked together to cover all the attacks launched by the Stevens and 7th Groove teams (I was really impressed with the level of aggression!) and very quickly a break stuck. I was the lucky one up the road and my compatriots were Allison Lampi (7th Groove) who drove the initial split, Rachel O'Reilley (a VERY strong ex-triathlete) and upcoming Canadian track talent Krista Ruby. The four of us were working well together - which was good, seeings as we got away less that 15km into the race.
I was very happy with how things were shaping up. I had the feeling that we had broken the pack as our lead had been inching up towards a minute with about 25km to go when...man, this is getting tough...maybe I'm not as fit as I thought...15 seconds later: nope, I have a flat. So now things start getting interesting.
I rolled on the flat for most of a kilometer as I watched the three girls, and what I thought were my hopes of winning the race ride away from me. But as I came upon a cluster of spectators by the side of the road I called out saying that I had a flat. One incredibly generous man quickly jumped off his bike and took out the rear wheel while one of the support staff for 7th groove helped me get it into my frame and off and running again. But not before the pack had caught and past me.
To say that I wasn't in the best of moods might have been an understatement, but I put my head down and tried to catch as much of a draft off the race vehicles as possible. Within' 4km I was back on the main pack - which on one hand was great, on the other - I didn't want 4th. I rolled up to Karo and told her I had a flat (she looked almost as impressed as I felt) and so we started to up the pace and try to bridge back up to the girls up the road. The rest of the pack was restless and before long we had a good race going on - unfortunately to the detriment of my previous breakaway companions.
We brought the girls back with a few laps to go. The race remained quite aggressive and on the final lap Karo instructed me to sit in and rest up for the sprint. She covered the front for me and set tempo for the last few 2km. This made my job really easy as all I had to do was sprint. I knew that there was a good headwind coming down the homestraight, so I kept repeating to myself to be patient. I wasn't 100% that I knew how to do this sprinting thing anymore, but with 300m to go my instincts took over. Here is a picture:
As I said, it's always a blast to win - and congrats to Sarah Coney who took 2nd and Jen Stephenson who rounded out the podium - both of them worked really hard out there and deserved their successes.
So I've spared you all the excitement of getting back into the racing scene at San Dimas (it was SO much fun to race!) The subsequent soul sucking drive from L.A. to Ottawa (highlight was DEFINITELY Nebraska where I got pulled over for going 81 in a 75...then when I was trying to make the time pass as I could not speed anymore - I had only 4 radio stations available to me: 3 country, 1 pro-life = awesome). Chris and I then moved into our new digs in the Gatineau (first house buying experience also awesome) and now I've jetted off yet again down south to Georgia. I'm here for two and a half weeks and will have 7 days of Speedweek crit racing followed by 4 days of Joe Martin. Fun times ahead - I'm so stoked to be back on the scene!
Signing off from the Dancing Goats Coffee Bar in Decatur, GA (my life is AWESOME)...
