The Little Victories

So last week while the rest of the team was ripping it up in Europe at the Internationale Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen I managed to keep myself busy on this side of the Atlantic. My days consisted of being a Tour superfan in the morning and acting as a landscaping foreman for my husband and his friends in the afternoon as we put a patio into our backyard. But first, let me back up for a minute to explain why I’m at home here in Canada instead of battling it out in the small streets of Europe.

Quite simply put: This has not be the season that dreams are made of (unless your dreams are drastically different from my own). Let’s rewind about 4 months ago to the middle of March when 2011 held infinite possibilities for my cycling career. I was coming off a fantastic winter training base of the trainer and Nordic skiing (a new combo for my new home in Gatineau, Quebec). My fitness was great and I was looking forward to an extraordinary team camp in San Diego with a great group of people who I am lucky enough to call my team! Unfortunately it was not written in the stars (despite my love of Tinie Tempah) for me, as after only 1 hour of great team riding at camp, I took a header off my bicycle at 50km/h that resulted in a separated shoulder, copious amounts of roadrash and a fairly serious concussion. I didn’t understand the repercussions at the time, but today, I’m still recovering from that violent meeting with the ground and my season was over before it really started.

Over the last few months, I have found myself identifying greatly with Sidney Crosby (if you’re Canadian or a hockey fan) as well as more recently with Jani Brajkovi, Tom Boonen and Chris Horner (if you’re more of a Tour junkie, like yours truly). Luckily of late, I seem to have turned a corner. Little as it may be, I have stopped having headaches in the last month and I’m starting to live more like a “normal” person. I’m not back on my bike yet and I still have a number of contraindications – but I’m hoping to be there in the next month or so as to mount my cyclocross assault. Each day is a test of my ability to balance the activity I think I should be able to handle with the rest I know I need and the consequences are rather unpleasant if I misjudge what I am capable of accomplishing. I’m learning to be easier on myself and accept that I need more rest than I think I do- a valuable lesson for an elite athlete!

I’m lucky to have had an incredible group of people to support me through the last few months including my husband, cat, family and my team. It’s coming back bit by bit :) and in the meantime, the boys in France have kept my passion for the sport fuelled. I have been a complete SUPERfan of the Tour this year. From watching the scary footage of Chris Horner’s crash to the captivating sprints and fellow Specialized team HTC’s killer leadout for Mark Cavendish to the incredible down to the wire GC fight, this year’s Tour has been the most entertaining Tour I can remember!

But if I’m going to be honest, it’s the sprints that get my blood pumping – quite literally. I have so much respect for the whole HTC leadout team with special props to Mark Renshaw – and I just LOVE watching Cavendish sprint. My heartrate must get up to around 140bpm as they rush towards the line. It’s the best replacement I can think of to being able to do it myself. In the meantime, I’m making great plans for our team for 2012 where I’m dreaming of Juvederm-Specialized replicating the train to deposit Joanie or myself to the line – it’s going to be awesome!

However, for now, I’m concentrating on the small victories. The days when I wake up and I’m ready to tackle the world (or in my case housecleaning) are becoming more common and I look forward to getting back on my bike to train for victory in 2012. I’m not a big fan of the “everything happens for a reason” cliché, but more of the, as my friend Alena puts it “you will learn something from your tribulations” life lesson. I have yet to find an eloquent wording for these past months, but I’m sure in retrospect it will make me a stronger, more tenacious person and athlete. I will take the wisdom gleaned from this year forward – so watch out, 2012 is going to be my year!

You can also check out this post on iamspecialized.com - it's pretty cool company to keep!

Turning a corner

Hiya blog! Long time no see. Sorry about that. If I'm to be 100% honest, it's been hard to post over the last few months as my general attitude has not been as positive as I would have liked and I don't like to put my negativity out there. Reading about someone moping is not fun - so I omitted it.

That having been said, I have had some great experiences over the last little bit. About a month ago I ended up going to England at the last minute - not for the happiest of reasons - my Gran had a stroke, but it was great to go over and see the family and she's doing fab now. I had a fabulous time with my Mum, Gran and Grandad (as well as various other England-based family members) for 10 days. I always love going over to Ruston Parva - it feels like home. Plus it got me away from Ottawa where I contstantly think about getting on my bicycle! :P We went on walks in the countryside, admiring the beautiful poppies, roses and baby livestock. Gorgeous! My Mum also woke up the latent knitter in me by suggesting that we knit a jumper for my cousin Howard's upcoming baby's arrival.

Knitting has proven to be a great passtime for my concussed self. It allows me to be obsessive about something that doesn't require any physical activity or any tremendous amount of mental work. I'm loving it! Which is a bonus as I had a good deal of airline time going from Ruston Parva all the way to Vegas for Becca (my sister)'s stagette in Las Vegas! Yeah baby! It was incredible. Three nights, eight girls and NKOTBSB in Vegas. That's right - you heard me NKOTBSB. Musical obsessions from all three decades of my life. I heart them all.



It all came to an end far too soon, and unfortunately my concussion kept me in bed far too much to be able to do Vegas justice and I was unable to boy band hunt after the show. Sad face.

Luckily there was much television to keep me busy once I got home with the Women's World Cup AND the Tour. There were a number of days where I would wake up, go to the television (via the coffee maker) and watch the Tour from 8am until 11:30, have lunch and watch soccer from noon until four. In fact, I was lucky that I was concussed or else I would have felt incredibly guilty for dedicating so much of my life to the television - but as it was, it was a fantastic recovery! HA! At least that's what I'm sticking to.

Going forward, I have more travels in my future including some more time back in Calgary to get ready for Becca's wedding on August 6th (eeek!!! Exciting!) and then off again to England with Susan (my lovely mother-in-law) to help with some research for her new book and to check out London and visit Ruston Parva again :). All in all some great ways to keep my ming off the bike until the beginning of September when I'm hoping my birthday present will be to get back on the bike! WAHOO! Fingers crossed!!!

As for now, I need to get my hinie off the computer so I can do a little gardening before the impending thunder shower hits. I'm desperatly hoping that this storm Don't Turn Out the Lights - and if you didn't get that NKOTBSB reference - take a listen to their new song - it's fantastic!

I'm Awesome.

I think those two words cover it ;)

A little background for you as to why I'm awesome? Alrighty - here she goes...

So it started off with my coach, DK, sending me a link to Kristina Groves' blog. It's a letter that she wrote on her blog to Sidney Crosby regarding concussions - and in my opinion, it sums up my situation quite nicely. I really appreciated her take on everything - so much so that I teared up while reading it. I have found the last few months to be incredibly frustrating and there was some solace in reading that I am not alone.

So just prior to DK sending me this link, I too, suffered a bit of a setback in my recovery. I guess I just pushed too hard and my body said "ah ah ah - you are not ready". Now I feel like I did back at the beginning - to sum it up in one word: FRUSTRATING. I was experiencing all sorts of emotions and felt that more than anything I needed a change of scenery...so I booked a flight to Calgary to see my family (Becca, my sister, just bought a new house - so it was an excuse to go see it) and friends.

On my first day in Calgary, I went to the local Starbucks to meet up with a friend. No more than 10 minutes after we sat down, Kristina Groves walked into the same Starbucks! Now, this isn't as coincidental as you might think, given that my Mum lives a whopping 5km from the Olympic Oval where the National team speed skaters train - but I was surprised. In my head I had wanted to tell her how much her blog entry had touched me - and now, the very woman was standing in the same Starbucks. So I should go tell her, right?

Well in hindsight (with the help of the awkward conversation that ensued when I did talk to her), perhaps I could have approached the situation a little differently. But as it was such a disjointed conversation - it now (now that I am over the embarrassment) makes for a good story...

So yes, that is why I am awesome. Think before you act...or at least speak!

But the message stays the same - and for those of you who have read her blog - my brush with her is somewhat analogous to her brush with Sidney. Cute, right? Oh man, I sure hope so! It has helped me to see that other athletes are going through the difficulties and frustrating times that I am. My good friend MJ warned me when it first happened that I would "feel like I'm making things up, but you're not" and I have had to hold onto those words on a couple of occasions to help me keep my sanity!

So where do I go from here? What is next? The answer is a resounding "I DON'T KNOW". I have no idea on the timeline. I'm desperate to ride my bike and feel good, to push myself and feel fit, and of course to race. But I need to recruit all my patience because I'm dealing with my brain and I won't do myself any favours if I come back too soon.

Therefore, please excuse me if my entries are few and far between these days, as I don't have much to report on. But as soon as my body cooperates, I will be back out there soaking in the rays and making the legs burn. And hey, I've been in Ottawa long enough now that I should really give the cyclocross season a go!

I'm Alive

Sorry about the lack of recent update. To be honest, there hasn't been much development of interest.

I am, however, alive and back at home recovering. I'm lucky to have two of the most awesome "nurses" ever - the first in my husband who has been awesome with me since I've been home for the last week. Despite being quite bummed that I'm not in Europe - it is nice to be home. The other cuddle-monster is my kitten. It's really hard not to be awesomely happy when you have a purring kitten in your lap (except for when said purring kitten decides to try to take a chunk out of your arm or foot with his fangs). All and all - things are coming around.

I have a great support crew here in Ottawa. Martin Zollinger has been helping me to realign my spin (apparently when you take a header into the ground at 50km/h things tighten up and shift!) and I'm really looking forward to my massage with Craig this afternoon!

The weather has shifted here in Ottawa and I feel it's pretty safe to say that spring has sprung! YIPPEE!

Also - the team has been rocking it up - so while I'm sidelined at least I can live vicariously through them! Since I got home from Redlands, Lex has won Battenkill out east and Denise came second at Harris Roubaix out west! I really wish that I could make it to Calabogie this weekend - but I think I'm going to have to sit out again. I'm recovering, slowly, but surely (did I mention slowly?) but I'm going to err on the side of caution. Need to get out a full length ride before I try to race - which is too bad because I can't WAIT to show off how HAWT the new kits are - and I am enjoying the Hincapie chamoix as well! :)

On that note - my heart goes out to teammie Joanie who was over in Europe and after a great 20th placing on the 2nd stage of a tour in Holland (I'm not even going to try to spell the name), she got caught up in a crash and broke her collarbone. Apparently we both need to learn to stay on our bikes (and the sad part is that we were joking about it before team camp even started!)

But onwards and upwards. As my dorky book of the moment said "life is like an escalator - you just keep going on and up." Well you have to take inspiration where you can right?!?

Back to the Trainer?!?

The good news: I made it down to team training camp in San Diego last Sunday evening. Got a few awesome rides in with Joanie, Rob and Keirnan Orange and got settled in nicely at our team house on the coast.

The bad news:
Day 1 -
Apparently hitting the pavement at 50km/h has some side effects...

Day 2 -
Damn I really hope this doesn't scar - I'm WAY too vain!

Day 4 -
Heading out for a ride - I scared the dude at the coffee shop I think...


My solution to not get sun on my scar... My teammates are a little embarassed by it...

Day 6 -
Healing up nicely...on a relative scale.

Unfortunately my shoulder isn't cooperating quite as much. The roadrash is healing quite nicely - but I also separated my shoulder so that's taking its time.
Through all this there is a little more good news though:

Crashing on a US military base has its advantages as I was well taken care of, and Specialized makes a damn good product:



Jokes aside - I'm doing really well and I'm just frustrated that the start of my season has been delayed by another week or two. No worries though - it just means that I'm going to be that much more eager to rip it up when it's time to strut my stuff!!!

And so it begins!

First off, I'm going to apologize about the lack of picture - but the truth is - I'm sitting in Pearson Airport and the sightlines don't really provide for any real excitement. But tell you what I will do. I'll give you the mental image of Wicket via Chris' story from last night. Apparently he was sitting watching TV when he heard a splash, a yelp and then a soggy, wet kitten emerged at high speed from the washroom...or more accurately from the toilet...desperately looking for reassurance cuddles.

Chris informed me of two things: 1) post-toilet cuddles are wet; and 2) post-toilet Wicket is significantly smaller! :P

So back to my original thought: what begins you ask? Well my 2 month journey involving planes, buses and automobiles. I personally would have liked to substitute the bus in the equation for a train, however VIA rail does not let bicycles on the train route between Ottawa and Toronto (feel free to boycott their services on my behalf!) So Friday morning, Chris and I piled into the car and went on down to the bus station (after a lovely stop at the Morning Owl for a flat white...yummm!) and he dropped me off into another world. I was unaware that in order to board the Greyhound, you first needed to contract some kind of infectious disease. Knock on wood, but I don't seem to have caught any of the 48 different cold strains that were flying around the recycled bus air for 5 hours... I would also like to point out at this time that a bus is not either a babysitting service, nor a place to do your group project (although I wish the folks doing their case study on Ginny with AIDS the best of luck and if they need a stand in - I think I have memorized their little skit).

But I did make it to Toronto where I was saved at a random intersection by my coach DK (the bus blew its break line so we were abandonned about 2km from the bus stop - perfect end to a lovely journey! AWESOME!). We then went to the hotel where I was meeting up with my Dad and Dianne for Dean's end of year final show. It was awesome - super entertaining and great to see (at least part) of the fam.

From Toronto, I continued on the family visit and went to Guelph for the evening to see my newest parental addition before being driven back to Pearson Airport...and I haven't even left Canada yet!!! That brings us to the present where I am waiting in Terminal 3 (which is the lacklustre terminal - there isn't even a STARBUCKS!?!) getting ready to board a plane to San Diego - whoo hooo! Team camp awaits me on the other end and I really can't wait to give my new, lovely Amira its maiden voyage outside! YIPPPEEE! Plus I was getting super stir crazy on the trainer at home. I'm pretty much over winter for this year!

From San Diego the team (Juvederm-Specialized to be precise) heads to San Dimas then Redlands for the first showdowns on North American soil for the year. I love San Dimas - it's fantastic and fun - and then Redlands, which I have decided is the devil I know - so it'll be a blast too. More than anything else I'm really looking forward to working with these girls!

From there - the morning after Redlands (bright and early I might add), Joanie and I are jumping on a place that will ultimately take us to Brussels for a month of European racing. These are races that I have been dreaming about doing for the last 3-4 years - so I'm also super stoked about it! After we strut our stuff in the Canadian National team colours, Joanie and I will return to Arkansas to rejoin our team at the Joe Martin Stage Race...then I get to go home and see my husband and kitten. (At this point I will give a shout out to my unbelievably AWESOME husband who I already miss on day 3 on the road...)

So that's the plan for the next chunk. I can't wait for the awesome stories that will come out of it and the unreal racing that I will get to do. I promise to keep you posted and pictures will feature...but for now...really just imagine our poofy kitten all soppy wet. If you need some help, Youtube "Giving my cat a bath"...it's painful, but priceless!

Beautiful South Carolina

So I'm not sure if I technically have met my goal of blogging while I was away per se. I have made it to the Greenville airport on the second time around and I'm heading home :( - when I checked in it informed me that it was -11 in Ottawa...a bit of a rude reminder when it has been close (or above) 20 all this week! Dreamlike.

Yesterday I was in heaven sitting on a curb in the parking lot in Clemson drinking a Caramel Machiatto from Starbucks in the sun. Wonderful. It was a perfect respite after a week of lots of leg breaking (and one soul breaking! HA!) hills. The riding down here is amazing. I can't say enough. I wish that I could stay longer - but I am looking forward to heading home.



I mean - come on - how could you not miss those two?!?

The camp was fab - an incredible group of ladies - loved every minute of it and it's been a long time since I've laughed so hard. Some light was shed on the fact that I think I've become a little neurotic with needing order and cleanliness in my old age (I'm sure Chris can attest to this) and may have wigged a few people out with my relentless need to have the dishwasher loaded CORRECTLY. Meh - what can I say...I believe I come by it honestly!

I think I'm going to have people withdrawl after such an amazing week. Good thing that I'm heading to my team launch in Montreal on Friday. Can't wait to get the Amira S-Works - gorgeous. I'm going to show off a little with a picture...I just can't help it!



I guess it's getting close to so-long SC...for now. I didn't even get to exercise my hulu watching time...oh well - I guess I'll have to save that for a few weeks from now when I head down to San Diego for team camp! YIPPEE! But I would have to sign off saying that this trip has been a 100% success...plus travelling sans-bike (thank you Matt and Craig) and carry-on only (I'm sorry Cara) has been a dream. They didn't even try to take away my chamois cream at securtiy. What a great day! The perfect end to an unreal week. :)

New Year's Blog resolution

That's right folks! It's time for me to let you all know that I'm going to start blogging again. Hmmm...I'm not sure I even believe it myself - it's sort of like the omnious New Year's resolution that I make EVERY year (much like it's going to be THIS year that I turn into a twiggy runway model) and yet sometime between, well from looking at history, April and July things go awry. Fingers crossed that this year is better - seeings as blog posts are at their highest when I'm riding well and the wins are coming in!

Speaking of which - I have a new, exciting cycling home for 2011 - with Team Juvederm-Specialized. The new digs are also responsible for the new look - I had a good time playing around with the Blog template - thank goodness they make it easy for those of us who are less computer saavy.



Years ago Chris and I discovered the "muffin cake" at a lovely internet cafe in Coolangatta, Australia. Last night, for Valentine's Day (one of only about 3 that we have spent together in the 9 years we have been together! Shout out to MJ who has been my Valentine's date for the last 3 years!) I decided to bring back the Muffin cafe in good form - isn't it awesome?

I would like to also give a shout out to the newest addition to our family (and cutest): Wicket Reid.



I'm going to miss him a whole lot when I'm off galavanting on my bicycle in South Carolina next week!

Goal for 2011 #1: Blog while down South! I'll keep you posted to see how it goes!

First win of the year

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)...

Nothing like a little reprieve

So yup - I'm now right up there with the infamously BAD bloggers. I can say this with certainty as my life has changed a good deal since I last blogged.

First off - the biggest change in my life has got to be that I caved and moved across the country to be with Chris. Now I live here:



Okay - so you caught me...I do not live in the Canadian parliament - but I do now live in Ottawa - the Canadian Capital. That having been said, I'm busy wintering in Tucson (because apparently I'm acutally 75), but more on that later.

Chris and I are in the process of becoming real grown ups. We have purchased a house and will be moving in at the end of March - so very exciting. We will also be residents of Quebec - which fits in nicely as I will be racing for Specialized Mazda Samson next year - also a Quebec team!

My introduction to Ottawa was the CRAZY cyclocross series. Things that I learned:
a) Ottawa people (can someone help me out and let me know what people from Ottawa are actually called?) are fervently in love with cyclocross;
b) I am not in love with cyclocross;
c) The courses in this part of the world are more soggy, grassy and involved a good deal of running; and
d) I do not like this type of course. I miss South Surrey and being good at cyclocross.

So once my dreams of that pursuit were quashed I started to look forward to ski season. I got 1 week of skate skiing (on stellar new equipment which was an AWESOME Christmas present from Chris' parents) before heading back to Calgary to prep for the wedding.

Ahhh the wedding. It was awesomely epic. I'm really not sure that a picture can put it into words - in short it was the best day of my life to date. So much fun to dress up all pretty like and have everyone that I love in one place. And to marry such a man as Christopher...I'm a lucky, lucky girl. Okay, that's my sappy girl moment.



Despite my belief that no photo can represent this fantastic day - I needed to gratuitously put in a photo that shows off my dress. Because I am in love with it. Becca's shoe are also pretty fabulous. Becca makes the photo cut because she was a FANTASTIC maid of honour - I don't think I would have made it through the day without her. I am also really lucky to have such a wonderful sister in my life!

If you're iching to see more photos - which I'm sure you are - EVERYONE wants to look at me (HA!) check out our photographer's blog. Rachel is a friend of mine back from when I was a junior cyclist - she is awesome and it was fantastic to see her again - she also happens to be a fabulous photographer. Check it out here.

Which brings me to Tucson where I am trying to desperately rebuild my sad little body from last season's "mishap". So far so good - if nothing else I'm enjoying the sunshine! With all this extra time on my hands - here's to hoping I start being a better blogger... I do enjoy it when exciting things are happening. I might just have to start taking more pictures too...

So that's the update for now! Signing off from Tucson...man, I wish I had some chocolate...

Change of Pace

So it's official. My 2009 cycling season is complete...well except for my potential clandestine cyclocross season - but I haven't decided as of yet so we'll see. I'm a little sad to see the end of it - but at least it was super successful so that makes it easier.

It has also given me a little more time to concentrate on the other things in my life - like wedding planning! YAY! This picture is from the most wonderful "soiree" that Chris' parents put on for the two of us in honour of our engagement/wedding. It was fantastic and a blast - not to mention a ridiculous amount of wonderful food!

Life it treating me well and my body is slowly, but surely mending itself - and I'm getting a good deal of reading in - and I've been so lucky as to have time to re-read the Twilight series. I love it. So fantastic. Life is good! ;)

2 Wins in a Row :)

Since getting home from PEI I have been enjoying a great deal of time lazing about on Chris' couch here in Ottawa. I've been enjoying some good weather, some fantastic, uninterrupted internet time and of course some fun with the Christopher. I'm still a little brain dead from the fatigue of the last month - so I think I'll stick primarily to picture telling. Above was me chilling with some reporters post-PEI stage win. I think I was a little excited. There is a video of my talking to one reporter - but talking is an inaccurate statement as I believe that YELLING would more aptly describe what I was doing. The first time I watched it I was incredibly embarrased....so I'm not going to put the link on here - but know it's out there ;)

Anyways, yesterday I raced the Preston Street Criterium in the Little Italy area of Ottawa. The weather was CRAAAZY with some torrential downpours - but only in showers, and it cleared up quite nicely for the end of the race. Now, living in BC, we race in the rain a fair amount - but it still scares me a little - especially when I'm racing with a bunch of Ontarians (of which Chris' comment was that in his whole life he figures he raced in the rain in Ontario a grand total of 6 or 7 times). So I went to the front off the gun and didn't really let more than 2 or 3 people get in front of me. About 6 laps in there was a crash behind me and one of the masters racers I know pulled up beside me and said "don't worry - he'll get a free lap." At that point I figured out that we were in a break - which I was more than happy with. We kept working well together and built up a 20 second lead fairly quickly - and just before the end of the race we lapped the field.

Due to some confusion at the end (we caught the main field on the last lap), I got a little gapped at the finish and didn't manage to beat any of my breakaway companions in the sprint - but to be honest I was pretty fried in the last few laps anyway!

Honestly, I feel that the race wasn't as hard for the level of wrecked that I feel this morning - but I'll chalk it up to being a wee bit dehydrated (it was MUGGY here yesterday) and that being my first day of intensity on my bike since PEI.

Here's to Nats this weekend - TT on Friday, RR on Saturday - good times to come!

VICTORY!

I won in Charlottetown baby! Final stage of the Tour de PEI - good times :P

More to come...

One stage to go

To the tune of "Home for a Rest"

You'll have to excuse me, I'm not at my best

I've been gone for a month, I've been bonked since I left

These so-called vacations will soon be my death

I'm so sick from the bike I need home for a rest.

We arrived in late-April and Belgium was cold

We searched for the web on the side of the road

We never saw nothin' but curious townsfolk
Kept the wind at our backs with the speed of our spokes

CHORUS:

You'll have to excuse me, I'm not at my best

I've been gone for a week

I've been bonked since I left

And these so-called vacations

Will soon be my deathI'm so sick from the bike

I need home for a rest

Take me home....

Elsy Jacobs our first race to war
Julie’s break showed that she was surely hardcore
Next up was the Swiss, large mountains would yield
The beautiful lakes and wonderful meals

- CHORUS -

Bern World Cup brought us and the fans to the streets
The three k long hill proved to be quite a feat
Then next down to France with the poppies around
“So What I’m a Rock Star” was the common sound

You'll have to excuse me, I'm not at my best

I've been gone for a month

I've been bonked since I left

And these so-called vacations

Will soon be my death

I'm so sick from the bike

I need home for a rest

Take me home....

The gas tank is empty, L’Aude’ll be over soon
My legs are sore as I stare at the moon

I'm knackered again, come on sleep take me soon

And don't lift up my head 'till the the twelve bells at noon

You'll have to excuse me, I'm not at my best

I've been gone for a month

I've been bonked since I left

And these so-called vacations

Will soon be my death

I'm so sick from the bike

I need home for a rest

Take me home

Outdoor slippers

Now I was the first to condemn these as a fashion. Well if I'm honest, my sister was the FIRST person to condemn these as a fashion...but I will reluctantly admit (after being on the road for three weeks) that they are conveniant. They are in fact my outdoor slippers.

Outdoor slippers may not sound that exciting, nor helpful to some - but for those of us who are constantly on the lookout for free wireless - outdoor slippers are a key tool. Take right now for instance. After having travelled through Switzerland, down to the mediterranean area in the south of France, I am sitting at a trailer park, under a set of concrete steps...all to bring you this invaluable information.

I think I'm just excited to get online. Racing starts Friday...YIKES! Here goes nothin'!

Grazie Trek. Danke Trek. Merci Trek. Thank you Trek.

The view from my hotel window in Mendrisio, Switzerland.

Trek is the best company in the world. And I have proof.

They have managed to find me a new frame and it's currently being shipped to my hotel in Switzerland from the Netherlands - go multinational company. I owe them a world of gratitude and I can't explain just how happy I am!

But the beautiful landscapes here in Switzerland might start to explain my fantastic mood. It's gorgeous. The coffee is exquisite and I'm sitting at an internet cafe. This is the life!

Our dutiful mechanic Michel getting one of the girls water before we head out on a ride.

For Lisa: SUR LE POUCE! HA!

Open casket memorial

Chocolate, Waffles and Beer

Welcome to Belgium!

I am reporting live from Sambreville, Namur, Belgium. It’s gorgeous – I’m loving every minute of the riding and also the hanging out.

Life has kept me on my toes as the airlines busted my frame on the way over here. Nothing like a little bit of adversity while you’re trying to get over jet lag. I haven’t yet had time to have a memorial service for my Trek frame as of yet as I’ve been too busy trying to manhandle the airlines (Lufthansa to be exact) to try to get some cash out of them – but in the meantime I’ve been riding the National team spare bike…very lucky they had it over here – whew!

Other than that we’ve been hanging out in our team apartment for the week (complete with internet poaching that requires us to sit on the curb across the street) before we head to Luxembourg to race on Friday. The riding has been picturesque – including our hill intervals up the Citadelle in Namur this afternoon. I haven’t been feeling terribly chirpy between the cold that I contracted just before I left and the jet lag – but it’s coming around!

The roads in Europe have proved to be everything I had dreamed of – plus a little wind (or a lot of wind as the case may be). I figure with the bike and such (oh yeah my matteress is actually patio furniture – not sure why I chose THAT bed!), I hope I’m getting my bad luck for the trip out of the way.

Tomorrow’s a recovery day and I think we’re going to venture into town to find us some world-famous Belgium chocolate…I’m sure that it won’t disappoint. I mean they have chocolate in EVERYTHING (especially if it’s a breakfast cereal) so it must be good chocolate!!!

Until next time!

Ahhh Redlands - I guess you're alright after all! ;)

Following my last capture all post - I decided to actually keep y'all updated on what's going on. As I believe I previously mentioned, after about 10 days in Tubac, I headed with the Canadian National team over yonder to California (where the temperature has been more moderate!) to take the line at the Redlands Bicycle Classic for the second year running and see if I could take a little dignity back after an excruciatingly painful race last year.

To say that I improved on last year's performance would be an understatement. I confuddled myself in the prologue by completing the 5km (uphill) prologue in a time 45 minutes faster than last year - and to be honest that was my first indication that I have brought a much stronger skill set out to play this season. Friday's roadrace was the race of my life. I believe I finished around 36th in a small group of stragglers just over a minute down from the winner. The day was hard with a couple of challenging climbs and some killer wind - but the conditions played to my strengths and I was stoked at the end of the day. Especially stoked as my major concern going into Friday's race was simply to make the time cut so that I could start the crit on Saturday!

Going into this race, I told myself that I was coming to Redlands to see what I had, but most importantly I was here to contest the crit. I had difficulty falling asleep on Friday night as I was so stoked on my performance from the day before, but I must have got enough sleep! The plan for the race was for me to help Joelle and give her a leadout at both the intermediate halfway sprint as well as the final (at this time I would like to give Joelle super props for her 10th place on Friday's Beaumont roadrace). Now, in the crit, I'm afraid I wasn't able to help her out, but she managed to place 6th regardless and I followed shortly behind her in 8th. All and all a great day at the office :)...which takes us to the Sunset Loop. But I mean really, what does one say about the Sunset Loop??? My first marker of accomplishment was when I was still with the group when the "neutral" car pulled off (after about 8km of climbing) as last year I wasn't able to hold on to the group for the start!

I managed to stay with the main pack until the 5th lap (with a good deal of chasing on the downhill I might add - thanks to the girls who helped me stay in contention for as long as I did!). But alas at the start of the steep pitch on the 5th lap I was completely toasted...I'm not sure if it had something to do with my lack of food consumption as I had been concentrating so hard to stay with the group (I will totally admit this is a rookie mistake!!!) Luckily enough I found a couple of super awesome girls who towed me around for the remainder of the 9 laps and we made our way down to the finish line. I will save EVERYONE my thoughts on the fact that we made it within about 250m of the line and then we were diverted off course for the boys to start (they were not pretty thoughts!), but I'm super stoked to have finished! Before today, I was okay with the thought that I may never finish the Sunset roadrace at any point in my cycling career! Also props out to Carrie and Sarah who rode likes STARS today - I'm so proud of you!

So yeah, it's been a week of surprises and pleasant ones at that! I'm stoked to start my season so strong (and it makes up for not getting to do the first Spring Series!!!) Thanks to Vince and Serge for taking care of the team for the last 2 weeks and also to my teammates for such an awesome experience. It was truly a fantastic group of girls full of positive energy and I will miss you when I get home :) But above all I would like to give a SUPER SHOUT out to Robert - the best host housing dude I have ever had. Not only was your house beautiful and welcoming - but you have made our time here that much better! Oh yeah and I will forever owe him for driving myself and a few fellow BCers to LAX really early tomorrow morning. Yes, he is da bomb!

But before I head back to the rain, I'm making a short wedding week trip back home to Calgary where I hope to get all sorts of wedding related tasks accomplished! I'm STOKED to see my family and really excited to get to check out the reception venue and hopefully find my dress! So the fun just keeps on rolling - hope all is fantastic with everyone!!!

Don't Forget Your Passport!

And the title of this blog is more than a TV show played on TLC...it's actually sage wisdom - but perhaps I should start with a wee update of what I've been up to for the last few months before I get into the nitty gritty.

My travels commenced in early December with a unplanned trip out to Hawaii to help my sister and Mum get ready for the Honolulu marathon. Yes, I took that bullet and hung out in Maui with my bike for a week - oh how difficult is my life! The day after I returned home the snow started to fall in Vancouver (and we ended up with CRAAAZY 2 foot snowbanks...where do I live again?), but luckily I was only home for 48 hours before jetting off to England for some family fun time!

The purpose of our sojourn in England was to attend the first marriage of one of mother's parent's offspring (read: cousins on my maternal side). There were plenty of jokes about the fact that Karen is the youngest of the seven of us and the first to really grow up! Below is a picture of us in chronological age from Karen to Rosie - there are a number of other photos floating around from over the years that are far cuter - but I don't have access to a scanner!!!

The ceremony was fantastic and the party afterwards was even better! So great to spend time with the fam and have Granny show us all how to party it up! However, for me, by far the most exciting part of the trip was when my dreamy then-boyfriend asked me to marry him! The night before Karen's wedding we went out for dinner and I came home with a beautiful ring!!! We shocked my Mum - it was quite entertaining!!! Unfortunately three days later Chris and I parted ways in a rushed goodbye in the Heathrow airport (so romantic!) as I returned home and he jetted off to start his new flashy job as a policy analyst with the federal government in Ottawa. :(

So back to Vancouver...full of snow...BLAH! Seriously - this winter has been spectacularly bad! Lucky for me this has been the winter of training camps and in early February I headed down south for a series of camps starting with Team BC in Palm Springs and then off to Santa Rosa with the Trek team. Santa Rosa was a DREAM!!! I loved it - definately a week to remember. We were treated like rock stars - we even had our own chefs! We sported the awesome new Trek kits (and I'm SUPER bad at taking pictures or else I would have a picture of them for ya!). Bottom line being that it's SO great to be with such a positive, well run organization - I can't wait for the rest of the season! Below is a pic of my perennial teammate Leah Guloien and I gunning for it at the Valley of the Sun criterium in early February. (We're sporting the fabulous Team BC jersey)

HOWEVER, the real great story from the past few months (I'm still working on distancing myself from it to find it funny...not sure if enough time has passed as of yet) comes from my journey between leaving the camp at Santa Rosa and returning home to Vancouver for my 1 week of home time before jetting back down to the National team camp in Tucson (well Tubac to be more precise!) where I am now.

As part of the aforementioned rock star treatment, the Trek Red Truck staff drove the team trailer 16 hours south of the border to Santa Rosa. For anyone who has had to travel with a bicycle, you understand the utter relief of having someone show up with your bicycle unharmed by the airlines (and your pocket isn't assulted either!) While I didn't send my bike home with the crew (I was staying a few extra days in Marin county), I did send my very large duffel bag home - hoping that the airlines would be less extravagent with their baggage fees if I only had a bike bag to load.

That evening as we were heading out in the team van for dinner we were contemplating whether or not we should have locked up the rental house. We had yet to have done so during the trip, but I decided to make a joke and point out that while the bikes were now gone, it was only the easy stuff to steal that was left - like laptops...and passports. Right, passports - OMG...NOOOO!!! At that very second I realized that I, being oh so brilliant had shipped my passport back to Canada in the Trek trailer.

At this point I would like to point out that in general, I like to think of myself as a responsible, organized and intelligent person. Shipping one's passport back home is not behaviour fitting of someone with ANY of those traits! Needless to say, the following 48 hours were on the stressful side. I called (and in this order): Steve (who was driving the trailer home), Chris (who had just landed in Vancouver to come visit me!), my Mum (who can fix EVERYTHING...right?), my Dad (who has similar magical powers to that of my mum), Air Canada, Vancouver International Airport, the Canadian Border Services Authority, the Canadian Embassy in San Francisco and my coach Jeremy. There were a mixture of responses - mostly empathetic...and generally confused and landened with "how exactly did you do that?"

We tossed around a number of options on how to deal with the problem, but in the end Chris ended up scanning me a copy of my passport and my parents (who decided on a whim Friday evening to spend the weekend in Victoria) took my passport to the WONDERFUL folks at Air Canada who greeted me off the plane with it.

So in the end: no harm, no foul. However, I would still advise that you keep your passport with you while travelling!!!

And on that note, I bid you adieu from Tubac, Arizona with my passport in my purse!