When in Rome

So I might have complained a little bit when there was snow everywhere - but it gave us (the new Giant women's team) a good excuse to head up to Seymour and bond on snowshoes. It was a gorgeous day and awesomely fun. I was stoked on Sunday to get back outside on my bike, but I suppose we're Canadian, so a rumble in the snow from time to time won't hurt anyone. Check out that view!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland...

Yeah everyone in Calgary is going to laugh at me - but it's COLD here! :P Actually it's absolutely gorgeous and I get to sit back and laugh at how Vancouverites deal with the inclement weather. So far all the post-secondary institutions and a great number of the public school have been closed. We are on "arctic blast" alert - it's currently -3 out. I went showshoeing yesterday up on Mt. Seymour - total blast - but kinda scary when we started hearing the trees start to crack under the weight of the heavy snow. I'm lucky enought to have the day off, so I can sit inside and wonder at how lovely it is...on my trainer. I love the snow, but it's supposed to be in Calgary when I go home for Christmas so that I can ride my bicycle.

MAN I MISS AUSTRALIA! That thought runs through my head at least once a day - more when it snows!

Also, I thought that I would let everyone know the bad news. Despite the fact that we live less than 200km away from the epicentre of the explosion of the "Starbucks" world - we still don't have enough stores to keep the population happy - despite the kiddie korner stores on Robson street. Last week I was walking around Pacific Centre at lunch with my egg nog latte and she essentially accosted me to figure out where I had found the Starbucks. She was might disappointed that she would have to walk at least 500m outside to find it. I found it amusing...and my latte delicious!

Alrighty, now on with the day!

Water, Water, Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink

So, bottom line, I've been a little lazy in my updates...which has lead me to the epic struggle over the last, oooh 5 minutes, trying to decide which newsflash will provide more entertainment for my readership (thanks Mom ;)) The battle was between "no drinkable running water" and "9th at Cyclocross Nationals." By the size of the pictures - you can probably guess which won out in the end.

However, to start off, I would like to point out that our toilet usually does run clear. Chris and I clean the washroom regularly and we also have a good practice of flushing the toilet - therefore the discolouration in the water...not our doing. It's the water running in the taps. We woke up to some worse looking stuff on Thursday morning - I didn't have to wait for the water advisory to decide that it probably wasn't good to drink. The Vancouver area experienced a fairly epic storm last Wednesday. We recieved close to 150mm of rain (if that were snow it would be 1.5 meters!) and winds gusting to 100km/h. Wednesdays are track days, so I hopped into the car about 4:00pm and started what promised to be a delightfully long car trek out to Burnaby. Luckily Becca brought me the new JT album from Calgary a few weeks ago, so I got to rock out in my own private discotheque all the way there. One head-on collision, a blown over building under construction and 2 hours later, I came within sight of Burnaby mountain - no wait I didn't! There was nothing to see as all the power for a number of different areas had been knocked out. Apparently today, 6 days later, some residents of Lions' Bay still don't have power. And I still don't have water. Isn't one of the tenants of today's civilized society power and clean, running water? Good times, good times. The net result is that I have been constantly thirsty over the last bit - I guess it might be more productive to head out and buy some more bottled water this eve.

As for the teeny, tiny pic of me all muddy - that's from Nanaimo about a week ago where I was very pleased with a 9th place finish at Cyclocross Nats. It was a fight to the bitter end, as Sarah Stewart and I road the majority of the race together, only for her to crash with about a km to go and in the end I only beat Leah (my new teammate) by 2 seconds! Those are the best cross races though - the ones where everyone's going for it and battling it out - it was an awesome, fun course and I'm kinda sad to see the cross season come to a close. Having said that, I've been enjoying the "regular routine" of training and work - and a good amount of sleep.

Well I best be off - lots to do in the next month before I head home to Calgary for Christmas...I can't believe it's so close!

Lame-O Winter

So I'm not sure if I'm the lame-o or if it's winter that's lame-o....but titles are an art right? ;)
We're in the middle of having our first real winter storm here in Vancouver and pretty much everyday I dream about being back on the Gold Coast. At no point was this a more vivid desire than last Thursday when I had my inaugral colder than hell ride over on the North Shore. Now anyone who's lived here longer than say a month (for which I should qualify - but apparently don't!) they will point out that heading to Horseshoe Bay when it's nasty out is a decidedly bad idea - I thought that it would be fun. Now, I'm thinking if you define fun as almost having frostbite on your fingers and tosies, then yes, I hit the nail on the head...luckily I think the ride knocked a bit of the stupid out of me and now all my winter riding stuff is being put to good use.

On the upside of being in the northern hemisphere in the fall - I've been loving the cyclocross season. I'm heading up to Nanaimo for nationals on the weekend which should be a good time. What's not to love? You're riding a road bike around the woods and every so often you hop off to avoid an obstacle...makes me feel like I'm 8 years old - I totally love it!

My sister and her friend Tory were here on the weekend - tons of fun - lots of money spent. But with Becca's influence, I'm not really all that surprised. I'm in the middle of trying to convince myself that I need it all - but hey, I'm working now....uhhhh

Well that's the random (somewhat mindless) update on how my life is going. Working definately makes the days fly by. I'm kinda freaked that it's already November....yikes!

Pumpkin Pie

I must say, I've never really thought about it before, but Thanksgiving ranks right up there with the best holidays...mostly because of the Pumpkin Pie. During the last few days I've been stocking up on the PP in multiple forms (one of which I can throughly thank Chris' parents for as they brought Thanksgiving and all its culinary glory to us)- the best of which was offered by Dairy Queen. I'm not entirely sure who had the brilliance to come up with the Pumpkin Pie Blizzard - but it's wonderful! So that was the highlight of my holiday Monday (and yes, as of last week I'm employed at KPMG, so it's actually a holiday!), along with a lovely ride out to Horseshoe Bay with Chris.

Speaking of wonderful things - Vancouver is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Each time I cross the Burrard Street bridge (when the sun is shining) it takes my breath away to see the skyline with the mountains and the ocean...I'm just hoping the good weather stays all year (fat chance!) hee hee

I've also gotten back on the bike in the last few weeks. After three months off I decided to hit the races again, but this time on the cross bike. My new pretty Giant bike is great and after spending the first week getting my bum kicked down in Seattle, Saturday I was able to take second in the Bayside Cyclocross Classic...and now I have about a zillion bruises to show for it....apparently I still bruise REALLY easily. Guess I won't be wearing skirts at work for awhile!

Also on the exciting vein of events (for me, you will most likely find it mind-numbingly boring), we now have a wireless router, so I can play on the internet from the comfort of the couch...man, technology is great!

Fall is upon us

Well the wedding season is over - and so for 2006, that means that my summer has also drawn to a close. Congratulations to Lisa and Alistair, Sarah and Todd, and last but not least Bekki and Anthony for declaring their love for one another and putting on great celebrations! :P

I on the other hand, am enjoying my last week of holidays in the gorgeous Vancouver sunshine (I need to enjoy it while I can!) before heading back to work! Yes, that does deserve an exclamation mark as I'm pretty stoked to be working back with KPMG - but this time in Vancouver. The last 18 months or so have been awesome, but I feel it's time for me to get this here idle brain of mine going again and I'm looking forward to it.

Another sign that fall has come is that I got possession of my new cross bike yesterday! Also rather stoked about this - it's such a pretty Giant! :) Get to test it out in true form this weekend with a pair of races - the first in Seattle at Star Crossed (super cool - the course actually goes through a beer garden) and then closer to home (and a personal favourite) on the Surrey course. Not sure how the "intensity" thing is going to treat me, but it'll be nice to get out there all the same.

I think that covers the "what's new" category. Oh yeah - come out and visit us - my lastest Bday present (from Daddy and Di) was a blow up bed for visitors - so now we can be good hosts! ;)

Beer, Pizza, Wedding Chapel

Yesterday Chris, Sandra and I went to ride Mount Baker. I don't think we really knew what we were in for - but the epic ride called our names. We headed out to Abbotsford for 9am (it only takes an hour to get out there that early in the morning!) and crossed the border and commenced the 150km ride. From what I had read, I believed that we would be doing 40km to Glacier (the base of Mt. Baker), 40km up, 40km down and 40km home - the is some math missing somewhere in there...but that was all we needed to start our adventure ride.

Now what would an epic ride be without a good detour. Apparently I should have looked at the map (or the roadside signs) more closely, as we ended up taking about a 15km detour. But much to our luck with came upon a building advertising Beer, Pizza and a Wedding Chapel. Definately picture worthy - unfortunately for both you and me - I forgot my camera (not that I would have had room for all the extra clothing I had jammed in my pockets!) We got turned around soon enough and headed towards Baker. The ride itself was quite pleasant - it wasn't until we hit the 4 hour make that we had any inclement weather. Unfortunately, at 4 hours, we were still going up...making for a LONG day! The rain wasn't hard, and we knew we were near the top - so we pushed on. Good thing that we did too cause we were within a few kms and we would have been kicking ourselves if we had turned around.

Once at the top, we were greeted by hail. Yes, the mountain weather prevailed and we were in the middle of quite a bit of precipitation - not really what you're looking to have around when you have to descent for 40km! We had to stop twice on the trip down to try to regain feeling in our fingers as to be able to change gears and, more importantly break...man I MISS AUSTRALIA! We even ended up riding uphill a little - I resorted to singing out loud to take my mind off the pain...it is only September! Winter is going to be a LONG battle. Anyways, we made it out of the rain and continued down to the town of Glacier. I had lost the ability to shift into my big chain ring because of my frozen left hand and we were all expressing knee discomfort after riding for 2 hours at 50RPM before turning around and subjecting our joints to freezing temperatures!

At the end of the day it was a 6.5 hour ride - and the whole thing was amazing! The road is beautiful, the pavement smooth and the scenery picturesque. Definately a ride I would recommend to anyone just watch out for the mountain weather :P!

YIKES! I'm a quarter of a century...

So I'm kinda conflicted about this Bday! Last year I was soaking up rays on a beach in Fiji - today I'm in Vancouver wearing a nice big, electric blue Lulu sweatshirt (courtesy of Christopher) and still not entirely warm. I'm in the middle of a bit of a quarter of a century crisis...I mean by 25 aren't you supposed to know where you want to go with your life? I know I want to be a cyclist...outside of that I just don't know - accounting, finance, or something completely unrelated??? I thought that I would have at least been in an industry for a few years before I start questioning my direction. I've spent the week at job interviews and applying for every position I come across that I qualify for - it's definately hard to convince full-time positions that they want to employ me - only give me 30ish hours a week and unlimited (unpaid) holidays. I am too demanding aren't I?

Okay, enough of the deep thoughts - I started my day with a run and a cinnamon bun and a pumpkin latte - what could be better???? I'm hoping to go for a ride later today and then a nice dinner (and cake of course!) Bithdays are GREAT! I'm still educating Chris that one's birthday is the MOST important day of the year - it's the only day that you get all to yourself (although I knowingly share it with Jenny Sweeney, Tricia Milner and Adam from elementary school) - but I'm loving it. I can't find any appropriate Bday pics, so I'm going to settle for Chris and I on our Heart Mountain hike - it killed me, but running has been easy ever since!

I Have a Home!

So after being somewhat transient for the last 16 months, I'm happy to say that last weekend Chris and I settled into our place in Vancouver. We're living on the border of Kits and West Pointe Grey - apparently that's a froofy location for those of you who are curious...it's super close to the Eatery which is a funky Japanese restaurant - oddly enough it was one of the first places I knew in Vancouver and now I live about a block away - and we've eaten there twice since our arrival.
This week has been pretty chill - Chris started school and I've been trying to sort out the last bits of our house like getting internet (which we don't have yet, I'm currently at a wireless cafe), and waiting for our couch to be delivered...not to mention job hunting - but it's been really nice. The weather is absolutely gorgeous and we've been enjoying morning runs down to Jericho park - definately no complaints! Anyhoo, nothing too interesting - cross races are going to start up soon, but for now, I just wanted to include a few pics of my new abode. (You'll note that I strategically left out a pic of the living room as it's a great open void at the moment - but I just got a call to inform me that we're having the couch delivered on Monday!!!)

Kicking Around Vancouver

Man, when I'm not racing, I'm really bad at the updates now aren't I? Well to tell the truth, that is in part because I have been pretty unexciting as of late. When I got back from Mexico I thought that I was all prepped to start training again as to kick some bum at track nats....alas, that appeared not to be the case after a week back at it, I was super tired again. I was pretty bummed out (luckily I had the ENTIRE second season of Grey's Anatomy to keep me entertained - which is an exceptional show by the way...only problem being that it actually makes me wish I went to med school....wierd!) So instead of stewing on what I couldn't do, I headed out to Vancouver for Lisa and Alistair's wedding.
It was gorgeous - I'm not really sure what else to say about it - maybe after the next two weddings I will be attending, I will be able to be more of a critic, but Lisa looked beautiful as did her bridesmaids and the whole thing was super great. I especially enjoyed that each place setting had a bag of JellyBellys...probably over-consumed on those.
My trip to Van ended up being a bit of a multitasking event. I figured that we could find a place in a couple of days and then head back home to AB before jumping back to Edmonton to race track provs - then assess my form before deciding on Nationals. Unfortunately, the charming people at the rental agency (once we finally found a place that we were interested in - we found an old grow op for just under $900/month in a super sketch part of town...lovely by all accounts - but it did motivate me to pay a little more for a place!) were dragging their feet and we weren't able to sign the lease until Friday. So no track provs...so no track nats....on to CROSS time!
So now the hunt is on for a cross bike...oh yeah, and a job! Thanks to the luxurious rent costs in Vancouver, I need to find me a job and a good one at that! But before I think too much about it, Chris and I are going to head out to the mountains for a mtb bike ride. We were going to go yesterday, but once we got there I realized that I forgot my shoes on the table...I was NOT impressed...but thems the breaks. We went out riding in the river valley instead and believe me, my skills leave quite a bit to be desired...Why is it that mountain biking always makes me feel ridiculously out of shape???
Anyways, so it's here in Calgary for another couple of weeks full of Sarah's wedding and my Grandma's 90th b-day before driving back out to Vancouver - to live! Exciting and yet a little scary all at the same time. Get to start up the training again and have some fun ripping around on a road bike with nobby tires - I can't wait!!!

The 3 Rs: Rest, Relaxation and Ralfing

Classy, I know. Luckily the stomach discomfort didn't hit me until I was on the plane last night coming home from Mexico...at least I think it's lucky. Truth be told, if you think that you need to blow cookies, there is no where more encouraging than an airplane bathroom...but enough about the gross, yucky stuff.

So last week my sister, mom and I headed down to Cancun - the Palladium Colonial on the Riviera Maya to be precise - to help me recoup from a long season to date. The hope is that it's allowed me to recharge enough to start a campaign towards Track Nationals in September - I'm still holding my breath to see how things work out! As it was kind of a last minute thought (the most constructive of my "I'm quitting cycling forever" line of thinking during the roadrace at Nationals) we simply chose a last minute deal and crossed our fingers. As it was - we were incredibly lucky. The resort was gorgeous. The food was good for a buffet (if I discount whatever made me unbelievably unhappy last night) and the buildings were phenomenal. It was a dream.

Can't really say that I did all that much while we were down there. Lots of beach time (although a Mexican dude made fun of Becca and I yesterday for being so white after a full week in Mexico - but dude, I am SO tanned for me at the moment...I can't help my northern-European background!) and a good amount of reading and general relaxing. We had a few tropical storms, but nothing we couldn't handle! During the down time, we dug through the first season of Grey's Anatomy - to which I am now hooked and am currently trying to download the second season to watch as I recover from my vacation today. The first season of Degrassi Junior High was watched - including the episode when Spike gets pregnant - Canadian television history I tell ya!

So I'm back at home in Calgary - hopefully ready to get back on my bike - I'll have to learn to amuse myself as the Tour is over (we saw a praying mantus and I wished that I had had my camera so that I could have taken a congratulations picture for Floyd). So it's home time for a week, then Gran and Grandad arrive from England on Sunday before I likely head off to Vancouver on Monday - I really don't like to stay in one place now do I???

The Inevitable Crack

So it happened. I knew it would, but it hasn't really been a ton of fun. After a week of lying in bed trying to get rid of a rather persistant virus, I headed up to Quebec city to get my bum kicked. Apparently getting sick, while it does prevent you from doing anything, it does not help you recover...all things that I know, but I'm learning all over again first hand. It was a rough weekend - the courses were great (the organization less so) and under normal circumstances I think I would have raced really well. As it was, my body decided that it no longer wanted to race and I was left going as hard as a possibly could - and getting NOWHERE!

So it's time for a little time off. I think I'm going to have to x-nay Altoona which is too bad, but there's always next year right? Time to take a little time away from the bike (I wanted to throw it in the St. Lawrence after quitting cycling about 6 times during Friday's roadrace, but it did make the trip back home with me) and I'm hoping to get away somewhere hot to lounge on the beach before ramping it back up for track nats.

But on to more interesting things like dreamy Boonen is in YELLOW! What a great Tour! First Georgie, now Boonen - as long as I forget that my Jan didn't get to start and neither did Basso and Valverde just crashed out today....Check out http://www.tomboonen.com/nl/fotos/ for HOT pictures of Boonen...might just put one up on the blog along with the picture of the shoes that I REALLY want...but I can't imagine paying $500 for. Aren't they cool though?

Okay, well enjoy the shoes and dreamy Boonen - now only Zabruskie needs to get yellow and it'll be the greatest tour ever (except for '97 when Little Jan won).

Lah Lah Lounge

Now, this couldn't get any better if I had made it up - and I swear I didn't. This evening I went for dinner with the remaining half of Chris' family as Chris and his Dad took off on a road trip down to Ohio...he's doing a bike race there - best of luck! :) That left his Mom, brother Andrew and myself here in Guelph. Well, that's not entirely accurate as the female contingent of the aforementioned trio was supposed to be enroute to Road Nats in Quebec City - however my charming illness has us delayed by a few days. Apparently when we left Minnesota I decided to bring a charming cough with me - and things have progressed since then...and I'm about ready to be healthy again - my window of tolerance in which I must be healthy is down to only 2 days now...but I'm sure that the immune system will cooperate! (you hear that immune system???)

So yeah, I'm a little irritated of the timing of the sickness, but you can't choose these things now can you - but regardless, tonight's entertainment help spur on my spirits. So to start at the beginning, I had spent all afternoon sleeping and soon enough it was dinner time and no one had really given any thought to dinner. Chris' mom suggested we go to this great pizza place and so we were off (in the brand new red convertable beatle...I must get a picture of that!) As we walked into the restaurant we were informed that it would be $3.00 cover to watch the "show". Said show was a podcast (still trying to understand what exactly is a podcast - best description came from Andrew as a audio blog) and so we were in for some great live entertainment....and some that is good to talk about on my blog. As a sidebar - dinner at Manhattan's was INCREDIBLE - it was the first time that I've had vegetarian pasta in a long time that didn't leave me wanting meat - mmm...a delectable combination of sundried tomatoes, feta cheese, artichoke hearts and olive oil - it was AWESOME! Also on the awesome list was the second act up for the evening. This girl constructed a song entirely with her voice - not sure if it wasn't pre-recorded, but regardless, she had slowly built up with her accompniment and then sang - and it was gorgeous - I thouroughly enjoyed her act. The larger woman belly dancing (no wait, it was a flamenco/belly dance cross) was less enjoyable - partially because I'm not sure she wasn't wearing langerie...classy my friend classy.

The rest of the evening was enjoyable and helped me to understand that my musical talent is pretty much non-existant. The fact that people can sit down and write songs, with music and lyrics just blows my mind. I am also disappointed that we missed seeing Dee Something-Or-Other who was a top 20 Canadian Idol...unfortunately my sleep is also important to me.

So after that entertaining interlude in my life, I'm off to Quebec City to speak French and ride my bike with the top racers in Canada. I'm looking forward to seeing girls I haven't caught up with for awhile and getting back to Quebec City - haven't been there for awhile and it will always remind me of Marie-Claude and my grade 6 exchange. I DID the town back in 1993...I think it was then anyways...just hoping that the evil sore throat demons leave me in the near future.

Nature Valley Complete...

So the camera’s fixed, but apparently I no longer remember how to take cool pictures for my blog…We did however accidently detour through Detroit on the way down there – oops! On the upside we were able to take a picture of “8 mile” – yes that is my claim to fame…and that was only a few hours into our 16 hour trek. (After writing I was going through my pics and I decided that in actual fact, everyone NEEDED to see the picture of the hugging bears on the highway - that' just for your enjoyment...no other good reason)...That’s right, Julia, Chris and myself decided that the most fun activity we could come up with last week was to drive to Minneapolis, Minnesota. And while I do grant you that they have an equivalent mall to West Ed (which I did not get to visit much to my dismay!), driving there requires that you chug through Ontario, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and then Minnesota…That’s right – my US geography is going to be KILLER by the end of the year! Over the 16 hour drive (remember that’s 16 hours each way!) I learned that I still love Wisconsin. A land of cheap cheese lies near and dear to my heart – on the way out we stopped at a “Cheese” place – apparently Julia doesn’t get how my camera works, cause that picture doesn’t exist somehow…but I got FIRE CHEESE – and believe me, they ain’t kidding about the FIRE – jalapeno to be precise. Not quite as odd as the cheese fudge (that’s right, cheese that tastes like fudge, I had to sample it just to be sure!), but the fire cheese was far more versatile. Unfortunately, to contrast the wonderous cheese state (that also had waterslides EVERYWHERE – I wanna go to a waterpark!) I had to pass through Illinois. A State of irritating toll booths (we missed two of them on the way there and had to send the state $1.60 in the mail…definitely a class A system) and road construction. I think I lost at least 3 years off my life driving through there – oh yeah and the drivers are CRAP! If only I could find a way to drive through Lake Michigan and bypass Chicago – I’ll work on it for Superweek….So we got ourselves to good old Minneapolis – Eden Prairie to be precise – we were hanging out at our host house Connie – she was awesome! And let the racing begin! I can’t say that it was the most positive weekend of my life. I was all stoked about it until I didn’t sleep at ALL the night before the TT – Chris helped me out by going to pick up my race packet though and I trooped through and put down a solid ride (to tell you the truth, I was a little surprised as I felt quite sick to my tummy prior to the race). The next day was a complete gong show. Anyone who was there knows exactly what I mean. I don’t think I hear anyone say anything positive about it – there were echoes of “that was the hardest race I’ve ever done” all over the place. Here we learned that just because a race is flat, doesn’t mean that it is easy…I still prefer the flat.
Friday was the dark day in my racing year. After a killer storm – and I mean NUTSO, blowing hard rain, flooded streets, hailstones and a temperature drop of about 15 degrees – we took to the streets. I don’t think I was actually racing – I’m not proud of this fact. In fact, if I could erase one single race this year it was that one…luckily it seemed to serve as a kick in the bum. Plus, had we not had the crazy storm, we would not have been lucky enough to sit at a super sketch gas station for most of half an hour waiting for a taxi to pick up Robin. Like honestly, this place was a piece of work – I would have taken a picture, but I may have been shot in the process. We took Robin’s stuff out of the car and we were sitting at one of the pumps waiting and the dude inside came on the intercom and informed that we might want to come closer to the building as it was “more safer” over there. Upon approaching the building we found that the gas attendants were protected by about 2 inch thick plexiglass – but we had the crazy man with the lazy eye “protecting” us. A large fork of lightening scared me so bad that under the circumstances of the night I almost started crying…but now it makes for an EXCELLENT story…but as usual I’m just not doing it justice! :P
My legs carried me through the next two days and I tried to stay tough. Apparently racing 7 stage races and 37 days of racing in the first 6 months of the year is starting to take its toll on me. I am happy to say that I did finish the race – and in a fashion that was much stronger than the way I started out, which was nice. I’m resting up for this week, waiting to head up to Quebec City next week. I’m enjoying the action provided to me by the World Cup – specifically my boys from England who have advanced to the round of 16 and will be playing Ecuador on Sunday. This afternoon I’m dealing with the difficult question of do I fly to Quebec or take the train. The real question boils down to – is 8 hours of my life worth $200? I just don’t know…I appreciate any input.
Alrighty, it’s back to being a bum – maybe this week I’ll have the energy to work on my website…it’s about time!

Hot in Herre

Apparently years of living in an igloo cannot prepare you for the weather in the southern States – who’d a thunk? I did try to reverse the effect of my natural tendency towards cold weather (it’s not my fault, my father is from Saskatchewan!) by heading over to Australia for the winter. The net effect is that I’m BETTER in the heat – still not good, and I would wager that I’m now a super wimp in the cold…hmm – was that a good idea? So, this lead in is going somewhere – I promise, here it is: Sunday’s weather was horrendous. It was 80 degrees at 6:30 in the morning and I swear the humidity was 100% - meaning thick enough to breath! ;) By the time we started racing it was already almost unbearable sitting out in the sun (must have been close to 35 degrees – like that switch between Fahrenheit and Celsius?), making for one of the least pleasant 33-mile rides of my life.

The terrain was unrelenting with constant rollers, which under normal conditions I would have loved. However, with such a small pack and my PowerTap in tow (and the associated 23 tooth cog), my legs felt rather horrible. I limped through the entire race having to sit out of the paceline for good chunks of it. We worked the two intermediate sprints to help me keep the green jersey, which wasn’t super challenging, as no one else seemed at all interested in what was going on. The sprints were fun though as it was a downhill go at it, so we hit some pretty good speeds. The girls on Kenda helped me through and I don’t know what I would have done without a feed, which is really quite sad in such a short race!

As we approached the finish and all the girls were settling in for a field sprint, Robin and Caroline attacked about 2km out. The motivation in the pack was minimal and so I just marked the rider who chose to chase. This conveniently gave me a great leadout coming into the finish and I just ducked around the girl chasing with 200m to go and took the field sprint, 12 seconds behind my teammates. Caroline took the win, which was much deserved after yesterday’s suffering, moving her into 3rd on the GC.

I was a little frazzled about just how horrible I felt during the race and needed to figure out how I was going to improve how my legs felt before the roadrace (although a soft rear wheel may have made the day more challenging than I had hoped). We went for lunch at J. Alexander’s again (they had been giving $30 gift certificates to the winners, so I went there 3 times this weekend!) and I ordered the “not your ordinary” Mac and Cheese – it was decadent. The cheese and pasta and bacon was so good, I honestly think I would order it for desert – keep this in mind if ever you find yourself in the south!

Monday (yesterday), was my last obstacle before a 2 week rest period and I was rather eager to get it over with. The stage ended in a 3.5-mile climb that again, I was unbelievably STOKED about. The fun started early as Robin lead me out for the hot spot sprint and we annihilated the field and easily took the win. There is something really fun about hitting top speed – unfortunately this time I didn’t have a wattage on it as I decided that my 27 was going to be a good friend of mine near the end of the day. About midway through the race things got interesting as I discovered that yet again, my rear wheel was soft. We were headed down a lengthy descent, but we were stuck behind a tractor and so we were moving really slow and I knew that was my chance. After a little miscommunication with the commissaire (I put up my right hand and went back to the car where he told me that there was nothing he could do about the tractor and I reiterated that I had a flat – isn’t that supposed to be universal bike language???) but I did managed to get the wheel truck to pull over. I will point out at this time that I then experienced the WORST wheel change in history. I had to get off my bike, pull out my back wheel and take the wheel from the wheel truck (the commissaire and the wheel guy were having a conversation). I then placed my wheel in, but after a few pedal strokes discovered that my brakes were rubbing, so I had to stop again. When I finally got going, I threw down going down the hill and came to a fairly close encounter with an oncoming car. Within minutes I was back on the back (no useful help with motorpacing or anything like that!) and we decided it was time to get things moving. The girls and I then took turns attacking the front, which was fun for us, and fairly miserable for the rest of the pack.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was right after Robin and I had been up the road together (for some reason they didn’t want the two of us to ride away from them…) then Chamblee attacked. The peloton actually just watched her ride away and while we have no idea what her gap actually reached, I would wager that it got upward of 2 minutes. We then road around painfully slowly in the pack for the next 25-30km and waited for the final hill. I had lost my computer with the wheel change and so I had NO IDEA how long we had to go – all I knew was that I felt better than yesterday, but still like my legs felt like they had gone through a meat tenderizer. We knew that we had reached the climb when we hit the 5km to go sign and Robin went to the front to set tempo. I was shed off just before the 3km to go mark and road it in to finish 1:23 behind Robin, the eventual winner (she caught Chamblee with 500m to go – kinda heartbreaking!) The climb wasn’t so bad, and if I had not been so fatigued from weeks of racing, I’m sure I could have done much better as it was only a 5-6% grade. As it was, I was happy to reach the top and hey, I figure, I was wearing the green jersey – I’m allowed to limp to the top of the hill right? I also managed to keep a grip on 2nd place in the GC – so really I figure I did my job…and there was a nice team payout as a result.

All in all, the race was great. It was the first time I really got to work in a team environment and I won’t lie, it was nice to be the ones doing the bullying instead of holding on for dear life just to stay with the group. I’m heading back up to Canada tonight and I’m excited to see Christopher and take a little time to chill out. I’m hoping to hit a shopping center today with my new buddy Sandy, but maybe we’ll do some sunbathing cause summer’s here baby! Last, but not least, best of luck to the girls at Montreal – I’m thinking about ya and your battle with Rigaud.

Oh and while I'm thinking of it - last night I wasted at least 2 hours of my life watching Laguna Beach. I love the OC, but even this is too trashy for me! And one last note - soon I will have my camera and I can stop only having babble...sorry about that. If I can get the picture of my kick ass outfit that I wore to dinner the other night from Caroline, that will go up though ;)

Podium? I Think I Remember the Front of the Group…

Man, it’s been a big day in the life of Jenny and it’s only quarter to four. After a week of sitting on my bum trying to recover and watching the fuzzy channel (you could make out people fine it was just that they each had three heads, but it was the only daytime television that I wanted to watch – the selection included: The Cosby Show, ER and 8 Simple Rules to Dating my Teenage Daughter) last night I took to the racing bicycle for yet another stage race. It was my first aerobar allowed, flat time trial of the year and to be honest I was fairly stoked to give it a shot. The course was fairly technical and rolling throughout – the fun was amplified by the lightning and rain that greeted us in the 30 degree weather with humidity so thick I swear I was breathing water. I was the fourth rider off with my minuteman up the road (they were at 30 second intervals, but the girl directly in front of me didn’t show). The event treated me well and I was able to catch two girls in front of me, which is always a good confidence boost. I finished the 11km course in just under 18:30 and due to my choice to use the PowerTap (very TT like wheel don’t you know???), I now know that it’s true – I am a spazz when I time trial! The data is interesting and I hope to have some good empirical records on where I am at with my power to improve my training efficiency for next year. I managed to pull out my first podium of the year, 32 seconds behind my kicking teammate (and roomie for the last bit) Robin Farina who smoked the field in her Kenda uniform. Luck was also on my side as I beat out third place Rachel Tatum (a local rider who is not terribly experienced, but used to be an Olympic rower) by only half a second – guess it was a good thing I sprinted out of the final turn! My other two teammates rounded out the top 5 with Chamblee in 4th and Caroline in 5th (although on the original results they had her as a DNF!)
Due to yesterday’s results, we knew going into the criterium today that we needed to put some time between myself and Rachel – not to mention that I had my heart set on the green sprinter’s jersey. With Robin clad in yellow, we were all called to the line and ready to take charge – and that we did. After a month of racing with the nation’s best riders, Kenda had a chance to use team tactics to our advantage – our goal was to take top 3 and we passed with flying colours! Right off the line Robin and I charged the front in order to get used to the sweeping corners on the course that were surprisingly technical. As we were settling in, Caroline took her first flyer of the morning (as our sacrificial lamb of the day she spent a great deal of the race off the front). We made the other girls work to bring her back before reeling her in on the lap before the hot spot sprint. Robin and I countered Caroline and got a good gap off the front for Robin to lead me out for the first sprint. With all our POWER (hee hee) there was no contest and we rolled around with a gap on the field for most of a lap. By the time we regrouped it was time for Caroline to go check out the air up front again and so she continued. With the team’s help I took the second hot spot sprint (my heart rate hit 201! I shouldn’t have been looking at that should I?), but the decisive move was to come with 4 laps to go. Only four girls were left in the front when Caroline attacked. As we were trying to get Rachel to chase her down and she wasn’t biting, we called her back and I countered. The girls let me go and I road it home to a whopping 4-second gap on the field. That right – I took the WIN! And really more importantly I took the green jersey, Robin kept the yellow and I put 30 seconds on Rachel through time bonuses – and Kenda swept the podium. All in all it was a successful day at the office. A whole heck of a lot more fun than riding hamster loops up Mount Royale if you ask me ;) – although I am rooting for all the troopers who are taking on the hardest World Cup on the circuit this afternoon.
Tomorrow we have a circuit race of 33 miles (which seems downright lovely as it’s only 1/3 of last week’s race distance!) although the course is said to be somewhat unrelenting. Kenda is planning on continuing the domination (and learning how to ride together as a team) throughout the rest of the weekend – although I know it’s going to be a challenge. Monday (it’s Memorial Day weekend down here in the U S of A) is our final roadrace boasting a lovely 3.5-mile climb up into the heavens for the finish. As you might imagine, I absolutely can’t wait – better continue to build up my lead through the sprints! But it’s naptime so I’m out – but actually being an integral part of the race requires more frequent race reports. Oooh! Ooooh! And I forgot to mention that I purchased a pair of gorgeous shoes (for my bike of course!) – white Sidi Genius 5.5 – they are the bomb! I can’t wait to get them out on the road. Big thanks to Cumberland Transit for helping me decide that I really wanted them :P

Attention: The Summer Button Has Been Hit

So for the second time this year I have been blindsided by the heat monster. Luckily, the living in Australia seems to have helped as I managed to actually finish the criterium this time, but it wasn’t a pretty sight. Which criterium you may ask – well this weekend saw me at yet another NRC stage race in Arkansas (how many can there be – well 2 and I’ve attended them both). This time the fun was in Russellville at an event entitled Tri Peaks Challenge. Every time I write that I think to myself – why did I put that one my schedule again? Tri Peaks it was with three major climbs in both roadraces that took place on Saturday and Sunday. Our teeny-tiny women’s pack of under 40 had the joy of completing the men’s distances of 92 miles (145km) on Saturday and 83 miles (138km) on Sunday – it was definitely joy on wheel. Not sure that I’ll make this event a fixture for my calendar.

As I mentioned, Friday evening was HOT – I’m thinking upward of 35 degrees in the sunshine. The first few laps of the crit were fairly tame, but that wasn’t an indicator of how things were going to go. I felt great (as one does at the beginning of a race) and I was probably a little too aggressive early on as yet again as I was resting near the back of the pack from an earlier effort when the decisive move with a few Victory girls (in a pack of 35 girls there were 10 of their team, so EVERYTHING had a Victory member), Alisha Lion of Webcor and my roomie for the week and Kate Bates in the Australian Champion styled Nurnberger kit. Everyone knew it was going away and I think the girls in the remaining pack were tired cause we just watched each other. But before long there was another flurry of attacks and I was keen to bring them back – but just blew myself and before long saw myself at the back of the pack as the second decisive move went up the road and I was stuck. The remainder of the group (about 8 of us with like 15 girls up the road) twiddled our thumbs for the remainder of the ride. Not to say that I could have ridden much faster – I was done…silly warm races. True to the spirit – the Aussie thrived in the conditions and Kate Bates outsprinted Rachel Heal in a two-man break that lapped our group on the last lap. As a general note of discontent, I’m sick of race organizers who are too lazy to get the actual results in correctly. They botched up the crit results yet again – this time in the time gaps – I mean how difficult is it really? Alas, all was not lost as I made the front page of the Russellville paper and you can see the kick ass picture on Cyclingnews.com here.

Getting to the line on Saturday was a little intimidating to say the least. The day held 145km of racing in store (with a pack of 35, that is a great deal of racing) and three mountains to ascend. I was climbing decently well, but the uphills were definitely taking it out of my legs. After the first and second climbs I was able to chase back on to the group as they would lollygag after boogying up the hills. The race was long and the apprehension of the distance was evident in the defensive nature of the race. The third climb saw my demise as Victory threw it going into the base of the hill and as we hit the steep pitch, I was out the back and was left to limp up the final climb. I was greeted at the top with a can of Coke which would have been even better if I hadn’t had to take two sips and then discard it as I had to scream down the hill to try to catch a buddy a few hundred meters up front. We road it in and was super stoked to be finished. That evening I made two goals for the following day: 1) to stay positive and 2) to climb with a group I normally wouldn’t be able to.

Was I successful? I think so. Staying positive was a challenge at times, but yes, all in all I did good. :P The girls were even less pressed to go fast in the second of two long days and we tempoed up both the first and second climb. Charm Breon of Cheerwine was not aware of the plan and she road hard up the first climb and got a gap that she saw through the rest of the race to take the stage win. I’m super impressed as this amazing woman stayed away for over 100km on her own on a fairly windy (and dull) course – good on her! After the first descent the group was a little jumpy and I decided to jump in with the aggression (which was kinda ironic as I had just finished telling myself that I was going to take it easy today so that I could climb the final monster well at the end of the day). However, it was well worth it as I got into a couple of spits – neither of which went anywhere. Girls were not willing to work though as they had team obligations making the experience a little disappointing. I did get a little glory though as I went to go contribute to the second split and the girls just let me ride off the front. My time in the sunshine wasn’t super long as I decided after probably 5 minutes that the effort was futile, but I think it was a good experience all the same and trying to actually race made it all worthwhile.

The next 50 odd kilometers were dull. Victory went to the front and cycled through to try to minimize Charm’s advantage. The pace wasn’t hard, but it wasn’t comfortable either (although with the wind, I know that it can’t have been fun for the worker bees at the front) and we sat for what seemed like forever in a single-ish paceline and the best word to describe it was dull. After the second hill a couple more girls went up the road and the pack took it’s time getting to the base of Mount Nebo. I arrived with the group, and unfortunately I was all out of care. I made my way up to the top, but it wasn’t fast and it wasn’t pretty. My fatigue level was high and as usual, my motivation works to its inverse. I did make it up however and was pleased that I made it through the weekend relatively unscathed. This morning I feel much like a truck has smushed me into the pavement and I’m looking forward to a week of internet and watching movies. I even treated myself to a DQ Sunday yesterday evening (it was even day appropriate)! I would have preferred marshmallow, but strawberry did the trick and it helped the 6-hour drive more bearable. I’m happy that I came out to Tri Peaks – it was great to be able to see a team function in such a cohesive manner as Victory Brewing does and I would love to be able to be a part of a similar dynamic. Congrats to all the girls that were there this last weekend – I think finishing is a feat in itself!

Carnage Make Me Sad

So I'm not normally one to complain about the price of equipment because really, look at the sport I'm in. However, I have been faced with a bought of bitter disappointment over the last 24 hours. Just before my ride yesterday I looked at my bicycle and discovered that my beautiful, new Specialized saddle (the Jett 143 with pink and white) that I was ever so excited about purchasing in Australia has failed me. Apparently my crash on Sunday wasn't nearly as innocuous as I had believed. Just before I went down I pulled in my brakes to avoid the tumble and somehow ended up slamming the nose of the saddle into my upper thigh. Now on Monday I discovered the beautiful black and blue bruise (that I wouldn't show you with a pic due to its location, even if I had a camera - but I promise you, it's a good one!) and yesterday I realized that it's true - for every action there is a reaction. Unfortunately this reaction is my new saddle is totalled. :(

So now I'm on a mission to find a new saddle. The folks here in Little Rock at Competitive Cyclist (www.competitivecyclist.com check it out!) have been helping me out - but I am very sad that I am to move on past the pretty saddle...it's just that I can't afford a $150 saddle each 3 months. So I'm sad. I thought that you would like to know. But the Jett is unbelievably comfy girls - just don't crash...mind you, that's good advice any way you cut it!

Have I mentioned lately that I love hills?

Well that might be an overstatement, but it appears that I’m going to have to start. Last week I chilled out in Nashville, Tennessee with my Kenda teammate Robin. In all honesty, I would love to tell you about how great the city was – that I saw the nightlife and it was a blast, but please remember who’s blog this is ;). So what I can tell you is that the place that Robin is housesitting at is quite lovely; there is a beautiful park loop of about 35km to ride and there is a kick ass coffee shop with free wireless (something that I am currently lacking at Starbucks). The truth of the matter is that traveling as a cyclist, most cities look similar – at least if they have television, internet and a coffee shop nearby.

Thursday morning rolled around and Robin and I were stoked to meet up with Allison (another teammate) for our fun, fun drive to Fayetteville, Arkansas. That is the home of the Joe Martin Stage Race – a pleasant place in the heart of the Ozarks – those are mountains by the way. I had a massive headache when we got in (somewhat reminiscent of the Dan driving shoulder…) but we made it to our host housing by 10:30 that evening. Our hosts were incredible and had a beautiful house that we called home for the weekend as the race organizers did their very best to kick the crap out of me.

The first day, being tailored to my exact skill set was a 100km roadrace with a 14.5km mountain pass at about kilometer 40. I can’t lie, I didn’t fair terribly well, but I did make it up and over in order to take Gatorade and Power Gels from the charming neutral feed at the top. I’ve been practicing thinking in miles to try and make the distances seem smaller, but somehow it doesn’t work all that well as a 9 mile climb is still quite long.! Once over the top I was able to work well with my small group of 5 to bring us home back to Fayetteville. On the up side, my time trailing seems to be in good shape as once we got off the uphill I actually felt quite good and aside from yelling quite angrily at one of the girls who wasn’t working with about 10kms to go (I was rather cracked at this point and I wanted to cry), everything went well. We only conceded 10:00 to the main group – almost twenty to the front girls, but whatcha gonna do? I just wanted to start the next day. Next year I’m going to make my life easier by making it up with a larger group – Cypress here I come!

Day two was killer. We were up nice and early for an 8:00 am start and 105km of fun (for those who were counting that’s over 200km in less than 18 hours). The course was a lollypop (translation – and out and back section with a loop on the end of it) and the attacking started just after the girls had a pee brake – oh about 30 minutes in (I didn’t need one so I just rolled ahead – gotta get the brakes where you can!) The pack seemed a little hesitant to make it crazy hard – I got the impression that people were tired. The hill was essentially two steep sections with a medium grade in the middle joining the two. Kelly Benjamin (who has been riding like a star) helped me out by telling me where we were on the course, which helped a ton! I made it through the first lap and prepared myself for difficulty on the second, but unlike the day before I held tough. I didn’t manage to stay in contact with the leaders, but I did get myself in a group of about 20 riders and we were able to regain contact with the leaders in about 10km. A few solo riders tried to get away in the closing kms, but I just sat in and prepared myself for the finish. Unfortunately the lead moto decided to cut me off and so I had to brake sharply to avoid hitting my second motorcycle exhaust pipe for the season and I rolled across the line last in my group – just making the top 50.
No more than 6 hours later we were back on the Blue machines warming up for yet another uphill time trial. Now, I can’t say that this form of testing my ability is my favorite, but at least it ended up better than Redlands. In warm up I wasn’t able to get my heart rate much over 170 (which is what I do many aerobic rides at), but I knew I had to give it. On the way up the 2.5 mile climb I kept telling myself that each pedal stroke counted – to which I was greeting each time by the equivalent of a screeching OWWW! The pain was over in just under 13:00 (whereas superstar Erinne Willock blased up it in 9:40) and I have now vowed to spend next winter time trialing up whatever hills I can find because I really must improve my ability – but this time I wasn’t time cut!

Which bring us to today. I knew that it was going to be a little crazy, not only because they put a freaking mountain in the crit course (elevation gain of 110 feet per 1.2 mile lap – that’s right, I’m going imperial), but because there was only 20 seconds separating the top 3 on GC. I don’t know if there is much to say except for it was fast. I went hard and about 25 minutes in I was sitting at the back of the lead bunch and one of the girls decided that she was going to kamikaze and make up a few spots on the inside, only to come crashing down in front of me. To her defense, I saw what she was doing, though “hey, that’s not a bad idea” and took her wheel – which saw me end up on the far curb with a sore finger. The free lap was actually quite nice and seeings as I only have a small (like quarter sized) amount of road rash on my knee and elbow, with my most severe injury being jammed fingers (didn’t know you could do that in cycling, but apparently it is possible!) the rest was welcomed. Unfortunately, about 15 minutes later I saw the end of my time in the front group. At that point I believe only about 30 girls remained (80 started the weekend) so I was proud of myself and determined to finish up – which I did. The major piss off being that the organizers got my placing wrong and instead of being in 30th about 4:00 down, they have me in 44th, 10:00 down. Now I know that the latter people don’t really matter, but it’s pretty irritating that I paid $135 to do their race and they can’t even get the top 30 correct!

So all in all the weekend was a success. Need to work on the longer hills, but it’s good to see that my power is good – luckily I get to work on my weakness next week at Tri Peaks. Again I ask why I thought that it would be a good idea to check out a race entitled Tri PEAKS, but it’s all about getting fitter right? Maybe this week will provide a little insight into what life is like in Little Rock, Arkansas – the hometown of a Mr. Bill Clinton – a man who could properly pronounce nuclear.

North Carolina - Could Ride Here Forever!

This is my shout out to Boone, North Carolina - because it's downright amazing! The riding is phenomenal, the views are picturesque (sorry, don't have a camera yet to show you just how so!), and they have a kick ass grocery store (Earth Fare). Really, what else is there to desire? I've just spent the last 3 days up in Boone with Alisha riding up and down and up and down and then up again. It's been great for me - and boy are my legs ever feeling it! Each ride has seemed like an epic - especially today's when we finished off the last half hour of a four hour ride with crazy hard rain. Luckily it didn't get too cold, so it was more like being in a luke-warm shower...but all the same I was happy to be in the sizzling warm car, a hot chocolate in hand (just hoping that the PowerTap recovers!)

Sadly enough, it is actually the grocery store that prompted the blog entry. I'm a sucker for the peanut butter covered prezels - plus who could not mention a grocery store with a section entitled Nut Butters? So today's been to die for - and now I'm kinda watching Walk the Line while I play on the computer - I tell ya, I'm living the life!

As an aside, I also thought that you might appreciate the following bumper sticker: Frodo Failed, Bush has the Ring. Thanks to Chris for stealing it for his MSN name! :P

Another few days here in NC and then I'm off to Nashville before heading to Lafayette, Arkansas for the Joe Martin Stage Race - I tell ya - I get to travel to the best of 'em!