Boom! Where have the months gone? From the announcement of our new Colavita-espnW Team in the spring to present so much has happened in what feels like the blink of an eye. In March I spent some time in California training and finding race legs in the warmth... from there my new team mate Kathryn Bertine and I hit El Salvador for some epic Central American style international racing. Our quest there was to get KB some precious UCI points in her bid to qualify her country, St Kits and Nevis, for the London Games. I could probably write a whole book on our 10 days spent in El Salvador so will save those stories for another day!
April was spent recovering from the El Salvadorian revenge and racing in BC and WA state, then enjoying the Tucson sun at our long awaited Team Camp. Great group of girls and a blast to again wear the same jersey as former Juvederm-Specialized team mates Joanie Caron and Mary Zider!!
With fresh kits and new-squad enthusiasm we tackled the Tour of the Gila as our first official team race. Despite some errors the Team worked well together and realized successes with Jo's stage 2 near podium 5th place finish and Jasmine donning the Best Young Rider Jersey for 3 of the 5 stages!
Our flo green helmets sure stand out!
Horsing around at Billy the Kid's hideout!
A little recovery at home was followed by a solid block of International racing in Canada and the US: Gatineau ITT & RR; the Exergy Tour in Idaho; and the prestigious American Classic, Liberty Classic. The Team suffered a little from a couple crashes which took down Jo and Leah. The rest of the Team stayed safe while battling some of the best riders in the world and inclementweather in Idaho.
Team presentation at Exergy
Idaho is beautiful!!
When the peleton looks like this- OUCH!!
Leah & I being bandits at the post race rodeo dinner. Bike racing makes you goofy!
The peleton... post race sans kit and celebrating the completion of the first Exergy Tour! Yes, we were in a barn: we were entertained by a real live rodeo & in keeping with the Tour's theme of treating us superbly well, fed an amazing dinner!
Our time between the end of Exergy and Phily was spent in Sun Valley.
Jo & I on a recovery ride in Sun Valley.
While in Sun Valley we stayed with a host family- a super nice outdoorsy couple with a overly friendly cat and giant golden retriever. One evening they came home from work and went out for a walk at the same time as I headed to the grocery store to pick up some things for dinner. When I returned to the house in the bustle of bringing the groceries in I noticed Tanner, the dog, had escaped out the front door. Shoot! I called him and he looked at me as if to say, "whatever lady"..... now, backing up just a little, earlier this spring I did a fine job of losing a host family's Chihuahua just before a race and spending far too long trying to find it and then trying to catch it!.... so you can imagine my immediate stress here when Tanner looked like he wasn't going to easily give into my persuasions.... After dropping the groceries inside I set to trying to get the pooch back into the confines of his home. I walked back outside and to my dismay he'd vanished.... already. Damn. This is going to take longer than I want it to. Whistling and calling "Tanner, Tanner".... "here Tanner" I started to make myself known to the neighbourhood. Then I spotted him, across the street. I thought: I'd better approach slowly so as not to spook him. Any neighbours peering out of their windows must have had a bit of a laugh as I crept across the street with outstretched hand, pretending to have something of interest in it for the dog and telling him how we were going to BBQ steaks, blah, blah, blah in the syrupiest voice I could muster. All the while silently cursing him for not coming when called. Finally I was almost within reach: he had backed up against the front gate of a neighbour's home. I crept forward. I reached out, and finally I had his collar in my hand. He reluctantlyplodded across the street with me as I praised him and lead him into the house, quickly shutting to door behind.
The better part of an hour later- long over my dog loss and re-capture and well into making dinner I returned into the house through the back door with BBQ'ed meat and veggies in hand at the same time as our host family walked through the front door.... Barely into our "hello's" I blurted out: "Oh my God there are two of them!".... there were two huge golden retrievers bouncing around in the middle of the house... turns out I had kidnapped the neighbour's dog!!! LOL!!!
It's always good to balance out life with a little humor I suppose. Sometimes I even surprise myself with how terribly "human" I am!!!
My backside as I make a bid for some time off the front at Liberty.
Following our Liberty race and a mad dash to the airport I arrived home in Vancouver (all in the same day!) where my next few weeks would be spent preparing for Canadian National Championships to be held in Lac Megantic, Quebec.
Juvederm Specialized Mazda - the growth and memories gained from my experiences of 2011 will forever be a part of my cycling career- of my life- that I will cherish. To have experienced all that was, the highs and the lows, I am so very grateful for.
The dawn of a new season brings change. And as such it's time to update my blog. Maybe I'm a bit sentimental, but rather than forever deleting those who so generously made 2011 possible for myself and my JSM team mates, I would like to "publicly" take a moment to speak to the companies who supported the team, who believed in what was possible from the union of two regional teams in what was the creation of Canada's first UCI women's team in many years. To me these logos represent some outstanding behind the scenes people who, in the face of their respective brands, believe in sport, in women's sport, in the individual athletes and in all that is possible when a likeminded group of individuals focus their energy on a common goal.
The amount of energy, time, resources and passion brought together to create the team and the 2011 season was tremendous, probably much more than you or I can actually even grasp. Our 2011 successes were a direct result of that.
Without the tremendously generous support from Juvederm we wouldn't have been able to put gas in the tank of our mazda 5 team cars or register for the races! Thank you for supporting women's cycling- a sport which exposes our faces to countless hours of sun, wind and weather resulting in more skin 'character' than is timely. Juvederm smoothes wrinkles and refreshes your look. So which JSM team mate was the poster child?
Specialized- your brand is dear to me. My first road bike was a Specialized m2 comp w down tube shifters. Before that I had a Stumpjumper which I had the opportunity to ride in exchange for dogsitting for a summer- that was possibly when my love for 2 wheels really began. As your brand has evolved I've had the opportunity to race on several of your road and TT bikes- you just keep getting better. The 2011 Amira S-works bikes you provided us were incredible!! Women's specific design built to be raced. The equipment you so generously provided us allowed us to compete with the best! And all the other Specialized bits- helmets, shoes, saddles, etc are second to none!!
Zoom Zoom! Thanks for the amazing mazda5 team cars!! There's no question, we travelled in style... and comfort! What a luxury to have brand new, super practical team vehicles. The mazda5 seating design is brilliant: stow-away 3rd row seating and sliding side doors in a car.Clearly mazda employs some top-of-the class auto engineers. Either that or they've experienced tight parking lots and grocery store excursions that begin with 2 passengers and end up with 6!!
Your belief in sport and generous support of both JSM as well as individual athletes (of many sports!) is outstanding! On behalf those you have, and continue to impact, Thank You!!
Eload, you fueled us for thousands and thousands of kilometers- from Arkanas to the heat wave in Philly; from Walla Walla to Sweden with many a stops in between.There were no cramps.And I now personally know how it feels to have a drink mix that does not upset my stomach!!I wonder how many Kilojoules of eload the team consumed during the season?I suspect the number would be staggering!!Thank you so very much!!
Georgie- we loved your kit although I do think that whomever the girl you use as a fit model needs to lay off the bicep curls!OK, maybe I’m just jealous I couldn’t fill out the upper arms!
Our precious Amira’s thank you for your well designed bike racks- ready for a bike change in the flash you never let us down!
Great cycling socks and superb compression socks- thanks for taking care of us pre, during and post race and training!
The next time you're faced with brand choice, support those who support women's cycling! Without the generosity of the people behind the logos there would never have been a 2011 JSM Dream Team!
As the post title implies, January is a focused month, a time where the hustle and bustle of the Holidays is past. January brings a certain space in the life of a cyclist for attention to all aspects of training. For me it is always a welcome time of the year. There's a certain freshness with each New Year, an openness and intoxicating sense of optimism. January 2012 sees me being able to focus on training 100% as my off-season stint of real-world career work has passed in the whirl-wind it was. The pace of life has again slowed to that of my 'athlete life'.
January is also a time of overload, a time to start stressing the systems again. And then recovering just to do it all over again. It's a fascinating and intriguing process and from my endorphin-jacked state, I can honestly say I love every moment of it. I am supper happy, and thankful, to feel healthy and strong which was not the case last year. In fact, in all my years of racing, I feel better than I ever have at this time of the year.
Below are a few snippets of my past week of training. This year I will spend the entire month of January training from home which does have its comforts, even if the thermometer reads a little lower than I'd care for it to and there are days where the roads hide beneath a blanket of snow, necessitating training in the garage on the rollers.
View from the 1st lookout on Cypress, looking over UBC toward Vancouver Island.
Same location, ,but looking east toward Mt Baker. As it was our third consecutive day without rain, or snow, the air is a bit brown. A little scroungy, but still a nice view.
2 degrees, fine for the climb up but a wee bit nippy for the descent. I'm happy enough training in 2 degree weather though as long as it's dry and I have my hand and toe warmers stuffed inside my mitts & booties!
I noticed this along Broadway on my way home from my Lion's Bay, Cypress training ride. Checkout the sign in the window- oh yes, I love Trader Joe's too! We don't have Trader Joe's in Canada but clearly this place is either owned by a fellow TJ's-loving-cyclist or some other like-minded Canuck. The sign is enough to get me into their shop for sure. Too funny.
A Biju Thomas & Allen Lim inspired quiche with bread crumb crust. I of course took a little creative license on the recipe but did follow it pretty closely - the end product was amazing! I received a copy of The Feed Zone cookbook for Christmas and although I haven't trialled many of the recipes yet, I'm looking forward to doing so as the pages are filled one great idea after another. Next up are the rice ride-waffles.
Some days everything comes together seamlessly for a near perfect ride; this is what every cyclist works year round to achieve come race day for those competitions they’ve targeted as “A races”.In theory this seems like it should be relatively easy to achieve.In practice, well, it doesn’t always work out perfectly.Even after years of practice.
As I write this I have time trialing in particular on my mind. I suppose that’s because it’s the event you- the rider- have the most control over, and for me a favorite.I’m not sure how many TT’s I’ve raced in my career, but I suppose close to one hundred.Of all those I can count on one hand the number that I’d assess as being near perfect rides; where the process was executed perfectly, pre-race conditions ideal, fitness & health optimal, equipment flawless, etc.
So, it’s a rare day when everything falls in perfectly.While the result was fair, unfortunately my Nationals TT ride wasn’t one of those rare near-perfect ones.
Team-wise Juvederm-Specialized was well represented with Rams winning what would be the first of two U23 titles (there’s a under 23 competition within the Women’s race for both the TT & road race).Well done Rams!
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Friday evening would see 70 or so elite women take to 8 laps of a grueling 12+km circuit in pursuit of the National Championship Jersey.The course included a steep 800m switch-backed ascent up the escarpment, locally know as Rattlesnake Point.
As a team, our goal was to win, as it always is.We would race as a team, and race aggressively.Too often (women’s) Nationals are raced passively as no one wants to gamble, to go out and lay it all on the line early.
One of the amazing things about being on a well-balanced (aptitudes) cohesive team is that it makes it easy to race the way I like to race- aggressively and all in.If everyone on the team races this way it elevates each individuals game, and subsequently what the unit is able to achieve.
Our team plan involved sending specific riders out early in an effort to take pressure off our top climbers; Lex & Rams.Sarah did a perfect job of initiating a small break on the first lap.Despite their getting a good initial gap the peleton swallowed them up the first time up Rattlesnake.
My turn.As the peleton sighed a little breath of relief at the crest of the climb I slipped up the left side of the pack.Pow- off the front.Steph Rhoada, track star extraordinaire had marked my wheel; working together we grew our gap to around a minute before tackling the climb.I set a steady pace up the ascent and at the top realized that Steph had fallen off the pace.Now I was alone. Not ideal and not the plan to a T, but forward is the only direction to go in a race.
Knowing that I had capable team mates behind me, and that being off the front was where I would be of greatest use to the team objective I clicked into a sustainable tempo and set to work.The photomoto and lead com cars would be my primary company for the next 80-some kilometers.
Our team car paid a couple visits to bring me fresh bottles of eload and updates of what was happening behind.This along with incredible support from what sounded to be 100’s of spectators lining Rattlesnake and the finishing stretch at the top, I had all that I needed to forge on.
Here’s where I’d like to pause to give props to Randy Fergeson, the race announcer.I am always so impressed when a person’s innate abilities so clearly match their chosen profession.When a person can make a job or task appear easy:Natural.Randy has the ability to engage the crowd and racers alike.When covering international events he pays attention to the correct pronunciation each racer’s name - no easy task when you are faced with a diverse international field.Randy has the capacity to remember a ton of details about each rider, drawing the crowd into the stories behind the riders.He personalizes the peleton for spectators.And he’s always smiling.Thanks Randy for rallying the crowd- you’re a pro.
The laps ticked by.My nutrition formula of one eload gel plus drink per lap sustained my effort.I watched the gap swell and shrink, fluctuating between 2.5 and around 4.5 minutes.
Cheers from the crowd carried me up the climb.The bottom of the ascent where there were less people felt more difficult, the top almost effortless: I was lifted by the energy of the spectators.
Reaching the last laps, surprised that the peleton hadn’t closed the gap I started to wonder whether I could hold it off?What an unexpected reward that would have been!But it wasn’t meant to be.Some strong team work behind narrowed the margin.The 7th time up Rattlesnake it was everything I could do to keep my focus, to keep from what felt like losing consciousness.My tank was drained.
The last lap was a series of shrinking time gaps displayed on the white board carried by the moto- despite my best efforts it was ticking down.46 seconds.35 seconds.16 seconds.Over my shoulder I caught a glimpse of the line of riders as I rounded a corner.My former team-mate Tara at the front doing her job, setting up Errine and Joelle for the finish.
My solo bid was over with about 4 kms to go.After a few moments recoup in what was left of the peleton, I spent my last matches covering an attack by a Team BC rider and positioning Rams into the base of Rattlesnake.Job done and match-book empty I rode with Tara to the top, albeit I wasn’t probably the best conversationalist given my state of fatigue.
Out of sight ahead the final show was on: Lex powered to a solid 2nd and Rams 4th!Vernique Fortin showed her exceptional climbing ability, climbing right atop top step on the podium.Errine Willock rounded out the podium crossing the line 3rd.
Overall it was a good race for the team with solid results!Well done ladies, and thank you to our sponsors and incredibly dedicated staff for making it all possible!!
Post Nationals:I spent the next week in the area: enjoying a little down time; recovering from the cold I started to catch the night after the TT; and savoring some last tastes of being on Canadian soil.
Interview with Malcolm, Anne and myself starts at 17:26 into the clip....
Next up will be Europe: first my team mate Mary and I will work as guides for a tour that follows the Tour de France route (first 10 stages only), then we will join our JSM team mates for a block of UCI racing in Germany, Sweden and Belgium!! Whoot-whoot!!!
I've always had a bit of a soft spot for the tortoise of the tortoise & the hair fable. Slow & steady, you know the story. Several years ago my favourite cycling socks had a tortoise on one side of the ankle, a bunny on the other. So depending on the day - and whether I felt speedy, or steady- I would wear either the tortoise or the hair on the outside.
During the week leading up to Nationals I was out training one evening and came across a turtle the size of my helmet in the middle of the road.I’ve never seen a turtle that big in the wild in Canada!!
Rescue instinct took over- I leaned my Specialized Transition against a post & looked around for an implement to prod the prehistoric looking creature off the busy road with.Left where he was he’d surely meet his death. The next few minutes were spent waving traffic around the feisty little guy who actually snapped at a tire as it whizzed past. He wasn’t proving to be the smartest creature!
After deservingly garnishing quite the number of inquisitive looks I located a stick & proceeded to flip the turtle over & over; the stick bent under his weight, he hissed & snapped. Several minutes later & after creating quite the spectacle for the passing onlookers- he was safely off to the side of the road.Mission accomplished.Back to training!
As promised here are a few more pictures and tales of adventures on the road. Following our Gila, Joe Martin Stage Race double header I returned home for a little R & R, birthday celebrations and repacking of my suitcase. Next up would be some UCI racing on home soil in Gatineau Quebec.
Team presentation. Left to right: Anne Guzman, Joanie Caron (1st race back following a broken collar bone earlier this spring, welcome back Jo!), myself (yes those are pigtails I'm sporting), Vero Labonte, Lex Albrecht & Denise Ramsden.
The Gatineau races included a 17.34km individual time trial (2 laps of a technical 8.67 km undulating course) on Thursday May 19th followed by a road race on the 21st. I had hoped to be back on top form for the ITT but wasn't quite on target come race day. Canada's Clara Hughes earned top step on the podium averaging 43.68kms/hr around the course on a soggy day- impressive! A Ukrainian rider and USA's Amber Neban (former World ITT Champion) took the remaining two podium spots.
Photo kind compliments of Peter Kraiker. Check out more of his great shots @ kraikerphoto.com / studiofstop.com
The race of truth. It always hurts.
Early in the road race taking some wind.... possibly lap 1. On the second lap I slipped into an early break (OK, I had to make a major dig to get myself there). When we were swallowed up mid race Rams countered and made an impressive solo bid but was unfortunately brought back with a lap to go. Current World Champion Bronzini showed her sprint prowess claiming the victory while our own Labonte crossed the line in an impressive 6th place.
Next up we headed south of the border for 3-days of racing at Killington Stage Race in picturesque Vermont. Our team was eight strong: we raced hard; were victorious & further evolved as a team. Next up would be Liberty Classic in Philly. Most of the team headed home while Jo & proceeded south with one of the team cars & equipment trailer.
Jo & I spent a sweltering but fantastically relaxing week in Lance's family cottage (Lance is Mary's boyfriend; he often graciously helps us out at races). The cottage has been upgraded with power, AC & plumbing but was initially built around the turn of the century. With temperatures in the mid to high 30's we would've certainly shriveled without the AC in the cottage & electrolyte rich eload in our water bottles while out on the road!! The most notable neighbour was 'Aunt' Ruth. She's spent a portion of each of her 99 years in her beautiful 2 story cottage. She's truly amazing & deserves a whole chapter in the book Jo & I decided we should write while staying at Highland Park: a book of short stories of our adventures on the road- capturing the faces & places we are so fortunate to be introduced to through our sport. A read of the continuous flow of humorous tails through mishaps which colour our days. A sampling of the mishaps of our few days at Highland Park includes: discovering that ALL our freshly washed kit would have to spend the night, wet in the washing machine of a 100 degree launder mat 20-some minutes from the cottage- until the next morning. A morning we had planned to ride early to avoid the ensuing heat. Our error came when we failed to notice the time the launder mat was due to close for the night & went to the grocery store during the wash cycle to maximize our efficiency. Not so efficient after all. Next up was getting pulled over for making a 'California stop': the cop was quite forgiving, letting us off sans fine. But he did make us squirm for several minutes while he sat behind us in his cruiser with my license & registration. Maybe he took pity on our unrehearsed & awkward story of staying at the cottage of a team-mates-boyfriend's-family in some town neither of us had ever been too & couldn't really describe how to get to... between bike races. To boot, we were headed in the wrong direction to return to the cottage. With his instructions for getting back to home base we were off. Next up was losing, yes LOSING the trailer off the back of the team car on the drive into Philly. Thankfully we were on a small road, albeit not in the best neighbourhood. With generous help from a few locals, some signed team hats & nothing worse than a solid care we were reattached & rolling again. The adventures never cease!
The peleton racing past the stairs made famous by Rocky! Current World Champion Bronzini ultimately proved she was the fastest woman on the day taking the victory for her Colavita Forno d'Asolo team. We had a great showing with Lex off the front, solo, for most of the race. Lex rode like a champion scooping the lion's share of the QOM points & earning the jersey!
The Liberty Classic race consists of four laps of a 14.4-mile circuit through Philadelphia with four steep climbs up the grueling Manayunk Wall (pictured) & is regarded as one of the most prestigious women’s races in the US. It is the only women's UCI sanctioned race in the US at present & runs on the same course, & at the same time as the men's ProTour race.
Crowds cheer us on as we climb Lemon hill, one of 3 climbs per lap. On a personal level I was happy to have Liberty completed this year as during last year's race I crashed hard suffering injuries to my ribs & a concussion which kept me off the bike for what should have been the pinnacle of my season & in poor form for its closing weeks. This year I closed a chapter at Liberty: a year of exercising patience & overcoming challenges in health & form.
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Cool air, hometown Playoff fever & familiarities of Vancouver were the reward ahead; home to prepare for Nationals & recharge before the next block of racing. While at home Dylan & I got to spend some time together- even if some of it was in the form of motorpacing- before my longest block of the season. One evening I headed out to the Valley to take part in the bi-weekly training ITT hosted by the club where I started out. It was good to see some familiar faces & be introduced to some new ones; also a test of my form which seems to grow incrementally each week.
Comment to the above link: OK Bruce, it was closer to 10 years than 15 years ago that I first showed up at the Mission Raceway track! Wasn't it?!?! Help me out here!
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Well, we (the Canucks) were outplayed in Game 7. Too bad. While I was disappointed that we didn't win the Cup I couldn't help but feel a bit happy for the guys who were on the Cup Hoisting end of the equation- happy to see them rewarded for the years & years of hard work; the battle of the series; the commitment & sacrifice; the euphoria of realizing a Dream.
The morning-after happened to coincide with my trip to the Toronto area to finish my preparation for Nationals later that week. Standing in the gate area waiting to board I found myself face to face with a familiar mug. It took me a few minutes to place him without the trademark loud dress, but upon realizing that Don Cherry & Ron MacLean were on my flight I decided I'd better seize the opportunity to get a picture with Don. My first thought was, this is an early Father's Day gift for my Dad in to form of a good laugh!! So I jumped in, introduced myself, told him a bit about road racing, got a picture & autograph. My trip was off to an amusing start!
Well, it has admittedly been awhile since my last entry. Hard to believe that we're mid-way through the season already. I now have a little over 2 months of racing in my legs and already many great moments with my Juvederm Specialized Mazda team mates. Rather than a detailed run down of each twist and turn I'll share some of the pics of the journey.
Guz, Rams & I enjoying a coffee post recon of the Gila crit course, mmmmm!!
Me suffering up one of the many Gila climbs while receiving some encouragement from Patty, our mechanic: as my first big race of the season it was a painful but effective means of getting back in shape.
Following a superb performance by the Team at Gila we said goodbye to Rams (off to Pan Ams), Mary (home to work) & Laura (our DS for Gila). The rest of us then drove over 1/3rd the width of the USA to reach Fayettville Arkansas where we would race Joe Martin Stage Race (May 5-8). Here our small but strong team goofs around a bit after pre-riding the TT hill climb course.... from picture left clockwise: Anne Guzman, moi, Lex Albrecht, Vero Labonte, and my awesome light Specialized Amira S-Works. Hands down the nicest race bike I've ever had the privilege to ride. And its women's specific to boot! Well done Specialized!!
Photo kind compliments of Peter Kraiker. Check out more of his great shots @ kraikerphoto.com / studiofstop.com This is during the hill climb- OUCH!! My team mate Lex had a stellar ride clocking the 5th fastest time up. With a lot of work and a little luck the week unfolded well for our team. Lex ended up finishing 3rd overall thanks to time bonuses for her amazing two 2nd place finishes (in Friday's road stage & Sunday's Criterium).
Taking some wind at the front in Saturday's road stage. Picture courtesy of Lyne Lamouseux.
More of Lyne's work. Beautiful lush green country thanks to an unseasonably wet spring in Fayettville. Random fact: Fayettville is the birthplace of Walmart. Without this mega company originating here it wouldn't have the major airport it boasts.
More of the beautiful Arkansas countryside made even more beautiful by our hot Hincapie kit!! Thanks Guz for designing & thanks Hincapie for making!! Pictured: myself & Guz, quickly becoming known on the team as Lady GuzGuz.
Horsing around pre-race in front of a frequently visited coffee shop. This one for our moms!!
