The Best Birthday Present Ever!!!

Ahh yes, today is Monday July 23rd which means that I am officially 26 years old and I must say that my last weekend as a 25 year old was pretty awesome. This last weekend the Team Giant girls have been very busy racing in the Tour de Delta which consists of a hill climb, criterium and a road race. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate, however, on the flip side, us BC/Alberta girls know how to ride in the rain and know how to take advantage of the girls that don't!!! Our biggest competitors, the Jazz Apple Team, seemed to be a little freaked out by the rain and the slippery conditions. The criterium was by far the worst racing conditions of all three races. The race ended late and the drive home was long and dark and wet outside and all I could think about was food and sleep. In other words, I arrived home, ate some yams and hit the sheets with dirt still in my hair. I figured I was getting up at 5:30am to get dirty and wet again so what was the point in taking a shower. Okay, by now I am sure most of you think I am disgusting, but I would like you all to know that my new ritual is not showering the night before a race and if you continue to read on you will find out that it works- haha! During the team meeting before the road race, our team manager, Jeremy Storie, discussed the logistics of the race including who had the most points and what we needed to do in order to win the overall and the road race. Jenny and I had the most points on our team, so it was up to one of us to win the race. Rushlee Buchanan on Team Jazz Apple had the most points overall and following close behind was myself, teammate Jenny and Leah Goldstein on Team Symmetrics. All of the Team Giant girls were aware of who to watch and if any break was to get away we needed to make sure that break included myself, Jenny or both of us. I had spoken with Leah Goldstein before the race and she was determined to get away from the field in a small break and wanted me to be with her. I knew this would be a good move as long as I could stay with her on the climbs and outsprint her in the end. As we had discussed, not long after the start, the field had strung out and a small group of seven riders including myself, Jenny, Leah Goldstein and the leader in the omnium points had formed. Unfortunately, everyone wasn't cooperating and taking their fair share of pulls so Leah and I decided to set the tempo hard up the climb in hopes of dropping as many people as we could. Unfortunately, we were unable to drop the omnium points leader and soon one of her teammates chased back on to form a group of four. Fortunately for Leah and I, the leader's teammate went over the yellow line TWICE and was disqualified. I hate to say it, but when I saw her get pulled, I knew my chances of winning this race improved dramatically. The omnium leader started suffering on the climb and Leah and I took advantage by setting the tempo harder and eventually we dropped her. For the last 4 laps, Leah and I worked really well together. We kept the pace steady and I followed her up the climb every time watching her every move. My climbing legs were on and I felt super strong throughout the entire race. On the final corner, I was on Leah's wheel listening to Jeremy's instructions on the radio. As soon as he told me to go, I got out of the saddle and hammered as hard as I could right through the finish line, ignoring Jeremy's instructions for me to settle and put my arms up in the air because I had just won the race. It was a great feeling to win this race and as a result I also won the Tour de Delta overall. It was a very successful day for the Giant girls. I was very proud of how my team worked together this weekend. The team effort in the criterium and the road race was amazing and I think with each race it is only going to get better.