This ain't no disco, this ain't no country club either...this is LA!

World Cup #3 Los Angles
I prepared harder for this race then any other. I visualized, I stretched, I biked, I ate healthy I even stopped partying… I did it all. Did it help? You betcha.



I have poster on my door that says, “If you DIE, you DIE at the FRONT” Basically it means if you are going to go down you should go down swinging. I knew the Points Race qualifier was going to be a tough one. So the plan was to take a chance. Risk it all….off the front.

The race started off very tranquil and my nerves as opposed to dissipating only swelled. I’m not one of those people who like to roll around for a while and then speed it up near the sprint. I’m more of an aggressive rider and the plan was to focus on good positioning in the first sprint and then look for an opportunity to GO! Immediately after the sprint a Lithuanian girl attacked. I saw my chance and went with her, swooping down the track with reckless inhibition I charged around the velodrome just about lapping the field. My plan was working... I thought. My new found ally and I came within half a lap of lapping the field before things started to unravel. One of the favorites of the race, Jamila Machacova of the Czech Republic (eventual winner of the points race final and newly crowned world cup leader) came flying over me and came within a corner of the back of the main field. The field then reacted, picked up the speed, and caught me just before the second sprint.




In the second sprint the pack went gang-busters and I found myself on the wrong end of the pain train. It wasn’t too much longer of oxygen deprived riding that the blue blazer wearing, "commissar" was asking me to vacate the track. My race was over.

Team Training Camp #1

No wonder Canada produces so many talented strong female riders at the international level. Canadian women are hardcore. It's three hours into a pretty intense ride, PUKING those wet sticky snow flakes the size of toonies and no one is stopping. Ten more minutes, and there is at least two inches of snow to pedal through. Not only the back, but the front tires are skidding out on a climb. It’s not that these women don’t want to stop; the legs are so tired, we’re hungry and cold. It’s just that we know we can make it through, and have put our bodies through much worse. It’s only when our Team Director, Jeremy Storie, pulls the pin that we start squeezing all nine of us with our bikes into the pick-up truck for the ride home. Hadn’t it been for sketchy drivers to worry about, we probably would have kept on going. These gals are tough!

The weather wasn’t all bad for the first Giant Bicycles/ Team Whistler Women’s Cycling Team training camp of 2008. Sunshine and warm weather greeted us for a long Friday ride that took us through the countryside in Langley. On Friday evening we unveiled our beautiful new Giant bikes for the season and motivated each other with our future plans and past adventures. You know you’re in good company when you can relate (sort of) to stories such as riding 300km on only two water bottles and a bar while not passing a single store for food or water, or banter on about the present icons of women’s racing that a group of guys, even racers, just don’t seem to find too enthralling.

Saturday was our hard ride day. The weather held off for most of the ride and we were able to get into a great rhythm and work in a paceline remarkably well considering this weekend was the first outside ride for some members of the team. After two and a half hours of hammering on the flats, we climbed over Mt. Sumas just as the snow started to fly. Oh Canada. Even the weather in the Lower Mainland, where one can ride all winter, can throw a curve (snow) ball at you.

This year, the team is an amalgamation of the Giant Women’s Team and women from Team Whistler (hence the name). Thanks to Tony Routley and Jeremy, this team brings gals from the Mountains, Island, Interior and Lower Mainland of BC together with a common goal… ride hard and strong and contribute to great women’s racing in BC and Canada! Yeehaw, 2008 here we come!

news from kiwi land

As i sit in the info center i cant help but be happy with my dicision to go and train on the other side of the globe,

for starters it's summer ( read very HOT )and the roads are amazing ( read twisty, hilly nightmares ), in all honesty it is great here , the riding is hard and a litty sketchy but qiute enjoyable most of the time ( in any rate it beats cold and rainy). the people are great and i have a had a few chances to ride with the locals. I am finding it hard to see all the advertisement for races ( it's their race season ) and not being able to participate ( my insurance dosn't cover it ).

Today is my rest day and i will be spending it seeing some of the sights around the town im staying in ( Thames), this should take most of the day as Thames was a gold minning town and is bursting from the seams with history.

well off to see the sights.

cheers

pickle

the pickle checks in

this is the pickle ( who is hiding out in kiwi land riding her very HEAVY bike up very BIG hills)
i havent been here long enough to get a real idea of the place but so far :
1) the drivers are nuts !
2) the hills are steep !!
3) the sun is a lot stronger ( i have the burns to prove it )
i will write a proper entrty when i have some time , i have a ways to go yet today

6 Day Race

After being delayed in the Ottawa airport for an hour because of a snowstorm, waiting three more hours on the plane for takeoff, spending 5 and a half hours flying to Vancouver, and then waiting two more hours in the terminal for my luggage which I discovered was not here because the airline had unloaded everyone’s luggage in an effort to conserve fuel, I had reached the point of exhaustion. My mom, dad and I got to our hotel room at 4:30 a.m, and all fell asleep right away.
I woke up early the next morning, after getting a total of about 4 hours sleep. My parents and I spent the day shopping, and by 3:30 p.m. I was fading! In desperation I started phoning and texting everyone I knew on my team trying to figure out who could lend me a kit and a pair of shoes/ pedals because mine were... WHO KNOWS WHERE! I got to the track about 5:30pm and was thrilled to find team mate Jenelle also in the change room and able to lend me a kit. After struggling to get the borrowed pedals on my bike and then layering on 3 pairs of socks to fit the borrowed shoes, I got onto the track for my warmup. I was feeling rusty as I had taken about a week off of riding being back in eastern Canada visiting my boyfriend’s parents for Christmas.
The first race was very eventful. I realized about 30 minutes before the race that everyone I was racing against was using a much larger gear ratio. My coach however saved me and found someone who was willing to lend me a sprocket. I got it on my bike and took it for a test ride, worked great!
The event was a 40 lap scratch race and I had no idea what that meant. I asked Richard, my coach, what that meant. He explained it was like a crit race, the last lap defines the race. Around the half way point I was getting comfortable. I was following my teammates and thought I was positioned well, near to the front. Coming around a corner I realised otherwise. There was someone below me and about three riders above. The three above me were moving down and the one below me was moving up. I got sandwiched in between the racers and flew down onto the track. The shorts Jenelle had loaned me got OWNED and my leg and arm were covered with splinters and roadrash. My head/neck took quite the beating leaving me with little movement hours later. The good news; my helmet was fine! Quickly I jumped back up and shook off the crash. Already first aid was over making sure I was all right and the neutral mechanics were changing my destroyed front wheel. I took the full number of laps to get back in, six, and comfortably started racing again. I finished the race feeling great. I was happy and proud of myself for pushing through the crash.
The second race was an elimination race. Again, I had no idea what that meant. I asked teammate Jenny Trew what that was and she explained that it meant every two laps the last person across the line gets eliminated. I started near to the front and made it down to the final 4, along with Giant riders Jenny and Steph.
The last race was tiring. My lack of sleep was catching up. There was a long time between races and I spent the time spinning and clearing my legs of lactic acid. The last race was a 50 lap points race, which means every 10 laps the first 4 riders are awarded points. By this time I felt like falling asleep. I was so tired and had lost the spunk in my legs. I did my best to finish the race strong and help my teammates do as well as possible.
All in all, I had an awesome time. My coach Richard treated me nothing less that a pro, he coached me all night long and was always there to help me if there was anything I was unsure of. Jeremy, who was hosting the event was also amazing. Even though his hecktic job took his full attention, he always seemed to find a way to have words of encouragment and coaching tips over his P.A for me and other riders as well. I felt very cared for and lucky to have such great support, I am SUPER excited to race on Saturday.

-Shorty