Green Mountain Stage Race

I have just returned home from beautiful Burlington, Vermont. I was competing at the Green Mountain Stage Race on the composite team, TRIA. The race consisted of four stages, an 8 mile hill climb, a circuit race, a long course road race and a 30 lap criterium. My team consisted of 4 girls including myself and we all worked really well together and achieved some pretty respectable results including the Sprinter's jersey and the team won the criterium. The first stage of the race was not my best. By trying to save money, I booked myself a painful flight that consisted of 3 transfers and long lay overs- saweeet!!! Needless to say, I got very minimal sleep the night before the hill climb and my legs felt extremely heavy and SLOW. The upside to this bad race was that the next day could only be better, and it was much better. I really enjoyed the circuit race. My team did a lot of work at the front and we set a good pace. We also executed two brilliant lead outs and Nicky Wangsgard was able to take all of the sprint points for the day! With the last lap to go, the pace slowed down significantly and I started to get a little antsy. I decided that if I wanted the yellow leaders jersey I had to get away in a solo breakaway or with someone who had less points. At about 8km to go, I attacked off the front and hammered as hard as I could. I held the group off, but apparently as the finish line got closer, the girls started to chase hard. With 500m left, I was swallowed up by the pack and the finish came down to a bunch sprint. I was so sad to see the pack come up on my right, but happy that at least I tried and was very close to being successful. The next day consisted of some serious climbing and a 3 mile dirt road. The dirt road was soo much fun. I hammered to the front and went as fast and hard as I could in such rough terrain on a road bike. I can't wait to do a cyclocross race!! The pack split up at the Queen of the Mountain and there were about 18 girls in the front pack, including myself and my teammate Suz Weldon. As the race progressed, a couple of more girls fell off the pack and then when the final 5km of climbing hit, the pack slowly started to shatter. I hung on for dear life and prayed that I didn't have to get off of my bike and push it up the hill. It was soo steep, I could barely turn the cranks around. In the end, I came across the line in 11th place with my teammate Suz Weldon who took 10th place. The final stage was the criterium and it had two hills and one fast decent. On the 5th lap, my job was to lead Nicky out for the sprints points. When I looked back to see who was on my wheel all I could see was my good friend Alison Testroete, another good sprinter. I decided to just keep pushing the pace and as the line neared, Alison and Nicky both came around me and Nicky took the points. My team made a lot of solid attacks throughout the crit forcing the leaders to chase hard and in the end it payed off and Nicky was able to win the final sprint. I finished with the main pack, but barely had the legs to get across the line let alone sprint for a solid placing. In the end, I was the top Canadian by placing 12th in the GC. It was a great race and a great experience and I can't wait to go back next year with some more fitness and stronger climbing legs!!! Well I better go rest up because there are still more races before my season is over!!!

BC Provincial Track Champs - Rainy Racing

Have you ever seen the rain?! Well, I can certainly say that teammate Jenny Trew and I sure have. This past weekends adventure was all about the BC provincial track championships in Victoria; as well as waiting out the storms that seemed to devour most of our days - but not our spirits!

Between huddling under the tents to stay dry and several multi-hour trips to the coffee shop, Jenny and I dried out the competition. Even after deciding to combine the (lacking) women's field with the junior and master men, in four out of the six races held (sprints, pursuit, scratch race, keirin, points race, and 500m), we were victorious. For the remaining two races, we filled up of what was left on the podium. We were so consistent in our top three places, that people were beginning to call us the "Giant women's track team!"

All in all it was a great weekend full of fast, fun, Giant domination. But most importantly it was excellent preparation for the 2007 national track championships held in Dieppe, NB Sept. 6-9th.

Stayed tuned for some more awesome racing and results!

well it's over
the season , the summer, the fun, but at least there is time to breath and write a little about the fun in Edmonton.

this year's Western Canada games consisted of 3 races
a 18km flattish time trial in down town Sherwood park,
a 88km flattish road race in the middle of nowhere ( thanks to a last minute course change )
and a 14+ km mt bike race through sludgy clay.

The first race of the week was the ever popular time trial . It takes a certain type of person to really like time trails and i think that it is safe to say that i am not one of them, I did however manage a 7Th place finish which i am going to consider a small victory.

Next up was the road race.....
with a Field of 24 showing up to the cool....cold morning start
it was the largest Field of my own age group i had ever raced.
Right from the gun things went down hill for the Alberta team with a rather loud explosion puncture on the line, to the crash caused my the lead vehicle within 6 minutes of the neutral start. But these mishaps where just the start of the downward slide; with another tire explosion and two more crashes as well as more close calls that i care to remember , the race was really just about staying out of trouble . For once i did manage to stay out of trouble and rolled across the line with a good 30 ft margin on second place.

Last but not least was the mud ( no mountains in sight ) bike race.
The course was built to foil the roadies and that it did , but what the organizers hadn't counted on was the rain and thus the clay mud that made the twisty single track almost impossible for all but the very best of the mountain bikers.
In the end all was well and i got to put my cyclecross skills to the test , finishing 6Th overall after an unsuccessful sprint for 5Th.

id just like to say a big thank you to the organizers , volunteers and coaches that made this years Western Canada games a reality .











with weastern canada games comming to a close last saturday i said goodby to my teparary bc teammates and started the long trip back to victoria

Quick TT note:

Leah and I were the sole Giant representatives out in Squamish on Saturday for the Provincial Individual Time Trial Championships. The goal of the day was to move Leah up in the BC Cup standings to 2nd overall - and to the best of our knowledge - we achieved our goal!

Leah rode a strong race bettering her time from the 2006 Championships by over 2 minutes to place 4th behind the TT specialists of Leah Goldstein, Moriah MacGregor and Erinne Williock (in that order). I was happy enough with my ride for the first time on the course coming in 50 seconds in arrears of Leah in 7th place (4 seconds out of 5th)!

The TT championships mark the end of the BC Cup with Giant having placed 2 riders in the top 5. The provisional final standings are as follows:

1) Leah Goldstein - Symmetrics

2) Leah Guloien - Giant

3) Sarah Stewart - Symmetrics

4) Jenny Trew - Giant

5) Marni Hambleton - Symmetrics

Kelowna's Individual Time Trial

The third stage of the Fresh Air Experience Fantastic Four was a ~8.2 individual time trial on Saturday evening. After already completing the hill climb on Friday evening and the road race on Saturday morning, everyone was feeling a little drained from the heat and of course the racing. But we prevailed!
This was a point-to-point time trial with two corners and a few small rollers along the way. I knew I had it in me to do really well on this course...8km TTs are my forte! With a blazing tail wind and some dragons to still slay after my national ITT misfortune, I edged out Leah Goldstein (Symmetrics) by just over 7 seconds for the win. Following Goldstein by another 7 seconds was our own Leah Guloien, rounding out the top three. Lisa Howard rolled in with a solid 5th place followed by Jenny Trew in 6th.
Thats four Giant riders in the top 10! Another day, another race, and another podium dominated by Giant! To the criterium we go. Watch out.

weastern canada games road race champion 2007

well i am very glad that is done and over with , i don't believe that i have ever been quite so nervous about a race.
But all was well in the end with a win in the road race and a 7th place in the time trial and ....a to be dicided in the mountian bike race .
look for a full update and picts saturday night
cheers

Pickle is my hero

Chelsea winning Western Canada Summer Games! That makes her the second Western Canada Games Champion on Team Giant (factoid for those of you: Lisa won in 1999)!