It is now Monday. Still here in St. Georges de Beauce. We are staying here for the week since Marc is racing on Friday and then again on Sunday. Nice little break for us from our day-to-day routine.

So Canadian Road Nationals were this past Saturday. Not really much to say about the race unfortunately. I didn’t have the best day. To keep things short, I did not finish. It has been a long time since I’ve had a DNF next to my name. Lets just say this was not how I had expected my race day to turn out. But as the saying goes “that’s bike racing”. I really don’t know what happened. Essentially, everyone went faster than me. I tried to catch back on – nearly made it, but close doesn’t help much in a race of forward momentum. So all in all I had a very short day on the bike on Saturday. No excuses. No reasons. It is what is.

While sitting in the feed zone watching my race, I received some good advice “put the race in a box. lock the box. put the box away. move on.”. Thanks for this DSJ. Really helped me keep my perspective. So this is what I’m doing, the race is in a little box. I’m not dwelling on it. It happened. It won’t happen again.

So onto better and more exciting bike racing chatter and talk. First off, massive congrats to the local Ottawa girls for such fine racing this past weekend. Shout out to Tricia K. for a very fine time trial on Friday and then to have a pretty darn solid road race on Saturday. Kudos to Sophie also racing for Stevens for putting together to solid days on the bike. Massive congrats to “newbie” road racer Cynthia Wilson of Ride with Rendall for racing the time trial and then following this up with a “never say die” attitude during the road race – finishing with the main pack. Congrats as well to Natasha E. for two strong days of racing – best of luck in France. Lots of inspiration and lessons to be learned from these bike racers. I’m impressed with the tenacity, positive attitudes and pure grit.

Sunday was the elite men’s road race. Cool. So you have most likely seen the results. Pretty darn fine day for Ride with Rendall – with Aaron Fillion capturing the elite men’s title. Nice ride Aaron. It was an interesting day to be in the feed zone and to be a biker racer/superfan. Learned a lot about taking chances, risks, and team tactics. All of the Ride with Rendall racers had strong days out there. Congrats guys for the great rides. Again, some pretty impressive role models and inspiration to be taken from these guys.

I’d be remiss to not send a massive congrats out to Warren M. for his most impressive time trial on Friday. Last year Warren won the Masters A national time trial title. This year he raced the elite time trial were he came a most impressive and admirable 6th place. Way to go Warren!

Osmond Bakker also had an excellent day on Sunday finishing second. Congrats Osmond!

All in all, I’d say Ottawa looked pretty good here this past weekend in St. Georges.

I’d say that one of the best aspects of this past weekend has been staying in the house with the Ride with Rendall team. Many thanks to Glen for once again offering me a spot in the “team house”. Very much appreciated. I really enjoyed hanging out with the guys and gals. Yes, I did disappear at times with my book. (I’m working on being 100 per cent social…) I really just enjoyed hanging out and talking with everyone. It was a great opportunity to get to know the new guys and to catch up with the old-timers. I find it really helps to be surrounded by a solid group of people in stressful situations and this weekend was no exception. So thanks everyone for the laughs, stories, words of wisdom and patience. I think what helped me the most were the few words I exchanged with some of you after my race – much appreciated.

Now I’m looking forward to a relaxing week of training and getting ready for Marc’s racing this weekend. Another batch of Ride with Rendall racers will be arriving this Wednesday for the Masters and Junior National road, time trial, and criterium nationals. Until then, Marc and I will have a couple of easy days of pedaling, sleeping, watching the waves on Lac Poulin and smiling.

Feeling pretty lucky right now. Have a good one. Thanks for the emails of support and encouragement these past few days – these mean more than you can probably understand.

(Best of luck to the Stevens team and to Natasha (racing for Specialized) next weekend in Fitchburg – looking forward to hearing all about the racing.)