Yes, okay, I’m ripping my blog title off of Mark Cavendish’s book Boy Racer… Sorry, sometime a girl has to dig deep to find a title and as I have an affinity for Mr. Cavendish’s book, I thought I’d honor him with my title. If the Manx Missile is reading this blog, lets hope he posts up in the comments… Come on Mark – we know that you have lots of down time right now – you’re only in the last week of the biggest race in France… Alright, I suppose I can dream that the likes of Mark Cavendish would read this site… Now on to the real meat of this post.

Really all I have to say is: thanks! Thanks for the support. Thanks for the emails. Thanks for the Twitter messages. Thanks for the Facebook messages. Thanks for the blog comments. All of these seemingly small things add up and give me a great feeling. The encouragement, the words of wisdom, the understanding – it keeps me coming back for more and wanting to do my best.

This might sound a bit lame but it is true. I’m in a funny spot as a bike racer – I don’t race with a team. I train primarily alone. I really have only myself to look to for motivation when things are feeling a bit tough. But thanks to your constant support, I know that there are people out there who are very similar to my teammates – encouraging me when I need it, giving me a kick in the butt when I need it, and simply just being a presence through the good and the bad.

Speaking of good – I had a fantastic weekend of training. Saturday saw me up bright and early and out the door by 6 a.m. so I could get my intervals in and ride to the Gatineau Park to hook up with Skip so we could ride out to watch the OBC Grand Prix. It was an excellent morning of riding, chatting, handing up bottles, catching up with friends, cheering on Marc and the Scott Boys, watching the Stevens girls rip up the field, and seeing young Timothy cross the line with a big grin on his face. All in all a great day to be a bike racer in Ottawa. Sunday was equally fine. Marc and Shaun convinced me to come out on the Scott team ride. I was a bit hesitant as I didn’t want to slow them down – but luckily they all had six laps of the Gatineau Park in their legs! What a great ride – my first time doing the MacGregor Lake loop. Thoroughly enjoyed it. The conversation was good, the pace was perfect (just enough to push me out of my comfort zone) and the time whipped by. Thanks guys for a great ride!

So an excellent weekend of riding, friends, cheering and simply having fun on bikes. Life really doesn’t get any sweeter.

Looking forward to the ‘cross season starting. My race schedule is looking pretty good with lots of variety of races in it and of course with the big one in January in St. Wendel, Germany.

Now, I best be off and go finish Mr. Cavendish’s book. It is a great read. In fact I channeled my inner-Manx Missile on Sunday during the ride with Scott Boys. I thought about what Mark goes through to make it through the mountains so he can unleash his sprint at the end… This actually did help me focus on the wheel in front of me and to get up and over some of the hills on Sunday. So thanks Mark – you are doing for me what I hope I’m doing for others!