• 

• 

• 

This is my summer so far! Lots of riding and swimming with rad people.

This is another pandemic summer. I know things are much better than they were but frankly, even with both vaccines circulating in my body – I’m not 100% ready for normal times.

In fact, I kind of like the new times. I’m less rushed. I have more time to be still. I find my weekends are not over-packed with rushing from one thing to the next. I appreciate activities and connections with friends more.

I have to say that one of the major highlights of 2021 and this summer is the Ottawa Women’s Cycling Club. Who knew we would have 90 women in this club?! Amazing! Riding with these people is hard to describe.

I always come home feeling lifted and inspired.

For the last few weeks we’ve been hosting a group riding and confidence skills clinic. Thanks to the amazing Sam, the women in our clinic are improving by leaps and bounds. It’s so motivating and inspiring to see these people learn skills and gain so much bike confidence.

Thank you to all the members in the Ottawa Women’s Cycling Club – you have put a new spark in my riding!

And when I’m not riding, I’m likely swimming or thinking about swimming. I’m a new swimmer and as is my way, I’m trying to learn as much as I can about this sport. There is so much to learn – and this is why I love it. Plus the feeling of gliding across the water is super special.

I’ve met some fantastic people thanks to swimming. It’s a real bonus to connect with like-minded people who don’t mind getting up for a 6:30 a.m swim on the weekend. Thanks to these people, I’m motivated to set some swimming goals.

Non-Sweaty Life….

Of course, it’s not all sweating and recovering from sweating around here. In between work and regular home life, there’s been some drawing (not as much as I would like), reading (again not as much as I want), and general sitting.

Some days it seems like I do more sitting than anything else. This is new for me. I like it. I’m letting go of “shoulding” on myself. And just learning to be.

Marc and I have started looking for a new-to-us house. I know right?! Surprise! So this does take up time. Not to mention the work we are doing to our house to get it ready for staging and showing. We bought this house in 1998 – so it’s been a long while since we’ve really looked at houses and thought about packing and moving.

And honestly, that’s about it.

It looks like cyclocross will be happening this year. Hooray!!! So soon, I’ll start hosting some cyclocross clinics for women and start meeting up with friends for ‘cross practice. I really hope ‘cross happens. I miss seeing over 50 women charging down a race course and hearing the race stories afterwards.

Imagine what it will look like with all those red Ottawa Women’s Cycling Club jerseys on the start line and flowing over the barriers…

That’s it. Nothing special. No deep thoughts. Just regular old life. Suppose this is why I haven’t written in a while. Hopefully next time I’ll have something more interesting to tell you.