Well, my birthday has come and gone. What a day it was! Overall a most excellent day spent with Marc and some very good friends. There were lots of stories, good food, laughter, and gifts. But best of all was simply hanging out with great people. Special treat was getting to chat with my little nephew over Skype video – so cute to watch him “weld” and “paint” – think we’ve got a future construction magnate on our hands!

While I didn’t get to ride outside on my birthday (darn you mid-April winter storms) I did get in a good hard work-out on the trainer. Some people might think that getting up early to sweat and grunt it out in the basement on the trainer is not the best way to spend a birthday. But for me, there is not much else I’d rather be doing (well, except riding outside)…

Yesterday marked a fresh start for me. The past three years have been filled with tough illness, injury and generally not feeling like myself.

Well, that bike ride yesterday on my birthday, marking the start of my 41st year – was a true gift. A chance to really seize this year by the horns and live the best life I possibly can. I’m finally at a point where I feel really great – I’m healthy, I feel good about myself, I’m excited to be training and racing again, I’ve beat the demons of depression that come with a disease like ulcerative colitis, I’m surrounded by awesome and loving people – really I’m just so super thankful to be starting this new year with such gifts.

This is the year when I take chances and put myself out there. I’ll do things I haven’t done before. Things that scare me a little or a lot. I want to push my boundaries and really discover what it is I’m capable of.

Last weekend was a good one – I got outside on both days. And then April arrived… Normally I welcome April with open arms – in fact – I relish April. April is a big month for me… (hint my birthday is in April) (second hint I love birthdays and I especially love my birthday)

So normally when April comes along, I’m all smiles and Easter eggs. April means it is time to get outside and ride ride ride. The sun is shining. The flowers are poking through. The birds are singing. Everyone is happy. It’s April – winter is a long and distant memory.

Except this year. This year, April is not winning any friends. I’m really hoping that  for April’s sake, things start to get a bit sunnier, warmer and more April-like. All week I’ve been in the basement riding the trainer. Yes, this has its merits – but not in April! Sigh – April – what did we ever do to you? It’s not like we moan about you like we do about January and February. Nope quite the opposite, we get excited when you show up. Patios open. Garages get cleaned out. People start wearing Crocs and tank tops. Yep, we get pretty eager when you show up.

I grew up in northern Saskatchewan. I’ve seen my fair share of cold and snowy days. (Days I don’t really care to see again…) As a kid and even teenager I used to beg my parents to let me take my bike out by my birthday. Every year it was “do you think I can get my bike outside by my birthday?” Sometimes it was a yes and other times it was a no. Well, let me tell you April – I’m done with no. I want a yes for 2013.

Come my birthday, I expect to be riding outside. And this doesn’t mean riding outside bundled up in four layers on the top, double booties, two pairs of gloves, and thermal tights. I would like leg warmers and shorts weather. In fact this is what I would like for my birthday – leg warmers, shorts, long sleeve jersey, vest, light gloves, and cycling cap weather. This is all I’m asking of you April. It’s not a lot – just some sunny, warm, dry days.

I think it’s only fair. I’ve lived through enough snowy Aprils and I don’t feel like I should have to see another one. Thanks April – I knew you’d understand. You really are a good friend. I knew I could count on you. After all, April this is for your own good as well as mine – you don’t want to start getting a bad reputation do you?

Gasp – the racing season has started. In Ontario the season kicked off with the Good Friday Road Race. This means that people are madly checking websites to see who is “fit” and who isn’t “fit”….

Some folks are sitting in front of their computers pouring over power files, trying to figure out what went “wrong” on Friday and why they didn’t get the result they had planned on getting. Others are looking at Strava and critiquing the training their friends and teammates have been doing – quickly finding holes in these training plans.

How about instead of stressing over what your teammate did or didn’t do in the race, or what your cross-town rival said to you after the race while completely exhausted and likely not thinking correctly, or obsessing over your friend’s new time trial bike and fancy wheels – you just take  a deep breathe and realize what it is we are doing.

We are racing bikes. We race bikes because it is fun. We like to go on long training rides because it is fun. We do intervals because we like to push ourselves.

We don’t do this to get stressed out, to get cranky with others who have the same passions as we do, or to behave negatively to another cycling fanatic. This simply doesn’t help the sport or the image that we as cyclists have.

So when you see your “rival” or teammate at the next race and you ask “Are you ready?” – think about how and why you’re asking this. Are you asking this to find out if you can get an upperhand or are you being genuinely friendly. Yes, yes, I know this is also sport – and everyone wants to win – well guess what – we race bikes because we love to ride our bikes.

Be nice to the people riding around in spandex – they’re doing it for the same reasons as you.

When I received my training calendar from my FasCat coach Tucker Olander, I wasn’t convinced that I needed to take a restoration week at the end of the month. After all, I was just getting started – why take a break? I’ve gone for months on end without a break before – why change this pattern? Well, guess what – Tucker was right…

After four weeks of good hard training, I was ready for a rest. I didn’t realize this until Sunday night when I was in bed at 7:30 in the evening. A restoration week doesn’t mean – sit around and do nothing. Rather it means do less than normal but still do some training. Admittedly Monday and today were pretty chilled out – all I had going on was a power yoga class at MountainGoat Yoga in Barrhaven. Wednesday sees me riding for an easy hour and Thursday is another yoga session.

Then the restoration ends… With Friday, things ramp up again and I get to become friendly with Computrainer. Yes, while most of you will be outside riding or racing on Good Friday – I’ll be in the basement riding. And you know what? I’m fine with that. There is a time and a place  for bundling up and getting outside and there is a time and a place for wearing just shorts and a sports bra and sweating it out in the basement. Some of you are still shaking your heads no and thinking “a true cyclist would ride outside”… Well, I have to do “all outs” also known as “full gas” intervals – not quite warm enough for this and it is hard to go completely all out when I have to worry about: staying upright, cars, snow, ice, and staying on the road. (Saturday is more intervals – so I’ll likely be inside for these.)

But Sunday – ah glorious Sunday – I’ll be outside rolling along wishing I could slow down time.

As you can likely guess, I’m enjoying a bit of a break from the hard training but I’m itching to get back at it. I’m super looking forward to the middle of April when I’m taking a week off from work and all I’ll be doing is riding, riding and riding. I’m going to do a mini training camp – likely right here in Ottawa so I hope the weather gods are friendly.

Suffice it to say, I’m happy with how the first month of training has gone. I’ve surprised myself and I think my coach as well. We saw numbers that I haven’t seen in a really long time (yes, I recalibrate my PowerTap before every ride) and (yes, I know that wattage means nothing if you don’t have the skills). Here’s looking ahead to April – a great month for training, riding and of course birthdays…

Happy Easter – I hope the bunny rabbit is friendly to you. Not sure what she’ll bring to our doorstep since I’m still doing the Simply Raw Lighten Up Cleanse – this is going really well. Not hard at all. I feel really good on it and I’m eating such darn healthy food that I feel super energized. Can’t beat fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and seeds. (Of course, I am looking forward to some Easter chocolate – or should I say Easter cacao?)

The past two days at work have been very interesting. I participated in two days of agile training. Very very interesting. I won’t get into the details and nitty gritty of agile and how it makes the workplace a more functional, efficient, fun and productive environment. If you want to read about agile, take a look at this website: Westboro Systems. So why am I writing about work and agile training on this cycling-focused website? I’m doing this because of one key phrase that was repeated and emphasized a great deal:

Continuous Improvement

Hmm, pretty heavy eh? This is a theme/mantra/phrase/touchstone that you and I can apply to pretty much every aspect of our lives. Our working lives. Our bike racing lives. Our family life. Our relationships with our friends. How we interact with strangers. How we step into the unknown.

Continuous Improvement – this really resonates with me right now. As an athlete I’m striving to get better each and every day. Once I achieve one goal on the bike, I’m looking for the next one – be this achieving a target wattage number, tackling a tricky descent, or getting the pre-race routine down. Away from the bike, I’m seeking continuous improvement on a daily basis – learning to let the little things go by with no impact, to stop judging and learning to accept, to be more patient, to relax and enjoy, to simply just be.

I have a feeling that Continuous Improvement will be making an appearance on my stem this year. A subtle reminder to keep pushing that little bit more and a reminder that things have gotten better and will continue to do so. (It is important to acknowledge that these improvements do not need to be huge – they only need to be significant to you. Tying your shoes doesn’t seem like a big deal right now but when you were 5 years old, successfully tying your shoes was a big deal…)

I think central to maintaining a path of Continuous Improvement is remembering that there will be blips and missteps – this is okay. You’re human. I’m human. No one is perfect. With an eye on a long view, you’ll be amazed at how much you’ve grown, improved, changed and blossomed.