This past weekend I participated in the Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour. This was my first time doing this ride – and definitely not my last. I had a thoroughly enjoyable time – even with the crazy wind and cold on Sunday. The riding was great. The group I rode with was top-notch. The setup at Queen’s University was excellent – good food, decent room, relaxing times. The organization was amazing – the OBC really has this ride well-organized and to me everything seemed to work very seamlessly.

It was two big back-to-back days of riding featuring two very different days of riding. Saturday was a humid but dry day. The sun was out and the wind was blowing and we rolled along at a decent clip from Ottawa to Kingston. Three stops on the way for bathrooms, food and drink. Lots of good conversation and riding chatter. I was amazed to see how many people were out riding – all types of cyclists – awesome to see. Sunday was an epic day with crazy rain, cold and wind. A lot of people quit the ride either in Kingston, Westport or Perth. For the most part, our group pushed on with three of us making it the full distance (though admittedly we did consider packing it in in Perth but we felt good so decided to push on).

This was a totally different cycling experience than I’ve ever had. I’ve only ever raced. I’d never done a “tour” until this weekend. It was very enjoyable. Relaxing bike experience with everyone just out to have fun and enjoy the bike. I really can appreciate the attraction people have to these large bicycle tours. I was fortunate to ride with a fast group – making the day rather fun and energetic.

I really wasn’t sure how I would feel on Sunday – I had never done two big days back-to-back. But luckily I felt great. I think that the advice I heeded on Saturday made a big difference on Sunday – I ate a lot during and after the ride, I drank a lot, I went to bed early, and I didn’t blow all my “bullets” on Saturday. This all made Sunday a much more pleasurable experience.

Today – well – today is rest day. Just some yoga on deck for me. The rest of the week shapes up with some more solid days in the saddle with the usual intervals and long rides. Looking forward to another good week of training.

As for next year’s Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour? Well – I’m hooked. I’ll be there again. Hoping to get a few other racing friends to come out as well. It is a great weekend of riding and training. Besides – there is chocolate milk and ice cream with supper on Saturday night – can’t beat that!

Is it time yet? Is it time for cyclo-cross season? While most of my pals are thinking of road racing, time trials and stage races, I’m thinking of other things. Things like: mud, sand, singletrack, barriers, stairs, crazed fans, lions, and 40 minutes. Yes – full on cyclo-cross on the brain.

Not a bad way to be – in my opinion. Guess this is just my way of telling you that I’m really looking forward to the cyclo-cross season. I’m already feeling well-prepared. We’ve taken a different approach this “off-season” and so far so good. I’m starting to see the rewards of all the long rides and time spent in the saddle. I’m feeling more and more like the cyclo-cross racer I know I can be. I’m starting to feel free on my bike and really learning to let it do its thing. Can’t beat these feelings.

To keep the energy system firing and the brain sharp, we’ve been doing all sorts of rides. Mountain bike rides. Tempo rides. Threshold rides. Long endurance rides. Sprint work-outs. And now it is time to throw some criterium racing into the mix – can’t beat these races for building the snap I need to accelerate off the start line and out of every corner and after every barrier. The weekly practice sessions in the local park are starting. I’ll be out there with my flags and plastic barrier getting some ‘cross action going. I’m doing the 24 Hours of Summer Solstice Race with the KingsBridge crew to keep working on the off-road skills.

My head is feeling pretty good as well. Less and less is my nemesis creeping in with negative thoughts and doubt. I know what I can do. I’ve already proven this. I got where I am from hardwork and dedication. Can’t take this away from me and I can only keep getting better. Nope – no room for doubt or fear in this head of mine. I’m full steam ahead with the goals and plan for the 2010 – 2011 season.

And now is the perfect time for you to jump on board… I’m in the process of getting sponsorship finalized for the season. I’m emailing companies, making calls and putting the finishing touches on my clothing. So if you’re as passionate about bike racing as I am and see the value in supporting me as I chase my dreams – lets talk. I’ve got lots to offer you – you definitely won’t be disappointed with how I represent your brand and speak about your product. I can promise you that your logo/product will be seen all over the place – Las Vegas, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Canada, Germany, France, Belgium, and Holland. Pretty darn good for a one-woman marketing and racing machine!

Ah, last night I went out to the Tuesday night training crit. It was heaps of fun. Well, you know the suffering kind of heaps of fun. This was my first race of the season. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel or how well I would ride. Well, for the most part it was a decent night.

I was a bit nervous at first and it took me a bit to settle down through the corners and find my groove. At one point I had to give myself a stern talking to… I was not riding the crit like I know how to ride crits. Once I settled down though things seemed to flow better. I did get dropped at one point but I took a couple of laps to catch my breath and drink some much needed water and hopped back in. I was rolling along fine and saw 14 minutes to go – I was pretty happy to know I’d be finishing the race. But then my wheel (I think front) started to give me issues. Intermittently it was making a squealing kind of noise through the corners – sounded like metal on metal. Kind of unnerving. And then it started making this same loud noise through the start/finish straight – I ended up pulling out – I was worried the wheel was going to do something crazy and I would end up hitting the deck.

In hindsight I probably should have stayed in but I was a bit nervous about the ridiculous sound. Haven’t sourced the problem yet – but the guess is that it is my hub. (I’ll leave this to the in-house experts…)

So all in all, a great time was had. It was just super sweet to be out racing again. A good barometer of my fitness and how the training has been going. Marc looked at my power files and the good news is, I wasn’t beyond any of my “limits” so this tells me that my fitness is good and that really it was the “silly” way I was riding last night that put me in some deep holes. Many thanks to the pushes – I love that feeling of the hand on my bum giving me a push when everyone is going forward and I’m going backward! Also thanks to Chris R. for the offer of hand-sling – unfortunately I was bit addled at the point and it took me too long to figure out what I was supposed to do!

Looking forward to getting out again in two weeks time for another kick at the cat and then on June 20 we have Preston St. This should be a good time as always. I remember watching Marc and the Sportable boys race this way back in 1994…

Today is looking good. Just about to head out for three hours on the road bike with some intervals thrown in for good measure. Then tonight I’m off to Camp Fortune to meet up with the Creative Wheel Centre mountain biking crew for a ride. Definitely a good day. Oh, and I’m doing the Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour this weekend – 177 km to Kingston on Saturday and the return trip on Sunday. First time doing Rideau Lakes – should be a good weekend of riding and friends.

(Sorry that this site was down for a few days…. But good news is we’re back up and racing again.)

I’m one of those bike racers… A coach’s nightmare… One of those cyclists who likes/craves training. I always want to do more. I always want to go harder. I don’t want to rest. I don’t like recovery days. If I had it my way I’d do double days everyday. I just want to train. Training hard and training a lot gives me confidence. I just want to always be out there training…

I struggle on rest days. And rest weeks – yeesh, don’t even get me started… I know recovery is just as an important part of the training cycle as is the pedaling, but I still struggle with it.

But this weekend, I clued. I listened to my body. I had initially planned to go out to Camp Fortune on Friday afternoon for an “easy” mountain bike ride. This was after doing my sweet spot tempo intervals in the morning. But I really was feeling a bit wiped out in the afternoon. So I didn’t go. I resolved to go on Saturday afternoon instead… This would be after doing some insane tempo intervals that involved 15 second intervals every other minute of the 15 minute block… Saturday was an awesome day – perfect for a double day. But, luckily my brain kicked in. This is because I had planned a big day on Sunday – today was four hours on the road bike with an afternoon ride at the Creative Wheel Center…

Well, I didn’t make it to the Creative Wheel Center… My body just wouldn’t let me do it. This is a first for me. It is not that I’m in a mega-crazy training block. Rather I think it is an accumulation of the training efforts lately, the new training zones, and I’m in an ulcerative colitis flare right now. When I woke up this morning I just knew a double day wasn’t in the cards. Normally I’m wide awake at 6 a.m. without an alarm. Not this weekend – I could have slept all morning. I’m assuming this fatigue is due to the colitis flare. Normally I can get through these flares without experiencing an impact on my energy levels. But this one is rough and I’m not able to sleep through the night and to top it off, I’m really struggling with my food right now.

I still had an awesome weekend of training. My ride today was awesome. I did 120 kms solo in four hours. I’m pretty happy with that. I took a long meandering route out to Almonte. Rolled through town and stopped at the Daily Scoop Cafe for a tasty baked good (apple cinnamon muffin top) and a diet cream soda. (Can’t pass up a diet cream soda!)

Tomorrow is a recovery day. So I won’t ride. In the past I’ve been known to ride on my recovery days. In fact I was even tempted by a ride with my pal Sheri Jay – but I resisted. I need to give my body time to recover and I want to make sure I’m feeling fresh for the NRC crit on Tuesday! Yes, I’m finally racing. Can’t hardly wait. I’m a little bit nervous since I haven’t raced a crit in a while – let alone a crit with the fast guys. But, I have to trust in my training and just go out and have some fun.

Many thanks for the continued support with the fundraising for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada – together we’ve raised $595 – this is amazing. Thanks so much.

On Thursday I put my mountain bike in the car and hopped in the car with Marc for a drive out to Kanata. He worked in his indoor office while I worked in my outdoor office… I hit up Kanata Lakes for a smooth recovery ride. I wanted to get out on the trails to do some skill work and I also needed to escape the heat of the black asphalt for a day. I had a fantastic ride. I had moments that I think mountain bikers probably really crave – where the bike and trail feel like one. The bike just floated over the trails – I rode up steep climbs that previously I was stalling out on and I descended some tricky stuff that just last week I was getting off and walking down. All this seemed to happen so fast, I didn’t even realize I was accomplishing these small successes. In my opinion, a sign of a great ride.

Again one of those rides when I just didn’t want to leave. I could have stayed out there all morning riding and pushing my technical limits. The other thing I noticed during this ride was my brain. It was quiet. Silent. No meandering about supper plans, laundry, writing jobs, to do lists, or the ‘cross season. It was quite simply along for the ride, soaking up the experience. Perfect.

Today it was back to the road bike. I got the results of my test from last week so with some new power zones to work with it was time for some fun on the road bike. Luckily the crazy heat of earlier in the week has backed off a bit, so the ride was not so sticky. For some extra spice I had sweet spot tempo intervals on deck. I love these intervals – basically floating out of the top of my tempo zone into the bottom of my threshold zone. These kind of efforts are just enough to put some fire into the legs and lungs. I really felt super strong today on the bike. (Much better than Thursday when the heat really sucked me dry.)

There really is nothing quite like two solid training rides in a row. Rides like this put a smile on my face and make me really look forward to the future.

Many many thanks for your support with my fundraising efforts for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada. Thanks to your amazing donations, I’ve now raised $570! Thanks to Gregory, mom and dad, Sophie, Ross, David, Skip, Mike, Lisa, and the anonymous donor. Your support really is overwhelming. If you’re new here and want to find out what I’m so excited about, check out my epledge page for the Heel ‘N’ Wheel-A-Thon on June 13.

Saturday is looking pretty good. Some crazy intervals on deck in my three hour ride. Then I think some relaxing might be in order. Perhaps a wander around the Glebe with some people watching thrown in. Or maybe I’ll just hide out in the suburbs…. Sunday will be jam-packed – four hour road ride in the morning and then I’m off to the Creative Wheel Centre for some mountain biking fun. I have a feeling I’ll be hitting the sack early on Sunday!

Have a great weekend and be sure to get out and enjoy this great weather. Hopefully you can do it on your two-wheeler!