BC Superweek wrap up - NCE

So the week is done and I must admit I was a bit nervous of how my body would respond after having the stomach flu just a week ago and losing almost 5lbs and feeling pretty rotten. I'm not sure how many people would get sick, then take two days, then race 5 days straight! Needless to say at Gastown on Wednesday after not riding my bike since the flu, I felt pretty out of place. I just raced to survive and once I did manage to get to the front of the race, I was pretty turned around and couldn't figure out how to ride the most critical corner of the race (the last one on the cobbles leading to the finish). Therefore the finishing sprint was pretty much a no go for me.

Burnaby got better, it was a wicked fast race, I think we averaged 41km an hour. I got the corners pretty good and I moved through the pack pretty effortless. I got to the front with 1 lap to go, okay maybe too well, I was on the front for the first half of the last lap, got off but then no one would let me in and then had to settle back in at 10th wheel or so, I still managed to sprint through the last corner and hold it all the way to the finish at over 60k/hour for 7th place.

Quick recover ride on Friday morning and it was off to White Rock, wow this place was awesome! Hill climb went really well on Friday night, I made sure I went hard enough the first effort to get into the final and I was second seed going in. I figured the top girl was going to give it everything and maybe go to hard and I was gapped off the line with the eventual winner sitting on my wheel till the end. I wanted the win but the winner was just a little fresher as her week started with the TDW as she didn't do the two crits the days before.

As far as Saturday at the crit, I kind of took matters into my own hands. See, I wanted to do well in the overall of White Rock. I got in a break in the crit and it came back and then another one stuck. I was really having trouble with figuring out how to get away from a full squad of the Jazz Apple team who came here from New Zealand. So the break looked like it was going to stick to the finish until I said no way, I attacked out of the pack with 1.5 laps to go and road up to the break and then right through it, but once again I was on the front going through the start finish with one lap to go. I did split the field a bit and tried to get off the front but someone attacked right through me in the second last corner and I ended up falling back to 7th.

Sunday's road race was fun and hard, and pretty technical course. We went screaming down a hill at 70km an hour and then had to make a sharp left followed by a sharp right head on to the course where a few times the men were coming through on the opposite side of the road. Yellow line rules where fully in effect through the corners as if someone broke them it couldn't of been a head on collision with the men's and women's fields. As I said I wanted to go for the GC it kind of ruined my road race, as I was a marked rider for the teams. The Jazz apple team sent a rider up the road not in the GC and then the rest of the team manned me and the Cheerwine girl who were tied for sitting in second place in the overall. I tried to get a way many times from the chase group and it never worked, someone would sit on my wheel and not pull through even though there were other teams in the group that could of worked but every time I got it to split it would be the Jazz Apple rider who was leading the GC sitting on my wheel and with her teammate off the front she wasn't interested in working with me. Coming to the finish I thought I was in a good spot, then I got shoved to the side a bit and hit the wind for the last 1km as I couldn't get back into the pack. Needless to say my sprint for second place wasn't up to par and I had no jump coming to the line. Ended up 7th, but managed to get my goal of top 3 in the overall.

Many thanks to Jason and Carrie for the hospitality in White Rock, you guys were an awesome support crew. Also thanks to Maggie and Chris for putting up with us (and letting us bring all are bike stuff in) the rest of the time while we were in BC in their tight spaced apartment in Vancouver. With out you guys our trip would of never been possible. Sorry to say, that we loved it so much, that we are definitely coming back next year again.

One last day in Vancouver, Derrick and I are going to go do some tourist stuff. Next up for me is some downtime and then I get to jump on the cyclocross bike and start the secret training for September. Pretty exciting stuff and with the way the road season ended, I can't be happier.

NCE