Why Pink?

So if you checked up on the blog lately you might of noticed some changes. You maybe be wondering if Derrick has had some lifestyle changes! Nope, things are normal, but we do have exciting news.

Over months of waiting and trying to send out proposals and get the best deal possible for both Derrick and I, we have finally signed for the 2009 cyclo-cross season with non other than Louis Garneau.

Derrick and I will be riding along together this year on the same team, same bikes, same support and same pink kit. This is something we have be striving for over the last few years and what's most exciting is that Louis himself is supporting me (a women) just as much as he is Derrick. This says a lot about Louis and Garneau Sports and I am very excited to have this opportunity.

I struggled over the last few weeks with teams coming back saying they weren't willing to support a female cyclo cross rider as much as a male and it really hit hard. I train just is hard and can beat most men out there locally in the sport so why should I have to compromise on my equipment and what not. Derrick sold me, as well as our idea and dream to Louis and I can't be happier.

With ever new team there has to be break ups with the old and this can be hard and nerve racking. My break up wasn't that bad. They just really couldn't afford the investment in me this year and not only that, I didn't want the team to whip out $1000's of dollars to get my equipment up to par if that meant next year on the road the rest of the team wouldn't be able to get to the same races cause the budget was short. I didn't want to accept a deal or offer that was less than last year as I have worked hard to get better and better each year, so why should I compromise. Garneau Sports is stepping up and supporting me to the fullest and when an athlete gets treated like a star, they preform like one and that's what I expect out of myself this year. No forcing things or trying to prove anything to anyone. I have all the confidence and all the hours to back me up this year.

I've been training super hard like always but differently to last year. 90 % of my training over the last 4 weeks has been on my cross bike. I think I have ridden my cross bike over 45 hours this year and that's way more than I saw last year leading into the race season. Not only that, the hours have been hard and technique has really come a long way when you do it when you are suffering and on the rivet. Yesterdays ride/workout was 3 and a half hours of cross strength/technique and we have this great course out here in Cornwall that Derrick and I designed. Each workout I am going back to it and getting faster and faster through the technical parts of the course. It's truly amazing how different things can be when you train like a cyclo cross racer.

For Derrick his break up was obviously a little harder. See, we both wanted to ride on the same team this season and we wanted to do something locally, but the more we waited and waited and looked at the offers, we couldn't say no to the deal from Louis Garneau. As much as we wanted to be with the same local crew in Ottawa and help out the development of the program is was going to come down to we couldn't afford it. And if we couldn't afford it our race schedule would of been compromised and so would of our performances. We waited until the absolute last minute to see if things could be worked out, but deadlines are set for a reason and since we don't have our new bikes yet this year, a decision had to made. When Derrick saw the dream offer from Louis we couldn't turn it down, it was everything we had be dreaming about and working towards over the last year or so.

So there you have it, that's why the blog is pink! And no Steve, it's not that awful.........well if your a girl it's not that awful, maybe for Derrick but that's a whole other can of worms. I don't know, I kind of think he looks nice in pink.

Also check out the side bar of our race schedule, pretty exciting schedule and it starts in just under 2 weeks. Sorry to say that we will be missing out of some great host housing that we had in Michigan, Wisconsin and Kentucky last year. We will miss you guys. Remember Jim the little secret we told you (about tire pressure) and we are sure you will take top honors in your category again this year at the Planet bike races.

We will also be able to update the blog this year a lot better and sooner after the races as we added the twitter account. We'll twitter a line after each race this season to let all the local support and fans know how we did.

So our new team doesn't change our connection to the local support and community. We holding some clinics out here in Cornwall in connection with the newly opened bike store The Total Cyclery. We also will be doing at least one OBC race this fall between our trips to the US as this is where it all began for us. The dreams were started here and they have come a long way over the last two years and are going to go a lot further.

NCE