Gloucester Day 1 and 2

So, we are back home again. Got in late (1:30 am), but not feeling that rough today. Mandatory day off should be good to get things organized in the house again, lots of bike cleaning for Derrick and house cleaning and groceries for me.

Thought I write a little race report on day 1 and 2 of Gloucester of how things were shaping up. It was absolutely awesome. Day 1, like Derrick said shifting problems off the start, a little bit of no race sharpness left me digging deep in the first lap or 2. But I made it to the front group only to be dumb enough to stay on the back of it and keep getting popped off and then crash and pop off again. I saw myself trying to pass in the wrong sections and just getting boxed out and losing all momentum. My race sharpness was awful. Then I rolled a tubular but fortunately right before the pits and ran in grabbed my bike from Alex Sanna (are awesome pit supporter for the weekend) and came out probably in 20th as it was 2 laps into the race and still all together. Then it happened. I just got all this fire, and moved through the field. The months of suffering and being sick and thinking I couldn't ever be where I was before all became a distant memory. Sure enough I never made it to the front 2 but I got with 4 seconds on 1 to go. It was so close and the crowd was going crazy for me. In my mind it was like I was winning the race.

I ended up 3rd and the congrats I got after the race from the announcers and people I knew and people I didn't was amazing. If they only knew what kind of things happened to me in the last year and that in May I said I would never race my bike again.

The race was also a valuable lesson of how you can be going terrible in race for the first few laps and have everything go wrong and still come back from it. When I was in 2oth or so, I didn't think for a second it was over, I just put my head down and tried to do the best I could do from then on out, hammered the off camber straight aways, jumped out of the corners, came in with speed and exited with speed, I rode every section the way I wanted to. Here's me in the hunt for the 2 leaders:

These are the kinds of lessons that pay off huge when you race on an even bigger scale in Europe and at the World Cups.

Day 2, I wanted it and I tried, but again, not a great start and I was fighting to be on the tail end of the lead group again. I thought I was having trouble with the run up, but then after watching a video learnt it was the line I was taking, the long road which was also looser dirt and harder to get traction. I never got to lead the one section I wanted to, from the run up to the barriers and fast down towards the pits. So, then I tried attacking early, a little too early, another tactical error. I got a gap twice only to get reeled in as I never got out of sight enough. Then of course the 3rd attack done by Meridith was the one that went. There were certain sections that I was not riding well hanging in a group as I would come in with lots of momentum in the corners only to fly up into the wheel of the rider in front of me and scrub all my speed for exiting the corner. I needed to lead it but just didn't pick the right times or spots to go. I was in a fight for 2nd but couldn't get to the front of the group of 3 and was closing gaps for the last lap or 2. Ended up 4th, which I seem to racking a lot of these places up this year. I'm sure Saturday's efforts paid there toll on me a bit, but I still gave it a go on Sunday and fought hard and tried to get away.

Derrick came in 11th day 2 and although he raced much better, he still ended up having a better placing in the first day. It's crazy how that happens, but he was happy with his efforts for the day. Both in the men's and women's fields it is so close at the top, that a couple people have a bad first day and then come on strong the second and vice versa. The results can change day to day and it's all about having a day when you feel good as well as a little luck and riding the right lines. It's also becoming a lot more tactical on dry fast courses. The women's racing is progressing and for us to race in more of a pack than the men's race is awesome to see. That doesn't happen too often in women's racing, but let me tell you it makes it way harder to ride your lines and you have to fight for it every step of the way to not let someone pass you. I think we spend more time in the lead group taking each other out than anything.

So I'll take the 3rd and 4th from this weekend and remember the long term goals and go from there. I'm coaching myself right now and I know the work I've done and what is planned over the next few months. It's kind of a cool feeling to really understand what the real point is of your training and where it is going. I also have been trying different days off during the week (there is always one day off every week) and just seeing how my body reacts to them. I'm experimenting this year, sure I'd love to have a coach, but for right now I didn't want to commit myself to a strict plan until I knew how my body would recover and react after almost a year of being ill.

So to some it up, great weekend. Gloucester always feels like home and I always get treated well there by the organizers. We had awesome host housing offered to us last minute as a few changes were made and everything worked out great. The races this weekend brought out some great competition with some of the best roadies and mountain bikers from North America. I knew tactically the races were going to be super hard with a former US national road champion and Laura VG with more career wins than probably the field added up together.

You can check out the videos from this weekend on cyclingdirt.org. Colt does an awesome job with everything. I think he keeps on interviewing Derrick and I to keep the Canadian viewership high. Let me know what you think to them. It's fun to do them and I guess you hope people like them and see your personality but don't judge you too much. I'm sure people are going to get sick of watching me or hearing me say after every race it was a "great race". I guess that's what you say though if you are just so happy to be out on your bike again. I can't seem to wipe the smile off of my face. I just need to grit the teeth a little more on the starts and not let people in!

Thanks for all the people cheering for us this weekend, and all the post race congrats, it was awesome and truly meant a lot to me! Also to all our sponsors and supporters (everyone at the Garneau factory), Alex Sanna (http://www.soigneurraceservices.com/index.php), and friends and family.

Got to go, Derrick just mooned me from the window outside as he is cleaning bikes. Ha, ha, we may be tired but it's nice to see him having fun cleaning the bikes, until later tonight when he is on the couch at 8pm sleeping with slobber coming out of his mouth.

NCE