Rochester UCI Race by Full Moon Vista

Let's just say- what a day?! Looking back maybe I should have noticed some of the early signs that it might be a long day, but I guess I didn't notice them??
We packed up the minivan and headed down to Ellison Park, this was a great venue. Although we spent most of the time not racing at the playground with the kids. I did manage to watch some of the men's race which was great.
A bit of an early wake-up for me - 4:30am start courtsey of a teething toddler. That wasn't a huge deal, and nothing an xl timmy's coffee couldn't help. Got to the park, biked over to registration went to un-clip and had some problems with one of my pedals... I figured out the cleat was loose. I just left my shoe on the pedal with my bike and registered with one shoe... Got back to the van, got my cleats tightened and skinsuit ready, and headed over to the course. I didn't get a big warmup in, only 1 lap of the course.... realizing that I need a bit more warmup than that. Went to the start grid, saw two other riders from Team CF, which was great. I was happy to meet some other riders on the team. We got lined up for the start, I had a good start, clipped in right away and in around 10th or so. I took a few bad lines on this one section, but still kept going. I had a good few laps, then I dropped my chain. Not just the 'quick' chain drop, this was the full panic, off the bike, getting your hand greasy putting the chain back on.... got it back on and got past by another rider. I got on my bike and got back into a bit of a rhythm and tried to catch back up, I had caught up a bit and then hit the big descent. I rode the descent okay, then went to 'rail' the corner and the bottom to try and keep in contact with the rider ahead of me. Before I even knew it, I was on the ground.... uggh. Well, I had rolled the front tubular tire. I got up slowly, listened to the fans gasp, pulled out the grass from my tire and put it back on. Trying to decide what to do, as I don't have wheels in the pit or my spare bike going yet, I was feeling a bit sore.... so I swallowed my last bit of pride and kept going. In the back of my mind, I was thinking well I have other people from my team here --I want to finish, and remembering my husband telling me to finish as I would get prize money because it was a UCI race and there wasn't more than 15 riders entered. (as prize money goes 15 deep in a UCI race for women). So I finished the last few laps of the race, figured I needed to get the riding in, and went at a moderate pace as I knew my front tubular wasn't fully glued. I was happy to finish that race... I ended up 12th, as I checked the UCI website today.
Next off was my husband's race, we made it over to watch the last 1/2 of the race. As the few km walk was long with a 4 year old on a bike with training wheels, and a toddler who didn't want to go in the stroller. It was a good race to watch, and I was happy to cheer Nathan on to a 5th place finish!! Very happy for him, to continue to get some UCI points for this season :) He had a solid race and in the running for 3rd place for a while, he hit his knee on the barrier though, and it is pretty swollen today. Continuing with the ice and anti-inflammatories for that, and it should be ready for this weekend.
I am going to our local cross practice tomorrow night, should be a good workout!

Sprague Brook Cyclocross

Well I headed down to this race last Saturday, just outside of Buffalo near Kissing Bridge. My husband, my kids and I went down for a great race. There were alot of other riders from Niagara down at the race as well.
I did a few laps of warmup on the course, I have to get used to finding myway through miles of tape again. Got off to an okay start, missed my pedal a few times. Got in with a small group of women, definitely a tough course to pass people. I settled in around 5th place or so. I got used to the course after a few laps, and started to make up a bit of time on the 2 riders ahead of me. At one point, there was 3 or 4 of us, within 20-30 seconds. I found the technical parts of the course a bit challenging, as I haven't been riding much of that terrain. I ended up in 5th place, a solid effort, and definitely happy to finish race. After last weekend's mechanical.
Got changed after the race, and watched the men's race. Nathan had a good, close race and won. Nice job, definitely always nice to win a race!!
This week has been a busy one, and tomorrow we are heading down to the Full Moon Vista UCI cross race in Rochester. I am feeling a little in over my head, but it should be a fun day anyway!!

It's cyclocross season!!

Well this weekend was the first cyclocross race of the season. It is the local race organized by my husband, with lots of help from myself and other volunteers. This was our 4th year for putting on the race-- More Cowbell, Jump the Cheeseburger. As my husband loves the showcase show 'Trailor Park Boys' the cheeseburger is in reference to that.
This year, the race ran really smooth... the weather was great, and a bit of a new course. The course is fully staked and taped which is an event in its self to get ready, but the crew had it looking great!!
I raced in the women's race, got off to a decent start. Settled in, during the first lap. I was racing well with a small group of riders, one rider was ahead, then we were in the next bunch. On the second lap, a heard a noise that sounded like I skipped a gear, but then it got worse. I look down, and I had torn off my rear derailler....uggh. That was the end of my day, kindof disappointed as I was just getting into the race. But oh well, hopefully the next race goes better.
My husband raced the 1pm race- senior men, and master 1 men. He loves to race on the course that he designed and put together, I don't know how he had the energy after the day?? He ended up riding with another guy in the lead, they both looked very solid, attacking out of the corners, etc,etc. It came down to a sprint, which was really close and you couldn't even tell from watching it...There was a camera-man there, who helped the commissaire come up with the decision of Nathan second place and the other rider won. It had to do with how the line was spray-painted in the grass... too funny. The guys were happy with a solid race and everything.
The other exciting part of the day, was a bakesale to raise money for CF, and also a ' Team CF' kids race. The kids race was great, a good turnout and the kids had fun. The bakesale was held by one of my friends, who is an excellent baker/cook and once you have sampled the food you can't say 'no'. A couple of my other friends contributed to the bake sale as well. The final numbers are still being worked out, and then the proceeds will be donated to Cystic Fibrosis research. I was touched with all the effort and hard-work that was put into the bakesale.

On a different note, my son started junior kindergarden this year. With the staggered entry, he has only gone twice so far, next week it will be everyday. That has been interesting for me, and I am not so much worried about the school part, more about his digestive enzymes/etc. I am also appreciating each moment, as 40 years ago- children with CF rarely even lived long-enough to go to school. It definitely make me appreciate these moments, and am happy with all the research that has happened with CF, and that will continue to happen.

Muddy...we made it!

I have been busy, but 2 weekends ago I completed the ride out to the Dunnville - mudcat. A few of my friends and I cycled out to Dunnville- took a few pictures with the mudcat, enjoyed an iced coffee then biked home. It was a total of 130km ride, great day, sunny not alot of wind, etc. Earlier this summer, we had tried the ride in some pretty horrible weather conditions-- ie. very windy. We had to turn around after a few hours as we were going to run out of daylight. A few of us were worried going into this ride, which we really shouldn't have been since the regular weekend ride are around 100km or so, some people go longer. But since that first ride left us tired, exhausted, wet, and one girl crashed at the end...we were all a bit weary.

But the second attempt at muddy was great. A new route, great weather, and everyone riding well. Nice to get a good long ride in, enjoy an iced coffee, and have fun with friends... one of the best rides of the summer.