The Weekend!

Very happy that the long weekend is finally here. I definitely can't wait for a good turkey dinner too. Last weekend was my first double race weekend for this cross season. I raced Saturday in Buffalo, at Romp in the Swamp. A nice race right in the university campus. I got there with enough time to get in a few warm-up laps, I enjoyed the course and started to feel a bit more confident on my bike again-- after the rolled-tubular the week before. Got to the start-line, a decent size women's field, I switched back to sidi shoes and my eggbeater pedals. I am happy already, I can clip in so much easier. I had a good start around 3rd wheel or so, rode the technical parts okay and settled in a small group with 3 or 4 riders. There were 2 riders off the front, and then my small group. After the second lap, we pushed the pace on the technical section, and we broke the group up. Then there were two riders- myself and another rider who were riding together for the rest of the race. We were riding well, and stayed together for the rest of the race. I figured, I would try and go for third. So after the long power section, I attacked with about 1/3 of a lap to go. I got a small gap, and was able to hold it through the final twists and turns and ended up with 3rd place. It was nice to have a good race, after the slow start to the season I have had.
Sunday, we headed up to Toronto for the Oktoberfest cyclocross race. I did a lap or so of the course for warm-up, still a but tired from the day before, and there was alot of running on Sunday.... well at least for me there was. After talking with my husband after his race, most of the elite men could ride half of the stuff I had to run....uggh. I made my way to the start line to see a big women's field, unfortunately I should have been there a bit earlier as I was starting near the back. We started, I don't remember much as it was up a big hill... I think I did okay, made up a few spots. Over the barriers, around a crashed rider, for the short climbs, not feeling too great on all the climbs but did okay. I settled in by the end of the first lap. I rode a few laps, with a few riders just ahead of me. I seemed to be riding a few parts, slower than they were, and expended alot of energy to catch up on the run-ups and flat sections. After a few laps, I lost contact with that group, and rode the rest of the race on my own. I started to ride some of the technical sections a bit better by the end, and felt like I was handling my bike a bit better. I ended up 4th in senior women overall. I was happy with the effort, and definitely got a good workout in!!!
This week has been crazy. Two sick kids, a trip to the CF clinic for them. 3 new medications for my son, and one for my daughter. A new schedule of trying to remember when to give the meds, extra masks, etc. My daughters first trip to the dentist, as she managed to chip her two front teeth...after only having them for like 5 months??!! I have been working a bit extra for the past few weeks, as my co-worker is on her honeymoon! But I have my new cross bike now together, and I have got on it 3 times this week. I am starting to love it!! I will have to get some pics of it.

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.

The Boxes!

Well, those boxes are the kids medications. I took them to the CF clinic this week, as they both are sick and thought it would be better to get them checked out by the doctor. Anyway, so after the appointment- I went to the pharmacy to pick up the medications and they handed me a box. I thought, oh that is better than the shopping bags we usually get. Then I was checking through the prescription labels, and realized those were only the medications for my daughter. They then brought out the other box for my son. The pharmacist asked, 'how are you going to carry them?' I said, 'i have the babystroller to put them in. I usually carry my daughter, and we put our stuff in the stroller.' So I packed up the stroller and was off. Thankfully my dad was able to come to the appointment with me, for an extra set of hands with the kids, and Nathan didn't have to take time off work.
The appointment was good. Some medication changes, and they both were put on antibiotics. Hopefully they will be sounding great again in a few more days.

Well the ontario cyclocross calendar is now posted. I am getting excited for cyclocross. I have a new bike for this season, and I can't wait to try it out. I will post some pics once it is fully built.

Team CF

Well my Team CF clothing has arrived!! Yeah. I was pretty happy about that, as it took a bit longer than I had thought because of a package getting lost, etc,etc. Here is a quick shot of the jersey, I will have to take some more pictures (action shots on the bike) and post them soon.

The other picture is of 2 boxes...... I will write tomorrow about what is inside the boxes.

It has been a busy few weeks for me-- everyone was or is sick in my house-- my husband, son and daughter. (cross my fingers... I haven't been sick yet).

Just a quick post, I need some sleep.