Off-season 2015

It’s over???  I can hardly believe it. Is my first real season of bike racing over?  Can I really sleep in and go camping for a few days without bringing my bike along?  Yes…but not really: Yes, it is the off-season but my off-season looks like full-time farming on my parent’s grain and bison farm.  I’ve switched from riding bikes to driving tractors, eating bison steak and stealing seconds of my mom’s fresh cinnamon buns!

All the time spent in the tractor (today I was baling straw) has allowed me to reflect on this past year.  It has been an amazing year of bike racing and exploring professional cycling.  I have far and beyond exceeded my expectations for the year.  I had four major goals: improve my bike handling (and learn how to catwalk my bike), be top 5 at Nationals, be involved in a National Team project, and learn how to motivate my team.  Alex (my hubby) taught me how to catwalk, I won the Canadian National Criterium Championship race, I was involved in 4 National Team projects with the finale being World Championships, and worked with gems for teammates.

As for the race reports:

Overall winner at Twee Daagse van de Bloemenstreek, Massemen (photo by Joselyn Ryan)

Belgium – I did my first European race tour with Canada at the beginning on August.  My time there I personally used as a sprint camp.  I sprinted for every preme and took a few wins at the end too.  European racing has a huge following in Belgium and the crowds that we raced for pumped me up!  These local races often had 80 girls lined up at the start – I dream of the day that it is like that in Canada!!  One race that we did started with a 70km kermesse, or short circuit race, where the top 20 were started in a second race that was organized as an elimination race.  Cones were placed 500m apart and the last one across the line was out until only 1 remained.  After two stressful eliminations I attacked and stayed away solo to take the 1000euro prize (and a beautiful bouquet of flowers of course) for the team.

Leading the elimination race (photo by Hinnick Paul)

Attacking in the Finale of Lotto Ladies Cup in Belgium (photo by Krist Vonmelle)

France – It was only 2 weeks after returning home from Belgium that I got back on an international flight to Lyon, France for more racing (I had to come back for a TTT camp in between).  I flew with my trade team TWENTY16 p/b Sho-Air for the 6 day stage race of TCIFA (Tour de Cycliste International Feminin de L’Ardeche).  We traveled with our director Mari, but had no mechanic, no soigneur and no control over where we stayed or what we would find when we got there.  When we arrived we were greeted so warmly by the race organizers and were found everything we needed by the help of so many of the other teams and racers.  The racing there was like nothing I had ever experienced.  The climbs were steep and kept coming and the descents were fast, technical and on narrow roads.  I sprinted every day to earn the red sprinters jersey and held off some very tough, experienced riders to win the jersey each stage and at the finale.  I ate more crostinis, pizzas, waffles, and baguettes than I ever have – ever!

Sprinter's Jersey in Ardeche (photo by Velo Palmares)

Mari Holden (DS), Me, Lauren K, Jess Cerra, Senna Feron (BEL), missing Sofia and Leah

#yogaeverydamnday and with a bottle of Syrah from Ardeche area

Richmond, Virginia – 2015 Cycling World Championships – I was entered in two races at this event.  My trade team selected me to race the TTT and Canada selected me to race the road race.  For me this was an honour that recognized where I came from and the hard work that got me the results I’ve had throughout the season.  World Championships would be the biggest and hardest event that I had ever participated in to date.  Our team came in 5^th in the TTT as the top North American team and I rode to a solid 36^th place in my first every Road World Championships.  I loved it! I loved the excitement and the intensity.  I loved that people cheered so loud that you forgot there was a helicopter filming you from above.  I loved wearing the maple leaf and riding into one of Canada’s best ever showings at a World Championships.

A team of Canadians (hehe ok, I am the only Canadian - but proud!)

Getting aero - It's science. (photo by Adam Pulford)

The Team - a special moment in my heart (photo by Mari Holden)

Canadian Women's Road World Championship Team (photo by Denise Kelly)

Pinned and ready to roll at the 2015 Richmond World Championships.

Now it is time for the off-season – which is something I have never had!  When I was a triathlete I was also a cross-country runner for my university, a swimmer in an elite swim club, and a club cyclist.  One season would end just for the next sport to start up and I never missed a beat.  On my wedding day I went for a run in the morning and raced a triathlon in the middle of our honeymoon while on Christmas Day I spent the afternoon on cross-country skis! I am taking professional cycling seriously and I want to build into this next season from a solid and rested start.  During this time I am reflecting on 2015 and setting goals for 2016, 2017 and 2020.  This first year was big, but I think there is a lot more to squeeze me.

Alison Edition: 2015 Global Relay Canadian National Championships

Thursday Time Trial – June 25, 2015

                The Canadian Championships TT would be my longest TT of the year at 30km.  The day was windy and the course was two laps of descending at 70kph and climbing up a near 7% grade.  I was able to negative split my laps while maintaining a consistently hard pace.  When I finished I had the best placed time but I knew that there were several key contenders after me.  In the end I took home 7^th place and a greater understanding of what level of pain one must embrace in order to be a champion.  Congratulations to Carol-Ann on her win.

Photo by Velo Palmares

  

Friday Road Race – June 26, 2015

                The road race course itself was selective due to the wind, a steep climb in the 3x15km circuits, with a longer climb out of the circuit toward the finish at 110km.  The Canadian field is strong and the hunt for the Maple Leaf jersey was fierce.  It was all about playing the game of tactics and riding hard.  We had a beautiful day to ride and I had a great time rolling on Quebec’s roads.  It wasn’t a perfect race but I grinded the gears to 4^th place.

Photo by Richard Wooles

Sunday Criterium – June 28, 2015

                The Sunday crit was a West Coast crit due to the rain that came down for the race.  Rain is not a problem for a BC winter riding gal like me and I had been looking forward to the punching crit course all weekend.  The course was fast, it climbed to the finish, rounded two corners descending, and then climbed again.  It was a dynamic race and I came into it with a plan.  A few breaks went and were pulled back, but the winning move was a break of two out of which I was able to take the win on the uphill finish.  The win was really sweet because my parents were there to watch it happen.

                I really enjoyed my debut riding at Canadian Nationals and am really thankful to have the best equipment to use courtesy of our sponsors Felt Bicycles, SRAM, Zipp, Speedplay and Fizik.  A huge thank-you to Twenty16 p/b Sho-Air for taking a chance on me this year and developing me as a cyclist.  Thank you to the supports of CyclingBC, Richard Wooles and Julian Base for the technical and managerial support, and running around for us all week, it would have been much more stressful had I been there on my own.  Thank you to my coach Alison Testroete, and also Felicia Gomez for working with me this year – we are looking good!  And yes, thank you Bruce and Phoenix Velo Training Group in Mission, BC where I got my cycling start.

Super happy that my parents could cheer me on to my first Championship win. Photo by Richard Wooles.

2015 Canadian Crit Champion

Full Results here.

A Spartan for the Final Season

With only one more class needed to finish my degree and only one more year of eligibility to run for the university, I took a French class for fun and planned to run every day.  However, my biggest goal was to inspire other athletes to be leaders on the TWU Spartan track team.

First: A Kudos to my 4 years at Trinity Western University.

In the beginning, it took a bit of convincing to make the switch from where I was at a local university to attend and train at TWU.  When I did decide to make the switch I was all in: the faith community, the high-level of academics, and the elite level of training that TWU offered could not be beat.  I was challenged in many ways and have graduated a better person full of confidence to pursue all of my God-given dreams.

Second: The final XC season.

Just as we planned in training, I came out faster at every race throughout the season than the previous year (about 30+sec faster over 6km).  I placed 3^rd, 4^th, 2^nd and 7^th respectively, in the CIS season, finishing 7^th at nationals.  Our women’s team took home the CanWest Championship banner and trophy for the second year running (pardon the pun *wink*) and finished 2^nd as a team at our National Championships.  The word of the year for our team was ‘history’, and even though we wanted to make that by winning our National Championships, that National Championship race made history in and of itself!  Race day included 100kph winds with gusts of up to 140kph!  We will all be talking about our week out in St.John’s, Newfoundland for years to come.  Also, TWU’s XC team made history by giving back to the local community and inspire young runners in schools to participate in athletics.  We hosted a School Spirit Contest across the entire school district in St.John’s and surrounding communities awarding two winning schools with a running clinic from the TWU XC team.  The run clinics were a great success which brought as much joy to the elementary students as it did our team. Finally, and especially meaningful to me, was that the love of my life flew all the way across the country to watch the race and tour the countryside with me afterward.  The history books will say, that I have the best family who ever supported an athlete.

A few girls from one of the School Spirit Run Clinics

Royal Blue: color matched for TWU

That's me, second row, tucked in like a cyclist to defend myself against the brutal wind!

Hanging onto our well-earned Championship banner

Alex and I exploring the east coast

One of many Newfoundland fishing town

We were awarded honorary Newfoundland status after getting 'Screeched-in'

Living out of the back of a rental van :)

Fogo Island - a must visit on the east coast

Fogo Island's beautiful coast

In order to wrap up my time at TWU, here is a list of a few of my accomplishments during my university career:

-          Best finish at CIS XC Nationals : 5^th (2013), 7^th (2014)

-          Best finish at Canadian XC Nationals: 14^th (2013), 19^th (2014)

-          Named to Canadian World University XC Team 2014 to finish 17^th individually, 3^rd as a team

-          Best indoor 3000m: 9:36 and CanWest Champion (2013, 2014), 4^th at Nationals (2013), 6^th (2014)

-          Best indoor 1500m: 4:31 and 6^th at Nationals (2013), 11^th (2014)

-          Canada West Student Athlete of the Year 2013

-          Hosting the School Spirit Contest during our trip to Newfoundland for the 2014 XC Nationals

-          A graduating GPA equivalent to an A-

As for the goals that I set out to accomplish this season, I did not make the Canadian team for XC Worlds - God knows that it doesn't fit with my new line of work anyway (more to come) - however, I do believe I succeeded in leading myself out of a job as Team Captain on the TWU track team because I am not missed yet from a void of my input, lol, but I am happy to say that the team is full of beautiful candidates for future leadership.

Cheers to the next season of athletics and of life!!

The STANDARD Episode

     Again, I chose not to wear a wetsuit but I wish for this one I had one!  1500m in the pond, two hours earlier than the Sprint race, and on a rainy miserable day – the wetsuit would have made warmth and flotation benefits.

     The entire race felt strained and my body felt tight rather than relaxed (possibly tired from Friday’s Sprint race, possibly not dressed properly for the weather).  Still, on the bike I was able to catch and pass people especially on all the corners (triathletes cannot corner well…good thing I’m also a cyclist!).  When I got to the run I was still feeling tightness and couldn't seem to settle into a 36min 10km pace which I accomplished last year.

     It was really fun to get to see teammates out on the course racing and on the sidelines cheering!  I already had my win and taking 7^th place in the Standard distance isn't so bad either.  Two years ago in Auckland I came 11^th so I am happy that this is still an improvement.

*~Best Story of the Day~*

     After taking my bike out of transition, I had my Garmin in the pocket of my backpack.  I visited with teammates, tried the specialty ‘Draft Legal’ beer at the gardens and watched some more racing before I headed home.  At this point I noticed that I had lost my Garmin.  So I went looking.  When I arrived at the Lost and Found desk, with my Garmin serial number (which I just so happened to have in an email), I expected that whoever found the Garmin would decide to keep it – lucky find.  However, the clerk handed me my Garmin with a note on it!  The note said “Ride Fast” “Good luck – from Russia”.  Isn’t that so cool!  A Russian athlete turned in my Garmin!  So cool :)

Here are some pictures of the day, including the podium presentation at the closing ceremonies!

Swm - Bike - Run

Getting friendly with other Canadian athletes :)

Standing on top of the podium with the Canadian flag = A proud athlete

     That’s all for the triathlon season!  Next up, my final semester at Trinity Western University running my last cross country season and studying French! 

Yes, I am taking a French class, but no, I will not dress like this all the time ;)

2014 Age Group World Triathlon Championships: The SPRINT Episode

This exciting race report needs a bit of a preamble.

PREAMBLE:
          Between BCsuperweek and Triathlon Worlds I raced twice without blogging (Eep!).  The first race was the AIA Victory Triathlon (my first triathlon of the season and my only training race before Worlds).  Briefly, the AIA Victory Triathlon was exceptionally well organized, amazing food and sponsors and was even prized well.  The second race I entered to keep up some group riding skills and distance, was the Tour de Bowness.  Unfortunate for me I crashed myself at 20km (of 137km) and injured my shoulder (of course I finished the race! It took a lot of work into the headwind but I made up the deficit after getting my handlebars straightened out by the wheel guy).  Anyway, the injury was bad enough to make swimming impossible, and running and cycling uncomfortable (without race adrenaline).
          Therefore, my preparation for the 2014 Triathlon World Championships had to alter, that is, training, race expectations and mental strategy.  After a great talk with a good friend (who happens to be my sport psych) I was encouraged with the words that there is more than one way of having a 'winning weekend'.  Sure, one way to win is to be first on the podium, but this weekend experience offers many opportunities to encourage, inspire others and be helpful, which all have winning meaning to me.

Back to the real story!

The SPRINT Episode:

The move for the win.

          I chose not to wear a wetsuit for this short race: 750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run.  My swim time was slow and then slower because of the weak shoulder but not painful (which is a win of itself).  The transition was quick without the wetsuit and put me passed some girls already.  The bike portion had a strong crosswind but my Cervelo P3 sliced through it no problem (Thanks to my Lloydminster training partner Ross!).  In T2, I racked my bike and noticed that a cycling shoe had unclipped from the bike.  In fear of receiving a time penalty if one's gear is not all together in transition, I started running back to find the shoe.  The volunteers were all trying to direct me to the run - but I needed the shoe! - finally one volunteer said he would go get it for me.  I maybe lost 20sec to the shoe hunt but I did not lose any time to other female competitors on the run!  I clocked a 19:05 (fastest female 5km of the day!).  My focus on the run was to hunt down every female I saw ahead of me.  With about 1km to go I saw a GBR girl in front of me so I put my head down and picked up the pace.  Every so often I would look up and was pleased to see her coming back to me.  At 300m I kicked, caught and passed her at 150m and out-sprinted some man to the finish (to please the loud supportive Canadians in the grandstand).  The two seconds that I gained on the GBR girl put me in first place!  Age Group SPRINT World Triathlon Champion!!!!  And I would have won the whole damn thing too if it weren't for two-time ELITE world champion (and now 45-yr-old) Australian Michelle Jones!!! By 20sec!!!! Ha ha ha ha, yes, I have to laugh about it.  I couldn't be happier or more surprised with my result :)

Thank you Canada! (my Hubby, Mom & Dad, my sister Nicole, Kristen, AIA triathlon club, Edmontonians and my training partners from TWU, Abbotsford (Nigel, Bruce), Vermilion (Laurel), and Lloydminster (Denise, Sharon, Ross) to name a few.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!

UP NEXT...

The STANDARD Episode:
          Monday, September 1, 2014 - 1500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run
               (that is, 2014 Age Group World STANDARD Triathlon Championships!)

And a few pictures to end the day!

My biggest fans! Hubby, Mom & Dad

The guy who got me hooked! Vaughn Cooper

My FAVOURITE big sister!!!

The STORY with the PHOTO: Here is the Vermilion, AB, triathlon crew.  These kids raced the KOS, and the lady in pink is Vermilion's Olympic athlete Becky Scott who also competed in the VIP corporate triathlon event! But (hehe) I'll take the win on this event :)

FISUgandALISON: see what I did there?

One crazy week in Entebbe, Uganda

I can’t believe that I travelled 31 hours to get to sleep in sticky-hot Uganda for just 4 nights before competing in a 6km cross-country race against all sorts of languages, nationalities and personalities, and then leave the next evening to travel 34hrs back to Abbotsford.  It was crazy, but that is what makes this world beautiful: adventure, challenge, friendship and a good attitude.   I came in at 17th place, 3rd Canadian and our women's team took home the bronze (woop! woop!).

 

Team Canada in 3rd behind Uganda 1st and Japan 2nd

As it turned out my roommate was very beautiful ;)

Girls Team: Colleen, me, Victoria, Julie-Ann, Grace

Allow me to share a few moments Uganda moments - ha ha - where it was necessary to make the best of every situation.

• Loooooooong travel: get to know Canadian Team, homework compression socks, airport yoga
• Sticky-hot heat of Uganda: turn on the air conditioning in the hotel room
• Weird food options: eating small and non-adventurous until after the race
•  Eating dinner at 9:00pm: Buy bananas for inter-meal satiation
•  Having so-called-dinner at the mayor’s house: call it a dream and giggle with teammates
• Race in the heat and altitude: drink lots of water the day before, wear sunscreen
•  Closest safari is 5hrs away: go to the zoo and take animal selfies

 

The mini bananas - sweeter than regular bananas

Finally eating...in the dark...after 9:00pm the day before Race Day.  Options: potato mash (matooke), boiled potatoes, sweet potatoes, potato medley, squash, white rice, brown rice, spaghetti noodles, flatbread, chicken, fish heads, beef stew, and steamed green stuff

Jackson with Jackson - animal selfie

Dressed up for the Safari

Rhino in the wild safari...while we continue wearing our yellow suits and imaginations

A black and white stripped painted horse - a zebra

What was the race like?

•  Hot – but with a breeze and a bit overcast
• Tough competitors: good athletes from all over but no one would know who at the start line
• Raced on Africa’s oldest golf course and had us run through a couple of sand pits
• Lots of African security, no porta-poddies and no bushes to hid behind…until they brought poddies 15min before the race started
• Some teams shared start boxes even when some boxes were empty randomly between teams
•  LOADS of Ugandan children watching and cheering Canada on!

Entebbe Golf Course served as the race course

 

Signing autographs for our Ugandan supporters

What kind of people did I meet there?

• We flew the 10hrs between Amsterdam and Entebbe with the Suisse team and adopted their small team as honorary Canadians
• Lots of East Asian boys’ teams that wanted to say hello to us white Canadian girls
• The Oliech family (Canadians from my Church that recently moved to Uganda) I got to shower them with gifts from Canada and give them hugs and they pulled out a Canadian flag to come watch the races
• Rachelle Briscoe!!  A friend from TWU who is living and working in the nearby city in Uganda saw my facebook posts and came out to watch!
• In general, most everyone spoke English (at least a bit of English) which made it easier to make friends from all over

Oliechs and me

This girl - Rachelle Briscoe :) TWU grad

What did I learn?

• I can run well in the heat
•  I don’t like matooke (plantain aka banana mash)
• That being married is surprising news
• Some Australian slang
•  Amsterdam has the best Americanos and coffee cookies (stroopiewaffels) of all time
• I LOVE my Canadiam teammates!!

Thank you all who supported me to get here through financial aid, words of encouragement, shared excitement and prayers!
 
Now for MORE PHOTOS!!!
 

Smart and casual

In a Dutch teacup in Amsterdam airport

Grace and I with our Dutch coffees :) The best americano ever (fullstop)

It was sooo good that I had two!!!