Some amazing people in my life I'm grateful for!

Ziggy...my first coach who's passion for cycling is surpassed only by his will to share his experiences and knowledge with all those around him!

Frank...my coach and confidante who's "zen" approach keeps me grounded and focused when I need it most

My mom...who gives me unconditional love and support in all I do.

My dad...who's inspired me from day one to live your dreams!

And Jeff...with you, my life has risen to a whole new dimension of happiness :).

And to all my friends and family who I couldn't picture here because I can only post 5 pictures at a time :)...thank you...I love you!

Good Friday Road Race

The first road race of the season in this area is typically cold...but rarely this cold! The temperature was -6 celsius, but the windchill made it feel like -6000! Luckily the 1/2 women were grouped with the M2 men so that the peloton was bigger and warmer :). The first lap (of three) felt awful...so awful that after the first hill my friend Tara announces that "that was waaaaay harder than it should be" and that "she's going home!" :)...if I'd lived closer I might have joined her! Luckily after cresting 4 more drumlins we warmed up enough to start racing. There were various attacks from various people, but none could withstand the gale force headwinds to stay away. We came to the last corner as a big group and sprinted for what seemed like forever going into the wind - I won the women's race :).

Thanks to the organizers and all the volunteers for doing such a fantastic job today!

A Warm Winter's Day!

In order to stay sane after spending a month in warm places, I've had to completely change my weather perspective! Today I set out in my thermal tights, fleece long-sleeved jersey, raincoat, ear warmer, booties and gloves...dressed in this manner, I could almost convince myself that Canadian April's aren't THAT bad. :)

Home At Last!

And waiting for me were these two!

The last month of racing was fantastic...thanks largely to such an incredible group of people on this team called Cheerwine. Today was a "sweltering" 22 degrees (celsius)...I have a feeling it's going to get a bit colder before it gets warmer so I haven't put away my thermals quite yet. Looking forward to a wonderful month at home with Jeff and my family. :)

An Ominous Morning

Today began a 115 km stage with 3 QOM's and a 10 km mountain top finish up Oak Glen. I thought this picture captured the atmosphere of the morning perfectly. The race was fast and furious! We finished with a 5th (Leigh), 11th (Brooke), and 13th (Sarah B.) which secured a 2nd place overall for our team! I tied with Mara Abbott for the QOM and get to wear the jersey during tomorrow's criterium :).

Bringing home the Oranges!

The coolest thing about getting on the podium at the Quad Knopf Sequoia Cycling Classic (aside from a large cut of the $10 000 prize purse) is getting a box of oranges! Cheerwine got 2 boxes this year - one for 2nd place in the ITT (by me :) and the other for 2nd place in the crit by Laura. It's great being reunited with our teammates at last - we're all really excited about racing Redlands next weekend as a full squad.

Some pictures from our last day in New Zealand

The ride along the the bay...this is where we did our time trail.

The mountain range we drove across for Stages two and three.

A "couple"of scarecrows.

PAVLOVA!

Our last night out in Windy Wellington (see Laura's hair :)

We did it!

I think the best prize at any stage race is the team overall. Cheerwine won that prize at this year's Tour of New Zealand...it was amazing being up on the stage that day. The New Zealand crowd was incredible! We ended up with a 3rd place finish in the final stage with Laura breaking away at just the right moment. We secured the 2nd, 7th and 12th overall as well as the Mountain jersey. Thanks so much to Thad for taking time away from his newborn to start the year off with us Down Under! And thanks to our amazing mechanic/soigneur Tristen for always knowing what we needed at just the right time (including the Canada chair!) - we'll miss you!

In Polka Dots :)

Today I got the climber's jersey :) (actually tied for it). Thanks Betina and Brooke for your help on this one...tomorrow's going to be a bit of a battle, but it makes the racing fun! Laura is now tied for 2nd GC. With three Cheerwine in the top ten, we're sitting in a good place for tomorrow's decisive stage!

My Roomie :)

This is Brooke, one of my awesome teammates! I want to send a "shout out" to her for almost fainting yesterday morning; yet, still starting the crit so that she could be there for us for the rest of the stage race. Her courage paid off! She raced really well today and helped keep Laura in 3rd overall GC. Way to go Brooke :)

Podium in NZ!

Today was the first stage of the Tour of Wellington and Laura placed second in a tightly contested sprint with Ina Tutenburg! From the gun the race was fast and aggressive and WINDY! There were points on the course where you could see leaves flying from the trees in massive gusts! See www.cyclingnews.com for a great photo of the finish.

New Zealand

This was the view from our ride yesterday! We're staying in Lower Hutt, a little town near Wellington, before we start our stage race. This area is full of life...birds, insects, trees and gigantic ferns! Today we went on a beautiful ride up some of the nearby hills (see Brooke's blog for picture :) Tomorrow we start the Wellington tour with a crit in Upper Hutt...we're all looking forward to getting the racing underway once again.

Golf Anyone?

Yes those are kangaroos :). On our last day in Australia we toured around looking for all the kangaroos we could find. This is Angelsee Golf course near Geelong. Later that day we visited Serendip Wildlife Sancturary and learned that Australia has far more than kangaroos :).

We're now in Wellington, New Zealand awaiting the start of a five day stage race. It's beautiful here (and yes...very WINDY!)

Mechanic Extraordinaire!

This is Ash (or "Little Ash" as they call him at the bike shop). His contribution this week was anything but little! He worked really hard on our bikes...putting pressure in our tires, taking it out...fixing little creaks...and even washing them at the end of the World Cup! Thanks Ash for everything!

Speaking of the World Cup...Laura placed an amazing 13th and Catherine placed an incredible 17th! Everyone on the team dug very deep for one another...we're definately coming together. I can't wait to reunite with our California Contingent and our East Coasters...miss you all...good luck this weekend!!!

We're off to New Zealand now for the Tour of Wellington...supposedly even windier than here (YIKES!) By the way, you can log onto www.geelongworldcup.com for full results :) of the Geelong Tour and World Cup

End of the Tour of Geelong

It was an amazing place to have a final race for this tour...most of the racers agreed that it would be nice to have a picnic on this beach! We learned A LOT as a team this stage...working out the kinks is always a bit of a struggle but in the end we know we're going to come out stronger :). Onto the World Cup tomorrow in Geelong!

Tour of Geelong

Thanks to our trusty mechanic Ashley (who was good enough to take pictures for all of us during the race) I can show you a view from today. We did a 115km road race with a 1km STEEP climb...we're on our approach here in this picture. And for the the first climb of the season, this was TOUGH! Rachel was right when she described it as everyone climbing at their own pace in their own "personal hell :)".

We made it!

What a flight! We made it safe and sound, albeit a bit sleepy. Luckily we've got a couple of days to get over jetlag until we begin racing on Tuesday (which will be Monday for you guys :). Today we checked out the tt course and drove the "legendary" climb we've heard so much about. Thanks for the phone call Sarah B! Good luck to all the California girls next weekend and congrats to Catherine on the track!

I'm off once again...

I'm sitting in the airport in Rochester (which I must say is the BEST airport ever because it has FREE wireless...small things, I know :) I ususally leave from Buffalo (as it's waaaaay cheaper than leaving from Toronto) but today I got to take a taxi here (compliments of Delta) because of flight cancelations. It's going to be a very, very, very long travel day - as anyone who has made the trip across the Pacific Ocean will tell you. We'll arrive in Australia on Saturday (today is Thrusday) and fortunately we'll have until Wednesday before we start racing. I'm ready though - I made a trip to the used book store and stocked up on a good variety of reading material. I've got a knapsack now (instead of a messanger bag) to carry this HEAVY laptop and lots of snacks for the flight.

The photo above was taken from a lookout along the Ravenrock hiking trail in South Carolina. It was a beautiful day! The trail started from the Keowee-Toxaway State park that my teammates and I stayed at a few weeks ago. Time passes so quickly...it feels like we were just there! Jeff and I had an amazing week hiking and biking. He even rode to the top of Caesar's Head - a 10km climb! It was really good to hang out, as I'll be away for about a month now. Missing everyone already! :)

Obi

I can't believe how much energy a kitten has! Dougy can't believe it either as he sits and watches Obi chase his tail with a look of utter disbelief. Although not yet fast friends, I think Obi's perseverance will bring Dougy along soon enough. More pictures to follow :)

Oconee County, South Carolina

Jeff's arrived and on adventures in South Carolina! He's getting a taste of all this amazing place has to offer...including the dogs! Check out our Youtube video of his encounter with a few of these ankle-biters :). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73mFzfSayZ8

Our new bottles :)

Made with 100% REAL sugar, Cheerwine is an anomaly and tastes GREAT!

Our new Kitten :)

When Jeff and I get home we'll be picking up the little kitten pictured on the left side of this picture. Any suggestions for a name for this little guy?

We made it!

The view from Caesar's Head is always spectacular! It's even better when you've climbed to the top by bicycle. Pictured here from left to right are Sarah, Kelly and Laura.

Thanks to Brooke's weather reports for this week, we planned our riding so that today was a rest day! What a sight to wake up to :). The riding up until now has been incredible...warm to the northerns but a bit on the cold side for our southern teammates. Hopefully the snow will be gone by tomorrow!