Every Closed Door means a New Door is Opening!

The Fight to Race

I have been meaning to write a blog for some time now, its funny how quickly time can slip away with the busyness of life. It is always a constant struggle to prioritize the important duties of the day, I suppose that is just the way of the western world and I am learning to enjoy all of it.

Anyways I think the last time I wrote I was thinking about racing, so nervous and not really sure if I was ready. Anyways, I got a nasty cold and then last minute I decided to race anyways. My first race goals were to get over the initial fear o racing, figure out how to ride in racing peleton (the pack), figure out what it takes to stay in the front of the peleton, and to finish all the laps of the race. So that is just what I did, and man it was tough! Up Armstrong Hill, flat, down a hill, flat, repeat. It was incredibly difficult, my cold just weakened my body enough that I didn't have the speed I needed to have race results closer to my training results. I finished the race happy, exhausted of course, but happy! Happy I finished the race, happy I broke through the fear barrier, and happy I left with a lot of things I can learn to do better the next time. Of course I would have liked to have done better but I have to remember it was my first race, I've only really been riding road outside for 4 months and mainly indoor for 4 other than some cross rides and mountain bike rides, so I really think I can feel happy with the fact I got into a race. I have overcome some difficult barriers this year alone, just so that I could ride a bike, I won't get into them, but the health barriers alone I have had to fight through have not only made me stronger, but also proud of how hard I can fight with the help of God, and of good people. When I returned from Haiti, I was so ill and since then I have learnt that it was in fact not just Haiti that caused my health to sky rocket downhill, but also the undiagnosed Celiac Disease. I think I will talk more about that another time, but I had to completely change how I live my life, I am so sensitive to gluten that If I even sit in a Subway restaurant I will get sick from the airborne bread allergens floating in the air . If I even touch gluten and then accidentally touch my mouth, I will be ill for a week, so yes, my life has changed, and learning to be social again has proved to be difficult as always explaining my condition gets to be tedious and just plain annoying.

Cycling offers me an outlet, something I can do that I enjoy, physically, emotionally and even socially. It has helped me to press through so many of these barrios in life.

I was hoping to do more races this month, but the Lord knows what is best for me, and I know that I need to wait for His timing. I tweaked my back again, I herniated a disc in my back last spring (for probably the 6th time in my life), but this time it was really bad. I rested for a month, I was rowing and cycling at the time, and then I went back to training, just cycling this time, it just felt right. The surgeon said expect it to flare up within the year, so last week it did, it could have been much worse, but I was still completely bummed out. I wanted to race more, I didn't want to have wasted my training, and I didn't want to go through the pain again. I just couldn't take going through it again, having to work eight hour shifts in excruciating pain, I had done it before and I didn't want to do it again but I had no choice. So I got anti-inflammatory's, T3's and pressed on. I sat with the Lord to find out if this was then end of the road for me in racing, was I heading the wrong direction, or was this just another bump in the road to gain perspective. I soon came to find out it was the latter, just a bump in the road, one I am already thankful for. God has relaxed my soul and shown me a greater picture for cycling. God has shown my a small way I can contribute to my friends in Haiti through cycling (which I have been asking repeatedly). Not only that but during that time my friend emailed me a link and it is a Mountain Bike Stage race in Haiti, over the very road we drove over from Port-au-Prince to Jacmel, and I saw pictures of Haitians riding fast on actual road bikes! I was in absolute shock and excitement! Of everything I went through there on a personal level, I have had to work through a lot of emotions from Haiti over the last two years and in my heart I know that I still love that place.

So I am putting together a training plan with the events and races I want to focus on and I motivated to figure out the details of how I can get to that Stage race in Haiti next year. So exciting! I got on the bike twice this week and I had an amazing ride yesterday! I did way more yesterday than I thought was possible, a fast pace, man I wish I felt like that during my race! Well next time!

Every Closed Door means a New Door is Opening!

Still Fighting the Cold

Sunday was an awesome ride in the sunshine!

I headed out with FVRC at 8:00am, cold but sunny, and we rode out fast ready to hit some hills! A good group of 7 of us who have been training consistently all winter in indoor spin class and rides outside whenever possible. We had an awesome line going just rotating pulling at the front keeping our average speed above 30km/hr. I just love that feeling. Teamwork, everybody taking their turns working together until we hit the hills, then it's every woman/man for themselves! I was quite happy with my hill climbs in the morning, I took 3 days off for my quad strain, decided not race, and it was feeling really good. I got 2 of my best times on a couple climbs in the valley, Telegraph trail climb and 272nd climb, so I was happy with that, I didn't really think I would. Spin class and California training has really done me some good!

Since I couldn't race I wanted to watch the races on the weekend, scope out the competition and see how the races run, I thought this would help calm down some of my nerves for racing and it did. I meant to stay just for an hour of the race because it was chilly and I was sweaty from our 60km ride out. I ended up staying for the whole 3.5 hours, just loving watching the races. I learnt so much watching, talking to other people, and I got to meet some very fast racers and family. I got to see one of the racers whose team we saw training down in California, so that was neat, and the family was very encouraging to me, in getting started racing. I got to cheer on a few of our club members, which was neat! So I feel more confident to race now after watching it and seeing that my training times are close enough to be in the race, now it is just a matter of building up my stamina at race pace. I learnt that there is no shame in pulling out of a race, especially at this time of the year, the beginning of the season for cyclist. No point in causing an injury coming off of winter months.

So this week I'll be nursing my quad, getting the physio's advice and will also be trying to get rid of this horrible sore throat I woke up with this morning. It's not looking too good for next sundays's race, but I'm not going to lose hope yet, Sunday is still 5 days away. I have not really taken a true day off probably in over a month, so at some point I need to do that, I may get time this weekend. California was very restful mentally, but it was hard training and of course long days after exploring all the sites. I am so thankful I got to do that, It has made a world of difference in how well I can function at home now, I really did need it, and work has been just crazy busy since i've been home! Which is nice but exhausting! Anyways, I guess I'm just processing my days and my training, somehow writing this out encourages me and helps me not to get too down when I can't accomplish a goal I set out to (racing).

Keeping my hopes high and my legs spinning on a bike until the day I will get to finally enter a race!

To Race or Not to Race

Home again, right back into the grind.

I am thankful that I can come home to a job where I still get to be involved in the cycling industry, somehow through all the ups and downs at work over the last year, I still love bikes. It is so great to get somebody on their first bike, or to help them choose which bike to upgrade into, I just consider it such a worthy investment! I have already seen a bike change so many people's lives, including my own.

So I had planned my first race on March 3 in the local Spring Series but on my last day of riding out in Solvang I felt a change in heart and make a change in plans into a training plan that would be more effective long term for my racing goals. I decided that I would not ride the first race of the spring series, but rather head out and watch it to see what it is all about. From there I will target a few races, to race, and start to build my body up to target a specific race in Washington I would like to get to. The race in WA is a 3 days stage race and it is a women's race which is what I am looking for. Racing and training with men here, has it's benefits, but women's racing has such a different strategy altogether and I need to put my time into learning what that is all about.

Maybe it was God's way of confirming my decision but on the last day in Solvang I had a slight pull in my quad during a few sprint drills and that ended that ride early as we lightly spun home. The pull is not too bad, just enough that I need to take a few days off which puts me out for a March 3 race anyways and if I didn't have this injury, most likely I wouldn't take needed rest and I may even have tried to race, despite my decision. I really need to keep focused on my overall training plan.

So I am home, back to the rollers and cold rainy weather, trying to keep a good attitude about all of it and by Sunday i'll be able to layer up and get out for a nice ride.