I have officially deemed 2012 Year of the Bike. Biking and I have had a bit of a
dysfunctional relationship in my triathlon career so maybe I can patch things
up by paying more attention to it for a while.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my bike.
Its black and yellow so naturally I like to think of it as Bumblebee the
Transformer. Sometimes I forget to lube
the chain or pump the tires and sometimes I tighten the bolt in my top tube too
tight and it snaps on the first ride of training camps but it’s a pretty sweet
ride, especially with the new Shimano DuraAce. While I love my bike, riding it
has not come naturally for me. I’m a bit
of a wuss on corners, I make pathetic noises climbing hills and I crash twice
at junior worlds. So I have decided to stop avoiding it and suck it up and get
better at biking. This meant that I had
to face one of my biggest fears: the crit.
I was a nervous wreck days before the race and there may have been some
tears under my sunglasses on the startline of the C-race along side my
competitors of middle aged men and junior-high aged boys. The race got rolling and everyone was super
friendly and I didn’t get dropped and didn’t crash! With each corner, I became
more confident and took it at a higher speed.
At the end, I could tell the old boys were going to be “save up Sallys" for the sprint finish so with a shocking wave of confidence I went to the front
and picked up the pace. I wanted to make
them boys hurt and make em earn the W!
Overall, it was a great way for me to work on pack riding, cornering and
it was fun.
Cuddly koala
Photo: Duane Martindale
I had a bit of an advantage on my crit competitors because
of a solid month of training in Australia while they were stuck at a desk job
or a junior high classroom. While down
under I also raced my first race as a big dog at the Mooloolaba Continental
Cup! By big dog, I mean the Olympic
Distance and boy, this isn’t junior racing anymore! The 10km run was merciless-
not even the 4 gels I consumed made it any more tolerable. In the swim, I was a little caught off guard
at the whistle as I was leisurely cleaning my goggles but recovered and got on
the draft train near the front of the pack.
The bike leg was relatively eventful with attacks by some of Aussies,
sun, wind, rain, back to sun, a crash that I wasn’t apart of, debris on road,
weird bumpy white line and a flat tire that thankfully wasn’t mine. Alison Hooper had my back and we kept tabs on
each other (drink water! Did you take your gel? Good job, we are awesome!) Basically reinforcing the
polite Canadian stereotype. And cue painful 10 km run! The days after the race it felt like I had
been punched in the stomach in a street fight.
After recovering from the race, I felt super motivated to get back to
some hard work.
Photo: Jordan Bryden
While most of our days were filled with training, eating,
sleeping and group trips to the grocery store, we got to experience some pretty
cool Aussie culture. One thing I really
noticed about the Aussies is that they love their sports! Swimming is
especially dear to Australia’s heart and the Australian Olympic Trials were
national news all around the country while we were there. The finals were live every evening and I was
nearly brought to tears on a few occasions.
We saw the heartbreaking end of the Thorpedo and the inspiring win by
Tessa Wallace, a local girl who trained in the same pool as us, in the 200
breaststroke. We got to know Tessa a bit
and had a fun Easter barby (not BBQ) with her family and ate kangaroo kebabs
(not kebobs). Believe it or not, she
hadn’t heard of the Tim Tam Slam and I had to teach her something about her own
country! (please see the Tim Tam Slam instructional video below). We also went to a field hockey game and it
brought back fond memories of my short-lived field hockey career in grade 10.
Another highlight of Australia was the Steve Irwin Zoo! Steve Irwin was one of
my idols growing up- he caught his first crocodile when he was just nine years
old for heaven sakes! I also paid $20 to hold a koala for 30 seconds but is was
so worth it. The koala was so sleepy and
so cuddly and so cute! It was a heartwarming moment.
Paula, Alison, Me, Alex, Aaron and Tessa!
Back in Canada now where we say kebobs, think vegiemite is nasty and grocery
stores are open past 6pm! Luckily we can still buy Tim Tams here.
On a side note, I recently bought a onesie that I will be
bringing to every race this season!
xoxo, ellen
