Sep 23, 2013

Princess in the Parc

I did my final ride in the hills of Westmount and on the Mont Royal before taking off from Montréal to Pisa, Italy for the World Championships.  The race is on Saturday, September 28.  Here is a link to watch live : http://www.cyclingfans.com/uci-road-world-championships/live

I feel lucky because for the past month, my travelling was limited and I was at home in my own element, training.

Along with a bunch of leg-busting workouts in Montréal and at PowerWatts, I trained in Lac. St. Jean, Cantons de l'Est, and the Mauricie.   I raced the Green Mountain Stage Race and the Québec Championships. I finished it all off with the Défi VéloMag, two days before my departure.

I love the Défi VéloMag.  (It's not a race, it's a ride, and I don't say that mockingly.  It's true.)  The Parc de la Mauricie is my most favorite place to ride in all of Québec, and the Défi itself is plain awesome.  Some guy called me a princess a few kilometers into the rolling 105km ride.  I didn't know if it was a compliment (yeah, highly unlikely), something to laugh at, an insult, or just some stupid thing he said after ramming his handlebars into my left buttcheek, because he was a little too far into the red-zone.  You know, I get like that sometimes.  Pounding it up steep hills in my training, sometimes I don't see straight anymore at the summit. And after I max out during efforts on the E-Motion Elite rollers at PowerWatts in Montréal, sometimes I say the most incoherant stuff.  I only realize it when I get one of those Uhh-What-Planet-Are-You-On looks.  So I'm just going to attribute the handlebar-ramming and the princess comment to a lack of oxygen.  It happens to all of us.

They say that when you're driving something like a Specialized S-Works Amira, you've got to look in the direction that you want to go and your bike will follow.  I think that's the same with thoughts .  When you think positively, positive stuff will happen.  I know that the World Championships are going to be flipping tough, but I'm stoked to be there, to represent Canada, to race my BIKE with the best, and I'm feeling positive about it.  You know which direction that means I'll be going in.

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