Roster for the 2014 World Championships

Canadian National Team. 2014 UCI Road Cycling World Championships.  Ponferrada, Spain  (not all athletes present in photo)  Photo : Canadian Cycling (Canadian Cyclist)

I am proud to be representing Canada at the UCI Road Cycling World Championships in Ponferrada, Spain.  Thank you for those who have helped me earn this opportunity, and to those who have believed in me.  It is an honour to represent Canada.

CyclingNews.com article : http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/lex-albrecht-wins-appeal-to-race-world-championships
Editornial by Laurent Martel : http://laflammerouge.com/cyclisme-canada-je-ne-comprends-pas/
Statement by Cycling Canada (English) http://www.cyclingcanada.ca/sport/cycling/news/lex-albrecht-joins-canadian-team-at-road-world-championships/
Statement by Cycling Canada (French), via Veloptimum.net : http://veloptimum.net/velonouvelles/14/COMM/9sept/CyclismeCan23.htm

Cycling Canada Unveils the 2014 National Team List

Cycling Canada has unveiled the 2014 National Team Roster.  I am very proud to be a member of the Canadian National Cycling Team for 2014.  For the entire list, see Canadian Cyclist's announcement here: http://www.canadiancyclist.com/dailynews.php?id=27131&title=cycling-canada-unveils-2014-national-team-list

Photo copyright : Justin Knotzke

 I will of course be racing for my trade team, TWENTY16 across North America this season.  For more information (and why I'm extra thrilled to be a part of such a cool team!), check out Canadian Cycling Magazine's report : http://cyclingmagazine.ca/sections/news/lex-albrecht-joins-american-team-twenty16/

I'm a roadie.  I'm with the Canadian National team to ride the track in L.A., California. No gears, no brakes, no asphalt... except on our recovery rides, for now.

Every morning priority number one is to score hotel java from the lobby, and grab a few oranges for my fridge-stash, and oatmeal bars for snacks at the track.  I whip up a bowl of magic oatmeal, and clear out e-mails that have come in on East Coast time.  The bag gets packed with my collection of gears, chainrings and tools (I've never wrenched so much in my life. Good thing track mechanics are easy...).  Thanks Martin Rooseboom (2524 Hochelaga, Montréal) for lending me what I need.  And I never forget my tube of DZ Nuts Bliss shammy cream anymore.  It's my new favorite.  Especially since the saddle on my loaner track bike and I don't have a great relationship...

Track sessions always start with a 20 minute warm up.  We spin around in a paceline, going progressively faster.  1 lap-to-go always feels like balls-to-the-wall speed.

Hammering out near-maximum efforts for 4km with my teammates, reefing on the pedals to shoot my bike forward from standing-starts, whipping up and down the track walls when we do our exchanges, and holding a tight, straight line down at the base of the track (the pole line) despite those HUGE G-forces as we spin at unheard of (OK, for a road cyclist...) cadences are all things that are going to pay off once I get out on the road to start racing next month.

But the best thing about the track is the consistent environment.  The conditions are reproducible and our efforts are easy to measure.  That means when there's something to fix or improve, we keep giving the same thing a shot, making minor adjustments, until we NAIL IT ON THE HEAD.

World Championships

I'm proud to be one of 10 Canadian cyclists selected by Cycling Canada to be eligible to represent Canada at the UCI Road Cycling World Championships in Toscana, Italy.  Cycling Canada's final selection will be made the second week of September, 2013, just over two weeks before the event.

Representing Canada at the World Championships is one the most important targets on my calendar each season.  Following a short break, I'll be working on building up my fitness following the expertise of my coach (from PowerWatts Premier Studio in Montréal) as the Championship date approaches.

Thanks to my team: NOW and Novartis for MS, and our sponsors including Specialized, NOW Bars, Ford, CytoSport, TIME Pedals, Champion Systems, SRAM, as well as Nuheat Industries, Global Relay's Bridge the Gap Fund and PowerWatts.   
Find out more about each one by clicking on their logo on the righthand side of this website.

World Championships 2012: Pre-Selection

I'm proud to announce that I am a part of the pool of athletes that the Cycling Canada (Canadian National Cycling Team) has pre-selected for the World Championships, being held on September 22 2012 in Holland.  The final selections will be announced in September.

In the meantime, I will be in Belgium and France with Cycling Canada in prepartion for the Championships.  The Tour de l'Ardèche in south-eastern France will be the ideal race for myself, and some of the other Canadian riders to prepare for the big event at the end of the month.

Regardless of whether I make the final cut or not, I will miss the World Tour races in Québec City and Montréal this year.  As a spectator, of course.  These races are only for men.  Every year, I had gone out to cheer on the Canadian athletes in the peloton.  I even have some new flashy shorts to go with my cheering-kit this year.  I'm a little disappointed, but, I always told myself that I would be there for every edition, unless I absolutely ''couldn't'', and that would be for a single reason: my own bike races, and hopefully someday, ''Worlds'' (as we so fondly call the World Championships).  I'm bringing my flashy shorts across the Pond with me...

Anita Mac http://anitamacphotos.wordpress.com/category/photo-challenge-travel-by-the-alphabet/page/2/