“Oh My God, You’re a Girl!!?!”
By sigrid_ziegler | May 12, 2008
I managed to get out of my First Aid course in time to hit the road by 6pm on Saturday. With Effingham so effing close, I can’t loose any time, and since everyone rode the club ride while I was listening to some crap about choking on lego, I rode alone. It was the first time I was out solo in a while, and I really loved it. There is something so satisfying about kicking your own butt. I worked hard on the hills, sprinting to ALL the tops, ALL red lights, and ALL kinds of light posts. If I felt like slowing down, I got out of the saddle and sprinted some more.
I was bombing along Hurontario into a headwind, but since it’s a fast section I decided to push myself. I was riding at just over 40km/h when cars started coming up and seemed like they might pass, so I picked it up. I picked it up until I was sprinting at 60km/h, out of the seat, at a red light. It turned green so I kept going, and tried to hold that speed as long as I could, when I noticed a car had been next to me for a while. I looked over, as the window rolled down, and the guy said “Oh My God, You’re a Girl!!?!” I didn’t dignify that with a response, but sprinted to the next red light.
I took it a little easier going North, hammered out some Indian Rd Loops, easy again North, then hammered on Burnhamthorpe. I got to Cawthra when I decided this ride might not be long enough, so I headed south again to Lakeshore and did the loop again. Same strategy, hammer on Indian Rd, hammer home. I really pushed myself on the sections that are fast on the Ol Farts ride.
It’s funny how when you push yourself, it’s never hard enough. When someone else pushes you, you think you have limits. In reality, I do push myself hard when there are other people around because I refuse to give up or get dropped. It sucks to get dropped, and that’s motivation enough for staying in, even when I think I can’t. I do realise that at the end of the day, I AM a girl, and the guys I ride with are guys, but that never matters to me. I don’t look at any of them as anything other than “cyclists”. And if any cyclist is pulling away, I’m not strong enough.
I think the most important lesson I’ve learned so far this year, is that when I think I can’t go again, because I just went, I actually can. I learned that on a few rides this year, quite honestly because of Will’s yelling and screaming. If he didn’t tell me to go, I would probably wait until I felt more ready. The thing is, not once was I not ready when he told me to go, even though I thought it was too soon. I feel like shit, I’m tired, there is so much lactate in my legs I can hardly turn the crank, but I can still get to the front of a peloton at Ol Farts when Will decides it’s a good idea. I started picking up on this fact a few rides ago, but halfway through Ol Farts on Thursday I figured it out. I rode really hard the day before, and I thought I’d be falling off the back I was so tired. Instead, I managed to be at the front of the ride a few times already, and sitting in at the front for the Indian Rd Hammerfest. There were times when I really did need to get in the peloton to rest, but never for long, and used every free ride to the front I could get. Even when I was too dead to move, I moved anyway, and not just when Will decided it was a good idea. Sometimes I thought it was a good idea. You never know what’s gonna happen next, so if there’s an opportunity, take it. Through all my racing, I’ve learned that much. Go now, while you still can…
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“Get a License!”
By sigrid_ziegler | May 8, 2008
Being stuck in Clinic until 7 on Tuesdays is really cutting into my training. Yes, I’ve been there once, but it doesn’t take long to figure out it cuts into training! I managed to get an hour of Ellis loops in between 9 and 10pm last night, but it wasn’t what I was hoping for for training. Already feeling bad about missing out this upcoming weekend thanks to a First Aid course, I decided to blow off school the next day and join Will on a ride…
I had my doubts about this ride. First, he said it would be 100km, so full well I knew that it would be 100km, plus the necessary addition of 33% because that’s what always happens when someone tells you a ride distance. Second, he said there would be “some good climbs”, meaning “Sigrid, basically, you’re gonna die”. Third, when I asked if I was gonna die on the climbs he said, “No, you’ll be fine”, meaning, “Oh absolutely, but I’m not gonna tell you that to your face”. Fourth, I asked if I would be back by noon to go to school, and he said “For sure, yeah”… … …. need I explain that one? Last, it’s Will, let’s face it. For those who don’t know what that means, there were going to be 2 people on this ride, a fast one and a faster one…I’m the first one ;-)
We started off at 8pm sharp from High Park, and made our way to Weston Rd. and head north. There was a headwind and bombing along at over 40km/h started wearing me down pretty quick. Good start. The weather was looking really terrible, and somewhere near Weston and Rutherford we figured we’d better turn back or get dumped on. Shitty. We headed back and bombed along with a tail wind at a nice pace of 55km/h. But only for about 5km. Will stopped and turned around to look at the weather again. I didn’t want to go back either. The multicoloured sky wasn’t very inviting though, so we figured, we’d go back again and see if it still looks like rain at Wonderland. We headed back north into the gray and purple sky. Once again I found myself struggling into a headwind, and after just 40km I was already thinking, “How the hell am I supposed to do ‘100′ “?
As we went up a small ride on Weston near Finch, some pedestrian yelled from the side walk at us, “Get a license!”. Hands down, dumbest thing anyone’s yelled at me on a bike. Will turned around and said “You have to put that on your site!”, and from then on I distracted myself with stupid ideas of what to title this post.
We turned on Teston and headed west a bit, when the hail storm hit. So let’s summarise: hill, headwind, hail = barely 25km/h. Things not to think about on a ride: temperature, pain, condition of body part (ie, freezing fingers!), weather. I grit my teeth and forced myself to enjoy it. I was trying not to crack between “I want to turn around” and “I want to sit down on the road and cry about how I don’t want to ride anymore.” So I continued, thinking about an imaginary breakway I’m on. Just to reiterate that, there was a hail storm. Massive hail heading for your glasses, making you squint, hurting your face. I should have called this, “Hail of the north”.
I was finding my rhythm, although it was slow, and frankly I felt bad that Will was going so slow while I struggled. I made the suggestion that he can continue at his pace, while I do mine, using the word sorry in there somewhere, and suggesting meeting up somewhere on the road. For a second I thought he was going to push me right into the ditch. I wasn’t trying to bail on the ride, I just didn’t want him wasting his time either. The only thing that was pissing him off, was that I said that. Oops. What not to do on a ride: use the word sorry without any hint of sarcasm. He did say, not to think and just ride, and not to let get in my head. It wasn’t getting to my head. Sure I was “slow” there, and while I would have loved to have been faster, it wasn’t going to happen that fast, so I found a pace, and went with it. [The conversation portion of this paragraph has been extremely censored in the interest of keeping things PG-13…if you know Will, use your imagination]
When the “good climbs” started, I was getting nervous. There were a few rollers, the wind was still strong and the hail had turned to a downpour. It started to Thunder, but unless we were struck by lightning, we were going to continue. Build character. I rememberd a scene in Overcoming where Jens Voigt says “Riding is hard enough. If you say ugh I hate this day, I hate this rain, I hate this course, it’s not getting easier. Just enjoy it”. I ended up cheering up considerably when I conquered the first of many climbs succesfully. I got out of the seat, danced up and just when I thought my heart rate was actually going down I hear “PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSH!! Stay out of the seat!!!! All the way to the light post!!! Move your legs faster!!!!” You get the idea. There was no recovery option after climbing. Finishing a climb just meant it was an opportunity to hammer until the next one. Interestingly, I felt better and better, each climb I did, and ended up sprinting to several light posts, out of the seat, with quick legs, without anyone yelling at me. He did of course yell just for the hell of it, but that was to be expected. At the end of Weston Rd, we both attacked and Will waited for me at the corner. The attack section was another series of rollers, and I was feeling pretty good. My computer said 65km done and it felt like the half way point. I said “I don’t know why, but that was awesome! I love this road!” I really did. Will said “Climbing’s not done yet, wait til we go south on Keele…” Riiight. It only makes sense that there are serious climbs in both directions on this ride… sarcasm anyone?
The climbing continued until we were 20km from home. After the hail and thunder the wind changed and we had a head wind in every direction we rode that day. We went through a small town in the middle of nowhere, and with the smell of rain and the lack of cars, it almost felt like I was on a ride in Switzerland. It was great. THAT made me really happy, and despite the whole hell I was going through, I managed to pull of smile and mean it. We turned another corner, I looked at what was rising ahead, and seeing as we had done so many climbs already, I couldn’t see this continuing south. I asked Will “Is this the last one?” he said “Yeah, go hard…” Of course, it wasn’t the last one. The last one was 6 or 7 climbs later. One option for retitling this post was “Will is a liar”.
We managed to keep it pretty quick, staying in the big ring for some of the rollers, cresting in a sprint and hammering into the next one. By “we managed” I of course mean “I managed” because obviously, if you could have heard all the yelling, Will didn’t need any motivation. I figured out that I just can’t get gapped, because then he doesn’t have an opportunity to slow down, “catch” his breath and yell at me. If he’s not breathing, he’s not yelling. Excellent. Not that he was out of breath, but you get the idea. The second series of large climbs seemed like a breeze. I don’t know what happened, but it was like I feel asleep and woke up as Armstrong. Totally unwarranted of course, I felt like there was nothing I couldn’t climb. In fact, after the climbing finally stopped, I noticed that I was struggling more on the flats with the wind, than I did on the hills. Finally back at the bike store, Will told me I was a “such a wuss” and that was the last insult of the day.
The ride was fantastic. Total distance was just over 130km (or 2576km, depending on when you ask me), we were never going slower than 40km/h on the flat, minus the hail/thunder storm portion. Lapdogs, you are going on a club ride there. If you miss it, you’re off the team ;-)
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“Dave, what kind of a Doctor are you?”
By sigrid_ziegler | May 3, 2008
Saturday mornings club ride started long before Saturday 8am. There was talk of splitting the group into Sportif and Domestique officially for the first time, and with the weather calling for rain, there bound to be lots of bail outs. Liam and I discussed the possibilty of having a small ride, but we had I think 27 riders. I don’t mind riding in the rain…
The ride started off as usual, out on to Missisauga Road and North. Will made me go to the front with him and at Indian Rd turned it for a “quick loop”, at nearly 50km/h, while the Domestiques kept going North. About 5 of us managed to stick together for the faster paced lap, and the chase to the Second Cup that followed. I pulled my share, and sprinted, to the best of my ability, to all the lights, whenever Will said so. I was feeling pretty good, so whenever he wanted to pick it up, was fine by me, and the fact that I was really just along for the ride, and he was doing all the yelling, definitely took the pressure off me.
In the chit chat out to Mississauga Rd, a few riders were overheard talking about Dr. David Chong, our very own Lapdogs medical professional. It seems that a few riders don’t know what discipline of of medicine Dr. Dave specialises in. Dr. Dave recently attempted an 11-25 Ultegra transplant from a donor wheel, which has been kept alive by the sheer will power of a Tiagra Allez, to a Fulcrum Racing 1, on the balcony of a lodge in a ski resort! Unfortunately, the Fulcrum rejected the donor cassette and the Tiagra Allez once again had to try and survive in the immunologically unfavourable conditions of the Calabogie O-Cup using the life support wheels.
After the never ending Second Cup stop, we headed west on Lower Base Line, where once again, I got the nod to pick up the pace. Will and I lead for a while, and ended up in a decent, crossing some shitty wooden bridge, climbing a short steep hill, and hammering “to the streetsign/lamp post/some wooden object up ahead”…and kept right going. Will looked back to see if I hung on, I did, and the hammering continued. I turned around after a while and noticed there was nobody behind me and I started to think we took a wrong turn. We did, so we went back, now chasing the group that was WAY ahead of us. I was thinking “F***! At what point in this ride have I not been leading/chasing?” The answer was never, and off we went to chase the peloton again!. Will lead, I sat in, again nearly 50km/h. We couldn’t see the peloton and picked up the pace again…
Finally on Tremaine, we were stopped at a traing crossing and it occured to us, that there is no way they’re ahead of us. I called Liam, and he reported that there was a crash on that wooden bridge. Shit! We turned around and met the peloton about 5km from where we were waiting. We headed south until Lakeshore, while Scott told me that he and Liam crashed. Scott crackd his helmet, but appeared alright (I had my doubts… helmet cracking shouldn’t be taken lightly). Liam said he was fine, but I could see him bleeding through his kit.
The rain started somewhere around 50km to go. When we turned onto Lakeshore in Oakville, it was time to pick up the pace. Nobody wanted to be here longer than they had to. Will came by, got in front of me, and did the usual “let’s go” nod. Off we went, starting a 50km leadout/echelon, that started with the whole peloton and finished with 4 riders back at RPM where we started. Slowly, the group got smaller, then a few peeled off to go home and the two crash victims took the train, rightfully so. I was too stubborn to get on a train with 30km left, even though the rain was hitting really hard, I couldn’t see ANYTHING, and I was frozen. I hate bailing though, and so I continued on, pretending that I really wanted to be out there. I don’t think anyone bought that. The ride was 120km in total. Fast, hard, cold and wet.
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Eff this!
By sigrid_ziegler | April 30, 2008
With the Niagara O-cup looming, it was time to hit the hills. On the Saturday club ride before the Zig Zag crit, Adam took everyone east for a ride that would include some climbs (favourite ride that week!). Mentally I just wasn’t ready and I realised just how much when we got to the first major climb. I already struggled up the first half a climb we did, but by the Bluffs I was out. I started the climb early in an attempt to avoid everyone waiting for me to finish. It was a longer climb though, and even with my head start, everyone passed me and had to wait anyway. I won’t hide the fact that I was destroyed and in tears. Let’s face it, here I was, with Niagara 4 weeks away, getting my butt kicked on a first time up a hill that was nothing like Effingham (the Niagara climb), which I’d be climbing 7 times. Once we started riding again one of my teammates, Will, asked me how I felt about that climb, and still in tears I answered something like “#&$!&@& that sucked!” I was pretty rattled and really nervous about moving up to a new category so soon into the season, especially on a course like Niagara, with that Effing-hill. I have to admit, by the end of the ride, I had forgotten all about that first climb up the Bluffs, thanks to Will’s help on climbing and the pep talk that came with it. We climbed a few more hills on that ride, did a few leadout pacelines, which I loved, and after the club ride, Will and I continued on a bit further. At the end of the day, I was toast and had a 110km on the bike. (The crit the next day was obviously out the question at that point, but that training was vital)
After that club ride, it was evident that if I wanted to get the most out of the Effingham pre-ride, I’d have to go on the same day as Will who helped me conquer those “climbs” that day (and my fear of moving up). He’s very experienced and let’s face it, it never hurts when someone challenges you. I don’t think someone told me “Don’t [effing] underestimate yourself….” so much in the same day before, which worked wonders on my confidence. So, with my pre-ride group of Dave, Will, Adam and I, a british accent GPS, another pep talk, and a rise of a few notches on the cocky scale thanks to the pep talk, we were ready for Effingham. I had heard stories about this Effing-hill, and the fact that we were putting so much effort into the prep really scared the hell out of me. When we got to Niagara, we drove the course, and rounding the corner from Mettler Rd to Effingham Rd is “the wall”. Sitting in the back of the truck, holding the profile of the race course, I was feeling nervous at the thought of seeing the climb after turning the corner. We rounded the corner and there it was, not nearly as huge as I had expected. My biggest fear about this climb was the talk of the 27’s by some of the guys who pre-rode earlier. They are all way better climbers than me and I thought if they need a 27, what will I need???
We parked the truck, got dressed and hopped on the bikes. After hearing Will’s pointers on the course I was starting to figure out what I need to do on all the parts of it. The loop went by faster than expected and soon enough we were at the climb. I made sure I was in the right gear and started up. Again, Will was next to me telling me exactly what to do, and the next thing I remember was cresting the climb while listening to him yell me to Effing sprint to the corner. My sprint was far from a sprint, but I made it, and all that in the 22. I was pretty shocked I made it, but even more shocked the next time when it was actually getting more comfortable. After 2 laps we rolled down the hill to climb a 3rd time, and at the bottom of the decent, having managed a top speed of 78km/h, I told the guys ”We need to climb that again after this because I want to hit a 100km/h on the decent. And remind me I said that when we get to the top!” They laughed, and off we went… Climb #3 was fine, followed by decent in the 80s. Climb 4 and 5 were getting even better, and there is video footage of climb 5 that I couldn’t believe. If I wasn’t in my head thinking “Eff this! That hurts!” I’d not be able to tell. I look comfortable and like I’m just dancing up the hill. The last decent, Will convinced me to go all the way to the bottom for a 2km+ climb, and somehow I agreed. I managed to get to 94km/h on that decent. At the bottom of the climb, Will started spinning and we found out later that he broke the hub of his wheel. Dave and I continued to the top and I cramped up with about 5m left in the climb. So effing close!
It was really worth it to go out there, and I no longer felt nervous about this Effing-hill. I can’t say much about how that race might go, but I do know that at least I can make it up 7 times. Maybe someday I too will break a hub because I’m just that Effing strong. *crossing fingers*
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Zig Zag Crit aka Anatomy Lesson #233865
By sigrid_ziegler | April 27, 2008
Largely uneventful race. 3 man break early on. After getting bumped to the grass and having to close a gap that developed thanks to my off road adventure, I had a cramp in my left hamstring group. I continued on slow for a while, then found a steady pace I could handle despite my spreading cramp. I closed the gap and was somewhat present for a “sprint” at the end, but lost in a lunge and got 2nd instead.
After the race, I went on a club ride to recover, but first had a nice crash on the grass, thanks to my lack of abilty to make sudden movements. By the end of the ride I was cramped in both hamstring groups, glutes, TFL, gastrocs, soleus, levator scapula, and my left erector spinae. I thought I’d never recover.
After the off-roading, closing the gap (by Dr. Chong)
Leading into the brutal wind, close to the end after closing the gap. (by Dr. Chong)
Podium (by Dr. Chong)
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Wednesday in Weinfelden = Tuesday in Toronto (on bikes, with cops on horses)
By sigrid_ziegler | April 22, 2008
To recap: Last year I was training in Switzerland on skates, training every Wednesday at the track in Weinfelden for the usual 200 + points race night. Read here for description.
[Note: while looking through old posts to find something adequate to describe a Wednesday night in Weinfelden, I came across many funny lines, the best of which was this:
“I am still working on getting some sort of a story together about China and the training camp we had there, but with the Tour and constantly playing Cycle Manager I’m not really getting anything done. ”
That was the life…. ]
So tonight, we pulled a Wednesday in Weinfelden practice at the CNE. There were 8 of us (I think) doing 3 sets of 4 flying 200s. Phil marked off the loop so we knew where to accelerate and sprint from, and after a 30min warm up the fun began. It took a few tries to work out the kinks, and I think it’ll take a few more nights of this training to really get it down, but I think it was a good start. It’s not the same without Bill standing in the middle yelling stuff, but we did get pulled over by a cop on a horse for running a stop sign, so that made it almost as eventful.
Personally, as was common in Switzerland, I got a lot out of this training, chasing the boys during the sprints. I stuck on for the second 2 sets, the first set was still a little hairy and I was never quite on the train when the accels started.
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Calabogie O-Cup #2
By sigrid_ziegler | April 22, 2008
We left for Calabogie on Saturday AM, with the intention of getting there early enough to make use of the pool and hot tub, AND get a nice ride in. I drove up with Rick, Jean and Sage, making it into the Calabogie Peaks Resort at around 2pm. Our suite was amazing with a great view. It was basically an apartment…a really good one. Once the rest of the team piled in and we are some late lunch, we went for a nice easy ride in the direction of the race track.
(www.CalabogieMotorsports.com)
Once there, we managed to ride a lap on the course thanks to an OK from the organizers, and it didn’t take more than a few seconds to know this was my kind of course. Being on the track with just the Lapdogs team made it even better: 14 riders, 1 big ass race course. It seemed even bigger than on race day. When you’re flying around the corners on a smooth track like that, it’s hard to imagine how anyone could not want to race road. I definitely felt at home there, but was still nervous after what happened in Hamilton.
Liam brought a set of wheels for me, and we quickly found out that those wheels aren’t compatible with my cassette. That was bad news because I have the same make of wheel on order… As far as the race was concerned, I was just going to race on the doodle wheels. I’ve had them this long, might as well race one more race. At least I had new tires this time.
After a team dinner, a massage (not for me unfortunately!) and the usual pre-race rituals, I got to bed early and kept myself up a few more hours being nervous about the race. The alarm couldn’t go soon enough, and I jumped up, ate breakfast and proceeded with my usual morning pre-race ritual of “I’m so nervous I have to go to the washroom a million times!” We loaded up Dave’s truck and I made the collosal mistake of carrying some of the guys’ bikes down the stairs from our “chalet”, noticing that they basically all weight about as much as one of my wheels. That’s 2 strikes for my bike: 9 speed cassette not compatible with my new wheels AND it weighs a tone.
We got to the track and I picked up my numbers, threw my bike on the trainer (while of course continuing the washroom ritual). To my complete surprise, Paul Shoebridge came over as I was setting up! I hadn’t seen Paul in a looooong time. He raced M3 with some of my Lapdog teammates and was the caster of my first custom boot, and moral support of 2004 inline racing. I spent 30min on the trainer, hammering out my usual pre race warm up intervals, and after Mark pumped up my tires (thanks!!!) I was ready to go.
The first lap was really easy. Someone went to the front with a little aggression and not knowing who’s who, I went with her. Of course, I ended up at the front without wanting to and pulled almost 3/4 of the first lap (of 11, 5km laps). I didn’t work hard though and figured if anyone wanted to pick it up, they could. Starting on the second lap there were many attacks, alebit short ones, the rest of the race. Usually around the S turns and on the incline sections into the wind the attacks went off, some more aggressive than others. I was pretty comfortable with how my sprint and accels were in relation to the field, and started feeling even more comfortable when I noticed that we had lost a number of riders. I took a drink every time we crossed the start finish line, which I was later told was hilarious for my spectator teammates. Sage said I looked bored and like I was wondering what was on TV later that night! Liam called it “the Newspaper strategy”. In reality, the rest of the course was a lot more intense than what they saw, and it wasn’t all “sitting around readin’ the paper”.
One of the many attacks. I’m in 3rd here.
With about 5 laps to go, we came across the start finish line with some speed after an attack, and 2 girls in front of me hit wheels. One went down hard and the next piled into her. I managed to hop over an arm on the ground to avoid the crash and keep going. We kept the speed up for another turn, and then everyone slowed down. We rode almost 2 laps just cruising easy and not wanting another crash. I took the front again during that time and just slightly picked up the pace. Going into the last lap, nobody wanted to lead anymore, and I felt especially lonely out there with no possible lead outs. With 800m to go I had enough, went to the front and picked up the pace. With 400m to go I started my actual full on sprint and managed to hold off most of the group enough to just lunge for the win with two other riders. It felt really great to win this race.
Watching the boys race their race was equally rewarding. They worked together really well and every lap seeing them all in the pack together was just fantastic. Phil went on a break while Will slowed the pack down, and in the end, Mark got 2nd in the field sprint. Really great job. I was especially happy for Jason and Adam who were nervous about being able to even finish in the field, and Adam even picked up O-cup points!
After a nice long drive home and almost running out of gas in the middle of nowhere, we all made it back safe and sound and are thinking about Niagara. This weekend is the Zig Zag crit. I am really going to hit the hills in the next 3 weeks to get ready for Niagara so I can keep my position in the O-cup standings. I’m currently holding first.
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Hamilton O-Cup #1
By sigrid_ziegler | April 17, 2008
We had a Team dinner on Saturday night in anticipation of the first Ontario Cup race the next day. Strangely, this reminded me of the WIC season last year and the obligatory dinner we got served before the races. The difference was, the food was better, there was a hockey game on a giant screen, there were a lot less dressed in pink italians and in general I found the atmosphere and conversation to be a lot more relaxing than anything from last season.
The morning of the race I was pretty nervous. I did all my pre race stuff on Saturday night and managed to get 6 hours sleep. In the car on the way there I started feeling nervous though. I calmed myself down though, got to Hamilton with plenty of time, picked up my numbers and still had lots of time to warm up. I spent 30min on the trainer doing one of the 4 warm ups my coach Sophie had given me and with 10 min to spare, I was ready to race.
The race went off with the side note of “If you go slow you only ride 2 laps, if you go fast you ride 3″. Great. So after lap 1 we’d know how far we’re going. We managed to go fast enough for 3 laps in the end. I made a mistake that cost me a few places early in the race and paid for it dearly by forcing me to train for time trials. Several nervous riders with quick brake fingers made ME nervous and I went to the back instead of fighting to get up front. Dangerously close to the yellow DQ line a few times, I thought I’d hang out here and pass up for the series of climbs. No such luck though, and I got stuck behind a group of girls who couldn’t quite climb with the lead group. I got around them slowly, but found myself in no mans land the rest of the race. I caught back up on lap 2 for the climbs to start again, but couldn’t hang in at that point. I did finish, and it was probably the hardest ride I’ve put in, ever. The wind was insane also which is what made is so difficult to make up a gap. I finished 3rd in senior 3.
| Elite 3 Women Results - 55.5 km - Average Speed 30.5 km/h |
| Place | Bib | LicNum | Name | Team | Cat | Time | Gap |
| 1 | 194 | 42937 | BUNN, Melissa | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | RWE.3 | 1h 49′ 04″ | |
| 2 | 183 | 42977 | MIRVISH, Rachael | SWEET PETE | RWMA | 1h 49′ 04″ | 00′ 00″ |
| 3 | 191 | 42669 | ZIEGLER, Sigrid | LAPDOGS CYCLING CLUB | RWE.3 | 1h 52′ 45″ | 03′ 40″ |
| Elite 3 Women |
| Place | Name | Team | Points |
| 1 | BUNN, Melissa | WATERLOO CYCLING CLUB | 25 |
| 2 | SWEET, Carmen | BIKEFIT SUNFLOWER SQUAD | 20 |
| 3 | ZIEGLER, Sigrid | LAPDOGS CYCLING CLUB | 16 |
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Ride of the week #5
By sigrid_ziegler | April 17, 2008
This weeks ride to choose from include a ride on Mon, Tues and Sat. Due to an eye surgery consultation that required me to be contact-less for Wednesday through Friday, I wasn’t able to ride outdoors.
Tuesday night I met up with the Lapdogs Race Team guys to do some laps at the CNE. After a few laps of echeloning the training turned into a back and forth chase between us and other teams around the CNE. There were also sprints every lap somewhere in the middle of it all. This was probably my favourite ride of the week. After the training, a fellow Lapdog took me “the long way home” via a climb on the Bayview Extension, which was actually really cool, depsite my love/hate relationship with climbing.
The Saturday ride was the usual club ride which for me turns out to be 80km including going back and forth from my house to the ride. It’s the Lakeshore –> Mississauga Rd –> home via Max Ward and Centenial Park Ride, who’s longer version is “TO to Brampton and back”. The ride was great for about 2km. It started raining after that and as long as you were leading it was still ok. Draft and get sprayed, was the theme on this ride. I spent most of the ride up front to avoid getting anymore soaked than I was, which was actually impossible. With roughly 10-15km to go there was a flat in the pack, and since there were only 6 of us left at this point, we all waited. This was mentally the end of the ride for me. After that, there was no warming up and no more fun to be had. We managed to get a little bit of higher paced stuff in, albeit very little, and spent most of the ride just riding easy to save ourselves for the races the next day.
When I got home it was once again back to bike cleaning. I had turned my house into what looked like a bike shop the day before to put on a new cassette and chain after wrecking my chain last weekend. Having a newly cleaned and serviced bike out in the torrential rain wasn’t what I asked for, and when I got home I had to do some serious cleaning once more. I took the bike apart and moved it straight into the shower because it just made the most sense. It was already wet, might as well shower the dirt off, and then deal with the water. It was a pretty good strategy and my bike was in tip top condition by the end of the night.
Topics: Cycling, Racing, Training | No Comments »
First ride with new club/Ride of the week #3 and #4
By sigrid_ziegler | April 6, 2008
First things first, there is no ride of the week #3. There are a few training rides to choose from but all in all, I didn’t get out for any significant amount of riding last week to mention it. I think I was lucky if I put 100km on the bike at all.
Saturday I met up with the Lapdogs team at 8 to go for what is soon going to be a regular Saturday ride. I’m told it gets longer and a little faster as the season goes on. I met sooo many people I can’t remember all their names but in general everyone was really nice, and helpful. That came in handy in the first 50m of the ride, literally. We started the ride, turned a corner and there was a slight uphill. My chain started making noise and I hadn’t been able to switch gears in the first 49m either, and then the chain just came off completely. I was immediately disappointed at the thought of having to go home without riding more than 15 seconds, when someone came back and helped me fix it. By help, of course, I mean, he fixed it and I watched :-) I was in single speed mode, at 39×15 the rest of the 70km ride. We lost about 10min on the group and had to chase back. After about 5km we picked up 2 more with mechanical failures and a late arrival, and the 5 of us chased back to the main group. That was the best part of the ride for me. It was the first time this season I’ve been out in a group and even came close to riding at any sort of respectable speed for more than a minute. At one point, on lakeshore, we were pulling through at nearly 40 and it reminded me of a ride in Switzerland last year with the same head wind and Bill behind us on the motorbike and Jade on “Rosemary” the granny bike. After we caught the group there was a coffee stop, and the ride was a lot more social after that. It was a big group and really fun to ride in and I got to talk to a lot of people, who then convinced me to come out training with the race team on the O-Cup race course in Hamilton the next day.
We drove to Hamilton and basically rode the course a bunch of times. I got dropped on all the climbs and I was surprised how hard it was considering it’s not Switzerland. I guess I haven’t climbed even the smallest hill since last season. The rest of the course was fine and we just worked on pace line stuff. I had a lot of fun, and the pace was quite a bit higher than the day before. Stats for the ride:
Distance: ~60km Avg Speed: lost it, in the pace line we avg’d between 35-40km/h and the climbs were fairly slow for me
Avg Cadence: again, lost it. Hills around 70 and flats at 105-110.
Avg HR: 152
Other: crazy headwind on 2 sections. Almost couldn’t pull through in the line on the last lap into the wind. Legs are dead, thanks to climbing.
I will race on this course next weekend, wish me luck.
Topics: Cycling, Nutrition, Racing | No Comments »
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