Cross on the Rock Finals

Nov 22nd wrapped up the 'Cross on the Rock' cyclocross series for 2009.  The conditions were perfect in Nanaimo that day - a bit of mud on the ground but nothing wet from the sky - in fact it was bright and sunny, a classic fall day.  The Beban Park course was unrelenting, there were so many features it seemed like there was no end to the mental run down each lap of 'what's coming up next?'.  The run-up was life-sucking, the mud pits zapped all power from your legs, and the tight sandy turns in the whirly whirl section nearly put each of us on the ground I'm sure.  My lungs were burning and my legs were doing a Winehouse repetition of 'no, no, no'.  In the end I was fourth in the expert women's race, and clinched a second place result for overall series points... by the seat of my pants.   

Big thanks to everyone who turns up at the events to cheer and for all the women who raced the series - they really make it what it is & it's fun to ride with them!

Huge thanks to Norm Thibault and Wendy Simms for organizing the series and for being the fantastic cyclocross ambassadors that they are - truly awesome!!  

This weekend was the first time this season that Arrowsmith got a significant amount of snow.   was pumped because of my new backcountry skis.  I was bumming around town, making breakfast and walking the dogs.  I was all geared up to go for a bike ride and around 12:30 I was thinking that I could go for a quick trip to the summit and back before dark via the Judges route.  I through on my mountaineering boots, backpack and Katie into the car and headed for the hills.  I started up at 1:30 and made it up in about 1.5 hrs.  IT was amazing up there like a winter wonderland.   I met a guy near the summit who was from Mount Washington Mtn Tek, Noel Sharpe.  He was a nice guy to talk to and it turns out that he is a telemark ski instructor and since I am getting into telemark skiing, he gave me his number at work.  I plan on taking a lesson or two so I am going to look him up at the ski hill.

Last weekend Justin and I made it out to Strathcona Park on a super early mission to climb King's peak.  The weather was total crap, but we made it all the way in some blistering winds.  This area is awesome and definitely warrants a return trip.  King's peak is one of the higher mountains on Vancouver Island at over 2000m.

Double Cross Weekend

The 4th and 5th races in the 'Cross on the Rock' series were held last weekend in Cumberland and Errington (both close to home! yay for local racing!).  

The weekend was wet, wet, wet.  The courses were mud, mud & more mud.  It was fun, tough, messy and rewarding.  :)  It was also a fantastic example of grassroots racing at it's finest, good competition, relaxed and exciting atmosphere, lots of laughs, lots of cheers and lots of support for the series.  Check out the Cross on the Rock website for race reports and full results.

I managed 3rd in both races and am motivated to figure out some way to close the gap between myself and the faster women over the next 12 months.  (This season isn't even over yet and I'm thinking about next... ahh, yes, that's how it works!).  

Jeff raced on Sunday but suffered a flat mid-way on one of the laps & had to run part of a lap and then jump on Chris Birch's Jake to finish the race.

Next up = Island Champs Cyclocross Nov 22nd in Nanaimo!