Friday, May 31, 2002

I"ve decided to race in the Bikeshevik this weekend.....I'm not sure if I've made a mistake or not! Actually, with how things went last night at the race series, I hope that I can pull off some good results. I think I'm registered in the 200m sprint heats, the 3000m and something else, on top of the possibility of racing some Points races, Devils and Scratch races. There could be six races in all on Sat. and Sun, all in the Master's category.

Joe has Sat. night off and wants to do something. I'll have to play it by ear.

Results on Monday......

Tuesday, May 28, 2002

What's been happening? Not too much....work, training, competitions. I've had a cold that won't disappear for the last two weeks - I ended up missing the Bikes on Broadway Stage Race in Saskatoon on the long weekend due to that fact, plus my ride arrangements fell apart at the last minute.

The races so far:

Calgary Police Services Half Marathon, April 28, 2002 Place: 24th. Time: 1:25:49. Pace: 6:33.
Creative Restaurants Banff-Calgary Relay, May 4, 2002 CPR Track Stars overall team place: 14th. Category place: 4th (Fun category). Total time: 11:06:12. Pace: 7:45
Individual results: Leg 1 (Banff-Canmore - 22km) Leg place: 9th. Time: 1:29:19. Pace: 6:32.

Crankmaster's Bearspaw Breaking Away, April 21, 2002. Individual TT time: 12:31, place 2nd overall. Team TT: 14:25, place 2nd - Team place 1st overall.
Velocity Ardrossan Stage Race, May 11-12, 2002. Individual TT: 8:02 (14/53). Criterium: 41:48 (31/53). Road race: 2:19:23 (35/53) GC: 3:09:13 (33/53).

Next up: CBTL racing night on Thursday, May 30. Bikeshevik Grand Prix at Glenmore Velodrome on June 1-2. Headwinds SR June 15-16. Geldsetzer Memorial Track Competition on June 22-23. Arbour Lake Triathlon on June 30.

The Lilac Festival was on May 26 - Joe, Doug, Wayne and myself spent the day moving up and down 4th Street and sampling all of the different beer gardens. Spent most of last week in the gym and at yoga, due to the fact I was still feeling crappy and had the sensation that there was no cardio endurance to be summoned.

I received another order of M. Stevens dancewear at the end of April. I ended up ordering a navy blue unitard, a white leotard and a nude dance belt all in milliskin. The unitard is the most comfortable lycra article I've ever owned - paired with the milliskin dance belt, I could dance forever. Fits like a second skin. I can't wait to start lessons now! I ended up making two waist belts to hold up the tights from some material I bought. The belts work very well, especially with the tights over the milliskin leotard. There is movement at the waist, but you can cinch the belt tight enough to secure the tights in place. Marvelous!

I'm waiting to buy some more Juventus team gear - jacket, skinsuit, bib shorts. I will probably get the rest of the order at Headwinds, but now I'm thinking that Juventus, even though they are a great team, aren't for me. I'm going to join Bicisport or Synergy next year. They get track practice time included with their membership, which is a great deal, plus all of the organized team rides. I'm feeling pretty isolated here - if I was in Edmonton, Juventus would definitely be the way to go. I was hoping on being able to do more team stuff here as well, but since all of the other Juvie riders in Calgary are Cat 1/2/3, there's no chance I'll be able to ride with them, at least for the first half of the season. By adding in a track practice and racing night once a week, plus weekly crit races on Tuesdays, I'll be able to network and meet some new people, and find new people to train with (hopefully). The limits of Wednesday and Friday nights for group road rides isn't working with Tim, Doug, Wayne, or Hugh's schedules so far.

Joe and I finalized purchase of our flights to Ottawa/Montreal a week ago. We're heading to Ottawa on July 29th, returning from Montreal on August 5th. I wish we had more time, but that's the way of the world. We're going to spend a day or two in Ottawa and check out the sights, and then we're going to bus to Montreal and spend the remainder of the week and Pride weekend in the city. It's going to be so awesome! I found out from Jerome that Bob Flynn is living in Ottawa now, so hopefully we'll be able to meet up with him, along with Fraser and Matthew. Jerome will be done is art show by then, Tom will be free, Karen will have just moved there, and Wendy will be around too. FUN!

I'm planning now on heading back to Manitoba on July 12th for Keith and Sharon's Century Farm celebration, and return the following weekend of July 21. I may be hitching a ride to Grandview with Bob and Trudy, and hopefully will be able to spend the 19-21 in Winnipeg visiting the old haunts. I want to spend most of the week up at the lake - I'm really hoping I'll be able to either take my scuba equipment or my bike. I was originally going to go back with Cheryl-lee for Pattie Rausch's wedding on June 15th, but it was too early and too much money I don't have that factored in to screw up that plan.