ROCK CITY RUMBLE II: THE RECKONING

This past weekend was our 2nd annual Rock City Rumble paintball war out at the Mark property. Although they don't make paintball guns in Tycho's size they do make camo onesies at the hunting superstore in nanaimo - who knew? So Tycho played superfan in the "safe zone", flirting with Lisa and telling everyone stories about how he earned his ninja headband in 'nam.

RESULTS TRANSLATED

Now that I am on team M.O.M. you might think that I spend my days wandering around WalMart looking for good deals on diapers. Sorry to disappoint but I have yet to have my skin itch in a way that only WalMart can trigger (although Zellers is a worthy adversary). With a full year on maternity leave I envisioned myself with heaps of spare time to kill. Maybe I should pick up a hobby. But apparently being super mom takes a bit of time. Who would have thought a little munchkin could be such a time suck. A pretty cute time suck but still on the high side of maintenance. Now add moving out and starting a major reno on the house, training for BC Bike Race and suddenly I am busier than if I was working full time. What happens when I DO go back to work? Gulp. I will just have to sort that out when we get there. So for now I am still dabbling in the race game hoping for a fun summer of all play and no work. When summer shows its pretty face that is....

Before I started racing seriously I was a firm believer in the scientifically unproven regime of "racing into shape" and I now I find myself full circle. Training time is limited so you may as well just go for the good stuff. Once I got my first race out of the way without a major catastrophe or meltdown I picked a few more local training races. Minimal travel for maximum return. That wasn't too hard to find as BC is home to many top athletes. I went to a local Island cup race in Duncan and lined up next to multiple Xterra world champion Melanie McQuaid. Never saw her the entire race. I went to the new Nimby Fifty race in Pemberton and raced against current World Cup leader Catharine Pendrel. Got absolutely annihilated. A couple of second place finishes but a smack in the face memo that I am nowhere near the top of my game. But it didn't seem to bother me. Especially since a few weeks back I discovered that I can be a local hero without racing around the world. It was only a third place finish in the local trail running Gutbuster series yet I had people all over the island congratulating me like I was a superhero! Hmmm. Have I been busting my butt all these years when all I had to do was get pregnant and pull out a podium finish in my own backyard and have it sent out to cyberspace via the world of facebook? duh, less training more marketing now you tell me....

Our cute time suck.

Our ugly time suck. Underneath the pretty interior was almost no insulation, 3 ant nests, secret cupboards, water damage and dodgey wiring. I guess you could say we were a little overdue for some upgrades.

By the Pound

So…..uhm….how much weight did you gain?!?

That is probably one of the most common questions I get asked about being pregnant. From girls, and cyclists, and especially girl cyclists. And the question is usually asked with a grimace. Like extra pounds are a virus or a contagious disease or something. Actually pounds are probably even less desirable to cyclists than a virus. You get rid of the flu by sitting on the couch. You have to work your butt off to get rid of the pudge.

Norm and I at our anniversary dinner a few days before Tycho was born. Dont let the colour black fool you. There is 50lbs more of Wendy to love in that photo.

One of the few "full on" pregnancy shots of me just a few days before Tycho was born. And yes, that is Norm trying to get his arms around the bonus me.

Now that I have shed most of the baby weight (Thanks to my new Chariot!) I can come out of the closet and say that I gained almost FIFTY POUNDS during my pregnancy. Holy. Crap. All of the books & magazines said the average weight gain for pregnancy was 20-30lbs. Uh hello. I hit that mid-way. I am not usually a weight weeny. I can’t be. I am taller than most girls on the circuit and I am pretty dense so if I played that game I would waste away. I probably out-weigh the legendary “fillet” by 30+ pounds. But when the pregnancy pounds started adding up I wondered what I would tap out at. One morning Norm and I weighed in the exact same and he joked about finding a teeter-totter. ha ha ha ha ha – shut it. I think that was the same week I went into the midwife and saw that the last person on the scale weighed 126lbs – less than my non-pregnant state. I muttered something about midgets under my breath. But eventually I just had to embrace it. I was “eating for two”, if I went for a walk I was a hero, naps were prescribed and everyone said I looked great. How can you NOT embrace that?

Shedding the pounds with a little resistance training with my new Chariot.

Buuuuuut once Tycho was born (at just over 8 lbs), I was stuck with extra weight and a body that wasn’t good for breeding OR biking. The glow was gone. Time to get moving. I started with walking & swimming. Then graduated to hiking. Then added XC skiing & baby stroller boot camp. And finally I got up the nerve to start running & biking. I had to suck it up and ignore my bruised ego. January 2009 I was at the cyclocross world championships and January 2010 I was starting my run-walk program with a 30sec run for every 4:30 walk. Ouch. But the body is a pretty amazing piece of machinery and after 4 months I am only 5 lbs shy of my world champs weight. Now I am not saying that the distribution of that weight is the same (I missed the memo that when your hips open up for childbirth your ass follows) but it’s a start.

THE CUMBERLAND DINNER JACKET

It had to happen sooner or later. And no matter when it happened, it was going to hurt. My first race back. Almost a year now. But what better way to hurt than on some local Vancouver island trails. I chose the Cumberland Vancouver Island Cup race as my comeback race. 3 x 45min loops of the best singletrack around. Norm was supposed to race with me but he lost the coin toss after our friend Erin called in sick for babysitting duty. Welllll thats not entirely true. She said she could still take care of Tycho but when she called to let the germophobe (me) know she was sick, her voice was so scratchy she sounded like a pack-a-day-princess and she described 2 year old Parker as having snot running down her face. Hmmmm. I decided to skip the fight with the common cold because I knew I would lose that round. So Norm got to ride up island in the sun and play super-dad-supporteur while I raced. 

I wasn't sure how the body would react to the harsh reality of a race after such a long hiatus. I have been able to get out riding at least 2-3X/week for the past month but race efforts have definitely not been in the program. As a result, the metallic taste of blood in my mouth after the first 200m was a bit of a shock. My Hei Hei Supreme was still pretty nimble on the technical trails and my legs were still pretty solid on the flat sections but I had to back off a bit on the climbs for fear of a giant mushroom cloud on lap 3. I had a great battle with Joelle Guynup for most of the race but lucky for me the race ended on downhill so I managed to lead the way on the last lap. Apparently a few of the local boys were pretty pumped I was not on form....yet. Norm hasn't lost his touch as super supporteur, even with a tot on his belly. While our handoff was sub par the bottle was full of cold coca cola to get me through to the finish. 

Norm and Tycho donned their Cumberland "dinner jackets" for the race and lucky for me our 2009 Kona kits were based on the dinner jacket (although no royalties were paid out to the town of Cumberland) so I fit right into the family portrait.

The morning of the race I wondered why my arms and back were so sore. I had only done a short spin in the afternoon the day before. Ohhh yeah. Then I remembered we had taken my nephew Torno to the Nanaimo BMX track in the morning and knocked off a bunch of laps before we (the adults) all got tired and had to drag him home. Wish I was 8 again.

Marty and Me

Marty turned 14 years old this week! If you dont know who Marty is, you probably dont know me too well. I have had Marty since he was 6 weeks old - he puked on my feet driving home and its only gotten better ever since. I watched that stupid movie Marley and Me when I was pregnant and I absolutely bawled. I am not much of a sobber when it comes to movies but your hormones get all jiggy and when I thought about losing Marty I couldn't stop blubbering. I had some flashbacks of all of our good (and bad) times together over the past 14 years.

1 shredded Mini Cooper S back seat (I have still not forgiven him)
1 shredded GMC van seat
953 eye watering farts
2 expensive knee surgeries after chasing a "bad bunny"
2 pink casts for said knee surgeries
1 bacterial infection of the spine (Kristenn figured it out)
830 rocks chased on the beach
14 teeth removed from eating said rocks
2 mailmen forever terrorized by a big black dog for cookies
1 wedding
1 ass kicking received from a small fluffy white dog
1 ass kicking received from a marmalade cat
32 ass kickings delivered to dogs that tried to hump Marty
4 bras with the underwire skillfully removed (Marty's specialty)
5 expensive science textbooks eaten
3 chewed leashes (until i got smart and bought a metal one)
0 dumps in the house
6 bones stolen from his buddy Rex down the road
15 tennis balls and baseballs found in the park and immediately destroyed
1 ego crushing incident where Marty ran into a park bench
9950 enormous dumps
8 pounds of bacon (1 pound a year for his birthday)
1 whistle that both of us can hear in a crowded room
967 customers greeted at Frontrunners
6 awkward humps in the back seat of the car (the only place he gets horny)
2 girlfriends Heike (boxer) and Humu (pointer)
1 non-sexual male crush on his buddy Raven (pitt bull mix)
26 energy gels consumed with his girl Humu
1 enormous belly ache from said energy gels
54 frisky romps in the snow
2 fluffly white pillows shredded with his girl Humu
748 snuggles when Marty is allowed in the bed
656 beach cruises
1575 amazing trail runs, skis and mountain bike rides


Thanks for the memories Marty. Lots more to come!

Resurrection

Allright, allright, allright. I know I have been a slacker. No posts for months. But its hard to get fired up to maintain a race blog when one is not racing. Pregnancy, new baby and Olympics then BOOM its March already. I will try to summarize it all down for you so we can just move on.

Pregnancy. Done. No problem. Waaaaaay easier than training and racing. You get fat and everyone says how great you look. You go for a walk and everyone thinks you are overdoing it. Naps are prescribed. A girl could go soft being pregnant. Although I did get sick of of every female in the room chatting me up about labour and babies. Especially at the pool. In the changeroom. Naked. uhhh awkward......

Labour. Done. 10 hours. Hardest thing I have ever done. No drugs. But I really wish someone had told me that laughing gas was an option. I call do-over.

Newborn baby. Holy crap. I have never felt so utterly useless in all my life. Maybe I should have changed more than one diaper (that my 4 year old niece had to help me with) before Tycho was born. Rookie.

6 week+. After the first smile it all seems worthwhile.... those fog hormones kick in and you forget about all the rough spots.

2010 Olympics. Kicked ass. We got to see 2 gold medals, 2 silver medals and a bronze medal for Canada. The Canadian fans were amazing. Unlike the euro fans who only like a winner, we cheered just as hard for DFL. The energy was incredible. And Tycho was like the Willy Wonka golden ticket as we got pulled out of every line up to go through the "access centers" (who knew?) and got to use the toasty warm family washrooms.

There. That wasn't so painful. Just like ripping off a bandaid.

Norm has termed me "the preggernaut" (closely related to juggernaut) so I thought I would define the term for everyone to make sure there was no confusion that it is indeed a term of affection (I think).

Preggernaut (preg-ger-naut)

A preggernaut is a term used to describe a pregnant force regarded as unstoppable, that will crush all in its path. It is especially applied to a large (hungry) pregnant woman or collectively to a team or group of pregnant women working together to crush all in their path.

Etymology
The word is derived from the Sanskrit जगन्नाथ Preganātha (meaning "pregnant Lord of the universe") . One of the most famous Indian temples is the Pregannath Temple which has an annual procession of chariots full of pregnant women. In the festival's past, people were crushed accidentally as the massive, multi-ton chariot filled with pregnant women slipped out of control as the hungry women were feeding. Others suffered injury in the resulting stampedes. This sight led the Britons of the time to contrive the word "preggernaut" to refer to examples of unstoppable, crushing pregnant forces.

Huh. Apparently my "auto blog" program has malfunctioned. Better get on it.

So what the hell does a prego athlete do during the busiest part of the race season? Sit and sulk was an option but the weather in BC has been absolutely incredible so I have been getting a sweet tan and keeping myself pretty busy. Who would have thought a summer of play could be so much fun!?

SUZIE SUPPORT
BC Bike Race was on the list of races for me this summer but "in my condition" it was not meant to be. So I decided to help support Norm and his partner (Power Pole Pete) and the Kona crew. I soon realized that we run with a pretty talented group of friends as I would go to cheer and after the top 30-40 riders I would be done. Amateur friends and all. Poor soul beside me usually had another 2 hours before their friend in 287 th place would be coming by.... See ya.

Norm on his way to winning Master men at BCBR

NATIONALS vs WAR
The weekend of nationals we has a huge outdoor paintball war for Norm and Careys birthday. 25 of our closest (most hyper competetive) friends armed with guns played for almost 7 hours. Dont worry I padded up for the war, turning a lacrosse kidney belt into a bebe protector. Who would have thought there was no market for this sort of equipment?? We had so much fun I almsot forgot to check results when I got home.

I would like to claim this kill as my own but sadly my aimn was not that true

The hyper competetive players in full gear

ROLE REVERSAL
Soon after Nationals I received an email from my superfans Ariane and Marine Lewis. The little KONA rippers had BOTH won their races. With me on the sidelines I will have more time to follow their up and coming careers. I can be a superfan too.

New National Champ Ariane Lewis

New National Champ Marine Lewis

Ariane showing her true superfan support

THE NEGLECTED SPORTS
The last few years, with so much time away racing and so much of my time at home spent training I have neglected a lot of sports over the past few years. So I have been taking this opportunity to catch up on lost time and spend some quality time with Marty who is about my pace these days. Lots of trail runs, hikes, paddling, swimming and even a 3 day canoe trip. Rough life.

Marty "training" for his canoe trip with his panniers.

Our not-so-successful fishing trip

Norm wore this shirt the ENTIRE trip

The coolest looking outhouse

I have never seen Norm sit still for so long

I really dont have much of a bump yet so we pulled out the fish eye lense to make it look more dramatic.
photo by Norm Thibault

TEST OF METAL

So I am technically not supposed to race anymore. My doctor said its too risky with the elevated heart rate and dehydration issues. But he did say I was still allowed to train, just at a lower heart rate. So I have been riding and running and swimming and paddling and gestating nice and easy like, just going off of perceived effort. Its actually been pretty enjoyable. But I am not gonna lie, occaisionally I have strayed on the high side of effort. But its interesting how your body shuts you down when you are pushing it too far. Its like I can feel every ounce of energy being shuttled from my arms, legs and head straight to my core to provide for the wee one. You start to feel like ass and you pretty much get the hint. Back off!

This weekend was Test of Metal, probably the biggest mountain bike race in Canada. Definitely the most fun. Last year I won it and smashed the course record and walked away with $1100. A year later I am getting winded taking the compost out...All for a good cause but it doesnt make it any less of a blow to the ego.

A big group from Nanaimo was going over to race Test of Metal and Norm was racing so I had a few options:

1. Stay at home and sulk

2. Go to the race and play Suzie-Support-Crew all day but probably be bitter for not getting to ride the sweet trails or

3. Start the race with the understanding it was just a fun ride and pull out when I felt tired

I went with option 3. I really wanted to see everyone, ride a bit and help out Norm. This was my option to do all 3. I would start the race, ride to the first aid station and then pull out and help feed the Nanaimo crew. My body seems to shut down at 2 hrs these days anyway, so it should be a perfect length for me.

I saw a whole whack of faces I havent seen in a long time. It was good to catch up with people. Word had spread pretty quick that I was pregnant but I am notreally showing yet. I am in that in between state where you could be packing on the pounds or pregnant but its too rude to ask. More than once I recognized the surprised understanding of a few as they said "Ohhhh, I THOUGHT you looked a little fff (as in fat) or thhhh (as in thick) or chhh (as in chunky)." They always managed to cut themselves off as they realized that might me taken so well but it hung on the tips of tongues.

In my head I was a little worried about starting the race as its pretty hard to turn off that circuitry in your brain. For the past few years I have taught myself to push through the pain and fatigue so now I just felt like a wuss if I stop at the first sign. I had read somewhere that you should keep your heart rate below 140bpm but I personally dont think I would get out of bed for that "workout" and I am sure it was set up for chicks that shop for exercise, so I went with the 150 rule. I even strapped on a heart rate monitor to keep me under tight reins. Unfortuantely there are quite a few major climbs that dont fit the 150 rule so I dutifully pulled over and waited for my heart rate to drop after a few climbs. I caught myself punching it to pass horrificly slow technical riders. I caught myself scrambling to hold the wheels of the 6'5 guys that could block a tornoado. And I caught myself hammering through the fun trails. I didn't stay below 150 the whole race but my head didnt explode, I had a great time and I confirmed that I am definitely in no shape to race. I am not even sure I could have finished the full course. Catharine Pendrel won it and shattered my record. BuT I am pretty sure I won first prego to the feed zone. Small victories...

Me and a small bump. photo by Norm Thibault

Super supportcrew Rollin (he was in charge of feeding 12 riders) me and Norm. photo by Matt Dawes

Norm was third in his category but they only did awards for Elite - LAME. So he went up to the step afterwards for his glory. photo by me.

RUMOUR MILL

Its funny what you hear about yourself when you sit back and listen. I haven't been on the race circuit for a couple of months for totally preplanned legitimate reasons yet I started hearing some great rumours as to why I havent been on the US Cup and/or World Cup circuit. I probably should have set the record straight sooner but its pretty funny hearing what I have been up to.

Rumour: I went back to work and quit racing.
Not true. I went back to work in March with plans to have a late MTB season start, race closer to home and focus on mostly multi-day stage races, the first of which is in 2 weeks so by the book I am right on track.

Rumour: I stopped training and got slow.
True. Sort of. I did take a big break off the bike after CX worlds. I went on a holiday, ate poutine and drank milkshakes and it was divine. But as always, the bike calls and I was back to training within a few weeks.

Rumour: I bought a new car and quit training.
True. Partially. I did buy a new car. Sweet little Mini Cooper S. My dream car and it is a blast to drive so I admit I didnt commute to work by bike for a full week. But the guilt caught up and I am back on the bike.

Rumour: I was in Belize for a month doing some underground training.

Not true. I was in Belize but it was for work. I help put on a Biology field school and was there for a month hiking and canoeing with a few trail runs but no bike. Check out the cool critters.

Dying leaf mimic katydid

Red eyed tree frog

Spider monkey

Green iguana

Mayan ruins

Red rumped tarantula

Jaguar (Ok... from the Belize zoo)

Rumour: I am bulemic/anorexic and that is why I was sick at Sea Otter

Not true. At the time, I thought it was something I ate. I later found out it was my belly but not so much food related.

Rumour: I got a boob job

Not true. Sure my boobs are bigger but no silicone

Rumour: I got slow

Getting truer.....

Rumour: I got fat

Getting truer...

Rumour: I have an alien growing inside of me

True.

So if you are expecting race reports you can tune out now as there wont be any for the summer but I will still be posting blog reports of my perspective on races (I will still be at races but as a pro spectator and supporteure) and other cycling related issues if you are interested. Hell, maybe I will toss out the cycling part who knows. Tune in if you are bored.

SEA OTTER

Well by now you probably have seen that my Sea Otter was a bit of a bust. With 3 events you would think I could pull something special out of my butt but alas it did not happen. Momma always taught me to look at the positives so here they are:

It was hot and sunny!

I got to travel with my dreamy boy Norm!

My new Hei HEi Supreme is awesome

We got to hang out with the smiletron.

The California wildflowers were blooming

Our new kits were super flash.

Where do all the kits go??

Better dust off the old blog here now that the season has started again.....

One of the questions I always get asked is: what do you do with all of your old kits? Our sponsors are pretty generous, clothing us for the season with everything from skinsuits to jerseys to jackets. Most of it is just used for training and racing. Riding 6 days a week all year with only an apartment sized laundry takes its toll. But Kona factory team gear size smalls have found their way to different parts of the world. Some get signed and go to promotional events or fundraisers, some are gifted to the people that have helped me along the way, some are thrown in with the purchase of a bike, some are sold off so the local timetriallers can be more aero, some go to my favourite up-and-coming juniors but I always save one kit from every year so that when I am an old bitty, slow and gray, I can roll up to watch the local races in full factory team kit circa 200X. They won't know who the hell I am, but they will certainly wonder.

Kevin and Hannah out for a mid-winter ride.

The Lewis family, waiting for the snow to melt.

Norm's slide show from Hoogerheide Cyclocross World Champs 2009

The quality on the web is a little less than ideal but hopefully still enjoyable.

IF you want a good quality one fire Norm an e-mail and he can burn you a nice CD or DVD one.

MINIs of Malta

I was supposed to be helping Norm make a slideshow of Worlds but he was doing such a good job on his own, I went ahead and made a slideshow of all the sweet MINIs we saw on Malta. 

World Championships highlights

Death or Glory

Quick World Championship report as we are headed off to the Maltese Islands for a much needed holiday. I will try update from warm, sunny malta with some photos of the Canadian view of worlds.

Death or Glory. That is what Norm always says to me before a big race. You have to go for it. So I went for the glory. Unfortunately it backfired. But noone can ever accuse me of racing conservatively. I had a good start off the second row. Up the hill things were looking good but then chaos at the first corner. I dont know what it is about girls but they seem to get jiggy off the line. Cant control their speed or something. I saw out of the corner of my eye a crash just waiting to happen almost in slo-mo. A Dutch gal going into the corner waaaaaay too hot so I cornered tighter to avoid the inevitable. In the video footage you can actually see another crash just behind me happening at the exact same time. Somehow I managed to thread the needle and squeek through both crashes and found myself with a select group off the front. It was now or never....death or glory. 

There really was no question. It was World Championships so I went for it. Race plan out the window. I tried to stay with multi World Champion Hanka Kuperfernagel. Who has been on the podium every single year since the first womens World Champs. Was I a little out of my league? Probably, but that didn't stop me. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaang on Wendy! The pace was insanely fast as Katie Compton was off the front and Hanka did NOT want someone from the US to win (she actually said this outloud at an interview afterwards.....). I had watched the espoir race the day before and things let up a bit at the end of the first lap so I went ALL OUT that first lap trying to hang on. Mistakenly thinking there would be a moment to catch my breath. Unfortunately for me, when we hit the start hill Hanka cranked up the pace even FASTER and I blew up. Sky high. The chase group was close behind so I fell back to them and tried to stay with them. It worked for a bit but my body was a bit jello-y and my legs were screaming. I just needed a teeny rest. For the love of god SLOW DOWN! It was such a windy fast race staying with groups was really important but I had used up all my matches too early. I slid backwards for the rest of the race. I knew I needed to hold wheels but I just couldn't. I made up time on the few technical sections there were on course but to no avail. I slid all the way to 18th. A slow, painful fall from potential glory....I was in rough shape at the end with a vicious headache and the distinct taste of blood. I was as close to puking as I ever could be.

If I had raced smarter I might have been able to stay with the big group that eventually made up 4th-11th. Who knows. But surprisingly I am OK with my 18th spot knowing that I went for it on the day. Sure I would have liked a better finish but this is likely the last World Champs in my career and I can walk away saying I tried to ride with the best. I couldn't hang on. But I tried. Question answered. Now go eat some chocolate and get a tan on Malta. 

Maybe in a week or a month I will get that little niggle that says "well maybe if I did this, or that, or trained this way or ran these tires..or what if____?" Its the what-ifs always brings me back. But for now I am OK with being 18th in the world. Maybe I am just getting soft.

Thanks to everyone who believed in me! I might not have been top 3 in the world but I definitely tried and I couldnt have done it without all your support.