The "Off" Season

The last week has been busy with preparing for our "North American Adventure" over Christmas, we'll be spending 6 days in California with my family, a few days in Guelph, Ontario with Drew's family and then New Year's Eve in Ottawa.

The snow in Victoria made us both realize that maybe it was time for a solid break from training and has forced us off our bikes and into the pubs....well, Christmas cheer is what is forcing us...enticing us...into the pubs. It has been a great week of catching up with friends, Christmas shopping, and enjoying some relaxing evenings at home. I've been catching up at work all week and have finally put up some Christmas specials at Straight Up Cycles, but I am already starting to feel stir-crazy after just 1 weekend at home, and am really looking forward to our trip!

I also want to take this opportunity to thank all of our supporters this year. The Island Racing Club has been a great team to ride for--thank you guys for all of your support this year! All the people at Shimano Canada have been amazing to work with, and were phenomenal during the cross season in keeping my cross bike up and running! Thanks to Scott Lawrence and Gary Fisher bikes for their help this year in getting us on sweet mountain bikes! Finally, thanks to Gerry Huizinga and Straight Up Cycles for continuous bike maintenance, support, and (for me) the flexible work schedule that allowed me to race this year!

This year has been a great year for Drew and I. We've travelled 26 weekends out of the 52 this year for racing. Drew had a solid mountain bike season and then, during cyclo-cross season, went on to win several BC Cups and Single Speed World Championships. I finished 3rd overall in the Mountain Bike BC Cup Series, tied for 2nd overall in the Cyclo-Cross BC Cup Series, and finished 3rd at Provincial Championships (compared to 7th overall in the series last year and 9th at Provincials).

So, thanks again to all of our supporters for helping us to have such a successful season! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!