The day You decide to do it is your lucky day. - Japanese Proverb

I found this quote on the Canadian National Triathlon Centre's blogspot. It hit home....every once in a while I forget why I do all of this. It isn't a serious condition, I don't get down on myself, or racing, but the immediate memory and knowledge of why I get on a bike 6 days a week slowly slips away...the way a rainy day slowly slides up your jeans until you are wet up to your knees and unbearably cold.

With the excitement (and added chores) of the house, racing lost it's spot in the focus line, but training hadn't (don't even ask me to explain that one!). Without the focus of racing though, the training becomes meaningless. The hill climbs are just hill climbs, rather than focussed efforts.

Sunday was the Nanaimo BC Cup, though I was excited to sleep in my own bed and avoid taking the ferry, when Sunday morning came I just wasn't ready to race. The sleep wouldn't leave my eyes and the pre-race excitement wasn't bubbling. Arriving at the race, my excitement wasn't helped by my lonely name on the pre-registered list....really....I'm the ONLY pro-elite woman?

Luckily, in the end, I was joined by Wendy Simms and Glenowyn Carlson. Off the line I tried to match Wendy's speed, but once we hit the steep section of the climb, my 29 inch wheels became a burden and my legs begged for a 36t cog on the top of my cassette. With the RPM of a tractor, I slowly made my way up the climb, losing touch with Wendy and then losing visual contact.

As soon as we hit singletrack I knew she would be gone. The descent was fast, rutted from the previous day's DH race, and technical. It started with a swooping drop (where in lap #1 Drew came in with too much speed and blew his tire off the rim), followed by twisty, rooty, log encumbered fast trail that finally (with a big "whew" of relief for not crashing each lap) it dropped out onto a brief fire road and into the best part of the lap....fast, flowy, flattish singletrack that inspired momentum and a huge smile! Into a brief climb, and back onto the fire road for another heinous climb.

I rode by myself for lap 2, 3, and 4 (HATING climb number 4...my legs were questioning my ability to actually make it up the final, steepest grade). The big drops of rain throughout laps 2 and 3 made the course slippery and challenged my full slick rear tire on its ability to stay on-course. I finished up in 2nd. Definitely a solid day of training, but a little lacking on the competitive edge. This weekend we head up to Pemberton for the new Nimby Fifty marathon race and then to Surrey on Sunday for the Junkyard Dog BC Cup XC - should be a great weekend of singletrack! (and a great weekend to get my brain focussed on RACING!) This will be my lucky day!