Not so fun part of a Stage Race!

photos courtesy R. Haskell

Stage 3 Tour de Bowness - Criterium

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Fun course as the roads are super rough on the backside corners. Hung in there. Took the hill hard a few times. Good attacks by everyone which made it another fun race.

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After the last corner, tossed the little gremlin away that said "I'm too small to sprint". Sat hard in my saddle in the drops and stayed on Tanya's wheel for the final 200 metres. At the line, I was behind by a nose though pretty pleased I made the effort to sprint!

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Gathered overall omnium points for 3rd with Pepper commanding an awesome win with her efforts at the crit.

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Bow Cycle put on a wicked event with Niklas Group as a main sponsor. In the Women's field, almost everyone left with a prize or cash. Thanks Bow!

Fun Part of a Stage Race!

Marg, Heather & Pepper - photo Al Black

Stage 2 Tour de Bowness - COP hillclimb
It feels different to climb this hill in a race situation with strong racers. It's a 3-up time trial format. Pepper, Heather and I were seeded together as the top riders from the previous days's road race. From the start, I let the race unfold and followed Heather with Pepper glued onto her wheel. I actually lost my normal drive to scamper up. Just different focus for me in a group than challenging myself alone.
The climb goes up the road in Canada Olympic Park 1.3 km and 345 feet elevation gain. The pace dropped slightly halfway up. I took the lead maintaining the same pace stand-climbing.
On the final corner which is the steepest of the course, I heard what sounded like an engine revving up! Off goes Pepper gutting it out to the top. Cool, I thought and had no desire to challenge. At that point it's all a mental game to go through the lactic acid build-up. Been there, done that!
Racing at 7:30 pm gave shadows ahead of me from the riders behind me. Made sure I kept Heather's shadow behind and rolled to the finish. It was awesome to see the focus Pepper raced with.

Team Peloton

Stage 1 Tour de Bowness - 11 loops, 5.3 km circuit

One of the most fun road races I've been in lately... highlights were having two awesome teammates Chantal and Danika, lots of action with pulls/attacks from a great field of women, and a course with hills giving total elevation gain 2700' for less than 60 km distance.

Into the 4th loop, four of us broke away. It was cool to work with my teammate Chantal, Pepper from Juventus and Heather from United Cycle. Within one loop, our foursome grew by a few more riders and my guess is BC Bike Race Podium champ Katy worked it with my teammate Danika to bridge up to us.

Halfway into the race, the Cat 3 men began to pass our peloton on the long descent. Bummer for the women when this happens as we have to "neutralize" which is a term in cycling to stop our race while the faster men's peloton is cleanly past before we can race again.

I was on Heather's wheel with the women's peloton following, when this occurred. It was tempting to follow her as she continued forth. It was a large men's peloton so I immediately "neutralized" with the women's peloton and slowed down to allow the men to pass. The race pictures clearly show the women's peloton being passed by the Cat 3 men in the series of 5 pics with all the women together.

Heather, a very accomplished racer placing 3rd at the recent Canadian National Crit champs and has been racing the US Pro Women circuit this summer, did not seem aware the women's peloton neutralized to allow the men to pass. She continued to race forth. It was not reassuring to see the Commissaire vehicle which was driving on the left hand side of the road next to the Cat 3 men's peloton which hid Heather racing on the right hand side of the road out of their view!
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It was flustering seeing a rider go as our peloton neutralized. Women expressed concern as we eased the pace together waiting for the last guy to go by. The women's peloton wondered what to do... chase, chill, race... Pepper gave good advice that the race was not over. It seemed unfair to have to chase down "given time".

The race dynamics were now altered, though in a cool way despite the predicament. The peloton worked together like a team. We eventually caught up to Heather as she soft-pedalled into the last laps. The peloton wisely stayed behind Heather. With 1/2 lap to finish, Danika attacked, Heather jumped, we all followed. Various strong efforts on the last climb with Chantal challenging Heather to the finish. I sat on their wheels in 3rd.

Ended up the Commissaire in the vehicle watching our race "missed" seeing Heather not neutralize with the women's peloton, losing track of her for a lap(?). Officially, racers need to present a protest to the Head Commissaire post-race for any issues. Even though women expressed dismay at the time, no-one came forth officially. Possibly lack of knowledge of the procedure as this situation rarely comes up. The protest was delegated to "heresay". It just wasn't pleasant to be waiting neutralized seeing a racer ride away. I'm not sure why Heather didn't wait for the women's peloton to catch up from our neutralized position.

The race was ultra fun up to that point... learned to keep persevering when stuff out of our control happens...

It ended up awesome working with the rest of the peloton to the end.

Ogopogo Sightings

Good cycling kilometres have been spent riding in the Okanagan valley with rides along Lake Okanagan. Lake Okanagan spans 135 km. The coolest paddling race in the falltime called The Length of the Lake is on my list of things to do.

Marg with Ogopogo - summer 2008

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CBC radio just had a documentary on the famous Ogopogo lake monster first spotted in 1872. It had me laughing as the Ogopogo topic comes up when I'm at the Lake. It's worth a good laugh...

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Give it a listen... CBCradio: Ogopogo Mystery Put to Rest

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My cousin and siblings with Ogopogo back in 1968... - photo Dad

Ogopogo looked tougher in the '60s and is abit cartoon-like now.

Smurf-hand at Creampuff

Riding high in the Cascade mountains descending an 11-mile swoopy singletrack trail, I would usually have a wicked grin on my face. With my right hand swollen smurf-size (pudgy like a smurf not smurf blue!) due to my right index finger ligament sprain from a crash at the OrganGrinder weeks ago not healed... there wasn't enough endorphins for a grin as I was grimacing from each nudge of the handlebar vibration. At the bottom of loop one, my finger dexterity was gone and hand like a smurf. Concerned as functioning hands are helpful in mountain biking!

Marg in the swoopy singletrack of Oregon scenery - photo by Sasquatchmtb

This was halfway into the 100-mile Cascade Creampuff mountain bike race. Yeah, for some reason I thought my hand would be ok and I took a chance on the startline. It was a brain battle to make the decision to stop. When I was using my fourth finger to brake, that was the final call (awesome powerful Formula R1s!). I had already ridden 56 miles (90 km) and 8200' elevation gain... Thought the heat wasn't bad as the course was very sheltered in the trees though it was only 10 o'clock in the morning when I stopped. The race started at 5:05 a.m.

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The climbing on this course was designed for me... I thought my La Ruta friend Charlotte was poking fun at me when she said I'd be climbing it in my big chainring - she was right! Chilled at the pace of the lead woman which was Rebecca Rusch until I went ahead more comfortable at my own pace. Kept in mind, that I'd be climbing that forest road again later in the heat and to go at a pace I'd be able to keep a 2nd time.

The descents were all fairly smooth, fast and swoopy, not technical by Canadian standards. Nothing at all like the OrganGrinder course in Canmore. With the super early morning light, I was blinded in the first single track going from light to dark to light within the shadows of the trees. This got better as the morning went. My tire pressure was set abit high and I was clumsy to start. Got smoother on the singletrack as the day went. There was loose movement in my headset as I discovered on the fast fireroad descents making it scary so chilled out.

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I was leery at intersections hoping the volunteer would direct me the correct direction as we looped around various ways. In the past, I've gotten misdirected 'cause I'm small and mistaken for a junior rider or definitely not elite category! The roads/trails all looked the same to me.

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A boy rider noted the rainbow stripes on Rebecca's jersey sleeve and asked what they were from. Not an official UCI event though I guess Specialized put them on after her WSC 24-hr wins. I could put stripes on my jersey too!

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Rode with a few singlespeeders on the climbs who noted I rode like a singlespeeder and should try it - yeah someday it'd be cool. One singlespeeder guy raved (in a male oriented way) about riding near my TA teammate Louise Kobin last year. I let the comment slide and agreed Lou is wicked strong. Don't the boys know all the girl racers are friends? I'm much of an unknown name these days as the race organizer decided to take me out of the Pro category and put me in masters' age class. I corrected that race morning. Getting older, not ready to leave Pro.

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Definitely a 29-er course, for those interested.

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Camping in the school yard was the way to go. Ample time to meet cool racers from all over. Easier to get up for the 5:05 race start from the school. The pre-race food not up my alley so glad I prepped my own. One of the more expensive race entries I've ever paid and almost a deterent. The unique big ring non-technical course makes it enticing to race. All in all, well organized.

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Will give it a go another time.

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Next time, I'll race fully healthy! Facial bones intact (see "there was NO banana!" blog June 15) and functioning finger ligament! Yeah, stupid or stubborn to try but I did!!

Cdn Road Nationals - Challenging wicked race!

I'm a climber that likes to get out of the saddle and climb forever... the Canadian Nationals road race course in Edmonton was a short hill sprinter's climbing course. I gotta say... it was a tough race and strong women made it a challenging effort. I'm glad to have finished with the peloton!

Marg & Danika in dark ERTC jerseys - photo Darcy Reynard

I was impressed with the fast start from the get-go. For the 27 short climbs we had in this race, the racers eased the pace on maybe 2 of them. Attacks happened here and there, on this flatter course, no-one broke away threatenly. The peloton did let a couple women just ride off the front a few times.

Saw Anne Samplonius and Julie Beveridge chatting it up (both National team members though wearing different team jerseys for this race). Next thing, Julie just rides off the front with 2 laps to go and Anne at the front slows up the pace. No-one reacts! Don't let a strong TT rider get away, Julie has potential to finish solo! The peloton eventually bridged up to her.



At times, it took more energy than necessary to ride in the peloton to be "wary" for anything sketchy. Was it due to young inexperienced racers? Corners were cut and riders were forced into the curb. Braking occurred. Lines weren't held, especially down twisty Groat Road... More of a safety thing to not crash the peloton. Riders I knew were awesome with their bike handling.

Marg climbing out of the saddle... why is the hill so short?!

Definitely a sprinter's course as the pace up steep though short Emily Murphy was fast. One time I was working thru a leg cramp and off the back and found that the pack just sucked me up in the flow. So much for being at the front for all the other laps I did!

The last 2-km from the whole length of Groat Road from 107 Ave was full out fast. On the corners, it was like watching roller derby! I played cautious, yet still saw a couple women racers squeezed into the corners almost causing a crash.

500 metres to go a few more women were shoved into a corner and another close call to a crash... I squeaked by on the far left which was clear. The top sprinter's had their pole positions to the 1% descent into the finishline 200m later. Happy to finish safely with the peloton!

All in all, it was cool to get to race at home! The spectators were awesome!

Canadian Road Nationals in Edmonton tomorrow!

Come check out the races: women at 8:30 a.m., men at 1:00 p.m.

Race course: Hawrelak Park, up Emily Murphy, down Saskatchewan Drive to Groat Rd north, cross river, up Victoria Hill, down Victoria Hill, up Groat Rd north to 107 Ave, down Groat Rd to finish in Hawrelak Park.~13 km course, elevation gain per loop around 105 m

women - 9 loops 117-km, 945m (3100') not huge but repetitive!
men - 14 loops 180-km

Two ERTC women racers, myself and Danika. Looking forward to racing on a hometown course!
I think I hold the position of oldest racer and I sure want to show well for us :)

Banff National Park Stage Race

4 days post facial injury crash, I went into the Banff road stage race. I decided to take it day by day, better than sitting at home!

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Day 1, Stage 1 was a 1.5 km hill climb called the Surprise Corner Prologue. A gradual climb for 500m, steepened the next 500m lulling one into believing that was grade the rest of the way, turned a corner... surprise... grade steepened excessively to 13% with a short flatter road to the finish. A a definite surprise to anyone missing a preride. Not a climber's race, more-so a power race, so finished 10th amongst the amazing world class field of women. Field included Tara Whitten - recent World Cup Track champion from Edmonton, and National champions, and many strong women racers from BC, SK and MB. It was cool to race with a high calibre field close to home.

Day 2, Stage 2 was the highway 1A sprint road race. There is no big elevation gain on the roads in the Canadian Rockies as they go on the flat valley between the mountain ranges. This race started in beautiful Lake Louise on old highway 1A. Out and back for a total 77 km. There were two major spots with a long hill climb, long relative to this flat course. I went hard when I could up the climbs. Ample action on the flats with a few attacks after attacks. The strong girls kept each other in check, especially GC leader Tara, and bridged back to the break each time. Being a climber and not having the sprint-mode, I got pulled up in the draft.

epic scenery Hwy 1A sprint race

I was ready for the last km where there was a rise, a flat and the last climb 400m in distance. No-one went hard on the first part. The peleton cranked it on the flat section in the middle which propelled us into the last climb to the finish. I was pleased to be in a good position... until I got behind the one rider that all of a sudden blew up. No room to pass on the ditch side, so decelerated and went around her. Meanwhile the pack was on a full-on sprint 10 feet ahead. I put in a good effort and caught at least 5 riders going backwards and squeaked into 9th place. I was ready for a good uphill finish with the sprint-tired leaders. C'est la vie.

Another note, to make this stage truly epic... would be a hill-top finish all the way up to beautiful Lake Louise with the glacier in the background, another 300m ascent. That is what makes the U.S. races so cool! The climb is right there, why not use it. The road race on highway 1A typically ends with a mass finish with only a 40m rise to the finish - wow!

Day 3, Stage 3 was a 21-km time trial in the morning. I'm not fond of time trials except if they are straight uphill! I was pleased with my effort despite finishing in the bottom half of the field. The course was super scenic and most enjoyable with the mountain views and waterfall. Passed sheep on the road though scary when one ran into my path.

Day 3, Stage 4 was the 26-lap criterium downtown Banff in the evening. It was a crazy course and shortest one I've ever done at just under 1-km a loop. The course included a 180 degree turn. Riders were clipping their pedals on this turn and some went down. Once was enough when I grazed my pedal, especially with my fresh injury at stake. After that I chose to take the sharpest turn on the inside. It was a technical turn like in cyclocross at a near standstill. Safer though had to accelerate out of it each time. Within laps women dropped off the pace of the leaders. I chilled as my goal was to finish upright with the minimum laps to maintain GC. Ended up in a small chase group and finished without getting lapped.

Day 4, Stage 5 - would have been an awesome road race up Tunnel Mountain. The organizers took the women's race out of the stage race! The stage race felt so incomplete without this final stage. WHY? All about making money. Allow Category men racers (not in the Elite field) to race Sunday instead. More money will come in as more Category men racers will likely race the TT and crit on Saturday. They could have easily included the Women's Elite field within the Category Men's race.

I expressed my point of view back in February when I first heard about the exclusion of the women in Stage 5. I was given very poor excuses. With the organizer's reasoning of giving all categories opportunity to race, it means the Elite men will NOT get to race Tunnel Mountain in 2011!

In the end, a world class field of women showed up, over 50 racers, with a compromised stage race! One piddly 77-km road race... I've raced many epic U.S stage races and potentially Canada could have a comparable Canadian stage race with the Banff stage race. Please let the women race all stages!!

There was NO banana!

Took a trip out to Canmore Nordic Centre for the Organ Grinder 5-hour enduro race Sunday June 13. I hadn't raced in Canmore since the last World Cup race though did do a trail or two in the last section of Transrockies 2005. Lots of new trails.

Wicked course... expected lap times 45 min for 11.5 km. It had the best of the best technical trails in it... laundry chute and devonian drop from World Cup days... new vertical crazy drop eye-dropper (with an easy option to go around)... super fun rolling in/out trail pumptrack... crazy 4-section triple-arrow descent ass-whooper... epic Georgetown ascent... which made it a super fun challenging course.

photo from bikealberta.com - eyedropper trail

After a good start, I had a comedy of errors... missed the wooden plank at the bottom of Devonian drop and got tossed. Ok, though spent time twisting back handlebars and getting air into my tire. Then, doh took a wrong turn though realized pretty quick and backtracked. Started passing riders again.

At the transition area, topped off my wheel with air (valve stem was bent and leaked air slowly)... into the next loop, stopped yet again to put air in with my CO2. By now, I was back in the field. I chilled out riding the technical sections safely. Any catching up to was done in the climbing sections, my strength, and I started re-passing riders again. I felt fresh!

Each time the finish area was passed, riders had to dismount and run with the bike around the timers before re-mounting. Into lap 3, I was excited to get back on with a cyclocross mount and started accelerating focussing on the orange area in my sight ahead, the colour of the bridge overpasses in the biathlon area. I put my head down for a second and when I looked up I realized the orange area was not the exit to the trails but was the only orange barrier amongst the grey ones! I remember correcting my line to avoid it.

Next, I was being asked who I was, where I was, what I was doing! I was on the ground with blood from my eyebrow. To make things worse, I kept being told I had been eating a banana and crashed with only one hand on the handlebar! There was a banana at the scene but it wasn't mine. I guess it helped create a logical reason why I crashed. If anyone claims to have given me a banana I'll go with it. I know I did not eat a banana. So, I was confused for abit 'cause I could not recall the darn fictitious banana!

I was helped kindly by a crew of people... the woman EMT, Kris Dahl driving me to the hospital, Tessa keeping tabs on me, Ingrid Dahl checking in, Ed Garvin helping find me a ride back to Calgary with Tim B. The Canmore hospital staff were awesome and efficient.

Quite a bummer being in the most awesome technical race and crashing in the least likely spot on the pavement in the feedzone. I was bummed not to get to complete the race. My actual lap times were decent despite the extra time with mechanicals. Next year!!

Telling people it was from a bar brawl wasn't cutting it! Even more colour days later.

Results of my CT scan that took an in-efficient 14-hours to get at Emergency U of A hospital on a slow night! A few fresh new structures to my right cheekbone and orbital.

Healing well and will take any positive energy sent my way!

Cali Training

My last 2 weeks of cycling were spent in San Diego. Awesome and amazing rides inland and on the coast.

One of my favourite rides called Swami's, 131 km ride with a wickedly fast group of road cyclists and triathletes. Ends on the coast and I love seeing the waves.

Rode the epic desert ride going up the Montezuma Pass from Borrego Springs. Temperature not so hot though super scary windy!

Had to get the bike in a shot before the wind toppled it over.

A good inner city mountain bike ride up Cowles Mountain and down the backside. Elevation gain is 1200'.

The riding gets technical with the rocky terrain and waterbars.

Another short but awesome ride is in the Elfin Forest at Mt. Israel recreation area. After a steep challenging switchback 2-km climb up on the "Way-up" trail, a smile creeps on my face as I hit this super technical fun roller loop.

On Thursday evenings, anyone can join in at 6 pm for the fast and furious crit-like riding around Fiesta Island. Scary but a super good workout.

Finally did the Kitchen Creek climb with my friends Tom and Terri. Resting at the store at the top of Laguna Mountain before the fun descent.

A sign we just wouldn't see in Canada!

Took the opportunity to stay with friends and animals (Lupe, Negrita, Rita & Misha) in Hillcrest. Venturing on my bike, I took a tour of Balboa Park and was amazed with the many museums and architecture.

My friend Lance was running in the Rock 'n Roll Marathon. I got up super early to watch the 6:15 a.m. race start just blocks from my residence. It was awesome to pick out Lance amongst the first 50 or so runners out of 30,000! And even cooler that he heard my cheer and smiled when he looked my way.

One of the many walking bridges across the canyons in Hillcrest.

Every Thursday morning, I can count on Don & Sue to ride from La Jolla to Rancho Sante Fe and back along the coast. I first met and rode with Don & Sue back in 1998 and the ride continues. Sue raced on the 7-11 women's team back in the day, and Don raced pretty high up too.

Ah... until next year...

Training in the Santa Monica canyons!

After my 26-hour drive I went on three epic road rides and a fun mountain bike ride with my buddy Les in Thousand Oaks, California. I met Les back in 1987 bike touring down the Yugoslavia coastline. Needing a rest day, I took the opportunity to ride with my favourite motorcyclist Dino.

brilliant action shot by Paul Herold

We met up with two of his motorbike buddies and hit the canyons in the Santa Monica Mtns. Dino's bike handling was exceptional on Super Duke, his canyon bike, with having a 100-lb monkey on his back. He surprised his buddies easily keeping the pace and one time had me bug-eyed when he decided to zoom by and pass them. Talk about warp speed. I told Dino that squeezing him by holding on for dear life did not mean "go faster"!

On the weekends, a photographer perches on the Rock Store climb and captures all the cyclists, motorcyclists and cars zooming by. I laughed when I saw this photo as I would lean into each corner with Dino like I was riding myself. One of his buddies said I was a good rider, and I guess that's what he meant!

We passed by the famous "Rock Store" which is a huge weekend motorbike hangout. There were hundreds of riders with lots of fancy machines to gawk at.

The Rock Store climb in the Thousand Oaks/Agoura Hills area is the site of Stage 8 of the upcoming Amgen Tour of California. Wicked climb and super intense technical descent. It'd be most fun to be perched on a corner of the descent to watch the riders get down smoothly.

Les & Marg checking out old town Ojai after an epic road ride on Hwy 33 north

Marg with Super Duke wearing jeans too small for Les' 13-year-old son, a youth-size helmet borrowed from the neighbour down the street, Les' wife's boots, and a borrowed motorbike jacket! I was set for action.

Running with Les on his favourite trail


Hitting the coast bumping into a RAAM racer

Typical view of the rides thru the canyons - I love it!

1987 flashback - Les 2nd from left, Marg in red

Posing on the Yugoslavia coastline in 1987... Shelley from Australia, Les from USA, couple from Quebec, Marg from Canada, couple from France, Suzuki from Japan. I was on a Europe bike touring trip. I met up with all these cyclists travelling separately when I reached Yugoslavia. We all travelled the whole Yugoslavian coastline camping on the side of the road and cooking meals together. It was a highlight of my trip!

My Kids' Projects!

Panda Flavonoid project with Jenn & Jess

Ok, so they're not exactly MY kids...

I was thrilled to get to help 4th year U of A Nutrition students get their research projects underway.

After discussions with them, I helped out creating some snazzy Excel worksheet formulas for their data analysis. They had alot of work to get everything together and did awesome.

Casey chatting about her study with the APrON project

Yesterday, I went to their Poster Presentations at Dinwoodie Lounge on campus. It was an elaborate affair with a catered meal. Each student was by their poster ready to answer questions.

What a great experience for them to get to show off their work and get challenged. Wish they did this when I went to U of A.

Getting my name in the acknowledgements!

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I felt as cool as a proud parent getting to see the hard work of "my kids"!

Bike - Hitchhike - Run

Amazingly enough, I've been on the road bike since end of February - riding on the roads by the snow-laden fields around Edmonton. Usually I will x-c ski to the bitter end of the snow season in March.
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Aaron Schooler has helped get alot of us motivated to get out cycling early as he is training for his team H&R Block's upcoming races. It's been awesome riding with the guys in the single digits above 0C and keeping warm in the sun. I have the riding bug!!

Today I went on a road ride with Steve Ferris from my club with Aaron jamming 'cause it was too cold(?)! I was happily talking Steve's ear off about raw foods when my chain broke halfway into the ride. We were way out on some no-traffic Range Road 50 km south-east of Edmonton. No problem, I actually brought my chain tool! Steve took over fixing my chain until he realized the tool was broken. The metal gave away and bent so the mechanism wouldn't remove the link in a straight manner. Anyways, I was hooped!

Steve kindly pushed me on my bike back to highway 21 a couple km away. From a main road, I figured it would be easy to catch a ride at least back to Sherwood Park the nearest town. A few vehicles stopped though not the best ride for various reasons. A service van stopped - perfect. Thanks to Bradley from Monarch Countertops, I got a ride back to Edmonton. I ran from Bonnie Doon to Pedalhead where I had a new chain put on and happily rode the last few blocks home.

I'm very appreciative of Steve for his patience and riding with me, Bradley for stopping to pick me and my bike up, and Guri for putting my chain on!!