18 days later

Whoa, whoa, whoa Ms. Hall, you are so delayed on blogging!!! Owie! I knew it had been a while and I kept thinking, tomorrow, I'll blog tomorrow.  Then I realized how long I had been gone when I checked out of the airport parking lot and the lady behind the desk says to me, "Wow, you've been gone a while - 18 days!" Yes ma'am I have been on the road a while but when you are with your REAL family(Chattanooga) and your cycling family(Optum) it seemed like a long weekend....

So here is a quick recap with a ton of photos....

Gatineau was up first...

The race put us up in a hotel with our personal security officer looking after the bikes(pictures) which was fun for us.  We are easily entertained..... The road race was first.  What I remember most?  I crashed on one of the laps, pretty minor, I managed to head for the median and get some grass and dirt stains at most.  Once back on the bike, I was back in the group no problem.  The race finished in a sprint, Joelle was 2nd and I was 4th.  The time trial was 2 days later, same course, 2 laps, again, Joelle was 2nd and Janel and I finished in the top 10.  Before flying out the next day we found a really cool brewery within walking distance of the hotel, good times!  Joelle keeps us all entertained as you will see in one of the pictures below....things she has lost so far this season and may have mistaken your stuff for hers: jacket, chapstick, jersey x 2, 2 pairs of her own shoes in a hotel....I will think of more later....

From Ottawa we flew to Asheville for a quick stay over before driving to Chattanooga, TN for nationals.  I stayed with Ben and Verka and had a chance to spend some time with my sweet niece and Verka's mom.  Chattanooga knows how to put on a good show!  I really enjoyed being there and having our race the same time as the men was a lot of fun.  First was the TT on Saturday at the Volkswagen plant.  I didn't have that great of a race but it was great for the experience.  My family was there and it seemed they had plenty to do in between watching the TT, my nephew showed up with more toys and trinkets with VW on it and they had plenty of food there as well - awesome job VW!!!

The road race was on Monday and my teammate(Jade) won and I took second - it was so much fun!  I saw mom post race and she said she cried, must have been a good show:) Love you mom!

Tuesday morning, we drove back to Asheville for a couple more days before flying to Philadelphia for the one day race that finished on Manayunk Wall.  Joelle was second and our men's team also took 2nd place, so yet again another successful weekend for Optum.  The wall was craziness but so much fun to be a part of.  I flew home yesterday and I will be here for 5 days before heading to Minnesota for Nature Valley GP and visiting with our sponsors based in MN.

OK, now the good part.....PICTURES!!!! ENJOY

 In Gatineau, a pretty amazing support bike, don't you think?

 Don't mess with our bikes or this guy will get you:)!!!

 More security:) We don't play!

 Oh wait! Ok, we play a little bit....Janel(on the left) really wanted to race this bike!

 Rachel and I riding around

 Kids ride....

 She doesn't really love tulips and really doesn't want to pose for this picture:)

 2 Canadian National Champs!!! NO REALLY! He is the former champ in pool playing? I guess that's what you call it? I don't know.....it was kind of funny...

 Please note: Joelle's socks.....someone needs help!

 Our mechanic, Michael Gavagan, a.k.a. Gavvy....sampling some beer

 Cliff bottle fan!

 And a park tool fan....

 Lauren! Come play!!!

 Camera hog

 This waterfall was to the left of the road on the climb from our road race.... I noticed it in the pre ride but never saw it race day....

 Selfie!

 The incline tram....

 We raced this road, cool little store on the down hill

 Locked and loaded

 Janel was ready

 Sunroof view...

 ROCK CITY!

 The family at Rock City...

 Jade wanting to update her twitter photo.....

 We have a LOT of laughs....

 Post road race celebrations....

 The part of Rock City I could've done without.....weird

Verka's mom with Panda - Ben and Verka's doggie....

Reading: Vicksburg 1863 by Winston Groom
Watching: Modern Family on Hulu
Eating: breakfast.....
Listening: Safe and Sound by Capital Cities
Website: http://fieldnotesbrand.com - thank you Janel!

Tour of the Gila

I was home for about 5 days from Europe before heading south for the Tour of the Gila(pronounced - heee la NOT geee la).  While I was home I mostly rode easy, unpacked/washed all my cycling clothing and tended to all my mail and bills.

I drove to Silver City, NM with Michael and 2 of his riders - Rebecca and Kristin and we had some good laughs on the way.  Once in town, I found my host house, got settled in and the team was coming the next day.  It was so good to see the girls and staff, it had been a while and I missed a couple of races but once we were all together again, it was smooth sailing.

The race was fantastic:

Day 1: actually, day 1 wasn't so great,  I felt a bit blocked up and had a hard day.
Day 2: road race - loads better, Janel soloed in for the victory, Jade was 3rd and I won the bunch kick for 6th.  Denise, Courtney, Jade and I made it over the climb and represented the team well.  Poor Joelle had a nasty crash on the decent but she is tough as nails and brushed it off like a champ.  Brie was out sick:( boooooo
Day 3: TT - Janel, again, AMAZING ride!!!
Day 4: crit - Joelle gave me the most amazing leadout and I took the victory!
Day 5: road race, we just needed to get our GC girls to the climb - protected as much as possible and the end result was Janel taking 3rd!!

It was such a great weekend and we had a blast as a team.  That's what it is about.

So now, I'm back home and today I've done yoga, laundry, dishes, washed windows, pulled weeds and now blogging - I feel so productive:)!!! hahahah

The sun feels wonderful, it has rained so the air is clean and I'm settling in to a week of riding at home. I don't have any new photos besides what is on FB from the races, sorry....

Reading: Half Broken Horses by Jeannette Walls
Watching: yoga videos on youtube
Listening: Tidal Wave by Sub Focus
Eating: smoothies: oats, frozen blueberries/raspberries, strawberries, yogurt, milk, flax seeds, cinnamon, almond butter.
Website: Thule backpacks....

Gelderland, Fleche, Borsele

After our week of non racing, it was time for 139k Gelderland on Sunday, Flèche Wallone on Wednesday, Borsele TT on Friday and Borsele RR on Saturday, fly home Sunday.

First off, the weather was amazing through all these races, sunshine, warm(er) and a bit windy but still, sunshine - most important.

Gelderland wasn't such a great race for me, seems I needed that race to blow out the pipes to get ready for Flèche, plus 3 of the girls crashed, so it wasn't a great day but a couple of us managed to make it to the finish line...

Monday, Tuesday were easy spin days plus team presentation in Huy for Flèche.  Wednesday was a beautiful race, we all worked great as a team to make sure Kmac was in the best position and well taken care of.  She got away with a group but the peleton reeled them back in over the Mur the first time....

The second lap was attack after attack until the peleton was split into groups, I finished in the second group and enjoyed the climb the last time - most of the spectators were good and drunk by then;) funny comments...

Thursday was another easy spin day, Friday we drove to Zeeland for the TT.  That was a fun course and the funny thing, Vos's dad was my follow car - tripped me out.... nice guy!!!

Saturday, the other girls met us at the race start - it was a 2hr drive and we raced Borsele RR.  5k into the race is a hard left hand turn, onto a bike path, so it was gonzo to that corner.  The first lap the peleton was all together but the second lap going into that turn was a gnarly crash with girls bouncing down the tarmac.  I skidded through safely, only to go down in the corner when a girl in front of me skidded out and I t-boned her - DANG IT....

2 of our girls crashed out, so it was Ruth, Kendal, Emily and myself for the rest of the day.  We worked on echeloning as a group and we practiced our lead out successfully.  So it was mostly a good day minus the crashes.

Last night we drove back to Fitland, packed bikes, washed clothes and packed bags....now I'm in the airport waiting for our flight to go home:)

Enjoy some pictures.....

 Oh my gosh! Look at all this FOOD!!!!

 A beautiful sunset on the road....

 The motorbikes that are part of our races....

 Megan and I at presentation...

 Emily and I, same presentation...

 Feeding the ducks:)

 Fleche prep....

 These wonderful people helped us a lot, offering their camper at a couple of races....

 Simon, Kristen and Ruth....

 Goofball!

 The circus was in town!!!

 Driving to Borsele.....hoping the rain would stop for the tt...it did...

Sleepyhead....

 The town of Zeeland...

 Our hotel for the evening for Borsele....

 The family that offered the camper.....

 Plus the dog or mascot....

 Vos's dad....

 Our hotel room....

 The view....

 The beds...

 Pre race horsey ride....

Team mascot....

Reading: Wild, maybe I'll finish it soon....
Listening: Lover of the light, Mumford & Sons
Eating: anything in sight, day after race hungries...
Watching: the planes come in and out...
Website: http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/04/gallery/gallery-agony-and-ecstacy-on-the-mur-de-huy_282725   #13/#33 are of me......owie!!!!!!