My last junior worlds was another amazing learning experience! It started off racing the Team Pursuit qualification round. We had a solid ride up 3km and then in the last kilometre the team began to fall apart. We went out faster then planned and we payed for it in the end but we ended up qualifying in 5th place with a time of 4:37 which put us in a good place for our first round ride which was the following day.
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2019
If you have been around cycling for a little while you may have heard of the Tour de l'Abitibi, you may have even competed in it. The race is renowned for its super fast stages and 150 junior rider fields which hit the deck more than Tire Touch Timmy. I had the privilege to race on the Canadian national team for the event and with a really strong roster we were looking good for some results.
Wednesday the 19th of June marked stage 1 of the 2019 Tour de Beauce. Things kicked off with a hot one, also the longest stage of the week, 177km. We started in St. Georges riding 40km along some classic Quebec roads, undulating and with plenty of potholes. It was full gas for that first hour all the way out to the circuit.
I was reminded on Saturday of the truest high I feel when racing my bike. It’s not winning. It’s not speed. It’s going into the race as a team with a plan, and riding as one perfectly functional and dominant unit to execute the plan flawlessly. You feel important and most of all, you feel as though you are part of something bigger.
Following a disappointing performance at provincials, wherein a misjudgment of my abilities (in addition to catastrophic cramping) resulted in near disaster for the team, I quickly re-evaluated my goals, packed my bags, and headed south, determined to force my body into some semblance of form.
The Provincial time trail was a 40km course out in Fort Langley area, I’ve been on the podium several times at TT Provincials so I was looking to do well. It was an absolutely miserable day out there, so much rain made for a slippery course.
Jeremy's Roubaix is quite the contrast to the normal races that we attend for the year. It takes place on the on-and-off the gravel dyke paths in Maple Ridge BC. Our race was 100km, about 50km of that was on the gravel sections.
The team has been super busy over the past couple of weeks, and there is a lot to catch up on! For me, it has been two full weeks on the road, travelling and racing my bike. I am writing this as I fly home from Quebec, where I was just racing the Grande Prix Cycliste Gatineau with the National Team. But I won’t get ahead of myself, I will start at the beginning and hope to keep the read interesting and not overly lengthy (no promises).
The Mutual of Enumclaw Stage Race was the last race of the Tour of Washington series, and the women’s team made it a goal to move Holly up to 2nd place in the overall points GC. I was excited to host the team at my house and take them on some Olympia roads the day prior to the race. It was a nice way to spin out the legs after experiencing the worst I-5 traffic on a Friday afternoon.
It’s 5:45 am in Wenatchee, Washington. I’m sure that somewhere people are waking to the sight of dew glistening on grass in the warm early morning sun of late spring accompanied by the sounds of peaceful birdsong. We, however, are awoken quite abruptly by a chorus of flipping tires, grunts, and death metal.
This weekend the team went to the Tour de Bloom in Wenatchee, Washington. The islanders got picked up from the 7am ferry and the road trip started from there. It was not long before we were stopped and outside of our vehicle at the border. The nexus cards this time didn’t help us save time because a few of the cards were inactivated. An hour later we were back in the van headed to the apple capitol of the world!
The 2019 Tour of Walla Walla would be the first test for Trek Red Truck Racing after an epic week of training down in Thousand Oaks, California the week before. The drive in to town the day before racing would provide a preview of things to come over the weekend, as the weather shifted back and forth between bright sunshine and torrential rain every few minutes.
After a few busy weeks with Team camp, Walla Walla, and Junior Track Nationals, sickness and school work had taken over some of the women’s team. A small TRT women’s crew took to the line of Jeremy’s Roubaix on Saturday to battle it out on the Dykes of Pitt Meadows.
After an incredible week of riding with our sponsors in the mountains and along the beautiful coast surrounding Thousand Oaks California at team camp, the race team was prepped and excited for the first stage race since the early season trek to Redlands Bicycle Classic.