Tour de l'Alberta

After a nice long ride with my cycling group on a crazy hot 32C Saturday, I decided to go into the Tour de l'Alberta the following day. This Tour is 180 km travelling north of Edmonton thru the small French community towns. It's not a race though eventually groups form and ride together. I was hoping to get into a fast group for a decent workout. A group of 6 guys in yellow motorola jerseys jumped to the front. I followed and it was pretty fun working with them. We stopped a few times to get food/water from the feedzones in the towns.

Matt Decore, a strong mountain bike racer, hooked up with our group. At one of the only two hill sections the entire loop, Matt went hard and I jumped as well like a dog chasing down a frisbee! Soon, it was just Matt and myself headed together to the finish. The winds were against us going west. It helped to take turns pulling. We talked about racing future team races together as we had good teamwork pulling to the end.

Watermelon Smoothie!

Anywhere I have travelled these last few months, my hosts have been my guinea pigs for my Green Smoothie concoctions that I've been making with my VitaMix. It's cool to see everyone open to trying the green drinks. My best testers were Jacquie's kids who were just as excited to put the high-speed blender on to mix the smoothie as well as to clean it!

hamming it up with the miniature hamsters

Tonight, after a wicked Tuesday night cycling interval session with my bike club ERTC, I made a recovery drink out of my seeded organic watermelon. She was all of 19 lbs and made for a great work-out carrying it from the store.

Nick, my Greek roomie, was my tester and we loved the blended drink which included the white pulp and the seeds all meshed in together. It would be even more super tasty frozen. Ummm!

Seek the Peak - outcome

This race was... AWESOME!! Super scenic, strategic, and my kind of challenge. Total mental focus on pacing up to the Grind (10km), hammering the Grind (3km - 2800' elevation gain), peaking Grouse and remaining relaxed for the descent to the finish.

I held a conservative pace on the first 10 km. Once I hit the Grind, I put my head down and passed alot of people. 2/3 of the way, my calves were on the verge of cramping to the point I thought I might have to drop out if they did (overbalance of super quad and no trained calves/ham). My breath rate was relaxed and my legs had no lactic acid so I was bummed to ease my pace.

Strolling up the Grind natural stairclimb

At the top of the Grind, the last uphill was on gravel with a steep grade to my liking. At the top, I was pensive on the descent to not cramp. Yay, I finished with no cramps and 2nd woman - awesome! I was 4 minutes off last year's record time though Tania Percy smashed her record again this year. Funny to see the leg splits... my Grind section was 12th fastest overall! and faster than Tania's.

My grade school friend Jacquie's mom also went in the race. Helen is inspiring at 67 years old and came 2nd in the age category. Ever since I've known Jacquie, her mom has run races.

Jacquie Sabourin, Helen Sabourin, Marg Fedyna

 

Seek the Peak

On Sunday, I will lace up my running shoes and take part in the "Seek the Peak" charity run from the shores of Ambleside in North Vancouver all the way up to the peak of Grouse Mountain. The event is 16 km with 4100' elevation gain. It includes the Grouse Grind trail. It will be an awesome training event for a cyclist with all the uphill. I look so forward to it. The past week has been eventful with the disappearance of my home stored in my car. More on that later.