I've never been an overly speedy cyclist, and racing is new to me. Though I had been on a mountain bike for years before I started wearing Lycra and getting into drop-bars, I was certainly the slow and steady style rider, preferring to take the easy ride-rounds than the crazy-ass-obstacles. I never raced a bike or had any desire to speed up, until I met cyclocross. Heck, I had never really done much racing of any kind! (Unless you count Mario Kart)

So, you can imagine my surprise when I dished out money for an entry-level CX bike, signed up for my first race (Donkey CX 2015) and landed a not-so-bad result for my first time! You can imagine my even further surprise when I finished the 2015 season strong, and started racing Intermediate women in 2016. I didn't podium at every race in 2016, but I did enough that for this year, I am moving myself up into the Elite/Expert women category.

Before the start of this season, to prep myself for racing the faster, stronger women, I hired a coach to help me learn to train. I've NEVER trained for something like this before. I've never run a marathon, the longest triathlon I've ever attempted was a sprint distance, and I can't run more than 5km without my knee wanting to dislocate from my body. I eat donuts like they are going out of style, and I still ride pretty slowly when no one is watching. I am not, I repeat, fast. Sure, maybe I'm faster than I was when I started, and maybe I'm faster than some other women out there (who are just starting) but compared to the women racing Cat 1-2, I am NOT fast. So, my goal with a coach was to learn how to train myself to get faster...

Give me a technical course, or give me death. Honestly, those straight, flat sections in CX races kill me. Give me mud, roots, technical bits, and less straight, flats, and not only will I have more fun, but I'll perform better too...relatively speaking, I need to work on my SPEED.

See the trend here? I'm not that fast.

I prepped myself mentally for the reality that I would be facing in the 2017 CX racing season...moving up into the elite/expert category would mean that I was no longer going to be at the front of the pack. I was no longer going to be on the podium. I had become so accustomed to winning, or being top 5, in the last two seasons, that I knew it would be a shock to my system when I lost. Don't get me wrong, I've been last before! (CrossVegas USAC, fat bike racing)

I had my first taste of racing the faster women at the MIVA Mid-Season CX Race in Nanaimo, where the field was broken into two groups, one faster, one slower. I came in dead last after my closest competitor dropped out mid-race. Needless to say, I was sad. I was embarrassed. Heck, I had my mom come out and watch, and she got to watch me lose. Certainly was not proud of that result.

Last weekend, at the first Cross On The Rock race of the season, Pro City GP in Victoria, I again, did not place in the top half. I was second to last, and only because there was a brave soul racing on a single speed bike (KUDOS to you!!).

The hardest part about not being able to keep up with the pack, is that you end up racing alone. The race becomes a mind game and it becomes overly tempting to give up. I personally find that I slow down and don't "race" when I have no one in close sight to chase or get away from. It's far more fun to race when there's people with you.

So, with the race season on the mainland kicking off, and my determination to keep trying, because I LOVE CYCLOCROSS, I am mentally telling myself that I'm OK with losing. I'm OK with bringing up the back of the pack. If I can get to the point where I am no longer getting lapped by my own field, then I'll be happy. If I can get comfortable getting passed by the elite men, I'll be happy. If I can be content knowing that I'm not going to podium, I'll be happy. I know that each year, with more training and effort, I will get better, faster and stronger. Maybe 2017 isn't my year to shine, but perhaps 2018 will be a bit brighter.

On that note, ladies, I urge you to reconsider which category you'll be racing this year. Take a look at your lap times and compare them to the people you're racing. Are you faster than they are? If you're in the beginner field, are you tired of racing just 30 minutes? That extra 15 in the Intermediate race gives you more time to play on your bike and reach for hand ups! If you're in the Intermediate field, have you managed to podium a few times? Are you sandbagging? I urge you to CAT UP! Even if you know you won't be at the front of the pack of your new field, if we all re-consider our categories and move-up as needed, we'll all have someone to race. Besides, I'm sure you don't want to be the one that everyone mutters about under their breath, as you take ANOTHER podium, you sandbagger, you. ;)

Let's keep the women's CX racing alive and well, and let's keep it growing. Encourage your friends to come out and try CX! There are so many clinics and camps to choose from, that no one should be left out. Are you on the island? Great! Come ride CX with me!

The take-home tidbit of my story today is this: you won't get better by staying stationary, and getting better takes time and hard work. There's no shame in coming last, or not being top 5. Challenge yourself by CAT-ING UP and come play bikes with me.

See you all at Donkey CX and Ladysmith this weekend!

Day 1 of my 9 day vacation started with an early morning rise in order to prep myself for the Mount Washington cyclocross race, Top of the Rock Cross, race #2 in the Cross on the Rock series.

Saturday, the morning of the race, as I readied myself, my bike and my gear, the weather was trying to scare all the racers away. The city of Courtenay was being drenched in a downpour. I was somewhat excited about the potential of racing in the mud, but also upset at myself for not packing more...I had packed light, according to the weather forecast I checked Friday morning. The current wet mess was not part of that forecast! I kicked myself for not packing my fleece-lined skin-suit.

My partner and I borrowed my Dad's truck - which was a treat! Heated seats, and a rear space big enough to hold both bikes, without taking the wheels off. We loaded up all our gear, as fast as we could, into the truck and drove up towards the mountain. Luckily, the top of the mountain is about a half hour drive from my island home.

Driving to Mount Washington brought me a feeling of being back at home. When I lived in the Comox Valley, I worked at the mountain for five seasons (4 winters, 1 summer) and spent a lot of my free time snowboarding, hiking and mountain biking in the park. I can thank the instructors and staff at Mount Washington for getting me hooked on mountain biking -- I took a lesson one day, bought a used DH bike right afterwards, and have been riding ever since. So many good memories made up on that mountain!

Approaching the mountain from the Valley, we could see blue sky ahead trying to peak through the clouds. The rain began to lighten up. As we drove up the mountain, we came up into the fog and clouds...then soon, we were above most of the cloud coverage and the rain had stopped. There was a mixture of blue sky and cloud, with a few drops of rain tossed in there for good measure. What a beautiful day! I no longer cared so much about not having the skin-suit with me.

We eyed up the course with delight. There was a mixture of uphill, slippery, off-camber downhill, off-camber traverse, cobblestones, single-track, rutted, bumpy grass, stairs, barriers and pavement. This course was pretty much a mountain biker's dream come true. As I had hoped, the course was wet. There was mud. I had been praying for mud.

The beginner's raced first, and wow, was there a lot of them! Men, women and children all zipped around the course at their top speeds. The course was so packed with racers, that you couldn't really tell who was in first and who was last. The most impressive, in my opinion, was the tiny girl with the colourful bike who muscled her way up the steep run up with her bike in tow. Gosh, she moved faster than most men on that course!

The weather on the top of the mountain was ever-changing between cold and windy, to warm and sunny and then back to cold. I switched between wearing a wind breaker, and not wearing one, and then wearing it, and then not. I chose to race in just my jersey, but kind of wished I had arm warmers.

The intermediate group raced second. There were so many of us, that I was super pumped. Single speeders, men + women, and U17. For the women, there was nearly 30 of us lined up to get started. I couldn't stop smiling at the thought of having so many people to race.

Call-ups were done, based on the first series race of the year (Top of the Rock CX was race #2) and that meant that nearly every woman around me got called up...I was nearly the last one on the line. Hm....that's a lot of people to try and pass!

The whistle blew and we all flew from the start line and up the first hill. Why did they start us on an uphill?? ;)

I tried my best to get in front of as many women as I could, before the first section of the course and the first corners. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to pass too many, because in the first grassy corner, I got held up by someone trying not to fall over, stopped in the apex of the corner. I had to stop. I had to go around her.

Back in the race, I pushed and pushed and rode the corners, the ups and the downs. I flew as fast as I could up the hills, so that I could hold my spot down them. I didn't slip at all on my dismount before the left turn up the stairs and onto the off-camber traverse and right hand corner. I found it easier to run most of the traverse, rather than try to remount on the low side of the hill.

When it came to the slippery, muddy, wet, off-camber, zig-zag downhill section, which led to a grassy traverse and a HUGE muddy-grassy run-up, I chose to run the entire section, rather than ride. Although most folks chose to ride the downhill section, they all had to get off their bikes and run up the next bit, so I had a bit of an advantage. I saved time by dismounting where it was convenient and using all my momentum from the flat section to run up the hill.

As the laps went on, there were men starting to pass me. Corey passed me. Dammit. ;) I had no idea where in the race I was, how many women were in front of me, how many were behind me, or if I had even been lapped by the race leader. I just kept my speed up, kept trying to pass people, and kept my eyes on the lap board. A few laps in, and it started to rain.

Some people rode the course on mountain bikes, and though their hill climbs were a bit less speedy, they seemed to have a great advantage on the downhill and rutted grass sections. Gosh, shock absorption on a cross bike would be amazing!

The last lap bell was rang, and I was so thankful. Although I was having a great time, I was extremely thirsty and starting to feel exhausted on the climbs. The course didn't really have a section where you could recover, so the entire race was spent pushing, pushing and pushing.

I finished the race. Tired. Happy. Muddy.

Somehow, I managed a QOM on the run-up, of 5 seconds, as well as a QOM of 5:42 for a lap of the course. Later, upon receiving the results, I see that I managed to come in 7th overall of women, U17 girls and SS women -- but 4th in my category. Not a bad result considering I started from the back of the pack!

I had no idea what place I was in, and results didn't appear to be getting posted anywhere anytime soon, so we packed up, said our good-byes and headed back down the hill so that we could catch the ferry that evening and get ready for racing in Port Coquitlam the next day.

You can view my Strava details for this race here: https://www.strava.com/activities/715767119
Full race results can be found here: http://www.crossontherock.com/php/race-results/?raceid=67