Back to Reality

After the national team camp in Carlsbad, the U23 Ontarians packed up our stuff and headed north to Oxnard for the OCA Endurance camp. It was a little sad starting the last week of training camps for the 2013 preseason, but I was still really excited for the riding and company! The week was filled with Canada Summer Games prep (which included a vicious points race, a rather unorthodox team relay, and a surprisingly painful wheelbarrow race), bike riding, eating, and as much relaxation as possible. I've got a few papers to write now that I've returned to reality, so I'll reserve my words for those. Pictures are worth more than words anyways, so have at it:

Lake Casitas loop - even on a cloudy day, it's nice!

Gatorade commercial?

Best part of California :)

Who is that fine physical specimen?

Majestic Unicorn... a.k.a Greg Rawson

Backside of Gibraltar... ice/snow skills were called upon today

Ocean to my left, mountains to my right. It's the life.  

The Three Musketeers

Who knew I had an artistic side?

Thriftshoppin' 

Throwback Thursday for Petey D's birthday. So greasy.

Looking fly, MA

Happy birthday, Peter!

Throwback Thursday

Donuts... Cakes... We're athletes?

If that's not authentic, I don't know what is. 

Last ride in California... that smile may be a little forced haha

Until next year!

I woud have taken "Hailey", or maybe "Hayley",  but this just seems a little ridiculous...

Back to real life now, which means a large amount of studying and an extra large amount of procrastinating. Only a month and a half until race season... survival seems possible.

Just a little something to get you through those last midterms and past the Wednesday hump:

http://8tracks.com/madameatloaffakk/mountains-babes-bitinggoats-trees

The Golden Coast

After a brief spell in the Arctic, it was back to the sunny south for the beginning of the National MTB Team training camp. Based out of Carlsbad, California, the goal for the week was lots and LOTS of base miles. The Canadian girls were a blast to ride with, and I learned a lot both on and off the bike.

105km ride out to San Clemente and back. Lots of echelon practice! 

Ride down to the San Diego velodrome... I love the PCH

Les fleurs pour les BELLES filles ;)

First time I've ever been on a track. Safe to say I'm hooked! Coach should never have introduced me to this sport.

Who needs a boyfriend when you've got Scott and Adam around? Stand up guys. Happy belated Valentines Day you beautiful people. 

This was undoubtedly the most fun Canada project I've ever been on. With a heavy emphasis on "team building", we got to do lots of activities. From Supercross, to go karting, to ice cream on the beach, we sure did build a pretty good team. Huuuuge thanks to the National team staff for making this trip so awesome! A healthy balance between practice and play made for a great week and a half.

This was an experience for sure. Welcome to muuuuurica

Mitch was pretty excited for supercross. #sexy

Addicted. 

Happy birthday Mitchell! Can't believe this kid is 21... please don't start acting your age. 

The best rest day ever. 

4 people, 3 bikes, 2 hockey bags, 1 bike bag, 3 suitcases, 3 back packs, and a whole lot of food. Scott Kelly, you are officially the master of Tetris. 

Left to Right: Confused, Windswept, and Covergirl

Malibu pier... Athletes and Scott's DAY OF FUN.

After a great week in Carlsbad, it's time to hit up the OCA camp in Oxnard. Looking forward to a few great days of riding aboard my Norco Valence, eating, and hanging out with some of the most fun people around. Just loving life right now!

Oxnard is a great place. So grateful to be here... biking is just awesome. 

PS. You've probably all heard the Lumineers album, but if you haven't you need to take a listen! Shout out to Momma Turner for wrangling some tickets for this concert. April 30th can't come fast enough!

I could say Tucson wasn't fun, but it'd be a lie...

Well, it's been a week since I've returned to the frigid abyss that is a Kingston winter. I thought that (maybe) after a week back here I'd realize that winter really isn't that bad... but NOPE (insert Chuck Testa reference). Tucson proved to be the ideal place for a mountain biker looking for some base miles, and it was pretty tough for me to leave. I won't waste too much time complaining about the chilly white stuff all over the ground though; only about 60 more hours and I'll be off to California! It's a tough life.

So about Tucson... I flew down in the middle of January and met up with Mitch before we headed over to Antoine & Jeremy's who graciously allocated us some floor space (thanks for the airport pickup, by the way!). The next 10 days were filled with awesome riding (road and mountain), waaaaay too much frozen yogurt, and good times. We spent some time with these two American dudes (man, those guys talk funny ;) ) who definitely made the stay better. Needless to say, I really didn't want to come home. I may have to find a way to escape the entirety of winter next year, instead of just 10 days! 

Anyways, I'll keep it short. Unfortunately, exams don't study for themselves (it'd be neat if they did though) so I should probably stop procrastinating. That is, after I clean my room. And maybe eat something. And probably watch an episode of Friends. Or maybe I'll just go to bed...

Managed to avoid the jersey tan, only to get a vest tan. Seems like I can never win!

Mitch, Antoine, and I went on an epic "adventure". Bars were eaten and life was contemplated. Mission accomplished. 

I really don't have any words for Antoine's face in this picture hahaha

Ahhhh, that's better.

SUPER glad I paid all those baggage fees to ensure my bags made it. If you didn't pick up on the sarcasm, the airline lost my bags. Awesome. 

Obligatory airplane photo. Being on top of the world is pretty neat, when you think about it. 

Mile 0, Mt. Lemmon

Antoine told me mile 20 was the top... he lied.

Possibly my favourite picture of the trip. Just an all-around neat picture.

One more thing!

This past weekend ended up being pretty awesome, as I got to volunteer as a coach at the annual Women's Weekend at Joyride150! It was a sweet weekend full of riding, and dare I say I learned more than I taught! It's a really cool thing seeing so many women excited about riding. You ladies are awesome! Thanks to Joyride for putting on such a stellar event, and to all the other coaches that helped out - it was a great weekend!

Excuse the red face... rippin' XC laps had me a little flushed

The Norco XC loop was the highlight of my Sunday. 

The skinnies were my domaine on Saturday... Made me feel like a little kid again! Deliberate play at the same time as deliberate practice = awesome 

That's right boys. 

Love this place!!