Blog

Lots has happened in the last 6 months, so here is a quick, 30 second update.

After crashing at the track in T-Town in August ’06 and fracturing my shoulder, I was unable to compete at the Canadian National Championships. I spent a frustrating fall rehabbing and getting back into shape. This frustration just fuelled my passion to compete at the highest level possible. That brings me to the most exciting news: I’m racing on the newly formed UCI professional track team: Team R.A.C.E. (www.teamrace.com), powered by Planet Energy (www.planetenergy.ca) I’ve already competed in my first world cup in Los Angeles (Jan 19-21) [see attached photo of me competing in the Pursuit in L.A.] and am getting ready to go to Manchester for World Cup # 4 (Feb 23-25).

Also, I’ll be making my radio debut TODAY at 1:30 pm on the Nationally syndicated CBC radio show “Inside Track”. Tune in to CBC Radio One between 1:30 and 2:00 to hear my honest and candid diary of my adventures at my first World Cup competition in L.A. The diary is preceded by a studio interview with host Robin Brown. If you miss today’s show, you can listen to it online starting Monday at: http://www.cbc.ca/insidetrack/highlights/c.html Enjoy!!

Talk soon!
Julia

It’s been a while since I posted something here. I’ve been doing lots of road racing since Nature Valley, including the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic Stage Race and Superweek in Milwaukee. Both were awesome experiences and good, hard racing. I’m not sure how many states I’ve been through in the past few weeks, but I know it’s alot!

Fitchburg Longsjo Classic – Fitchburg, Massachussetts (June 29 to July 2)

My teammate, Diana Joness and I went to Fitchburg together and the first adventure we experienced was just in getting there. Little to our knowledge, upper state New York had flooded and the major highway we needed to take (I-90) came to a sudden close just as we approached Rochester. After consulting with a friendly trucker who gave us his map book, we decided on a route that looked like it would be just great. Unfortunately, there were countless other wandering travelers who were in the same boat. We ended up in lineups of cars for hours on end, winding our way up and down Upper State NY in a zig zag pattern. What was supposed to be a 6 hour drive turned into 14 hours of stop and go. We arrived at our hotel at 3 am.

Stage 1 was a 10 km rolling time trial. I was one of the first riders off. Just as I was finishing my warmup, the skies opened up and a major storm blew in. I was doubting that they would start the riders as I watched the lightning strike from under my warmup tent. It calmed down just enough to allow racing. I ended up racing in the stormy conditions, and it cleared up after I finished. Unfortunately (for me), all the women who went in the second half of the start list had calm, post-storm conditions. O well – what can you do? I had a decent ride and came in 31st out of 71 starters.

The second stage was a hilly circuit race. I was with the main group when I got a flat just before the climb, halfway into the race. There was no way of catching the group after a wheel change and I finished 59th, 10 minutes down. Unfortunately, Diana crashed early in the race which resulted in quite a gash in her elbow. She toughed it out and finished the race.

Day 3 was a very hilly road race, which finished on a very, steep climb. I hung in for the first few laps and rode with a small group for the remainder of the race. I was 59th, 9 minutes behind Kiwi World pursuit record holder, Sarah Ulmer. Who says trackies can’t climb? Diana had a pretty rough day. She was dropped early, but really toughed it out and rode the entire 100 plus km alone. She even refused a push that was offered by a friendly spectator on the last climb, a decision which she later regretted. What a tough chick!

Superweek – Milwaukee, Wisconsin (July 10 – 15)

This is one race I’ve always wanted to check out. I’ve heard so many great things about superweek and it did not disappoint.

First of all, Maogosha and I stayed with the most amazing host family (Ann, Dan and Natalie) in the beautiful town of Cedarburg, Wisconsin. We had so much fun with them. Our spots are reserved for next year! Here is a picture of Mao, me and Natalie (photo courtesy of Dan), and Ann and me taking a spin on the bike paths of Cedarburg.

The variety of courses at Superweek is what makes it really cool. The week starts off with road races and long circuit races, then you get into the more technical crits as the week goes on. I had some good races, especially on day 2 which was the longest road race of the week. I got into a break of 7 which we thought would stick because all the teams were represented. Alas, we got caught with about a lap to go in the race. I got caught up in a crash, which caused me to chase for several kilometres, not really making for a strong finish.

Overall, the week was super-fun and again provided some good, hard training! More importantly, Mao and I discovered “Marshall’s” and had a little shopping spree. She made me walk around the store in 5 inch high green heels for her amusement. Sadly, I don’t have a picture of that.

The Nature Valley Grand Prix is a “Women’s Prestige Series” and NRC (National Race Calender) event on the North American Road Racing calendar. This year’s race attracted the strongest women’s pro teams in North America as well as some world class international riders such as Pursuit World Record holder, New Zealand’s Sarah Ulmer and the New Zealand National team, and World Pursuit Champion, Australia’s Katie Mactier. The 5 day stage race is held in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area of Minnesota.

The racing was fast and hard as most riders are coming into their peak for the upcoming Canadian and U.S. National Road Championships. In addition to being on the NRC circuit, Nature Valley is also part of the “Women’s Prestige” Series and all the heavy-hitters were present as the teams vied for points in the “Prestige” series. The top 8 teams in the series, which includes the NVGP and the “Tour de Toona” in July, are offered a stipend to go to Bermuda in September for the final race of the series, so the stakes were high all around.

For me, the goal for this stage race was to gain fitness for races later in the season. I wanted to race as hard and fast as I could and stay within the allotted timecuts so that I could start the next day’s racing. On all those notes, the racing was a success. I also posted personal high wattage outputs, showing that my fitness and training are going in the right direction. I’m looking forward to the fitness gain that I’m sure to have after this gruelling week of racing – there’s no training like racing!

To say the racing was hard was an understatement. The 5-stage race which included a time trial, 2 road races and 2 crits, with one of the crits featuring a climb with an 18% grade on every lap – had every possible element that could make a race epic: crosswinds, crashes, hail, and heat. Teams used the windy conditions to ride the peloton into the gutter and shatter the field in the road races while keeping the pace at an utter max in both crits.

Out of the 135 women who started this race, I placed 67th in the overall general classification. If anyone is looking for a great, well-organized, challenging race, this is one that I would not hesitate to recommend! It’s worth the 14 hour drive to Minneapolis. I will be back next year!

For full report, results and photos for the Nature Valley Grand Prix Stage race, see: www.cyclingnews.com

Next week, I’m off to the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic Stage Race in Massachussetts – another NRC stage race – with my team R.A.C.E. teammate, Diana Joness.

Thanks to my sponsors and friends at team R.A.C.E., CBC, Lazer Helmets, Rudy Project, Proformance Athlete’s Gym and coach Karpik. Also, thanks to our host-house Mom, Connie for making us all feel at home.

Happy riding!
Julia

I have just returned from Trexlertown, Pennsylvania where I competed in my first UCI track races. I had 3 top-10 finishes in a field that was stacked with great riders. Both the men’s and women’s fields boasted World Champions and Olympians. The racing was definitely the most exciting and competitive track racing that I’ve been a part of.

Here are the details of some of my races:

Points Race (UCI): 7th place
The 36 lap points race had sprints every 6 laps that went 4 places deep (5, 3, 2, 1 points for the first 4 riders across the line each sprint). With 12 laps remaining in the race, I attacked and got away from the field solo. I came within a straightaway of lapping the field until a sprint lap got the group going and the chase began. I heard the announcer say that if I caught the field, I would win the race but with only a third of a lap left in the race I got caught by some riders and ended up 7th with 5 points.

Keirin (UCI): 7th place
The Keirin is a sprint race in which a group is motorpaced behind a motorbike for about 4 and a half laps of the 333 metre track. The motor brings the riders up to about 45 km/h before pulling off the front. After that, it’s a drag race to the finish.
In the semi finals, I placed 4th, just one place out of making the finals. Then I raced the 7th through 12th race and won, placing 7th overall.

Scratch Race (UCI): 9th place
The 5km scratch race is basically a race to the finish line – first across the line wins. With World Champion Sprint medalist, Jennie Reed in the race, it came down to a fight for her wheel. With a lap and a half to go in the race, I found myself in the perfect position for a podium finish – on Jennie’s wheel! Things got pretty aggressive and I backed off and let someone take it from me. I lost some momentum and sprinted in for a 9th place finish. In the unforgiving, high speed sport of track cycling, a slight error can cost you a race and this was a good reminder of that.

The track in T-Town is definitely the hotbed of cycling in North America and I can’t wait to go back for my next race there on July 7, the “International Women’s Challenge”, where women’s racing will be the featured event of their Friday night race series.
In the meantime, I’m on my way to the Nature Valley Grand Prix Stage race in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It’s part of the “Women’s Prestige Race Series” and the 150 rider field limit is at capacity. I can’t remember seeing a women’s field of that size in North America. It is going to be a good race! Racing starts Wed, June 14 and goes until Sun, June 18. Stay tuned!

Thanks to my sponsors and teammates at team R.A.C.E. for your support. Happy riding!

Julia

Pictures from racing in T-Town can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lehighvalleyvelodrome/sets/72157594156599753/

Over 70 women lined up for the start of the Women’s race at the 2006 Ontario Cup road race at Mosport race track in Bowmanville. In my 9 years of racing, this is by far the largest women’s field I have ever seen at an Ontario road race! It’s exciting to see that the sport has grown to this extent!

Mosport marked my first race with my new team, “Team R.A.C.E.”. I’m really excited to be racing for this awesome team. The women on the team come from a variety of backgrounds including triathlon and running and a few of the women do Ironman triathlons as well as road racing.

There were 6 women from my team racing at Mosport and the excitement level was high! We also had our own personal cheering squad – a couple of the guys from the men’s team cheered for us every lap around the 4km course. What a team!

I went right to the front when the starting gun went off. Since there were so many unknown faces and the winds were extremely strong and blew the group around, I decided to stay very near the front of the pack and keep out of trouble. I was grateful for this decision when I heard the sound of more than one crash behind me.

This race capped a very hard training week for me and I was feeling it in my legs less than halfway through the race. Yikes! I knew I was in trouble when the pace picked up on the climb. I went to stand up and I had to sit back down because my legs were cramping so badly. I spun my way up the climb and was yo-yoing off the back but managed to hang on to the lead group of 22 riders for the rest of the race to place 22nd.

A couple of light days of recovering are definitely in the cards for me as I look ahead to a full weekend of racing at the Ontario Track Championships in London, Ontario next weekend. I’ll be competing in the Pursuit, Match Sprints, Points Race and Scratch Race in preparation for some UCI track races in Trexlertown in June. Stay tuned for a full report from London.