epic racing continued

Gina Grain celebrates birthday with 3rd place finish and a storm for the ages

by Jim Williams

The Nature Valley Grand prix is turning into a survival contest for the Colavita/Co oking Light Team. Tonight was supposed to be a downtown cycling celebration in Minneapolis but it turned into a little bit of everything with an emphasis on wet and wild adventure. One hour before the race a sprinkle started from what was expected to be a quick passing thunderstorm. The sprinkle grew to a hard rain and then to sideways sheets of rain. The staff had set up the temporary race camp sandwiched next to 2 big buildings and huddled under their race tent with Sue Palmer Komar and Gina Grain to weather the storm through. The rest of the team was out warming up and had to seek shelter in a bus stop. Every minute when the rains seemed as though they should be letting up they some how managed to come down harder until the rain turned to hail and then the hail got larger and larger. Form the loosely protected area those in the tent were able to watch tents from other teams blow apart and then had to run out and rescue equipment that began floating away after the streets flooded over the sidewalk. Sue Palmer Komar the wise experienced racer put on her race helmet to protect her from the flying chunks of ice and Gina Grain laughed and claimed, “this is the best birthday present ever” When the storm finally passed and the damage surveyed, the only lose for the Cola vita/Cooking Light team were the race radio’s that got a drenching even though they had been put in zip lock bags. The upcoming race was shortened and for the third year in a row would be contested on slippery wet roads. Nerves were high as a wet crit course usually means crashes but the team had been equipped with high friction Michelin rain tires and everyone stayed up right during the race which was fast and aggressive and strung out single file for its duration. Colavita/Cooking Light rode a conservative race and at the end rain specialist Gina Grain gave it a go at the line and was able to earn a spot on the podium and even more reason for the team to celebrate with her. .


Okay, so that is Jim's report and it just about sums it up. It was NUTS!! I was not a happy camper to be racing a crit in the wet. But it's true about the tires, they were super grippy michelins and I love them. I wish I had my camera to take a picture of the hail. Let's just say there was no need to buy ice for the coolers, we had tons after that!! You need to check out Doug's and Timmy's blog, they took pictures so hopefully they post. Plus the water was up over the curb and the waves were approaching our little protected encampment. It was wild. Alas, the flood waters receded quickly and we were able to race, in the wet but at least it stopped raining for a bit. Different story for the guys though, they had to call their race 17 min into it. Better them than us.

Today it was windy again for the long day in the saddle. I wasn't too happy about that either. I mean 80 plus miles of crosswinds only to come into town and have to do 4 circuits with a heinous hill. BRUTAL! I will never do this race again!

Meanwhile, at home, Trinity scored 3 goals in her soccer game!! Way to go girl! I am finally going to get to see her play next saturday before I head to Rochester for the Twilight crit. She has scored 6 goals in 3 games so far.

well, I should go prepare mentally for this stillwater hell that's in store for us tomorrow. Sounds like a fun day, ha!

crazy chaos

that about sums up the first road stage out here in minnesota. colavita certainly had some bad luck yesterday and bad timing with the bad luck. crazy cross winds and 2 miles of loose gravel (some tail swishing goin on) made for a hard day at the office

it was a killer wind with lots of open type roads and a huge 132 rider field. It's annoying how a promoter will boast about the size of a women's field. It's so large this year, blah blah blah. Great. the only reason our field is so large is because they let in the 3's. It does look good on paper but most courses lately are getting more technical to "challenge" the riders. some 3's just don't have the experience and skill level to be in some of these races. Certainly the philly organisers are guilty of that. They would never throw senior 3 men in a men's pro12 race would they??

anyway, just saying that could open a whole can of rotten worms but I don't have time to go on now, i have to get ready to leave for tonight's crit. thank god it's only 40min. but yesterday didn't go as we had planned, lots of crashes and mishaps. we'll make up for it in the next three days hopefully. there are a lot of tough women on this team.

gotta fly!

return of blogger sue

okay, so blogger sue has been absent lately. It's been so long I don't know where to start. last post I said I'd write about Athens and Roswell. So, they were tales from the big ring. We didn't win those two, tina was second in both but then she won the sunny king crit the next weekend in Alabama. I wasn't part of that. I was bummed we didn't win athens or roswell but i was happy to be feeling waaay better after a less than stellar april. I felt pretty useless most of the month and just started feeling better about 3 days before athens. there was a time I thought it would be useless for me to even go to athens. it all worked out okay though. i wasn't exactly myself but the form was coming back.

I went home after athens until joe martin. I did a local race but didn't win it, that always sucks. Joe martin I was feeling better still and it went okay but we didn't win that one either. Although, the lead out in the first stage was a drag race between kori seehafer and myself. that was fun and hard and we created a gap to the rest of the field which was kind of neat. At the finish when I pulled off to let tina and dotsie do their thing, I kept waiting for everyone to start coming around me (I was pretty cooked). but they never did so I was able to snag 5th place.

I had a rotten tt though. Dotsie had a good one and before the race we were figuring there was no lynn gaggioli this year so probably around 10min flat would win it. Wrong! Dotsie did a 10:01. erinne willock blasted up the hill to win in 9:43 and dotsie was 2nd. then the crit the next day was super hard and we lost 2nd overall to alisha lion so dots ended up third. I hate that crit.

I went home again after JM and did a local race the next weekend. it went better cause there was a significant steep hill that we did 8 times. I finally won a local race! At the other race I did a few weeks ago that i lost, there was a kid's race that Trinity did. it was a ton of fun and she was pretty psyched for it. she was telling me before how much she wanted to win and me, being concerned about her being disappointed if she didn't said "well honey, it's about having fun and trying your best no matter if you win or lose, just have fun!" she seemed to buy it and a little later while we were walking to registration she said to me "mommy, it's my dream to come 2nd, then i'll be on the podium". maybe she didn't buy it. So, in the race she rode so hard she did cross the line first. there was a tight battle between her and the son (Ethan) of a riding buddy of mine. they were neck and neck going like crazy until ethan pulled up about 10m from the line.

After we crossed the line she started crying and I was like "what's up? you won the race!!" she blurbled out that she had a leg cramp in her leg. I wanted to laugh but thought better of it but what a trooper. she said that her leg was cramping in the race but she had to "KEEP GOING" cause "Ethan was right there!!" YOU GO GIRL!!

so that was my proud mommy moment. there has been lots more racing since then. montreal, somerville, captech, CSC and Philly. Now I'm in nature valley for a 5 day stage race. It starts today and I hope I have my tt legs. At least I have my CDN TT champ skinsuit. This is my only chance to race in it before Nationals again at the end of the month.

i hope to continue with the updating later this week, i should have the time, i just might be lazy. or occupied trying to find a bug cage or bug catching kit for trinity. later.

Little Ring

More tales from the little ring today. Trinity is in Senior Kindergarten this year and only goes to school Monday, Wednesday and every other Friday (all day long). So, I have Tuesday's and Thursday's when it's difficult for me to get out for a ride. So, I was going to get Trinity back in daycare for 4hrs those two days a week. She opposed, strongly, with tears. She reminded me why she doesn't like it there and even went so far as to say they don't like her at daycare. They wouldn't let her sit beside her best friend at lunch and apparently they told her and Sydney they couldn't play with each other, they needed to play with other kids. She can be a bit of a storyteller so I didn't know if I should believe her or not. Anyway, I thought about it more then decided to solve the problem another way. I need to ride those days.

Anyway, like you needed to know that. Trinity likes to ride, likes to do anything outside actually, which is great. So, she rides a lot. She has all the clothing too as you can see in the photo below. Those leg warmer's she wearing are an old pair of my arm warmers!! ha ha, so funny. Check out the cool bike, it's a Cotton Candy bike. She has informed me I need to "higher her seat".


Trinity also likes to go fast! She doesn't look so fast in this photo but she's about to do a U-turn. yep, her saddle is low.

Below is her going faster, check out the concentration on the face. She's very serious.

So, below is my solution to the problem of the tuesday/thursday riding. It's a trail-a-bike and it's pretty cool. The flag is in the bike in this pic but she never wants it there when we go out. We only go on the rail trail. She wants to go on the road but I told her there are too many crazy people driving cars out there. We went out for almost 2 hours the 2nd time we went out. It's a really good workout for me because it's like dragging an anchor in sand. She can pedal or just freewheel. I get some good heart rates doing this and it's kind of like doing strength training.

We are having fun with it at least. It comes in handy too (for runs to Baskin&Robbins for ice-cream). Notice the basket in front of her. Every ride one of her friends (or two or three if they fit in the basket) get to come along for the ride. That's teddy and furby for this ride. She also has a camelback on with liquid refreshment. I'll admit the camelback is a little "out there" but there was no place for a bottle on her bike. Plus, she might actually drink it if it's that handy.

She bugs me to go out on the trail a bike everyday. It's fun and it does give me a good workout on a day I might not get the opportunity to get out training. She's a good coach, especially when she yells at me to go FASTER, FASTER!!

Play Time

This post has nothing to do with cycling. So much for tales from the big ring. More like tales from the little ring lately. Hopefully after Athen's Twilight this weekend I have some from the big ring. Today I've posted some pics from Trinity's "Ponies" play time. Trinity is BIG on "getting set up" (her words by the way). She likes to set things up. I don't know what that may indicate for her future but I'm finding it entertaining at the moment.


So, this is her after she got the ponies "all set up". Quite the layout and below are the close-ups.

For this set up she pulled off a tulip leaf to use as a blanket for the ponies. Their pillow is comprised of leaves from some other bulb flower in the garden (I have no idea what they are called - but they are really pretty). The mattress is a pocket type face cloth. Apparently it's what every discriminating pony chooses for sleep equipment, no sleeping bags for these ponies!

This is their pasture or pool, I can't remember. Nice ambiance with the purple hyacinth flowers (stolen from my garden).

Some ponies didn't get a blanket, they were basking in the sun while others were just to big for the blankets she had available. That must be the mommy pony.

Trinity cracks me up sometimes. It's great entertainment, who needs cable? Oh, and Hi mom! I know at least she reads the blog.

Good Friday RR

Every Easter ('cept last year when it snowed, that can happen up here in the great white north) the Hamilton Cycling club has held the Good Friday Road Race. They've been doing for a million years and this year it was actually back in Hamilton for the first time in a while. It was a damp, cold day as you can gather from the pictures. I felt like crap on the bike and could only manage a 3rd place. At least Trinity didn't cry this time when I didn't win (like she did at P2A). This is the first year that she seems to "get" the whole bike racing thing. Normally, she'd be playing along the side of the road asking her dad "when can we go to McDonalds?"...

So, here I am above pre-race, waiting for the start so I could get warm.

After we started my coach, Neil, gave Trinity his wife's (Tara's - she won the race) clothes to wear and keep her warm.

Yeah, here I am riding beside my friend Nada, we are trying to get warm in the first lap.

The podium. There was a gambler's prime of $50 (courtesy of Central Cycle) at one lap to go. I tried really hard for that...but I didn't get it. So, the consolation was an HCC medal and a GOLDEN FLEECE!!! I really wanted the $50, then Trinity could go to McDonalds. ha ha

This is the Trinster with Cynthia. Cynthia and Ben took Trinity around the course backwards during the race. It was 5km around. They did a lot of walking but Trinity had Heelys on so she didn't walk as much. In addition to that when Tara and I went to find them after the race we found Cynthia and Ben pulling Trinity along on the Heelys. That's hard work for them (it was uphill too) but I'm secretly proud of Trinity for getting them to do it. Thanks Cynthia and Ben for being so good to Trinity that day, she had a blast with you two.

After the race we headed up to C'wood for Easter with the fam. The killer is that on Friday it was like 7 degrees and wet in the Hammer and 15 degrees and nice in C'wood. So, I figured I was heading for better weather. NOT! Saturday and Sunday we're cold in c'wood (like 8 degrees) and very nice in the Hammer (17 degrees!). I got ripped off with the weather. Oh well, I did get some nice riding in the hills around c'wood at least.

It's been a while. I've been wading through 49 Investor's Group applications for the last few days so time has been tight. I'm posting stuff from a while ago, like the P2A race but oh well. This group of pictures was snapped by Larry J while he and his family and his kids' friend Sam were out watching the race.

I have also already written this post once and tried to post it but there's a glitch in the matrix so I'm doing it again. Kind of like banging your head against the wall...

Ha! finally got the pictures to go where I want them.

The Jones family wrote this message in the rail trail near their house. cool eh? It was a nice surprise at that point cause I was suffering so bad. You could still read it in the trail when Trinity and I were riding there 9 days later! The picture below is more encouragment. Is that Sam behind the GO?? Sam was in a Sprockids course that I helped out with last fall. He was a trooper with his single speed, heavy as lead BMX bike chugging up the hill to finish every ride. It's the same hill on which the P2A finishes. It's a killer!

More signs. I tried to 'allez allez' but I was sputtering like an old jalopy running out of gas...

Ah, the final climb and a picture of my better side after I high-fived the Jones family on the way to the finish. I was finished!!

April showers = May flowers?

Can you tell it's going to be a lovely day here in southern ontario?? woo hoo! I feel like I'm back in California!! At least it's over 10 degrees (celcius that is, over 50 for non-metric people).

I'm going to be brave today and go out in this. If it was a race I'd have to deal so I might as well get used to it right?

Okay, I'm going to play in the puddles.

Ah, now it's fixed!!

Clearly there are glitches in the matrix....

Is it me???? or my computer? or blogger? I think that blogger is having issues.

Below there should be 3 posts put up today (monday april 10 2006). First one about P2A. 2nd one about my frustration over having lost (or at least appeared to have lost) the P2A post coz when I did it, I lost it but now it's there, magically and not just once but 3 times!! same for the two post afterwards expressing my frustration, lost when I tried to post but now magically there and in multiples too. I have since deleted the multiples but it's yet to correct it. I guess it's on time delay. I'm only clicking on 'publish post' once this time.

#%$&*!!!

I just spent a load of time writing a post (with pics!!) and I lost the whole thing. at the moment I want to write many four letter words...

%$$##&* blogger crap!!

P2A

Well, the images were posted in reverse order so I'll have to work with it. This is me coming out of the woods when I still felt good. I was feeling like a rocket in the woods, too bad the rocket puttered out later...

Ah, this is trinity and me pre-race, on the line, all smiles...60km to go!

yeah, I was feeling okay here too, it was early on, heading into a single track section from a gravel road

It's wierd the order these pics posted in...anyway, this is also a pre-race shot. It's too bad that I didn't get any after photos to post, but they weren't pretty. I was covered in mud and it took two cycles in the washer to get stuff clean, even after a hosing down outside before they went in the washer. what a mess!

I should have known when I stepped on my sunglasses just before warming up that I should maybe reconsider my participation in this insane race. You would think I'd take the hint when I had issues with the free hub body on my rear wheel, like the pawls weren't catching and it would slip. Chris tried to fix it and even looked for a wheel to borrow but I had to use the slipping one. Actually, it didn't turn out to be a big problem, I just had to be careful and remember the slippage after I had free-wheeled down a hill or in a corner. That wasn't the reason I hit the tree. Before I hit the tree I was feeling GOOD, keeping up there in the top 20-40, bloody tree...

I am sore all over today from that tree. I think I fared okay from the encounter, nothing broke in me or on my bike at least. I do remember thinking as I headed towards the tree "gosh, I hope I don't break anything" and I wasn't thinking about the bike. After that, I struggled big time, I could hardly get out of my own way. Groups kept going by me and I was thinking "I need to get on that group..." but I just couldn't. I also think that being sick with a cold was starting to catch up with me. I did grab a group eventually and things were getting better, then in a uphill single track my chain just came off, and I wasn't even shifting at the time. So, I lost my group. After that it just became a struggle to get to the finish. The mud was so deep and thick I heard people lost their shoes in it. I found it unrideable. My bike got really heavy from collecting all that mud. My feet at the finish were so heavy with mud I could barely lift them. Duh, no wonder I couldn't run up the hills!!

I went the wrong way just a few kms from the finish. After a muddy descent the trail came to a 'T' and the direction wasn't marked. So, I waited for the next guy to ask him which way, he said "right I think"... wrong! We went for a bit and I said to him "dude, there really aren't a lot of tire tracks here, I think it was the other way". So we turned around. My riding buddy, Rory, also made the same mistake with a bunch of people. Anyway, before I made the wrong turn I was the leading woman but while I went the wrong way I lost the lead to Tara Ross. But truthfully, I think that Tara may have caught me anyway going up the last long, muddy uphill to the finish. I think she was closing in on me before I went the wrong way. She did a great ride and on a cross bike too and I was so struggling up that hill. I know I wouldn't have made it on a cross bike!! It was waaaay too muddy!

In the end it was a fun day and it felt so good to just be finished. I will do it again some day but maybe only the 30km ride. They may have photos up on their page later, you can check it out at www.parisancaster.com. For now, I'll wait for the bruises and stiffness to go away and hope a nice light spin on the bike today will help with the stiffness at least.

what a day!

Okay, I want to say that the Colavita women rocked at Sea otter yesterday. A job better than well done, it was fantastic!! 1st for Tina and 3rd for Dots! Rockin!!

I don't have time right now for the Paris to Ancaster story but I promise to post again later telling the whole story, it was epic. I also have some pics to post too. Thanks to the Jones family and Sam too for coming out and cheering so well and for writing 'Go Sue Go" on the rail trail. You all made me smile today although it may have been hard to tell through all the mud...yes, I had a mud bath today, who needs a spa???

It was a bad day weather wise here so I ended up riding the trainer. That was hard but I also added in some time on the Powercranks so that helped a bit. It was good to get back on them since I haven't ridden them since late February. I think there's a bit of muscle memory going on. Although I still have a love/hate relationship with them they didn't seem quite as bad as I remember. Next step is to take them outside, I hope I don't get myself killed. I should be okay but they are still a bit freaky.

I did a school visit yesterday. I went to Janet Lee in Stoney Creek. I had the whole school except for the kindergartens in the gym. I shared the time with Chris from the Hamilton Cycling Club and Dave from the cycling centre (he talked about Sprockids). It was fun and I used the Power Point presentation that Larry J helped me do. Thanks Larry, I'm still getting mileage out of that one!! It does mention how many times I ride by Queen Rangers school and that I'm still only 37 yrs old, I like that! Speaking of Larry, he's a great fan and his kids are the best. The picture here is one he emailed me while in Australia and it certainly brought a smile to my day!!

That's Emily, Nick and Jordann and I hope to see them out cheering at paris to ancaster this sunday. It can only help me, it's going to be a tough day. It'll be nice to have some fans so Larry, bring the signs!

Anyway, the kids at Janet Lee were awesome, great school. They actually seemed to be listening to me...whatever. At the very least it helps make me less afraid for my entry into the real world of a real job someday (as a teacher). But, there still some bike racing left in me yet.

Home sweet home. Haven't posted in a while, I'm just lazy when at home. Actually, not much happening to write about. But, I gotta give a shout out to the Colavits girls out there in california!
Awesome job, I wish I could be there to share the fun. I can hardly wait to be racing with them again at Athen's Twilight at the end of the month.

In the meantime, I'm getting things re-organized here at home. the house needs some major re-organizing, like maybe a good spring cleaning or even a purge. How does so much stuff accumulate?? Between getting back into the groove with training I'm spending some good time with Trinity. We have blown up some of the giant balloons and they are pretty huge as far as balloons go. I have tried out my Heelys and I haven't injured myself yet. they are fun but they are tiring for the shins. You have to hold up your toe to stay on the wheel and I am weak. We went riding together on the rail trail for about 12-13km, she's a rock star.

I don't have any races with the team until Athens, just some local stuff happening here. Paris to Ancaster is this sunday, it's kind of like an enduro (a mix of rail trails, roads and singletrack). Some people use cross bikes, some road (crazy though) and some mtb bikes. I'll use an mtb bike if I do it. I'm a fair weather rider so if it's miserable out I may bail. We also have two road races on Easter weekend, one on good friday and another on the sunday.

Gotta get going out with the boyz on the rail trail for P2A prep.

Rode the road course again today but this time did two laps and a bit of an effort on the hills. I hope I feel better tomorrow. I feel like I'm in the middle of a stage race and not recovering...not good. I may also come around during the race which happens a lot with me but makes the first half of the race total misery.

Stopped by the zoo and bought a stuffed animal for Trinity, a Tasmainian Devil. It's very ferocious looking and pretty cool. Actually, when I first saw it I didn't know what it was. Then, I was flipping through a book I got for Trinny on Austrlian Mammals and saw the devil and it was "Ah, that's what that stuffed animal was at the giftshop". I wasn't sure if it was a cat or a bear or what but now I know. It's cool looking. I think they have a real Tasmainian Devil at the Toronto Zoo too.

Well, next time I write I'll have something more to say (post race) or not. We'll see. Only 2 more sleeps for me until I go home, yay!

Ah, recovery day. I'm still feeling a bit tired from that TT. I sure hope those Aussies are tired.

We went as a team to the road course today. Second viewing felt better, maybe because I wasn't as tired but I'll tell you, it could be a hard day. I'm looking forward to it and I'm glad it's not a flat course.

Anyway, last night we went to jake's house and ate with his whole family. Great people and great food too! I got to spend some time with little rattles the cat (Ace look-a-like). He just wanted chicken non-stop. What a little piggy he was. We also got a tour of the house. Pretty cool with lots of little nooks and crannies. Each member has done their own room in their own personal way. For instance, one is really into bikes, pedal (or push as they call them) and motor. He had a mini motor bike in his room and a mechanic's bench and basically bike decor. Another son, Rory I think, is into music. He has a deluxe set of drums in his room and he has sound-proofed the walls. Even has a sound proof board to put into the window! Another son does re-upholstery. pretty neat stuff and a pretty neat family. Thanks Jeannette for the great cooking. We arrived after dark so we didn't get to see the kangaroo. Bummer, but the food was so worth it.

I may go down to the victoria market today but will more likely conserve some energy. I don't want to walk too much. But, I'm running out of books. I hope one of my team mates has an extra book hanging around. I also need some of those plastic bags for packing that you can push the excess air out to make it really compact for packing, heavy, but compact.

Thinking of the Colavita girls in Redlands, hope y'all have a scorching TT. Big hi to the staff too, Jim, Tim and Doug, I know you'll be taking good care of them and the bikes. All for now...

Long ride today and it's getting hot here. I love it even though I was pretty thirsty when we got back to the village. We went straight to the casual dining and I drank 2 orange gatorades and had a yummy thai chicken wrap. We've also located chocolate in the village. That was a sweet discovery. It was lurking about in the candy bowls at the residence centre. Now we are always searching for the chocolate, it goes fast.

We heard that our mountain bikers finished 1st and 3rd this morning so that was pretty awesome! The guys are racing right now and seamus is up there for a medal.

So, I was really looking for kangaroos today while riding. I know they are out there because I saw the signs with a kangaroo on it indicating they could be crossing the road. I took a picture of the sign...

I'm telling you, if I ever come back here I'm not bringing a bike. It was so nerve racking on the roads. They are busy and there's no bike lane and these drivers don't give you much space at all. I never ride on a road like that at home. Luckily, tomorrrow and saturday we'll be on the road course mostly.

Tonight we've been invited out to our moto providing friend's house (jacob, I've talked about him already). His family has invited us there for dinner so I can see the cat that looks just like ACE and take a picture of the house and the cat. Also, there is a kangaroo hanging about there so he has promised us we will see it. Seamus is attacking in the mtn bike race, very exciting! Anyway, I was dreaming of another thai chicken wrap for dinner but a real meal cooked for less than 10 people sounds even better so I'm going to jake's house with everybody.

Now, to finish the laundry.

A Kangaroo Trinity! They are pretty big, like 4-5 feet tall.



An Emu and a kangaroo hanging out together. A lot of the animals were laying down, it was getting hot out.



This little guy is a Pade Melon Wallaby, found in Tasmania and the Queensland region.



Here are two Koala's. They were sooo cute looking and very cuddly looking too. All they did was eat the leaves. They were a lot bigger than any I've seen before (like, I have seen so many, not). anyway, they were bigger than the one's they have in the San Diego zoo. I've got to go back to the zoo just to go to the gift shop. I have a feeling Trinity would go crazy if she saw the stuffed animals they have in there. It's going to be hard to pick one out to take home cause there are so many good ones. What do you say Trinity, Koala Bear, Kangaroo or something different? We'll see, it will be a surprise! By the way Trinny, only 5 more sleeps!

More downtown Melbourne pictures. Horses and cart for hire and actually some of that wrought iron I was writing about a few days ago.