T.O.

I made it to Toronto after a long travel day. Its freezing here compared to the weather i have had in the last four months! It has been nice and relaxing, eating soup and watching some quality wheel of fortune and jeopardy with my Grandparents. Now just waiting for family to arrive so I can finally switch up these clothes in my suitcase!

My new Specialized Amira SL4 is all set up and ready to go. Light, fast and fits perfect. Can't wait to get racing next weekend with the rest of the Specialized-Mazda-Sgc girls!

Training and a family reunion this weekend, then hoping on the train to Montreal next week for team presentations!

I will write about sea otter classic in a bit when I sit and spend time on the Internet!

Karlee

Sea Otter Classic Underway

Today was the first stage at Sea Otter Classic, the criterium- bright and early- at 8:00am.  It was strange heading back to get some food and go back to sleep at 8:50am, already with a race under the belt for the day. It didn't go quite as I would have hoped, having some returning back issues, but I know tomorrow and the next few days will be good!  Road Race up at noon tomorrow!

As I promised, a picture of George;

Nor Cal

I made it back up to North Cali!   So nice to be back; and it's race time in T-2 days! Keep up to date on results if you would like to follow;
http://www.seaotterclassic.com/

I'm staying on a great ranch up in the country, with a fabulous host family, and a donkey named George. Picture to come.

-Karlee

Updates from The Nard

Despite the Winnipeg wind I face on a daily basis here, throw in some sand whipping me in the face, Oxnard is definitely becoming a favorite place to be.

I have finally learnt that I can ride on the #1 PCH- after many attempts of hitting a dead end or a sign that says "Bicycles prohibited". This has taken me to many awesome, breath taking- literally- climbs.

My usual rides head up north to Ventura along the shore, but my favorites include climbing near Malibu. Hour long switchback climbs, and deathly single lane descents, where a single corner drops the elevation of a story building, fill most of my time on the bike, and trust me, I can't complain one bit.

If I said I have surfed a bit more that would be a huge over statement. More like I attempted not to get totally destroyed by waves, or get hit in the face with the board- both of which I can't say I even accomplished avoiding. It's still fun to be in the water though- oh wait never mind that too- it's just above freezing and my wetsuit was six times to big had a hole in it.

I've been spending lots of spare time at the coffee shop near by- honestly mostly to observe the interesting people there everyday- who goes to coffee shops for coffee when you can brew your own? It doesn't hurt either that I have got free coffee, they know which coffee I get regularly and finally started putting milk out on the counter in the morning instead of half and half because they were probably tired of me asking for it every day. The other day I met a 79 year old lady who had ridden her bike around the world- fully geared up with multiple, multiple, saddle bags- the bike probably weighed more than I did. Now- when I say around the world I literally mean around the world, covering over one hundred countries! That's pretty inspiring. Yesterday on the other end of the spectrum was a man without teeth- interpret how you'd like.

Minus getting to spend a lot of time on the bike, the past few days have been a bit slower as I've been hit with a terrible lung and head cold. (Which did hold me back from those sprint points on the ride the other day, PS). Oh also- just a hint for those who like sour candies like myself- don't buy chew-able sour multivitamins, or you may forget their supplements. I got to spend some quality time in the sun sitting on the roof of the house this afternoon relaxing and eating oranges.

I also finally will be sporting my Specialized-Mazda-SGC kit (well just jersey for now as the shorts were see through and had to be sent back- all the Manitoban's know regarding my favorite training red shorts back home that it's a good idea to put them back) and equippment- thank you Specialized and Speedplay!

I've got all my plans sorted out for Sea Otter Classic now, and looking forwards to some hard racing after this training block. Can't wait to get the racing season back rolling!

This weekend I am going to hit up some more Santa Monica climbing, and bask in my victory of winning our house Paris Roubaix bets on Paris-Roubaix French day, including crepes and french coffee.

This week just entails more training, more beach, more coffee and a duel up Gibralter climb- which I'm obviously going to win.

Just a few weeks left in California now, then off to 'somewhere' else- who know's where,

Karlee