This past weekend we headed up to Brittany, France for Tour de Bretange. The weather was less than ideal; temperatures ranging around 10-15 degrees, and always pouring rain.
Without laundry facilities and skyrocket humidity it made it impossible for drying clothes. Some days I raced without socks, and needed rubber boots to get to my bed as my wet clothes just made puddles.
Thursday was our first road race, 116km of rolling hills. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I found myself sitting top four in the pack when we entered the small 5km circuits near the end. My legs were cramping terribly, but I managed to place 16th overall. I was really happy with this result, and I felt good on the bike.
Friday was a challenging time trial, that was mostly uphill. I took advantage of the technical descents though. Saturday and Sunday were tough road races. I ended up coming down with a bad flu or stomach virus that I'm currently still trying to figth, so that wasn't great to race on; but still learnt a lot and took advantage of what I could the last two days.
We are now back in Bersac, finally enjoying some sun for two days, until we head to Tour du Limousine- to stay in another school and eat more awesome cafeteria food..
Sorry for the no photos again, not enough power in this internet.
Keep you updated,
Karlee
Monday, July 16, 2012
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
The last month, and France
I have definitely been slacking a bit with this blog so it may cover a lot. I've had a whirlwind of a month in June, and it is continuing on now, as I sit in Bersac, France writting.
After Tulsa Tough I drove up to Minneapolis to race Nature Valley Classic- A six stage, five day, stage race full of criteriums, hills and crashes. Our team had its struggles but by the end everything was running smooth. Some crazy tornado- flooding weather caused one of the races to be cancelled, but the races were fairly good and managed to get in some good racing.
From Nature Valley I enjoyed (not so much) a fantastic (not at all) 24 hour drive back to Montreal. We headed almost straight to Lac-Megantic, Quebec (the smallest town in the middle of no-where rural Quebec). We managed to reserve awesome little cabins on a lake for the week. Every ride in the 35 degree heat was followed by a swim.
I was able to pull out a good National Championship Criterium race on the Sunday. Annie, Optum Kelly Benefits, and I started the break with the attack, and later Rhae, Exergy TWENTY-12, joined us. For many laps the pace was super high, and I wasn't able to hang on much longer. I dropped back to the pack, and was able to take the field sprint, capturing third overall. Our Specialized-Mazda-SGC girls had our best race together and were really excited with how we raced.
I finally had my first long break of the season, so I was headed off to Toronto for the next two weeks- to relax and recover. It ended up being great and I was ready to start back racing again... and head off to France!
So now I sit in France, in the cold, rainy weather. We are staying in small cabins with no internet or heat, but the riding around here is the best and most picturesque I have ever seen. Everything is brick and old and it's very quiet where we are.
We are currently in Bersac, France but we head up to Brittany/Bretange tomorrow morning to start our first tour on Thursday- Tour de Bretange!
I will upload photos as soon as my internet can handle it without crashing.
Back to eating bread and cheese now,
Whenever I have internet again I will update on my races,
Karlee
After Tulsa Tough I drove up to Minneapolis to race Nature Valley Classic- A six stage, five day, stage race full of criteriums, hills and crashes. Our team had its struggles but by the end everything was running smooth. Some crazy tornado- flooding weather caused one of the races to be cancelled, but the races were fairly good and managed to get in some good racing.
From Nature Valley I enjoyed (not so much) a fantastic (not at all) 24 hour drive back to Montreal. We headed almost straight to Lac-Megantic, Quebec (the smallest town in the middle of no-where rural Quebec). We managed to reserve awesome little cabins on a lake for the week. Every ride in the 35 degree heat was followed by a swim.
I was able to pull out a good National Championship Criterium race on the Sunday. Annie, Optum Kelly Benefits, and I started the break with the attack, and later Rhae, Exergy TWENTY-12, joined us. For many laps the pace was super high, and I wasn't able to hang on much longer. I dropped back to the pack, and was able to take the field sprint, capturing third overall. Our Specialized-Mazda-SGC girls had our best race together and were really excited with how we raced.
I finally had my first long break of the season, so I was headed off to Toronto for the next two weeks- to relax and recover. It ended up being great and I was ready to start back racing again... and head off to France!
So now I sit in France, in the cold, rainy weather. We are staying in small cabins with no internet or heat, but the riding around here is the best and most picturesque I have ever seen. Everything is brick and old and it's very quiet where we are.
We are currently in Bersac, France but we head up to Brittany/Bretange tomorrow morning to start our first tour on Thursday- Tour de Bretange!
I will upload photos as soon as my internet can handle it without crashing.
Back to eating bread and cheese now,
Whenever I have internet again I will update on my races,
Karlee
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)