if you ask me, every girl should race! it’s so much fun. whatever your level is.
I mean, like I once said to Erin, its terrible fun. its hurts, but damn its fun. there is nothing like pushing yourself beyond what you thought was your limit… its so rewarding, whether you end up doing good or not. to push yourself to go get that sprint, or that second in you time trial, to bring another girl to line.
and going to ECCC races is gaining experience. whether for a first time racing to get a feel of what its like, or because you would like to race in Qc, but you have never raced before (very good intro! ask Erin or Vic or I) or again to race and measure yourself to girls that are your level because you are of a competitive nature.
ECCC racing is also about the road trip. and road trips are indeed fun. and they give you all sorts of memories, mostly good, but your legs will hurt. I now have plenty of anecdotes and they just make me want to go back to the start line of any ECCC races with the butterflies in the stomach and everything. Like here is one, last year the girls came up with some code to let each other know when we would attack or when things were going less well for MCT cyclists in the peloton(okay, we were 2 but whatever it was useful).
-if you would say, “oh men, I feel that burrito” which meant “my legs are fresh”
-if she would reply “should have had a taco” it meant we would attack.
-and if we would say “ta mère” it meant something like “slow down the pace” or “come get me!” something like that.
that only, made for very good memories.
anyways, I am sorry girls if you don’t get to see lots of me this fall, I would love to ride my bike some more and get to know you all. but I am writing my honours thesis. The plan is to get my first draft done by December instead of March so that next winter I will only be correcting and adding up to it instead of writing, freaking out, and missing out big time if I end up not going to ECCC races. that is how much I like racing my bike, I am willing to speed up the writing of my thesis to make sure I go to races… yeah yeah. fudge everything else, I will race my bike next spring.
Erin btw, I think if you get a good base, good endurance early enough into the next season you could finish the crits of la coupe de la paix next summer. train more before ECCC comes around and maybe if your legs feel like it, try A! because if you ask me what the difference is between B and A, I would say that in B you need to be in shape, but to race A, you need to be nearly at your top form, nearly. I guess its faster too, but endurance is key. because the races are much longer… if you are not there yet, it will show, well one could call this getting dropped. hahha, anyways, lets train hard next winter!
if you got any interest in racing, just register girls! more girls, more girls!
m-eve