Maggie Coles-Lyster

Track Provincials was such a fun weekend of racing! I got upgraded this year and was allowed to race with the under 17 girls. It was at the outdoor track in Victoria which is 333 meters, a lot longer than Burnaby, therefore, warm up consisted of learning the lines and average times. We got a warm-up in on Friday, but racing got rained-out. So it was back to the campsite for a good night sleep and some visualization before racing on Saturday! The first race was the Flying 200 and I got my best time of 13.8 seconds and came second after Rachel Carey, who had an incredible time of 13.1 seconds! The next races past by in a blur of warm-ups, racing and cool-downs. The first mass race was a Points race, and it was a powerful one as we raced with the U19’s and Elite women! I got four points, but they were not enough to compete for top three. I apparently needed to get that race under my belt before I proceeded with the rest of my weekend, because, I then won the Kierin and got second in ...

Superweek was the experience of a lifetime! Lining up beside and racing with Olympians! I had to get special permission to race on senior gearing and was thrilled when I found out that Cycling BC accepted our request! The UBC grand prix was the first race I did as I was away for Tour de Delta (next year, I am definitely racing it!!!) and I got dropped probably within the first 10 minutes. It was a hard course, and I also wasn’t quite expecting the pace to be so fast! On top of that, I had trouble clipping in right away! Getting dropped and pulled was quite disappointing, but my dad kept endlessly pointing that I was fourteen years old and who I was racing against. He would also note that I was not the first person to be pulled! Gastown was absolutely incredible! I got tips from and warmed up with Laura Brown, and got called up next to her for being the youngest person to ever race Gastown!! This time I lasted 15 minutes in the race and was much more confident around the corners! I...