Superweek 2013!!!

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 also clipped in right away after practicing starts in my driveway 100 times the night before! I finished the Tour of Gastown with a proud smile on my face!! I mean, I got to race in front of 20,000 people, with Olympians and amazing role models!

I lasted slightly longer at the Giro de Burnaby crit (probably because I visualized staying in at least 20 min. and approached the race with an “I am going to win” confidence!) The best part of Burnaby was when Jasmin Glaesser rode to the back as I was being dropped and helped get me back up to the front! It was awesome to have someone there to show me the lines and help me to stay in the race longer!

At the White Rock hill climb, I was lined up against a former professional road cyclist. It was great for me, because she pushed me hard to try and keep up. Laura Brown gave me tips such as, don’t go out too hard right away. Let them get the lead and then pass them once the hill gets steep! So I started out in my smallest gear, and was spinning so much, that my opponent got a huge lead on me right away. I was pushing myself hard, but still saving something for the end, so when I accelerated, I slowly closed the gap on her! I ended up winning my heat and got 13th overall in the hill climb!

The road race was hard! It was 80 km- the longest road race I had ever done, but because of my climbing strength, the hills were huge advantages for me! Jasmin attacked right off the gun and got away with a small group. I was in the chase group with a few people, but ended up back in the peloton, where I took my turns and hung in until the last lap. I got lots of feedback from the women in the race, which was great! Feedback such as “spin more to recover faster.” The learning experience was priceless! With under a half lap to go I finally got dropped as they accelerated up a hill, and I ended up finishing 20th. I was the last woman to come across the line, but the race started with 33 people!
I can’t wait till next year when I can compete and race even more with these fantastic women at Superweek!!


Thank you, Mark Ernsting and the sponsors of BC Superweek for allowing me to race and for putting on such an awesome week of racing!


My call up at Gastown Grand Prix!

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