Maggie Coles-Lyster

Superweek 2015- So we flew home from Quebec Thursday evening and BC Superweek started Friday with the MK Delta criterium. With the races starting in the evenings, it gave us the morning to build up my bike and go for a shake down spin, pre-race. This was another learning experience for me- don’t eat certain things for lunch/dinner within three hours of a Superweek crit! I had a great start and hung at the front for the first bit of the race, then totally cramped up, got dropped and pulled with three laps to go. It wasn't how I was quite hoping to kick off Superweek, but I had 6 more races to prove myself! Pre-race Interview :D  The next night, I planned out my meals better, and was already over jetlag and feeling great! This race was the Brenco Delta crit and there were 60-70 female riders. Once again I had a great start, and tried to maintain a top 15 position during the race. Eventually, the crowd prime came around and I thought what the heck, I’ll go for it! I didn...

Hello!! Ok Junior Road Nationals was so full of learning experiences, it’s insane! This was the Junior National Road Championships in Thetford Mines, Quebec. My whole family travelled to Quebec 1 week before the race, to make a vacation out of it. We flew into Montreal and were picked up by the 31ft RV we were renting for the two weeks in Quebec. Upsettingly, when our bikes came through security, we found one of the boxes completely ripped and open! We're still unsure what might have fallen out (obviously nothing of total importance). The lack of respect from the airlines on our bikes was quite shocking and extremely disrespectful. Those are expensive bikes in those boxes, like seriously! So, despite being jetlagged, we drove two-ish hours to Trois Rivieres to hang with my sisters exchange partner, then to a trailer park just outside of Quebec City. My dad and I built up the bikes and found a ride, then we went in to Quebec City for a couple of days. I absolutely fell in lo...

Hellooo! Here's a summary of the first part of my season :D So my season started out with an adventure down to Enumclaw, Washington for the Mutual of Enumclaw Stage race. There were about 30 cat. 1/2/3 women in our field, which made the racing fast and exciting! First up was the time trial, Mercx style. It was a beautiful 10 km TT out on the windy roads in the farmland part of Enumclaw. I finished 15 th in the TT, just over a minute down from the leader, but felt strong and that overall, I had a good TT. We followed the TT with a pancake brunch at our traditional breakfast place. 7 hours to chill, then warm up time for the infamous, fast, 8 corner criterium. I have been incorporating some gym workouts into my warm up, off the bike, and it has so far really helped me warm up everything from my arms to my core, and also, my balance and focus, instead of just my legs. During the crit, I watched for moves, and stayed in the top 10 for the majority of the race, and also won the spr...