Maggie Coles-Lyster

Last Monday we took the ferry (yet again!) over to Nanaimo for Cyclocross Provincials. After meeting up with team and a good sob after hitting a raccoon, we piled into the van, hit the ferry and made it to the race with 40 min before the start of the u17 women (race #1 for me). It was just enough time for me to do a lap of the fast, dry and hilly cross course. I knew it pretty well as it was the same course as last year. It was finally time to go, and I got the hole shot right off the start and was able to hold it throughout the 3 lap race. After three laps of running up 50 stairs, a couple of hills and battling through two sand pits, I knew the course like the back of my hand, and was ready to race the Elite Women's race with 16 other women!  I had around 2 hours in between my races to have a waffle and heckle on the other riders, but eventually, it was that time again and this time, it was pouring with rain. After warming up on the trainer to some good tunes, and jogging ar...

Whistler Cyclocross brought an awesome double header weekend, with a very professionally-run race, fun atmosphere and a very unique course! It all started out with day 1 of Whistler Cyclocross with a very mountain bike like course with a long run-up, multiple switch backs and then to contrast the mountain bike part, a windy ride through the town! I was racing elite women which went in the afternoon and gave me lots of time to pre-ride the course and help my sister work on her lines! In the early afternoon we were off and I was fast to clip in and first dismounted and up the stairs. Having five very strong women in the race meant you had to give it your all and had no choice but to "leave everything on the course." After one lap, the group split and I had to spend much of the race battling with the two ahead of me to the finish. On and off the bike, a crash here and there and after a 45 minute race, I finished in fifth place not too far off of the others, but had no doubt th...

Walking into the Burnaby velodrome last Friday, the temperature dropped while my nerves soared! This past weekend was the BC Track Provincial champs and the second event in the BC Premier Track Championships after Trackfest 2. I had signed up or all of the events and so, after warming up, the day opened with the Team Pursuit and Team Sprint. Teammate Clara Mackenzie and I rocked the sprint while our Team Pursuit team rode a solid ride. Sadly, there wasn't another u19 women's Team Pursuit team for a us to race against. It would be so cool to see more girls out at the track racing! The morning also included a very aggressive Scratch race and an Individual Pursuit. The Scratch race had everyone constantly out of the saddle as attacks after attacks were launched. With three laps to go, I jumped, and got away to solo out the last 600 meters and win the Scratch race! I got the win and a PB in the Individual Pursuit, which I have been focusing on and getting used to riding in the ...

Here's Superweek Part 1! Better late than never! Sooo... last year, Superweek was all about trying to finish a crit (which I didn't quite accomplish). Going into this years week of racing, I did not really know what to expect. I knew that I had definitely improved from last year, as I had finished 6th place in both of the high speed, cat. 1/2/3 Bastion Square Grand Prix and Mutual of Enumclaw Stage Race crits. Yet, with all the big, powerful teams like Team Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies coming to race, I knew I was in for a sufferfest. The first race I did was the MK Delta criterium. I had done continuous visualization before and during Superweek so I went in feeling fit and strong, both mentally and physically. I made sure I had great position at the start, and the race was off!! Every lap, there would be either accelerations or attacks on the hill, but no one was able to stay away. I took great corners and the whole time, I kept thinking, move up, move up! There were...

So, back to Elma for the Northwest Juniors Classic Stage Race!! A totally professionally run (not to mention, epic) stage race in Washington! On top of great racing, I mean, how often do you really get to race around an abandoned nuclear power plant?! The weekend started off with us arriving at the Elma RV Park resort and after a day in Olympia, we met up with team mate Clara Mackenzie to ride the time trial course (the actual course- last year we pre-rode something completely different ;-) Saturday morning we got up and rode to the tt course. After lots of talking with my dad (coach) and visualisation, I knew exactly how I was going to ride the perfect time trial! A great warm up with a good playlist consisting of Eminem and Nicki Minaj and I was off! A perfect track-like start and very well executed time trial and I finished 2nd place behind Hannah Green (BYRDS) and beat my last years time by 3 min 56 seconds! I went into the crit with a goal to make it super aggressive and make ...

What better way to prepare for Superweek than 3 full days of track racing?! TrackFest 1 was an epic (not to mention warm weathered) weekend of track racing, with a small but strong u17/u19 women's category. The weekend started out with me making the journey out to Victoria... without my dad! A big milestone for me ;) Anyway, I saw a pod of orcas on the ferry, then got picked up by my Clara Mackenzie on the other side! Off to the track!! The Friday evening started off with a Team Pursuit with Clara, Gillian Ellsay and I on a team, which was a lot of fun. I hadn't been on the track in a while, so it was a good test to see how everything felt and such without having to attack and ride in a pack! Following that was the Kieran, where I got pushed back to second-to-last wheel at the start behind the motorcycle, but I managed to come around with one lap to go and win the race. The next day was a long, full day of aggressive racing! It started with the Flying 200 were I didn...

This was my third weekend on the island after coming over for the Dove Creek Stage Race, and the Podium Search- put on by the Canadian Sport Institute: it was well organised, lots of fun and really interesting to see our how I did in each test. Then it was the Robert Cameron Law Cycling Series and last was this race, the Youth Road Provincials and time trial Provincials in the Comox Valley! I got to pre-ride the road course the day before the race and discuss with my team mate, Clara Mackenzie, our strategy for the following day. I raced u17 women, but we were put with the u19 women for the road race which made for more aggressive racing and a larger category. All the youth at the start of the Youth Provincial Road Race Guys are such posers :-P Sooo, race day... After riding up to the race, we rolled out, warmed up and were off! The first 2 laps (out of 7)  stayed pretty tame, until I attacked on the hill at the start/finish. Gillian Ellsay was on me right away, with t...