4 July - Diary Update
Oh Canada
I arrived back ‘home’ in Belgium yesterday from Canada and after a successful first half of the season, I am now going to enjoy a week’s rest. The racing in Canada with the Aussies went well, relishing in a win on the 2nd last day of the Prince Edward Island Tour. (picture #1)
Our racing first began in Montreal, which is in the French speaking part of Canada in the Quebec province. The French language was really the only thing that resembled any European influence, as the many large cars, wide roads and hefty-sized meal helpings soon reminded me that I was in America. We stayed in the dorms of the ‘University of Montreal’ for the first week, which had much to be desired… The communal showers with thongs were a real treat! However, with our rooms on the 8th floor, we were blessed with wonderful views over the city. (see picture #2) It rained almost every day for the first 10days so by the end of the tour most of the riders had caught the flu or had come down with some sort of sickness.
One of the days was truly amazing where we started with dry roads but the thickest, blackest clouds I had every seen quickly closed in with raging winds and unleashed the most monstrous rain drops, and we were drenched in seconds. The drainage system couldn’t cope with the sudden downpour and I kid you not, we were riding through water that came up to our knees! I wish I had a photo of this, as I didn’t think it would be possible to ride through such a depth of water but our skinny tyres ploughed through the raging torrent and we made it to the finish with surprisingly relatively few crashes.
The day after the Montreal Tour, we travelled from Montreal to Prince Edward Island for the 5day Tour de P.E.I. (Prince Edward Island). The organisers thought it a great idea to transport all the athletes together in buses, but this day was the first day of sun we had seen in Canada since arriving and it was a 15hour trip! With most of the riders coughing and some with a fever it was not a pleasant trip, and nor was it the best way for the legs to recover for the next bout of racing. Even though I was still in good health, my tiredness threshold had been reached, my legs ached and I was experiencing one of those ‘why am I cyclist?’ moments. Nevertheless, we arrived at our hotel on the island at midnight and after a good night’s sleep, I awoke with renewed vigour and enjoyed the beauty of the Island in perfect weather on a lovely 2hour recovery ride to roll the legs out. (see picture #3)
The Island is actually the home of ‘Anne of Green Gables’ so it was really cool to check out the set and enjoy a few of the touristy things. (see pic #4) It was the inaugural year for the Tour de PEI and we were treated like queens with wonderful hotels, huge buffet banquets and a wonderful reception from all the locals. Most of them had never seen a bike race before so they were in absolute awe at the distances and speeds with which we raced.
The bridge that connects that island to the mainland is called the Confederation Bridge and the organisers received permission to close this 14k bridge to traffic for one of our stages, which was a 28k Time Trial. A policeman was telling me that this was something really special because never before have bikes been allowed to cross the bridge. They have a lot of people who ask for dispensation but the answer has always been a negative. Whilst I felt special in being able to race my bike over the bridge, it was one of the hardest time trials I have ever done!
Due to safety reasons, the organisers had plans of cancelling the time trial over the bridge if the winds exceeded 35km/h…well I am certain the wind was well and truly over this speed because we had a raging tail wind for the first 14k, sitting on 60-65km/h to the turn around! This was fun but then of course we had a gruelling block head wind on the way back to the finish, which wasn’t pretty!
However, life on tour is rarely pretty… it is certainly not all ‘beer and skittles’. It exposes the worst and best in each team member as everyone is tried and tested and pushed to the maximum. One day you can be reduced to a blubbering mess wondering how it is possible to even turn one pedal stroke and the next day you can feel like ‘ten men’! Tours are certainly a time of self discovery in pushing what you thought were your limits, to new levels. I always learn a lot about myself in an emotional, mental and physical sense and have found that positivity is the key to both surviving and excelling in tours.
The dynamics of the team is also of paramount importance because everyone rides off the back of each other both in a literal (on the bike) and emotional sense. However, having won, lost or drawn, there is hardly a greater feeling in the world than crossing that finish line on the final day of a grand tour. The feelings of fatigue, strain, exhaustion and vulnerableness are soon overcome with an inner glow of satisfaction, fulfilment, accomplishment, pleasure and wholeness. I usually don’t know whether to cry, laugh or jump for joy so I usually celebrate with all three!
Sara