Thanks Shimano

I'm really lucky that Shimano was willing to help me out so late in the season. They just sent me a new set of race wheels and I'll have a chance to race on them tomorrow. I just took them for a ride and they're great.. I don't know much about bikes or wheels but I could honestly feel a big difference versus my old race wheels. They're great at cornering and are super light. Also, thanks to Pro City for setting them up for me, and for installing my SRM last week. I get my bike from United Cycle in Edmonton, so it's great to have such helpful and reliable guys at Pro City to help me out in Victoria!

While I'm on it, I have to thank BlueSeventy for recently sending me their new helix wetsuit to use this year. They have been such great people to work with and it's by far the most comfortable suit I've ever worn.

I've never had much success with getting sponsors, so I feel very fortunate to have these two great companies help me at this point of the year.

I'm currently in Coteau-du-Lac for a continental cup race. I'm using it as a bit of a training race before leaving for France next week. There's a big group of BC athletes here and I'm looking forward to watching all the juniors and senior men race tomorrow! Gooooood luck everyone :)

Paula

HyVee Report

Wooow what a great weekend. Kyla and I were starstruck all weekend with all of the famous people that we kept seeing at our hotel! We were running on the treadmill beside Emma Moffat the day before the race and we thought it was soooo cool, so to be running with those speedy girls during the race was pretty neat.

We woke up on race morning to huge thundershowers and lighting, so we were really hoping that it would clear up before race time. It ended up being almost perfect weather for us. No rain, but still cloudy so it wasn’t as hot as we expected. I was worried about the swim since lots of fast American swimmers were in the race, so I knew that I would have to go out hard to get into the front pack. I never have any idea where I am until the run out for the second lap, and I found myself in pretty good position. The second lap was much better for me- way less chaos and I felt way more relaxed. I got out of the water in the main pack with Hayley Piersol and Sara Mclarty about a minute ahead us.

The bike course was very narrow and technical at some parts, and despite all of my efforts to stay at the front of the pack, my cornering is really bad so I kept getting pushed to the back. I took some pulls but I do not feel very comfortable in those big packs and feel safer at the back, even though I know it’s not the best place to be. My biggest mistake of the race was being at the back going in to T2 and having to bridge a gap to the leaders right away.

The run was very challenging and I felt very out of place running with that group of girls at the front. I surprised myself by keeping up with them for most of it. I let a gap form on the third lap when Emma Snowsill passed us, but I got a second wind on the last lap and felt like I could maybe catch back up. I was going all-out for the last 400 meters, but Emma Moffat and Helen Jenkins were in a sprint with each other for 2^nd place, so I would’ve had to have a super sprint to be able to catch either of them. 4^th place is always a little bittersweet, but given how competitive this race was with all the money on the line, I couldn’t of asked for more!!

Thanks so much to Kim and Rob for looking after us before the race, it’s really great to have them travel with us and know that we are in good hands. And of course thanks to Pat and Kurt for their help and support!

I have one short week back in Vic before we head to Europe for a training camp, with a stop in Montreal on the way to race Coteau-du-Lac. My next big race will be London at the end of July. Maybe I’ll do a post or two between now and then… hah I knew I would be bad at this blog thing!

Thanks for reading..

Paula