News from the road

LUNA’s new amateur development athlete Hannah Rae Finchamp won the amateur women’s class in the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon in San Francisco, CA

LUNA pro triathlete Terra Castro swam, biked, and ran to her first win of her season from the Bone Island Half Triathlon (70.3) in Florida

It was a tough day for the LUNA Pro XTERRA athletes at the XTERRA World Championships. Shonny Vanlandingham took a relatively solid 8th place, Danelle Kabush struggled for 12th, and Suzie Snyder did not finish due to a tumble over her handlebars.

Terra Castro was 12th at the end of the day at the Boulder 70.3 Half Ironman, after a great swim and her PR for the bike leg.

Cross Nationals and Cross Revenge

You win some, you lose some.  But there are always good moments to be found, like climbing the Col de Cou with the team and enjoying some home baked goodies brought by Katerina from her home in Czech.

Zak enjoys a honey cake

Geoff gets into Luna Chixing the guys as we ride into the top ten overall on days 5 & 6.  Did I mention the Single track is awesome?
Great shots by Patrick Grahm at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lungsnot

BC Bike Race: An awesome Epic adventure with fellow Canadian National Champ Geoff Kabush.  Shinny new xtr on my Orbea Oiz, Luna Protein bars, ClifBlocks and shots a plenty and lots of oh so sweet singletrack.

May ends with a blast!  On the 29th I raced the first ever Nimby Fifty in Pemberton, British Columbia.  The course offered riders over an hour of single track climbing with 101 switchbacks before sending them down Whistler-like descents, back up and back down again.  Over 180 riders participated with a strong field of 38 women including Canadian cyclocross star Wendy Simms.

Luna 1 & 2, Top team and Leading the World Cup series.  I don’t think you could ask for a better 5 days in Germany!
Thank you Waldek and Chris for your work behind the scenes. 

After a long and spectacular season I want to thank Waldek, Chris and Zeph as well as all our families for your hard work and understanding of a hectic travel schedule!

(Thanks to Rob Jones for the great photos and coverage on canadiancyclist.com)

Ahh. Perspective.  I had a solid race finishing 6th at the World Championships.  Where as the last two years this result was exciting, coming off a consistently top 5 season, this year it was a little disappointing. The reliable outcome of finishing outside my expectations though is it gets me fired up for the next event; a world cup in Switzerland Sunday.

The team relay is one of the funnest events in mtb racing.  It’s one of the few chances we get as xc riders to race as a team and this helps you dig to put out the best rides you can.  Canberra, Australia offered a fast and technically challenging course for each nations best to go head to head on at this year’s World Championships.

The US Cup Series wrapped up this weekend in Windham, New York with lots of podiums for the Luna team.

How expectations change

I’ve been racing in MSA, Quebec since I started racing elite nationally in 2004.  It was always one of my favourite venues and a course I could do well on with its steep demanding climbs and fast rugged descents. Sunday topped all my other race days in Sainte Anne with my first World cup win of the Season and sharing the podium with teammate Katerina Nash.

The BCBR has lived up to its reputation.  The trails and coastal scenery have been unreal. I was spoiled to have such a great teammate in Katerina, getting to ride fast through all the fun challenging trails and then going back to our RV where Zeph would prep our bikes for the next Day, Sarah would have some gourmet food prepared and Waldek would have his massage table out and ready for us.

2 days into a 7 day stage race and I’m feeling pretty good, but definitely see how it’s going to get tougher!

I finally placed in the top-5 at a national level elite mountain bike race.  I never would of guessed it would be in Engelberg in the heart of the Swiss Alps.

For the next three weeks I’ll be racing in Europe, based out of Kirchzarten, Germany, as a part of a USAC development camp.  First up is a Racer Bikes Cup (formerly Swiss Cup) in Winterthur, Switzerland.

This year racing has been exciting, fast and tactical.  The US Cup in Colorado Springs was no exception with Cyclocross national champ Katie Compton joining the mix, racers like Katerina Nash coming into form and Alison Dunalp racing her first National Series short track race since retiring at the end of the 2004 season.

Fast racing and getting a taste of the Podium as well as the waffles and turnovers in belgium.

Five days of racing over 6,000 feet = good training and butt kicking. I decided to up the challenge this year and am now two days into the Tour of the Gila in Silver City, NM. 

That’s how it’s been going these days. Things have been going well the last few weeks: weather has been fantastic, road and trails have been in great shape and I’ve been whipping up some delicious food items in my spare time. This year I’ve been getting out for some more group rides and have been enjoying the Tuesday-Thursday rides from Peloton Cycles- they are short but hard (and they leave at 11:07- don’t ask me why). Ben has been consistently kicking my butt on all our training rides, and that has been helping me to dig deep. And when you dig deep, you have to eat cookies… (My lame attempt at weaving in a cookie recipe).