Catharine Pendrel

Matt Hadley and I left Bromont on Monday and headed to Tremblant for the second stop on the Canada Cup circuit. There, we were hooking up with a couple more maritime mountain bikers to spend the week in a Cabin on Lake Dufour. We spent our time getting to know the area better, giving our bikes some TLC after the Bromont mudfest, eating, movie watching… and for me, dialing in my descending speed so as not to be scooped for the win twice in a row. The weather improved continuously showering us with sunshine rather than raindrops. For once it looked like we would have a dry race at Tremblant! The course was in good shape, pretty much the same as last year with lots of single track but a more substantial climb than last weekend. Friday night saw some showers, but the morning brought the sun and temperatures in the low to mid 20’s. The women were slotted for 4 laps and I was ready to go. Off the start I fell back to 5th, but after about 500m the girls looked like they were settling into a

Let the racing begin As per usual for May, cycling enthusiasts were met with lots of rain upon arrival in Quebec. I got in Thursday and was able to do a couple loops of the course. A short, but technical loop which had us traversing off camber hills, rocks and roots, not to mention streams. The well-known rock garden was no longer a feature on the Bromont course having been bulldozed this year. Rain continued to fall almost constantly so that by race day the course was more of a river and the stream crossing a bike and human engulfing pit. The women got off to a fast start to our 5 lap course. Starting on pavement we climbed a km or so up dirt and into the first of many single track sections. Mical Dyck took the lead from the start with two women separating us. By half way up the climb I had moved to the front and was climbing away from the pack. I had enough of a gap by the crest I felt confident in my ability to lead the entire race. Perhaps this overconfidence led to my eventual

Getting our Just Desserts Since it’ll be our last weekend together before I head off for the Eastern Canada Cups and Norbas Keith and I figured we might as well do a 6hr team relay. Every year Salmon Arm hosts the Salty Dog and all sorts of cycling enthusiasts of various ages show up. After a couple bad race starts I decided my focus would be getting in a solid start. At 10:00 I parked myself on the front line between two pro men. We punched it up the first fire road, but my lack of warm up was quickly apparent. After climbing through a bunch of punchy single track I was able to turn my legs around and reel in most of the guys who had gotten ahead. I entered the woods and the super long single-track in 5th position. The trails were really fun and flowy and before long I was back at the start. Our plan was to start with 2 laps each and then go to single laps. I guess I was a bit zealous that first lap trying to keep up to the boys and my legs were feeling it 2nd lap but we maintained

This weekend definitely had its ups and downs. The weather was balmy, the course was fast and fun and the event was huge with good racer numbers and a full tech zone. After being on site for about 2 minutes I already had Randy from Hayes offering to trim my brake cables and then hooking me up with some new pads for my El Caminos. Yeah sponsors Rock! The course was very undulating with mostly single track climbs and loose rutted descents. We were scheduled to do three laps of the 7 mile course making it a bit shorter than the usual Canada Cup. So you’re thinking, Okay that’s lots of ups, where are the downs? The next day we were lined up for our 12:15 start. I don’t think a single Canadian got a good call up position. I lined up mid pack. Countdown, then the whistle and we were off. Then just as quickly my bike was down with two girls landing on top of it, me still standing and unhurt. I anxiously bent down to grab my bike, eager to get back into the race only to realize that my handle

Moving is beginning to seem a hobby for Keith and I. The last week of April; along with ending my job at the Chase Café, adopting another stray cat –who turned out to be pregnant and afraid of kitty litter - and doing a bike race I also began to pack up our belongings from our too small basement suite. After Sunday’s race there was already a good stack of boxes in the Kitchen and by Monday evening the place was completely cleaned, boxed up and we were ready for the Trek to Kamloops. By 8:00 I was trashed, but we were in our new home. A spacious 2 bedroom with a pool and a central trail location. As always seems to be the case I have not yet fully unpacked before I started packing for a race trip. A quick weekend trip to California for the Norba Series opener.

BC Cup # 1 2006 Sunday April 30th marked the beginning of the BC cup circuit. Being one of few local interior events I really wanted to be there. Lucky for me and the other 160 competitors as it was an awesome course. At 10:30 we all lined up for 2 laps of the 90% sinlgetrack loop (pro men 2.5 loops). There was a prime for the fastest lap so all challengers were ready to pin it from the gun. The women’s fiels saw a resurgence in numbers from last year containing 13 women and a lot of newer faces. The men’s field contained about 20 guys with some good depth being presented by Ricky Federeau, Brendan Macintosh, Matt Martindale and Neal Kindree. I decided to race my Norco FS1.0 after 2 years on a hardtail. I was able to push hard on the single track climbs easily winding through the trees and it begged me to push it on the descents. Ricky and I were able to capture the fastest lap primes. While I was able to ride at the front all day, the men switched it up with Neal and Brendan duking