Catharine Pendrel

On Monday A bunch of us headed into Quebec city to check out the sights. It was a provoncial holiday so there were lots of people out wandering the cobbled streets and eating in the patios of restaurants. Mical and I got Caricatures done! Street performers On Tuesday I again headed to Quebec city. This time with Ride Guide to film the intro for the MSA World Cup. Should be interesting to see how a day of filming condenses to a 2 minute intro! Highlights of the day were the police intervention in our filming, chowing down at the "Crazy Pig" with Chris, Mike and Jerome and getting to use walkie talkies! Film Buffs: The scene in "Catch me if you can" where he gets caught was actually filmed in Old Quebec city.

So as I already excitedly mentioned I had a wicked race this weekend finishing 11th, just 8 seconds off 10th place. It was a bit of a dramatic lead up to the race as I noticed on Tuesday that my name was not on the Start List. I immediately contacted the CCA and they assured me I would be able to race. Thursday I register, but learn that as a penalty for late registration I must start at the back of our 80 women field. This is after spending a lot of coin getting to Europe to get some experience and a good start position for this key World Cup in my Season. Let’s just say I was a little frustrated! I had registered on time, but due to an administrative error I was left off the list and penalized for another’s mistake. Turns out there were at least 5 other fast Euro women affected by this new “rule”. My Norco support Kevin was a wicked advocate for me and many teams not affected by this rule stood up at the manager’s meeting to show their support for the relegated riders and the unfairn

Wahoooo! Qualified for the Olympic pool today! Finished 11th, just 8 seconds off 10th at today's World Cup race in Mont Saint Anne Quebec. My parents were there decked out in Norco team shirts, Havy had my bike dialed in and took care of me in the feed zone and there were lots of friends out on the course giving their Support. Keith, back in BC celebrating his 30th bday was there lap by lap on the computer following the race and sending fast energy my way. Thanks for all your support guys!!!

Headed to Quebec I’m now hanging out in the Maple Leaf Lounge in Vancouver airport waiting for my flight east to Quebec city. Thanks for the lounge pass Dad. This place rocks: free internet, food, bevys and loads of comfy chairs and an espresso maker. Saturday I’ll be racing the World Cup in Mont Saint Anne and really hoping for a top 12. Should be fun times!!! The following thursday a bunch of us will head to Saint Felicien for the next world cup. This will be a new venue for Canadians and Euros alike so should be interesting.

The 2007 Test of Metal lived up to its name. As Keith and I left my brother's place in North Van Saturday morning the skies were overcast and the car's thermometer was reading 12 degrees. Brrr. By 11:00 it had been raining for a couple hours. Nearly 850 riders showed up, registration having filled within 45 minutes of opening Januray 1st. People love this race! Having gotten home from Switzerland the previous monday night this was to be a training race for me. Wednesday and thursday were pretty tough workouts and friday, wasn't overly light so my legs were definitely a little fatigued, but it was the Test and it was going to be fun. Originally my aspirations were to kick as many guys' asses as I could, but with the cold rain, heavy legs and bit of breathing room I scaled down my plan a bit. I started front row (keith started somewhere around 400!) and after the national anthem was sung, got off to a good start reaching the prime on the first climb as top women

After the race Sandra and I packed up our stuff and headed west towards the Matterhorn. We overnighted in a really neat town called Leuks in athe castle below. In the morning we awoke to the sound of a marching band. We rushed to the window in time to see the band just come into view. Almost as soon as we spotted them though they stopped playing, a bus drove up and they all loaded in. It was the most bizarre thing ever. After Breakfast we headed to Tachs and I got to do my first real Euro driving. The speed limits on twisty roads there would never be approved here. In Tachs we took a Train to Zermatt at the baseof the Matterhorn and then the Gornergrat up to 3200m. Back in Zermatt we had a disappointing spicy cheese fondue recommended by the lonely planet before heading back to Tachs. From there we had to take a car train through a tunnel into the Bernese Oberland. As we drove onto the car train I said “Wouldn’t it suck if the car in front of you stalled when you had to get off”. The t

Yes, I’m pretty excited about this! The announcer even told the crowd they were seeing the ride of the day when I came through moving from 58th to 13th. Pretty sweet. Saturday July 9th I raced my 2nd World cup of the Season, this time in Champery, Switzerland. Champery is situated in the South East corner of Switzerland in the Alps. Sandra, myself, kris and Wendy headed there from Central Switzerland on Wednesday. We checked out the course that day and Sandra and I felt just horrible on it, getting tossed around the rough rooty descents. Some tire and fork pressure adjustments made a huge difference for next lap. The Course The course would start into a steep 1km climb before turning into the woods and a rough steep descent. It then crisscrossed through some rooty single track with a couple of drops before heading down the WC 4 cross course, over some roads and out onto the other half of the course. The course was pretty interesting as the two halves were quite different. This side of

My run in with a dangerous beast Species: Homo Sapiens Genus: Bike racer Sub Genus: #38 Order: Primate Class: Mammalia Kingdom: Animalia Traits: Extremely aggressive. Should be treated as Dangerous particularly when they may feel their territory is being threatened.

Tomorrow we pick up a rental car and make our way West to the french speaking region of Switzerland. We'll be racing the World cup on Saturday 11:00 am local time or for you in BC 2:00 am Friday night! After a weekend in the mountains I've gotten in some really good rides and a lot of climbing. We took yesterday pretty easy and did some touristy stuff in Bern meeting up with Canucks Wendy and Kris at Sandra's in the evening for some scrumptious fajitas and lots of chatting in English! Today Sandra and I put the hurt on each other doing some race starts and power intervals and are both psyched for the race this weekend. We're currently the 3rd and 4th ranked Canadians according to UCI points. The points accumulated by our top 3 ranked riders determine whether Canada earns it's maximum amount of Olympic spots (2) for 2008. Canada is currently the 5th ranked nation and must remain top 8. After the race we are headed to the Matterhorn! There are also some thermal bath

Making friends in Switzerland's mountains. A nice evening in Luzern. The view from our weekend home in Saas im Prattigau, Grabünden. The barns staggerred up the hillsides are so that farmers can move their livestock further up as the snow line recedes. High above Klosters and midway to Davos. It's Sunny!!! Being totally unprepared for 20 degrees after freezing our buns coming down from the 1hr climb we did yesterday we were a little over dressed for this beautiful day. Saas is the small town we stayed which you can see behind us. Me and Sandra hanging out in Luzern on the way back from our weekend in the mtns. The covered bridge behind us crosses the Rheus River and dates back to the early 1400s. Inside along the gabled roof there are tons of original (and reconstructed aftre a fire) painted roof panels depicting scenes from Swiss history and Mythology.