Catharine Pendrel

Getting a top 5 has been a goal of mine since Worlds last year. Today it happened. After 2 days of great sunshine in the Pyrenees ending one of their rainiest springs, the skies again opened up this morning. Even though I just arrived Wednesday (and had to buy a new plane ticket in Paris after learning that I was supposed to fly to Toulouse from another airport) I have been feeling great. The time change and travel didn’t seem to be wearing me down, I loved the course and I was in a new and beautiful country with sunshine and snow. This morning, after a less than stellar sleep (I know I got at least 3hrs), I was still feeling good and pumped for the race. During warm up I knew it could be a good day. The course was getting greasy and rutted, but I liked it. Off the start I moved from front row to about 30th with a colossal pedal miss. Loosing a couple seconds when everyone else is sprinting is pretty significant. From there it was time to regain positions. In the woods I was able to pa

Congrats to all you secret racers in Kamloops! Last weekend at the Cow trail BC cup in Merrit Kim and Martin B both won their categories, Martin D was 2nd in his and Pete 6th. Jamie I saw that top 5 girl! Yehaa. Aaron showed he's still a ripper finishing 8th in Elite men and my athlete Joele finished 4th Elite women after recovering from a crash off the start. A guy blocked traffic for her so she could get up and I was picturing it being someone from Kamloops! Watch out for Ellen and Nick at test of Metal! Also on the Canada Cup scene Keith's athlete's are showing their cards. JeanAnn has claimed a 3rd and 4th, Matt H got 3rd last weekend (yes sir!) and Daniel and craig are riding consistently top 12-15 for their best canada cups to date. Keep it up guys!

Now that you’re all cursing me I’ll dig deeper! This place is gorgeous. We’re staying in the Pyrenees. We arrived last night climbing the twisty mountain roads, passing one village after another until arriving at Hotel Magic (how can you go wrong with a name like that) 3hrs after leaving Toulouse. We headed out on the bikes before dark and climbed for an hour before descending back down only 20minutes to the hotel. The snowflakes put the agic in Magic! The next morning was bright and sunny. We took the Gondola from our hotel to the top of the mountain (Vallnord) where the race site is located. Things just kept getting better. Not only was it a beautiful venue surrounded with white capped mountains shining in the sun, but the course was super fun, lots of roots and rocks and time in the woods. The 1800m elevation had me breathing harder than normal and the legs aren’t quite ready to race, but that could just as easily have been the travel. From the Gondola

Andorra is a small country in the Pyrenees nestled between Spain and France. Andorrans speak Catalan so it looks like I’m going to have to pick up a couple new phrases. Interesting Factoid: The people of Andorra are currently listed as having the highest human life expectancies on Earth, at an average of 83.5 years at birth (2007 est). According to Wikipedia The race venue sits at 1800m. Should be fun, almost as fun as last weekend’s 40 degrees, but if these are my hardest work days I’d still say it’s pretty sweet! I'll try to post some pics soon

This weekend was perfect for trying out the new Oakley Enduring glasses with vented lenses. (Picture little air vents on these puppies). Santa Ynez was hot, really hot, 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius). The race course wound its way up and over many rolling hills, unfortunately skirting the large beautiful Oak trees which could have offered us a couple seconds relief from the glaring sun. I was super impressed with the new lenses. I had no trouble fogging up even though I was panting like crazy. Can’t wait to have these babies when it gets really muggy! Check out Oakley.com

4 years after graduating and I am now student loan debt free!!!!!! ….…just have to work on Keith’s now

Early Sunday morning before the heat built, Mical met up with the Luna crew and we all headed out to the Bulldog café with Blick from Oakley. With caffeine coursing through our veins we were ready for a ride and headed out along part of the tour of California route. My legs felt surprisingly decent so I wasn’t dreading the afternoon’s short track too much. After the ride we had a team breakfast at Paula’s Pancake house. Yum fruit filled pancakes! Georgia’s doing way better today. She’s decided to sit out the short track, but will be there to cheer us on. Delicious Breakfast! It’s crazy hot again, but only 100 degrees today! After a good warm up we were set to go. I had my best ever short track start claiming 2nd wheel right off the start. Kelli struggled in the first tight corner and I got past her for the lead. I tried to ramp up the tempo and split the field. Looking back there were about 8 girls with me. Through the start finish Mical went to the front. The leader switched with ever

It was 104 degrees Fahrenheit for the women’s race in Santa Ynez California, 110 for the men’s. The area, known for its’ wine and Michael Jackson’s ranch offered riders rolling hills dotted with beautiful Oak trees. The sparse trees did not provide more than 10 seconds of shade relief along the 50min loop. We raced 2 laps. The race was off to a great Start for my team with Georgia leading, Katerina in 2nd and me third. We were quickly separating ourselves from the trek girls and Heather Irmiger. I got around Katerina after the first climb and was on Georgia’s wheel, but she kept ramping up the pace and I wasn’t able to hold her wheel for long. I watched her ride off into the distance berating myself for not being able to push harder. I haven’t suffered that much since…well Houffalize. Time trialling out there in 2nd position I had little to focus on, but how hot and crappy I felt. My mind was doing way too much thinking. I tried to think about pedalling smoothly, but ended u

So yes, Tuesday saw me heading to Penticton through rain showers to join up with Dan’s Ironman Camp. Dan’s camp has been running every May for about 10 years now and draws a crew of 40 or more serious and/or fun loving people aspiring to race Ironman Canada. There is always a crew that brings their mountain bikes and I was going to take them out for a rip on the local trails. Penticton has probably the best combo of road and mountain bike riding in BC so the hardest part was deciding where to ride. We decided on “the Mice” and headed out along the bike paths through vineyards to the trailhead. 2.5 hours later we returned cold and wet, but with big grins on our faces. Thanks guys! I was then to do an interval workout with Dan, but opted for a warm lunch and shower first. Tom skinner was helping out as a ride guide and joined us for the mtb ride and my intervals. Thanks Tom! I was able to stop by the Bike Barn for a too quick visit and to see many of my favourite Pentictonite

Keith has been training! Saturday and Sunday we got in some wicked mtb rides. One in Kamloops where I swear we climbed for almost two hours predominantly on single track with some fun fast descending filling the other hour. That night we headed to Revelstoke for Sue's Bday and mum's day, to meet Keiran (Brendan and Amanda's new baby) and of course get in some more rides. Grainger made a superb cake and we had a relaxed night at home. Sunday morning was pretty wet, but by noon it was sunny and gorgeous. The trails were pretty slick, but a fun challenge and we got to practice some cyclocross work on the blow downs. We made our way slowly home on Monday and had friends over to work in the garden that night. So great to hang out on the back deck till 9pm and be warm! Thanks to our neighbours for entrusting me with the Rotor tiller! Tuesday I'm off to Penticton to go mtb riding with a group of fun guys at my coach's Ironman training camp. Today was a rest day for me and

I'm a rebel My first day home was warm and Sunny. I figured I'd be environmentally friendly and hang my clothes to dry. WRONG! In Kamloops it's against the law! Have you heard of anything more ridiculous? I think a letter to the editor or mayor is in order Our yard smells so good. And look green grass! Our pear tree is looking awesome. The Cherry and apple tree both appear to be half dead unfortunately, but maybe I'll learn how to nurture them back to productivity! By the time I made in back to Canada I was throughly confused over what languages to use. French in Belgium, German in, well, Germany, Spanish in Spain and English in between. I was saying Danke to English folk, Merci to German and feeling really in need of some practice with both french and spanish....but they didn't have raspberries in cuba. It's amazing how one's vocabulary is shaped to the culture where they learned it. Que Rico!

From the venue. Madrid After Sunday's race the canadians got together at a restaurant by the venue for some good food and chatting. Ricky, Mical, Sandra and myself shared ox loin that we BBQ'd our self on the table. We all sampled the queso manchego (cured cheese), Iberico ham, roasted peppers and some horrid liquor the restaurant staff gifted us. As always when you're hanging out with this crew it was a great time and a perfect way to finish up our European adventure. Kiara, Mical, sandra, Me, Emily, Derek and Amanada. Wendy, Alison and ricky also joined us. Thanks Pedalmag.com Be sure to read Sandra's write up on pur adventures! A local poses with some Iberico ham. Very common to see a Pig leg on display to wet the appetite in Spain Afterwards I hit up dinner 2 with Luna where I sampled Madrid's famed hot coco..like pudding and recommended by Kiara. We went to La Plaza Mayor in downtown Madrid so I finally got to see a bit of the city. Beautiful...just as all Euro

Well we did synch the Team win again, but no Beer for us. I guess they figured the 19.5l we already accumulated over the past 2 weeks was enough. As it was I got killed by Iberia for extra luggage on the way home. $306 Euro!!!!!! Wow didn't realize how good of elbows I've got for world cup racing! Gunn Rita, Marga Fullan and Marie Helene Premont rode away from the field early establishing themselves as the women to beat. Thanks for the great pictures Rob! canadiancyclist.com

Whew. today was fast and hard. No time for settling in. With irina missing today my 11th start position landed me on the front row next to Marie Helene. The race started on a long flat before sending us up a series of steep pitches. i initially lost a bunch of positions and har to work hard for 2 laps to get up to the 3rd chase group. i spent most of the race with Swiss Rider Petra henzi and NMathalie Schneider. We eventually brideged up to Ying Lui and my teammate Katerina. I could see Georgia for a lot of the race, but was never able to make contact. I felt pretty good all race, but wasn´t able to get a gap on the climbs. Last lap was hard with the group of 4 i was riding with vying for position. Lene Byberg was coming up fast from behind and caught me with less than 10 minutes to go. Less than a minute separated 6th to 12th place showing how competitive and fast the race was. I happy with my race. all the lunas managed top 10 finishes with georgia in 5th, me 9th an

Wednesday Katerina, Georgia and I flew into Madrid. Zeph and Waldek arrive to the airport at exactly the same time, having started driving the previous day. Thanks Guys! Getting turned around appears to be the theme of our trip so far. Finding our hotel was a bit of a pain. It seems the entire city is under construction with big piles of rubble and broken pavement everywhere. After getting settled in we all headed out on rides. Waldek and I set off to find the motorcross track we could see from the highway so I could get a couple efforts in to clear the travel from my legs. It was a pretty fun area to rip around. We got a little lost on the way home but made it eventually. I wil have mastered the art of getting directions in Spanish before I get home! After riding we headed to the mall for dinner. Yes that’s right the mall. The hotel women had recommended it. It was a step up from your typical food court but we were a bit disappointed. We had a huge meal of tapas. In spain dinner usual

Sycamores along the river in Frankfurt The city Bo, Georgia and Susan checking out the local produce Tuesday Susan and Bo, Georgia’s wonderful family drove us to Frankfurt. We would all be flying out the next morning. We headed into downtown Frankfurt that evening. Parked near the downtown, we navigated our way to the river passing through street markets and the red light district. The city is an interesting mixture of new and old architecture, many of the older buildings being destroyed during the war. There are tons of sculptures and art throughout the city. Along the water is a botanical garden, paths lined with sycamores and many people out kayaking, rowing and walking. I think the evening is the best time to see a new city. There’s something about the lighting and transition from day to evening life that gives them a really neat atmosphere.