Catharine Pendrel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS9603FFv8M Also the lovely Cheryl at the Bicycle Cafe has been doing some interviews with local riders on what makes Kamloops an awesome place to ride a bike. You can check out what I and others have to say right here on NSMB. http://nsmb.com/4251-behind-the-loops-part-v/ Can you guess my favourite book?

Today was one of those great training days. With the Masters ski World Champs last week I cross country skied for the first time ever in March. Ski conditions right now are great, but usually I have traded skis for bikes long ago. This year winter kept hanging on and it wasn’t until last week that I could ride outside consistently. Kamloops being the climate it is, it would snow in the am, but if I waited till noon I could do a 4hr ride on dry roads. You gotta love when the sun starts packing some heat. Sure today winds gusted up to 60km/hr, but those winds are drying out our trails and I got on my mtb for 4hrs. I even got to do a 20 min loop at race pace on dirt without my thermal jacket or booties! Yippee! Aside from enjoying the many new coffee shops that are popping up around Kamloops, Keith and I also found a great new restaurant here called Crush. It is very good quality and inexpensive and best of all they source locally and make health conscious sauces. Keith had a

Phew, just finished up another tough day on the Skis.  Today was the 30km race at Masters Worlds.  I went in hoping to be faster than I was in the 15km and try to catch some of those 40+ gals, but it just wasn’t going to happen today.  I was able to clinch another title in my age group though, didn't fall off the start, and luckily have several more years to improve before I have to race the uber fast gals! Thanks To julie Melanson for the photo! Today’s race was 1h35.07 for me, perfect prep for the mtb.  My group started behind all the other female categories and all the men doing less than 45km so there were lots of people out on the trails. Sarah Purslow of Canada took second and Sara Calegari of Italy third.  Big Shout out to Nikki Kassel who drilled it to win the 35+ in 1:28.18.  As per usual both 2x Olympic skiers Laura Mcabbe and Lesle Hall (nee Thompson) were ridiculously fast with a 1:22:51 and 1:26:23. I’ll have to look up who won the men's 45km, because I have nev

Okay, so maybe I’m a sandbagger, but only because they don’t let the 30 year olds race the 40 year olds! Those women are fast! Although I became World Champion (muahahaha) in the 15km free for 30-35 year olds, former US Olympian Laura Mccabe blew us all away with a time of 41.12 (21.85 km/hr). The tightest race was in the 45-50 crew with Leslie Hall taking the win in 42.26 and 5 other women chasing her in in times faster than mine….ohhh how I wish we could have all started together! Okay i have to work om my celebratory salute My start was hilarious. We start double poling in tracks and I felt amazing, leaping off the ground and really moving…that is until I lost my balance and fell on my but before we even cleared the tracks! Oh the shame! From there on it was chase mode. I thought the Italian racer was going to be the one to beat (having FIS points and all), but instead there was a tall powerful woman, a Canadian, leading the charge. Familiar with chasing the start I went into ove