08 AGM Cross

This past weekend was the AGM cross – the first Cyclocross race of the year, always held on the Saturday before the Sask Cycling Association’s Annual General Meeting (Which this year happened to be in Saskatoon!).

This year the race was a fundraiser for the CIBC Run For The Cure for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (the weather was nice and the course was easy so in reality there wasn’t that much “RUNNING”… but, whatever…). There were prizes for best costumes and the bike/Rider with the most pink on them.

I wasn’t feeling much like riding so I hauled the kids across the city to watch and cheer on Amanda! I don’t have piles of good pics because I was mostly shooting video… and I filled my damn card n the first 10 minutes of the race and then had to figure out how to delete stuff!?

One of these days I’ll figure out how to knit the clips together and add text and a soundtrack… bt for now here’s a few of the pics I took

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


Riders marshalling… in the wrong area… Look at all that PINK!?


The women waiting to start. Amanda’s hiding in the back.


I don’t know who this was but she had a crazy, crazy dress on… earlier I had seen her riding around in some white… I don’t know… Go-go boots? Which would have been cool if she raced in them… but she apparently decided to ditch them before the race started…


Kevin “the machine” Williams. Damn that guy is FAST!


Kevin again. Not sure what the hurry is everyone else is miles behind…


Not sure who that is in the Bike Doctor jersey… they all look the same… but I think that’s Susan Clark in the background. She’s a speedy one too!


Amanda approaching a barricade. (Don’t worry she’s not about to crash into it, she’s going quite slow at this point…)


UP! UP! UP!


This guys rocks my world! I met him a couple weeks ago, and I totally forgot his name. Sorry, dude. Anyway, that’s a pretty wicked singlespeed he’s riding! YEAH-BABY!!


Can’t be suffering that bad… She’s smiling! Ah well, that’s what it’s all about right? Having “fun”?


Mr. Stephen Cooley. Another damn fast rider. I can honestly say, however, that in the last cyclocross race I rode in I beat Stephen to take the gold medal at provincials in 2005 … in, uh, Cat 5… the, uh, first year he was racing… and, um, well, really, it was only because he broke his chain and there was no one else riding in Cat 5…. But a VICTORY IS A VICTORY!!!


Erica Musyj in her dollar store tutu.


Amanda on her second last lap.


Amanda recovering post race with part of her cheering section. Amanda was Dead Last - but she won a Run For the Cure Umbrella for being so very, very PINK! (which was handy because she lost her only umbrella at the movie theatre earlier this summer....) YAY AMANDA!

I dunno… I suppose I should probably show up for a few races this year… since I went and bought this silly racing license thing and all… Guess I’ll have to get out and practice a bit…

Last Month Or So…

So… what HAVE I been doing for the last month or so…!?

Not so much riding, to tell you the truth…

You might remember back in early July I was off the bike with a nasty infection that required some emergency day surgery that was decidedly un-fun! Well… it came back… Two weeks before XC8 - which I had really been looking forward to all year…. This caused me much distress as I had visions of another trip to the emergency OR and being completely unable to go.

On the plus side I actually got into see my doctor right away (a miracle in itself) and sort of nipped it in the bud before it got out of control and needed another trip to the emergency room. The downside is that it’s probably going to be a recurring pain in the arse (literally). I saw the surgeon again a couple weeks later and he confirmed that I will probably need to go under the knife again – and this time the procedure will be a little more… well… “Invasive”?

Anyway the whole episode just took the wind right out of my sails. That, coupled with an intensely busy fall schedule for the whole family and rapidly shortening daylight hours, has made it hard for me to get motivated and back in the saddle again.

As it turns out, I did, however, make it to XC8.

More on that in a moment...

Amanda at the Park Again

Over the week I actually got out to see Amanda riding in the Skate Park for the first time in months. When she goes out there I usually stay home with the kids. Can’t really take the kids over there because they just want to run all-over and get in the way of everyone… Well Amanda’s mum was visiting and so I had an opportunity to get over there kid free to take some pics and see what she’s been working on.

I have to report she is MUCH IMPROVED!!! Just goes to show a little practice can go a long way. As does having some good coaching – she has had a fair amount of encouragement and advice from “Coach G”! Thanks G!

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


It’s funny, she’s had this bike for a couple years now, and a least once a year, when we’re over there together, she would stand on the edge of the bowl and say “I would NEVER go in there…”


Now, not only can she go in….


…but she can get back out too!


I took a bit of video the couple times I was there. I just have to figure out how to piece them all together and throw some cool tunes in the background and then I’ll get those up here somehow…