I had a really good time in Oliver and I’ve got the photos to prove it. For me, racing well is not about my time and/or my placing, it’s about my internal attitude. I’ve talked about this perspective before. I think it’s because after many years in amateur sport, I’m not interested in the pressure to perform. I’m here in sport because I enjoy the experience. Instead of pressure – insert pleasure. When you’re out there enjoying yourself the results seem to come along with you.

Ok, enough waxing all philosophical like. My pre-race prep went well. I drove up Saturday morning. I was going to drive up by myself and do this race weekend thing totally solo but Torbin took pity on me and helped with the driving. Thanks for the support, Love. I had the weirdest taper ever for this race, with a work trip taking me to Colorado 2 weeks out, and a busy work week pre-race that included a 3hr bike ride to Deep Cove on Friday. Yup, the bike ride was for work. Awesome, eh! Probably not the smartest idea for a pre-race taper… but I decided that I’m not that serious about racing so why should I cancel on fun things, just because of an “A” race. Jeez, Louise.

to be continued…

check back later as I do plan to finish this post later today Second half of this race report will have to wait. I got distracted by, well, life.

Torbin and I drove up to Oliver on Saturday (or should I say Torb did most of the driving). We left real early in the morning so we were actually in Summerland by noon. I dropped Torbin off at my Aunt/Uncle’s place and then headed to Oliver for the pre-race prep. I arrived in Oliver, enjoyed some solo focused time visualizing for the race, got all my gear prepared, and did a little test bike ride. I was finished with all the pre-race stuff nice and early so headed to the lake for some quiet time. Quiet confident time before your A-race is a good idea – where you think, “Cool, everything’s done, I’m ready!” I like some time away from the hub bub and nervous energy that often surrounds these events. While hanging out on the beach, I had a nice visit with Jim and then met with the South Delta/SAA group for a very choppy swim. After the swim, I enjoyed some more visiting, went to the pre-race meeting, and then headed home to Summerland.