Ontario Cup #1: Woodnewton ~ Spring Legs

All winter I have been riding long hard miles with my dad and, when I complained, he would constantly remind me that the hard work would pay off in the spring. And, as much as I hate to admit it, he was right. Our winter training--consisting of long, hard road miles on the fat bikes in frustratingly cold weather--has definitely helped me enter the race season strong.

This past weekend I raced the first mtb Ontario Cup race of the season at Woodnewton in Uxbridge. Driving to the race Sunday morning I was definitely nervous but also super excited. The day before I had ridden the course and it was smooth and had a lot of awesome flow to it. My Giant bike was also in perfect racing condition. Me on the other hand... my legs and skills were soon put to the test! This year is also my first year racing on the Giant Toronto Pb Liv race team--an all women's team focused on getting more women into cycling and really supporting female athletes--and so I went into this race with a team of fantastic ladies cheering me on.

The race started off fast with a steep hill right away. I wanted to make sure to get to the front fast (if I could), and so I powered up the hill.


One of the girls who just moved up into my category grabbed my wheel right away. She rode right behind me the whole way which was really impressive. There were a few times I attempted to speed up and drop her but she always matched my pace. We quickly dropped the rest of the pack and caught up to the categories who started in front of us.


After two, short 8 km laps we came around the the finish line and I gave it everything I had to stay ahead. I managed to win by a mere one second. 


I arrived to the finish line exhausted and knowing that I had given it my all. I felt like I came into this race in good shape and then had a great ride, so the strength that some of my competitors showed proved to be a good challenge. It's good to see that other riders have been training hard all winter and it's sure to be a tough but exciting race season!

Check out the race results here.

I had a couple of teammates racing in other categories as well. Congratulations to Christina who managed an epic third place in her category and Tascha who raced strong and came in 9th!
Huge thanks for the support from Giant Toronto and Liv bikes!!

Next Race: Epic 8 Hour at Mansfield 
Location: Uxbridge, ON, Canada

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