Nanoblur-Gears en Europe, par Joanie Caron

Bonjour,
Un petit mot de la Belgique, où je représente l'équipe via l'Équipe nationale canadienne. Nous y sommes pour un bloc de 10 courses U.C.I., toutes de catégories 1 et quelques Coupe du Monde. Toutes ces courses sont de niveau très élevé et le rythme est également très élevé, du début à la fin. Les routes y sont très techniques, avec des rond-point, routes de campagne, pavés, etc. Tout pour ajouter du piment à la course... J'adore!!!!
Nous sommes à mi-chemin du voyage, c'est-à-dire que nous avons 5 courses d'effectuées en Hollande et en Belgique. Jusqu'à maintenant, je suis très satisfaite des résultats, ayant fait les groupe de tête pour la plupart des courses. Quelques ennuis mineurs en cours de route (chute, crevaison), mais ces quelques pépins ont, je le crois, contribué à me rendre plus forte et ainsi samedi j'ai obtenu mon meilleur résultat à venir jusqu'à maintenant, soit une 16e position à Gelderland en Hollande, sur 156 filles au départ. C'est un résultat satisfaisant, mais inutile de vous dire que j'aspire à mieux encore d'ici à la fin du voyage.
En attendant, je prépare la Flèche Wallonne qui aura lieu mercredi.
Bon printemps au Canada,

Joanie Caron

Updates!

Anne in the pack with Jen S.

Krystal in the pack on a windy paved section


VERO pushing the pace today.

Chasing.....



Lots has been happening locally for the team.
This past weekend Leigh Hobson took first place at the Tour of Bronte race in the women's field and 7th in the men's field. Congrats Leigh! That cross season is looking good already!
In NY at the Tour of Battenkill Vero, Krystal, Anne and KK took to the dirt and pavement for a challanging 100km course that was a race of attrition. With colder temps and good winds the pack was mellow on the pavement and hammered the dirt all day which made for a good hard race. Vero finished as our top rider in 7th place. Krystal had good legs today and was looking great but unfortunately at a critical time when the pack was climbing AGAIN on dirt section 7 she had a mechanical issue. NEXT TIME! You rock the dirt roads Krystal. Anne and Krystal came in around 4min back and KK finished with her group. Good job ladies. Next year I think we know what to expect so I think it will be a different ball game!
Anne is up in Boulder racing on the dirt roads in The Boulder Roubaix with Mara Abbot and Meredith Miller in the pack. This made for some hard racing. Anne has been hitting the dirt roads a few weekends in a row with the Koppenburg race last weekend as well. She is on a mission for Gila and Joe Martin...watch out!

Here are a few picks from Battenkill up above. More to come as we get them!

Cheers
Team Nanoblur-Gears

California Round Up!

Well we are back from our first set of stage races in California. Most of the team was racing into better shape while some of the team seems to be in pretty good shape already and it's only going to improve for them too!
San Dimas proved to be fun racing, with day 2 being 90 degrees putting a bit of new stress on the body!
Anne was able to get in a break that finished her in 4th place in the RR. A good start to the season for just racing into shape. The crit was active and Jo, Anne and Vero stuck it out til the end. Vero being quite aggressive and maintaining her normal stellar position! There are some pictures above of the crit.
Overall I felt like SD was getting back in the pack and the feel of racing again. For me it had been a long time since I had been in a big pack so I think it was good for getting some early season nerves out.
Next came Redlands. A few more racers and a few more good racers. I love Redlands. Maybe because I KNOW it is a hard race. And I like hard races.
The prologue was lung burning as usual. I won the bet on who won...Amber Neben :). She is a special talent that woman. I think I got a cup of tea as a prize...sad..yes.I think so too!
The team were ok with our performances. Vero topping off the quickest time placing her in 22nd overall.
Next came the Beaumont RR. My memory of this is hell as last year there were 45km winds for sure...and even Amber said it was one of the hardest races she has done....it was awful. So having said that this year felt way easier. Don't get me wrong, the pace was fast and the hills were hard...but there was no whaling cross wind to deal with all day..big difference, especially for us little folk.
Krystal attacked early in the race and stayed away for 25km...go Krystal! It was great to have our jersey up the road for that long. And for Krystal to GO FOR IT. Much more satisfying to have tried. Once the peleton caught her Anne and Vero tried a few more attacks but no one was letting anything go. The plan for the day was surely to get the finish time bonus. And so it went just like that. Joanie followed some good wheels and practiced her sprint coming in a fine 8th. Not bad at all for the first big sprint of the season. I think we will be bumping that up to podium levels soon enough! Joanie is off to Belgium for a month and you can bet she will return ON FIRE with some wicked legs for Joe Martin.
The next day was the crit. I can admit that we missed the boat that day as we were the only team not in the break. But as I said, we are racing into shape and things will change by the next race. It was a hard crit, especially the middle part when the real time bonus was on the line and Ina scooped it, which led to counters and more counters and a break getting up the road. They put in enough time to put Ina into the lead for Sunset.
Last was Sunset loop. Now if you have raced Sunset..you will know that EVERY year..when the neutral car pulls off..it is GAME ON..NO wasting time..AT ALL. We were going hard into that hill....and it was cross eyed all the way up. It was pain..but in a way I always like Sunset..it's a great hill. a few of us were with the main pack til the third lap...at which point I think after that we were off and with our subsequent groups or alone. But everyone rode on and finished the race. Vero tried one attack and was brought back..but kudos for trying. Anne had some back spasms...that has to hurt...and well I just was dangling that third lap and ended up with a group that unfortunately was not that motivated to race!!! And we rode/raced...i would say more rode..the last 4 of 9 laps. And people joined our group from behind. Looking back I think a few of us should have just kept hammering...but it's funny when the group isn't doing that its hard to do it alone.
I was glad to see that my legs felt the best on the last day of racing and I think they were starting to come back. I just wish we were still down there with more racing to do!
Thank you to our wonderful hosts! You were truly amazing and so nice to open your homes to the team! We hope you will have us back in 2011!!!!
I posted some pictures of the racing. We will keep you posted on team events. Tomorrow is the local GOOD FRIDAY RR and next weekend is BATTENKILL!!!!
That's all for now!
Team nanoblur-Gears.