The last week has not been boring, it became a bit more than I'd planned for.I made it down to Edmonton on Friday a little in time to do a lap on the race course and get the bike ready. The race Saturday had a start of 2pm which is very late for me, and I wasn't sure how to get ready for 2pm. I slept as long as I could, had a breakfast at Tims and then went down to see the Expert men start and to get and idea of how long the laps would be. It was 10am and already really hot! The hardcore boys just swept the podium!! Good job guys!! I had lunch at Subway and then I headed back for my race. I warmed up with doing a prelap, it was almost 30 degrees so didn't feel I needed much more as I was hot enough! So when the start went the girls as always just took right off, it started with as steep climb and I got left in the 
dust pretty much. I little disappointed that I had no change on hanging on, but oh what could I do. We had to do 4 laps, one less than posted due to lap times during the previous races. I didn't really start enjoying the race until end of 3rd and 4th felt even better! I ended 5th which gave me UCI points, not sure what I'll do with those, but nice to have :)
dust pretty much. I little disappointed that I had no change on hanging on, but oh what could I do. We had to do 4 laps, one less than posted due to lap times during the previous races. I didn't really start enjoying the race until end of 3rd and 4th felt even better! I ended 5th which gave me UCI points, not sure what I'll do with those, but nice to have :) Racing Canada Cup is a bit different than ABA races, you better follow the rules. So when I planned on getting home quick, and had changed and started the car, Steve
calls me and says I have to be on the podium for fifth, I saw trouble! So I turn car off again, get my dirty cloths back on, and back to the awards. I was the only one with running shoes on though, but no trouble for that. So when I finally got on the road it was 5pm, so I didn't get home until after 9.
But this was not the end of a long day!
calls me and says I have to be on the podium for fifth, I saw trouble! So I turn car off again, get my dirty cloths back on, and back to the awards. I was the only one with running shoes on though, but no trouble for that. So when I finally got on the road it was 5pm, so I didn't get home until after 9.But this was not the end of a long day!
When I got home my roommate told me I needed to call Meredith as Toby had an incident with his leg and she was trying to get him to a vet. So still dirty from race I get back in my truck and drive over to the Vet, she wasn't there but a vet tech was and she hadn't heard of Toby yet. So I call and Meredith was still looking for a vet on call. She rushed over to this one and they took Toby in. He was in a lot of pain and couldn't walk or stand up properly, and his back was sort of pointing up. They had to take xrays and they showed some swelling around the spine. So now the only option was to get him to Calgary for a cat scan as it could be a disk rupture. We didn't have much time as if surgery is required the sooner the better. So in the truck, back home to quickly repack and on the road to Calgary. 
Toby cried on the way down and I felt so bad for him. We got in about 730 in the morning and they took him in and gave him some more pain killers and couldn't get the scan done until later on. After a few hours they called and the cat scan showed no disk rupture, so they verified it by doing a mylogram and that was good news. They believe it is a spinal stroke, which they are not sure why occur. It is also a change of a trauma, but both diagnoses has the same treatment so they treated him with anti inflammatory. And the next day I got to take Toby home! After a few nights with now sleep and lots of worries he would never come on a real mountain bike ride again, we headed back to McMurray. I had my one week of work on site for the summer scheduled this week, and I already missed Sunday and Monday so behind the program already. I couldn't leave Toby on his own so he got to spend the next to days with me at work, he was pretty exited.
Toby cried on the way down and I felt so bad for him. We got in about 730 in the morning and they took him in and gave him some more pain killers and couldn't get the scan done until later on. After a few hours they called and the cat scan showed no disk rupture, so they verified it by doing a mylogram and that was good news. They believe it is a spinal stroke, which they are not sure why occur. It is also a change of a trauma, but both diagnoses has the same treatment so they treated him with anti inflammatory. And the next day I got to take Toby home! After a few nights with now sleep and lots of worries he would never come on a real mountain bike ride again, we headed back to McMurray. I had my one week of work on site for the summer scheduled this week, and I already missed Sunday and Monday so behind the program already. I couldn't leave Toby on his own so he got to spend the next to days with me at work, he was pretty exited.Friday we packed up again, this time for 2-4 weeks on the road. First stop would be Edmonton to pick up the Hardcore Trailer (thanks a lot Mark! that makes it that much easier for us) then to Canmore. Didn't make it down very fast and spent a bit more time in Edmonton than planned so I missed the pre lap ride on Friday, I also missed the package pick up!! UCI rules!! This could mean trouble. Saturday morning I got up there as soon as they opened and tried to pick it up. A guy didn't really know what he was suppose to do so he gave Mike and I a handwritten plate and as I'm walking out I pick up some zippy ties it reminds me I also need pins for a rear number plate, which I didn't get! so I go back and ask for a rear number and we then realize its more to it so they had to call in the "secretary" for the race. She tells us we really should have done this yesterday, send someone like our race manager! hmm Toby?? well he has a bad leg so I couldn't really put it on him. Well to make the story short, you really have to make sure you understand all the UCI rules, some are not written so you just have to talk to lots of people and hope for the best. She was nice enough to not give us a 50 dollar late fee, but she had to write us up, so we get a fee from UCI of 35 franks, and we would not get called up, meaning start in the back of the pack, which since I'm usually last out anyway, wasn't a big deal. But for reference if you can not make it to pick up the day before an event, have a photocopy of your licence and have sign a paper and give this to someone to say you are ok with them picking it up for you! Unwritten UCI rule.
The race was so so for me. Great course but I never felt I took it out, I got very comfy riding behind a girl, she was really fast on the technical down hills, and had a nice comfy pace up! Too comfy for a race pace, so I am a bit disappointed, in a short race I'm usually never comfortable, it is a 2 hour or so painful affair! Still a nice run for next week start of BC bike race! I'm happy to see so many good riders out on a Canada Cup, both men and female though, hopefully this is a trend that will keep growing! These are great events and there are so many good riders up here, it's unfortunate that very often the attraction to the USA cups are greater.
Toby got to come with me on the trip, while SQ will fly down with Meredith next week. We miss her but Toby still requires a bit more attention than normal so it would be a bit much for me. He did great during the race, and I'm sure he enjoyed watching from prime spot across from the feed zone. Thanks Karen for feeding and Toby watching!!
Later Toby got to go for a good swim and we are now in Calgary to relax until Monday's vet appointment. He has had such great recovery so far I'm sure the his Doctor will be very impressed. My only concern is that he is learned how to manage with the 3 legs when he does certain things, rather than retraining the fourth leg. So hope to get some ideas on how to encourage him to use all legs as he should. After the appointment we'll be back on the road and meet up with Karen and Steve for the drive out to Vancouver! One more week and we'll be on our bikes for 7 days!
Happy Riding!
kate and toby
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