I can’t believe that Nationals is less than a week away—I am so excited!!

He said

The countdown to Nationals is over. The girls have one last practice Tuesday and then it’s just two, very important performances on Friday and Saturday for all the marbles. The last couple of weeks they have been doing full-outs and all the work and adjustments have really paid off as the routine is looking the best it has all season. We’re really hoping for girls’ sake that their season’s best performances come Friday and Saturday and they can put behind them the disappointment they’ve felt. And if nothing else, we want for Emelia to have fun this weekend and end the season on a high note.

With the tryouts over and Emelia on the rugby team, this week was a schedule full of work, school, Cheer and, well… rugby practices too. No one will ever accuse Emelia of being not active. The thing we’re most proud of her this year especially is how she’s forged out into all these new things and that she actively advocates for herself and takes on these new challenges—mostly all on her own.  And while Emelia’s wrestling coach last year actively was trying to get her to tryout for the rugby team last year and again this year, she was the one who had to put it all out there for a completely new sport, and give it a go. I am blown away at how this used-to-be very shy girl has gotten out of her shell and dove head first into all these new challenges.

This week I finally doubled-down on the cycling front and joined a Cycling Club. While I have been a member of the G2G Cycling Club the last 2 years, that was more about fundraising for the trail upgrades than it was about being part of group rides. I joined the London Cycling Club (LCC) this past week and today I went out for one my first ever weekly Group Ride. And even more to the point I did my first ever try at riding in a paceline which is something I’ve always been curious about trying. We rode 57km to Dorchester and back and in a group at least 10 and it was really great to get out of the city and onto country roads but in a group setting. I am excited because it seems like they have weekly events for the season that I can drop in to when I am available. And the better part is there are few of my friends who are already members, so it won’t all be new people I am riding with. On today’s ride, my pal Steve, although being very much a similar bike nerd like me, we had never rode together.

And, as we wade heavily into April there are two very big things on our minds that come up at the end of this month. In the last weekend of April we have my first bike race of the season in the Paris 2 Ancaster race. It was the very first race ever last year and one that I am super excited to get back to. But once that is done, we turn around and move focus to getting the trailer back up in our lot at Auburn! I did a lot better at P2A last year than I thought I might for my first bike race ever, so I am curious to see what this year will bring given I have my newer, much lighter built for gravel racing GT bike. But, I’ver also gained a lot of perspective about racing in this last year. But, we’re also super excited to get back to camping season, which for me also means more bike riding on the G2G trail which I have missed.

So, after Cheer is wraps up next weekend expect the countdowns to those milestones start!

She said

This week has been go… go… go. We are now in full-on mode—for not only cheer but rugby. Emelia has had rugby practices most days in the week all before school. Add in a very busy work schedule, some mid-term projects at school as well as cheer has meant a very busy girl. This week some of the excessive training caught up a bit with Emelia. On Sunday she was in a fair bit of pain in her back from some stunts at cheer and some tackles at rugby. So Monday after school I was able to grab Emelia a last minute deep tissue massage at the RMT. Well the RMT did a great job but for Emelia almost too good of a job. He did such a deep tissue massage that Emelia was in some insane pain on Tuesday.

Well Tuesday is cheer training day and with only two practices before Nationals Emelia would not stand down and put it all out there at training. The poor kid was pushing back tears by the end. She is a kid who will never ever let her team down, she won’t ever not train and works harder than anyone I have ever seen. Needless to say she was really hurting after practice. We got her home, some meds for the pain and a hot bath. Thankfully she work the next day in less pain and has for the most part recovered. Tuesday at training I was able to see her team’s most recent full-out and it is looking amazing. The girls are in the best shape of the season and I just hope that they can all take the week off training to come in strong on Tuesday and end their training season on a high note. The girls have worked so hard this year and have yet to hit zero at comp. We are really hoping that with all the changes they have made that Nationals will be the high note of the season.

The reason that Emelia had time off both cheer and rugby training to let her body recover was due to the Easter weekend. So this has given her 4 days off school and gave John and I both two days off together over the weekend. What made this weekend even more amazing was the weather. After a VERY long winter we finally had some sunshine and spring like weather. And that meant that John and I were able to get out for some big bike rides. Friday after a mishap (John blew a tire) we were able get out for a very long ride. John does very long rides all the time but for me 45 kms is a long ride. I am beyond grateful for my e-bike so I can go out with John for these long rides again. We were able to get out for two amazing rides this weekend.

Today is Easter. John was able to get out with the London Cycling Club this weekend and while he was out Emelia and I met up with the family to let the girls hang out. The weather was perfect so we chose hitting up the park at Springbank Park to enjoy the sunshine. It was incredible to spend a few hours together as a family. Next week will be jammed packed with activity. Thursday we leave for Niagara Falls. We have one of Emelia’s best friends Emma coming down with us. It has become a tradition this year that Emelia and Emma get together for each competition. Emelia and Emma just adore each other and I could not think of a more perfect way to end the competition season than have the girls together again.