Welcome to Clara Central!
There are many elements in my life that have allowed me to grow into the athlete I am. If you meet me, you’ll soon realise I prefer to talk about an epic mountain traverse, or perhaps bike touring in the north of Canada, or a good book, than the Olympics.
What makes me good in sport is that I am a truly happy person, I thrive in life and love what I do, whatever I am doing. Life is too short for negativity and because I have so much that interests me and provide balance, I feel a lot less pressure to succeed in sport. I love to compete and live for the challenge of competition- the chance to break down those physical and mental barriers that society places on the individual and the individual places on the self.
I feel that sport is in many ways a metaphor for life: to really feel alive is to strive, to fail and succeed, to feel the satisfaction of having a goal, a dream, and pouring one’s heart and soul into it. I feel a sense of freedom in competition, and enjoy it, so the pressure is a positive thing. I choose to strive for excellence, and am alive and thriving as a result.
Yet some of my favorite memories from competition are the times away from the races. I always enjoyed to explore the areas in Europe where we would compete, and would seek out good cafes, restaurants, or galleries.
One of my favorite memories is a little classic French café in the midi-pyranees. It was before an epic mountain stage of Tour de L’aude, in the south of France, and it was raining and cold. We were hiding as long as we could, not too enthusiastic about what laid ahead. There was a cool, really old bull fighting poster on the wall, and I wanted it for my apartment. In my broken French I asked the proprietor if she would sell it to me, but the lady did not understand. My teammate Sue Palmer who knew better French asked again (knowing my French I was probably asking if she had a cow for sale or something!) and she looked at me, took down the poster, rolled it up and said, “c’est un cadeau pour toi”, “It’s a present for you”. That was really cool. I have the poster on my wall at home in Quebec, and it brings back great memories.
Competitve sport gave me many gifts in my life, the most beautiful being my husband Peter. We met through mutual cycling friends. Because of Peter I was introduced to the world of hiking and bike touring. These two things now make up the bulk of my Spring training, and have allowed for growth and experience that is simply not possible within the confines of sport. I always keep jounals while traveling, and love to share these epic experiences with friends and family. I hope you like them too.
My first bike tour was in Baja, California, Mexico. We spent six weeks criss-srossing the peninsula, and it was awesome. In total it was about 1200 miles, 2/3 of which was on dirt, sand and rocks. We were on fully-loaded mountain bikes. At times we each had three gallons of water on our bikes because we were in the desert, often running out and stopping at the homes (shacks) of families living in the middle of nowhere, with dirt floors and next to nothing by our standards. These were some of the most beautiful people I have ever encountered. Because Peter speaks fluent Spanish it was always a unique encounter, many places the people would tell us they had never seen a cyclist there. They would always ask, « where have you come from and where are you going », and often say good-bye with something so formal as, « may God watch over you on the roads you will travel ». This is where I really fell in love with the bike as a mode of transportation and a vehicle for great life experience.
We go on these trips for experience but for me it is always a reminder of what the bike is and how special it is. It’s much more fun to bike tour than to race!
Clara Central is a place where I invite all of my guests to come and enter my world outside of sport. It is a special place, filled with stories of my life and the people I have met and been inspired by along the way.
Enjoy!
