SPRINTING AWAY

Tour de King

2011-10-03T15:51:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I've left a race with a check that had my name on it. Thanks to a solid performance on a trusty set-up, I made it into the money at the first ever Tour de King.

so this race was supposed to be very similar to the Paris to Ancaster, but with a bit more singletrack. That's what I was expecting anyway, so using the cross-bike with a tubeless set-up was a no brainer. The field looked split about 50/50 between cross and MTB. I was surprised to see quite a few people bring both bikes to the start, and make the decision just before. Bad idea in my opinion.....you need to be confident and ready to shred your set-up days before a race.

So the race start was neutralized for a about a km, then we hit a bit of trail and some doubletrack. as soon as we hit the singletrack Derek and Tyson took off on their MTB's as I expected. I was with Anton who was also on a cross bike, and we tried to go quick through the trails but it wasn't really happening. I thought they would be short lived, and we would come out on the road soon, but they kept going and going. Fun trails, but very difficult on a cx bike. I lost Anton after he crashed and was alone in 3rd for a while. I saw him coming when we where finally on the road again, but he never caught up till I stopped at a confusing turn on the trail. We figured it out, and were going again through another long section of trail. Once out on the road again we shared pulls and were humming along at a solid pace, but the next trail come too quickly. This section is where Anton flatted, leaving me alone for the rest of the race.

From there on, I just hammered the road sections and kept it smooth and steady on the trails. I had a flat on one trail, a puncture in my rear tires sidewall that the Stans could not seal while moving, so I stopped, filled it with co2, and played with the wheel for a while till the Stans plugged it up. Luckily it held, and no one caught me. I went a little harder to rebuild my gap, but I was hurting bad! The cross bike really beats you up on those trails..

Seeing the finish was a big relief cause I'm not sure I could've gone much longer. Third was secured, and all that was left to do was eat a great bbq and drink free beer!

It was a great event, of course, being run by Chico, and for a first time, with awful weather the turnout was impressive. Will do this one again for sure, probably on an mtb though.

Big thanks to Miss Dundas for driving me back to my car at the start, and my mom for waking me up in the morning after sleeping through my alarm.

Guelph Cross

2011-09-26T18:43:00.000-07:00

First attempt at cross this season didn't go as smooth as I'd hoped for. It wasn't too bad, I felt better than I remembered ever feeling in a cross race last season (I sucked at all of them) and certainly had some fun.

The issue that cost me a great race was a chain drop that went horribly wrong about 1km into the race. I tried to shift it back on to maintain my position at the front, but it never went, and instead jammed up between the rings and frame. I got off and started yanking on it, but it was stuck good. Next thing I know the master 1 field is flying past and I'm still not moving. Is my race over? No....thanks to a hero spectator who was willing to step in and help me out. He used his calm spectator state to asses the issue, and get the chain out using very little force. I was now rolling again, about 2mins later. Pretty sure outside assistance is banned and I should have been dq'ed, or fined heavily, but they never caught me : ) .

So things are all good now, I will catch up in no time! No, actually my chain was soo bent that it would jump on my cassette every time passing through making it impossible to find a rhythm. I was close to abandoning, the fact that I was now on lap 2 and was yet to catch a master made it hard to keep going. Then, my chain improved a bit and I finally started to pass some guys.

I started to ride stronger and enjoy the race, but it was too late to make anything happen. A bit of work later and a couple slide outs in turns later and I was finished.

Never got a case of beer like the fast guys, but I did get to drink one of Anton's. Thanks buddy and congrats on 2nd!

Tour de King this weekend anyone?

MTB Provincials / Paul's Dirty Enduro

2011-09-20T17:06:00.000-07:00

MTB provincials was a fairly successful race. Finished up 13th, after an exciting battle for 12th.

The course up at Highlands Nordic was sweet, just like everyone said after the early pre-ride. Nice flow, some tricky rock lines and a tolerable amount of climbing. Conditions were also perfect, with everything being dry aside from the creek crossing and a bit of moisture left from the morning dew.

My start was great....hard to mess up when you get called up to the front! Mixed it up with the leaders till about mid way up the climb, when I realized I was near blow-up territory. Settled down a bit, let some faster guys by, then just rode hard and as smooth as I could manage. I found myself with Anton for quite a while and we were working together a bit. Managed to pass/drop a couple guys up the climb the second or third time.

Had a nice bail lap 2 I think where I flipped over the bars. Not to sure what I did, but it was a shocking surprise. My bike flew a good distance while performing aerials for Anton's amusement, and landed softly upside-down on the saddle, resulting in some severely bent rails.

For the rest of the race I would have to get used to my saddle being up steeper than those BMX'ers would point theirs. Did not help the lower back!

So I survived and still rode strong until the next incident. A flat. Wasn't an instant one, and I tried to ride it out, but it got to the point where my rim was smashing all the rocks, and I was risking it folding off in a corner. So, I stopped, grabbed the CO2 I borrowed for Teammate Megan, loaded it, threaded it on......and........crap how to you fire this one? Who would have thought that you have to back the cartridge out to release the air? Meg probably told me to do this, but I guess I can be pretty stupid when adrenaline is pumping.

So I stood off to the side asking each rider for a pump as the flew past. Jon Slaughter hooked me a CO2 cartridge, thanks buddy, but I had that. A bit later a rider with a broken derailleur hanger came by and got me rollin again. I chased hard, and made up a lot of ground in little time, but wore myself out a bit entering the last lap. Never quite caught Anton, but I did get Caught by Tyson who had crashed bad/bonked earlier. We came to the base of the first hill close together an I held him off till I pulled out of my pedal at the top of the hill. I was mad, but it wasn't that big a deal. I'll get him another time.

The 13th place finish gave me the points I needed to not only hold on to 10th in the series, but to move into 9th! Stoked to rep #9 next season and try and beat it! 9th is not a true reflection of my provincial ranking, as the top 5-10 guys don't get the opportunity to race the full series. I do feel like a consistent top 20er now though..

So on to Paul's now. Could write soo much about this race cause its soo looong, and this year was soo exciting, but I'll try to keep it brief.

So race started at 8am temp hovering around 5c, and the sun barely up. I took the hole-shot, and rode hard in the lead. Not because I thought I could hold that pace the whole race, but because I wanted to bring out my competitors, and get them excited. This lead to the formation of a lead group of 4. Me, Jerome, Neil and Imad. I wanted to ease off a bit, but the 2 Kunstadt guys were relentless and set a pace hard for even a 80km race. I hung in there confident with my endurance, sure they would crack before me, or if not that I would have that edge in the end.

Maybe 10km in, our group took a wrong turn, as a dirt biker was blocking the trail we were supposed to enter. We were now riding the last bit of the first 40km, and actually made it back to the start before realizing what happened. We turned back and rode hard to get back to the course quickly. Once back to the site of the mistake, other 100km riders where passing through properly, so we joined them and started to work our way back through the field. I was forced to let the 2 Kunstadt riders ride away, as I was stuck behind traffic, and didn't want to be overly aggressive with passes. Besides whats the rush? there was still over 80km to go! So I stuck with Jerome for a bit, and we talked some strategy. The plan was really just to settle in, and let the course kill everyone else. "they have no idea whats coming in the last 60km"-Jerome

So I settled in, and took my time working back to the leaders. It took till after the 40km mark to catch single speed phenom Zak wheeler, who was the "never got lost" leader. There were still 3 up though as the Kunstadt guys where joined by Rob Parniak, who apparently also did a little off course extra mileage. I was starting to catch glimpses of these guys as the trail doubled back, and it felt good. I held back from riding too hard and catching them too soon.

I caught and passed Imad quickly as he had hit a tree and was too injured to finish. The other 2 took until after the mid way point. The three of us rode together until my first attack was thrown down. Did this on the big climb I remembered dropping Benno on 2 years ago (65ishkm in?). It was a good one that popped Rob, but I couldn't give it what I wanted as my lats cramped bad from riding hard standing. Did I mention I 1x9'ed it with a 40t? not a smart idea, but I was too lazy/cheap to install/buy a new front derailleur.

So it was down to me and Neil now. He seemed quite strong still and I was wondering what I was gonna do about it. First sign of weakness was when he offered to lead the single-track to "allow me to rest my mind". Could he really be that nice? or did he want to ride slower? I think slower.....

Second sign was when he did lead, and rode really slow. So slow that I was tempted to attack, but I felt it was too soon and I had my place planned.

Final sign was him asking if I was a good sprinter. This just proved he had no idea what was coming. With about 20km to go, 80 in the legs, 3 monster climbs to come and some tricky single-track he really thought nothing left would break us up? I answered "ya.....you don't want it coming down to that".

So my place of escape was the steep gravel road, that pops up like a wall after a left bend. You know, just after the big gravel road dip? This was the place because I knew I could recover on the long decent just after, taking me to the base of the never ending climb, and that I could build a gap up there, to seal the deal.

So we hit this climb, and I ride up beside him, and start to pass. He matches me, so I ease off. He does too, then I surge hard and hold it, and he cannot match. I look back and see him struggling. I'm free!!! Finally free. Man was I excited. I smiled the whole way up the never ending climb, and finished feeling strong enough to do it all again.

5:42 would be the time, in much slower conditions than last year (dry sand), and with an extra 5-10km. For sure it was another record breaking time, but the detour will said otherwise.

Brought home the grand prize - a spin bike! and another awesome crown made of spokes.

Another unforgettable day on the bike in the Ganny!

Now its time to mess around on a cross bike. Guelph on Sunday?

GMSR

2011-09-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

Green mountain was soooo much fun. Best road race I've ever done....by a long shot.

Traveled there with team Ontario, making the trip a bit more interesting as I would get to know some new faces, and interact with those I've really only seen in the pack. Everyone was chill and it made for a smooth trip.

Stage 1 was the uphill TT. Also my first TT (excluding the Elliot lake hill-climb chain-drop fest) so it was going to be a learning experience. In the morning we all rode the course together as a team. Being the latest starter, 11ish, and being saddled up at 8am for the pre-ride, I took it easy and let everyone hammer past. I felt like crap, heart-rate shot up to threshold as the team blew by (girls too) leaving me a little worried. After that a had a few hours to get my shit together....three cups of green mountain coffee and more oatmeal loaded with Vermont maple syrup seemed to set me straight. On the bike again I felt much better, and my warmup went smooth.

I think I started a little too hard cause I felt solid the first 3km, caught my 30 second man at the top of the hill, then when I hit the headwind I felt soo weak. He passed me back on the flats, and then the guy behind me blew past with 2km to go. Held off the next guy, finishing with nothing in the tank. Time was good enough to beat about 25 guys, yay! Reason for not winning - no skin suit, no shoe covers, no cone helmet, no disc wheel, non aero frame.........

Stage 2 was much more fun. we did 2 50km laps, with a long climb out, and long decent back each time. Pace was nice and quick but the only time I was in difficulty was leading up to the second KOM. I suffered for a few km, but held my ground, not allowing myself to slip back. Decent was easy, and everything came back together, for a nice bunch kick. 1 man was allowed to escape and solo for the win, then the rest of us battled. I was fighting some cramps coming in, and decided to stay seated to the line. Got lucky with an opening on the left and motored by a bunch of guys to snag 22nd. Could have been a lot better, could have been worse.

Stage 3 was the queen stage with the epic mountain top finish on App Gap. Up until the base of this beast, racing was a blast. Full gas, attack attack attack, and I was riding the front end comfortably through all of this. I was making the splits/selections, but things were not breaking up too much. A break of 12 went clear mid raceish and held on till the end. I was off the front a couple times in small moves that hovered behind the break, but never took the risk and jumped for it. we where 20sec back at one point and I'm sure I could have made it, but chose to race conservatively instead. This was smart cause my legs shat the bed on me just before the App Gap began, choosing to cramp badd! Did my own thing from there, but still my quads locked and pulsed and twitched. I had to stop and stretch them. After this pit stop I got going quite well, caught and passed everyone who was around me pre-stopping, and even passed some new faces on the final steeeep pitch.

Stage 4 was cancelled due to heavy rain. My emotions were mixed towards the cancellation, as I love racing crits, and this course looked sweet, but at the same time my legs hurt from the cramping and I could have been dropped. I will never know what could have happened.

So once again I was F'ed by cramps. Yes I do drink a lot, and I do eat during the race. Not sure I could fit anymore salty sugary crap in me without puking it all over myself. Maybe there is something wrong with me were my muscles are not absorbing water or something. Maybe I need to take salt pills like those triathlon guys do. Maybe my muscles need rest? No idea. Season is just about done anyway. MTB provincials is Sunday, and I'm feeling good about it. Might be getting sick though...hope not. Goal is to be in, or near the top 10, depending on who's there. Would be nice to hang onto 10th in the series!

Wish me luck!

Niagara Classic

2011-08-16T06:56:00.000-07:00

(Thanks for snapin some flicks Rob W.)

Niagara classic was another solid race. Legs decided they wanted to cramp up again so I couldn't do as much as I was capable of.

Ignored the first couple moves, cause I knew I would not survive off the front the whole race. Everything was being chased fairly hard anyways, so it would be wasted energy. There wasn't too much interest in catching the first move of 2, and I found myself on the front riding easy and still no one would come around.

Closer to mid race, with a portion of the winning break up the road, still in sight, I went for the bridge. Max had the same idea, as did Bayden and a Dark-horse rider. We got a bit of a gap, working hard, but were brought back fairly quick. Max and Bayden kept going as the pack latched on, and this lead to Bayden making contact with the leaders. Nice work! I regret not continuing on, but I was positive that move was shut down. So from then on, I just sat in and followed moves that looked like they would stick.

Forget when but a big group went clear, and I missed out. Already feeling cramps, I knew my chance of a high placing was over, so I helped chase a little. We kept this group close for a while, then our group ran out of steam/cooperation and slowed a bit.

Some of us worked, others sat in, one guy from London rode off the front for a lap or two, then Anton went and soloed the last lap putting huge time into us, and snagging 10th. Each time up the hill my legs felt more and more messed up. Muscled were locking, pulsing and twitching like crazy. Last time up all I could do was keep the cranks turning. No way I was contesting the sprint!

So I have some researching to do to find a cure for cramps. I did drink a ton through the race, HEED in most bottles, and I got 4 gels down, as well as a powerbar sport (used to help my cramping during marathons). All this seemed to do nothing but bloat my stomach and make me feel like pulling over to puke. Managed top hold it down but it wasn't fun. I did take some magnesium too, the stuff that everyone says stops their cramps.

So next race (excluding 12 miles) is Green Mountain. Hoping to race with team Ontario, just waiting to hear back from Mike G. GMSR is just under 3 weeks away, so I have planned a light week, a big week, and taper week to prepare for it. Then its back to school for a week before MTB provincials.

Still a lot of excitement to come!!!

Kelso O-cup

2011-08-09T07:47:00.000-07:00

O-cup #6 was another solid race for me. Might have been better if it wasn't so hot/humid, but then everyone would just be that much faster. The conditions were great on the course, wet spots, but no mud, much better than dust!

So here are the race highlights:
- got called up for first time ever in elite, thanks to my 10th place in the series.
- Led for a second after nailing the pedal entry.
- Was able to save energy and slip back, rather than bust my ass to move up on the first climb.
- Crashing in a rock garden after slipping on a root.
- Getting stung by a hornet on the lip. Didn't swell much, but it still hurt!
- Drinking a ton, and still cramping as early as the 3rd lap.
- Having to spin for a while, to get the cramps out, and watch 3 guys ride away.
- Securing 9th spot and riding only as fast as I had to to stay there the last 1/2 lap.

Happy with the race as a whole, but I know I could have gone a lot faster. Fitness feels great, just need to up the electrolyte intake.

Congrats to Megan Fleury for crushing the cadet race, winning by 5mins. Other team results included Justin finishing it up and just missing the points, and Schmidt snapping a chain in the jr.x race. Too much power!!

Hope the weather improves in time for the 12mile race tomorrow! If not, the Niagara classic is next up, which I chose over marathon champs. Sad to miss it, but I want to support my club, and rep my sponsor close to home.

Later.

Canal Days MTB Race

2011-08-01T07:16:00.000-07:00

The Short Hills Cycling club once again pulled off a great event at the Canal Days festival. The course going through the "Hood" was very similar to last years, but reverse direction. Rides just as well either way.

A dump of rain in the morning made some rocks and roots quite slick, but there was no mud to be found, and by mid race it was all dry.

Race starts, and I pin it to take the lead. On the fist trail I built a small gap, but just kept going steady as this race is fairly long, and takes a fair bit of energy to ride smooth. Looked back on the canal path, and saw some chasers maybe 30 seconds back. After that I started to work on building the gap, and got it to maybe a minute after the fist lap. Lap 2 was the same deal. Just kept it smooth and steady and really enjoyed the trails. Saw teammate Schmidt riding in second not too far back, and thought that was great, but unfortunately his front derailleur died on him and he fell to 3rd after a 3km run. Still a great result.

So it was Steve Deboer claiming second, and Justin came in 4th, very solid considering the working to riding time ratio being way off this summer. JC cut his tire open forcing a dnf, very unfortunate for the podium contender.

On the woman's side, Kaitlyn Dundas took the title, Nice job!

Post race I met some friends at the Smokin Budda for a quick bite and beer, then made it back to the after party with plenty of time to drink more beer before the podium.

Thanks SHCC for a great event. Looking forward to next year already!

Road Provincials

2011-07-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

I had a great day at the provincial road race last Sunday, taking place just outside Waterloo. I enjoyed the course quite a bit. Lots of rolling hills, but nothing long or steep enough to be selective. The wind was minimal also, so it was an easy course to just hang in the pack.

Half way through the first lap a rider went clear, and I cruised off the front of the slow moving pack to join him. We built a little gap without working too hard, and then were joined by a Garneau rider, Evan Mundy after a lap. We got 1:15 up on the pack, only to be almost caught on the finish stretch, and then proceeded to rebuild the gap to 1:20 as the chasers slowed. We went along nice and steady, hoping a rider or 2 would come up and help us out. At the end of lap 3, Ivey came up to us, but being a big threat, the pack was right there chasing hard. The fun was over.

I sat in for a while, watching the counter attack go, and be caught. Then another one go and and be chased down. Then I started to follow some, which went no where. Mid race the winning break went clear, and I missed out. There wasn't too much interest in chasing and the pace slowed down to a crawl as no teams got organized. Some big surges strung us out and almost caused a split starting the last lap, but we slowed again just after keeping it all together.

It would be a sprint for 4th now, or second for U23. Came into the sprint in a perfect spot, went strong the first half of the climb, right at the front, then died about 20m from the line, and lost 5-10 spots. Uphill sprints are tough after 145km of racing!

Hope to race this course again, seemed to suit me well.
Thanks ma and pa for the feeding and driving!

Tomorrow is 5th 12mile race, then Sunday is the Canal days MTB race. Gonna be a fun weekend!

peace

Knee update

2011-07-20T15:57:00.000-07:00

Since Buckwallow, my knee has improved a lot, but the sharp pains still come and go.

Anything serious has been ruled out by multiple tests, leaving plica syndrome the only real possibility. The plica is a remnant of the fetal stage of development, from when the knee was divided into three compartments. Once irritated (multiple MTB crashes) it can catch on the femur, or be pinched between the femur and patella (kneecap). The catch/release causes the patella to pop every time I bend my knee, when its acting up. This is not always painful, but if I move it the wrong way it kills.

It has been affecting my sleeps as my knee locks up from not being moved, and when it does bend, the first few times can be extremely painful.

So what have I been doing to fix this?
All I can really do is keep the surrounding muscles as loose as possible, and ice it often. Heat seems to help also, especially just prior to riding. My chiropractor has been providing some relief with micro-current, which blocks pain, and speeds up healing by clearing inflammation. It's no bs, I can really feel improvements. Only problem is its temporary. She has also been keeping it loose for me and working on my spine a little when there's time.

This pain has caused me to reduce my training a little, allowing more beach trips, which is a fair trade I guess. I should be well rested for road provincials this weekend though!

On today's ride my knee was great, yesterday I just wanted to get home. What will tomorrow bring? It will be hot, that's for sure, and I bet Le Tour will be an exciting one!

All for now

Buckwallow

2011-07-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Buckwallow o-cup once again made for a great weekend up in Muskoka.

I was up there on Tuesday, with Schmidt along for the ride and Henri already there to meet for some laps. We got 6 in, with no issues other than some slow leaks for myself and Schmidt, in our rear tires. Oh, and I bent up my front rim jumping of a roller and landing funny on flat ground. Didn't wreck it, but it was bad enough that it needed to be replaced, with a lighter rim, a podium MMX. Thanks Derek @ Liberty! for doing that last min for me.

The course was really nice, very similar to last year, maybe tougher with West D'nile in it. That trail was supper tough, almost all on rock, and uphill most of the way. some tricky lines in there that made a dab-free run difficult. I got my lines down, but would still mess up the steep uphill rock now and then.

On Thursday I did a tough interval workout, feeling good and finishing strong. Pushing the big watts must have done some damage to my right knee, which was injured before Albion. Friday it was its worst yet, every pedal stroke on my way to work caused a sharp stab like pain as I came over then top. I was a bit worried about the race, but tried to forget about it as I knew that the race adrenalin would numb it come Sunday.

Headed back up to pre-ride again Saturday, after sitting in some awful traffic for hours. Made it up around 1:30, then hit the course for 3 laps. Knee was poopy, and all was was thinking about. sucked up a lot of pain and enjoyed the riding the best I could getting lines dialed. The evening after was spent swimming and chilling by the fire, basically just soaking in the cottage life with the Henri's and Schmidt.

Race day morning my knee had made no improvements and made for an awful warm-up. Didn't think racing was a good idea, but I was there, and am not one to quit before I start.

Race starts and bam! No pain!. Adrenalin is a hell of a drug. I started second row, in a great spot, but was not mentally prepared to go, and let myself slip back. I was so hot, and with a long tough race, I Knew I would have to hold back to survive.

The field was not nearly as thin as last year, so making a podium spot was going to be very tough, even with very good power. I did feel alright, and was able to move up a bit, but my arms started to cramp, then my legs, and then all I could do was hold my spot. Last 2 laps were painful and I was tired and dehydrated, even with the great feeding from Mr. Henri.

Not the great ride I had at Buckwallow last year, but not a bad result either, coming in 11th, with one or 2 Americans rolling in ahead.

Now I need to sort this knee issue out, maybe get an MRI or something. Hope it doesn't force a long period off the bike.

Wish me luck!

Road Nationals

2011-06-29T07:29:00.000-07:00

First attempt at racing road nats was a fail, but looking at the final results, you'll notice that 128 other guys were also awarded big fat DNF's.

The road race started out stupid fast, like a crit, making it very tough to move up at all from my starting spot in the back 50. Going down Bell school line the first lap was terrifying. Not that bad a road, just tonnes of people ridding stupid to try and move up. At the bottom there was a crash, but lucky for me the only guys that went down were behind me. I had both wheels locked trying to slow down, and skidded around a bunch of guys to stay upright.

Got back up to speed fine, and found myself to be at the back of the main bunch. I hung on up the climb, feeling good, then slipped back at the top and struggled for a bit. Then with the help of 2 H&R Block riders and Schiller, we got back in by the bottom of the hill. Once again I went up the hill fine, only to get dropped at the top. This time it was over, and I would be picked up by a group of 1o other dropped riders. We all worked together to pick up more guys each lap, but we would also lose some.

I wound up finishing 9 of the 14 laps, the last 2 alone after letting the group go to shake out some cramps. I'll get em next year!!

--------------------

The next day I took a crack at the national crit in Georgetown. Had to start way back again, and on a narrow course, there was little opportunity to move up each lap. Made a little ground, only to be on the wrong side of a split, and have our group pulled about 25mins into the race. The pace was ridiculous, and the climb was actually quite tough, shrinking the field each lap. I think that only 12 finished. Ouch!

Definitely not my favorite crit course, but it was great for spectating which I got to do plenty of.

Looking forward to the 12 mile race tonight!
See ya

The Last Lake to Lake

2011-06-21T06:52:00.000-07:00

Lake to Lake was a big success for team Liberty! this year. The four of us all made it onto the boxes, no top steps, but close enough.

After being involved in the awful crash last year, I decided that if I did this race again I would use my cyclocross bike to reduce the chance of being boxed into a fast moving pack of sketchy MTBer's. Having an elite wave helped a lot, and as far as I know everyone made it down Elm St. safely.

With a trusty tubeless set-up, I was confident that I could handle the trails fine, and go real fast on the gravel and pavement. My MTB only has a 40 tooth big ring, a bit small for a flat race, that typically has a tail wind most of the way. Not this year though! It was quite gusty, seemingly in our face the whole way.
-----
The start of the race went great. Took the lead immediately and drilled it into the headwind. Looked back to see Chown towing the rest of the field up to me, so I slowed a bit. Hit the gas a few more times before the first trail to try and hurt some MTBers, and get to the first gravel trail in the lead. Made it through there successfully, and made it to the quad trails in the top 5. No problems there, came out on the service road with Souter and Wagler, and we closed a small gap on Chown and Anton who accidentally took a short-cut. These gravel sections seemed to cause the selection that formed the lead group.

In a section near the golf course, I nearly flatted by getting tangled in a nasty rut, hidden by long grass. Front tire burped a bunch of air, but hung in there for a bit. I hung on to Antons wheel for dear life as he brought the group back together, then I had to stop and shoot some CO2 into my tire before mosquito ally. Trying to make up time in there on a cx bike was a bad idea, as I wound up having a little crash on a log. Kept cool, and was confident I could get back up to the leaders on the long gravel section to come. Had them in sight for soo long, but didn't have the power to close it down. Started to hurt pretty bad before Brock, and figured I would not see the leaders again. Catching Chown just before the decent gave me hope, but the others were long gone. Thought I had lost Chown on the singletrack, but he was still close and sprinted ahead of me before Suzanne and rode it sooo slow. I couldn't tell if he was hurting, sucking at riding singletrack, or just being a dick and blocking me. Think it was all of the above.

So this was good for Justin, who caught us just after that trail, although he wouldn't stand a chance against two cross bikes on the road. Before the last singletrack bit, Chown sprinted to it first to block us, and slowed us down once again. Coming out on the gravel, Chown wouldn't pull through, so I wouldn't either, and it made for some very slow racing with only Justin seeing any wind.

In the final Km, I attacked hard from the back of the group, only to be caught by Chown and sit up. We made the final turn, the finish hill in sight, and I was waiting to attack again. I saw Chown just off my wheel, and went. Sprinted hard for the hill, then grabbed the brakes to make my way down safely. Chown never gave up though, and came around me with way too much speed on a bad line, taking himself and me down on the top of the hill. He got up fast and robbed me of fourth, not cool man!

Huge congrats to Anton for taking the win. Figured this course would suit him well, and his form is definitely good going into nationals.

See ya all there!

12 Mile #2

2011-06-16T07:41:00.000-07:00

Round 2 of the Liberty! 12Mile series went down last night, under great weather and on some perfect singletrack.

Took this one on with my cross bike, as I will be using it for the L-L this Sunday. Figured if I could keep up on a true MTB course, the L-L would be a breeze, as its got more gravel and pavement than anything.

So before the race I did a lap of the course, knee was driving me nuts and slowing me down a lot, but other than that my bike was working great, and I was riding well.

Got to the start with lots of time, should have kept riding but instead I stood around and shot the shit for 1/2hr. The race starts with 100ish meter run, which I lead after jumping the gun a little I will admit. Thought I blew a hip flexor along the way, but it never seemed to bother me on the bike. I had my bike laying in the front row before the start, but I guess a bunch of people thought it would be fine to add another row on top, making it very difficult for me to find mine. No biggie, grabbed it, hopped over some bikes, then I was off and up with the leaders in no-time.

On the starting gravel, I wasn't feeling too strong, just angry legs from standing around to long before the start I think. So no attacks from me, just chilled near the front.

I took a poor line on the turn to go under the bridge, and my lead-out-man Justin gapped me a bit, so I throttled it to get on his wheel (also on a cx bike) as the trail turned to singletrack. At that moment things were looking great for team Liberty! to take it in a thrilling bunch kick. Then.....disaster struck! well not really, but I did slide out on the hard dusty trail, gracefully removing myself from the trail on my belly. Crash would have been nothing, if my chain woulda stayed on. Fixing that lost me a ton of spots as everyone was still tight together that early on.

When I got going, I made passes everywhere could, without being aggressive. This course is very tough to pass on, and the traffic was holding me up a ton. On the "Santa Hat" trail I managed to blow a bunch of air out my front tire by not clearing a drainage ditch. Didn't go flat but I had to stop and shoot some co2 in there and give up a few spots again. This was the first issue I had with my new Stan's CX set-up. But, I did hit that knuckle really hard, hard enough to turn my bars down a few degrees. And believe me, my bars were not loose at all. I also had very low pressure in there, 28 maybe, so there wasn't much holding the bead in.

So after getting that shit show of a start over with, everything went flawlessly. I felt really strong, but was forced to slow down in traffic a few times. Felt awesome on the twisty trails, making my way into 3rd by the end, about 1 min down from J.C. and a bit more to Etzl who killed it once again. Justin flatted out, and will have to inject some Stan's in his tubular before the L-L. Bummer for him cause he seemed super strong at the start. Congrats to Megan for crushing the woman's race!

As soon as the adrenalin from the race wore off (likely the Advil too) me knee started to hurt again. Its a weird injury, the harder I go the less it hurts. Today I have an appointment to get some electrical current therapy on it, that's supposed to help it heal, and mask the pain. The appointment is with Kyle-from Liberty!'s wife, who is a chiropractor. She is also going to fix my back, leading to a pain free L-L and road nationals.

The knee injury reduced my training volume a fair bit, so I'm quite rested right now. Maybe could have pushed my fitness a little more, but being fresh is just as important, and I think I can have a great ride at Nationals.

See ya at the L-L!

Albion O-cup

2011-06-14T06:41:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe that the o-cup season is closer to the conclusion than the beginning already. Still tonnes of exciting racing to come though, including the lake to lake this Sunday and Road Nationals the following weekend.

Albion went very well for me. The only thing holing me back from going faster was my legs, which felt good compared to back pain. Back still got tight, but was not a factor in my performance.

A lot of the heavy hitters were absent, so it was a great opportunity to get in the top 10 and steal some points for the series. I managed to grab 8th, only 2 spots from the money and podium.

The race wasn't too exciting, from my position anyway. Highlight was riding through the finish rather than lap after lap 1. Lost me ~30 secs and a few spots that I did make up eventually. Keep your heads up! The last lap was good cause I was battling with Jon Slaughter, motivating us both to go fast. Made a move on a roller, and kept goin hard till the end to hold him off. He seems to be getting stronger every race.

Before the race I was a little concerned about my knee. I must have bashed it during the 12 mile last Wednesday, and it was just starting to hurt enough to bug me during my warm-up. Took an Advil, and it seemed to do nothing, but as soon as the race started I forgot about it. This tells me its nothing serious, but it did hurt during my spin yesterday. I could take an Advil, stick on some Spider tech, and hammer today, but I'm thinking that taking it easy to speed up the recovery is a little smarter.

12 mile #2 is going down tomorrow night (if the rain holds) and I hope for a strong knee, and good power to test out my Lake-to-lake set-up.

Peace out!

Albion Pre-pre-ride/ 12 Mile race #1

2011-06-08T18:59:00.000-07:00

Got up to Albion yesterday for some MTB training with Justin, and it was a great day on the bike. Took us a little while to get on the o-cup course, just because its very different from last year. No green monster, and there seems to be less doubletrack.

I was loving the new Pine-comb express trail, which will be the first singletrack section. It had some cool rock features and some good flow. I found something to look forward to in every section, but that new one stood out for sure.

Looks like the finish will have a fun downhill before doing some cyclocross turns on the grass field.

Should be very fast, and fun!

So tonight was the first of the Liberty 12Mile series, which turned out to be a crash-fest for me. I had some solid legs under me, and felt good enough to lead the first quarter, but crash number one handed it over to Etzl. This crash was me hitting a tree stump after sliding out of a mud bog onto a poor line. I got back up to Etzl by the top of the new for 2011 climb, him likely waiting. Followed him for a while getting away from the rest of the field before sliding out just before a bridge, that I fell onto, then off of. Got going quick, feeling fine, but when I stood up to pedal, a branch grabbed my helmet, ripped it back and pulled me off the back of my bike. That was a ridiculous crash for sure.

Justin caught me, but I rode away still determined to catch Etzie. Went good for a while before crash #4, where I rounded a corner only to collide head on with a racer lost, and going the wrong way. Just messed up my left brake lever and shifter, leaving me stuck in the little ring, trying to fix it before the final trail - Suzanne. By then, I dunno what it was, the heat, hitting my head or just me sucking but I couldn't ride my bike. I felt like I was in another world, dizzy and spaced out. I was riding the trail slower than I have done it in the winter with fresh snow, and I still managed to crash on it. What happened exactly is unknown to me....but I ended up hittin a tree pretty hard with my left shoulder. Justin and JC went by while I took my time getting running again. Almost quit racing cause I felt like I was going to faint, but chose to just cruise in and try and cool down.

Seems like an awful time, but it I can still say that it was great for my legs, and I should be going good for Albion. Learned a lot about crash recovery, that I hope not to use again, but its there. Shoulder will be sore tomorrow, and my right wrist is stiff, but I have 3 days to recover for Albion, should be more than enough.

Looking forward to seeking revenge on this course next Wednesday, and through the rest of the series.

I definitely need more time to adapt to the heat. Spending 2hrs this morning puttin up the 12mile signs was probably a heat overdose on its own, and riding the course for a warm up was maybe a bit much. Looks like it'll be cool this weekend though. Hope they're right!

Later.

Hardwood Canada Cup

2011-06-06T06:47:00.000-07:00

My feeling towards my performance at Hardwood are neutral. I'm happy that I finished and had solid legs most of the race, but I'm a bit angry at how it all started.

Right of the line, the Quebec rider directly in front of me missed his pedal, and fell down. This shot me from a mid pack start to the very back before I even got to cross the start line. I made up a good 10 or so spots on the climb up, but I had to work hard to do it. I felt good at the top, ready for the trail, to find a massive bottleneck with about 20 riders stopped and waiting to enter. I waited unlike some guys who thought they were smart running bumping riders out of the way with their bikes. Once the traffic subsided, the pace ramped up and and I was feeling good, ready to make some passes. On an easy section I slipped on a root taking my front wheel out forcing me to give up a few spots. Bar was turned, I got it straight, but not perfect. Oh well.

Shorty after that crash we made our way down the bone shaker. Took the line I knew well and passed a guy. I came up behind another guy, who stopped completely. I didn't want to wait for him to decide on a line, so I went for a pass on the right not seeing a big pointy rock that I hit with my chainring and went over the bars. I was fine, but frustrated and again lost a few spots.

I had one other crash lap one where my left hand slipped off the bars and I steered into a tree. Bumped it with my shoulder, got passed, then continued on.

This complete shit show of a lap had me way back in about 55th spot by the end. It only got better from there. I was making up some ground each time going up the start climb. Some laps I would ride past groups of 5. I rode much better after that, feeling comfortable on all the technical features.

By the end of lap 5 I had ridden into to top 40, and felt solid. Then, my inner thighs started to cramp and lock up. I drank a lot, got some gel in me and watched about 5 riders go past. Shook the cramps out and carried on, getting back up to the train that had just gone by. I made one effort to pass them back, but only got by 3 or so. Wanted to take one or two more in the sprint, but they got a gap during some passes on lapped elite females, and I couldn't shut it down.

Finished up in 42nd. I know I can be close to, or in the top 30. Like everyone says "the start can make or brake your race". It definitely screwed mine, but that's racing.

All in all it was a great weekend. The accommodations at the Kings in in Orillia were great, and the $25 pasta dish at a steakhouse in casino Rama was incredible. It consisted of pappardelle noodles, with baby fennel, sun dried tomatoes, seared beef tips, fresh ground Parmesan, with arugula pesto sauce. Probably missing something to, but it was amazingly good.

Feeling good about Albion this coming weekend. Goal is to crack the top 10, but of course that depends who comes out. Trails should be nice in Niagara now, 12 mile series should go this wednesday.

All for now

Toronto Crit

2011-05-31T06:41:00.000-07:00

Had a great day in Toronto on Sunday.

It was my first time ever racing the TO crit. I had heard a lot about though........."its very fast". "Its super sketchy". "The fencing around the course will grate you up like cheese if you go into them". - Sounds like a good time to me.

The race seemed to have lost a bit of its prestige from previous years as it was now a morning race, with less prize money and fewer "pro" racers. It was still run quite well though, crowds came out to watch and seemed excited, everything was on time, the only negative I can think of was unclear instructions. When they said 4 to go, 4 to go! I thought there was four laps to go. Seemed way to soon, but hey they said it. Turns out it was for a prime.

My race went well. I made one critical error, lining up too late. Had to start from the back and use the first couple laps just to get to the front half of the pack. By then, the winning break of 6 had gone clear. Shit! I new they were gonna lap us. 6 strong guys, one or two from each team there. Who was gonna chase them? It was left to the independents. When I felt good I went to the front and drilled it. Ended up spending a few laps hovering off the front as I would gap the field on some corners. I was riding well and feeling very confident in the tight corners.

Once we were lapped things slowed down a bit as the teams tried to protect there riders from the lead group. A bunch of primes were called, and made for some fast laps, but I never went for any. They separated the leaders from us to have the field sprint, which I got 6th in, thanks to Justin getting me close to the front on the backstretch. The lead group did another lap before there sprint which was taken by Kyle Fry. Congrats Kyle and the Garneau team on a great victory!

Post race Toronto stuff was just as thrilling as the race. Started off with some beer and a burger, then migrated to the Kensington market (spelling?) to explore. Saw some interesting things/people, got more beer then made our way home.

For sure a race I'd do again, I know I can do better than 12th. Sprint could use some work, but its time to focus on the MTB now, Hardwood is just around the corner.

Going to race the Liberty! 12mile tomorrow night. Should be fun!!

Later

Nith Rver Road Race

2011-05-23T08:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterdays race was a real tough one. Not a very tough course, with no hard climbs, but it was up and down along the whole route and very windy. The wind, combined with a lot of strong guys coming out made it quite challenging.

The race started nice and calm with some neutralization, but picked up as soon as we hit the cross winds. In the toughest cross wind section, the selection was made that would form the lead group. Was it still the first lap or the second? I can't remember. when this happened we were all single file drilling it along the edge of the road to try and get a little shelter. I was maybe 12th wheel, right behind Anton, fighting for my life to stay there. I looked back unsure if if the pack had even split. I was surprised to see no one behind me, with 100m or more gap already. I was suffering to stay on the back of this group, in the worst position. They started to use the full lane, so the first 9 or 10 had shelter, Anton being the last one, then me, on the very edge of the road.

I was happy to make the selection, but if my position didn't improve or the pace didn't slow a bit I was going to pop. I fought hard, then the pace ramped up, and I was gone. Pretty much blew myself up, but I knew I would be fine by the time the remainder of the pack swept me up.

A group of 3 or 4 were trying to bridge up to the break, and I could have jumped in there, but figured they wouldn't make it, and that I needed to recover so I let them by and waited to jump in the pack. When I got there I was a bit pissed, cause I knew those 10 guys would only get further and further away, but my legs came around and from then on my goal was just to make the best of the excellent fitness I was experiencing.

I sat on for a few mins, then I was up at the front working with 5 or so other guys in an echelon. We brought back the other guys, then a counter attack went clear that contained Bayden and 3 others. Would have liked to go with them, but I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and recovering from a pull. 5 or so of us continued to work together, with a few others doing the odd pull.

We kept Bayden's group in sight for a while, but we we not closing in, and not many guys would help. My group, the remainder of the peleton was shrinking rapidly with guys dropping out each lap. We soon became what I would call the scraps of the race. The lead group was long gone, and now split up, with the other group floating between them and us. I was trying to convince everyone to pull through, really just to have us come in 10 mins behind the winners, rather than 20, but Jetfuel and Garneau guys would not do a thing saying "I have teammates up the road". I was thinking no shit......half the guys in the race are on your team. We were not going to catch any of them. Now its a training race......you have nothing to lose.

Near the end of the 5th lap (of 8) Kyle Fry did some silly attack where he sprinted from our group only to stop and coast for a bit after. Must have been dick'n around with sign sprints. Anyway I jumped on his wheel and he slung shot me off the front to what would be a 50km solo ride for me. I was planning to attack around that point anyway, so it was perfect. Why would I want to pull the group around to have them sprint me in the end?

The first lap I surprised myself, hodling threshold the whole time, and closing in on Bayden's group. No one was in sight behind me. Second lap (alone) hurt, and I was slowing down, but kept it going alright. Group ahead had about a minute on me. Last lap I sucked. Still had good power and energy, but I was cramping up pretty bad and the usual back pain made hammering in an aero position no fun.

Turns out that in the end there was only 3 guys left in the peloton. The guys on the big teams did no work only to quit the race? Wow guys, how are you ever going to win a race if you can't finish with the back half.

So 14th would be the result for the day. Doesn't seem like much, but it was probably my best performance in S1/2. I made the selection, a first for me, although it didn't work out and I popped. Also I was strong start to finish, taking on more wind than ever before in a road race.

I'm happy, and motivated to keep improving. Next up it the TO crit, and maybe the Dandelion GP the day before.

Congrats to Sara Byers for taking the woman's race, and Etzie for another junior win.

All for now.

Woodnewton

2011-05-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

Woodnewton weekend was success, despite the all the rain, and cool temps.

Justin scored the same b&b that we got last year, in Port Perry, and we were joined by teammate Alex Schmidt this time around.

Pre-ride on Saturday was awesome. Trails were in fantastic shape, and I was enjoying the man-made rock features and some new singletrack. The burmed downhill is always a blast. I felt better on my MTB, the trip to Hardwood must have been an effective refresher.

Post-pre-ride we hit up Subway, then got some good stuff to cook a pre-race feast. Made some meat/veggie sauce pasta that was nutritious and delicious. The we had a bunch of time to moss before bedtime. Caught some Louis C.K. on Comedy Network before hittin the sheets.

Woke up feeling pumped, and started the day off with a bowl of granola to get the metabolism fired up. Then, started cookin up a french toast feast. We ate till we almost felt sick, then relaxed for a couple hours to let it all settle. Found the Giro live on the Satellite there, and got to watch Contador crush it before heading to the venue.

Got there to watch the 11:45 starts. In Cadet expert Meg looked very solid finishing lap one, made a sick pass utilizing the tough rock garden to take the victory. Congrats Meg!

After a solid warm-up It was time to line up, and I got my best starting position yet getting in the second row. Stayed calm and just held my spot up the start climb. Managed to move up a few spots, but also lost a spot or two in the tough muddy section. I was battling with Zach Winn for a while, then he fell back, and I saw a couple Lapierre guys not far back. I worked hard to maintain a gap on them, and held it for a while. Souter caught me on a muddy trail while I was being held up by lapped traffic. I never gave him a chance to pass by keeping a high pace on all the doubletrack. I saw I was closing in on Ryan Atkins, so I made an effort to catch him, rested in his draft for a few seconds, then made the pass an never looked back. I was alone for a while again, but got caught and passed by Kinsie on the 4th lap. I kept with him, and attacked a climb to try and get away. It worked and I came into the 5th lap 11th place with a comfy gap. Just before starting the 5th lap I had a nice crash while passing a lapped rider. I took a less than ideal line and clipped my right hand off a fence pole, and went down in the mud. Recovered quick, but of course my chain was off, so I lost 10 or so seconds. Still had my gap though and felt good. Thought I might be able to catch another guy. When I got to the tough muddy trail, there was a ton of lapped traffic holding me way back. Most guys were good, but some would not move over. I told one guy I needed to pass like 6 times, and he kept saying "ya ya", then fell infront of me, taking me down. Of course Kinsie was now right there and rode around us both. I got back up to Kinsie quickly, and tried to attach on the climb I had lost him before, but I never had the legs and he stayed with me. Let him lead for a while, planning to attack again on the longer climb. He had the some plans I guess cause he drilled it up there faster than I could, and I had to let him go. All I could do now was roll in for 12th.

"The Rock Garden" - photo credit - Ryan Jakob

Still very happy with this result. Felt way better than Mansfield. Back is stronger, and only a little sore.

Nice job Justin, getting into the points, and Schmidt for making his way up to a solid 6th place finish in junior expert.

Next two races are on the road, so I'm not too sad that our trails are flooded again.

All for now

Mansfield -> Now

2011-05-09T05:00:00.000-07:00

Just finished up a big week of training, top off with 3hrs at Hardwood Hills yesterday.

After Mansfield my body was pretty beat-up. My lower back was the worst, painful enough to make the rest of my body feel great. A short hike to loosen things up Monday revealed that just about everything would be needing rest.

Lots of time was spent with my body in a horizontal position during the day Tuesday, and if it wasn't for the cancellation of the ZM crit, I would have just done an easy spin - to speed up recovery, but now the SCCC Tuesday night'r was on the schedule. It was cold and rainy, but a decent sized group showed, and we hammered some shortened Niagara classic laps for about an hour. Most people left early, but myself and Dan Dakin toughed it out.

My back was tight, but didn't hurt to much to ride hard.

Wednesday was going to be an easy 2hrs. 170-190 watts average. I started decent, then started to hurt at an easy pace, then I dropped my power to 150, and just kept the cranks turning to get home in 2:15. Bad day, as I expected after digging deep Tuesday without being recovered from Sunday.

Thursday was a lot better, but with a bit of tension still in my back, I decided to scrap my planned intervals, and just ride steady. I felt better and better as I went along, then I saw a bright yellow jersey coming straight at me. It was teammate Alex Schmidt, warming up for some intervals. I turned around and joined him. He had a bunch of 1min efforts to do, and I said I would sit in his draft during them if he didn't mind. Decided to do some 5-10 second sprints around him as he finished the efforts. This was fun, kinda like motor pacing I guess. The only problem was that I would get a big gap after sprinting as he spun it out, then he would start his next go 30 sec later and I would have to surge hard to get back into his draft, where he would be half way through the minute. Still fun, and a great way to keep each other motivated.

My sprints were not my best, but the 12 I did were all over 1200 watts, with my best one being the 12th, hitting 1426. Not to bad.

Friday turned out to be a great 4hr ride with Justin. Saw Port Colbourne, and Port Dalhousie in the same day, and it was not the lake to lake. Nice weather again, and I felt stronger than I expected to.

Saturday I met up with Justin again, to do laps of the classic. Rode laps steady, and pinned it up the hill each time. Had 5 solid climbs up the Eff, feeling great each time, puttin down over 500 watts on the way up.

Yesterday was a road trip to Hardwood, to get a little time on some singletrack. Trails around here are still sloppy, so I felt the trip was necessary, also the trails there are soo much fun. Rode every trail, except Radical which was closed due to a bunch of down trees. Did cranked and fun again to get 3hrs in. Great day on the bike, and I felt like I shed most of the rust from my technical skills.

Feeling confident for Woodnewton this weekend. Going to have a restful week to prepare for it, and hopefully be in or close to the top 10.

Now time to watch the Giro!!! The universal sports coverage seems totally worth the 20bucks, thanks Dad!

Mansfield Ocup

2011-05-02T07:16:00.000-07:00

First Ocup of the season went alright. It was a big improvement on last years result there, and the field was very similar, with the Quebec team and a Nova Scotian present.

I lined up 1 second to late, and had to start near the back, but it wasn't a big deal with such a wide/long opening climb. I moved up to about 18th by mid lap one, and was feeling solid, then I started to hurt a bit, and wasn't riding my best. Laps 2 and 3 were painful. I felt a little off my game, not riding very smooth. Held my ground though, only losing a spot or two each lap.

I had a fluky crash just as the lead train of juniors was catching me. I was turning right on doubletrack from singletrack, and stood to hammer, winding up flipping over the bars somehow. Did a stick go into my front wheel? Just rear wheel slipping? No clue......it happened so fast.

I was fine though, just mad that bars turned, and brake levers had moved. Lost 30 seconds maybe. I was able to make back the spots I lost, but the 4 juniors were never seen again.

Lap 5 I started to come around. I made up 2 spots and my legs were strong. Too bad my back was hurtin me, just totally killing any buzzes I encountered. No matter how strong my core is, the first ocup always seems to totally wreck my lower back. Just happy to get that over with, so it can recover and get stronger for the next race.

Congrats to teammate Megan Fleury for a solid 2nd place finish in cadet expert, and Alex Schmidt for 10th (7th On) in junior expert.

Justin Henri had a great ride too finishing only a few spot behind me in his first elite race. Nice job man!

Not sure whats next for me, ZM crit is supposed to be next Sunday, but I don't see anywhere to register for it. If that's not happening then Woodnewton is next up. 2 weeks to get ready for it.....hopefully the trails will dry up before then, I need to MTB more!

All for now....

Epic Weather

2011-04-29T14:18:00.000-07:00

Has it ever been an epic spring for crazy weather. Actually enjoying it quite a bit; it would be nice to pick up on tanning where I left of in South Carolina, but that can wait.

Yesterday was the best day yet! Wind guests of over 100km/h are quite fun to hammer straight into.

I took flight out the door with my bike, on a mission to hammer out some 30sx30s type intervals + some 5 sec sprints, no matter what the wind was sayin. Figured I'd cruise out to NOTL with the tailwind, then get all my intervals in on the way back, into the wind. It was crazy when I left home, but not at the point where shingles were taking flight and trees and fences were being pushed over. I think it was the worst right after I crossed the canal and entered some flat vineyards. Wind was hitting me from behind so hard that I coasted up to 70km/h!!! It was nuts, terrifying actually...cause I would get hit by crosswind guests and have to lean way over, while trying to keep it straight. I only went out 5ish km, before I decided to try and take the wind head on. HOLY F&$K it was tough. Put it in my smallest gear, got as aero as I could, then chugged along. My helmet flipped back a couple times, and I got blown in to the ditch 3 times! I didn't actually fall, but I had to unclip and hop the water to keep my feet dry. Definitely felt like I was wasted, but had super sober recovery ability.

So after some good tempo back to the canal, I turned into the crosswind, thinking the canal path would be good to do some work. Decided the actual path was too exposed so I used the road next to it, which is sheltered by the bank of the canal, and small forest on the other side. The road was covered in branched, but it worked well. Got my intervals done going up and down that streach of road several times, then headed home.

On the way back to my house I noticed that trees had been uprooted all around, some were huge ones that pop'd up sections of sidewalk. A few were down on my street, and my neighbors fence was leaning way over, but my house was fine, excluding a few shingles that broke off, which were about to be replaced anyway.

Found out later that the winds were far more ferocious than I knew. A school near my house had its roof blown right off! Traffic lights snapped right off, and their poles spun around. A building downtown lost its roof and of coarse, the power went out. Survived the night without it, keeping myself amused by playing with candle wax.

Feeling relieved right now, as of the completion of my exams and my first year of college. Lots of free time now, gonna be so easy to train!

Heading to Mansfield tomorrow for a pre-ride.....first time I've ever pre-rode that course. Might help a little, especially since the trails around are unreadable swamps.

See ya there!

"Don't Cross the Yellow Line"

2011-04-23T17:17:00.000-07:00

Interesting Good Friday Race yesterday in Flamborough.

It was way colder than I was expecting, and the winds were intense. My plan was to race conservatively, and keep an eye on they guys I knew would be strong. Figured one or two guys from each of the bigger teams would go clear in a break lap 2 or 3, and never be seen again with no one interested in chasing. A break went early, I didn't think it was the one, and no one seemed to excited about it. They lasted ~1 lap, then not long after there capture, Bryer attacked. He was on my list to watch for sure, but he went alone, cruising away in the tailwind. The surge/bridge after him that I was waiting for never happened.

I don't remember when, but 2 guys attacked and I guess bridged up to him, one guy being a team mate of Bryer. Now the Garneau team was in trouble, and forced to drive the pace. I was watching Riggs and Schiller knowing they would try to get a guy up to them. Schiller tried a few times, but nothing was working out. I bridged to him and Anton, but we only stayed away for a minute, and that was about it.

On the last lap we caught a Jetfuel rider that was dropped from the break, but the other 2 were too far ahead, even with all the Garneau firepower.

I had no luck at all getting into position for the sprint. There was about 5km of cross-wind, then a right hander with ~200m tailwind to the line. I was on the right side of the road, in a nice spot for a while, but swarms were moving up on the left and I kept getting pushed back. Some were very obviously gaining spots by using the full road. I will admit that I crossed the yellow line too, but never to gain a position, and it was really only when the entire pack was, leaving no choice.

So falling back on the right, I moved to the left, and got a bit closer to the front, then found myself stuck there, in the wind with no room to move up because I was on the yellow line. I heard Justin yelling for me to get on his wheel cause he found an opening on the right. Damn it! should have stayed there. I guess the shoulder would have been a better choice.

A surge with about 5 guys went just before the turn, and it took a lot just to get on it, next thing were rounding the corner and I'm way to far back to make anything happen. I moved up a few spots on the left side, but had no kick left after a tough last stretch. Actually finished 11th, but excluding the yellow line violators I got a much more pleasing 6th. I guess they were recording numbers in the follow car, getting guys who did it multiple times, or were just at the back, where their numbers could be seen.

Sounds dumb to DQ 3/4's of the field, but I think the race would have been way better if the rule was actually obeyed. Well I should say tougher, cause with the cross winds, the pack would have been shattered over and over with only the strong staying at the front. Instead, everyone tested the commissionaire, and he won.

I was happy with how I felt, not my strongest day, but I had the power when I needed it, minus the sprint.

So Mansfield is up next. Might do an epic MTB ride tomorrow, as long ass its not too muddy. If not, long road ride, then a busy week full of final exams, and some shorter intervals. Tuesday nighter? most likely.

peace

"Two Wheels is the way I ride"

2011-04-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

Great new track by Wax

"I start pedalin
I start smile'n
I'm in the bike lane
Freestyalin"

Funny shit
Had it stuck in my head all through P2A

P2A

2011-04-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

Awesome day of racing today out on the rail trails and mud chutes between Paris and Ancaster. I was very relaxed at the start, pumped fo sho, but calm because I knew I was gonna get to start near the front, unlike last year where I had to move up 200 spots on the first trail. Warm up was all right, nothing structured, but then again I was expecting a relaxed first 10km anyway.

Start went exactly as anticipated. I sat in the top 10, and just stayed as calm as possible waiting for that selective climb to come. When it came I nailed it and got in the lead/chase group with only Mike G, Adam Myerson and I think one other guy up a bit. Our group grew a little along the first road, and the work was shared a little, with Box doing the most.

I was feeling solid till the second dirt/grass section, where I guess you could say I "blew up". For a few minutes I just had nothing. Arms heavy and weak to point where I could barley hold the bars, and no power in the legs either. Wasn't too catastrophic, but bad enough to loss contact with the group containing 2nd through 7th place finishers. A few of them fell back to my new group, and Myerson would be out of contention after getting a flat later on. Till the final 10 km it wasn't to exciting. Just everyone in my group fighting for shelter in the intense cross winds, and only short lived attacks and surges against one another. I was waiting for the mud chutes before I tried any moves.

The first one came quickly, and I was surprised no one surged to be first one in. I just croozed up to the front, and lead down it. Came out with a gap, soloed to the next one, then bombed it nice and smooth to seal the deal. Then....I saw a rider ahead. I could tell I was moving a lot faster he was. Did he have a flat? Nope, just Chown, running on empty. Made the pass halfway up the final climb, then brought it home for 8th.

The final climb

Happy to improve on last year, despite not having my best day. Starting position helped a lot, but that's only the first 1/6th.

Congrats to Mike for an epic victory. Very impressive.

Team mate Alex Schmidt finished strong in 32nd. And Justin was able to move up to 65th after starting in the 300's. Nice job boys!

And Sara Byers for winning Calabogie, also, nice job Hoppner for the junior victory, and Etzie for snagging second.

Parents made a creamin meal post race; gourmet lamb burgers! MMMMM. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Ahhhh, final week of school starts tomorrow, then Good Friday race is here. Think I'm gonna do my first SCCC Tuesday night worlds race this week, and that'll be about it for intensity till Friday.

peace

Fitness Gains

2011-04-12T13:29:00.000-07:00

I'm thrilled to say that today's intervals were a success! I actually went beyond my expectations pulling off an average wattage of 319 for the first 20mins, and then 312 for the second 20mins.

I used my new Jake the Snake, which is now dialed in thanks to Kurt @ Liberty for transferring all the measurements from my road bike onto it, slightly modified for cross. The comfort was amazing, and with similar handling to my road bike, I kept forgetting I was on a CX bike. It feels very stiff while standing, but I can notice its not as stable as a road bike with the bottom bracket being a bit higher. Its almost 5lbs heavier too, so it takes a bit more power to get up hills.

During the suffering I was thinking about a story Mike G told us at the OCA camp about John Tomac. Apparently there's a video of him climbing a very steep hill, and he says something like "when climbing starts to hurt, just think of the fitness gains". Now that's what I'm thinking every time I'm suffering. And it's true. I'm getting fit! I feel like I may be getting a little too fast a little too soon, so I am going to reduce my intervals for Thursday and, take next week a bit lighter, mainly since Good Friday is of course, that Friday. I plan to get faster and faster till June, maintain till Road Nats, then rest a bit. Must avoid over reaching!

Tomorrow I plan to train in the mud for a little, trying out my secret weapons for P-A. Getting very excited for this weekend, just hope the forecast improves a bit. But whatever, mud is more fun!

Andrew

Tour of Bronte

2011-04-11T05:01:00.000-07:00

Great day of racing at Bronte park yesterday. Turned out to be warm and sunny for the afternoon elite race, which was a nice surprise.

I felt great on the bike right from the warm up. When our race started, a bit delayed, I was excited to get going. Stayed top 5ish for the 9 or so short road laps we did and missed out on the key move that went. I thought it was too soon and was unsure exactly who was in it, other than Zack. Turns out it was Tyson and an M1 up there. After they got away no one in the bunch seemed interested in chasing, except Morka. Seemed like he was the only one doing any work, and when he slowed, no one would take over. I did a bit up there, only when the pace got really slow.

These three would get almost 2 minutes on us before we hit the actual course to do 7 laps. The race got way more fun here, and new guys went to the front to drive the pace. Morka was still doing the majority of the work.

Forget when, maybe on the second full lap, a group of 6 went clear. I must of been at the wrong place at the wrong time, cause I missed this one. I noticed some strong guys were up there, and figured it would stick. I was determined to bridge up to them, but again, no one wanted to chase hard, so they were pulling away quickly. I got a bit frustrated and went to the front to help chase, thinking that if we got them closer I could make the bridge. Shortly after, I was just pulling off to rest so I could attempt to bridge, and then Chown went; perfectly timed and made it up to them fairly quickly. I felt I still had a chance, and after a bit of recovery I went for it. made it about half way across the gap and then had that feeling that if I kept hammering I would be stuck in the gap until I blew up, so I sat up and waited for the pack. The gap was far to big now.

For me it would be a sprint for 10th. I positioned myself perfectly for it, and most likely would have won it, but was forced to go around a guy on the grass, losing a lot of speed. Came through second, which I was satisfied with.

Congrats to Chown for taking his second Victory this season, and playing it very smart. I learned a lot from this race and won't be making tactical errors like that again.

Also teammate Alex Schmidt who finished 2nd in the junior cat. He rode smart and made a big move at the end, that unfortunately didn't last, but he was strong enough to finish front half of the pack still. Justin had a very solid ride also, especially considering that he has been very sick and off the bike the past week.

It was for sure excellent training for the P-A next weekend. I took last week much easier than planned as I picked up a little cold. Seems to be gone now so I will be able to resume with some intervals. I did one 20min int. @ 305watts last Tuesday. Going for the 2 @ 310watts tomorrow. Will let you know how that goes!

Andrew

A new Family Member

2011-04-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

Picked up my newest machine today @ Liberty!.

A 2011 Kona Jake the Snake. It looks sweet, and handles amazingly well, feels a lot like my road bike. Not my lightest steed, but with some fast wheels swapped on for P-A, I'm sure it won't let me down on my way to (hopefully) a top 10. Then, in the fall to some mid-pack CX action. It's about the same weight as my MTB @ 20.5ish pounds, which I guess isn't bad for stock, considering my MTB is worth 3x $more.

Put some Q-rings on it, and may need to get a set back post, but other than that I will keep it stock, minus wheel swapping for races. Oh ya, I also swapped the stem, and will likely get a Specialized saddle to.

Bigger head-tubes are better.

Love the paint on this one!

You could have one too for only $1500!!!

Kinda looking forward to some threshold work tomorrow, part of my final preps for Bronte. I don't feel sore from yesterday at all (surprisingly), so I think I'm on track to see improvements.

Andrew

Homage to Slush

2011-04-03T17:03:00.000-07:00

Wow...what a hard race.
I had no idea there could still be so much snow in Mansfeild. Almost the entire course was snow, slush or ice covered. There was some awesome singletrack that was dry, but most of the course was early spring type doubletrack.

Started the day off right, with a cup of Starbucks thanks to J.Henri. Then it was of To Mansfield with an unplanned detour along the way. Drove there soo many times now without and issue, but managed to fudge it up somehow today. Oh well, got there with a full hour to spare anyways.

Warm up was good...felt strong. Climbed Airport road twice to get my legs and lungs working.
(off topic note: show on Discovery says that Jellyfish are taking over the ocean....and lakes around the U.S.. (I say we nuke em)) Start was fast, and I sat in a nice 3rd wheel draft till the first turn, where I took over. I could not believe the snow. It just never ended. When we hit it I thought it was just a patch....but no. It was everywhere!! I was forced to run a fare bit, as the snow was deep, soft and rutted out. I was doing quite well in the ruts though, able to keep balanced, and put power down. Before I ever got frustrated I thought about the people who rode there trainers all winter, and how frustrated they must be. After hammering for a bit I settled into a 50km pace and just rode smart and efficient the rest of the race. Had one small bail on a downhill where my bare legs got covered in snow, but it wasn't to bad. Just cold.

It was an epic day for sure though, very tough, but I enjoy a challenge. Huge thanks goes out to Dan for turning a cross country ski loop into something race-able on bikes. Massive difference from last year..

Congrats to team mate Meg Fleury for winning the 25km. Go team Liberty!!!!
J.C. finished 4th, which is awesome, and Jeff K was not too far back....nice work SHCC. J.Henri is quite sick right now, so its great that he was able to finish. Good technical training at least.

Can't wait to hear the results of the tour of Pelham. Predicting Etzie or Perry took it, but Chown was getting fit in SC, so who knows.

Andrew

Racing in two days?

2011-04-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe that the season kicks of in less that 48hrs. I should be riding strong though, as I'm feeling fully recovered from all my winter/early spring training. I did some intervals this week and they went quite well. First ever 30 min tt/threshold interval I've ever done went down. I was hopping for 300-310 watt average, but I came out just shy at 292. My goal was set based on the 300 I hit racing up Caesars Head, and I thought I could beat it after some rest. Not quite the case...yet....but I'm sure the race adrenaline, and fact that it was up an uninterrupted climb made it a bit easier to keep the power down. Going to do 2x20mins next week, and aim for 310 watts each time.

I definitely need to boost my threshold power. Being able to ride tempo for hours can win me marathons, but will not get me on O-cup podiums.

After hours of salt and erosion removal, my MTB is ready to race again!!

Looks brand new again!

Oh....and here is a pic of my new road bike that I said I would post way back....

This is an amazing machine. I notice the stiffness every time I stand to pedal. Looks soo stealthy too.

So I don't really know what to expect on Sunday in terms of the trail conditions. Mansfield drains fast, but there still may be snow on the trails. Definitely won't be a dust storm like last years edition of the Homage, but I wouldn't be shocked if it was dry. Haven't ridden my MTB since the Frostbike, but am very confident in my skills on it with so many hrs spent on it in the snow this past winter. Going to ride it on the roads/grass tomorrow to fine tune some skills/ make sure I put it back together right. Should be a fun day!

Schools over in 3 weeks, so there will be an increase in posts per month when that comes around. Profs are really piling it on right now, and with the rush to dial my bikes in/get fit, I have not had any time to spare. Look forward to some race reports coming soon though!

Andrew

Should be doing homework

2011-03-22T18:39:00.001-07:00

I'm back home and back to business here in St. Catharines. Endurance camp was a huge success for me, and I feel that I got the most out of my time in South Carolina.

The weather was amazing, with only one cool rainy day, that we opted to spend indoors. Not because we are soft, but because we are smart. 7degC and pouring rain definitely would have weakened us.

So we did all the epic rides over again from last year, minus the Sassafras tt. We did race up Ceasars Head, and I knocked 1.5mins off my time from last season. Very pleased with that, because not only was I slower last year, but I was fitter. So now I'm less fit and faster. Sweet.

Time was 30:41, and 300 watts average. I figure that means my threshold power is 300watts @ 175bpm. Going to work on that a lot, unlike last season where I only did shorter intervals.

This year I went to the camp ready to train, not to perform. I new more about the pace, and routes and feel that I was very well conditioned for it. Now post camp I am fresh, and feel as if I primed my engine to start some structured intensity/intervals. I'm excited for the upcoming breakthrough intervals, were I'm sure I will surpass last seasons peak form during my first build.

At the camp I had some solid roommates. It was a little crowded with 9 guys in a cabin build for maybe 5 max. We made the best of it and split into two cooking groups. I was with Karl Hoppner, Alex Cataford, Jared Stafford and Brian Trafford (wow...just noticed the number of ford ending a last names). Had a pleasant time getting to know them, and trade some on/off bike stories. We almost spent the entire camp together, with no time left to nap, or put our feet up. We all had great energy off the bike, never taking time to nap or anything like that. We even did extra strength stuff using JStaffs TRX (now pronounced terx), and went on some morning jogs with Mike G. Oh and there was an attempt at fishing in the pond, and a couple cool down soaks in the creek.

Always sad to leave, but that's how she goes. Now I'm amongst a mentally draining, but physically restful week, as ride times will be short to fit in some study time.

Thanks Mike and the OCA for another great camp

Go'n South

2011-03-10T04:20:00.000-08:00

Busy week is now over. Bags are packed for South Carolina and bike is dialed. Just have to sit through 8hrs of class today before I'm free for 10 days.

I'm bringing my new CAAD10, which I just had Kurt @Liberty fit me on, on Monday. He is tuned into all the latest fitting technology, and it really helps to make everything super precise. It turns out my legs are 9mm longer than they were last July, and my left leg is still longer by 5mm. Also, a heat activated foot print thing revealed that my feet are a bit different and that I needed a double wedge in my right shoe to balance it out.

I had a chance to get out on this new steed on Tuesday, and it was incredible. It is rock solid stiff, and feels very stable, but in corners it still has that short wheelbase quick steering. I did some sprints on it and hit 50.5km/h going up a mild hill, 3 different reps. Every bit of energy put into the pedals seems to launch me forward. Can't wait to race it.

Had some great rides last week, while I was on break. Tuesday was my best, with 4.5hrs averaging 246watts. I did 6 laps of the Niagara classic, and had a brutal headwind climbing the Eff each time. Took 500watts just to prevent going backwards.

Thursday I rode out to Grimsby and climbed my three favorite roads. Wolverton, Fifty and McNeely. Just once each, and never made myself suffer. Just wanted to get my legs to adapt to the steep grades again. Average wattage came out to be 233.

The rest of the week wasn't to exciting. Time on the trainer, a jog and some hikes brought my training time to 26hrs for the week. Oh ya that's if you count the 3hrs of snowboarding I did at Blue on Friday. Also got in a few games of beer pong at my old house. Fun times.

Off to school
Peace

100th post?

2011-02-28T07:35:00.000-08:00

Can't believe I've done this 100 times now, and still find it tricky to come up with an opening sentence.

Thought I would know how to type by now too, but no. Still only use 4 fingers and my right thumb.

So I am on my spring break as of Saturday, and have already got 10hrs of pedal time in. Sat and Sun was back to back circle route laps, in far from favorable conditions. Saturday I was joined by Justin and the first couple hours was spend riding through a heavy dump of snow. It let up by the time we got to the Falls, but we never saw dry roads till long after Fort Erie. Justin was not having his best day, and came close to bonking in Fort Erie, but made an epic recovery with the help of some sweets and a coffee. Stopping at Ontario Bakery in Fort Erie is a must during winter rides. Wish they had date squares, but their macaroon squares do just fine.

Ride time Saturday was almost bang on 5 hours for me, but I had to push it a little from Welland to home, after splitting ways with Justin. Average speed was 28.4km/hr. Sunday I did it in 4:50 with only one quick stop at the bakery for a mac square. Felt it in my legs a lot more on Sunday, but was able to finish strong with an average speed of 29.8km/h.

Plan for today is to do a sub 2hr recovery ride, and get some assignments done that aren't due for 3 weeks. Gotta get ahead now if I want to benefit from the OCA camp.

Lots of big rides going down this week. 25hrs of ride-time is the goal. hope roads get clean enough to take my old road bike out, and see what I can do on the powertap. Still waiting for some oval chainrings for my new whip, so it has yet to be pedaled.

all for now

Legs just wanted to climb

2011-02-23T04:23:00.001-08:00

I had on awesome ride on my CX bike yesterday covering 90km. Headed south along a snowy canal path with no planned route. Turned right on a road that looked clean, and happened to be hwy 20, which leads to Fonthill. Climbed up to downtown Fonthill, than actually got an urge to go over to Saylors and climb it. I did just that, and with the help of a tailwind, got over it without working to hard.

One lap of the Niagara Classic later and I was climbing it again. I was not liking the cold wind on the open farm roads, so I headed back south through my favorite route, Hollow Rd to Holland Rd to Cataract Rd.

Took a right on Decew and then after crossing the new bridge jumped on some singletrack to see how it was. Not bad, bumpy for a CX bike, but will be great for MTBs.

With another 1.5hr to kill, I rode over to hydro, and did six reps of it, with some flats added in here and there.

Legs never let me down, but I sure felt the effort by the time I got home.

On Monday, I hiked for 4.5hrs with Justin and his dog Molson. It was very enjoyable, and definitely a great workout. We even stopped to do push-ups a few times to make it a full body workout.

Off to school now
Andrew

2010 RESULTS

2011-02-21T07:51:00.001-08:00

21st U23 @ CX Nationals
6th Elitle @ Parma CX
9th Elite @ Speed River/ Kelso CX
25th Elite @ TO day 2 CX
20th Elite @ Turkey CX
16th Elite @ Octoberfest CX
8th Elite @ Liberty Bicycles Squeezer
Victory overall @ Pauls Dirty Enduro 100km
Victory overall @ Ontario Marathon Champs, Mansfeild
7th elitle @ JTC/WNMC CX
24th S1/2 (2nd ON U23) @ Provincial Crit, Tour Di Via Italia
13th Elite @ Woodnewton Provincial Champs
12th S1/2 (4th U23) @ Elliot Lake Road Provincials
7th S1/2 Elliot Lake Crit
12th Elite @ Kelso O-cup
Victory! @ Canal Days MTB
19th S1/2 @ Bike the Bruce
3rd Elite @ Buckwallow O-cup
18th S1/2 @ CHIN Picnic
4th @ Raccoon Rally XC
6th S1/2 @ Raccoon Rally RR
Victory! S3 @ K-W Classic
19th elite @ Mountainview O-cup
2nd S3 @ Niagara Classic
17th elitle @ Albion O-cup
2nd S3 @ Springbank Road Race
32nd elite @ Manfeild O-cup
13 overall @ Paris to Ancaster
5th overalll @ Homage to Ice
2nd S4 @ Good Friday Road Race
Victory! @ Winter Frostbike MTB

frostbike 2011

2011-02-20T12:58:00.000-08:00

Awesome day on the bike for me. I was able to defend my Frostbike title for at least another year, holding off a hard chasing JC Roberge.

Team Liberty had great results with Sara defending the woman's title, and Alex coming in 3rd overall while winning the under 30 cat. Justin suffered from an unfortunate flat on lap 1, but like a true hardman he fought through the muddy afternoon course to try and get on the podium. Managed 4th, which was still great considering that 1-3rd set their times when the course was several minutes faster.

I went out for a second lap with JC and Alex, but we bailed after the second piece of singletrack after finding it to be completely thawed out.

In the morning the conditions were near perfect. Some ice patches, but they were avoidable and really just added to the technical factor. Chose to go studless, because I don't own studs anyway, and think it would be ridiculous to buy studded tires for one race.

So may race went like this.
Fast start, with >100m to singletrack. Got moving fast, but JC took the inside line. held his wheel till the first solid place to pass. Hammered up the biggest climb (3million watts) to open a gap, then rode smooth and steady to hold onto it. Lungs burned from the cold air, and legs hurt from the first race effort of the year. It felt good though, and I am happy with where I'm at.

Drank some beers after and enjoyed some chili and a chicken Slovakia pita.
Won a gym membership @ Energy Fitness Studio and Liberty gift card for 50bucks. Sweet!

Huge thanks to the SHCC for working so hard to make this race happen, and everyone who had anything to do with me being able to race. Thank You!!

So this week will be a big on in terms of training time. 16 hrs at least. Then I have reading week where I will do over 20hrs. rest for a week, then the OCA camp.

Too bad its supposed to snow a lot tonight, making the possibility of a tomorrows circle route lap questionable. Might still go down. Snowshoes are always there, and it may be the last chance to get out on them. Either way Ill be out there enjoying a day off school.

Get out and have fun!!

First 100km ride of 2011

2011-02-14T05:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was warm one. only 5 above, but when your used to -10, 5 feels hot. Wind gusts no longer numbed my face and sent chills through my body, but they did lack the fresh crisp smell that I love about the winter.

I took the cx bike out with the wind to NOTL, than took the parkway through the falls and to somewhere between the Falls and Fort Erie. Turned around at service road 20 where a cool custom home lies. Very rectangular with a overhanging second floor, and a fancy porch cover that looks like a carport. Finding unique homes more and more interesting since beginning my architecture studies.

So I had a nice tailwind most of the way back to NOTL, than faced a ridiculous headwind to get back home. It was tough to keep it above 20km/h. Finished up strong after 3.5hrs, and 105km, averaging 28ishkm/h.

Last week was 15.5hrs training time, and the week before that was 14, so I will rest up this week with sub 10hrs saddle time. should leave me fresh for the Frostbike next Sunday. Hope some snow is left, but it doesn't look good. I'd say 25% of it melted yesterday, and its only going to get warmer and wetter later this week. If it all melts and some fresh stuff falls Saturday, that would be fun. As long as its not a skating ring I'm happy.

I have confirmed my attendance at the OCA camp. Teachers were more supportive of that choice than I imagined they would have been and have agreed to let me write tests before or after the camp, and will create make up assignments for the ones I miss. Going to be busy getting everything done, but it will be so worth it.

My training is all mapped out from now till the camp, and I have some good ideas for the weeks following the camp. Homage to Ice is on the calendar. It will be a great early season course that will truly test my early season form.

Team Liberty had its first meeting Saturday. The full team consists of Justin Henri, Alex Schmidt, Megan Fleury, myself and Sara Byres. Sara will only be doing some local MTB races for us as she will be racing for a different road team. Expect the other racers to get there own blogs fired up, and a cool team page on the Liberty website.

Off to school now,
I'll try and make this more routine again.

SNOW DAY!!!!

2011-02-02T05:20:00.000-08:00

Last night I told myself that I would put some time into this thing, if school actually got canceled. The bulk of the snow seems to have missed us, but they still shut everything down, so here it is.

I've been lazy about writing anything here, but its because I've been getting a much larger workload this term than last, and I'm also training more.

So I will go back to the holidays. My trip to Blue was a great time. The weather was awful, but I still boarded twice. I picked up a little cold there, but shook it shortly after getting home by eating straight ginger root and garlic. I kept a solid diet going and continued to train, allowing me to dodge the awful flu that seemed to snipe down everyone around me.

The weekend after that I took off training to visit Montreal again. Took it easy there, only hitting the downtown pubs once. Good times with friends and friends family.

Since then I have really been enjoying my training. I did some awesome trail runs through fresh pow, that seemed to really strengthen my hamstrings. I have been out on my mountain bike almost everyday that the trails have been ride able. Conditions were perfect the last 2 weeks. Challenging with the depth of packed snow, but not frustrating. Unfortunately some of my favorite trails have not been packed yet, so I have been doing reps of the ones in good shape. Strength works have been tossed in here and there, but I don't think that pumping out more than 40 push-ups in a set is necessary.

Also the dreaded trainer has seen some use. I've done 4 2hr rides and a few 1hr spins. Having a power meter makes it much more interesting. So far I have been averaging just over 190watts for the 2hr rides. Seems to be a good fat burning effort that I could likely sustain for 4hrs. I'll step it up to 200watts next time. Today maybe?

I have not been doing anything too intense yet. The Frostbike is coming up quickly, so I will do some efforts up some hills before that. After the Frostbike I will up my millage but keep the efforts similar to now. No need to run myself down in February.

I realize that last season I was on peak form during the OCA camp, then burnt out for the first O-cup. This year I will do things different. Less volume, less intense through Feb/early March, then much more intense and even less volume then I did last March/April.

I got my acceptance into the OCA camp, which I am unsure whether I will be able to attend. It means missing 7 days of college, a guaranteed 5% drop in all classes. I plan to talk to my teachers tomorrow and make sure that I will not be missing mid terms, or major unit tests. If I'm clear there, or will be allowed to write make up unit tests, I will go for sure. The decision needs to be made by Friday.

If I can't go to that I will make a trip to SC during my reading week from Feb 26-March 5th.

So other exciting news is that I bought a new road bike! A Cannondale CAAD10 DA. So excited for the first day of clean roads so I can experience the difference between a 2005 CAAD8, and 2011 CAAD10. I still love my CAAD8, so I can't imagine what I'm in for. Reason for staying on aluminum is because I love the way it rides. The connection to the road, the stiffness, and its lighter than most elite level carbon frames. To get a carbon bike at the same weight would cost at least $1000 more. Pics to come....its still at Liberty until I finish paying for it.

Also I will jump the gun and announce that team Liberty! Bicycles has been created for the 2011 season. Team list and goals to come......
Huge thanks to Kurt for for the amount of support he is throwing at us. Getting very excited for spring to come.

Enjoy the snow!!

beer and chocolate

2010-12-30T12:31:00.000-08:00

Been a while since I've givin the blog some love. I have been keeping busy though, mtbing a ton, a hike here and there and some great core workouts. The trails have been in the best shape possible (for winter) for some time now and I have been out on them for 2+ hr rides the last 6 days in a row. Tech skills are improving daily and I am getting a little too fit for this time of year. Ill fix that problem over the next few days by celebrating new years at Blue Mountain then hanging around for some snowboarding fun. weather looks like shit, so purchasing a lift ticket might not be worth it. We'll see how she goes.

So 2010 wraps up tomorrow night. I was going to write a season review, but I got to lazy. I will call it a success though and leave it at that. Sure I had some crap races, but solid results that surprised me made the lows easy to forget.

Hopefully the thaw passes quick, and the trails get some new snow. Road riding is not an option for me!

Thanks SHCC for the new trails that keep popping up. Loving them!

Happy new year everyone!

Snow is Here!!!

2010-12-08T16:10:00.000-08:00

So its been a little while, I know, but I have been busy. School is done now, except for 4 exams, that I should do a little studying for to maintain my decent average.

I have been training quite a bit lately, both on and off the bike. I have done 3 laps of lunges around my block with 15lbs in each hand, and the third time I felt very strong. Lap four is tomorrow after classes, and I would step up to the 25lb dumbbells, but with a lot of riding planned for the weekend I figure I will crush another lap with 15's.

I mtb'd in the Hood last weekend. It was awesome riding with the ground finally freezing, but it got better on Monday with the 10cm of snow we got. It took me about 1/2 hour to get used to the snow, and start to bring speed through turns, but once I started to feel it I was having a blast. The trails were even better today, with some trials bikes going through and packing down a nice line. Unfortunately part of the furthest north trail (before Mud Lake) is destroyed because of some clear cutting around the hydro poles. As long as they do a good cleanup, the trail will survive, but not be nearly as cool with the forest gone.

I plan to go back Friday morning, and probably one day on the weekend too. I'm taking full advantage of the conditions because our winters are so unpredictable, and it could easily thaw and or rain any day. Just wish I lived closer, but I am bringing my bike with me to school, and then heading there right after, as its only 20mins further.

Going to keep this routine of intense strength 2 days a week, with riding or hiking/running on the 5 other days going till the end of the holidays. Short strength sessions get mixed in whenever I feel like it, but are mainly just core. Soon some snowboarding will get mixed in there. Can't wait to get out again!!

I got some got training in last night at Henri's big 19th.......some beer pong! The two of us as a team were unbeatable, but I started to fade later on and could not support my new partner well enough to succeed. Last time I played was almost a year ago, so the lack of endurance was expected. It was a great time though. Happy bday son!

2010-11-28T13:09:00.000-08:00

"So at the end of the night, like other people who work 9-5, when I take my shoes off, the only reason my socks smell like shit is because I've been kicking ass all day"

Friend recommended I watch this, I recommend you watch this...

Recent Adventures

2010-11-20T18:05:00.000-08:00

2 week rest period is now over, and I feel ready to get back on a training schedule. My schedule will be very loose though, something along the lines of ride as much as I can, with weekends dedicated to the longer rides, and short rides thrown in through the week when the weather is favorable (snow, or frozen ground), or I simply feel like it. Starting tomorrow I will be doing some type of strength exercise every day. Some days simply a few sets of push-ups, and others 2+ hours at the gym (which I have not been to since last February). lunging around the block might go down on Monday, with no weights. 25lbs in each hand by Christmas.

So the past couple weeks I actually got quite a few things done. I did MTB once, because I am addicted and had to get my fix. It was fun, and my MTB felt like a monster truck after only riding the CX rig since the Squeezer.

last week, with the help of some friends, we turned 42lbs of pork into over 100 sausages, with 5 different types of spice mixes, including Frank's and Sharp Cheddar cheese. Original Italian turned out the best, but I think with more, better quality cheese, the Franks one could be a huge hit. I think they will have to be hand packed though with big chunks of cheese rather than the cheese being ground into the pork. Lots of work but I think will be well worth it.

On Friday I drove to Montreal after school, getting there just after 1am. Got to drive my friends BMW, a nice change. Saturday we hiked Mont Royal, and explored the downtown area, then after a quick nap it was time for some pubing. We started the night of at a pub that sold beer in giant test tube like contraptions that had a wood stand with a tap at the bottom to poor. That was 8 pints between the 3 of us, then we pressed on pub to pub, trying different local brews at each of them. Hit maybe 6 or so meeting up with more peeps along the way, then it was time for the dance club. Not much of a dancer, but it didn't matter.

Woke up Sunday with no sign of a hangover, and then hit the city again to go for brunch with a friend going to Concordia. Then some more visiting, and a fine dinner before going back to get the pubs we missed. The is something for everyone there, the variety is amazing. Hope to go back in the spring for a similar trip.

This week I went for a couple hikes in Shorthills. I like to run down hills and up hills, because I find walking them boring and more tiring. So I cover ground pretty quickly, getting trails that they say are 3hr hikes done in less than an hour. I hope to do this once a week through the winter because its excellent cross training and very relaxing mentally.

Can't wait for the snow to fall! So much fun to MTB through.

All for now, until next time enjoy this one

CX Nationals

2010-11-08T12:54:00.000-08:00

I find it kinda funny how the only nationals I took part in this season was CX, which is my weakest discipline. Well I guess I only did it because it was only an hour drive away.

So I think I did alright. I beat 10 guys, which was exactly how many I thought I could if I were to have an alright day. I was hopping to feel some more power, but I didn't at all. I had to suffer to to keep the pace above tempo, and any attempts at attacking would leave me completely gassed for several minutes. Seems to be the same story for every cross race I did this season.

I'm starting to think that I might be the kind of person who can only be fast once a year. I don't mean one weekend, I mean fast for 2 or 3 months. Or I am likely just burnt out from my first full season of racing, and made it worse by tackling the marathons and the squeezer through September (although they are my favorite events of the year that I never want to miss) when some rest wouldn't have hurt.

I never wanted to take cross serious before the season started, but have learned from it that I am a much more competitive person than I thought. Going into a race "for fun" is really no fun at all. If you are not prepared, you will be dying to hold on to a wheel of someone that you could have crushed a month ago, and before you know it you are getting lapped and won't even be completing the full race. I'm still glad I did the races I did because I learned a lot and it kept me on the ball the past couple months.

I have started to think a lot about next season, and have a good idea about when to do what. Unfortunately I will have to miss a couple races to fit in the rest periods that I neglected to take this season. I plan to start my intensity sooner for a better early season, then after a break in July I will build for a peak in August/September. I want to do the GMSR as a cat 1, So I will need some serious power early September, and than taking a 2 week break after that should have me feeling a little fresher for some CX action.

It looks like the next couple weeks are going to be very restful for me. I am just going to focus on charging the batteries before strength training season.

Parma Cross

2010-11-01T05:43:00.000-07:00

Finally a solid cross race.

I took way to long to get locked into my left pedal, resulting in a poor start, but it was fun passing a bunch of guys on the tight and sketchy forested gravel section. I made may way up to Mr. holeshot Henri before the first lap was over, and went by going a little faster than he could handle after a week of 1hr of training.

Soon after I was in the 4th,5th,6th train and was going solid. They had short barriers out, which myself, Henri and Mcgyver29r were hoppin, and gaining a couple seconds on the rest of the field each lap because of it.

About half way through I was in 4th or 5th with a small gap, and had a fluke crash behind the stair run-up. I was getting ready to dismount, and my pedal ejected me while I was standing on it on the left side. The ground was super bumpy here, so maybe that made my foot turn or something, but anyway I got up fairly quick after rolling down the trail for a bit. My bike was on the other side of the trail, and as I started to run over to it the 5th place guy came by yelling watch out! I failed to regain contact with him after that.

I forget now If I caught a guy, or he caught me, but I was around him for several laps, going back and forth. Late in the race we both came into the barriers at the same time, with me hoppin and him running. I was on the right, and landed hop 1, pointed a bit left, and he was running on the left, drifting right to the center. We came together between the barriers, and next thing I know I am flipping through the air over barrier 2. I slammed down hard, and had the wind knocked out of me pretty good. Right side/ribs hurt, but not to bad. I got rolling again, just soon enough to hold off the chaser in 7th. I couldn't catch the guy in 5th after that, but rolled in for 6th with a solid gap, and got a nice $25 pay out for that.

It felt good to actually go fast when I hammered. Still not much punch, or explosive power, but if I train and rest well, I think I can get some for next Saturday.

Thanks mom/dad for the drive, and recovery meal after!

Eyedea aka Micheal Larson R.I.P.. Thanks for being real and motivating me along. E&A all day!!

Getting fit again

2010-10-30T11:54:00.000-07:00

Finally starting to feel strong on the bike again. Today was the first ride that I felt good sensations while hammering since the Squeezer.

I went over to hydro hill, and climbed it 10 times. Didn't race up it, just went steady, and made sure to get my heart-rate above 170 each time. 42x28 seemed to be the perfect gear, with the occasional double up shift before standing. After the reps I cruised through some singletrack in the Decew Falls area, then enjoyed a nice push from the wind all the way home. Total ride time was 1h50mins. Wanted to do more trails, but I figured I should go home and eat/rest for tomorrows race in the US. I am doing the NY state champs down in the Rochester area. Hillbilly Hustle looked like fun too, but its a far drive for a 1hr race.

This week I chose to do most of my training on foot. Running is not fun, but for some reason I am more motivated to run, than to do intervals on the bike; at this time of year. Maybe its because I suck at running and know that I can easily improve at it, which I have. Tues and Thurs were both 10km runs with 10reps up the stairs at lock 2. Did different agility drills that Morka introduced to me. After Tuesday my legs felt completely torn apart. I could barely walk, and going down stairs was very painful. After an easy spin on Wed I was ready for it again Thurs and got'r done feeling much better.

I think next week will look very similar to this one. I will shorten the runs and make Thursday easier to have a tapper effect for Nationals.

I have also started to do some strength training; to my upper body anyway. Pumped out 120 push-ups this week, 2+x that in sit-ups. Also a bit of curls, shoulder and tricep work. You don't realize how valuable this training is until you're riding at your limit, and start to fade because your arms and core are to weak to keep your bike stable; or when you enter a technical bit of singletrack and you have to slow down because you've got nothing in your body to maneuver your bike around.

Hopefully I feel good tomorrow, and even better next Saturday.
Later.

Fun times in the mud

2010-10-24T17:12:00.001-07:00

Super fun cross race today. I got the mud I was hoping for, and got to expedience cross as I had envisioned it.

I feel that I rode pretty solid. Not quite as strong as I was day 2 at TO, but aside from the climbs I was able to keep a respectable pace. Those road climbs had me feeling really out-of-shape, and I was counting down how many more times I had to drag myself up them.

Aside from the suffering, I had a blast nailing turns, and trying new lines each lap. I'm sure I could have brought a little more speed into some turns, but I kept it safe and stayed upright. Its obvious that I have some work to do on my fitness before I have better results, so I am going to do some intervals this week and next and see what I can do at nationals.

Solid ride again Henri, and huge props to Chown for killing it today.

Pre-reg Only. Oops

2010-10-23T15:53:00.000-07:00

Missed out on the CX provincials action that went down at Kelso today. Totally my fault, I forgot to sign up early, and never bothered to read the tech guide that clearly said pre-reg only. Didn't find out till last night, and I had already planned to go up with Henri, so I went and tried to get a favor out of the oca to get me in.

No luck. The Commissionaire had to be a dick and stick to the rules. Even for one of their best customers an exception could not be made.

Didn't get get mad because I knew I could have a riot just watching. I pre rode two or so laps to get a little workout, then cruised around the course to various points to watch/cheer. I was having fun trying to motivate Henri. It helped him, and he moved up to a podium spot for U23. He was inspiring me, and making me wish I was racing so much. He was in a good battle with Marco Li, and Preston Wagler, and was able to drop them something fierce by the end. Stafford fell way back with a broken derailleur but was still able to come back and and steal the last U23 podium spot. He is a hero, and I think would have finished 2nd overall had he avoided the mechanical. Watson would have had someone to keep him working.

Gonna race there tomorrow. Hoping for mud and decent strength. I have rested a lot this week, so I should be fresh. I think I am rested enough to start doing a little intensity before the end of cross season, so I can be fitter for some November races. I get started on strength training after nationals and and hopefully get my lunge form back quickly for laps around my block.

peace

T.O. UCI Cross report

2010-10-18T15:42:00.000-07:00

Day 1

Going into day 1, I had it in my head that the reason I was soo slow at Turkey cross was because I went out to hard, and blew myself up before the race was even half over. So, I figured I would have more success if I started steady, and ramped it up through the race. I planed to always have a wheel to suck in the wind, and only attack guys before the twisties, or when they messed up.

I liked the course a lot during the pre ride. It was well designed in a way that you didn't have to use your brakes much. Not too much climbing either....

When the race started I settled into a pace that I could likely hold for 2 hours. I got on Guy's wheel and he pulled me through the headwind section at a good pace. This brought me up to Henri, and a couple other handlebar guys that I stuck with till I was pulled. I thought I was doing alright, and was just starting to ramp it up to my red lined pace. I guess I lost to much ground in the first quarter, so it didn't matter that I had some gas left. Frattini was coming.

Before heading home I hit up the snowboard show with my buddy who came along for the race. Checked out a lot of decks but nothing in the u300 dollar cat jumped out at me, so I left empty handed. We got stuck in traffic for an hour after, and I never got any decent food in me till 7pm. I made up for that by feasting on steak, potatoes, salad and cheesecake when I got home.

Day 2

New plan for day 2. Race at a 40 minute pace, and make it to the last lap so I could finish on the same one as the leaders. This course was a bit longer than Saturdays (time wise) because it had more turns, so I was confident I could avoid the pull.

I started a bit slow, but made up some spots quickly and was riding really well. I was riding in a train of ride with Rendall guys, and was able to draft them for a while. Most of those guys had more power than I did, but they were slowing me down in the turns a little. If I attacked I figure I would have blown trying to tackle the stiff headwind, so I sat on and only past them when they fell or really missed the line.

The last lap was an exciting battle for 23rd spot with 2 others. They both tried attacks early, but we stayed together all the way to the sandpit. I tried to attack before the drop, because I was riding the off camber turns and climb really well, but I just never had the power to get ahead on the climb. I tried to ride the sandpit, but failed horibly, and the other two gaped me by running it quickly. That was it for me, but it was good enough for 25th, and a $25 pay out.

I had a lot of fun though, and am starting to get this cross thing. I plan to do a few more this season including Provincials this weekend.

all for now

Turkey Cross

2010-10-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

What a gorgeous day it was to spend an hour suffering in a maze of cation tape. I had some new motivation and confidence for this race, with my Dura Ace C-Fities mounted with some Dugast Rhinos. I figured that would be the most effective way to get faster, as intensity training at this point in the year is not happening for me.

I felt the a cold coming on yesterday, and went to bed with plugged nostrils, tossing and turning for a couple hours before passing out. Accidentally set my alarm for 7, but fell back asleep for another hour after that went off. Not a good a great start to the day; I usually jump out of bed around 7 on a race day. Okay so that's all the excuses I have for my mediocre performance.

During the warm-up laps I felt surprisingly amazing. My bike was rolling so smooth and and the new tubies where gripping so well. I was passing people like crazy just so I could bring speed more speed into the turns. I was loving the course and would say it was my favorite yet; to ride, but racing was another story. The twisties were soo fun, but the run-up and climbs were killing me. I suck at running, especially if its up a hill. Something I will work in in the winter.

I had a great start, settling in around 10th in a stacked field. I was going strong for the first few laps but blew up after about 4 laps. From then on I just tried to keep'r rollin, and have fun on the none up-hill parts of the course. I managed to crash on the only damp part of the course which was a twisting down hill. Not sure how I managed that, probably just got overly confident on the Dugasts. I was fine, but took a bit to get going again. While I never did get going again, but you know what I mean. I wanted so badly to stick with riders that came by, and battle it out with them, but I had no power left so they would slowly ride away.

Not sure of the result yet, but I finished a lap down after 4 leaders lapped me with 2 - go.

I still had fun though and am looking forward to the big races this weekend. I'm just going to take'r easy this week to get over this cold, and hopefully find some power come Saturday.

That is all.

Cross Attempt #2

2010-10-04T09:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I made a last minute decision to hit up the Octoberfest CX race in TO. I Hadn't trained all week, other than some slow adventurous rides, and I drank a lot of beer Friday, so I was unsure how she'd go.

I enjoyed the course quite a bit during my warm up laps, and figured it would suit a MTBer like me. It was hilly, with some fast dh's and some tricky technical features. They had a long sand pit, a big log followed by a sand pit, some barriers and lots of off camber sections.

I had a good start, getting just inside the top 10, and felt like I could move up if I wanted to. I wanted to try and ride everything, so when we came to the log I hopped up, but washed out in the sand on the other side. Somewhere in the process of falling I smacked my derailleur off something and bent the hanger pretty good. I rolled along for a bit trying to find a gear that worked, but none of them really did. Justin was right in front of me coming up to the steep big climb, and some how his rear tubular rolled off while he was riding straight. He's lucky it happend there and not on a fast turn, but unfortunately it cost him big time.

I ran up the hill, then cruised down to the pit area to try and fix my shifting. All I could do was pull on my derailleur to bent the hanger as straightish as possible. I got it looking decent, and then got rolling again behind a train of masters that just went by. I tried to shift to a smaller cog, but for some reason my shifter would not release. I was stuck in the 25, so all I could do was shift between 48,39 with a 25t cog in the back. It worked alright, but was far from ideal. The train of masters was gone, but I managed to catch a couple other guys while chasing. After 2 or 3 laps of riding the 2 speed, the shifter started to release, and I could use about half my cassette. It still wasn't right, and my chain went in the spokes more than once, but I made the best of it. Later on I caught a few more guys, and just just tried to enjoy the course as much as possible. Stafford came by me just before the finish of my second last lap, so I was forced to finish 1 lap down. Oh well, it was fun.

I'm thinking about training a little and doing the race in TO next weekend to get a bit faster for the UCI race. My goal there would be to not get lapped, which will be very tough with a bunch of pros there. Hopefully the laps are long. haha

peace

The Squeezer

2010-09-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

Man what a day of racing. Yesterday was my first crack at the elite field in the Liberty Bicycles squeezer. I had a goal to make the top 5, but nearly every elite racer in Ontario decided to come out, so I would have been happy with anything in the top 10. Lining up against Ontario's finest in my home town was a very cool feeling.

I got my first ever call up; for being the fastest local, and started beside Etzie who is the fastest young local.

Morka pulled everyone along down Ontario St, and over the St. Paul bridge, and I sat near 5th. I got boxed a little on the bridge, but moved up to second wheel before the left turn. Hughes lead the first part of the gravel path, with myself on his wheel, then I lead up the small hill, putting in a good dig. I was off the front now with Mark Batty on my wheel. I pulled for a bit then slowed for him to pull through, but he didn't till we where almost caught. Glassford took over the front and I grabbed his wheel, holding second spot almost all the way to Decew road. I was feeling fantastic, a little uncomfortable on the climbs, but holding his wheel through the single track felt effortless. Going through the last bit of Marv's new trail, I clipped a small tree with my pinkie, and it steered me off the trail a bit. I came to a stop, and let the rest of the train go by to avoid slowing them down. Zandstra, Hughes, Batty and Wagler went by, and I slowly got up to speed with them still in sight. I caught back up, but was now red lined, hanging onto Zacks wheel for dear life. They slipped away a little before the road climb, and I hammered up that hill like a mad man knowing how important it would be to have a group to work with on top. I could not catch them. I felt like I was dying at the top, and took forever to get moving on the flats. I was gasping for air and my whole body felt like jello. Still though, no-one was in sight behind me. Before the first turn, I saw someone coming, it was Watson. I tried to recover a bit before he caught me, so I could grab his wheel and try to work with him. No luck. He came by at Mach 2 and I was closer to being blown over by his wind disturbance rather than tucking into it. So their I was, all by myself, truckin along, trying to hold off the strong men chasing.

I was alone all the way till I came out to Decew again for the long climb. Anton caught me there and helped me get up the hill quickly. I led through the singletrack, then he pulled me down Wiley Rd. He also pulled me along the reservoir trail, and I owe him a huge thanks for that. I was still trying to recover from earlier and was lacking power big time. Through the new bypass trail I washed out on some sticks, and Anton got a gap on me. I never went down, but my chain fell off, so it took a few seconds to get rolling again. I caught him at the end of Suzanne trail, and Morka caught me at the exact time. We each did some work, but the pace was not insane in the last km. Anton pulled to the hill, and Morka started to sprint there. I felt bad for Anton because he came out of his pedal going up the hill, taking him out of the sprint that he would have won, and deserved to much more than I did; but thats racing. I hung onto Morka's wheel and tried to come around him in the last few meters, but was only able to tie him. I think our photo is still under review, so I may be bumped up to 7th.

It was an exciting finish, and and we got the crowd really fired up. I was actually hoping to be in a sprint, because I had some friends watching, so it worked out perfect.

Can't wait for next year. A big thanks goes to Kurt @ Liberty, the volunteers and Marv/SHCC for the trail work. I'm stoked to have some new singletrack!!

Thats a wrap

Paul's Dirty Enduro

2010-09-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

Paul's 100km enduro has came and gone, and I won! I had too after that last post, or I would have looked like a fool.

The race started while the sun was still rising at 8am. Justin and I got there with just enough time to get ready for the start. I think we pulled in at 7:35. I dropped some bottles to go out to the feed zones, something I forgot to do last year that cost some time.

We started faster than last year, with a group of about 5 pulling away. Matt from Tall Tree was ahead solo, but we didn't worry about him and just kept it steady. He was caught about 10km in. Our group shrunk to myself, Benno, Matt and Zach (singlespeed) by feed one. Shortly after that Benno got away by powering up a tough climb, that the rest of us jogged. I upped my pace to catch him, leaving the others behind. When I caught him about 5km later, he slowed and our group came back together.

After feed 2 (40km) I picked it up a bit on the doubletrack to see who I could shed. Benno and Matt hung on, which I was fine with because 60km alone would be boring. The three of us stayed together until Matt crashed on a sketchy downhill, and could not catch us.

Benno and myself stuck together all the way to the 80km mark. I was not sensing any weakness in him, and was starting to think it could be a sprint finish, or an epic battle up the never ending climb. After the 20 to go feed, he started to slow down, and just when I was thinking about passing, he said he was done. Yeah there was a stick in his brake caliper creating added drag, but that was no excuse.

After I left him behind I upped my pace to build a gap. I was using my big ring for everything and getting out of the saddle a lot to make larger watts. I was feeling good, and took some gels to Keep that feeling. When I thought there was about 5km to go, I arrived at another feed, and they said 20ish to go. I was thinking no way, they are wrong. I had to be closer than that! Turns out that there was just over 10km left, but lots of climbing in there. We still had the overgrown thorny trail to climb and descend. Kinda cool until a thorny bush grabs your bicep and try to tear it off. From there on is a blur. I would have gone faster in the final km's had I known I was so close to the course record. 16 seconds!!! An old goal of mine was to set a new record, but I scratched it when I hear that the best time was set when there was far less singletrack. Now I know it is possible.

I am the new king of this race, and will keep going back to defend my crown. The crown was very creatively made from spokes, spring and presta valve nuts. Very cool. I also got a sweet new Catlike helmet, which will be perfect for hat summer rides. Loads of vents. They also gave me a tile/trophy, a messenger bag and a cool bottle with the TV sucks label on it.

I would have to say that this was the best race of the year thus far. Best value, with your money going to a good cause. Best singletrack, and it just never ends. I forgot how wicked fun the dirtbike trails are that are part of the first 40km. Soo many pump rollers, and banked turns that just keep coming. The rain improved the course from last year, making the sand a bit harder, and keeping the dust down. There was a bit of mud, bit it was mostly avoidable.

I hope more people realize what a special race this is and come out for it next year. Spread the word!

So yesterday I watched the Queens Park QP in TO. It was so exciting and I was so happy I went. Seeing Hesjedal and Barry in person was kinda surreal, and just watching them ride by got my heartrate up. Everyone put on a great show. Hesjedal left it all out there, doing a ton of work in the break. He seemed to be on the front every time they went by, and still finished third, behind 2 sprinters.

Roth launched an impressive attack on the break with ~8 laps to go and got about 10 seconds ahead. He was caught with 3 or 4 to go, and still held on to the lead group.

Fry had a great day getting in an early break with Roth (I think), did some work on the front, and still won the field sprint.

In the end it was Schiller getting another well deserved win. He always seems to be so strong in the end.

Next stop: The squeezer. See ya there!

It's On

2010-09-17T05:31:00.000-07:00

Marathon Champs

2010-09-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

Another victory! Yee Ha!

Todays race went perfectly for me. Aside from going off course for 5ish minutes with Tyson, and being joined buy by Tim and a couple others on the way back to the vandalized arrow turn, there were no issues. About 5 riders got ahead of us at this point, but myself and Tyson pulled ahead again and caught them quickly. We worked together well, with him pushing me a bit on the singletrack, and me pushing him a bit on the doubletrack. Unfortunately for him, his lower gears were not working, so he was forced to grind up all the climbs, and it was hurting him. He admitted to being nearly cracked just after the last feed zone, so I upped the pace there, and held it till the end. I did loose my gap at another point later on when I arrived at a split in the doubletrack with no arrows in sight. The arrows just prior were a different color, and I did not want to ride further off track, so I rode back up a long climb, then waited for a bit till the train of riders came, and told them what was up. We determined that down the hill was the only way to go, and I checked out where the left turn went. I rode up a hill, them bam! an arrow appeared and I was back on track. The others got going again, but I quickly gapped them, feeling quite strong. I avoided any major cramps, and was able to ride every climb (excluding the one near the start that everyone ran).

My plan going in to this race was to start slowish, and save a lot for the last 20km where I wanted to really tear some legs off. I felt great at the start though, so I used my strength, stuck with Tyson, and just waited to see what would happen. Having a good history with these types of races really boosts my confidence, so the mental battle is easy to win.

Well I think Benno is in trouble at Paul's. The 100km battle is coming soon!

As long as I don't do anything stupid this week, like stay up all night, or get wasted, I should have the same form next weekend. My only training ride this week will be the power test Wednesday morning, and maybe 5hrs of fun cross rides to fill in the rest of the week.

"Sometines she goes, sometimes she doesn't. Thats just the way she goes boys"

2010-09-11T15:46:00.000-07:00

She didn't go for me today. Well not until the last lap anyway. I had a bad start, slipping off my pedal and ending up close to the back. I made one good effort to move up about 5 spots, but after that I lost my motivation, and just tried to find a rhythm. I was alone for a long time with Nicholas from the hub a few seconds back. He was going faster on the straights, but I was going faster through the turns. He caught me on a long straight, and I was fine with grabbing his wheel for some drafting. I sat there for about 2 laps, and then attacked on the last lap, knowing that the next train was less than a minute up. I felt strong at this point, but that strength came to way to late to make up significant ground.

So the moral of the story is that if you enter a race without the will to suffer, you will not do well. Ya, it was a fun race, and I did enjoy the course. Once my road rash heals on my right hip I will push it in the turns more, and that will make it more fun.

I think I will enjoy technical cross races, this one was fast, and had very little tight stuff. Mud, sand, snow and hills will up the fun factor.

I could not believe the money some guys put into their cross gear. Some pit bikes where easily worth 3 or 4 times as much as my new Tricross. Crazyness. Getting on some tubulars is tempting, but I will not put more money into cross gear unless I commit to training for it and racing it seriously. Maybe next year?

So I failed one of my goals by dismounting for the barriers. They were just too close together to make the second hop possible. I'll get em one day.....

Nice work Justin, showing some good strength today. I'm sure it will stick around for the rest of the season for you. Hopkins won the battle in the junior field, and Sara finished second in her first cross race ever! Siiiick.

Now its time to get my MTB ready for tomorrow. Can't wait!!

College and stuff

2010-09-10T17:32:00.000-07:00

First week of college has come and gone, without problems. This terms math course is the equivalent to grade 9 academic, which I found easy to pass while I was in grade 8, so I am likely going to write an exemption test to free up 4 hours a week for more cycling time. The only down side is that they charge you $144 bucks to write the test, and you get nothing back from your tuition. Bullshit, I know.

The only course that I know I will not enjoy is English. First class we had to write an essay, then the teacher drilled us with a grammar lesson. I am bad at grammar (as you already no (lol)) and don't think I will ever be good at it, nor do I care if I am good at. I only need to make enough sense to sound deep. Some lucky students may get exempt if they wrote a superb essay; I highly doubt that mine was any good, but I'm sure doing this blogging for the past year helped.....

Everything else will be fun, as it is new to me. Drafting will be a lot of work, AutoCAD will be tough, but very rewarding to learn. We also get a basic computer knowledge course that will be a breeze for the younger guys, but very challenging for the 30+ year old students.

My class is a good mix of ages, and maturities. I have received some good tips from "second try" classmates about how important making the right friendships is. It makes sense to hang with guys that will help you out, rather than drag you down. Only 20 students graduated this course last spring, out of the 60 that started it 3 years ago. I have heard that the "weeding out" will start after the "10 ten day full refund" period, because teachers need to get paid. They will go really easy on us till we're locked in, then hammer us for a couple weeks to try and shrink their class sizes/workload. I see it coming....

I think I will be fine in this course as I have always had a passion for construction and design. It will take a little to adjust my training to this new schedule, but with the help of lights I will be fine. My appreciation for my bikes has already started to rise this week. Its just that when you're trapped sitting on your ass in a cinder-block cave for 5 hours, getting on your bike after for a spin feels that much better. I will look forward to riding more than ever, and enjoy the long weekend rides very much. Worst case Ontario I will drop a course or two if the workload makes my training suffer; but this is more of a second year issue. I might take a night class through the summer to lighten the load for next year.

Man am I ever pumped for some racing this weekend. My first cross race is tomorrow, where I will be jumping the cheeseburger at Burgoyne Woods. My goal is to not put a foot down, and have some fun. I have been practicing my barrier hopping skills, and hope to use them tomorrow. Sunday is the marathon champs at Mansfeild. These races are super fun, and have an adventure feel that I enjoy. I want to do well, but really don't care anymore as I have surpassed my goals, and am transitioning into beer consumption season. Paul's 100km is next weekend, and this marathon will prepare me to dethrone King Benno. Its more cross after that, than racing will end in November. Cross will be perfect to keep me focused, and allow me to not train at all without getting fat. Just race on the weekend, then focus on school all week.

There is one more workout that I want to do this fall; and that is a VO2 max power test. This will be one 5 minute full out effort on the power tap. My VO2 max intervals in the spring will be based on the average wattage I get, and I will be able to track improvements by doing this test often next season. I just need to get it done soon, while I'm still fit. Next Wednesday maybe? Can't wait!!!!

Race reports coming soon
peace

Tour Di Via Italia

2010-09-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

Tour di Via Italia was a special race. It was the first race I have done where hundreds of spectators line the streets and scream with excitement as the peloton goes flying buy. The field turned out to be much more stacked than I expected with some complete American teams, as well as the usual Garneau, Jetfuel, and La Bicicletta teams. My goal was of a top 15 was going to be very hard to accomplish.

I had a brutal start being the last one to line up. During the junior race they said that they were behind schedule and that the elite race would be starting at 5:30, so I went by that and warmed up on my trainer till 5:15. Just after I got off, my dad came running over to tell me that they were lining up, so I scrambled to get my DA wheel in, get my bottles, put my helmet on and then hammer over to the start. I got there 5 seconds before it started.

My poor start didn't really matter, because I was feeling strong, and was able to move to about mid pack by lap 2. On the second turn of lap two, I crashed pretty hard. I was wide on the left, making the right turn, then something happened on the right causing guys to to turn left, including me to avoid it. Next thing I know I'm headed straight for the curb going quite fast. I turned sharp to try and make the turn, but my front tire let go and I wound up sliding on my hip into the curb. I guess I could have stayed upright by jumping up the curb, but I could have killed some spectators in the process. Others were down too, I think from the crash on the right, but I never looked back I just jumped on my bike and hammered like a madman determined to catch back on. My saddle had turned to the left and tilted down and my bar tape was ripped and peeling off on he right, but everything else seemed fine. The pack was maybe 100m ahead of me, and I was able to get within 50m maybe, then I started to fade. Just as I lost hope of making the catch, I remembered the rule about a free lap if you crash. After about 3km of chasing, I pulled into the pit and told them what happened. I was relieved that I didn't ruin my free lap by trying to chase. They were fine with that, and even adjusted my saddle for me. I peeled off my ripped bar tape, had a drink, than I was off to rejoin the race. I got in to a mid pack spot, and hovered around there for the rest of the race. The crash had me feeling a bit shaky in the turns, and I was not being nearly as aggressive as I wanted to be. There was another crash about 10 laps in, but only two guys went down thankfully.

The pace was very fast, but I was not finding it tough to keep up. It was very tough to hold my ground though and I felt like I was getting cut off a lot, and forced off my line. About mid race they called out a prime, and feeling good I decided to go for it. Two guys attacked, but were reeled in before the last turn, and I got third wheel in the counter attack. Two Panther guys pulled me to the final straight. The first guy pulled off, then I started my sprint around the second guy with 100m to go. I went for the shift into my 12t, and the shift was delayed then skipped around when it got on the 12t. Because I had to back off, I lost the sprint to a guy coming up on the left. Shit! Why did I not check my shifting while I was in the pit? It was obvious that I had bashed my rear derailleur when I fell on my right. My hanger was slightly bent, just enough to to delay shifts into the 13t and 12t. There was nothing I could do about it now, just be aware of it.

The second half of the race was a lot of moving up, then falling back over and over. With 2 laps to go I got into the perfect spot. I was about 10th wheel on the left side. Turn 2 on the last lap I lost my good position when a close call occurred just ahead of me. The Jetfuel guy ahead of me had to hop up the curb to avoid crashing, but luckily I was able to stay on the road. The downside was that I had to brake hard, and watch a large swarm of riders fly by on the right. This ruined my chance of a top 15, because I was closer to 30th, maybe further back now. The pace was nuts the rest of the lap, as teams had guys drilling it on the front to prevent an attack. I moved up a few spots before the final turn, got around clean and then past a few more guys as I sprinted out of the turn. All I could do from there was hold my spot which happened to be 24th.

Without the bad luck I could have done better for sure, but am still happy with how I felt, and how I was able to get off the front for a prime sprint, even though I didn't get it. I did end up with a silver medal in the U23 Ontario cat, so I am happy about that.

I would like to do this race again, but I may do the GMSR in Vermont instead next year. Etzl did amazing this year finishing 9th in GC, beating some of Canada's top Juniors. Perry was just behind him too, so congrats boys.

I laced my Powertap up to a Mavic CXP 33 Saturday morning, so that I could try it out. Liberty did not have the right length spokes in stock, so I cut and threaded some myself being to impatient to wait and order some. It worked out, and my Garmin read it without issues. I took it out for a test in the wind Saturday Aft, and did a couple sprint to get ready for TDVI. I hit 1400 watts in a good sprint, not full out though, and averaged 230watts for the whole ride. I also used this wheel for my warm up yesterday, and found it very helpful to gauge my effort. I think the powertap will really motivate me to do intervals, and make my sprint workouts exciting as I will always be trying to squeeze out bigger numbers.

Well Its back to school for me tomorrow. Its been 2 years since high school, so it may feel weird, but I'm sure it will be fun. It means no more working at Liberty, which I will miss, but likely return to in the summer. I am taking Construction Engineering at Niagara college, what I hear is there best, but toughest course.

Wish me luck!

Records are made to be broken

2010-08-31T06:49:00.000-07:00

Since Provincials, I've really only done 2 solid rides. I was tired after the race, and felt that the week after would be a good time to recharge a bit before approaching the September races. I only did short rides until Friday, when I did a long MTB ride with Justin. Had to have been around 80km for me, and more for him coming from Welland. It was fun, and we went fairly quick.

On Saturday I made my way down the Canal path to Port Colborne into a good headwind. When I got there my average speed was 31.3km/h, so I decided to continue on and do the whole circle route rather than enjoying the easy tailwind back to St. Catharines. I kept my speed above 36km/h along the friendship trail with the help of the side/tailwind. By the time I got to Fort Erie, the winds had changed and I would have to face a side/headwind all the way to NOTL. I was hurting for long periods of time, but was determined to beat my record time for this route (3:58, 34.1km/h). I got my average speed up to 34.4km/h before NOTL, and then turned into a stiff headwind back to St. Catharines. This stretch was quite painful, and I had to completely empty the tank just to keep my speed above 33km/h. I got home in a time of 3:53, with an average speed of 34.2. I was very pleased with my effort, because I beat my record on a much windier day. Next season I will try to up that.

So that's it for endurance training for me. I don't think it can improve at this point in the season, so there's no use in doing anything over 4 hrs. My strength for the marathon championships, and Paul's will come from everything I did this season, not what I do in the next two weeks.

I am looking forward to the provincial crit this weekend, in Windsor. The course seems favorable to the sprinters, being a non technical, 4 corner square. My race will be 80km, starting at 5:15pm. The plan is simple; stay up front, and avoid being on the wrong side of a split. There are two $G's on the line, so I'm sure some big names will be out. Not sure what to expect, so I'm saying my goal is top 15. Good enough to get paid.

On another note, I made a couple purchases. I bought a new cross bike, a 2010 Spz Tricross Expert. Jake the Snake was getting on the small side, and has taken on the challenge of delivering Sara Byers to cyclocross victories. I will race a handful of cross, just for fun. I am not going to train for it, just go off my current fitness until it's gone. My first cross race will be the Jump the Cheeseburger race, because its in St. Kitts. It's the Saturday before Marathon Champs, so I will likely not push myself too hard.

Also I finally bought a power meter. I went with a Power Tap, although I initially wanted a Quarq. Having a power meter wheel seems to be more practical though because I can use it on my cross bike in the off season. Its also a fair bit cheaper than a Quarq. This thing will take my interval training to a whole notha level.

Peace out

Ontario MTB Champs

2010-08-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

Woodnewton was pretty cool. The course grew on me during Saturdays pre-ride, and I kind of wanted to do a fourth lap, after a very fun third one. There was a lot of not so fun grassy doubletrack climbing, but the downhill singletrack following was all very fun. Nothing was very technical, but there were a lot of dips and loose turns. The berm'd downhill section was very very fun. We noticed that there was almost no singletrack climbing, and that passing on the ST would be tough. This meant that you had to go hard on the climbs to make your passes, and not be slowed by lapped traffic.

Justin's parents got us a good deal at a B&B in Port Perry. We had the whole house to ourselves, with a fully stocked kitchen to cook ourselves a pre-race feast.

We cooked some eggs and pancakes, and also ate bagels, cereal, bread and fruit. I think I ate a bit too much, maybe one bagel too many, because I felt full during the whole race, and my stomach was a bit upset from lap 3 to the end.

My start was good, and I made up some spots on the opening climb. I was about 15th after lap 1, with a bunch of guys just ahead. I caught up to Anton, and worked with him for a while. We caught Kyle D together and worked with him for a while. Together we caught and passed Souter, Then I got gaped a little by those 2, but closed it down. I was starting to hurt on lap 4, and when Anton hammered the early part of lap 5, he was gone. I had a weak last lap, and all I could do was hold my spot. I had some gas left, but with a lot of tension in my lower back, and an unpleasant feeling in my tummy, a fast lap was not going to happen.

I was soo close to the top 10, and set myself up for it early in the race, but couldn't finish the job in the end. Oh well, I am very pleased with 13th, considering that almost all the big guns were there. For that reason, I feel that it was a slight improvement on my Kelso result. Also, I never gained spots because of other racers mechanicals, or off days. It was all me.

Congrats to Justin who had a great race, finishing second in Senior Expert. That tops my best result last year, and he is still working on the farm. Also Etzl, who won the Cadet race, in what I heard was a very thrilling sprint. way to go man. And, Meg won the cadet/junior sport race, another great result for her.

Next stop: Windsor for the provincial crit.
Later

Elliot Lake Report

2010-08-17T06:04:00.000-07:00

Man am I ever happy that I made the trip up to the middle of nowhere for a weekend of racing. Even if there was no racing this weekend would have been great, because we did things right and stayed up at the Wilderness Lodge, 45mins north of Elliot lake.

The drive up went quite smooth, except for a long delay on the 400, because a lane was closed, for no reason. No big deal, I just had to go a bit faster to make the lost time up. We stopped in P-sound for an hour long ride, and our attempts to find a road near water turned into Le Tour de Dead Ends. The highlight of this ride was taking the road machine onto the Canadian Shield and tearing up some rock lines through the forest. Justin has some pics of that.

We made it to Elliot Lake around 7, then drove the road course, but kept going about 20mins past the turn around to arrive at thee Wilderness lodge. This place was beautiful. Its on the tip of a big lake, with a small beach, and nothing but Wilderness to see in the distance. Just big hills with cliffs and thick forest. The cabins are old, and a kinda run down, but it was clean and had everything we needed. Full kitchen, BBQ, table, couch, beads, deck, you name it. We put a lasagna in the oven then went for a swim. It was a little cool, but perfect once you got in. After mow'n down a large amount of everything, we fished for a bit, but had no luck. Shortly after the sun went down, the bats came out. These things freak me out a bit, cause they seem to like flying full speed straight at my face and then dodging me at the last second. It happened three times... Justin assured me that they were simply flying all wacky to catch bugs.

Saturday we woke up to rain, but I was fine with that. It would make the crit more interesting. We fueled up on oats, pancakes, eggs, bagels and bananas and got to the crit early enough to chill, watch the juniors, cheer on Noah, walk the course, and warm up. Warming up in the rain is no fun, but at least your ready for it when the race starts. We lined up, and as soon it started the pack stretched out very long and I found myself way too far back for comfort. I worked hard to move up, but when I got close to the front, the winning move was already clear. Guys were slipping and sliding all over the course, and I saw about 4 crashes unfold right in front of me. Nothing bad, just slide outs. I hung out in the chase group, and did a bit of work to prevent us from being lapped by the 5 leaders. We were going good, but some guys were taking the turns way to slow, and I think that was where we lost our time. In the end we almost caught the leaders, bringing the gap down to 5 seconds with 2 laps to go. There was some confusion in our group as some thought they were a dropped group, so our chase was disrupted, and they pulled away to a 11 second gap. Coming into the sprint I was near the back of our group, and had to start my sprint at the bottom of the hill. At the top I was leading and held off the others to take 7th. I was happy with that, but if we caught the leaders, that would have been a great finish.

Of course the sun came out after the crit finished, and it turned into a nice afternoon. I had 4 hours to kill before my start of the hill climb. We hung out around the crit start, cleaned our bikes, talked to other racers, ate and rested. We drove over to the hill and I did a 45 minute warm up. I felt like shit when I first started pedaling, but after the warm up I was ready to go. I was third last to start, with Ed Veal and Darko Ficko to chase me down. My TT started well. My plan was to get my heart rate up to 170 right away, and hold it there, with spikes to 180 on the steep parts and at the end. I was closing in on my minute man, pushing the big ring up the first pitch. When it got steeper, I decided to drop to the 39t to avoid grinding, and then disaster struck. I dropped my chain. I tried the shift into the big ring to get it on, and that failed. I ran out of momentum and had dismount. When pedaling and shifting it would not go on. I flipped my bike over and got my hands dirty manually re installing my chain. By the time it was on. Veal had gone by, but I was determined to pass him back. I caught back up to him, and followed him for a bit, then he put in a big dig and I could barely hold on. I was no longer in my mental zone knowing that I lost a minute+, and that even if I had the ride of my life, my time would still suck. I let Veal go, and I didn't pour everything into my effort. My anger was all that kept me moving along. On a slight downhill I put it back into the big ring, and my chain obviously dropped again when I shifted back down. This time I turned around to used the downhill for momentum while I shifted back to the big ring. I turned back up than cruised the last 200m to the top. I'm just going to forget about that one. It was totally my fault. I never fine tuned my front derailleur when I installed my new crank, because it seemed fine. With the Oval rings, it has to be perfect to work properly. Also, I was not shifting properly, as I was in big ring and big cog both times before the shift that caused the chain drop. Big big should be avoided, but with a double crank, the chainline is acceptable. I am going to put a chain catch on all my bikes. They look dorky, but after this disaster I realized how valuable they can be. 1/8th of a turn on the low limit had my shifting fixed for the next days road race.

After the hill climb we had to go to the meeting to discuss the road race course. Some questions were answered and Max's parents were recruited as our feeders. Then, it was back to the Wilderness lodge. About half way there I realized that I had forgotten to get gas. I would make it to the lodge for sure, but would I make it back to Elliot lake?

I got the BBQ fired up and threw some burgers on and Justin cooked some pasta. After we ate to the point of being completely stuffed, we went for a swim. Then, I caught a decent fish, apparently a large mouth Bass. It was my first cast with this certain bait, and I was unsure how to use it. I asked Justin, "how fast do I real this in?" "Fairly fast" he said, so I sped up a bit, then bam, and that's how you catch the big one kids!

After a mediocre sleep I woke to some shady weather on Sunday. I fried up some pancakes and eggs for breakfast, and ate them with a lot more syrup than the average person would. It was the good stuff though, from Niagara Maples. This enhanced my mood and good me ready to go. We left a little early in case the the other races would delay us, and to get some much needed gas. Doing the 45min drive on empty was exciting; I guess not knowing if we would make it got our adrenaline pumping. We made it, with 1L of gas to spare and we were early enough to watch the Cadet podiums, which St. Catharines dominated. I warmed a little, watched the Juniors finish, then after a brief downpour, our race began.

The pace at the start was fairly chill, other than some surges. Nothing to crazy happened before the first feed, which was a fail for most racers. We came into this feed zone with way to much speed. Why would they put it on a downhill like that? I actually lost fluids in this feed because I tossed a 1/4 bottle to make room for a full one.

Shortly after the feed zone, the big hills began, but the pace remained steady. I was out of water before the turn around, but I kept positive and thought about how much lighter my bike was with no fluids on it. The climb up to the turn around was the biggest in the race, about the size of two escarpments. This is where the winning move formed. I don't recall any insane surges, it was more like we were all climbing at our limit, and the strongest guys pulled away. The peloton was shattered from this selection, but came back together quickly. We kept the pace high heading back to Elliot lake, but the gap to the leaders seemed to be slightly increasing. Making it to feed 2 was a huge relief. I'm not sure I've ever been that thirsty before. Good thing I was able to get two bottles this time.

I don't remember any excitement going down until feed 3. I got one bottle here, 2 would have been better, because I was on course to run out shortly after the turn around. It was during this feed that Bayden took a little slam when his feed bag caught on something or another. Huge props to him for getting right back into the race, that looked like it hurt!

Guys kept attacking, and some went clear for a while. La Bicicletta boys did a lot of work to chase them down, and I mixed it up in the pace line for a bit. We caught them all around the last feed, and then the pace went way down, as the lead group of 5 had 8 minutes on us. I was thankfull that the pace was so slow because I was cramping pretty bad, and was very dehydrated.

We cruised along till the final 2ish km, where the pace ramped up and lead-outs formed for the sprint. I knew I had tones of kick left for the sprint, but was unsure if my legs would seize up or not on they way in. It was very tough to hold my good spot in the pack, because swarms of riders kept coming up the sides, and I would slip back. Before I could do anything about my poor positioning, the finish was in sight and the drag race had begun. All I could do was close in on the leaders. There was not enough road to catch them. Oh well, I was just happy to finish with the peloton, considering that I only lasted 2 of 12 laps at provincials last year.

Unfortunately, Justin broke a spoke and could only do one lap. Big bummer because he was very strong in the first quarter of the race. Max lost the pack before the first turn around when he dropped his chain (it sucks eh buddy), and could not close the gap. It is very respectable that he still finished the whole race with only one other guy to work with.

I loved this course so much. I hope it goes down again next year, but with proper feed zones. That was just retarded.

So post race we did some serious chilling and discussing, while enjoying some beers and mow'n all our leftovers. We got in one last swim, but it was a little to cool out for my likings.

On Monday we took our time heading out, than began the drive home around 11. A big Black bear crossed the road right in front of us only 15 mins into the drive. That was cool. I decided to not stop for a ride along the way as it takes to long to dig the bikes out and get changed. Instead, I made one of the best split decisions of my life. The new plan; go for a hike and swim at Grundy lake Provincial park. I had camped there a few times when I was younger, and remembered the amazing hiking trails, and huge cliffs they have to jump off into Gut Lake. We crushed the Gut lake trail in sub 1hr, despite the map saying it was a 1.5 hr hike. This trail is beautiful, like Buckwallow but not groomed for bikes, so you have to pic your lines carefully.

After the hike we headed over to the cliffs, and before the first jump Justin got attacked by a dog. I was walking ahead of him, and heard him yell "AHH FUCK" I turned about to say chill man there kids around, thinking that he stubbed his toe or something, but saw the parents pulling the dog back. The wound was not to bad, I'm sure it hurt, but no real medical attention was required. We were assured that the dog had its shots, then continued on with our cliff jumps. The big one is known as King Kong, and we did that a couple times before packing it in.

Then it was 5ish more hours of driving back to the armpit of Canada.

That is all
Thanks for reading and I hope to see you at MTB provincials this weekend.

Kelso O-cup

2010-08-09T06:20:00.000-07:00

I succeeded in making the top 10! Thats if you exclude the 3 guys from New Zealand that beat me, so really I was 12th.

Highlights of the race:
- Sticking to my plan at the start and passing a few guys at the top of ascension.
- Crash #1 when Zack Winn ran an uphill in front of me, messed up the remount and swung his bike in my path as I tried to pass causing me to flip over the bars into the long grass.
- Crash #2 when I was passing an elite female on the long downhill. I called right so that I could nail the berm line, But she took the berm right, so I said "never mind, Left" and started to pass, then she swerved left right into my front wheel, and I went down hard. I somehow rode away with only a scraped knee, so it was not so bad. Losing the rider I was with at the time was a bummer.
- Catching that rider on the last climb of the last lap, and riding past him feeling like a million bucks.
- Catching Jamie Wagler on the False flat after that, and leading him to the line.
- Getting to sprint in the end and winning!

I was feeling kinda crappy on my 3rd and 4th laps, likely because I was all alone for them. I lacked motivation to hammer the doubletrack until I was caught by Preston Wagler, and I stuck with him and another guy for a while. I started to feel good on the last lap, and finished very strong, but it was too late to make up significant placings. So this was far from a perfect race, but it was still a huge improvement from my results in the spring. Not sure if I'm getting stronger, of if others are burning out, but I'll take it, and go for another top 10 at Provincials. I'm now tied for 18th in the series, with a solid chance to move up a few.

Next focus: Elliot lake.

kelso Pre-pre-ride

2010-08-03T16:23:00.000-07:00

I used today's work free day wisely and drove up to Kelso for some pre riding. Via Appleby line, the drive is only 45mins for me, and if I took the 407 to avoid the lights, it could be even faster. Not bad.

I did 6 laps with the closest point to the upper parking lot being my start/finish. I found the course to be very similar to last years, but with a different, longer trail after the top climb. You also only go part way down the escarpment later, thus only climbing part way back up. This made for a stupid slow off camber turn to start the climb, which adds a nice technical element. Some other trails seemed a bit different and there may be a new technical rock descent, but nothing crazy.

The big climb at the start seemed shorter to me and I was able to keep it in my 40t the first 4 times. I remember finding it tough to climb in 32/32 last year, so flying up in 40/32 was exciting. The hot muggy air was catching up to me though and I was feeling like poo on the trail up top. I gave into my 27t for the final 2 climbs, just to prevent fainting and so that I could hammer the upper trail. My current plan for the race is to only go as hard as I have to (avoid slipping back) up the opening climb, because there is a long fairly wide trail at the top were I hope to make some passes and then set a really high pace on the long single track section. I figure that if I hammer up the climb, My pace will suffer for about 5 minutes after. If I take that extra 10-20 seconds to get up, then I will recover much quicker and make that time up as well as gain some shortly after the summit.

It took me a couple looks at the rock gardens to figure out my lines. The rocks are not like the flowy ones at Buckwallow, that you can ride like dirt. These are pointy and random. I tried to find some crazy jump this, drop that lines to bring serious speed though, but nothing came of it and I stuck to smooth and safe. Besides a bail on pointy rocks is not worth trying to safe 2 seconds. I will stick to the safer way of saving time by buying the lightest parts for my bike ;)

On the news this evening they said that the air quality was so poor that an hour of out-door exercise was equivalent to smoking a pack of cigs. So that means that if I sat on my couch and smoked 3 packs today, that would have been better for my lungs than the 3:15hr ride I did. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger though, right?

I'm going to go up again Saturday for a few more laps. Its soo close, so why not? Looking forward to this race, and am confident that I can get a top 10, no matter who shows up.

See ya there

Canal Dayz

2010-08-02T05:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the Canal Days MTB race, taking place on Port Colborne's amazing HOOD trails. I had been looking forward to this race sine discovering the trails back in February during the Frostbike. I guess these trails are well suited to me as I love riding them and always look forward to the next singletrak section. They have a similar riding style to Buckwallow, where smooth and steady is fast. No long climbs, but loads of short punchy ones. The terrain is unique to Niagara with some cool surfaces to ride on. There is the usual Niagara clay, but a good chunk of the trails have this shale like rock, with lots of exposed roots, and bigger rocks to.

I arrived at the venue with almost 2hrs to get ready, and decided to ride a lap for a warm up. I just took it easy and focused on being smooth. After that I did some efforts on the Canal path so that I would be ready to go right from the gun. I did just that and sprinted down the starting stretch hoping to have a small gap going into the first tail. I saw Etzl had me covered, so I backed off a bit allowed him and Tom to lead. Tom went really slow on the first trail, on purpose I guess so that he could calm the pace down. Etzl and I passed him on the double track, then I took the lead for the next trail, to find that my rear tire was flat. Crap! No idea ho this happened, must have burped some air on the first trail, but I kept calm, grabbed my CO2, then pulled over, shot it in, then I was back up and running only seconds later, and only 5ish spots down. I hammered past those guys very quickly to catch JH by Cliffhanger. It was only Etzl ahead of him, and Justin was able to close the gap for me. Awesome riding!

I passed Etzl on the trail before Mud Lake, and after hammering through there I had a comfy gap. From there I just did my own thing and rode as smooth as possible. Later in the second lap my lower back was getting tense making me a bit little lazy when it came to going hard. I didn't make myself suffer like I would if there were spots to gain, but I prevented my pace from slowing. There were quite a few lapped riders to get by near the end, but they were all great about it, getting right off the trail and cheering me on. Thank You!!

In the end Etzl secured second, and Justin rolled in third. These guys were on their game and riding very well. Congrats on getting on the box with me.

On the woman's side, Tanya Hanham came all the way from Ottawa to take that victory. Congrats on that one!!

The post race patio party at the Funky Monkey was a good time. Food was great and many freebies where being thrown around.

The turnout for the event was very solid, and I'm sure it will continue to grow, and soon be nearly Squeezer sized. Thanks a million to all the Shorthills crew and volunteers who made this event happen. The amount of work that goes into this event really makes it stand out. I look forward to trying to defend my title at the Frostbike and this for years to come.

So its looking like I will be racing at Elliot lake in two weeks. This means three big weekends in a row, with road provincials in an MTB o-cup sandwich. Haven't quite figured out how I will bring my A game to all 3, it will be interesting........

Bike the Bruce

2010-07-27T06:45:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the Bike the Bruce road O-cup up in Wiarton. Headed up there Saturday morning with Justin so we could do our Saturday ride on the course. It felt silly to be pre-riding a road course, and it was really was not necessary, but we got our lines dialed in anyway. Max met us for a lap and I showed him the way around...

I liked the course layout. It seemed to have more climbing than I expected, with a 50m ~10% pitch before the line and 1km climb on the Bruce road stretch. The laps went by fast, so that was a good sign as I was scheduled to hammer out 24 of them Sunday. 132km would be the longest race I have ever done; distance wise and my first crack at an S1/2 road race.

I wanted to make it to Sauble beach Saturday afternoon, but lost my motivation to make the drive with the dark sky and decreasing amount of time to just chill out. I decided to hit up Sauble after the race instead, as it was on the way home anyway and a swim would be the perfect way to clean up and cool down. We did check out Owen Sound's Kelso beach after dinner, but it was weak and only hung around to play fetch with a guys dog for bit.

Sunday we made it to the race on good time. I somehow managed to drive straight past the course for the second time; dummy. We watched the Cadets finish and it was exciting to watch Etzl kill the sprint and Hopkins take 3rd. I set up our cooler in the shade to watch the S3 race, which was very exciting. A break went early with Jug and a few others. They got pulled back, but only close enough to have others bridge up and make them stronger. Max got up, but unfortunately, Justin missed his chance. This move pulled away and In the end Max totally dom'd the sprint with Jug coming in second. Justin cramped in his sprint and had to sit up ....way she goes? Next time I'll get another bottle to ya.

1:30 came around fast and my race began shortly after that. I warmed up for 30mins, but not as intensely as I would for a shorter race. I felt good at the start, but as soon as the attacks started going I was red-lined. The pace was all over the place. A guy would attack, we would surge to 50, then after the catch we would slow to 30. repeat this what seemed like 100 times, and that was the first half of the race. After a group went clear the pace steadied a bit as a chase formed. This was the fun part, because I was able to settle into a fast tempo and catch a good draft. I was always at the front, and did some work up there when we started to rotate through. Then, more attacks and surges began. God dammit! I hated this style of racing. I was getting sick of sprinting after an attack again and again and so were my legs. They told me to stop by cramping up on me. I started to drink a shitload of fluids, and in the end I had drank 8 bottles. 4 with Heed, 2 Gatorade and 2 with Coke. After some other groups got clear the main pack slowed way down, and shrunk in size every lap. Everyone must have been hurting because we were crawling along, guys were still getting dropped and surprisingly the gap to the leaders was not growing fast. the 10-15 of us that were left in the pack all worked, but not hard. Some would skip pulls, and when I pulled hard I would gap them. If it wasn't for the damn cramping I would have takin off from this group for sure. In our sprint for 17th, Ryan and a Darkhorse guy went early, and I pulled the group chasing after them. I said "pull through" to the guy on my wheel, and he said "no, thats my man up there". So it was all me, and of course Dark Horse #2 rocketed out of my draft to take 17th and I finished just behind Ryan getting past Dark Horse #1. I could not believe that they were using team tactics to beat me in a sprint for 17th. What dicks! Oh well, I was just happy to make it to the line, after fighting cramps for over an hour.

I was very happy with how I performed in this race. I felt like one of the stronger guys there, and always heard guys breathing harder than I was. My muscles will need time to adjust to these longer races because red-lining it at this fitness level, for this long is new to them. That is my only explanation for the cramps. It was not hydration for sure. I don't doubt that I could have finished top 10, because I had to sit up when the key moves went to avoid my legs seizing.

Its sad to say that the road season is nearly over, and I want to do Elliot lake now. It is far though and between the last two MTB o-cups. I will have to decide soon and determine which ones I want to be fast at. I don't think I can be strong 3 weekends in a row.

All for now, peace out.

Update.....

2010-07-22T16:07:00.000-07:00

Not much training going down this week. Training is a sign of weakness; I have no weaknesses. I have spent some time practicing victory salutes and going over tactics, but that's about it.

Haha I wish it was that easy. Lots of intensity and low volume has been my formula for the week. I did some intervals today, and Tuesday, now all I have to do is rest till race day. This road race is in Wiarton, which is fairly flat, but open and very close to water, so the wind will make it tough. My goal is to hang out near the front, and watch and learn how things work in S1/2. If I feel incredible, I may go with some moves, but I will race conservatively, 132km is a long one. If it comes down to a field sprint, I will be all over it. I will battle for good position and then launch the missile when the time is right. I would be happy just to have a mid-pack finish, but I will not hold back.

Wish me luck! Peace outs

BIG week

2010-07-17T17:06:00.000-07:00

Today was the end of what was my toughest week of training to date. I managed to get in 24 hours of ride time, with loads of intensity. It started with the Buckwallow O-cup last Sunday, which was followed by a fun 2.5 hour recovery ride Monday, where I felt way too fast for a post race day. I kept calm though knowing what was coming this week, and never let my heart rate exceed 150bpm.

Tuesday was another story. I set a knew PB for the circle route, completing the 136km loop in 3:56. This was a solo effort where I managed to average 34.2km/h. Calm winds helped, but it was the 30/30's I did along the parkway that got my speed way up. I also sprinted out of every street crossing along the friendship trail, after slowing to make sure it was clear. All I ate on this ride was one banana, and I never got hungry surprisingly. Two stops for water was a must though in the humid scorcher of a day it was.

Wednesday I got out for a MTB ride with some co-workers and had a ride time of about 2.5hours. I felt great and made some short efforts. The group was small with other rides at the same time, but if your interested we will be leading road and off road rides every Wednesday, from the shop (weather permitting).

Thursday. haha Thursday was a Suffer fest. I shared and extra large serving of hurt with Henri and Max. We hammered to Smithville, then rolled over to Grimsby where we dragged our asses up the three big climbs 3 times each. I felt good on the climbs, but may have done them faster when I was more rested. It was great training none the less, and I'm sure the other two were enjoying the 20% grades as much as I was. We caught Stan out there, an ex pro, and convinced him to climb 50 road with us. He seems to be quite fit still. We got organized in a pace-line to get home quickly, and shared the work to keep the speed around 40. I made it home with 1/2 hour till I had to get back on my bike and ride to work. That was fun.

Friday I had no gas what so ever. All I could do was spin around for a couple hours. I don't like going slow, but it was my only speed on Friday.

Today, I bounced back and put out a solid 4.5 hour ride. I was a bit tired, but felt very fit. My strength came and went, but I put out 7 solid climbs up Saylors as I did laps of the Classic. It was a windy one out there, and of course the wind was blowing straight down the hill. The rest of the loop was fun though. Got my average speed up to 31.2 by the time I got home, not bad in those conditions.

Tomorrow I want to MTB. Maybe I'll hit up the Hood, but no matter where I go I will be going marathon pace for 3-4 hours. It will be fun.

All for now

"Once Discovered, Never Forgotten"

2010-07-12T05:28:00.000-07:00

So I got my first Elite podium at Buckwallow. Finished third and was only 20 seconds off the win. With most of the top guns out west for the Canada Cup and nationals, the field was wide open. My goal was a top ten, but when I saw the field I new a top five was within reach.

I had the course dialed after doing 6 or 7 laps Tuesday, then 3 more Saturday. I was going fast and riding the technical stuff very smooth. I have always loved Buckwallow, since my first time riding it two years ago, when I sucked but still had fun. Buckwallow is not comparable to any trial system near Niagara. It's a different world. Trails like this can only exist on the Canadian Shield, where you can find exposed rocks bigger than your house, and have plenty of car sized ones to link to flowy turns. The course was reverse direction this year, making some lines interesting, but nothing overly tough.

I had my tire pressure way down for this race, with 15psi front and 18psi rear. With big Conti Race Kings set up tubeless you can go this low (depending on your weight), and really benefit from the increased traction and comfort. I also have some new rims now, the Stan's Alpine. They look like the Olympics, but are lighter and have the new wider inside with smaller sidewalls. The beads of my Race Kings seemed to really snap in and sealed up very easily.

So onto the race. I started at the back and was the last guy motoring along the doubletrack start. I got by maybe five guys before the first singletrack, but still had some ground to make up on the top 10. I always felt like I could be going faster than the guys I was following, so when we came out on the doubletrack, I would go faster and bridge to the next group. I was in a train with Anton, his teammate and a Mountain view guy for a lap, and was willing to work with Anton on the doubletrack, but lost him by the first singletrack of lap 3. I was alone for a while, and kept my pace high to hold my position. I was stoked to be in fifth. On lap 5, I caught Tall tree Neil on the big climb, and asked "are you Elite?" He said nothing but started to hammer to hold me off. I guess that's a yes? I held his wheel for a while, and was confident that I would get by him before the finish. While we lapped one of his female teammates, she totaly blocked me. "I said on your left" She drifted left. "ON YOUR LEFT" she moved all the way left till I was off the trail, and as I passed her through the rough, she laughed and said"Ohhh Left" I said "ya do you know which way left is??" I shut the gap down on Tall Tree, and we passed Zack before I passed him. Before the last sinletrack section I caught Souter, and held his wheel through the trail. I disliked his pace, but there was no room to pass, and I figured sprinting for second would be fun. A lapped rider fucked up the big rock big time so we both had to dismount, loosing time on Stu who was in sight. When we came into the feed zone the sprint began. I was gonna go around him on the right side, and as I started to pass he drifted right. I yelled "ON YOUR RIGHT", and he went all the way to the right forcing me to brake and coast across the line to avoid being squeezed into the fence. Weak man. Just weak. The most exciting thing in cycling is the one on one drag race sprint. I love watching these, and being in these, but Souter totally ruined this one. I had a solid chance to beat him, I can sprint, but it would have been close, it would have had all the spectators standing on their toes in excitement.

I did not say anything to him, because, he knows. I will get him back by ending his winning streak at the Lake to Lake.

Thanks for the cheers Jeff, and others. Thanks so much Henri Family for the weekends accommodations, and feeding and such.

Lots of training going down this week with no race this weekend. Will update soon.

Peace out.

CHIN Picnic

2010-07-03T17:29:00.000-07:00

So my first race as an S2 went quite well for me. The field was huge with the M1's in there totaling to just under 90 racers. The first half of the crit I was working my ass of just to hold my spot which was about 60th. I was trying to get up front by sprinting out of every turn, and trying to pick the fastest lines, but everyone in this cat was doing the same thing. For a while I felt that no matter what I did I would always end up with the same guys around me.

After about 45mis, I finally started to get closer to the front, and was able to sit comfortably in the top ten for several laps. You can see how my heart rate dropped fair bit 3/4s of the way though.

This is because it is a lot easier to ride at the front, especially on a technical course like CHIN. The reason why is because the top 10 or so can nail the turns without using brakes, and carry a lot more speed into the straights. At the back of the field, especially if its tight you have to slow way down for the turns, then sprint as fast as you can just to prevent the leaders from gaping you. All this sprinting had my legs hurting pretty bad, but they kept on working preventing me from ever slipping back.

When I was at the front, the pace slowed and that was when the winning move went clear. I was right there, and could have grabbed a wheel, but never tried to. I know I could have made it up there, but highly doubt I could have pulled through, and did not want to mess up there pace line. I'm guessing I would have been dropped from this group anyway, so decided to just hold my spot at the front as long as I could instead. I slipped back a little when some groups came up from the sides, but was always in the front half. On the last lap I moved up a little but got boxed in on the straights and could only do so much. The pace was so fast that the group split, and I was happy to finish in the middle of the front group. I could have gained A few more spots in the sprint, but did not want to risk causing a crash by weaving around guys. A crash did happen just in front of me that had me on the brakes in the final meters. Luckily all but two stayed upright.

CHIN was a great event, and I really enjoyed the course. The turns were so fun, and being surrounded by very experienced racers made them even more fun. I felt very comfortable in this field, but realize the gains I must make before I will be able to stay at the front, or peace out of the pack.

I owe a huge thanks to Kurt @ Liberty! for fitting me to my bike. I found out that my right leg is shorter than my left by 5mm, and that I need a varous wedge and ++ arch support to avoid power loss in my shoes. I bought some Specialized pro road shoes, that fit me properly, and notice a big difference already, without the cleat shims and proper soles even in yet. If you have any fit issues I would highly recommend booking a fit with him. It is a very thorough process that involves many tests of flexibility, and precise measurements. Exciting stuff for sure.

No race this weekend means a loooooong mountain bike ride for me tomorrow, after watching Le Tour of coarse.

Peace

Raccoon Rally

2010-06-27T17:46:00.001-07:00

This is the Garmin file from the road race. Lots of climbing (4-10k climbs) and lots of time spent with heart rate above 170.

OK.... so the Raccoon Rally was dope. I have ranked the road race the best race I have ever done. It was an amazing course and the the cat 1/2 competition provided the perfect challenge. I went into this race with my only goal being to get some excellent training, and I did just that. I pulled a whole bunch, I bridged gaps, I shut down almost every attack, and I attacked too.

The climbs were not steep, just looooooong with grades 3-10%. I was able to use my big ring for almost the whole race because we were climbing fast. The course was not technical at all with only sweeping turns that could be taken very fast. I think I enjoyed the race so much because I felt that we were all evenly matched. No superstars were around that could go clear easily, and the the teams were not large enough to put the independents at a big disadvantage.

The winning move was made early on the last climb, and the guy built a nice gap by the top that he held on to till the end. I worked hard to help reel him in, putting in so good digs, but when I pulled aside nobody would come by to take over. Near the top a bunch got clear and I bridged, but lost the 3 who went clear when the wheel I was on gaped and I could not close it. We caught those 3 after the decent by sharing the work, and then sprinted for second. It was an uphill finish, and I had no jump left, but managed to muscle my way in for 6th. I was was very pleased with how things went.

So I don't have much to say about the XC race. The course was disappointing, but epic at the same time. The disappointment was the lack of singletrack (less than 1km out of 50), but similarly to the Road Race, the climbs were loooooong. I took the lead at the start and hammered up the first parts of the climb. We climbed up gravel, then, dirt, then more dirt, then grass, then descended a bit, then climbed more grass and that was when I kind of blew up. About 6 guys got by and slowly pulled away and I could not respond. After 30mins plus of straight climbing we finally got to go down. Two guys on CX bikes were with me and I worked with them till the end of the first lap, gaining a couple spots. The second lap was shorter, with only the dirt climb, and I upped my pace shedding the CXers and catching one other guy to roll in for fourth. A solid result for the second day in a row, but the fitness gains are the most important result to me. The XC race was amazing for suffering, but if I do it next year (very likely) I will use a Cross bike to make it more fun, and help with the grass climbs.

Congrats to Chown for the win, and Henri for some solid races; you are starting to get the results you deserve and I'm sure will not be S3 for long.

So Chin is Thursday, can't wait. Going to rest as much as possible till then and do some short intervals tomorrow to keep the engine fired up.

Later

So how did my Lake to Lake go?

2010-06-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

Well the pic says it all. I was involved in the big crash at the start. What I remember was someone going down onto/in front of J.C., who went down in front of me. He was a bit to my left, and went down that way, so I was forced to ride straight into his bike, and I flipped right over it. I got up quickly, and jumped right back on my bike as if nothing had happened, then realized my stem was way crooked. Got of and fixed that, just by cranking on, but it was tight and fidgeting with a multi tool may have been faster. Jumped on again, and then noticed my front tire was nearly flat, but rode it to the first right hand turn where my parents were to tell them what happened. I shot in a Co2 there and watched the last riders of the first wave go by, then I jumped on again and hammered hard passing people like one of those asshole highway drivers who does 150 weaving between lanes. I was running off pure testosterone and adrenaline, and that got me past hundreds of riders before Dain City. Once on the first ATV trails I was feeling great, just flying past others, riding smooth through the unwanted lines to make passes. I knew that even at my pace I was still losing time on the racers I should have been with, but I was determined to make the top 10. Then Kaboom!!! At one part where a bunch of guys were all going walking speed to get around a big hole, I went for the gap, but came up short and my front tire exploded upon impact (found out later that it was actually the yellow tape bursting through a spoke hole). I took a small spill, spent some time looking for my shades, then realized I lost them during the first crash. I walked back to the road to call my parents. During the walk I started to feel my injuries, and figured it was good that I was done for the day; I had some healing to do.

My only real frustration was wasting my great form. I had a great week leading up with some solid intervals and a very fun/fast 3.5 hr MTB ride Tuesday....plus the added motivation of coming off a win added to that.

So when I got back to Forks Rd, the couple spectating let me use their phone (thanks) and then an ambulance rolled up, perfect! I got all disinfected then my parents arrived and brought me the news on J.C. I was shocked when I heard he was unconscious for a bit, but very releaved to hear he was back, and in the hands of doctors. I wish I had just stayed at the crash sight to help him, but I was for sure not thinking clearly after that impact. Thank God so many good people were around who could help him. Glad to hear he's doing fine.

So it was a shity day. Someone ruined it ruined it for J.C. myself and many others. This guy needs to learn how to ride a bike before he tries racing it at the front of the first wave or any wave for that matter. This race has always been very sketchy at the start, and something needs to be changed about the wave system. Invite only in the first wave (like P-A) would fix this for sure; but what do I know, anyway enough ranting.

I feel like I sensed that crash coming. I was trying to get out of the bunch just before it happened, but kept getting boxed in. There was a lot of tension leading up, with that first decisive turn quickly approaching. It was not a calm bunch.

So I am doing Racoon Rally this weekend, road and XC. I will do the S1/2 race as I will be upgrading prior to Chin. I was not sure about upgrading, but when I saw the road upgrade points list, I found out they decided for me. So I will go from winning, to trying to survive, but if I want to ever win an S1/2 race I better start racing them soon!

So my elbow hurts, my right cav hurts, my left shoulder hurts, and it is impossible to lay or sit comfortably with these oozing wounds all over my body. Yet.... I consider myself very lucky, because nothing is broken, and no-one that I know has anything broken, so we will be given'r again in no time!

Hope you enjoyed the day more than I did Dad. Happy Fathers Day!

K-W Classic

2010-06-13T16:35:00.000-07:00

Victory number two came today, and it was a good one. I wanted to get the most out of this race, and feel like I did. I made some moves and followed most of the others.

I created the move that lasted the longest on lap ~7 by by sprinting after the finish and railing turn one at full speed. No brakes and as aero as I could be got me an instant gap. Then I heard a slam and some scraping behind me. Did the front of the field all go down on that turn? If so I had a solid chance. Lucky for them it was only one guy who slid out, and the chase was not disrupted. I got a nice gap, and saw Noble bridging up. He caught me at the climb and we hammered up, then just after the dh two more joined on, but we failed to get organized and were reeled in by the feed zone. I got gassed pretty quickly there and did not feel strong when joined by the other three. The pace slowed a ton after they caught us, so I had plenty of time to recover. This huge failed effort told me that likely nothing would stick, so I decided I would wait for a field sprint. I kept my eyes on the front, and caught on any jumps just to be up there.

On the last lap a couple moves went, Max's lasted a little, but no one seemed too worried. I got into the perfect spot for the sprint sitting about 6th wheel going through the final s-bend. I kept seated until I was in 53x13, then saw Mark P go and swerve left for some reason, opening a gap right through the middle for me. I shifted into the 12t, then stood and put out every watt I could blowing past everyone. My cadence got too high to stand so I sat and spun as fast as I could wishing I had an 11t. I threw the hands up early and it enjoyed the moment.

This was a fast sprint, with the down hill out of the s-bend, and a slight tailwind, we were flying. Everyone went early for sure, but in those circumstances it was possible to last.

The course was a great one for sure, just like everyone said. The dirt and water spray in my eyes was the only unpleasant part, but that's road racing in the rain for ya.

Congrats Justin for showing some solid form today. You seemed to be at or off the front the whole race. Use that strength at the right time and you will be putting the hurt on everyone. Also Noah who chased down everything and looked quite comfortable.

The SCCC dominated cadet again, good stuff. My club was 2 for 2 today with Sara winning the Master A woman's race; awesome work!

Looking forward to seeing the marathon results from the Ganny, sad I missed it again this year, but I am waiting till Sept 19th to tear up that forest.

Peace.

Feeling better.

2010-06-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

I think I am through the worst of this cold now. Mornings still suck because I feel crappy and my nose runs like a tap, but I improve through the day and have been able to train a bit this week. I got some intervals done on Thursday and have done some 2hr rides yesterday and today. Tomorrow is the K-W classic. I have been looking forward to this race for a while because everyone says great things about the course. It is fast, with only two small climbs and some good turns in there too.

I have been thinking about my strategy and decided to just play it by ear. Siting in the whole race and then taking part in the heroic sprint seems like a good idea, but I want to get a workout in this race. I will attack, and I will go with attacks, and hope to get off the front with some strong guys to work with. If I can't get away I know who's wheels to follow for a lead out in the finale. If getting out of sight is easy (twisty sheltered roads), a break will have a chance, and if the course is technical that will increase the advantage. Also the weather is a big factor; wind and rain could help a break.

Looking forward to racing with Justin and Noah. Fun times tomorrow.

Later

Mountainview....and sick.

2010-06-06T16:39:00.000-07:00

So 0-cup four is a wrap, meaning that the season is half history already. Hard to believe.

Made it up to Midland around noon on Saturday, with Moote and Kerton for a pre-ride. Weather was sketchy, but the rain held for us, and we found the trails to be in great shape. Only a couple spots where wet. I did 2 laps, and rode the rock garden like 8 times.... just because I was enjoying it. I was feeling very comfy on the bike and felt rested....because I was. Being sick since Hardwood meant very little ride time. The little riding I did was on my MTB, but I only made it to some singletrack once.

I am not supper sick, I just have this bug that's been going around Niagara, that includes a cough, sore throat, stuffy nose, headaches, dizziness and loss of energy. A shitty combo indeed. I have been on Cold FX since Thursday, and it may have helped a bit. Could just be a placebo effect, but thats an effect right? And that alone justifies the $25 dollars spent. But I really do feel a bit better shortly after taking 2 in the morning.

So after the pre- ride Kerton and I set up our base at the HoJo. Got the repair stand up and dialed in our bikes. I discovered that my cranks spider lock ring had came lose, so loose that I could remove it with my fingers. So glad I caught that. Unfortunately I did not have the tool to tighten it, but I did my best using a flat head screwdriver and an adjustable wrench as a hammer. That was all I could do. My rear brake did some funny stuff to and I spent some time trying to get the pad clearance back to normal, but failed. Got it to spin without rubbing but barely.

After some rest we made our way to the Shack for some grub with Paul and Peggy. It was very good, much better than last time I was there, fall 2008. The steak was very tasty. After that it was time for a blizzard at DQ, then more rest. I was happy to see that the ratio of racers at our hotel was super high, so it would likely be a quiet night. We crashed at 10, just after the Two Wheel Express crew shut down there dance party.

I slept well, but woke up a little early around 6am. I found rain, puddles and a new waterfall coming off our hotels roof. Oh well I thought, at least it won't be dusty. I began the loading phase with some bread and nutella, than started to work on my giant bowl of oatmeal. I got some dates, and a banana in me as well. After some rest and some more messing around with my brake I made my way over to the hill to watch Kerton start. He was fourth man up the hill. Nice!

After meeting up with my parents I started my warm up. I found some good hills up behind Mountainview, and did some efforts up them. I felt all right. Not bad for being sick. I guess my voice is really messed because everyone new I was sick before I mentioned it.

So on to the race (finally).

Start was good. I was mid pack at the top, and felt all-right. Lost some spots here and there, but not to many. throat was hurting half way through lap one, but I could breath fine. My second lap sucked. I was feeling crappy. Kind of like hardwood, but not quite as bad. A train of riders came past, and I really wanted to jump on it, but needed to recover at the time. Luckily, the twisty flats provided good rest without too much loss, so I just went steady through the turns.

Lap three I felt better. But don't think I made any passes there. Lap 4 I was feeling good. I caught back up to Anton, and rode with him for a bit. He showed off his roadie strength by dropping me on the open double track. Never let him get too far, but couldn't close it up. I started to cramp somewhere on lap 4, and was forced to walk up Glassford's grind. I tried to shake em out, but there where there and kept reminding me when I pedaled hard. Shit; as soon as I'm feeling good I start to cramp? Damn.

On the final lap I managed to make up a spot or two with the cramps, but could not empty the tank without some serious pain. It was the inner thighs that hurt the most. Hydration was not the cause of these cramps. I drank tones, and skipped coffee in the morning. Maybe being sick has messed with hydration, or my legs just aren't used to going so hard for so long like that. Oh and my chainring spider was crazy loose post race. Lockring was just hanging on my a thread. So lucky it stayed on there.......

So I cruised in for 19th, just behind Anton. I was happy to pick up some points and learn how solid I can ride while under the weather.

Thanks for the driving and accoms Kerton, and I am very proud of your podium. Expert is just around the corner for you ;) Also everyone who cheered for me. It helps. I got a couple of "go whoever you are"'s too. Very motivational.

Peace.

Hardwood Canada Cup

2010-05-30T16:30:00.000-07:00

My first Canada Cup as an Elite did not go so well, but my bike and I are not broken so it could have been worse. It was for sure an improvement on last years first lap frame snap.....

Pre-ride on Saturday went well. Flipped over the bars once while not paying attention, hitting a root and slipping off my grip with my right hand. Just a scratch on my knee, so I was fine to roll on. Atkins and McNeely from EMD came by while I was straightening my bars so I chased after and got some follow wheel experience for the rest of my second lap. They showed me how to take the downhills, and I learned some new lines. Two laps was good though was it for me... but I think starting sooner, and doing 2 slowishly, and one fastish would have been ideal.

Back to Barrie to eat some food and chill before going out for dinner. Went for Italian, it was fantastic, thanks mom and dad. We decided that it would be smart to pick up some sleep MD after learning that most of our hotel was being occupied young Lacrosse players in a tournament. They were noisy little buggers, doing sprint intervals up and down the halls, and playing scrimmage in the parking lot.

When heard running and yelling down the hall at around 10:30, my mom gave them shit, and said to got to bed. They were quiet for a bit then got worse. My dad took action. Apparently he stepped infront of a kid running and he hit my dad like a brick wall and got leveled. My dad said "WTF do you think this is...some kind of amusement park?" and they apologized.

Now unfortunately the sleep MD did not work, and I lay there wide awake while the kid who got leveled explained what happened to his parents outside our room, and tried to calculate which room we were in using some sort of running velocity equation...but failed and I was happy to not have to deal with any bullshit, but I was no longer tired at all. It took till after 1:30 and several position changes for me to fall asleep.

Well that was probably a better story than my race report but here it goes anyway.
Warm up felt decent. Heart rate was going up, legs worked.
I lined up behind the 35 called up riders, with Guthrie and Mike G just ahead of me.
The start sucked. I was pinning it but losing ground on the main pack still. They vanished into there own dust storm before the first steeper climb bit, and I was left coughing and trying to match the pace of riders who came by that where caught behind a crash. At the first singletrack entrance there was a bad bottleneck, as I expected. Benno was beside me, Tim was around, and there were still riders behind me so I figured I was in a decent place.

I kinda held my ground only losing a spot or two on the first lap. Somewhere along the way I lost some pressure in my rear wheel, but did not stop to inflate it till after the boneshaker lap 2. It was down to about 15psi, so it was ride-able tubeless, but had tones of rolling resistance. I stopped at the bottem of the big climb to inflate it, and felt way faster after and recovered some lost ground on the climb.

The rest of the lap and lap 3 was uneventful. I was feeling slow, not smooth and was breathing harder than I should have been. My legs felt like they did at Mansfield, maybe worse or maybe everyone was just faster. I was not confident starting my fourth lap, but I did and was determined to finish the race. If it wasn't for some sharp cramps that come without warning I would have. My left leg seized on the climb post boneshaker, and I was done. I spun to the feed zone to report to my parents, and then watched the elite finish before heading home.

Don't have any excuses for the weak legs. Not over trained for-sure after a solid taper week. Bad night could have have slowed me down, but I'm thinking that technique was a huge factor. Maybe to much time on the road lately has dulled my trail fluidity.

I am looking forward to Midland next week and will be MTBing a lot to get ready for it. I like this venue very much, and hope to crack the top 15 there.

Congrats J.C. on your win, very impressive. Jeff to, your right up there.

Later

Niagara Classic

2010-05-23T18:13:00.000-07:00

Race went well for me. My plan was to attack about half way through the race, or go with a move that formed around that time. I was going to work with Brandon Spencer who is a junior I met at the OCA camp.

I sat in for the first couple laps, and only worked to help chase a couple attacks. Nothing stuck. Brandon and I agreed to make our move just before the twisty decent, so that we would have an advantage heading on to Effingham. He tested everyone by attacking there on lap 2, and I sat in the chase that was takin very seriously by the Speed River boys. On lap three Bayden attacked in that spot, and I jumped on getting a small gap with him and some others. Everyone chased super hard after us and we were shut down quickly.

I was feeling strongest after the climb, heading down Tice, so when I saw Sean Kelly attack there, I bridged to him and we worked together for half the lap, but the chasers worked hard and never let us get far. 50m at most.

Brandon and I agreed that getting off the front would be a very tough as everyone had us marked. waiting till the sprint seemed to be this best strategy at this point. Bayden was off the front at some point, and scored some KOH points while doing so. Some other moves went and one got a guy solo over a minute up on us. No one was worried about this one, because surviving solo for over a lap would take a real super star.

So I sat in till the sprint. I sat comfortably in the pack leading to the Eff. I was tenthish at the bottom and started my sprint right when the road kicked up. Some others went sooner and took off like rockets. I closed in on them a bit by the top, and past all but two guys by the line, one being a junior.

So another second for me. I am happy and feel like upgrading to S2 might be a possibility this season. I will decide after K-W.

I nearly made the best trade of my life by getting a rear Bontrager Aeolus 6.5 for my old Ksyrium. It was in the wheel truck and a guy used it and decided to wait till my parents had gone home with his wheel to make the trade back. I stuck around to watch the Elite race, and then rode home with Ben and Jeff after. When I got home my parents told me that Aeolus guy called and was on the way to my place to get his wheel. We traded and all was cool, but I would have been happy with his wheel.

Congrats to all fellow podiumers. Cadet was a sweep for the SCCC race squad. Good job Etzy, Ben and Matt; but come on 31km/h average? weak. And Sara Byers, wow she crushed the other ladies.

some rides to blog about...

2010-05-17T07:12:00.000-07:00

Some epic riding occurred in the past few days of my life. Friday was the epic tour around the circle route. I did this ride with Justin, which was great because conversation makes the 4.5 hours go by so much faster. Working together in strong headwind near Fort Erie made it much more bearable. There must have been some warm air moving over a cold Lake Erie, because it was very foggy and chilly when close to it. I was not sure how I would feel on this ride because I did some tough VO2 max intervals the day prior. I was fine though.

Saturday was a rest/work day for me. Yesterday Justin and myself tore up Hardwood, covering all 50km of singletrack. It was such a blast riding there. So fun and flowy, with all kinds of unique terrain. Way different from Niagara. We both rode well, no crashes to report, other than one crash like climbing incident Justin had. The terrain there is so demanding, both of our hands were hurting from holding on so tight, and I could feel my upper body getting worked. Good times.

Right now I am watching the Giro. Barry is in a four man break, 20km to go with a 50second gap. Will they survive? I will have to find out before I head out on an easy road ride.

My work schedule is now dialed to suit my training demands. Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday are off, Monday, Thursday and Friday I work 3-8, and Wednesday I work the full day, which finishes at 6 just as the group ride leaves. Perfect!

Lots of time to train now.
Later

Albion O-cup

2010-05-09T18:01:00.000-07:00

So my second race as an elite went a lot better than the first. I finished 17th out of 33 starters. I am super happy with how it went, learned more, and know how I can do better.

My pre-race nutrition consisted of:
- one large bowl of oats with berries
- one sandwich with tones of Nutella + dates on organic rye bread
- another sandwich but with peanut butter and a banana
- a banana bread flavored oatmeal to go bar
- some of last nights leftover veggie pasta
- a taste of the omelet my dad made
- a large coffee from McDonalds
- greens+
- 1-2L of water
All put down by 11:30am

I warmed up on my trainer to make it easier to to get in the zones i wanted to. 5min at 150bpm, 3min at 160bpm, 2 min at 170bpm x 2 with a ten minute spin first and with 5 minute at 140bpm between. I did not have room to bring a wheel with a slick mounted, so I had to annoy everyone with my buzzing Rocket Ron's. Hip hop blocked it out for me.

My start was good, I was a little back, but I grabbed Tim Carlton's wheel and followed it around for more than half the race. I knew he was a good guy to follow because he rides smooth and steady and uses energy wisely. He only punched it to pass, and I could respond no problem. I was feeling great for the first 2 laps. Good enough to attack, but knew that would be wasted energy.

Lap 3 was painful. cramps crept in, and my legs felt tired and sore. The Green Monster hurt. A lot. But I kept with the group.

Lap four I started to feel a bit better. My train slowed a bit and I liked the pace. Tim slid out on one of the slick bits, and could not make up the lost ground. I felt like I could go faster at some points, but did not want to risk cramping up, and hung in with the others.

Lap 5 was similar. I dropped one guy on the Green Monster, but the another (Logan) kept me in sight and we were soon back together. He attacked a couple times in the last km, but I chased him down and took him in the sprint for 17th.

The course was almost entirely dry, with the exception of a few big puddles. Very fast, and lots of good recovery after the climbs. I felt like I was recovering quickly between efforts and can already notice improvements from the interval training. I have asked Adam Morka to provide some coaching to help me do the right training at the right time. I have a good idea how to train smart, but I am really just guessing when to do what.

Thanks Mom and Dad for the driving, feeding and Tai food after.
Later

Springbank

2010-05-02T15:06:00.001-07:00

Today started with very sketchy weather that was sure to include rain, wind and maybe a thundershower. Amazingly, the rain stopped right before my race began at 10am, and by the half way point the sun started to show.

I got to the race with an hour plus to get ready, but after getting distracted by the S4 and Cadet races, I was left with only a half hour to warm up. I brought my trainer along figuring that I would get a better warm up if I set it up under some shelter and keep dry while I got the engine fired up. That plan worked great and other than it being a tad short (25min) I felt ready to go. Using heart rate and cadence data provided my my new Garmin 705 (b-day present - thanks Mom and Dad) I was able to precisely control my warm up effort.

My race started rather slow. I felt great though and just sat in in the top 15ish. This lasted for the whole first half of the race. I was forced out front a couple of times, but only did a short pull and then pulled off. Attacks kept trying to go but nothing was a real threat, and I chased one down to test my legs.

It was just past half way through when Bayden Pritchard attacked. A St. Catharines club rider (Max I think) jumped out to try and bridge, so I chased him down and got a free ride to Bayden. I knew these two where strong so I chose to go all in and fully commit to this break. We got a 15 second gap quickly and shared the work evenly. By lap three away, Max was dropped, and it was just Bayden and myself working, with a dropped rider hanging on the back (not sure how he hung on so long if he was dropped...).

the pain started to set in with about 15km to go, but I was determined to make this move survive. Our gap started to grow in the last few laps, getting up to 25seconds with two laps to go. We really nailed the tight turns to gain time as two can take a turn much faster than a whole pack. It was working. I gave it everything in every pull I took right down to my last one. That wasn't the best way to beat Bayden, but I had no idea what our gap was, and know how a 10 second gap can get shut down in the final kilometers of a race.

I pulled through the last headwind section till about 400m to go, then Bayden sprinted away, and I could not close the gap he created. I was more concerned about us surviving than me winning in the end, and did not want to ruin all our work by playing cat mouse games in the final km.

So second it was, not the W but I am happy with how it went, and $100 richer. I enjoyed this race very much and am confident now that I can win S3 races. Can't wait till the Niagara classic!

Training last week had its ups and down's for me. I felt like shit on Monday following Mansfeild. Throat was sore from dust inhalation, knee hurt from crash and back was sore from the effort. That combined with no energy meant rest day for sure. Tuesday was the same deal, but my knee seemed to hurt even more on my commute to work.

Wednesday I took the day off work to get in a long mountain bike ride. Planned to do 4 hours, at endurance pace with one hour at race pace, but with my knee still sore I cut that down to three. Well I actually had to go home at after 3 because my free-hub body randomly sized turning my bike into a 18 speed fixie. Not cool.

Thursday was some intense interval training. I did 7 out of my planned 10 max effort 30sec. intervals. I wasn't feeling so hot and my knee was not healed yet. Ya no excuses...I know.

Friday I felt great. I did a 3 hour road ride to Port Colbourne and back averaging 32km/h. I had good energy and legs felt punchy for the first time in a while.

Saturday I did a slower 2.5hour road ride to Smithville and back. I arrived at the Timmy just as the St.CCC was leaving and jumped in on the group ride home. It was nice to be able to chat a little to pass the time.

Today's performance confirmed that I am now out of the rut and back in the groove.

I have some good interval training planned for this week to get ready for Albion. I realized after Mansfeild that the only way I will get faster is if I train with max efforts. Doing the same 2-3 hour mtb rides isn't going to yield the improvements that I need to get up there in elite level races. To bad my coach (me+Garmin) got distracted with how fun base miles are on the mtb and postponed intensity till now. Oh well, that may mean a peak closer to the championships....

All for know
Peace out

Manfeild O Cup Report

2010-04-25T17:27:00.000-07:00

So my first race in Elite went...... all right. I finished 32nd out of 42. Goal was top twenty, but with the Quebec team in town, and some world cup level racers stuck in Canada, that would have been harder than usual for an O-cup at Mansfield.

I had a good start today. I was on the back, but made my way up about 15 spot on the first climb. I felt good, lungs were burning, but my legs felt strong. I was in a train of about 10 guys and felt like I could handle the pace being set. I did for about 3/4 of the first lap until I had a little spill. Not a bad crash at all, just a wash out in some deep sand, but I lost the train and a couple more spots. I got back on and regrouped quickly, but noticed a bunch of noise coming form my front derailleur. It was bent in; likely from whacking it with my foot during crash. I was now stuck in the big ring, but the chain was rubbing bad no matter what cog. A bunch of Guys come storming by while I was distracted by this, included the leaders of the Junior X race. I rode it out till the feed zone, and I stopped there to pull the derailleur straight while I got a new bottle. It didn't seem like my derailleur moved much at all, but it worked fine after that quickish fix.

So dead last...or close to it I had four laps to make up some ground. The usual back pain crept in on lap two, but I rode strong. Coming in to the end of the lap I slid out on the grassy right hand turn...Just came in with two much speed, and wound up sliding on my stomach. I got up quickly and hammered away, with a bruised knee and ego. Not a big loss though..

Lap 3 was good. Painful, but I made up some spots and made no mistakes.

Lap 4 I felt better. Less back pain, and energy felt high. Thought this would be my fastest lap, but it was not. Less pain must have been the result of riding slower..

Lap five went great. Lots of drinking through the race meant no cramps to worry about. My energy was lower, but I had tones of power still to grind the big ring up climbs. I passed a couple more elites and closed up big gaps on others, but ran out of race and couldn't catch em.

So there is some room for improvement. Dry sand seems to be my weakness, so I will have to put in some miles down at the beach. Also, my lower back still killed. Worked so hard on it all winter and it still hurts so bad in races. Thinking it may be worth seeing Physio Therapist about it, but more dead lifts might be the only solution. Gonna think about that more.

Weather was great for race. Rain held off and temp was warm enough to leave arm warmers in the truck. Kinda wanted it to rain though to keep the dust down but w/e.

Now more pics from Derek MacAulay (who just missed a podium; nice job) Check out the new kit- I'm representing the Short Hills Cycling club this season:

Paris to Ancaster

2010-04-18T13:19:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a race.

The P-A turned out to be a lot more intense then I thought it was going to be. That was likely due to the large number of elite and expert racers that came out from all disciplines of racing.

I succeeded in making the top 20, which was my goal, winding up in 14th overall. 14th was what the results said post race, but according to the video my dad made of the finish, getting everyone before me, there was only 12, so I may have been 13th but w/e.
(Results have been fixed, I was 13th....)

Unfortunately I had to line up with well over 100 racers ahead of me, having never done this race before. With a good warm up in, I was ready to try and make my way up to the front before things split up to much. That was a little tougher than I anticipated. I picked the right wheels to follow and they brought me up a little, but the front seemed to be 1km ahead heading onto the doubletrak.

I gained a lot of spots taking some turns wide, and a bunch more by dodging a crash, but it was my sneaky moves off the trail that got me right to the front. What I did was go on the grass on the left side of the doubletrack and pined it passing about 30 riders at a time. I had to burn a few matches to get there, but I did it and was able to relax for a bit before things sped up. I lost the leaders on the rocky climb when I got stuck behind some guys who dismounted, and my legs felt like jello when I tried to close the gap. I couldn't do it and settled in with a group of strong riders.

The race was quite uneventful for some time. We worked together, I was able to pitch in more later on as I felt better, and we stuck together for the most part. I didn't feel super strong today, and closing some small gaps had me working really hard, but I always closed them, and was able to cover attacks later on.

With about 10km to go, on a straight gravel path I tried to bridge to the group I could see ahead. I felt great at the time and chose a Cancellara style attack. I got clear and gained a ~200m gap, then started to fade quickly with still another 100m to close on the other group. We turned down to a muddy dh with a big tree spanning the trail, an I didn't know where to go. A bad line resulted in me being caught, and I found that Ben Perry had caught this group, so that was good to see.

I got my legs back on the road section by hanging on the back, and I got by a few on the muddy downhill near the finish. We caught some others here, and I started the final climb with about five guys within striking distance. I got by all of them, but one passed me back just before the top and I could not respond.

The end.

I managed to get three gels in me during the race, and 1.5 bottles of water. Two would have been ideal, but I lost a half bottle about 15km in when it shot out of my cage because of a big pot hole. I was out of water with 5km to go, and felt cramps coming on, so I had to stay seated for the rest of the race. No big ring grinding up the last hill for me. That's the way she goes I guess.

Course was kinda cool, a bit more adventurous than I expected.
I will be back for it next year.

Falling On My Ass

2010-04-14T16:35:00.000-07:00

Monday was a well deserved recovery day for me. I was sore all over, but it was my back that made me want to just lay around all day. Unfortunately I could not do that because we had to roll on the first coat of epoxy on to the floor at Liberty. This took about 5 hours of rolling with an hour of vacuuming before. I thought of it as active recovery for my back...

Yesterday I felt way better and was ready to roll on two more coats of epoxy; one at 8am and the final at 7pm. I would have a mid day break to get out for a ride, so I was happy about that.

I got out for a ride around 2pm and headed to NOTL and then up to Queenston along the Parkway. I remembered hiking some cool trails up on the escarpment before, and thought it would be fun to ride them on my cross bike. It was fun, really fun and they where in great shape. I headed down York Rd. and then back up the escarpment on the Bruce Trail at Con.2. I had never been on this trail before, an would have to say that it was way cooler than I imagined possible. Great views, good flow and cool tecky bits. Shit turned for the worst when I came to a steep switchback downhill. This did not look rideable, so I started to walk down it. There where lots of big rocks on steep angles and it was one of those that I slipped on, and landed on.

It was like one of those slips on ice where both of your feet shoot out and you are laying horizontal in the air for a sec before gravity sucks you back down to earth. I let go of my bike when I slipped and it took I nice tumble down the hill before a tree and some brush stopped it. Bottles flew out, but no damage to report on it. Lucky for me I suffered no serious damage, but man did it ever hurt. I landed on a pointy rock right on the back/left side of my hip. I flopped to my stomach, clinched my teeth and immediately thought that I would have to skip the P-A, and maybe still be hurt for the first o-cup.

The pain was bearable after a couple minutes and I slowly made my way to my feet. I limped down to my bike, bushwhacked down to the golf course, and then started the most painful 10km ride home I have ever done. I could feel the big goose egg forming, and just wanted to get home so badly to get some ice on it. I made it home, and iced it on and off for an hour and a half before heading in to work to roll the final coat of epoxy on the floor. This was not fun, but once I started moving the area loosened up, and I could work without much pain.

This morning it was really stiff. I chose to take the day off from work to rest it, and am happy I did that. I even took a Tylenol. I can't remember the last time I took one of those, but I would take anything today to help with it. It seemed to work and I was able to cut my lawn and walk normally rather than limp. In the afternoon I attempted to ride my bike. I figured that going really easy could help keep the area loose and help it recover faster. I spun around real slow for an hour and it felt better and better throughout the ride. still hurt a bit and the harder I pedaled the more it hurt. Getting aero hurts the most so I had to sit up tall.

I was in a debate about weather to do P-A on my MTB or cross bike, but I have decided now that I will use my cross bike, because its faster, and I need all the help I can get with my busted ass. I plan on pimping it out a bit by stealing some parts of my road bike, just because I can. I wanted to do it on my mountain bike because the first o-cup is the Sunday after, and I felt the need to get more miles on it, and more comfortable with going fast on it to prepare for it. I will just ride it as much as I can the week before instead.

Moral of the story is.. don't put your life at risk by walking downhills. Riding them is much safer!

Homage To Dust

2010-04-12T04:53:00.000-07:00

I felt the need to rename this race because there was no ice anywhere, maybe a bit on the ski hill across the road, but that was likely slush.

So it was very dusty. Dry and Dusty, like Mansfield usually is. I got lots of that dust into my eyes, and maybe some sand too, and they hurt quite a bit after. I removed my glasses during the second lap because a drop of sweat landed inside the lens and dried leaving a big salt stain.

So I would say that the race went very well for me. I ended up finishing fifth overall with 3 accomplished elite riders and the super fast Steven Noble junior finishing ahead. Peter Glassford won in the end finishing 6 minutes up on myself.

I felt superb at the start of the race. I easily made my way to the front of the group on the first climb, and was sitting in second on Jacob's wheel after climbing the long o-cup start climb. I took the lead on the long doubletrack section and had a small gap for a little before Peter and Jacob came by my before heading into the first singletrack bit. I held onto them all the way till my first crash. This one happened in a new section of trail that was very tight. What happened was my foot got caught on a small bent over tree. This pulled me over, and I scratched my leg on a tree and wound up a tangled up in the forest. I was fine, but I lost the leaders, and Noble and Carlton got by me here. I kept them in sight for a long time, but they where slowly getting away. I found myself riding with no one in sight for a while, until I looked back near the top of a switchback climb and saw Matt F and Cycle Solutions guy coming up to the climb. I looked back at the wrong time because it resulted in me missing a bridge to get over a log. I tried to hop the log beside it, but with very little momentum I couldn't get my rear wheel over and bashed my knee off my stem very hard while trying to do so. This hurt so bad, and got me so pissed off that it took me a long time to start riding well again.

Shortly after that I had my second and final crash. This one was on a very sandy right turn. I simply came in too fast, front wheel washed out and I flew into the sand. The two that where behind me got by here and I let them get a away a bit, but kept them in sight. I closed the gap on them just before the section of singletrack where my first crash took place. I rode with them for a bit, Then the CS guy pulled off, and it was jut Matt an Myself. I followed him for a while and was liking the pace he set. I figured I would attack him on a climb, but I didn't have to because he failed to get over the big angled log, and I rode around it getting any easy gap on him. I upped my pace from there and held it till the end.

So although I had some crashes I felt pretty good technically. I just need to get more miles on my MTB so that I can feel more comfortable on it and start to ride a bit smoother. Once I get smoother I will be able to squeeze out more watts on the singletrack and go a bit faster. Lower tire pressure will help too; I had them way to hard for yesterdays course.

All n' all it was a great day.
Thanks for the ride Jeff!

Congrats Etzl on your Bronte win, and Perry second. Nice.

Thanks Mother Nature

2010-04-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

Wow.

5 days of sun and record highs, with dry singletrack during a long weekend = :).

I got in loads of great riding this weekend, with two long days on my MTB. Thursday was a 2hr easy road ride to open everything up for Good Friday. You already know how GF went..... When I got home I went for an hour recovery ride on the flat roads near NOTL.

On Saturday I did a 50km MTB ride including just about every trail in northern Niagara. Conditions where unbelievably good, for this time of year, but I still managed to get really dirty. Those spots that are always muddy, where really muddy, and I hiked around some to try and keep my bike as clean as possible. Most of the mud I picked up was from Trail 1 in Shorthills.

Sunday I did a 55km MTB ride, with a 37 minute race pace lap of the 8x12. I rode the 8x12 once for a warm up, then cranked the puke meter to 11 and hammered out a lap as fast as I could. I started at the head of the Suzanne trail, rode it in reverse, did the course as usual, and finished where I started. My time was 37minutes, Averaging 22.1 km/hr. I have done it faster before, but the spring conditions make it much slower, and I had to slow a few times to pass other trail users. After that I went back out on Suzanne and up to Brock where I did Switchback City both ways then went up Hydro to come down that super fun decent trail with the twisty section at the bottom. Then it was back home along the 12 mile creek, through Suzanne for the sixth time, and asphalt home from there.

Today I did 150km on my road bike, in 5 hours. I battled some strong winds to make it to the top of the Eff, then did 7 laps of the Niagara classic to finish on top again. Coming home from there was super fast with the tail wind and I easily held 40km/h on the flats. My average speed in the end was 31km/h, the fastest I have ever done that route, and I wasn't really pushing it that hard. It was a good feeling.

Other than some super hard intervals on Wednesday, the rest of this week will be mainly recovery. Mansfield is coming fast, and I want to get in some good intensity training prior. Homage to Ice will be good for that too.

All for now....

Good Friday RR

2010-04-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

So the first race of the season is now out of my legs and I am very pleased with how they worked today.

The race started off fairly slow (S4) and only a few km's in I decided it was time to go, as did one other guy. We took off just before the first hill and very slowly pulled away. He wanted to sit up more than once, then said fuck it, and we put our heads down and hammered along. I told myself before the race that I would not go in a brake unless there was more than 2 guys to work with, but I figured some other strong guys would bridge, but that was not the case.

We stayed ahead for two and a half laps and were caught by a break of three. I worked really hard with them for a few km's two try and rebuild a gap, but we never really got anywhere and I was starting to feel cooked. My accomplice was cooked and dropped back, and all but one new guy in the break didn't have the gas to get away. The guy who did won in the end, and he pulled away from me with about 8km to go. I chased him alone until the pack caught me inside 5km to go. After they reeled me in no one wanted to work to get the leader, so I guess they were satisfied with sprinting for second. I recovered quickly sitting in the pack and ended up taking the bunch sprint.....for second.

I knew it would have been much smarter to attack later, or wait till the sprint, but I would have been bored sitting in the pack, and I knew I would get some excellent top end training riding in a break for an hour and half. I also wanted to make the race interesting for the spectators, and make the pack have to work a bit.

I am going to request an upgrade to S3 for road, and have decided to go up to elite MTB before the first MTB O-cup. The reason being is that the sooner I start racing at the elite level, the sooner I will get used to their pace, and the sooner I will be competitive for a podium.

Next weekend I am racing the Homage to Ice at Mansfeild. Very excited to race there, and now it will be an epic event. Hopefully this weather will hang around for it!

Later

The Big Three

2010-03-27T17:34:00.000-07:00

Well there not that big...actually feel more like bumps than hills after being in the Blue Ridge. I am referring to the three toughest climbs up the escarpment in Niagara. Woolverton, Fity and McNeilly. Justin and I rode out to Smithville first, the north to Ridge Rd, then three times up each climb with a victory rep up Woolverton on the way back.

My Goal was to push myself hard and get up these hills faster, and more times than ever before. With my current fitness and good legs that was easy. I never used my 27t keeping 39/24 the lowest gear I used all day, and I even shifted up one or two gears on most climbs. Knowing that you can climb something more then ten times as long or high gives you a huge mental boost, and makes you go that much faster.

Justin surprised me by doing all three reps up each climb. This would have been way more climbing than he has ever done in a day, and he finished strong on every climb. I could tell he never held back because he was running on empty the whole way home. Good work man.

Tomorrow I am going to do a shorter ride, but with some intensity in there. I also want to get in a good core workout before the ride because it has been so good to me all spring and I need to make sure I keep it strong. Having no back pain in races would nice.....

Good Friday RR is less than a week away, and the weather is looking very promising. Super excited for this one!!

OCA Spring Camp Report

2010-03-22T18:00:00.000-07:00

So after yesterdays 18 hours of travel time, I am finally back home.

The Camp was amazing. Just epic ride after epic ride, epic meal after epic meal, all enjoyed with a great group of fellow Ontario cycling enthusiasts. We lucked out with the weather, only seeing rain twice and we had plenty of time to tan with a bunch of warm warm and sunny days. I was assigned to the longest "fastest" ride everyday, with ride times ranging from 2-6hrs each day.

Rides from day 1-9 looked like this:
day 1 - 2hr recovery
2 - 3hr gentle rolling - fastish
3 - 3.5hrs rolling plus - steady
4 - 5.5hrs climbing plus race up Caesar's Head
5 - 2hr recovery
6 - 6hr climbing,
7 - 3hr steady recovery
8 - 5hr climbing Sassafrass plus sprint work
9 - 6hr climbing Blue Ridge plus some other climbs, plus Mt. Becky (very steep).

I rode well all week, and was loving the climbing. Sassafras was crazy tough to race up with a long 20% pitch and many steep sections that just kept popping up after short bits of recovery. Some ones Garmin said one bit was over 28%!. My time up it was 26:30, averaging 16.6km/h over the ~8km distance. Zack Hughes set the new record at 24minutes flat, with Mitch Bailey and Jamie Riggs close behind. I think my time was around the 5th fastest, but I'm not sure because times were never posted and I didn't get a chance to ask everyone how they did (we timed ourselves). I do know that I was digging really deep, nearly got sick, and that it was the hardest effort I have ever made in training. I would say that this climb was as tough as Brasstown Bald, but had two short downhills on the way up and mellowed out a bunch of times so you could catch your breath. Goal for next year - sub 25 minute mark...

Our accommodations were very cozy, and I was lucky to get in the house with all the older more "mature" guys. There were 7 of us in the house with two bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and a good sized kitchen. We lived the ultimate lifestyle while there. Every day we woke up around 8, ate as much quality breakfast food as possible, then drank coffee and chatted before gearing up to ride. We had a pre-ride meeting at 9:45, then were on the road by 10am. Post ride we ate a ton of food again, then the rest of the day flew by as we did most of or all of the following: went for groceries, cooked a creamin meal, ate a provided meal, cleaned our bikes, tanned, went to meetings, ate more and talked about racing, other racers and training. We messed around a lot too, keeping ourselves entertained in the TV and Internet free environment.

View of camp from our balcony. (Driveway was 37% Gradient)

All in all it was a great experience that I hope to have again next spring. I'm feeling really fit right now, but a bit worn out, so I'm going to go easy all week, then get back into intense training this weekend. I can't wait to get out on my MTB!!

Later

300km, 10.5hrs, 2 days, one bike

2010-03-07T16:53:00.000-08:00

Title says it all. Got the Circle route done counter-clockwise today. Colder and windier it was, but the tailwind from PC to FE and FE to NOTL kept my pace pretty high. The headwind on the other stretches sucked, but I've gone through worse..... while climbing. Tired now and looking forward to some rest tonight and tomorrow.

All for now...

A very Long Ride.......

2010-03-06T16:46:00.000-08:00

Justin arrived at my house just before 11am this morning, and we embarked from there on what would be about a 150km ride for me. We made it just down to the canal when we had to turn back to my house to make a brake adjustment on Justin's bike. I made a very abrupt stop at a stop sign not realizing Justin was right behind me, and he grabbed his front brake so hard that the cable pulled right out of the straddle. Super strong braking hands or weak wrenching hands? Who knows, but it wasn't a big deal, and our collision was very minor. So with that torqued to spec we pressed on. Tailwind to NOTL was nice, Kinda got lost there in our attempt to avoid the downtown, asked for directions, then followed those to the parkway. After a short stretching session, we began the long stretch to Fort Erie. A light headwind made it a little tougher, but we worked together between the Falls and FE.

Some douchebag tried to give us a hard time as he passed by honking, coming close, flooring it and yelling something that either of us could hear. funny thing was that he stopped at the same bakery we did in fort Erie, and we got to hear what he had to say. His smokin hot girlfriend waved at us as she spotted us when they arrived, then he got out, said we ride like idiots or something like that, and that we are going to get hit one day. We were not riding like idiots, keeping a tight double file at the time, going single when cars came, and his asshole style pass was the closest I have been to getting hit in my life. We basically said "okay.....". I would have said something better if I had more energy or a real reason to start shit with some fucking douche. We left there for the nearest MickyD's for some free coffee, muffins and a chicken snack wrap. Yummy. I bought some water and asked I could have 2 warm bottles if possible. Instead I was handed 2 ice cold bottles with big ice burgs floating in them. Perfect, Exactly what I didn't want, but according to her it was all they had. Bullshit.

It was cold getting back on the bike, but we warmed up quickly and kept our speed high slicing through a strong side wind. Trying to avoid highway 3, we ended up doing some back-tracking to get off a muddy road.... twice, but we eventually found a nice road that led us north, than we headed towards Welland from there. So we missed Port Colbourne, but didn't cut any distance, and got to see some new scenery. Justin made it home in time for work, a little cooked but not bonked, then I headed home down Cataract with the wind at my back. Made it home just before 5:30, left at 11, had stopped for ~ an hour, so ride time was about 5.5hrs. Very nice. I hurt the most along the parkway, but felt great form MickyD's on. My endurance seems to be with me...

When I got home I was happy to have lots of tasty leftovers, and a cold beer in the fridge to enjoy with them.....

weather was warm enough for knee warmers today, and tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer. Gonna go long again. At least 100km.

werd

She Rides Like a Dream!!

2010-03-05T15:44:00.000-08:00

So my Stumpy is built up with my parts of preference, but shes gonna get lighter soon. Still to come: lighter more blingy brakes, a carbon post and Ritchy foam grips. Goal is sub 21lbs. I think shes about 22.5-23lbs right now.

I rode her into work this morning, and man is she ever a rocket. So stiff and twitchy, it was so fun just to hammer through an intersection. Geometry feels great, and like she turns sharper and is easier to get more weight on the front end. I think I will like the Small Block 8's too.

Training since Georgia: I have just been riding every morning before work. Monday I just went straight in because I was so excited to see my new bike. Tuesday I rode along the canal and did some hill reps up the escarpment. Wednesday I rode around Brock U and did hill reps up Hydro. Thursday I rode to Fonthill and did 2 laps of the Niagara Classic route. Today I messed around on my Stumpy. No 3hr+ rides yet this week, but some back to back 5hr+ rides to come this weekend. Maybe circle route two days in a row?

I would have to say that since my trip, I am enjoying climbing a lot more. Climbing still hurts the same, but I think I can go a little faster, and at the top I get the "is that it" feeling a lot more. I feel stronger at the top and as I accelerate on the flats. I guess that's the benefit of doing 20km climbs eh!

All for now
Peace

Georgia Wrap-up

2010-03-01T18:29:00.000-08:00

So I am back in the arctic tundra known as Canada and and already miss the southern mountains. My ride on Saturday went great and I got in 95km with five big climbs. The temp was around 8C in the Valleys and the sun was out, but the wind was barely calmer than the last time I was up on the Blue Ridge. I started in Helen, then went straight to the 348 to climb Hogpen from the east side. This way isn't as steep, but is much longer and has some down hills near the bottom and near the top that drag it on and on. The headwind made it tougher and I was feeling a little sluggish, but I made it to the top in good time, then bundled up for the fast descent into the wind. This one sucked all the warmth out of me, but wasn't long and I warmed up quickly when I turned to climb back up at the other end of the 348. This climb went well for me and knowing what was coming got me to the top with less pain than the time before. Then there was the fun descent, down the long side with a tailwind. Man was that one fun!

When I got back to the valley, I rolled into Helen to get a Gatorade and check out the euro style shops. It was a cool town that was unique and not too cheesy. After filling up the bottles I started to make my way up the 75 towards Unicoi Gap. With less wind than last time, this stretch was much more enjoyable than last time and I kept my sped over 25km/h. The climb up Unicoi was very enjoyable too and I was loving the fast uphill switchbacks, and the low traffic 3 lane road. At the top I caught some MTBers from Toronto who where there to log base miles for the MTB season. They are new to Ontario, so I told them about the O cup and Marathon series, as well as some other must do races, and they got very pumped as they didn't know some of these races existed. I took off on the decent, which was also super fun, and this time I continued on the 75 to Owl Creek Rd, so that I could head up Brasstown Bald the same way they did in the 2008 TDG. Owl Creek was a great with rolling hills for the first 5-10km. When I rounded a turn a long steep pitch was unveiled, and the asphalt read "It starts here.... Climb!". This 2-3km stretch was pretty steep at about 15%, but it mellowed and there was a short decent back down to the 180. The 180 climbed to the gated road up to the summit. I found the climb up the steep grades a bit easier than before and I think knowing the road helped a lot. The 25% section went by faster and I was able to shift up a couple gears in the last km. When I got to the parking lot I saw that the road to the summit was snow free, and decided to ride it despite the no bicycles sign. I had to hike around the gate, but I re-mounted and rode the rest, having to sprint up a steep grade to make it through a big snow patch. This road was really steep, just like the 5km before, and it had one crazy steep switchback. I walked up the stairs to the top of the observation deck and took in the amazing views. It felt amazing to be looking down on all the other peaks surrounding.

When I was satisfied, I hoped back on my bike and descended back down to the bottom of the 180. I have never had to grab my brakes so hard, but I had to take it really slow with the dirty road surface. At the bottom I turned and climbed back up. I felt some cramps coming on on the steep parts, but kept the cranks turning and made it up to the parking lot where I did some laps to spin the legs out. I had time before my parents picked me up, so I went 2km back down, and climbed it again, really just to keep warm. When the rents got to the top we packed up to begin our drive part way home, stopping for dinner at a friends house.

Looking up at BB from the parking lot

Looking down from the parking lot

Things I learnt about North Georgia:
- People eat out a lot. 5 nights a week is common.
- There are tons of nice cars, and people drive them like maniacs.
- People drive everywhere. The way things are spread out you kinda have to.
- A flat road does not exist. You are always going up or down, even on the highways.
- Even after climbing for a while, you will not have a view of the area, you will just see more and bigger hills around you.
- There are a lot of dogs in the country, and they will chase you. I got away every time, but if they got close enough I would not hesitate to show the dog what an SPD SL cleat to the face felt like.
- There are no pot holes, but the pavement is thin.
- Drivers are nice to cyclists, and some will cheer you on when your climbing.
- 48F is not as warm as it sounds.

Brasstown Bald...Conquered.

2010-02-26T05:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was dealt some pretty harsh conditions, but was determined to ride the sixth stage of the 2008 Tour De Georgia. On the drive to Blairsville there were crazy gusts of 30mph, and on and off flurries. The temp was around -5C. I was prepared for this though with some midzero tights and my amazing Cannondale L.E. winter coat.

We arrived at the Blairsville chamber of commerce, got some maps, and my mom figured out how to kill three hours before heading to the summit of Brasstown to pick me up. Oh ya.. we drove to the top to see if it was open first, and it was with only a thin coating of snow near the top. On the drive up was just saying "holy shit" the whole way up. I had never seen a road so steep for so long. I was pumped. I would compare the final 5km of the climb to doing Wolverton Rd. 5 times in a row with almost no recovery, and 200m of 25% thrown in to make it extra fun. On the way down it was obvious where it was 25% as our truck skidded and my mom nearly lost control on the sanded/rocky pitch.

So I suited up in Blairsville and then headed south towards the first big climb, Hogpen Gap. I cut out the big loop around the lake that they did in the TDG to save time, but it was fairly flat anyway. The wind blew me all the way to Hogpen, and I got there much sooner than expected. I was probably half way up by the time I realized I was climbing it, and that's when it got hard. I admitted defeat to going up in 39x24, and shifted to my 27t. My 27t was supposed to be Brasstown only, but this climb caught me by surprise. Near the top I had to climb into the wind and it was crazy tough for a km or so, but I made it over and began the most fun decent of my life. This descent seemed to last forever, had plenty of turns you could take brake less, and was steep enough to hit 75km/h just coasting. After this descent, things got tough as I turned into the wind to head up 75.

With a slight uphill and crazy winds in my face, it was very hard to hold 20km/h and it seemed to take forever to make it to the next climb; Unicoi Gap. This was easier than Hogpen, but near the top the wind again forced me into my 27t. I could have done it faster, but I had to save my legs for Brasstown. Unicoi was another fun descent, but not so fast with the headwind. I had some flats at the bottom, then turned on 180 to begin the ascent up Brasstown. In the TDG they went up Owl Creek Rd., but the 180 was the same climb only closer. This road would take me to the steep road that went up BB, but it was only 3% or so for about 8km.

The road to BB (also called 180) came fast, but I was ready for it. After only 100m I looked down at the road I just came up, and laughed at how high above it I already was. This climb is 5km long and the first 2km are not too bad. My mom passed me after km 2, and I said "its not that bad!" and she continued up to the top to wait for me there. We timed it perfectly, allowing me 3.5hrs to ride. Km 3 and 4 were much tougher. You can't really see the steep pitches coming, but you sure know when you hit them. I had hardly any "out of the saddle" climbing so far, but hoped to use it up the 25% pitch. This was not possible. As soon as I stood, my rear tire slipped on the dirty road, so I sat back down and put more weight on the rear end. Then I did a wheelie. Man was it steep. I had to center my weight perfectly, and just keep the cranks turning as smoothly as I could. I was only moving 5km/h up this pitch, but most of the climb was around 12km/h. I was very thankful to have a 27t for this climb, and would say it would be impossible with a smaller cog. On a clean road, a 25t would have been fine, tough as hell, but possible. The last km was lightly snow covered from that morning, but I still had good traction and didn't slip at all. Unfortunately, the road from the parking lot to the summit was snowcoverd and closed, so I couldn't climb the last 100 or 200m. After some stretching and spinning in the parking lot, we packed up and then headed back to Dawsonville.

Today I am going to do a long easier ride around Dawsonville, but I've got something crazy planned for Saturday. We are heading part way back home Saturday Aft, so its my last chance to climb the big hills. What I want to do is get dropped off in Helen, climb Hogpen from the backside, descend what I climbed, then turn and climb and descend it again. From there I will head up 75, go over Unicoi, then up Brasstown Bald. I hope to climb it twice, right from the base at the 75, but that depends on time. I may also check out Tray Mtn. Its right beside Brasstown, and maps show a neat road climbing up it. We'll see. Weather looks perfect Saturday, sunny, calm winds and a high of 48F in the mountains.

Hopefully I will have room for a camera on Saturday, but there's so much gear I have to haul around with me already....

All for now
Later

Georgia/Tennessee Update

2010-02-24T05:57:00.000-08:00

So I am now in Dawson Georgia located in the Foothills of the North Georgia mountains. I went out for a 75km recovery ride here yesterday following a route recommended by a local bike shop. The route was beautiful and entirely on quiet country roads. Every road has rolling hills here and twists and turns constantly through valleys and along ridges. Its always interesting.
Monday I did a 110km ride starting in Gatlinburg Tennessee. It rained the night before, so the roads were wet, and the parkway up Newfound Gap was closed due to snow and ice (I wanted to finish my ride on top of the 1500m summit). I did a loop called Cades Cove that is the ultimate road for cycling and is actually closed to cars in during summer mornings so cyclists can take it all in. The road followed a creek through a valley and had huge cliffs and rocks on both sides. You have to climb 400-500m in 5km to get over the first hill, then it was all downhill for 20km. From there it was all uphill to Cades Cove for 20km. I felt up my bottles then turned back hoping the Parkway would be open so I could finish atop the gap. My speed was between 40-50km/h on the down hills and 20-30km/h on the up hills. When I got back down to the entrance of Smokey Mountains National Park and saw that the parkway was open, I called my dad to say I was meeting him at the top rather than at our hotel in Pigeon Forge. We planned to go this way to Georgia anyways, so it worked out perfectly.

The climb was about 20km long averaging between 4-5% gradient. I did it the day before and averaged 20km/h up it. I found it pretty easy because it never got steep and had short flats for recovery, but I was still hurting all over from the effort. I was thinking it would be harder to breath near the top being 1500m high (only 300m lower than Mont Ventoux), but that was not the case at all. I hammered up the last pitch breathing calmly and felling relaxed. The decent was not fun at all because the roads were wet and salty and I was freezing. I had to pull over about 5 times to stop shivering. Had it been warmer and dry, I would have easily coasted down at 60km/h for the full 20km. It didn't seem much colder at the top, but you could tell it was by how much snow there was up there. Half way up the snow banks appeared, and by the top the were about 4ft high.

I was happy to not have to descend the mountain again on Monday. With about 1000m of climbing in the legs already I knew I would not be averaging 20km/h up it, but I didn't allow myself to use my 27t cog and made it up in 1hr 15mins with an average speed of 16km/h. I was pretty cooked halfway up, but I new what was coming, told myself it was easy and just powered along. this road was busy and had no shoulder, but motorists were great and passed safely. Some even cheered me on, and a bunch of people congratulated me at the top. It was a good feeling. My parents arrived a few minutes after I got to the top, we snapped some flicks then headed packed my bike to head to Georgia. The top of this Gap was the state line between Tennessee and North Carolina. There is a road that goes along the line to the top of Clingmans Dome (2050m), but it is closed in the winter, so unfortunately I could not climb it.

Some pics from the top

Today I wanted to drive up to Blairsville and ride the final stage of the 2008 Tour De Georgia, which finished atop Brasstown Bald. With snow in the forecast for the higher elevations, I am postponing this ride a day and riding around here again instead. I hope to do that route twice while here because Brasstown Bald is an intense climb with an average Gradient of 9% and two pitches at 25%. You also have to get over Hogpen Gap along the way; another steep one. Its chilly today, tomorrow looks to be the same but sunny, then Its supposed to warm up into the 50's for the weekend.

Not much happening...

2010-02-18T17:29:00.000-08:00

The past few days I have not been doing much in terms of training. Just taking an extended route into work to make it last over an hour. Yesterday I rode to NOTL to cruise along some country roads, and felt great. It was windy, but I was flying through the headwind and repeated the same road just to ride into the wind again. It was a cool feeling.

This morning I was really tired, but felt like I would benefit from an upper body and core workout. I pressed some coffee, drank it, then I was no longer tired and got in a great short and sweet workout. It was nice and snowy out so I figured I'd check out my park to see if there were good cross conditions. It was sweet! I rode multiple laps to pack down a loop, and then rode it for another half hour or so before heading to work. I went back after work for some more and lasted another 20 minutes before heading home for dinner. I had a blast though and plan to go back tomorrow morning. It's great technical practice and requires perfect weight distribution to stay upright.

I leave for Georgia Saturday morning, so I have been getting my stuff ready, and tuned up my road bike. A new Ultegra chain has it shifting better than ever, and it is near spotless clean. It's gonna feel so fast after riding a cross bike all winter. Can't wait!

I'm bring my computer and cammy there so I will likely post some pictures and training updates.

Later friends

May Have been Her Last Breath....

2010-02-15T15:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was another day on the MTB for me. I wanted to go to the Hood again...so I did. Might have been a bad idea, or a really good one? Two days prior the snow made it very tough just to keep moving, and there were inches more yesterday. Let me tell you; it was tough. I barely made it up anything that had an incline to it, and even dabbed on the flats multiple times. The first half had the best conditions, so I rode it three times, the rest of the course, just once was more than enough. I didn't really crash, but then again I was moving less than 10km/h most of the time. As frustrating as it was at times, I kept thinking what a great full body workout it was. My arms and core where exhausted long before my legs even got going. Also, When I was moving I was getting amazing technical practice as you had to pick the perfect line, and stay right on it or you stopped dead. I think the reason it was so tough was because the new snow wouldn't allow my tires bite into the packed snow beneath. Imagine a loose 3 inch trail with a half foot of deep mud on each side. That's what it was like, except snow. I installed the new tires I won at Frostbike before the ride (Hutchinson Mosquito's). They were super easy to seal tubeless, and the tread was great in the snow. I will keep them on for the spring, then use them all next winter.

Here she is after some MTV style pimping. (new tires and bike lusting)

So here's the bad news, week or so ago I found what appears to be crack on the top of the seat stay weld :( See it?

I stripped the frame down last night so that it can be on its way to Kona this week. I will most likely come out with a 2010 frame, but we'll see. My Stumpy is getting ordered tomorrow, so I should have it going when I get back from Georgia. Can't wit to ride it!!

On to today's ride now:
Check out Justin's post here, it pretty much sums it up. It was just over 100km for me and about 4hrs ride time. 4 laps of the Niagara classic were on the menu, served with 4 climbs up Saylor's. I felt great on the climb, even with the headwind; a good sign for my fitness. Justin rode well too despite his hour run earlier in the day, but I could tell it hurt his climbing. On my way up Holland I got moo'd at by a cow, he could probably smell the prime rib I ate the night before. Sorry cows, but your just so delicious. I finished the ride pretty cooked, but the wind helped me keep my speed high right to my front door.

It was a big weekend for me with over 15 hours pedal time. The next four days I will be recovering by doing short rides before work. I'm off to Georgia Saturday, so I've got to rest up for that.

werd

Revenge On The Circle Route

2010-02-13T15:55:00.000-08:00

This epic day started at 7:30 for me with a big French Press. I mow'd a bowl of cereal, some toast with PB and jam then chilled and got high on caffeine. When my dad woke up he made pancakes and I had to put one of those down too. I was a little nervous about snapping my chain on the ride because when I took it off to clean it yesterday, I had to re-use a master pin to put it back on. It went in fine, but the lip that keeps it locked in was worn off from the prior installation and extraction. Before embarking on this 100+km day I had to get some more pins or a quick link for security, which I did.

I was out the door by 9am, and at Justins just before 10:30. I pounded a Powerade and was educated about fishing by his dad, while Justin got ready. We were off to Port Colbourne before 11, and zig zagged through various roads to avoid traffic and the snowy canal path. We ended up at the tip of the island separating the old and new canals, and to save time we crossed an ice bridge to get to the canal path near the hood. I made sure the ice was solid by throwing some big rocks on it. They bounced, so it was solid enough for me.

Riding through the snow on the other side was very tough, but we made it to lock 8 park in good time and crossed the canal to head over to Concession 2 road. Con. 2, then Bertie road were great country roads that I will have to ride again. We didn't see a single car for a while and there was some cool scenery. Highway 3 was next, and we stopped at the first Timmys we found in Fort Erie. I was a little sore before the stop, but was surprised how good I felt when I got back on the bike. We passed under the Peace Bridge, then began the long stretch down the Parkway. The wind was in our face, so we worked together to keep our speed up, and get some shelter. It worked great and we were both fresh every pull.

It was a relief to see Niagara Falls, as it always is on this route, and we climbed Clifton Hill to get more food form the Timmy's up top. We were flying after that stop and killed the hills along the parkway. So that Justin cold get back to Welland before dark, we cut out some of the parkway and took Queenston road back to St. Catharines. We split after crossing the Hommer bridge, and I was home about 15 minutes later. Although we cut out a bit of the full circle, that total distance was over 130kms. The fact that we were on cross bikes, with nobbies, and rode through some snow made this the most epic ride we have ever done. Total time was just shy of 6 hours pedal time, and since I didn't have my computer I don't know our average speed, but it had to have been just under 25km/h.

I was happy with how I was riding and finished quite strong considering the ride time. I didn't have much punch, but felt like I cold steadily put out a highish wattage. Justin was riding well also and seemed strong when we split.

So I got my revenge on the circle route, on a slower bike and in similarly tough conditions. Take that!

Recovery meal: Chicken Curry with a Keith's White

Ingredients: 3 large chicken breasts, red pepper, yellow pepper, 2 potatoes, two onions, garlic, 2 cans coconut milk, red and yellow curry spice, and two cups of rice. Serves 4 hungry men. Very yummy. Crap....I forgot to put mushrooms in. Oh well, next time.

Later

Chillin In Da Hood Yo

2010-02-12T18:05:00.000-08:00

Today was an intense training day in the Hood for Justin and Myself. I wanted to get 5 Frostbike laps in, if conditions allowed, but they did not. There was about 2 inches of fresh snow and only a couple tracks through it here and there prior to ours. Most climbs were not rideable, and it was even hard to make it to the climbs in some cases. My worn out Specialized "The Captain" tires did not help, and I would say that they made the course much more challenging than on my Schwalbe Rocket Rons. Still super fun though.

Second lap was much better with our tracks, and minus my booties that would pack with snow snow every time I dismounted. Made some climbs that I didn't think were possible the first time around, and felt more comfy technically. Legs were great all day but felt strongest this lap.

Third lap we went in reverse to see the trails form another perspective, and bomb down all those descents that we had to hike up in previous laps. More was rideable this way, and it was nice to not dab as much. I slid out a couple times and had some close calls, but kept it upright for the most part. Justin was practicing various crash types for and even invented some new ones. He will be the toughest guy at races so watch out for him. We finished with exhausted upper bodies, and very hungry. My core is feeling great though and I would have to say that all those planks and deadlifts are paying off. Good to know I'm doing something right.

Tomorrow we're planning 100km on road with cross bikes, Sunday I want to MTB again somewhere and Monday I'm thinking hill reps if I feel strong enough.

Only 4 more days of work till I head to Georgia!! Can't wait! Hope it warms up though because my dad said it got below zero and snowed last week while he was there. Still warmer than here though.

Peace

More Carbon!

2010-02-10T16:19:00.000-08:00

I am soon have one of these StumpJumper Carbon comps on its way to me. I will be buying it mainly for the frame, and hope to sell most of the parts in their new condition. Reason for selling parts is because I have and XTR drivetrain on my Kona as well as two wheels sets, and would prefer to swap it over. All I want to keep are the brakes, saddle and handlebar, but if you offer me the right price I will let them go. I will sell stuff cheap! here is the parts spec......

FORK

Fox Float F90 RL, 90mm travel, air spring, compression and rebound adj. w/ LO, alloy steerer

STEM

3D forged alloy, adjustable rise, 31.8mm clamp

HANDLEBARS

Specialized XC low rise bar, 7050 butted alloy, 31.8mm, 660mm wide, 8 degree back sweep, 6 degree up

GRIPS

Specialized waffle lock on grip (15.5/17) Specialized Thick lock on grip (others)

FRONT BRAKE

Custom Avid Elixir R SL, alloy backed organic pads, S/M: 160mm rotor

REAR BRAKE

Custom Avid Elixir R SL, alloy backed organic pads, 15.5/17: 140mm, other sizes: 160mm rotor

BRAKE LEVERS

Custom Avid Elixir R SL Hydraulic, tool-less adj. reach

FRONT DERAILLEUR

Shimano M660 SLX, DMD, top swing, dual pull

REAR DERAILLEUR

SRAM X-9, 9-speed, mid cage

SHIFT LEVERS

SRAM X-7, aluminum trigger

CASSETTE

Shimano HG61, 9-speed, 11-34t

CHAIN

SRAM PC-971, 9-speed w/Power Link

CRANKSET

Custom Shimano FC-M542, 15.5: 170mm, others: 175mm

CHAINRINGS

44A x 32A x 22S, 4-bolt, 104/64mm

RIMS

Custom DT Swiss X420SL, 24mm w/ eyelets, 28h/32h

FRONT HUB

Specialized Hi Lo disc, CNC flange, sealed cartridge bearing, 9mm DT RWS, alloy QR, 28h

REAR HUB

Custom Shimano M525 SL, alloy QR, 32h

SPOKES

DT Swiss 1.8mm stainless

FRONT TIRE

S-Works The Captain, 26x2.0", 120 TPI, tubeless ready aramid bead, dual compound

REAR TIRE

S-Works Fast Trak LK, 26x2.0", 120 TPI, tubeless ready aramid bead, dual compound

SADDLE

Specialized Phenom, hollow Cr-Mo rails, thin foam, S/M: 130mm, L/XL: 143mm

SEATPOST

2014 butted alloy, single bolt setback, 30.9mm

If you are interested in any of these parts, contact me (email on your right) to make an offer. I will post the length of the forks steer tube as soon as I get the bike. Don't be afraid to throw some low balls at me, I will not be offended and may like your price! Please tell your friends.

Recent Training:

Monday: recovery from race. Didn't even ride in to work because my left knee was sore from a crash in the frostbike. Work was quite physical though for a solid seven hours.

Tuesday: 1/2 hour strength workout at home. I did every excise I could think of that I felt was helping my riding. Body weight squats and jumping jacks (not many because they hurt my knee a little) worked great for a warm-up. I did wall sits, planks, pull-ups, push ups, deadlifts, swings, sit ups an calf stuff all in no particular order. Just whatever I felt like doing I did, and I left very little recovery between. I may have invented a new very effective calf workout. What I do is stand on a step with the palm of one foot, and hold a 25lb dumbbell in the matching hand, holding it for two minutes. The first minute is easy, but after that the burning is intense, an the last 30 seconds is very painful. I did each foot twice. I came up with this because I wanted to do to my calves what wall sits do to my quads; make them burn! Also, snowboarding creates a serious burn in your calves when you ride your toe edge for a long time, and I wanted to mock that. Doing partial raises or bouncing on that foot may make this even more effective. Try it.......

After that workout, I rode into work adding in an extra loop with two climbs up the escarpment. Took about one hour.

Wednesday: 1 and a 1/4 hour snowy jog. I ran on flats for 50 mins and spent about 25 mins seshing the lock 3 stair set. Went up it about ten times with a straight sprint the last time. Legs felt lite and springy so I was happy. Calves where a little sore, as expected. I spun into work after for about 1/2 hour.

I have a lot of riding planed for the rest of the week and over the long weekend. Hood on Friday, Hill reps one day and a really long road ride if the weather is decent. Gonna be fun, I can't wait to go back to the hood!

Peace and love

Frostbike Race Report

2010-02-07T16:22:00.000-08:00

This epic day began no late than 6am for me. I wanted to sleep till 7:30, but when you wake up stoked to race on a sick course its hard to chill and get more rest. So I got up and mow'd down a PB and Banana sandwich on "Viking" bread (Rye and sourdough), then laid on the couch and watched some Comedy Now. I got up at 8, pressed some coffee to fill a thermos, got my shit together and ate some yogurt, more bread and an apple then went outside to wait for Derek M to pick pick me up. He arrived 3 minutes later than he said he would, and then we were off to pick up JC R.

We got to the venue with plenty of time to register, change and warm up. I headed towards the course with Derek for a little pre-ride action, but he peeled off and I ended up riding most of the course alone. I made it back to the start area just after the rider briefing started, then I lined up with Justin H and Brandon E to start the race.

My original plan was to hold back on my first lap (each counted separate) and hammer on the second, where I would feel better mentally and physically. That plan changed when I saw I had a gap on my challengers early in the race. I upped my effort and kept it as smooth as possible from there. I was taking the corners easy, and punching it out of them as fast as I could. I made sure I had a good punch ready for all the short, techy climbs, and I almost rode them all. I crashed a few times, but they were nothing that a run and CX style remount couldn't fix. I finished strong and ready to go out for a second lap. Brandon finished a minute or two after, and unfortunately for Justin he snapped his chain and got a DNF for that race. I will teach him how to dial his derailleurs so that doesn't happen again.

I ate a banana, a hammer gel and drank some Gatorade, then I was off for my second lap. I doubted I could put down a faster time, but if the course was faster, and/or I avoided the crashes I had lap one, you never know what could happen. That was not the case. I found some new places to crash and flatted my front tire when trying to turn out of a rut. Stan the man and a Co2 cartridge took care of it, but after that I decided to just enjoy the lap, and have fun on my new favorite trails. The trails were a lot more challenging on lap two with all the ruts and the softer conditions from then sun beating down on them. Still wicked fun though. If anyone could beat my 37 minute lap in those conditions, they would really deserved the win, and I would have to be a bike handling superstar. Brandon could not do it, nor could Justin who was at a disadvantage riding a big wheel bike with no gears.

Me squeezing by the rock

The Après race party at the Funky Monkey was just as fun as the race itself. I drank about seven too many beers, enjoyed some fine chilly and an order of nachos with JC, Derek and Justin. A race win, and being surrounded by so many great people calls for celebration like such. I won a year membership at Premier Fitness (can't wait to activate that) for my win, and a set of Hutchinson Mosquito's as a draw price. Great prizes...thanks so much everyone!!!!

I scaled myself up before my shower and I was shocked to see that I am down to 145lbs! That's over 10lbs lighter than I was when I came back from Canmore, and I had a belly full of beer and pizza! I think I will easily come back down to 140lbs before my race season begins as I ramp up my mileage and spend 18 days down south. That's right 18 days! I am spending the last week of February just north of Atlanta Georgia, then I come home for ten days before going south again for the OCA camp. Can't wait to get down there, but I have some more strength training to get done first, as well as many more base miles.

Thanks so much Shorthills Cycling club, and sponsors for the epic event. This was one of my favourite races ever, on what I would have to say was my favourite course. Also, thanks Winter for the nice snow coverage, sun and bearably cold temps.

It was an epic day I will never forget!!!

Oh, and I found out whats good about football. Its so boring that it doesn't distract you at all while your trying to type. Even if you love football, there is so much "nothing happenings time"/commercial time, that you can get so much done.

All for now, and thanks again everyone who made today happen!

My Performance Enhancer Of Choice

2010-02-06T17:31:00.000-08:00

These are some lightly used Dura-Ace C-50 Tubulars that I picked up today. The stickers were swapped for the smaller C-24 ones once the original ones began to peel, making them look more stealthy. They had cross tubies glued on prior, and I just finished picking off the old glue. I will most likely buy the Continental Competition tubulars to glue on, and only use these wheels for road racing, and maybe the odd training ride. Can't wait to ride them! They look soooo fast. Thanks for the sweet deal Joe.

Today I got to tear up the Hood with Justin Henry. I had never seen these trails prior to today, and I regret not getting to them sooner. They are sick! So fun, flowy and tight. Much more O cup like than any other trails in Niagara. I am going to have to make it there as much as possible. Jeff K was bang on when he said the current trail conditions were like Ganaraska in the summer. The snow rides like sand, and your tires will wash out easily if you don't distribute your weight perfectly. There was very little ice visible and easy lines around it. I had a couple crashes, but they were nothing like the ones Justin was having. I was just sliding out here and there, but Justin on the other hand was getting some air time and trying to show the trees who's boss. We left in one piece, ready to go back tomorrow and time trial the course. It's gonna be a damn fun race!

Thanks for all the work on the course Shorthills crew!!

Accepted

2010-02-02T15:57:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was kinda exciting for me because it was the day that I received my acceptance letter for college. I am now officially going to school for construction engineering and Architecture at Niagara College. Construction and Architecture have been a passion of mine since early in elementary school, so I think I will enjoy the course very much and hopefully land myself a cool job later down the road. I made sure that the course had summers off so that I can work at Liberty! part time, and push myself as far as I can with racing. To be able to race full time after school, before starting a career, is the goal that I am working towards.

I already had some scary thoughts about having to use pencils, binders and textbooks again, but that was expected since I have been out of school for two full years. I know that I have learned way more in the last two years than I did in my whole life though. To learn about what really matters and whats best for you, you just have to live. That shit cannot be taught.

On to training now:

Monday- rest day. Easy commute to and from work, just over 20km.

Today- 20 min strength and core workout followed by 1hr jog/agility. Spent 10 minutes on the lock 3 stair set doing double taps switching between leading legs. I felt worked after and was sure to spin easy on my commute into work.

As of yesterday I am now signed up to race the first ever "Frostbike" happening this weekend. That means no hill repeats this weekend, and a fun race instead. I hope to preride on Saturday because I have never riddin these trails before and hear there pretty technical. I waited till now to register because I don't have studded tires and the last thing I want to do is hurt myself trying to race on an icy course. There has been a little snow to cover most ice, and more is expected so it should be good for rubber. I'll find out soon enough.

Other good news for me is that I got into the OCA spring camp in South Carolina. That goes from March 11-21st and is road and MTB. So stoked for it and can't wait to go. It'll be a great experience and will be very beneficial to my riding.

See ya at the Frostbike.