Nationals 2015, Saint Felicien

It's been a while since my first elite national championship race in 2012, which was at St. Félicien as well. I'm happy to say that my blog writing has improved at least!

My last blog post alluded to the fact that I wasn't feeling strong yet, and that the blown disk/sciatic nerve problems were over - but all of that time stuck in bed had a real toll on my body as well. I had most of the week to prepare on the course, and I was feeling quite confident in my technical skills/speed and control through some pretty gnarly sections of the course. The course itself was amazing; it started with a steep gravel climb up to the top of a ski hill, then we descended through berms, over rollers, and over a bridge that crosses the course into a big rock garden. Next we climbed back up a bit, went through a big rocky feature, then over a drop that shot into a berm. After this was a climb that brought us to a flat section of fast trail then tons of man-made rocky features with spectators everywhere. Next was a steep, technical climb back to the top of the hill, and some fast trail before a totally steep and technical descent, more climbing, descending another total steep chute, and that was the lap (repeat 6 times if you are racing the elite men's category). 

Thanks Eric Barnabe for taking these photos

I was really happy with my tires for the course, and got to practice on consistent conditions all week - which made it all the more annoying when it poured torrentially the night before the race and rained all morning. This made the course a lot tougher, and watching the women's race was somewhere between funny and worrying, as you could see people falling everywhere. I switched my tires the day before the race so that I would have grip in the muck, and convinced myself that a race in such tough conditions may help to slow the other, fitter guys down a bit. 

All of that mud didn't stop my charm (Hannah Clarke photo)

The race start line was one of the most tense that I had ever been on, nobody was talking (french or english), the crowds were all completely silent, and I don't even think that there was any music playing over the PA system. Maybe it's because we had all seen how much the women were falling in their race, and were all a bit scared, but nobody was even looking at each other, everyone was just staring at the steep hill that we were about to climb, probably wondering if they'd have some sort of cardiac arrest induced by chasing the Pan Am champion up hills and through the bush for close to two hours. Finally the silence was broken "30 seconds until start", said the PA system, and then about a quarter of the guys started praying. 

The back of the race start, check out the focus on my face (André Chevrier photo)

The start was eventful, something happened probably 5 seconds into the race that almost caused a 12 person pile up, but we managed to stay on our bikes, and I felt strong as we shot up the hill - for the first 10 seconds, then I was just trying to move forward and not be last up the hill. As one may expect, it didn't matter anyways because there was a bit of a traffic jam going on anyways, so the leaders were already pretty much down the hill by the time that I could move at my own speed.

Pan Am champion still in good form leading the race, I'm in the traffic jam by the trees (André Chevrier photo)

I got into a groove, and made some passes in the upcoming section, aggressively moving my way into the top 20 (probably my favourite part of the entire race was when the trail widened up and I passed 3 guys at once as spectators were cheering and yelling). My speed was short lived however, as I opted not to wear glasses for the race, and I got a ton of mud stuck in my eye. Racing with the pros in the mud on a technical course with one eye closed is not ideal, so I slowed down and kept moving until the feed zone, unable to blink the much out of my eyes (contact lenses were also a concern). I came through the feed zone on the first lap looking for a neutral water feed, but the neutral feeds weren't ready for me (nobody gets a feed in the first 10 minutes of a race). I had a quick stop to rinse my eye and got going again, but by this point I had lost probably 5 positions. 

Chasing wheels early in the race, still clean and ready to put my surprise attack on these guys
(Eric Barnabe photo)

It's tough losing ground so quickly for a few reasons; firstly there's the obvious one that while everyone is going super fast and jostling for positions early in the race I was just trying to be able to see again. Secondly I was riding with guys that push me, meaning that I would ride harder because they are so close to my ability (if not a bit better). By the time I was moving again I was being caught by the last few guys (who are still incredible athletes - it takes real commitment just to make it to the elite category), but it's not the same as racing right beside the faster guys who I had worked hard to pass and to stay with. 

The paparazzi were sneaky in this race, hiding in the bushes (Hannah Clarke photo)

The rest of the race I worked on consistency and keeping the rubber side down. It was a tough race, but I was riding all the features, and apart from a bit of a pile up in a steep, muddy chute it was pretty incident free. I felt way better than the week before at Baie St. Paul, and my legs were strong - I just didn't have the lungs to support racing fast. I could push at about 85% of my normal self I think, but technically I was riding well, and I was stronger than the week before!

The picture quality isn't great, but watching this moment of racing is going to always stick with me, Quinton, you rock man.

It was great to race in Quebec, I met some pretty fantastic people, and they treat their athletes properly - free beer for elite athletes after the race. Because most of the elite athletes don't really drink, I was able to wrangle up some extra free drinks and had a good post-race social with my friends Dylan and Emily. None of us were overly thrilled with our race, but there was a second chance - the team relay is always the next day. The course would be the same as the elite course minus one of the super technical descents and some climbing. We decided to put a team in and give it a go. After a few beers I thought that the reason that I didn't go fast was simply because I didn't try hard enough, and was set on kicking ass in the relay to prove to myself that I was really fast.

A lot cleaner without that rain (Scott Lynch photo)

I did get blown out of the water, which makes sense because while the other athletes were still training 10-20 hours per week, I was sitting in bed. I'm happy to say I have power back in my legs, and the lungs will come back with time. At least I know where I stand, and the team had fun anyways!

What a buff team! (Sylvie Chénier photo)

I may only have a few big races left this season, but I've been training very hard again, I'm just as focused and motivated as ever, and with the support that I've got, I'll be flying at the Ontario Cup in 2 weeks in Muskoka.

Taking a step back

After finally feeling like I had my legs under me at the Canada Cup at Hardwood Ski and Bike (despite a bit of a lackluster result - I promise that I can do better), I got back to Kingston to relax for a day and then put in a solid training block before a trip that I've got planned to Quebec for Nationals and a Canada Cup. Days off, in my opinion are the perfect time to do other cool stuff, like rock climbing, running, swimming, the usual. I had an epic time rock climbing, finishing it all off with a core routine on the rings that makes people look like this:

Does anyone else want me to start an album of this man working out?

So Tuesday comes along, I've got a solid training plan for 3 weeks mapped out (thanks Andrew at AWI Coaching), and boom! Unmanageable amounts of pain through my lower back and down my legs. Turns out that I've screwed up a disk in my spine, which has bulged out of my back and is pinching my sciatic nerve. Since then I haven't really walked much, avoided carrying anything anywhere, and not been biking at all. My face looks like that if I get out of bed now. The last two days I've been out of the house and going to campus, I just take regular breaks and lie down lots! I've gotten to physio, and I've got some stretches that should encourage the disk to go back to where it belongs. It does suck to take time off and lie in bed for 2 weeks, but I'll be back in peak shape quickly after my back fixes itself - staying positive is the trick here.
If anybody has any advice for sciatic nerve problems and blown disks I would love any input that I can get! See y'all soon.

Canada Cup at Horseshoe

What's the perfect way for a bike racer to spend a weekend that there is no race? Getting a new bike of course! And the best way to test the new bike? A Canada Cup course at Horseshoe Resort, of course. I had a bit of an odd week, with nerve issues in my back actually. Once I got back to Kingston I had some serious issues to sort out; my right leg had slowly got worse to the point that I couldn't bend my knee past 90 degrees, and any bend in my spine would cause intense pain down by my tail bone. It was a total kicker to have my sweet new bike sitting in my living room and not be able to touch it, not to mention how nervous I was not being able to train (or move my legs or back properly) before the race.

Being a graduate student at Queen's University may be hectic, and unpredictable but it does come with benefits. I'm on a couple of lists for varsity teams, and Queen's really does treat their athletes well! We get discounted physio so that with our health plan it ends up being free for a lot of visits (I hope that I still have some free visits...). Another great thing for me was that my main guy for physio (who had been off for 2 months) was finally back, starting the Monday before the Canada Cup. I went to physio starting Tuesday, and we established that I had some sort of nerve entrapment, and that my muscles were very tight in my bum and lower back, but even after physio on Wednesday all we could do was tape my back and hope that helps. By Friday I was still super stiff, not riding, and leaving town for a Canada Cup. I figured that I'd just have to ride through whatever happens, honestly I have 5 chances at national races this year and I wasn't going to complain or miss one of them.

A photo posted by @cfruetel on Jun 3, 2015 at 12:13pm PDT

Ice baths were a daily occurence for me, anything to numb the pain.

I headed up to the course a night early because, why not? I knew that I wouldn't get there much before dark, but I had some great friends to camp with in the bushes right by the course, though we don't always have the best ideas. My friend Roy and I had been talking about giving my new bike more suspension (according to him, it was as easy as taking out a spacer in the fork), and around midnight after some drinks and much needed campfire time we pulled my fork apart. It turns out that the magic spacer to give more suspension travel doesn't exist, and that we didn't have snapring pliers (we ended up ruining my toolbox tweezers). The end product was an over oiled fork with ironically 30% less suspension.

A photo posted by @cfruetel on Jun 9, 2015 at 5:33am PDT

The course was amazing, and I got to ride my first lap of it behind my coach Andrew Watson, which was helpful to learn the good lines through the trail, and soak up all of the advice from Andrew that I could on rear suspension and course tactics. Turns out that we were messing with perfection the night before, that bike floated through all of the tough sections, mastered the rocks, and flew through the fast sections. The only problem was that I couldn't keep air in my rear tire, I ended up doing the first half of the lap 4 times before I finally gave up on the tire and put a new one on (but I never finished the lap off). The trick for me on this course was wide tires, which help through the sand and through the rocky features.

Concentrating (and probably forgetting to breathe) through the rock garden
(Hannah Clarke photo)

The magic thing about a couple of nights spent in a tent was that it somehow fixed my back. Sure it wasn't perfect, but I wasn't wincing with every footstep, it almost didn't hurt to get in and out of my car, and I could ride my bike and maneuver it comfortably. The race was a big deal, with a really big field, the including number one call up from Guatamala (must be prepping for Pan Am games). It had been pretty dry for a while at Horseshoe, and result was a chaotic start that was so dusty that you couldn't see anything. I wasn't even riding on the trail as we climbed up the ski hill, but I was following the pack and staying on the wheel of the guy ahead of me. Miraculously I've only heard of one crash in this start, Evan McNeely from the Norco team had a tumble, but managed to pull his way back to the podium - well done.

This is after it spread out a bit and we still had quite a dust cloud (Hannah Clarke photo)

The start of these races are always chaotic, and you can't let anyone gain an inch on you, or you'll get pushed off the trial. You ride with your elbows out, and you stick to the guy ahead of you - especially when the trial gets tighter. I was sitting in good position into the first piece of tight trail (called "singletrack"), and pushed hard up a steep hill that linked to the next piece of singletrack when I got "Quebecced".  If someone calls a pass in a logical place and is going faster and has room ahead, and it's not too dangerous, typically you don't pedal for a second, get passed, and keep on racing. This was not that. This guy called a pass as we were taking a tight left hand turn into the next bit of singletrack, to which I said no (we were riding in a big train, I was keeping close to the guy ahead's wheel, and he was on the next guy up the trial's wheel etc.). He proceeded to check me off the trail into the bush, and another guy from his team made sure that I couldn't get back on the trail by also passing at the same time. I was within the top 25 riders for sure at this point, and something had caught itself in my new bike, I couldn't pedal even. I lost probably 10 positions while fixing my bike, and was riding at a much slower pace than I would have once I got back on (I had fallen to a slower region of the pack). I made a few passes when I could, and figured that I'd make up some serious ground on the long, wide gravel road climb in the last third of the lap.

Losing space up the hill, getting passed by Robin (thanks Catrina for the picture)

I fell back a lot on this climb however, and couldn't seem to find any speed, and had to make back the time on the punchier climbs and technical sections. This is where I'm happy and amazed with my new bike. The race was my 5th ride on it I believe, and I felt right at home, catching up and passing guys through the technical sections of trail. I had a great battle with a friend from Ontario named Robin, he would kick my arse up the hill every time, but I managed to catch him through the other sections of the course. He also passed with courtesy and would let me pass when I called the pass. By the 3rd lap guys were already getting pulled off the course by the 80% rule (if you're not within 80% of the fastest rider, you're pulled off the course in pro national events). This brought a new focus to the race, as in my last Canada Cup at Tremblant I had been pulled after 3 laps. I pulled away from Robin, but he still made a gap between us on the uphill, and that left a long downhill section to catch him back for what could potentially be my last lap.

You can see the wheel that I'm trying to get away from just behind me
(Hannah Clarke photo)

As we got closer to the lap zone I heard the whistle blowing, and there was still some serious ground to catch; if I was going into a corner or technical bit, Robin was going into the next one, so probably 15 seconds ahead or so. I went quick, not taking risks so that I'd fall and lose another position, but fast enough to catch back my ground and pass Robin by the lap/finish zone I figured. I came out of the huge rock garden and started to sprint, only to notice that Robin had already been pulled off course and that they were not pulling off course at the lap/finish zone. Looks like I'll have to get him next time! Not bad for a guy who couldn't ride or walk so well all week, I was 39th, which doesn't sound bad if I say it like "well there are only 38 dudes in the country faster than me", right?? Luckily I have the opportunity to race a Canada Cup again this Sunday, at Hardwood Ski and Bike near Barrie; another Canada Cup...Back to where I broke my ribs last year. I'm scared, but I'm bringing my A game, so watch out!

Spring Epic 8 hour

Before my disastrous attempt at the first Ontario Cup of the season and the following flu, I had committed to an 8 hour race the next weekend. 8 hour races are more like festivals really than races; teams of 1, 2, 4, or 6 can be entered and they are raced as relay races. Because there are so many people allowed on each team, you end up with a whole lot of people at the course, all set up with tents, coolers, bikes, and music. Sure there are serious guys and serious teams, but it really just like a festival. Team Progressive/Superfly/Maverix was set up in true style with the Progressive Nutrition girls handing out electrolyte drinks and recovery shakes.

I still didn't really have a stomach that could eat much, but I tried and had an egg and a couple bites of oatmeal, and we got on our way. I was set up to tag team the race with Jasiu Kocemba (also known as Junior), a wicked fast junior racer. We did 2 laps at a time each, alternating while doing the 200+m of climbing. Maverix Racing also had Ryan and Lindsay racing the tag team mixed category, and some guys on a 4 person team, plus Matt and Kelsey testing their legs on the course solo (8 gnarly hours in 30+ degrees!).

Start line stories

The race start was a bit chaotic, I did have a front line position, but I was basically starting in a sandbox and got crashed into by two other people before I could properly clip into my bike and get moving in a straight line. I got pretty flusetered after that and by the time that we had climbed up the first major climb, I was sitting pretty in 4th place - I knew this was pretty aggressive for a tag team rider, but my ego needed it after last weekend. Here I was cruising in the top 10 riders and hear some familiar joking coming from beind me, Kelsey and Matt had made it onto the back of my wheel - for bettter or for worse. I reminded them that their goal was to finish all 8 hours of the race on their own, but I guess we got a bit caught up in the moment. By the last quarter of my first lap I was starting to feel like throwing up and it was a long day after that. I slowed down and let Matt and Kelsey ride away from me, which is never an easy thing to do, but I benefitted in the long run from putting my ego aside and pace more moderately. I still came in from my first two laps in good standing, and Junior was a perfect partner for the race.

Smooth handoffs of the timing chip and safe storage (up my shorts) is important!

I had trouble putting back any food, but between the laps I would eat a half of a CLIF bar and some of the phytoberry and vegegreens product from Progressive nutrition. This small amount of sustenance was enough to keep me motoring as one of the fastest riders all day. Being teammates with Jasiu meant that I was treated like royalty and taken care of by his dad Simon Kocemba, who made sure I always had cold towels after my laps, that we knew when to get the timing chip, and that my bike was always in order. By the end of the day, Jasiu and I managed a collective 15 laps, lapping second place!

A gold medal on my birthday!

The Maverix 4 man team did quite well, with another solid 1st place finish, but I can't say the same for our poor boys out riding on a solo mission. Matt unfortunately had a big crash which resulted in a broken bike and staples to put his knee back together (he has made an unbelievably fast recovery since then), and Kelsey paid for those early sprints with some serious cramping. At one point in the race I passed by Kelsey on the side of the trail bent over his bike all seized up, I wanted to help him but he told me to keep riding. About 10 seconds later my leg seized up too. Real bros have sypathy cramps for eachother.

Happy team going home with lots of hardware, I missed the picture though..

Back to racing 2015 - struggles of the first big race

This year in Canada (especially in Kingston - why did I move here?) we've had a drawn out and cold winter. I managed to get down south for some road bike races with the Queen's road cycling team (not really a focus of mine, but nice to get onto moving bikes outside), followed by an amazing race called the Uxbridge Icebreaker which was the first real mountain bike ride of the season for me!

The weather down south wasn't much better (this is Boston) -Philippe Tremblay photo

The trip to Vermont was amazing, thanks UVM for hosting me!

Second mountain bike ride of the year - Uxbridge Icebreaker - Hannah Clarke photo

There are a few reasons that I didn't cover these races on my blog - school (I've been working so much here that I ended up growing a "paper beard" that I wouldn't let myself shave until I finished a paper)

A quick selfie in my office at Queen's - what do you think of the beard?

And because I wanted to give some coverage of the exciting new team that I get to be a part of; Team Progressive powered by  Superfly/Maverix Racing! Small bits of info and teasers have been coming at me all winter from Jay, our main man/team manager and it all came together for me when last week I was invited to a nutrition seminar at the Progressive Nutrition headquarters. I met half of the team there (some of them for the first time), and was greeted in the parking lot by Jay, who had some important things for me. Firstly, he had a burrito, the Jay E. (he's kind of like Jay-Z) special from Mucho Burrito (you can ask for it anywhere in the country, I like mine with a little extra spice), next he had some fresh kits (what bikers call uniforms), and finally he had some AWESOME swag fro POC.

A hood full of awesome new things (good thing for THULE to make my car an SUV right?)

The nutrition seminar was great, but at the end I had to ask "So how big is my shopping list if I want to get all of these things?", apparently everything I need except DHA and EPA fats (which I can get in fish oil) come with 1 shake per day of VegEssentials - not bad. I'm pretty excited to be working with Progressive Nutrition because for a guy like me who's always busy and doesn't exactly have tons of time for shopping and cooking, it's nice to just have a shake and worry less.

Missing tons half of the team here unfortunately

We got all set up on the Saturday of the weekend with a new tent/expo area to hang out under, and it was great to have such support at the race. Saturday a few of us Maverix guys took groups out riding on the course to build confidence on the trails, and I was really enjoying the beautiful day - I really didn't want to leave (and spent a bit too much time in the sun).

Riding with these guys was a treat, So great to see their improvements after just one lap!

On Sunday, I showed up with a perfect bike, but 5 minutes after I got there I had a flat tire, and then a brake issue. I put my bike into the stand under the tent to get to work on it and I was almost pushed out of the way by our MVP this weekend Simon, who fixed and cleaned my bike.

On the start line I was calm and ready, I had trained harder than ever this winter, and some some pretty great fit things - time to reap the benefits. The race start was fast, but not out of control fast until we reached the first steep climb of the lap, and that was when it started to really hurt. I told myself that I would settle in, and that I could do these efforts, so I pushed it hard to keep my position in the pack. I was gasping for air and definitely not going as fast as I thought I should - but I pushed, thinking that the efforts would feel more reasonable once I had raced a bit longer.

I really couldn't manage a smile - not feeling good at all (Thanks Elissa for the photo)

By the second lap I had been passed by more and more riders, and I knew that I wasn't feeling good. My back seized up, and I really contemplated dropping out of the race. What was the point of all the work that I had done if I was even slower than last year? I started to think about all of my goals for the year and how they were all so unlikely now, and really got down on myself. I knew that I was racing for dead last, and it was painful that that became obvious to me in the second lap of a five lap race, but I stuck it out. I thought that maybe all that I needed was to train at the super high heart rates that a mountain bike race brings on, so at least I would be "racing into fitness" (using races to get performance gains). Besides, I'd rather finish DFL (Dead eFfing Last) than have a DNF (Did Not Finish) beside my name, at least I'd finish with my integrity.

Even my hoverbike didn't help me that day (Thanks Elissa for the photo)

Maybe a smile would have made me ride faster? Probably. 

I tried not to show how unhappy I was and be a good sport, but all of the pictures of me in that race I have this same dumb unimpressed look, sorry guys.

This is what grouchy Chris sprinting on to a lonely sprint finish looks like:

I'm convinced that I will be racing a lot faster in the future, and that this is an isolated incident (I was in bed for the day 3 days later with the flu). Thanks Mom too for coming to watch me race and hand out water bottles, love you! I'm planning to be back on top of my game for the 8 hour race on Saturday at Mansfield. It's my birthday and 8 hour races are almost like bike festivals for the day, so I invite anyone to come out and race a few laps! Mostly it's a great social event to get out, try a race course, and meet lots of people.

PS throw my new team some "likes" on Facebook and Instagram, we've got some great media and love to see the support!

Vous êtes dans la mauvaise province!

The past week and a half have seen a major bike project and a surprisingly fun bike race, so first, the project: to build my own set of carbon wheels. I had broken my rear race wheel with one bad hit while "Gnarvesting" for a weekend with Kelsey at Sir Sam's and was in need of wheels that were once again round. Hopefully some that would stay that way for a long time, but still be light enough to be competitive at the highest level of cross country competition. Also this had to be done on a budget since all costs related to biking basically go into the pile that is the debt that I'll be paying back after I graduate. Chris right now wants good wheels, future Chris who's paying them off may not be so impressed, that kind of thing. So I optimistically bought some carbon wheels from China, and patiently waited for them to be built and to arrive.

The first criteria of a cheap wheel rebuild was that I was only replacing the rims; spokes and hubs had to come from my old wheels. Secondly, I can't afford to pay someone else to build them for me - so I had to do the labor myself. To use the same spokes and hubs I had to get an oversized 30 mm wide set of rims, they're seriously badass, and bigger means better right? At least they're stiffer and should hopefully last longer. It took me most of my Canada Day weekend, but BAM! I have some sweet sweet wheels who's street value may be close to $1600 if they had a name brand on them, and I'm happy about that!

As for riding the new wheels, well they're still round! I love how firm my bike feels when I'm doing technical bits of trail and going off drops or high speed turns or any combination thereof. The bad thing is that I already have one of the stiffest raciest frames on the market (Trek Superfly SL), and with these new carbon rims, I feel the trail a lot! Sure they're fast, but in flat trail where I'd like to sit down that has lots of roots and stuff, my back really takes a pounding. I'll have to grow into them I guess?

Living in Kingston, Ontario has me within a 2 hour drive to the Quebec border, and I needed to tune my legs up and get a feel for them after the problematic month and a half I've been having. I packed up the car, brought the best support I could get, and went to the Camp Fortune Quebec Cup.

Tori gave me a new bottle every lap, and stood out in 30 degree sun, thanks!

The course was super fun - not really much double track, just wide technical trail where you could make some tactical passes - but I saw a few that didn't go so well. I got to the race start a bit later but I heard them calling names so I figured that I'd be called up the same place no matter what. I heard my name said with a thick french accent and thought, "Finally, some respect!" as I grabbed my bike lifted it up high and began to make my way to the front of the group. Everybody stared at me and nobody was making way, when I heard "Do you understand french?" This is attendance." I guess that I wasn't going to get that call up after all...

Once the race had started I wasted no time in getting into the top 10 and riding quickly up the trails alongside the ski hill.

Sneaking up the side

Through the first lap it became apparent that the guys who had raced this course before knew a lot more about how to work the course through the race, and which lines were best to ride. I lost track of the guys ahead of me and was playing cat and mouse with someone trying to catch from behind, trying to keep my pace up through the downhill. By the end of the first lap I had been passed by someone, but I was going into the second lap (of 5) in good position. As I started working my way through the incredibly hot switchback section, unfortunately I had a bike malfunction which took a minute to fix, and lost me a couple of positions.

Keep reading to find out about the dirt on the shoulder, the blood on my knee, and the hole in my shorts!

After fixing my bike and riding on my own for a bit, I noticed that a couple of junior (17-18yr old) riders were catching me from behind, so I slacked my pace and let them pass me so that I could have some riders to pace with. The juniors were a treat while passing me; there was a small section of trail that was maybe wide enough to pass somebody, followed by a 90 degree turn to a steep, wide uphill section. As I was in the first section that I had just mentioned, one junior snuck by me, while the other was yelling for me to get out of the way. Obviously my plan was to wait for about 3 seconds to where the trail widened up enough for the 3 of us to ride side by side and then let them by and ride as the 3rd rider in a train. Junior #1 however in his great rush and excitement fell down in front of me as we were turning into the steep hill, I handily dodged sideways, but junior #2 behind me hit the other kid on the ground, and they took another few minutes to get by me.

Once they had caught me again I was surprised to see that these were not the smooth riders to follow that I was hoping for, but their panicked and excited style of racing kept me going quick - I just needed to give them their space. As we were sprinting along a slightly downhill and rocky section of trail, my chain magically popped apart, and I went down HARD. I pulled the seat out of the left side of my bum and found my chain, wrapped around a tree about 4 feet off the ground. I put the chain back on the bike and realized that it was my quick link that had come out - the one special link in my chain that could be taken apart by hand with no tool. I was a bit confused by his but took my time in putting things back together, got on the bike, and decided to ride a high tempo for the remainder of the race (the weather was 30+ degrees and the following 2 weekends are national level races, no need to over stress my body).

I rode in to a solid 13th place, and had a great time racing at Camp Fortune. It was also great to have some additional support from my buddy Alan, who  brought his super cute 1 year old boy

They were our biggest rival, but now..

Well, it's been a while – probably close to the longest period of time that I've spent since creating my blog that I haven't updated it, and for good reason! Last post described my life in Algonquin, which was great! I have since got back to the same nomadic lifestyle of spending a week here, a few days there, working and trying to keep fit – but with a difference – in January I'm settling down. Settling down for two years! I'll be living in Kingston, ON doing my Master's in Civil Engineering at Queen's University. That's right Mike and Dave, two more years of University Cup racing, and now I can harass the Queen's University team from the inside. I'm super stoked to be working with the Queen's team.

   But I can't forget where I came from

Because Guelph Cycling are the classiest folks I know

I'll have to teach the Queen's team a bit about cheering

And I'll never forget the first time we won the University Cup

And I'll always miss Moe Hill repeats

Before I get too lost in nostalgia and start crying I'll finish with saying who wouldn't want to be part of such a good looking team?

And of course excited for cross training with this guy

Ontario Cup 6, Germany, and Algonquin

Ontario Cup #6

Well, it’s been a while – the last time that I wrote in here would have been after the Nationals race at Hardwood, and since then a LOT has happened (which has also had a great influence on my racing).  First and foremost, I finished my work off at the farm and had my first trip to Europe! Tori and I both went to Germany for an interview actually (the company brought us over, and the understanding is that we are a bit of a package deal). This was an awesome experience; Southern Germany is so beautiful, and the food and beer is both plentiful and great. Unfortunately for my cycling however, I spent much of the time with company engineers drinking beers and no time on the bike.  We left Germany on a Tuesday, and that night I went to bed in Algonquin Park (one serious day of travelling).

They even rolled out the red carpet at our hotel in Germany!

Now I’m in Algonquin working a 7 week contract with the Ministry of Natural Resources living at the Harkness Fisheries Research Station.  Harkness is kind of like staying at a 5 star rustic resort; food is always cooked for me, I live in a little cabin in the bush on Lake Opeongo (the largest lake in the park), and they actually pay me to go hang out in a boat all day! The work I have been hired for is fisheries netting, currently we are doing a broad scale monitoring program which involves putting out and pulling in 18 or more nets every day. This means throwing out and pulling back into the boat sometimes more than 100m of rope attached to about 80m of nets (which is tough on the hands!).  A basic day at Harkness is: Breakfast at 7am (which is cooked), pack lunch and fill boat with gas by 7:30-8:00, net till 6ish, come back and eat, then camp fires, slack lining, euchre, running, or riding. Unfortunately again for my cycling, the food here is very good, I spent the first week and a half without my bike, and there really aren’t many trails that I’m allowed to ride on in the park. But I’m quite comfortable and happy here!

With fish geeks like Claire

Living on a Lake in our own little cabin village.

And from time to time going on flights in planes with ridiculous names like the "Turbo Beaver"

This past weekend was Ontario Cup number 6 at Duntroon, and was the first ride over an hour and a half that I had in 3 weeks, which also followed a 2 week hiatus from my bike. I have one great picture to sum up what happened:

 

That is the look of pain and determination on my face, because it sure took a lot of both to finish that race. Temperatures were a scorching 30 degrees (compared with Algonquin Park which has been cold enough for me to layer up to 4 layers while working), and the race was a doozy. Very hilly, and fairly technical, with creek crossings, big rocks, and tight trees. Normally I wouldn’t consider this a very technical course, but in my current state of not having ridden bikes, I was hitting my bars off trees, and not really riding as fast as I know that I am capable of at all. To compound things, my poor, shocked legs were spasm-ing for 4 laps out of the 5 lap race, ceasing up a lot. On the bright side, however, my bike worked flawlessly, I had some great fun on the trails again (finally), and they had cool features like this

The best part of every lap

As well as uncool features like this

My face looks worse than my rear at this point.

It wasn't my best race, but I finished a great personal trial, and have a couple of weeks to build toward Provinicals and see what kind of result I can scrounge out of a bit of an unlucky season! Anyways, I start work in about an hour – Just another day in Paradise!

Always some great photos here