Lake to Lake was tons of fun! While it lasted. I got off the front in a group of about 10 guys, and it started out like a road race. People pulling (which I did too much of and Anton yelled at me for), people breaking away, people getting caught back, and then my flat tire happened...
Fortunately it was just a rock puncture, I lost about half of my pressure, but the sealant on the inside of the tire kept me going. After stopping to check it out, the gameplan was just to crack open a CO2 and re-inflate the tire at the first bit of singletrack...Besides I felt like a total power house! I had managed to stay with the group even while riding such low pressure, and then worked my way back into their ranks, surely I was in contention for the money, no?
Then another flat happened. This time it brought me too close to empty to want to keep riding on, so I stopped and reinflated the tire, and yelled out encouragement at my buddy Alex, and reinflated the tire. I still felt like a champ when I got back on my bike for the second time now and pinned down the trail. Before long I was on Alex's tail and told him to follow, but I guess I was so caught up in the moment that I didn't slow down and just kept going and he didn't keep up. I was riding through some tall grassy trails and couldn't see beneath me, and suddenly bam! Flat. This one wasn't going to re-seal itself...so I set about taking off the tire to put a tube in. Unfortunately the tire was too tight for me to take off on the side of the trail and I was at the mercy of the riders going by for both a tire lever, and a pump. Alex supplied the pump, and some guy racing with his daughter (on fathers's day!) supplied the tire lever, and Don (a friend) gave me an extra CO2 cartridge (I couldn't get that pump to work!).
By the time I was back on the bike though I realized the race was over for me. It took long enough that I stood basically no chance of catching back those top 10 guys (all of whom are fast elite-level racers), especially if I couldn't ride the trails at my own pace (stuck behind the slower waves of cyclists).
The rest of the race was a time-trial with huge breaks during the singletrack (of which there was 25km - that I hadn't hit yet). I learned my lesson though, the lightest tires on the market should not be trusted on a foreign course tubeless - they just pop like balloons.
The week's been interesting since though, more on that later.
Thank you Hannah Clarke
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
My first race in the "money division"
...is looking pretty doomed right now! Today I had the intention of fixing, cleaning, and riding my bike, and cleaning my house for the big potluck that is going down tonight. WELL. The house got 1/3 of the way to clean, and I wandered out to the garage to start fixing my bike, to put new tires onto. I'm racing at the Lake to Lake 55km race tomorrow, and heard it's a pretty fast course, so decided to go with my semi-slick Schwalbe Furious Fred semi slick tires in 2.0 (low volume, and skinny). I sealed up the tires, and went to make them a bath. No plug. After a quick call to the land lord, and a trip to the river, I had tires that were [mostly] holding air. Then my buddy came by for a bit, and it was back to fixing my bike. Distracting things like making food for the potluck grabbed my attention, and I made some dirty rice and beans!
Finally I got to the bike, and found a broken shifter. Uh oh. A quick trip to the local bike shop found that any idea of front shifting tomorrow is out, so my drivetrain is now jimmied in the big ring, with a chain that I was told is in desperate need of replacement, and on top of that - apparently my tires are pretty bad for tubeless, and prone to rolling off.
But there's no time! No time to ride either! Upon arrival at my place, Anton was already there, and Erica came shortly after (only half an hour late, which is incredibly early!). We had a big party, and lots of cuddling.
Time for bed though, and some excruciating foam rolling. Hoping for strong legs tomorrow to push that gear! Poor bike is still dirty though...
Finally I got to the bike, and found a broken shifter. Uh oh. A quick trip to the local bike shop found that any idea of front shifting tomorrow is out, so my drivetrain is now jimmied in the big ring, with a chain that I was told is in desperate need of replacement, and on top of that - apparently my tires are pretty bad for tubeless, and prone to rolling off.
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| the sleeping arrangements are kindof like burritos around here |
But there's no time! No time to ride either! Upon arrival at my place, Anton was already there, and Erica came shortly after (only half an hour late, which is incredibly early!). We had a big party, and lots of cuddling.
Time for bed though, and some excruciating foam rolling. Hoping for strong legs tomorrow to push that gear! Poor bike is still dirty though...
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Another weekend, and a shot for redemtion
Here we go. Another shot at a national race; the Canada Cup at Hardwood Hills ski and bike centre. This one’s not far from home (Bracebridge home) so Alex and I decided to head up north for the weekend, to stay at my old casa. I had an epic amount of stuff to pack (toolbox, compressor, bike, one spare wheel, extra tires, food, clothes, race stuff) and he obviously had his pile too, all set to fit in an ’02 hundai accent. For those who don’t know Alex’s car, it’s know as the Red Rocket, and it’s a small coupe, without a bike rack. I had my doubts as to whether we could fit everything in, but after doing enough bike race trips we have the art of packing totally dialled. It took almost no time and we were on our way up north in good company and with high aspirations for the weekend.
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| Like this! |
We realized we would be cutting it close to get to the course (ETA 8:30), but as long as there was daylight, we could sneak onto the trails. I announced that it was no problem, and I knew the way to the trails – so don’t worry, we won’t get lost. About 10 minutes later we drove right by the sign for Hardwood Hills on the 400 (I’m used to getting there from hwy 11) luckily there was a great option to do an ullegal U turn, which we promptly took and sped our way to the course. When we got to the course I left alex in the parking lot and ran to the administration house to see what’s up. Riding open till 9:00, it’s about 8:20. Good to go. Registered for the race, paid the entry for the trails (at total of $67.50 together – owwie!), and went to the car to put my bike together. On the way out to the start I ran back into the building for some water, and the trail master said “Wait, what category are you? You’ve have to be out of there in 32 minutes.”
“Senior expert sir! Don’t worry, course can’t be more than 25 minutes!”
“Okay if you’re that fast then go. But you only have 32 minutes.” He said somewhat reluctantly.
Would he actually have said no if I told him I was in one of the open categories? Harsh.
Loved the course, it’s fast, good flowwy trail – and they didn’t put any huge hurting climbs in it like normally! None of this climbing BS like Tremblant. There are some definite tricky spots – that I’ll want to try again and dial them in, but for now we just had to do a quick ride.
Some aspects of my bike made this ride more “fun” than others. Firstly I was testing a hypothesis involving the ideal gas law (PV = nRT) or in layman’s terms pressure times volume is equal to a constant. Essentially, this constant is the force necessary to hold a rider off the ground and keep the tire from flatting or rolling. Since I’m on a 29 inch wheeled bike, that’s a higher volume, and if the hypothesis I was testing (H1 I will be able to get away with less air, thus more traction) is true (vs the null hypothesis H0 that I would mess everything up and flat anyway), then I should be able to rock out with very little pressure, and thus sticky tacky grip.
I let a bunch of air out and then rode, never checked until afterwards, but I was riding 17 psi in the rear, and still less than 20 psi in the front (which had a tube). For those non-cyclists, that’s about half of what most people ride at, and I’m heavy so I should actually ride higher than most. Indeed the ride was sticky tacky, but my tires were rolling a lot – I couldn’t be as aggressive as normal. But I didn’t flat, and the tires stayed on the rims, so I did prove something – just don’t ever let them THAT low. I was losing power because my bike was bobbing with my pedalstroke even.
The other bit of fun was that my front shifter actually broke off while I was riding. The metal bracket just simply broke. This left me laughing in disbelief, and wondering what the heck to do with the flopping front shifter that was only loosely attached to my bike with a cable. Oh well, I paid to get it, it’s Friday night, and I’m finishing my ride – in under 32 minutes! I wrapped it around my handlebar and left it hanging out front and watched it like a hawk. There is very high potential that this could flop down into my front wheel and end my life I guess. (stupid head injury.) I kept one eye on that and one on the trail – it’s a good trick, you should learn it sometime.
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| Weak (but light!) Dye-cast metal.. |
Saturday rolled around and I had a list to do: fix the bike, and ride more laps of the course! Ah, life is tough. I managed in the end to use an old brake and an old shifter bracket to secure my front brakes and shifter – it was a bit uncomfortable and tighter to the grip, but it would have to do. Riding laps was fun, I practiced some stuff and looked at the different ways to approach obstacles – the course was weird in that the most daring way through the trail wasn’t always the fastest.
I had the pleasure of hanging out with my coach, Eric Batty (who was signing autographs) and discussed the course with him. He hopped on my bike and gave me some good advice. Because I’m so lanky and my hands are huge, I had my brake levers and shift levers pointed almost vertically down. This is not good because it forces them to be flexing the whole time that I am riding, and it does indeed get uncomfortable – but I always just thought I needed to toughen up.
That night Jon, Alex and I wen’t back to my Mom’s for a great meal. She’s awesome! Shrimp and veggie pasta with baguette, guacamole, and a really nice salad with pears (not to mention some serious dessert!). Jon was a bit of a last minute addition to the crew but Mom reassured that there would be enough food. But we ate it all, and threw another pie in the oven. Gooooood pie. Gooooooood times!
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| Ladies and gentlemen, this is now how you treat grips. Just buy lock-on. |
That night, I got pretty jittery. Maybe because I was talking to my coach Saturday, but I really had the race on the brain. I stayed up just lying in bed thinking about the race, then stressing about not sleeping, then having a nose bleed. Well that's not ideal! 1:30 in the morning and I've got a gusher coming out of my nose! After a while it stopped bleeding and I resumed my attempting to sleep, which was more just contemplating why I had a nosebleed in the first place? Probably because I'm still so sick (spent the other night in the emergency room), and congested and I kept blowing my nose? Who knows. All I know is that there was blood before, during, and after the race.
I woke up way too early for this junk. 6:30. But I milled about the house and got bikes together and helped out here and there - always drinking water though, because I had sweated the whole night before (window open was too cold, window closed too warm...but more comfortable). Made some good old fashioned steel cut oats (with craisins in them because I was at home and had the resources!), packed up and rolled out.
Arrival to the race was a bit frantic; I had to track down my front wheel from Scotty, and only had an hour to do that, organize feeds, and warm up.
Luckily, I was told that the start was delayed 15 minutes! Yay! The only problem is that whoever told me that was sabotaging me! Start was at 1:30, and I luckily got worried that I saw nobody warming up any more, looked down at my clock, and saw it was 1:32. Better get to the start to investigate. I asked somebody along the way about the start time, and of course it was supposed to be 1:30, so I made my way desperately through the crowds and got to the start corral about 30 seconds before the start. Bad seating yes, but warm legs at least!
Start of the race was a pretty brisk pace, but nothing I felt I couldn't handle. I was worried about the potential bottleneck at the top though, and soon found myself in the middle of a 40 person pack, riders in front, behind, and on both sides. Not good.
I made my move out to the right side, throwing accelerations, brakes, and buzzing a tire or two (not a good move). But when I got out I moved up a few spaces, and tried to get back in.
Unfortunately nobody was making room for me in the trail, so I was forced to ride in the bush beside the trail, which was soon turning left. The only thing I could do was to muscle in, and I managed to get in right beside (and into) my friend Kyle Schaltz, who asked what the heck I was doing? (He was sandwiched in between me and some guy from Quebec, the Quebequois guy fell..Ooops.
So I managed to get a spot on the trail, and to make some enemies in the first few minutes of the race...Interesting. The pace through the first few trails wasn't what I would say I'm capable of, but I wasn't about to throw down too many dirty passes, and I was working hard enough that I didn't feel like singing a song. As the group thinned out I realized how fast we were really going...FAST. By the end of the first lap there were already guys blowing up and falling behind fast, but I kept pace.
Lap two came with a surprise, a nice guy Alex and my old buddy Evan and I rode together, Evan stayed ahead (but not far enough that I couldn't see him) and Alex would lose me on the double track , but I was capable of catching his wheel in the singletrack. Alex is a fast guy, and I made it my goal to stick with him and see if I could edge on him by the end...I had a funny time that race in that I was always able to talk, just my legs couldn't put out the top power. It was as though my legs were not up to my cardio, but nonetheless my legs were still pretty quick. I striked up a conversation with Evan, let him know that the superior court for the guy who assaulted me and put me into the hospital for so long was the next day. He asked if I was racing angry? I just said racing stressed...Which I guess is true, but the best thing about cycling is it can take my mind off the pressures of the rest of life.
By the first big climbing section in the third lap though, I showed more power than the other guys, and that was the last we rode together. I kept an eye behind me on Alex and worried about his positioning, but eventually was at the point that I could see neither Alex or Evan. By that time I decided to ride conservatively, not taking more risks than I needed to, keeping the bike intact and not risking my head. This strategy paid off, as I placed 6th. Even with a bit of blood coming out of my nose still, and despite dismal sleep, guess I should just not worry about that stuff anymore.
Hearing my position made me happier than ever! That is faster than I had been before the injury, without a doubt my best placing in an Ontario Cup, oh wait - this is a Canada Cup. YES!
All of the work that I had been doing paid off in when I realized how I had done, and I am so greatful of my coach Mr. Eric Batty (3rd in the pro/elite division!). I'm his athlete, just a meathead that does what I'm told, and he really deserves the credit for my outstanding improvements. Maybe I'll reach my goals this season after all. Stay tuned!
I woke up way too early for this junk. 6:30. But I milled about the house and got bikes together and helped out here and there - always drinking water though, because I had sweated the whole night before (window open was too cold, window closed too warm...but more comfortable). Made some good old fashioned steel cut oats (with craisins in them because I was at home and had the resources!), packed up and rolled out.
Arrival to the race was a bit frantic; I had to track down my front wheel from Scotty, and only had an hour to do that, organize feeds, and warm up.
Luckily, I was told that the start was delayed 15 minutes! Yay! The only problem is that whoever told me that was sabotaging me! Start was at 1:30, and I luckily got worried that I saw nobody warming up any more, looked down at my clock, and saw it was 1:32. Better get to the start to investigate. I asked somebody along the way about the start time, and of course it was supposed to be 1:30, so I made my way desperately through the crowds and got to the start corral about 30 seconds before the start. Bad seating yes, but warm legs at least!
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| Guess who's not waiting for the start?? (stolen from Kyle's facebook) |
Start of the race was a pretty brisk pace, but nothing I felt I couldn't handle. I was worried about the potential bottleneck at the top though, and soon found myself in the middle of a 40 person pack, riders in front, behind, and on both sides. Not good.
I made my move out to the right side, throwing accelerations, brakes, and buzzing a tire or two (not a good move). But when I got out I moved up a few spaces, and tried to get back in.
Unfortunately nobody was making room for me in the trail, so I was forced to ride in the bush beside the trail, which was soon turning left. The only thing I could do was to muscle in, and I managed to get in right beside (and into) my friend Kyle Schaltz, who asked what the heck I was doing? (He was sandwiched in between me and some guy from Quebec, the Quebequois guy fell..Ooops.
So I managed to get a spot on the trail, and to make some enemies in the first few minutes of the race...Interesting. The pace through the first few trails wasn't what I would say I'm capable of, but I wasn't about to throw down too many dirty passes, and I was working hard enough that I didn't feel like singing a song. As the group thinned out I realized how fast we were really going...FAST. By the end of the first lap there were already guys blowing up and falling behind fast, but I kept pace.
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| riding down the boneshaker, with my lover Anton watching (photo stole from Jame's facebook) |
Lap two came with a surprise, a nice guy Alex and my old buddy Evan and I rode together, Evan stayed ahead (but not far enough that I couldn't see him) and Alex would lose me on the double track , but I was capable of catching his wheel in the singletrack. Alex is a fast guy, and I made it my goal to stick with him and see if I could edge on him by the end...I had a funny time that race in that I was always able to talk, just my legs couldn't put out the top power. It was as though my legs were not up to my cardio, but nonetheless my legs were still pretty quick. I striked up a conversation with Evan, let him know that the superior court for the guy who assaulted me and put me into the hospital for so long was the next day. He asked if I was racing angry? I just said racing stressed...Which I guess is true, but the best thing about cycling is it can take my mind off the pressures of the rest of life.
By the first big climbing section in the third lap though, I showed more power than the other guys, and that was the last we rode together. I kept an eye behind me on Alex and worried about his positioning, but eventually was at the point that I could see neither Alex or Evan. By that time I decided to ride conservatively, not taking more risks than I needed to, keeping the bike intact and not risking my head. This strategy paid off, as I placed 6th. Even with a bit of blood coming out of my nose still, and despite dismal sleep, guess I should just not worry about that stuff anymore.
Hearing my position made me happier than ever! That is faster than I had been before the injury, without a doubt my best placing in an Ontario Cup, oh wait - this is a Canada Cup. YES!
All of the work that I had been doing paid off in when I realized how I had done, and I am so greatful of my coach Mr. Eric Batty (3rd in the pro/elite division!). I'm his athlete, just a meathead that does what I'm told, and he really deserves the credit for my outstanding improvements. Maybe I'll reach my goals this season after all. Stay tuned!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
How else to spend May 2-4?
Well we all know our own good formulas for long weekends, roadtrips, cottages, foreign places, and to most people copious amounts of alcohol. What would an over excited newly freed from school and (all seemingly responsiblities) cyclist want to do?
Road trip to Quebec for a Canada Cup race? I think so.
There are plenty of reasons to get out to Quebec for a Canada Cup race. Firstly, a road trip, Quebec is a very different place, and for a weekend, the atmosphere is perfect! Easy living, biking, and a general binge on good times and good company. Secondly, the terrain out there and the trails that they build on it are entirely different from here in Ontario, which makes a Canada Cup a whole new beast, and the riders a different bunch to race with as well. Lastly, the big races in Quebec are sponsored by the same guys who help me out; xprezo! (the amazing deals on condo living may have also helped out too). I was excited to go talk to the boys that made my bike, show them the finished creamsicle resembling product, but pretty nervous that they might not think I would be deserving of sponsorship.
The thing about being a student with nothing to his name but a bike though, races are great, and so are road trips, but how do I get there? The solution to this problem came with a smile and offered wonderful camaraderie. I caught up with my buddy Dave, and we talked about bikes, our new 29ers, and I told him how my bike is so much better than his because it is hand-made, steel, and I had ridden with the guys who made it, and they were real presence at races. Like the Canada Cup that I was eager to go to! Dave admitted that my bike was smoother, and he liked the "local" aspect of it, and soon his imagination was captured by what could happen across the Ontario-Quebec border on foreign soils too.
We started working on logistics for the trip and Dave was incredibly generous. As opposed to cramming 3 people and 2 very large bikes into his little Pontiac Sunfire, we were going to rent a car. Rates are cheap, and you literally don't even have to give them back the car if you get insurance - just the keys.
Dave was willing to front the rental costs if I would help out with gas and food for the trip - and put him up somewhere - sweet. We would hang out for the weekend, ride, race, and then enjoy the festive atmosphere at what must be the best race of the year!
Tremblant is an amazing course to go to because there are multiple disciplines of bike racing that go on that weekend, the XC (cross country - my discipline) on the Saturday, DH (downhill - lazy guys who ride chairlifts up hills and then ride down them really really fast) on Sunday. The course opens up Friday, and XC riders are only allowed on the trails here for this weekend every year, otherwise they are considered too technical and reserved only for the DH riders who scream through the terrain with bikes that absorb the bumps and can take a serious beating. The attitude in Quebec is great too, people are drinking wine, watching riders, socializing, and running back and forth between condos on the moutnainside. I was also seriously looking forward to "roughing it" with some of the boys from the team at the condo. We cuddle, we cook for each other, and we share the showers...
The day before our departure I got a call from Dave - "Hey dude, we're good to go. I got us an SUV. Sweet eh? We're going to ride in styyyyle."
Whoa. That guy is stoked. So am I. This is awesome.
A few phonecalls to get some proper tires to this race, and a new tool, and we're good to go. Left Thursday night after work, got there Friday morning. We outran some thunderstorms and showed up to the village on the side of the mountain in beautiful weather, and to some cheery greetings, and new bike stuff!
I was seriously looking forward to trying some new tires - no my cyclocross tires for me, I have options now!
Checking out the course Friday was a blast. My kind of course! Super fun, a couple of big grinding hills, but only one was terrible (and snowy). There were some pretty technical aspects of the course, and other sections where having the guts to ride the trickier line was beneficial. I love my new tires, high volume, skinny, and a rounded profile - perfect.
I took a lap, went to register and do another lap - this time with Dave. At the top of the mountain it started to rain. No problem - I was going to wash my bike anyway...Just hope the cell phone in my pocket is ok. Then I got to the top of the bone jarring mega-long descent. And it poured. Hard. Uh oh.
Suddenly I heard all around me the squeak of people breaking, then no more. Everybody was off their bikes walking, the trail was a bit more like a stream, the wood bridges were more slippery, and I couldn't see through my glasses. And I had a cell phone in my jersey pocket, and I didn't want to miss the team dinner. Time to get out fast!
After that descent, I was confident for the race, loved my new tires, and had adrenaline surging through my body, a very quick shower and then I got to choose my dinner attire for this fine evening of condo living in Mont Tremblant. How about....My favourite suit? Tighty whities. Nice. Those may have been a bit too much? Or just a promise of how awesome the rest of the weekend will be. Everybody knows there's a direct correlation between tight men's underwear and awesomeness. It's why I'm such a champ! Food was great, company was weirded out, and I was treated like a garbage can who just eats everything nobody else wants, that's ok though!
The morning of the race started out with a small issue - we had not gone shopping, so I had no breakfast. Oh well, at least the weather was beautiful! No rain like last night, and the trails were likely to drain well. But good weather doesn't feed me [directly]. So I went knocking on condo doors. Oatmeal? Cereal? I heard that frosted flakes are great! How about waffles? Pancakes? Sausages rolled in pancakes fried in bacon grease? And baconaise? You never know what you'll get knocking on doors asking for food! Oh the possibilities!
I got quinoa. Plain quinoa. Well it's high in calories, protein, and quick to eat. Nice!
Still nervous for the race, I was feeling pretty primed up. Sitting front line at the start I made friends with a random guy from Quebec! Pace was pretty quick off the start up the mountain, and even though we bottlenecked into the first singletrack, I couldn't sing a tune this time, trails are tough - not like Ontario. I was sitting comfortably in the second "train" of riders through the singletrack, squeezing passes in where I could and getting upset that the front train was gapping us. At the top of the hill we came up to a muddy corner, that if you cut to the left, there was a drop of a few feet into a mud puddle - but a more direct line (I had done it the day before no problem). Everybody was taking the wide line out to the side, which made me more confident in my standing in the long run for the race, and I figured that cutting the corner - though more dangerous - would gain me at least 3, maybe 4 positions.
As I was going down the mucky hill to the drop, I was leaning my bike, and looking at the landing - a pit of unknown depth and composition. Taking the risk did not pay off. I went down a drop at an angle into a mud puddle, and flatted my front tire. The first thing that I thought was that I "burped" my tire (the bead of the tire had come out of it's place in the rim). This should be fixable...Just need to reseat the bead and get some more air into the tire! So I popped open my CO2 canister, was thankful for the ideal gas law, releasing the compressed CO2 into the tire – with no luck. Either mud had gummed up my tire, or my problem was bigger than I was hoping. That’s okay though, I always have a backup plan. I reached into my pocket for my spare tube, rolled it out, and then went to get the tubeless valve stem out of my wheel. It was stuck. I had jimmied it together to hold the air in properly before the first Ontario Cup, and thought nothing of it – proud I was able to get everything to seal up properly. I spent a good 5 minutes trying to get it out, then realized that I needed some better grip on the valve stem from behind. Some quick thinking and I remembered about a skinny L shaped allen key on my nice new tool, and after another minute of trying to jam and grip the valve stem but I got it out, and changed the tube just as my friends were coming up the hill to spectate the race. Luckily I brought two canisters of CO2, and cracked the second one to fill up the tube...Which didn’t fill up so high. I would guess at 15psi in my front tire. Oh well, just ride much more conservatively than I would have before, and try to somehow not flat out in Quebec – somehow.
This poor underinflated tube lasted about 10 minutes – just long enough for me to do all of the climbing of the first lap – until I popped it. I had no resources to fix my bike and suffered the second DNF (did not finish) of my life, after going all of the way to Quebec for the race.
Road trip to Quebec for a Canada Cup race? I think so.
There are plenty of reasons to get out to Quebec for a Canada Cup race. Firstly, a road trip, Quebec is a very different place, and for a weekend, the atmosphere is perfect! Easy living, biking, and a general binge on good times and good company. Secondly, the terrain out there and the trails that they build on it are entirely different from here in Ontario, which makes a Canada Cup a whole new beast, and the riders a different bunch to race with as well. Lastly, the big races in Quebec are sponsored by the same guys who help me out; xprezo! (the amazing deals on condo living may have also helped out too). I was excited to go talk to the boys that made my bike, show them the finished creamsicle resembling product, but pretty nervous that they might not think I would be deserving of sponsorship.
The thing about being a student with nothing to his name but a bike though, races are great, and so are road trips, but how do I get there? The solution to this problem came with a smile and offered wonderful camaraderie. I caught up with my buddy Dave, and we talked about bikes, our new 29ers, and I told him how my bike is so much better than his because it is hand-made, steel, and I had ridden with the guys who made it, and they were real presence at races. Like the Canada Cup that I was eager to go to! Dave admitted that my bike was smoother, and he liked the "local" aspect of it, and soon his imagination was captured by what could happen across the Ontario-Quebec border on foreign soils too.
We started working on logistics for the trip and Dave was incredibly generous. As opposed to cramming 3 people and 2 very large bikes into his little Pontiac Sunfire, we were going to rent a car. Rates are cheap, and you literally don't even have to give them back the car if you get insurance - just the keys.
Dave was willing to front the rental costs if I would help out with gas and food for the trip - and put him up somewhere - sweet. We would hang out for the weekend, ride, race, and then enjoy the festive atmosphere at what must be the best race of the year!
Tremblant is an amazing course to go to because there are multiple disciplines of bike racing that go on that weekend, the XC (cross country - my discipline) on the Saturday, DH (downhill - lazy guys who ride chairlifts up hills and then ride down them really really fast) on Sunday. The course opens up Friday, and XC riders are only allowed on the trails here for this weekend every year, otherwise they are considered too technical and reserved only for the DH riders who scream through the terrain with bikes that absorb the bumps and can take a serious beating. The attitude in Quebec is great too, people are drinking wine, watching riders, socializing, and running back and forth between condos on the moutnainside. I was also seriously looking forward to "roughing it" with some of the boys from the team at the condo. We cuddle, we cook for each other, and we share the showers...
The day before our departure I got a call from Dave - "Hey dude, we're good to go. I got us an SUV. Sweet eh? We're going to ride in styyyyle."
Whoa. That guy is stoked. So am I. This is awesome.
A few phonecalls to get some proper tires to this race, and a new tool, and we're good to go. Left Thursday night after work, got there Friday morning. We outran some thunderstorms and showed up to the village on the side of the mountain in beautiful weather, and to some cheery greetings, and new bike stuff!
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| The nice bikes on the back deck! |
I was seriously looking forward to trying some new tires - no my cyclocross tires for me, I have options now!
Checking out the course Friday was a blast. My kind of course! Super fun, a couple of big grinding hills, but only one was terrible (and snowy). There were some pretty technical aspects of the course, and other sections where having the guts to ride the trickier line was beneficial. I love my new tires, high volume, skinny, and a rounded profile - perfect.
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| Last tier of a 3 tiered climb..notice the snow to the right (sorry it's blurry, I took this while riding) |
I took a lap, went to register and do another lap - this time with Dave. At the top of the mountain it started to rain. No problem - I was going to wash my bike anyway...Just hope the cell phone in my pocket is ok. Then I got to the top of the bone jarring mega-long descent. And it poured. Hard. Uh oh.
Suddenly I heard all around me the squeak of people breaking, then no more. Everybody was off their bikes walking, the trail was a bit more like a stream, the wood bridges were more slippery, and I couldn't see through my glasses. And I had a cell phone in my jersey pocket, and I didn't want to miss the team dinner. Time to get out fast!
After that descent, I was confident for the race, loved my new tires, and had adrenaline surging through my body, a very quick shower and then I got to choose my dinner attire for this fine evening of condo living in Mont Tremblant. How about....My favourite suit? Tighty whities. Nice. Those may have been a bit too much? Or just a promise of how awesome the rest of the weekend will be. Everybody knows there's a direct correlation between tight men's underwear and awesomeness. It's why I'm such a champ! Food was great, company was weirded out, and I was treated like a garbage can who just eats everything nobody else wants, that's ok though!
The morning of the race started out with a small issue - we had not gone shopping, so I had no breakfast. Oh well, at least the weather was beautiful! No rain like last night, and the trails were likely to drain well. But good weather doesn't feed me [directly]. So I went knocking on condo doors. Oatmeal? Cereal? I heard that frosted flakes are great! How about waffles? Pancakes? Sausages rolled in pancakes fried in bacon grease? And baconaise? You never know what you'll get knocking on doors asking for food! Oh the possibilities!
I got quinoa. Plain quinoa. Well it's high in calories, protein, and quick to eat. Nice!
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| My breakfast campaign up the street |
Still nervous for the race, I was feeling pretty primed up. Sitting front line at the start I made friends with a random guy from Quebec! Pace was pretty quick off the start up the mountain, and even though we bottlenecked into the first singletrack, I couldn't sing a tune this time, trails are tough - not like Ontario. I was sitting comfortably in the second "train" of riders through the singletrack, squeezing passes in where I could and getting upset that the front train was gapping us. At the top of the hill we came up to a muddy corner, that if you cut to the left, there was a drop of a few feet into a mud puddle - but a more direct line (I had done it the day before no problem). Everybody was taking the wide line out to the side, which made me more confident in my standing in the long run for the race, and I figured that cutting the corner - though more dangerous - would gain me at least 3, maybe 4 positions.
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| On the line |
As I was going down the mucky hill to the drop, I was leaning my bike, and looking at the landing - a pit of unknown depth and composition. Taking the risk did not pay off. I went down a drop at an angle into a mud puddle, and flatted my front tire. The first thing that I thought was that I "burped" my tire (the bead of the tire had come out of it's place in the rim). This should be fixable...Just need to reseat the bead and get some more air into the tire! So I popped open my CO2 canister, was thankful for the ideal gas law, releasing the compressed CO2 into the tire – with no luck. Either mud had gummed up my tire, or my problem was bigger than I was hoping. That’s okay though, I always have a backup plan. I reached into my pocket for my spare tube, rolled it out, and then went to get the tubeless valve stem out of my wheel. It was stuck. I had jimmied it together to hold the air in properly before the first Ontario Cup, and thought nothing of it – proud I was able to get everything to seal up properly. I spent a good 5 minutes trying to get it out, then realized that I needed some better grip on the valve stem from behind. Some quick thinking and I remembered about a skinny L shaped allen key on my nice new tool, and after another minute of trying to jam and grip the valve stem but I got it out, and changed the tube just as my friends were coming up the hill to spectate the race. Luckily I brought two canisters of CO2, and cracked the second one to fill up the tube...Which didn’t fill up so high. I would guess at 15psi in my front tire. Oh well, just ride much more conservatively than I would have before, and try to somehow not flat out in Quebec – somehow.
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| See the guy bent over in the mud not racing? Yep..that's me. |
This poor underinflated tube lasted about 10 minutes – just long enough for me to do all of the climbing of the first lap – until I popped it. I had no resources to fix my bike and suffered the second DNF (did not finish) of my life, after going all of the way to Quebec for the race.
It’s not as though the trip was all for naught though! A great time was had doing way too much fun stuff that I could never dream of putting on the internet - but I’m just that anybody who asks would get some pretty good stories!
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| A real broment with my buddy John, there were many, many more that weekend |
There’s nothing quite like a good road trip or a race in Quebec, and last night my buddy called me up with the idea of going to Mont St. Anne on Canada day to race the relay (DH rider and XC rider, doing as many laps as they can in an allotted amount of time). Last time I checked that race had a $1000 purse to it...Hmmm.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Ontario cup 2, delayed report and more!
Been at a lot of stuff this past little while! After the camping trip, and Ontario Cup number 1 my poor bike had some scratches! Scratches just won't do on a steel bike, the bike will begin to rust. So I needed some touch up paint! Being a student, I was not in the position to buy real paint. So I got some nail polish and patched it up. This was much harder than it sounds. Gotta be just the right colour, right? So my roommie Colin and I made a trip to the mall, he wanted a yoga mat and tennis racket (I know, does it get more feminine?), and I wanted my manly nailpolish (fixin' shit is manly). Colin was a solid one stop shopper, but I dragged us all around the mall to all of the little girl stores to check for the best colour. This involved going to stores, painting a nail, and going to the next store to paint the next nail and compare them. Shoppers drugmart which was on my thumb was best.
Though there are a few problems with being a guy who has nail polish on his hands. First of all, EVERYBODY has to comment on it and ask if you know it's there.
"Oh gosh, nail polish on my hands? Well it's more likely than you think, I pissed off my girlfriend and she likes to sneak attack my fingers when I sleep."
What are you expecting me to say?
The true story of fixin' my manly was badass any way, and I just got the "you care that much about a bike" look, it happens.
The next problem being a guy with nail polish is that I really don't have any nail polish remover. So it was more than a week of comments on my nails, but I went home for the weekend and my wonderful mother commented, was concerned, and fixed it up. Good old acetone!
Saturday I got home to Bracebridge to see my family, and was relieved when my buddy offered me some tires! A knobby high volume front, and a fast rear tire. After thinking long and hard, I threw the big knobby one up front, and decided to keep a ‘cross tire in the back. The cross tires propelled me well, they just didn’t stick in the corners, but the knobby front tire is for that. After a bit of a hectic weekend at home, and a very unnerving day of riding with flat tires and trying to seal them tubelessly, I was just going to take the race in stride. No expectations, I mean how could I? My tires were ridiculous, my sleep was still lacking, I felt unprepared, and it was a course that lends itself to flat tires, especially for a guy with a ‘cross tire (which is pretty uncomfortable when inflated to 60 psi). So I went with a smile on my face, got a new kit (team uniform), and even though the weather was awful, was smiling on the start line! Who cares! It’s just a race!
Though there are a few problems with being a guy who has nail polish on his hands. First of all, EVERYBODY has to comment on it and ask if you know it's there.
"Oh gosh, nail polish on my hands? Well it's more likely than you think, I pissed off my girlfriend and she likes to sneak attack my fingers when I sleep."
What are you expecting me to say?
The true story of fixin' my manly was badass any way, and I just got the "you care that much about a bike" look, it happens.
The next problem being a guy with nail polish is that I really don't have any nail polish remover. So it was more than a week of comments on my nails, but I went home for the weekend and my wonderful mother commented, was concerned, and fixed it up. Good old acetone!
With the bike all set, and some *patchy* orange patches on the bike I was ready for Ontario Cup number 2: Woodnewton. Woodnewton is a course that I had never ever been on; its debut was in the summer that I didn’t race but I heard that it wasn’t a great course. Very little flow and two big hills, bad for a 29er, but you win some you lose some. It can’t be that bad, right?
The latter bit of the week was a bit concerning. It became clear that the race was going to be a sludgefest, mud mud mud. Last time I was racing I had built a whole repertoire of tires for all conditions, so a muddy race was uncomfortable, but if I was in the mood to handle my bike properly I could even gain an edge on the competition. With my new 29 inch wheeled bike came new tires. I only have 3 sets. A set of Hutchison Pythons (I hate these), a set of Schwalbe Furious Freds (semi-slick and no volume, not good for mud or rocks, or wet), and a set of cyclo-cross tires (road tires with knobs). Nothing here is good for mud. Or wet of any sort, especially wet rocks.
I thought long and hard about my tire choice, and decided to go with a bit of a risky strategy: the cyclocross tires. I could justify this decision with the idea that skinny tires will sink to the bottom of the mud, not be wishy washy through the top of the mud, seems valid, right?
Friday my buddy Alex and I went to the course to check it out, and I had a pretty ridiculous looking bike: almost the biggest mountain bike you’ve ever seen with tires from the road department. This was what I had, nothing gained, nothing ventured right? Also what are my options? None.
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| skinny tires, big bike! |
The course was in fact pretty sweet, flowwy and lots of double track – good for a guy who is taking a huge gamble on tires, with a new bike that he’s not quite used to riding, with a 29 inch wheelset. The problem was that there were also “rock gardens” (a field of rocks put into the trails to add a tough dynamic to the trail) and I would almost definitely flat my tires riding them on this terrain, but I didn’t have a choice.
The end of the course had a 20-20 foot down hill rock garden that was convenient for spectators to watch, and had big rocks. I was terrified of knocking myself over the handlebars and hitting my head on the rocks, ending up dead. Also I didn’t want to get a flat tire (a huge risk with the tiny little tires I had on), and I didn’t want to look like a JIT (junior in training). This would be a killer for the race.
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| Volkswagen van packed tight for the roadtrip home and to the races! |
Saturday I got home to Bracebridge to see my family, and was relieved when my buddy offered me some tires! A knobby high volume front, and a fast rear tire. After thinking long and hard, I threw the big knobby one up front, and decided to keep a ‘cross tire in the back. The cross tires propelled me well, they just didn’t stick in the corners, but the knobby front tire is for that.
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| An unfortunate discovery before the race that the tire choice did indeed not grip mud |
On the start line, I got unlucky seating-but the false flat start should spread the group out a bit, and I wasn’t worrying about things any way. Looking around, I realized that this was my first time racing with my buddy Simon in an Ontario cup ever, and was pretty scared of his speed. Just as the race was getting started, the announcer started to sing
“Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow, back to my home, I dare not go. For if I do, my mother will say have you ever seen a _______ with a ______, down by the bay!” [repeats forever]
I was unhappy about this silly song getting stuck in my head, and sitting out in the rain and complained heavily, but that didn’t start the race any sooner..
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| Tucked back in there, complaining on the start line makes me happy! |
The pack spread out a bit as the race started, but once we reached the singletrack, it was a major bottleneck. Slow riding. Time to sing.
“Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow, back to my home, I dare not go. For if I do, my mother will say have you ever seen a _______ with a ______, down by the bay!”
I sang for a few minutes as we went through the singletrack and jumped on the pedals as soon as we were out, making passes and smiling the whole way! By the end of the first lap I was in pretty good shape and in good position, as I came up on the big rock garden I felt like, why not? Let’s do it! Bad and humiliating idea, I messed up and had to run my bike through the spectators favourite section, lesson learned.
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| Covering up my folly with a smile for the people! |
On the way out for the second lap the track was slow and swampy. One precarious spot was a wet bridge over a creek that was surrounded by mud on both sides. I watched the guy ahead of me to judge where the sweet spot through the ruts would be, I noticed he was off balance. Yes, yes, come on....”YES!” [he fell in the water..hilarious!] The worst is that as the whole ordeal was happening I was cheering him into it...
The rest of the race I just kept it up in a solid groove, really enjoying the course, the conditions, and my bike! This was the first time I really felt at one with my new big wheeler. As I passed by my buddies they were yelling at me to race and stop smiling, I just flipped ‘em the bird and told them it was a great day for a bike ride!
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| Smiling and speeding through the hills! |
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| And up the hills! |
There was a little mishap on lap 2, but I kept smiling and took a minute to fix my stuff, I had been riding well, so I was sure I would catch the 4 or so guys back that passed me. I crossed the finish line not with a last effort, but a huge smile and was content with my performance, and absolutely apathetic about what my actual position ended up being. (11th though, not bad!). Tremblant next weekend, the Canada cup, May 2-4, and an epic roadtrip. Living the dream!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Is this camping, or University?
So I just got back from this week of camping out of farms and bird monitoring stations out on the Bruce Peninsula, wow. The first day of class we filled out this "tell me about yourself", I opened with a solid picture:
and said that I liked bikes and tight underwear. I answered the last question (What do you hope to gain from this course?) with "I hope to learn some new skills in the field, and to make some great friends camping along the way!
Did I ever! The group of 14 was divided into 2 caravans, I was in the red one with Cameron, Bailey, Elisabet, Hilary, Shannen, and sometimes Angela. Every good travel vehicle needs a name (I got very attached to my partner Henry the pickup truck one year), and it's awesome to have something to bring the van together - to improve the group dynamic! I threw out the name the General, after the General Lee, I'd say that the significance is pretty evident:
The name was adopted with great enthusiasm, we even had a controversial flag. I spent basically the whole week with Cam and Shannen, it was alright, I guess. Cam has a ridiculous sense of humor, and we would just build on eachother until what we were saying was no longer discernible to others, or if they knew what they were saying, they were in a laughing fit. That guy was hilarious, though most of what we said if you missed the start of our conversations, you would think we were rambling on completely inane discussions. Shannen is a bit like the female version of me, it's scary. But of course we hit it off huge because I love myself, that's how cyclists are, right?
The week was full of adventures, hiking waking up early, staying up late, board games, card games, and a bit of drinking too. The first day at our cabin up at the top of the peninsula was a great adventure! I ran along the beautiful beach of rounded rocks (being careful!) to the next settlement up. I didn't do it fast (you couldn't, the ground was way too unpredictable), and it was full of cool washed up stuff and the Niagara Escarpment came almost the whole way down at one point. I decided to go spelunking up a crevice (spelunking is cave diving please don't mistake it for the first Urban Dictionary definition). The crevice/caves were a whole new microcosm, mossy and damp, with bits of snow, and I was looking around in awe when I heard something move within the cave. Normally I'm not afraid of bears, but this is the kind of place where a bear would feel trapped and need to fight it's way out. So I reverse spelunked back to the beach and kept it going down the beach.
The next morning my old housemate Erin wanted to get out running at 6am...Why do I do these things again? Shannen left in the opposite direction at the same time, and we got bored of running the beach after about 2 minutes and ran down the road after Shannen who was standing on the flooded bit of the road (about 1.5feet of icy water), she started to ask what to do, but I just led the charge right through the water. The other two followed. We ran on some dirt road, and attempted to go down some flooded trails, but after 100m of running on flooded trail I was sick of it! My feet never got numb! They just stayed really cold! Ended up doing 1 hour run in the morning and 2 hour bike at night, brr.
The best day that I had was at Tobermory, a day of free range hiking, spelunking, and climbing! Amazing times with amazing people, hilarious too! My buddy came and I were particularly prestigious that day, full of scientific discussion of snails, and risking our lives for each other rock climbing!
Did I ever! The group of 14 was divided into 2 caravans, I was in the red one with Cameron, Bailey, Elisabet, Hilary, Shannen, and sometimes Angela. Every good travel vehicle needs a name (I got very attached to my partner Henry the pickup truck one year), and it's awesome to have something to bring the van together - to improve the group dynamic! I threw out the name the General, after the General Lee, I'd say that the significance is pretty evident:
The name was adopted with great enthusiasm, we even had a controversial flag. I spent basically the whole week with Cam and Shannen, it was alright, I guess. Cam has a ridiculous sense of humor, and we would just build on eachother until what we were saying was no longer discernible to others, or if they knew what they were saying, they were in a laughing fit. That guy was hilarious, though most of what we said if you missed the start of our conversations, you would think we were rambling on completely inane discussions. Shannen is a bit like the female version of me, it's scary. But of course we hit it off huge because I love myself, that's how cyclists are, right?
The week was full of adventures, hiking waking up early, staying up late, board games, card games, and a bit of drinking too. The first day at our cabin up at the top of the peninsula was a great adventure! I ran along the beautiful beach of rounded rocks (being careful!) to the next settlement up. I didn't do it fast (you couldn't, the ground was way too unpredictable), and it was full of cool washed up stuff and the Niagara Escarpment came almost the whole way down at one point. I decided to go spelunking up a crevice (spelunking is cave diving please don't mistake it for the first Urban Dictionary definition). The crevice/caves were a whole new microcosm, mossy and damp, with bits of snow, and I was looking around in awe when I heard something move within the cave. Normally I'm not afraid of bears, but this is the kind of place where a bear would feel trapped and need to fight it's way out. So I reverse spelunked back to the beach and kept it going down the beach.
The next morning my old housemate Erin wanted to get out running at 6am...Why do I do these things again? Shannen left in the opposite direction at the same time, and we got bored of running the beach after about 2 minutes and ran down the road after Shannen who was standing on the flooded bit of the road (about 1.5feet of icy water), she started to ask what to do, but I just led the charge right through the water. The other two followed. We ran on some dirt road, and attempted to go down some flooded trails, but after 100m of running on flooded trail I was sick of it! My feet never got numb! They just stayed really cold! Ended up doing 1 hour run in the morning and 2 hour bike at night, brr.
The best day that I had was at Tobermory, a day of free range hiking, spelunking, and climbing! Amazing times with amazing people, hilarious too! My buddy came and I were particularly prestigious that day, full of scientific discussion of snails, and risking our lives for each other rock climbing!
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Back on the Ontario Cup circuit!
Well there it went! My first O-cup race back! Wicked times! Were they wicked good? I guess so. Wicked painful? Yep. Wicked awesome? Of course!
Woke in a sleeping bag up on a mattress pad in the middle of my room surrounded by bikes. Checked out my new kitchen and pulled out the steel cut oats. Went to the stove, crap. No elements? That's unfortunate. How about the microwave? Surely all is not lost! Nope, I guess we don't have one of those yet either. Hungry, and knowing that it's a good idea to eat breakfast before a race I got a devious idea...The apartment downstairs! Is the door locked? Nope. Are there people sleeping? Yep. After a quick cost-benefit-analysis I decided I had best eat something, so I went downstairs and started cooking. My new housemate Colin woke up too, so I cooked him some breakfast and we had sat in an empty room eating. Good stuff! Looked around the house, made plans and got stoked about the new place!
Upon arrival at Mansfield there were raindrops on the windshield, but nothing big. As soon as we parked I tried to get out of the van, but I was in the back seat. There were child locks. And I had to pee. That was a quick scramble to the bush as soon as I got let out. I then suited up and looked for the Cycle Solutions team tent, dropped off my bag of feeds, and registered for the race. While registering I looked out the window at where I had perched my beautiful new ride, and saw a few people really looking at it! I looked back a minute later and a few more people had gathered! Nice! Sponsorship is deserved! That bike is pretty, and wow she rides well! I walked back out to get my bike and a few guys just kinda walked away awkwardly...hahaha
Then I went over to say hi to my good friends and sometimes major support crew the Batty family. They're basically a family of very talented cyclists. All pros. I had trained with Eric before, and am excited to still be in touch!
I saw a lot of friends before I got to warm up, it was super nice to be back on the circuit! People were really happy to see me back into racing, and I was greeted by smiles all around! I missed these people and the atmosphere here a lot. I had a quick discussion with my coach (who deserves his own full blog post - so he's remaining unnamed for now), and asked if it was good that I didn't feel too strong today. "Well, you're using this one as a training race" Oh, okay. So my legs are supposed to feel the burn really hard this week? Uh huh..Well this year is more of a build year for the future anyway.
This is more my fault than the fault of over training though - I'm running on an average of about 4 hours of sleep a night this whole week, with the move from house to house going on I've been BUSY. This means as I kept training hard, I didn't rest hard, and I fell behind a little bit in where I should be...But that's life! Otherwise it had not rained yet, and I was still quite confident in my abilities!
After a good warm up, I went over to the start line, and my corral was totally full! The guys in my category were all lined up way too early! This meant that I would have a bad seating, which could be detrimental up the first huge hill climb. Luckily I'm pretty sneaky and creative, and realized that as they opened my corral to let everyone go from the holding area to the start line, I could just sneak in through one of the other corral entrances. Sweet. Devious.
The race started, and I went off hard. For about 100m. Then I realized that wow. This was a crazy testosterone driven pace, that I would refuse to keep up the whole way up the first hill, I had 35km to prove my speed in the race, why blow up in the first one? So I held back, pedaling up the hill, still with a searing pain in my legs that I refused to acknowledge. We reached the top, spread out already. I got into the first piece of singletrack on my own, but quickly caught the train right ahead of me, and made passes here and there. But they weren't easy. Would this pace seriously be kept up the whole race? Or is it just the typical way of the senior-expert racers - first lap of testosterone and then settling in? Wow it's been a while. How do you pace? How do you eat? How do I race this brand new bike? Better find that out soon.
I kept pace with the pack on the first lap, keeping an eye on all of the attacks and accelerations and just calmly pedaling my bike along. I noticed some funny things today, firstly I wasn't doing as good of a job of handling my bike as I did while pre-riding, and my chain was dropping without being prompted, and then not shifting back up! That's annoying...Better keep the bike in the big ring...
The first lap was a bit of a mad race, and in the second lap I settled in a little bit, and lap 3 just sucked. By that point I was hardly able to propel myself up any hills. Seriously, I either wanted to throw up or walk, but mostly both. Was this due to poor race diet? Poor fitness? Tired legs? Or some combination thereof. Lap number three was a good time of reflection, I was still passing people, but man I was working. Maybe my expectations of myself are a bit high, considering everything? This is not a good way to think in a race. By lap 3 I was coasting a lot more too, having a sore back from sitting and pedaling through everything without rear suspension, but the new bike railed the trails nicely! Lap four was a sufferfest, and I was in a bit more of a survival mode than the usual last kick that I used to put out. The last stretch of the lap I noticed my buddy coming up behind me. Dave, he's quick. Also Dave is on a 26 inch bike from xprezo, which was a different shade of orange. He ended up catching me, and passing me at the top of the last downhill, after which I just had a flat section and a bit of a chicane course through a field till the finish line. By this point I had realized that I had no power left in my legs, and was content to ride behind him and see what happened. I guess that I looked too comfortable, because spectators were yelling at me that I was basically being stupid by not passing him. So I did, and we rolled up to the last little straight before the finish line neck in neck.
I don't lose a race at the end like that. That would be just silly. I refuse to lose a position in a final sprint after holding it for so long.
But Dave inched ahead of me coming out of the corner (it's those light little 26 inch wheels! acceleration!)
I had my hands on my bar ends, and cranked my bike into action. I beat him by about 3 inches. Then we collapsed into each other and were given chocolate milk. Race done. wow.
Later my Aunt Kim (who surprised me by showing up at the race!) asked why we rode across the line together hugging, and whether that was allowed? This comment made me smile! I explained the situation, and that I was actually closer to vomiting than winning that sprint, but just got lucky.
Looking forward to continuing my race career, there's nowhere but up to go from here!
It's now 12:30 at night and I have to pack up for a week out on the Bruce Peninsula! Which is exciting, but I just want to sleep!
Woke in a sleeping bag up on a mattress pad in the middle of my room surrounded by bikes. Checked out my new kitchen and pulled out the steel cut oats. Went to the stove, crap. No elements? That's unfortunate. How about the microwave? Surely all is not lost! Nope, I guess we don't have one of those yet either. Hungry, and knowing that it's a good idea to eat breakfast before a race I got a devious idea...The apartment downstairs! Is the door locked? Nope. Are there people sleeping? Yep. After a quick cost-benefit-analysis I decided I had best eat something, so I went downstairs and started cooking. My new housemate Colin woke up too, so I cooked him some breakfast and we had sat in an empty room eating. Good stuff! Looked around the house, made plans and got stoked about the new place!
Upon arrival at Mansfield there were raindrops on the windshield, but nothing big. As soon as we parked I tried to get out of the van, but I was in the back seat. There were child locks. And I had to pee. That was a quick scramble to the bush as soon as I got let out. I then suited up and looked for the Cycle Solutions team tent, dropped off my bag of feeds, and registered for the race. While registering I looked out the window at where I had perched my beautiful new ride, and saw a few people really looking at it! I looked back a minute later and a few more people had gathered! Nice! Sponsorship is deserved! That bike is pretty, and wow she rides well! I walked back out to get my bike and a few guys just kinda walked away awkwardly...hahaha
Then I went over to say hi to my good friends and sometimes major support crew the Batty family. They're basically a family of very talented cyclists. All pros. I had trained with Eric before, and am excited to still be in touch!
I saw a lot of friends before I got to warm up, it was super nice to be back on the circuit! People were really happy to see me back into racing, and I was greeted by smiles all around! I missed these people and the atmosphere here a lot. I had a quick discussion with my coach (who deserves his own full blog post - so he's remaining unnamed for now), and asked if it was good that I didn't feel too strong today. "Well, you're using this one as a training race" Oh, okay. So my legs are supposed to feel the burn really hard this week? Uh huh..Well this year is more of a build year for the future anyway.
This is more my fault than the fault of over training though - I'm running on an average of about 4 hours of sleep a night this whole week, with the move from house to house going on I've been BUSY. This means as I kept training hard, I didn't rest hard, and I fell behind a little bit in where I should be...But that's life! Otherwise it had not rained yet, and I was still quite confident in my abilities!
After a good warm up, I went over to the start line, and my corral was totally full! The guys in my category were all lined up way too early! This meant that I would have a bad seating, which could be detrimental up the first huge hill climb. Luckily I'm pretty sneaky and creative, and realized that as they opened my corral to let everyone go from the holding area to the start line, I could just sneak in through one of the other corral entrances. Sweet. Devious.
The race started, and I went off hard. For about 100m. Then I realized that wow. This was a crazy testosterone driven pace, that I would refuse to keep up the whole way up the first hill, I had 35km to prove my speed in the race, why blow up in the first one? So I held back, pedaling up the hill, still with a searing pain in my legs that I refused to acknowledge. We reached the top, spread out already. I got into the first piece of singletrack on my own, but quickly caught the train right ahead of me, and made passes here and there. But they weren't easy. Would this pace seriously be kept up the whole race? Or is it just the typical way of the senior-expert racers - first lap of testosterone and then settling in? Wow it's been a while. How do you pace? How do you eat? How do I race this brand new bike? Better find that out soon.
I kept pace with the pack on the first lap, keeping an eye on all of the attacks and accelerations and just calmly pedaling my bike along. I noticed some funny things today, firstly I wasn't doing as good of a job of handling my bike as I did while pre-riding, and my chain was dropping without being prompted, and then not shifting back up! That's annoying...Better keep the bike in the big ring...
The first lap was a bit of a mad race, and in the second lap I settled in a little bit, and lap 3 just sucked. By that point I was hardly able to propel myself up any hills. Seriously, I either wanted to throw up or walk, but mostly both. Was this due to poor race diet? Poor fitness? Tired legs? Or some combination thereof. Lap number three was a good time of reflection, I was still passing people, but man I was working. Maybe my expectations of myself are a bit high, considering everything? This is not a good way to think in a race. By lap 3 I was coasting a lot more too, having a sore back from sitting and pedaling through everything without rear suspension, but the new bike railed the trails nicely! Lap four was a sufferfest, and I was in a bit more of a survival mode than the usual last kick that I used to put out. The last stretch of the lap I noticed my buddy coming up behind me. Dave, he's quick. Also Dave is on a 26 inch bike from xprezo, which was a different shade of orange. He ended up catching me, and passing me at the top of the last downhill, after which I just had a flat section and a bit of a chicane course through a field till the finish line. By this point I had realized that I had no power left in my legs, and was content to ride behind him and see what happened. I guess that I looked too comfortable, because spectators were yelling at me that I was basically being stupid by not passing him. So I did, and we rolled up to the last little straight before the finish line neck in neck.
I don't lose a race at the end like that. That would be just silly. I refuse to lose a position in a final sprint after holding it for so long.
But Dave inched ahead of me coming out of the corner (it's those light little 26 inch wheels! acceleration!)
I had my hands on my bar ends, and cranked my bike into action. I beat him by about 3 inches. Then we collapsed into each other and were given chocolate milk. Race done. wow.
Later my Aunt Kim (who surprised me by showing up at the race!) asked why we rode across the line together hugging, and whether that was allowed? This comment made me smile! I explained the situation, and that I was actually closer to vomiting than winning that sprint, but just got lucky.
Looking forward to continuing my race career, there's nowhere but up to go from here!
It's now 12:30 at night and I have to pack up for a week out on the Bruce Peninsula! Which is exciting, but I just want to sleep!
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| Photo courtesy of my good friend Carly! Who also had a great race today! |
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