An extremely consequential training camp weekend up in Collingwood

Near the end of the every season, races begin to be a little bit further between and fewer on weekends. We still have a few big races (marathon nationals, provincials, and the legendary University Cup series), but it’s a good time to refocus, reenergize, and throw a good block of training into the mix. Long time racing buddy James Clarke invited  Jon Slaughter and myself to his beautiful chalet near Talisman Resort (amongst the escarpment in the blue mountains) for a weekend of epic training. The plan was to do a 95km day on Saturday that climbed up the escarpment 6 times (you can thank the crazy Belgian Etienne for that), and then put some good time in on Sunday on the provincials course.  This would be a sweet weekend! We were riding all day every day with buddies, hanging out at a chalet on the escarpment at nights, and doing it all over again – without the stress of being in peak performance for a race.

Saturday’s ride turned into an unforgettable and extremely consequential one. After riding up and down the escarpment 4 times, including up Blue Mountain and down on the downhill trails (it may have been the highlight of my weekend to yell “RIDER!!!! “ at a fully equipped downhill mountain bike rider and see the shock in his face when a spandex-clad cross country rider came flying by him onto a bridge and proceeded to gap over the latter part of the bridge). Jon had been riding very strongly all day, and is an incredibly technically astute rider but as we were descending a very steep, long, technical section at Three Stage something happened, and Jon ended up head first into a tree. I was the guy behind Jon and was first by his side. He was lying absolutely still, swearing. He and his bike were back off the trail by the tree, which had clearly stopped him dead. His helmet was cracked, and he told us that he couldn’t feel his right arm at all. We asked him some questions, he did not appear to be concussed, but something was seriously wrong.

Jon lied down there for about 20 minutes before he sat up. We discussed the idea of calling in help, but we were so far in the middle of a forest, and didn’t know really where we were. The fastest way for Jon to get to the hospital would be in one of our cars. I tried to comfort Jon with the novel idea of going into a big tube and getting a CT scan, but he wasn’t quite ecstatic on it. We all knew of the severity of his injury though.

I fashioned a sling for his arm out of a bike tube, and the man of steel, Jon Slaughter started walking out with Kelsey while Etienne led James, Jerome and I to the road. James and I then screamed down the road about 20 minutes to his van, and Etienne and Jerome went back for Jon and Kelsey to show them their way out of the bush properly.

I was the first to actually visit Jon in his hospital after Kelsey and I rode to Blue Mountain, picked up his car, and got there. Jon had been scanned in the “big tube”, and left on a hospital bed, still in his spandex shorts, and with a hospital patient gown on. As I entered the room, Jon (now equipped with a neck brace) was trying to squirm out of the bed.

“NO, NO DON’T  MOVE!” screamed the nurse

“But I just have to pee!”

“I’ll get you a jug then”

“And I’ll hold it for you!” I added

“Oh good idea” said the nurse.

The look on Jon’s face after this exchange was the funniest I had ever seen Jon muster, but of course I gave him privacy.

At least blue is Jon's colour, and he looks great in polka-dots

We found out later that afternoon that Jon had two fractures in the vertebra of his neck, and that he would have to wear a “halo” for 12 weeks. He was transferred to Sunnybrook hospital in Toronto to have the incredibly invasive apparatus screwed into his skull. Jon is extremely tough and lucky and considering what happened, this may be the best case scenario. One of his fingers remains numb, but he is in surprisingly good spirits, and chuckled when I surprised him with a visit all the way up in Muskoka on Tuesday.

Etienne and I are on the way to Quebec as I am writing this, the only two left that are in for the Canadian Mountain Bike Marathon National Championships. This will be a seriously grueling race, but it’s a challenge that I am looking forward to, and I’ve got some yellow tape on my bike, to remind me that I’m riding hard, because at the moment, Jon can’t.  Check out the course profile, and the awesome video for it!

A somewhat un-glorified homecoming

It was great to be back in town for the weekend at my old home course where I learned to ride a mountain bike; Buckwallow (just north of Gravenhurst, Ontario). I am flattered and it meant so much to me to see friends that I hadn’t seen in years come out and support me – there truly is no better feeling! Unfortunately the race was overshadowed by bad weather and no pre-ride of the course, and it just wasn’t my day.

Riding the course blind (and my tire valve failing in the last lap) did lend to making it tougher and a bit more stressful, but I have no real excuse. 

bringing her home on foot. you can tell I'm not too impressed with myself here
(photo stolen from Jim Cassell)

Some days are bad days, and we can all learn from them and how to make them better! By this point in the season my training regimen has been demolished by unpredictable, and too many work hours. I am surely not complaining here, as I will be at work till whenever it takes, and I take great pride in working with the University of Guelph in the School of Environmental Sciences Microbiology lab. Priorities are priorities, and I thought that I could get away with less training to make sure that things get done at the lab. On the way home I reflected and figured that I need to refocus myself, and sleep more, eat better, and train more (if I can).

Thank you to my great friends, to Jon and Vicki, who hosted us, and sorry that I wasn’t able to put on a better performance for the race.

Thanks to Diana and her family who cheered, and had my feeds absolutely under control!
(photo stolen from Jim Cassell)

Feeds so clean that I didn't even have to look to know where the bottle was!
(photo stolen from Jim Cassell)

Finishing it off with an action shot! I'm told I looked strong during the race, and it was great
 to have such encouraging supporters! 

Back to home turf

Today I am travelling back to where I learned how to ride a mountain bike, and where my passion all started. The race will be just north of Gravenhurst Ontario, on a course full of bedrock, roots, big rocks, and arguably the most technically challenging trails in the Ontario Cup series. My buddy Alex and I will be leaving momentarily, and have just found out that the course is closed and the scheduled pre-ride will has been cancelled due to rain. I hope that though I haven't been riding at Buckwallow (the race course name) in 4 years, my local advantage still sticks. There have been a lot of changes, and this race will present a new challenge for me and the other riders; especially those who will be riding the course completely blind. I expect a lot of mechanical problems and many riders may get injured, but I am hoping for the best!

Come check out the race tomorrow!
Buckwallow map

Anyone who is stuck up north wanting to ride, send me a message, I will be organizing a mountain bike ride today so we can spin our legs the day before the race! I'll show you some great local trails!

Of mechanical misfortunes and generous racers

The first weekend  in August marked a race that has been on my calendar since the very start of the year, a race that caps up the series that I had set my mind to as a season goal: the Ontario Mountain Bike Marathon Championships. The course would be 60km in length up in Kingston, which meant lots and lots of rocks, mixed with farm fields, lakesides, and very clayey soil.

Saturday before the race I got out of the house to tool around on my bike and make sure that everything is in good working order. Unfortunately before I could even get to the trails I realized that it was indeed not. There happened to be a tooth missing from my big gear in the front, which meant that any powerful pedal strokes would cause the chain to derail. Firstly this is a problem for the obvious reason that I can no longer sprint, and secondly it puts my chain at an extremely high risk of snapping.  After a quick check in with the bike shop it became apparent that there was no way that I could resolve this problem, so I would have to race without sprinting....hmm..

On the way out the door to Kingston, I got a phone call from my wonderful Mother (anyone who has stayed at our place before a race can attest to the fact that she is the most wonderful woman in the world).  The phone call was warning of the apparent apocalypse to happen Kingston during the race. Too late, I’m out the door. With the wrong tires.

Focused on something while I was coming through the fields

The morning of the race looked like there may be a chance of rain, but the start was dry...For about 2 minutes. The combination of rain and clayey soil meant that racers would have bikes gummed up, gears would work much less effectively (if at all), there would be no traction through the trial, and bikes would get so heavy that they were hard to push even if you were on your feet. I seemed to thrive in these conditions. I quickly realized it would be a game of survival and dedication. I spent my water bottles in the first half of the race to clean out my gears, and would get off the bike every few minutes to scoop the mud by hand out of the wheels and frame. Running sections and picking up and slamming my bike on the ground while doing so would keep me going faster, and get some mud off of the bike. Any times that we would be out in the open, the rain was coming down so hard that my bike would be rideable again, and it was as if all the frogs in the world came for a party in the rainstorm, which was a plus!

After the first 30km we ended up back at the starting line, riding through a barn, and then back across some fields. By this point I was just overtaking the guy in 4^th place overall, and doing so with a gusto (the reason that I was back was to fix and clean my bike at a race checkpoint). Upon re-entering the forest however, I found that my rear tire had managed to get a slow leak. How this could have happened in the fields and going through the barn remains a mystery to me, but as soon as I got into the rooty stuff again I felt my rim tapping the obstacles. While attempting to fix my flat, I must have not been thorough enough and missed whatever it was that punctured the tire, because even after checking and throwing a new tube in, it would not hold air. After releasing a dud of a CO₂ canister, trying my pump again and again, and another guy’s pump I realized I must have reflatted the same tube while trying to fix it. This left me begging at the side of the trail for who ever would be merciful enough to offer up a new tube. Luckily someone did, but it cost me about a half hour.

The sun came out, and I almost look happy to be running my bike here..

I continued on, podium well out of sight, but I kept my composure and had fun for what the race really is; an adventure on my bike! The trails were awesome, and though my bike wasn’t in great shape from the fine mud earlier, it was still pedalling and I could still enjoy myself! Until out of nowhere my chain dropped off the bike. I glanced at the quicklink chain fixer on my bike and figured “It’s not worth it” and fixed my chain in a very rushed and irate (too many biting insects) manner. When I hopped on the bike again the chain fell off once more; I had forgotten to thread it through my front gear shifter. After rebreaking my chain, and fixing it literally fast as ever, I was off again. By this point racing at a pace quick enough to relieve anybody’s frustration at any mechanical problems.

Bringing it in toward the finish, thinking that I'll outrun the guys on bikes

In the last 5 km of the course my chain was acting up again, so I pedalled softly for a while, then ran it in to the finish. Not my best result ever, but I still had a good time with some great friends, and am happy in knowing that I was comfortably in 4^th place overall, more than half way through the race, before they happened. I’ve learned to be extra careful when changing flats and fixing chains, and that mountain bike racers are a great bunch who won’t leave even their competitors hanging dry in the trail. And I still LOVE MY BIKE!

The face says it all right here

Thank you to Dayle Laing for taking photos and sending them to me!

They call it Ontario's toughest mountain bike race...

I have always heard of a legendary race up in the north; more than 110 km, river crossings, hills that may as well be mountains, ferocious animals, and crazy, CRAZY guys that race these distances. This race is known as Ontario’s toughest mountain bike race: Lost in the Rocks and Trees, up in Mattawa, Ontario (about as far north as you can go from Toronto without going east or west or crossing into Quebec). I have always really wanted to take on such a challenge, and even if I don’t treat this kind of event as a race, surely it would be a grand adventure! Unfortunately though, there are no other riders crazy enough to do such a race around here.

After searching for travel partners, I found my companions in the strangest place: the lab that I work at. This summer, the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Guelph has played host to many exchange students, including several Germans. It turns out that my friend Therese knows a couple of them, and they had their plans fall through for the weekend. After putting a “fun guarantee” on my trip, and loosely explaining the details of a car rental, some tents, and places pretty far north, I had new travel companions: Therese, Jonas, and Lisa.

Therese, enjoying a free ride northern style!

The mugshot that police took of Jonas when they told him to shave and find a house...

Lisa is quite charming!

After several setbacks, we left Guelph around 6:30 on what was forecasted by google maps to be more than a 6 hour journey to the race start.  By the first ten minutes of the car ride it was clear that I was in great company; Jonas and I talked almost nonstop the whole way up, and the girls were a bit more quiet, but that may be because they were in the back seats. After a naked (just Jonas and I) pit stop at a waterfall, and a plethora of Therese’s delicious homemade peanut butter oatmeal cookies, we arrived at the race course at 1:30 (am). Race start in 7.5 hours, great! I quickly set up the tents, to the right of the start line (had no idea where else to pitch) and was in bed before 2, only to be woken up at about 7 by the activity on the race morning.

Tent at the start line, notice the massive hills in the background...

I watched as many riders showed up, and one in particular stood out as a serious contender: Paul Guenette – winner of the most recent Ontario Cup in the expert division, He made it clear that he was there for the win, and that this was not his first time racing the race. I decided not to mind him, and to make sure I would keep an eye on him once the race started – but I was busy prepping by bike for the race!

Keeping the bears away and annoying the competitors with my bear bell!

Upon race start I positioned myself right behind Paul, and we rode together until two more guys caught us (after a wrong turn by me). There was a notable gravel road section in the first 15 km, and this was when I gauged the speed of the other 3 riders in the top pack. We let Paul set the pace first, and I was more than comfortable following this pace (but this being my first endurance event of this caliber, I had no idea how really I should ride). Two things happened when I set the pace; firstly, I got stung on the neck (right under my helmet strap) by a bee, and secondly, I got yelled at because I “would never  keep that pace for 112km”. After realizing that I seemed to have more dispensable power at my 75% of max effort, I broke away and let them catch me back once or twice, just to put an early burn on my opponents legs.

All was great and I was setting the pace for our lead group of four until I had some chain issues! Terrible chain suck between my front gears, which took about a minute of standing around getting eaten by deer flies on the side of the trail to fix. Luckily my chain was not broken, and I was back on my way – but the guys ahead had got a free minute ahead of me. I rode a steady tempo for 15-20 minutes until I caught them again, and resumed my position as the front man for the race.

Race Photos Here

The trails around Mattawa are certainly some to be reckoned with! If I wasn’t climbing up a massive hill that was full of washouts and cobbles, I was slugging through a sand section that was as though I was riding along a beach, or going through creeks and muddy rut sections. To me, all of this was quite an adventure though! Descending the hills was an art unto itself; they were all ridiculously steep, had deep ruts eroded through them, and filled with rocks the size of baseballs, but sharper, and to make matters tougher, light and shadows through the trees made it hard to distinguish where rocks began and ended. These factors (and my sweaty sunglasses), led to the untimely demise of my rear tire. About 25km into the race I had a flat tire from a rock that slashed through it. A quick assessment of the situation showed a puncture that I was sure would seal itself with some special goop inside the tire if I gave it a quick shot of air. Unfortunately I was wrong, and spent almost 12 minutes fixing a flat tire! I kept calm though, figuring that I had nearly 4 hours to make up for this blunder.

When I came past the next checkpoint, I stopped to refill my water bottles, got some food, and was told that the leaders were 10 minutes ahead. Challenge accepted. The following time-splits told me that I was 7, 5, then 2 minutes from the leaders. Sweet, I’ll catch these guys no problem! It was the next time split that was confusing and disheartening: 15 minutes. I guess there was some time split confusion, but I couldn’t help but be a bit discouraged. One good thing did happen however; there was a beautiful carbohydrate power gel in the middle of the trail on a rock, and it was full! The bike gods had begun to smile on me.

Through the constant problems with my chain (and eventually deciding that I wouldn’t be able to shift my front gears anymore to the small one), and hours of solo riding in the bush, I finally came up on Paul, who was dogging it a bit by this point.

“Come on man, let’s go!”

“I can’t, I’ve got no energy left”

“What place are you in?”

“3^rd, good luck!”

Really?? I was in third place?? AWESOME! This in itself was enough to pick me back up, and put a grin on my face! It wasn’t long until I found myself in second place, though apparently the winner was “At least half an hour ahead”, and was on his way to his third victory in a row at this race.

By around kilometer 90, I was finally starting to feel the 34 degree weather. My legs would cramp any time I extended them absolutely straight, and I was constantly on the verge of vomiting. The last checkpoint was a welcome break where I took my time, refilled bottles, and ate a banana. Unfortunately, the guy who I had just passed very easily had a second wind, and he meant business. I rushed back off on my bike, and was stopped not even 200m later with the same recurring chain issues at the bottom of a hill, and while walking up the hill I was passed by someone with obviously more energy than me. I fought my way back to sit on the wheel of the second place rider, and when we got to the top of a big downhill something encouraging happened

“Pass me, I can’t ride down these hills as fast as you do, you’re nuts.”

Hey! There we go! It was always part of my strategy to let it all hang out on the hills, because as far as I’m concerned, for no extra effort, you can make time on the other guys who aren’t willing to take the risks and speed that I would.

The extra time gained on the hills was just not enough for me though, and I rode into a stellar third place finish! It looks like I’ve found my real strength: endurance racing. Next year, if I’m in Ontario, I’m coming for a win!

My companions during my race...on the way to the lake

Mansfield Marathon, and my first podium since the hospital!

This long weekend, I managed to do it all; I was a family guy, I spent time at Wasaga Beach, and I raced one heck of a race! My second attempt at the Ontario Mountain BikeMarathon series was much more successful than my first (which included mechanical issues, as well as 7 bee/wasp stings). I went into the race with a bit of a rattled up feeling; I was woken up at “quarter before morning” by my awesome cousin (after getting to my Grandpa’s place at 3am), I spent the day before the race at the beach in the sun bullying small kids in the water, and I ripped around the Three Stage trail system on the side of blue mountain for a couple hours. The race was supposed to be around 60km, and took place at Mansfield Outdoor Centre, which means hills and sand.

At the start of the race, 3 men (Etienne Moreau, Andrew De Cal, and Zach Winn) threw down a serious pace, and after sticking with them for a bit, I settled into a comfortable 80% pace, (with 60km of unknown trail ahead, there’s no need to burn matches at the start!). I got caught up by another two riders, and we rode together for some time until one got a flat tire. That left Tim Carleton and I out on the trails, contesting for 4^th place. Unfortunately less than 10km into the race my front shift cable broke, leaving me limited to my 26 tooth “granny” ring. This causes issues with chain tension (making me more likely to break a chain), and limits me to easier gears – limiting the effort and speed that I can put out. I decided to keep this a secret from Tim, not wanting him to know that he could simply ride away from me on a straight section.

Lots of hills, lots of coasting, lots of fun!

 This is mountain bike racing as I love it. The trails at Mansfield are old and well worn in, meaning I am completely confident leaning my bike, and ripping through the trails. I led through most of the race between Tim and I, out for my Sunday bike ride with a massive grin on my face until I heard from Tim

“No offense, but we should go faster, the guy behind is catching us.”

Of course, since he was so polite about it, I had to pick up the pace, but eventually Tim got by when I made a mistake, thought that he was right on me, and pulled off to the side of the trail to let him by. Tim is a smooth rider, and that combined with his added drive to race and a few bad missed turns by me had him riding away from me to finish in 4^th place. After Tim had blasted off out of sight down the trail, I returned to my “Sunday ride” pace, quite content riding like that so as not to make any mistakes until I realized I was getting caught in the last quarter of the race.

Terrain in the last quarter was incredibly sandy, with hills that were almost un-manageable, and several inches of sand coating long sections of trail. Unfortunately for the guy behind (Mike) any time that I realized he was getting closer to me, I would put in some effort and I seemed to have much more power in my legs for navigating the sand sections. I rode into a 5^th place finish, with my first podium on my amazing new TrekSuperfly, and despite mechanical issues rode a solid race, staying well within my limitations and keeping a serious smile on my face the whole time. I felt great on the podium in my Trek jersey, and it means even more because it's my first time on a podium since being in the hospital almost three years ago.

Left to right - Me, Zach Winn, Etienne Moreau, Andrew De Cal, Tim Carleton (Thumbs up!)
Thanks to all of the volunteers, especially Dayle Laing for sending me this picture.

Huge thanks to all of friends and my race support over the last year, the real reason that I'm fast is because of all of the support I have and because I love the sport.

Canadian Mountain Bike Nationals 2012: Saint-Félicien

After a great 12 hour road trip to St. Félicien in northern Quebec, my travel companions (Alex, Elyse, and Joan) and I found ourselves in a wonderful campground beside a zoo, with a pretty sweet little cabin, and team Quebec as neighbours. We quickly set up basecamp and headed out to the nationals course for a lap to spin out our legs, and to see what all of the hype was about!

Our road trip was filled up with:

Great stories

Quick naps

Surprise pitstops

and, of course poutine!
(which led to the formation of our top-rank cycling team the Pouteam!)

This was my first time competing at nationals (I had only dreamed of competing in the professional division at the nationals level), and the race course was AMAZING! The lap started out with a switchback climb, over 2 bridges over spectators, up a gradual hill, then into some rocky, rooty, singletrack. 

Good friend, Olympic rider, and birthday girl Emily Batty rides over one of the bridges on course.
Emily rode in to a 3rd place finish!

We then popped back out into the crowds and spectators, running through an obstacle course with people chanting, cheering and watching. The “obstacle course” consisted of jumps, rock piles, plank rides, drop offs, bridges over other sections that riders were riding on, and burms. 

Team Ontario rider Annie Foreman-Mackey cleans out a rock pile during her race.

After this section was a long, technical ascent to the top of the ski hill, that crested into an open, more gradual climb. There was some more climby singletrack, and then we began the treacherous descents and switchbacks down to the spectators and crowds. A feed station was set up at the bottom of this descent, after which the riders would ride up another bridge over the trail below, and then go up what seemed to be the steepest switchbacks in existence.

Sam Wagler (also with team Ontario) beginning her next lap. You can see in the top left of this picture the amazing steep swithcback climb!

We quickly descended the hill one more time, headed through a bit of forest on a skinny boardwalk, and then up through some rocks to the finish the lap. The course was a total of 5km, and the under 23 elite men category would have to do 5 laps.

Katlyn coming up through some rocks at the end of the lap right behind Sam, and me cheering like it's my job!

Friday, the day before the race was a day of unorthodox adventure; Alex and I woke up early and decided to go for a walk around the campground. Soon enough we were bushwacking through an empty lot toward the sound of a waterfall. Soon enough we were at some beautiful rapids.

Good Tan lines on my buddy, Alex Schmidt!

There were some funny, exotic noises coming from the other side of the river, where there were some boardwalks. A lightbulb went off in our heads and we started to cross the treacherous rapids (hiking our shorts up as if they were speedos). We climbed up and jumped a fence into the world of Mongolia. Bucket list...break into a zoo...check!

Alex's favorite animals, the tigers!

The rest of the day included a good practice session with the lovely girls from team Ontario (yeah, I was training with girls, so what!), a massive meal, and then bed time.

compare my face...

To Alex's! What a guy!

The day of the race was just amazing. I got to see (and line up at the start line with) all the stars of Canada, and for some reason I was able to remain fairly calm and collected in the hours before the race. Firstly, Alex and I had the privilege of watching the pro women’s race. It was so much fun to watch and to cheer for some of our favorite ladies and close friends. 

Katlyn Dundas, another Trek rider, riding with team Ontario never stops smiling!

The crowds watching the pro men's race were just amazing! Everybody was cheering, chanting, and yelling! My race was fairly uneventful, it was an incredibly tough course, and the fact that I lack the years of training on my legs became apparent from the start. I sat in and kept motoring though, riding on and off with Trent from Ontario, a guy from Quebec, Nick from the Trek Red Truck team in BC, and Brandon from team Nova Scotia. I was feeling quite comfortable as I was finishing off my fourth lap; ready to start the fifth and to pick off two of the guys whom I was very confident would fade through the sections that they did every lap, while I would burn the rest of my gas and finish out strong.

Having the time of my life on the course, just happy to be competing at nationals! Thanks Lori for posting the photos!

Unfortunately, my race came to an untimely end, as our group was the first to get pulled from the course (I didn’t even know that they were pulling riders!). I am still happy that I went out to our Canadian Nationals, and identified a weakness that I have in my riding that I must work on. The course was a pleasure to ride (and dare I say-I didn’t even mind racing it!), and I made many, many new friends this weekend!

Friends so good we could even do a 4 person piggy-back!

Thanks to my travel companions and friends for putting up with me on a 12 hour car ride, and letting me steal your photos (Joan and Alex)!