Early winter Adirondack trip

I'm sure that everyone has a couple of friends that tend to get them in over their heads. I mean we always have a crazy good fun time, and it's always worth it, but lots of lessons are learned along the way. There was of course the last Adirondack trip, or the impromptu obstacle race, and now backpacking in the snowcovered Adirondacks again. It was another one of those Thursdays, you're not quite sure what you're doing this weekend and you get the call. We had been thinking of doing a trip to the Adirondacks, but there's that transition season between when it's cold, but still traversible with regular gear, and when there's enough snow that you an grip the mountain side again. That window in between is just icy, and not ideal for a big trip.
Luckily for us, the Adirondacks were just getting tons of snow, and conditions were prime for a winter camping and backpacking trip in the mountains. My friends came up Friday night to Kingston and did the responsible thing of going to a party and being DD. After a late night, we got up quite early that morning and headed straight for the border in Kelsey's new car. The border guard was less than impressed with the vomit all over the side of the car (by-product of being DD), but I guess that really wasn't a good enough reason to keep us out of the country.

Cleaning off the side of the car upon arrival just outside of Lake Placid

The first day of hiking we managed 3 different mountains, and had fantastic conditions. Sure it was quite windy at the top, and the fresh snow led to a soaker only an hour in for me, but at least it wasn't too cold to manage!

Nicer conditions when you're still in the tree cover

Hanging out in these winds at the tops of the mountains was fun, but cold!

Coming down these trails was some of the most fun and hard to control hiking/running that I had ever done. The goal is always speed, and the trails are so steep that running down the hills ends up being almost like freefalling down the mountain, planting your feet where you get the opportunity to steer yourself and slow down a little bit. Then having a big pack loaded on your back puts you a bit off balance, so it's all about calculated risks and trying to keep up I guess! 

Walking up the creeks made for extreme danger of soakers

the trails that we had planned to tackle to get up the summits of the mountains had a general trend: they were partially frozen creeks. The area that we were is a conservation area in the mountain range, so as opposed to cut a lot of nice big trails up the mountains, some trails follow creek beds. This makes for the added challenge extra steep and unpredictable trail, as well as the odd wet foot hole. But the views were always worth it.

Stretching it out on the mountain top in front of the stunning scenery

After a couple of different mountain climbs we were all still smiling, not really wearing out too much yet, and Kelsey mentioned how we had had such a great, relaxed day. Matt reminded him that we had been almost running through snow for about five and a half hours, wow, time flies. 

We hunkered into a "lean to" for the night, and I wasn't sure what I was expecting. I knew what I was afraid that a lean to would be, but surely it wouldn't be so bad. 

Cute, right?

And with a view! 

We were starting to get cold after close to 8 hours of hiking in the snow, stopping only to eat chocolate bars, and this didn't seem like a very warm place to be. Luckily I had some dehydrated food and Jack Daniels to warm me up.

It turned out that I was sorely unprepared for the sleeping part of winter camping. JD led me into a false sense of warmth, but my sleeping mat had a hole in it which didn't help, and my sleeping bag was a 3 season bag, plus I only brought stuff that keeps you  warm while you're running, and a flannel shirt. We hunkered in for sleep around 6pm, and got up at 7:30, which is a long time to be in the cold without moving. Precautions that one must take when they've sunken a boot into water, or are doing crazy endurance stuff is to make sure that the boots are not a frozen block in the morning, and to do the same for your water bladder. This means that inside my sleeping bag was me, my boots, and my water bladder. Outside my sleeping bag was the great outdoors, and something like -20C.

By the time the dawn came up I had waited patiently, contemplating every possible piece of gear that I would bring to the next winter camping trip - or just to go bury myself in the snow for the night. I got us up a the crack of dawn, and we got ready to make some oatmeal and get moving. Unfortunately we forgot the oatmeal, so it was another day of eating chocolate bars, my favourite!

We walked down to the nearest creek, broke through the ice and started filling our bladders with water for the day. my hose froze in a couple of minutes, so in order for e to have access to water that day, I had to keep the whole bladder inside my coat next to my body. Once we got moving, it took several hours, but my right foot stopped being so numb! This was a bonus.

Watch the ledge! Cool canyon that we hiked alongside in the morning.

It took us more than 40 minutes to hike to the sunlight, but it was a beautiful clear day!

The thing about such a wonderful, clear day is that it is inevitably cold. And windy. It was so exciting to actually see around me this day, and not have whiteout conditions, and the 100km/h gusts at the top of the mountains were something that I hadn't experienced either.

Kelsey leaning into the wind, Matt looking the other way

Bros on the top of a mountain

Looking forward (we climbed this steep stuff for an hour)

Looking back (so steep of a slope that the trees aren't really in the way of nice pictures)

I seriously enjoyed this trip, and the frost bite and lost toenail are a small price to pay to be introduced to such a great winter passtime. I've invested in some proper stuff to camp with and backpack in the winter, and next time, I'll be ready! 

The Ontario World Cup

Well it’s finally happened! It seems to be *summer* in that the race season has started! Sure there are no leaves on the trees, it was pretty cold and rainy the day before the race, but it was really great to see my friends and get back onto the Ontario mountain bike scene! I can’t even explain how happy I was to see my buds with their revamped Wolfpak racing squad, or just to heckle back and forth with people I haven’t seen in 6 months, tell them it looks like they got their new bikes at the ladies bike store, or that I didn’t know Canadian Tire was sponsoring people etc. etc. The weekend started Friday for me after finalizing my conference presentation (Oh yeah, I’m a grad student now at Queen’s), Tori and I headed out for the race and pre riding the course.

A bike selfie, the lightest sweetest bike at any race no doubt! I wouldn't ride anything else even if it was offered to me!

I was excited and smiling ear to ear, the way that biking makes me when I got to the course, got the bikes out and did a slow lap, working with tori over all of the obstacles and working on skills to boost confidence and get all set up for the race. I had a great second lap with local cycling legend, University of Guelph student, and world cup winner Peter Disera, oh and the (now injured) up and coming Braedyn Kozman. It sure was awesome to be riding quick in a group of guys in the trails, dipping and hopping through the trails, chatting, and acting as one quick caterpillar snaking through the forest. Saturday I was back to the course and reunited with the Pack, the Wolfpak. I was stoked to see the boys all out with their new kits, new bikes, and rejuvenated love for cycling. I got 4 laps in Saturday, which may have been a few too many - but that didn’t matter because I was back on the bike! Saturday night was the familiar feast (I only ride to eat really), then up to bed. I was a bit nervous about how much my legs hurt just walking up stairs and about an awful injury below the belt that I can’t discuss the particulars of in a public forum, so I filled up an ice bath and sat in there for 8 minutes. No more, no less!

Wet pre riding on course

This was the World Cup of Ontario Cups, and Quebec brought their best riders too (in addition to other racers from all around Canada). I was amazed to see that some guys who really haven’t raced at Ontario Cup races in years (too busy travelling Europe racing, I assume), and I was pretty amazed by the speed and smoothness of the race start too!

Canadian mountain bike celebrities at the front of the race start
 (Thanks to Mr&Mrs Bailey for always posting such great race photos online)

As the gun went off the whole group (44 of us) sped forward, trying to get into a good position before the singletrack. I was actually surprised when the course kicked up in a steep hill and I was passing people, making my way up the field to secure a good position into the first piece of singletrack. I focussed on riding smooth and being powerful where it counted, and found myself riding with a different group of people; guys who had always been able to beat me by a fair amount of time. Coming through for lap 2 I was more or less in the mix of the fastest non-world cup racers. It was exciting to be playing a dominant role in the race, right up in the mix.

Focus (another taken from Mr&Mrs Bailey's album)

Lap 2 was a bit of a turning point in the race because we began lapping other racers midway through the lap. This is because my poor buddy Braedyn went down (needing 36 stitches) at the start of his race, delaying the other starts. The late starts introduced a whole new type of tactics to the race: get ahead of the other riders and use them to block people. Unfortunately it didn’t favor me, because I would rather coach someone through the trail so that they can ride it faster themselves than make a dangerous and selfish pass. I continued to race my hardest and make fast passes any time that the course opened up, and pass only when I felt that it was safe to do so in the singletrack. I still managed to race a good race, and though a few guys got away from me in all of the lap traffic, I’m happy to say that I finished 21^st! I managed to beat guys by more than 5 minutes who had beaten me by more than 5 minutes at the same race last year. At first I was disappointed by the number 21, but putting it into perspective (on a regular Ontario Cup last year I may have even made the top 10), I’m proud! All the work over the winter has paid off, and next race I'll be even faster, with less lapping to happen!

Elite Men Results

I'm also very proud of my girlfriend who raced to a 9th place finish in her first race in Elite! Elite Women Results

All smiles on race day! (another taken from Mr&Mrs Bailey's album)

Redbull's Race the place

Anyone who followed my blog post a couple of days agoknows that I was lined up to race in a crazy Redbull event called “Race the Place”. It was a race targeted at the crazy international non-sanctioned bike racing community – a lot of whom are ex track racers and messengers. There were numerous guys from different places in the world – including “The Fish”. As the day went on I kept hearing stories of this legend called The Fish...Ex National Dutch Track Champion...Just won the Alleycat race in Spain...Tattoos...You know, typical stuff, right?

Why do you think that they call him The Fish? (hint: look at the gears)
Pic borrowed from RedBull article spoiler alert

The event was a mixing pot of all people who like bikes and crazy things – with a large amount of messengers. There were dudes in jeans, cutoff jeans, baggy shorts, short shorts, flannel, all the way to guys dressed as if they were in an international road race in full spandex and logos with team tents. The course was opened in the morning from 7-10am for practise laps, and there were plenty of riders there early. Everybody seemed to have their idea of what bike was best for the course, but I think that I chose properly with my Trek Madone, I took everything that me or the course could throw at it!

The course began with a small straight section, then there were 4 more tight turns before any passing or anything could happen. Then there was a thin pot holed section that ran along the water into a tight 90 degree turn. The following section was a designated no-passing zone because it was tight, had another incredibly tight 90 degree turn that was about as wide as a sidewalk, and led into an uphill with another 180degree tight as sidewalk turn onto the bridge.

The bridge led to the abandoned theme park island and finished in a downhill that spat us onto another skinny potholed path along the mainland side of the island. This led into a couple of tight turns that skirted the outside of the island that were fast, but if you made a mistake you may end up in the lake! The final section before the amusement park and crazy features was a dirt section right by the lake, then it was a outrageously tight turn that sent us flying into the amusement park (there were many close calls through this turn). In the park there were a few tight switchbacks then the cave. The cave was like a sudden lights out, and about as long as two parked cars, and there was a left turn in the cave. A pack of 80 riders through this gave me nightmares. Out of the cave was another insanely tight turn then a long sweeping S bend which sent us out to the straight flat back section back along to the start. The end of the lap was a zigzag then some “whoops”. Watching the time trials it became painfully obvious why there were called the whoops.

It was a good thing that there were lots of paramedics around
(David Albert-Lebrun Photo)

This guy in the track category had the right idea!
(David Albert-Lebrun Photo)

Taking a bit of air through those (David Albert-Lebrun Photo)

The whoops were taken out of the course for the actual race.

After open course practice time were the qualifying time trials; the top 24 track riders and 56 open riders were taken for the final race, each seated according to their ranking on the in rows of 6. I thought it was of utmost importance to be in the top few rows to avoid dying in a crash (too bad it didn’t work out for me!). I unfortunately had an incident before my time trial; while not paying any attention and only riding with one hand and turning around on the bike, I hit a big piece of electrical conduit and as on the ground before I knew it with a scraped knee, a chunk of the skin missing from my palm, and a potentially broke wrist. IT WAS SO EMBARASSING!

Getting all taped up (David Albert-Lebrun Photo)

After the time trials I was sitting pretty, ranked 4^th fastest of the day, within seconds of the second place rider, which granted me a position in the front row and spotlight! The real race didn’t start until 6:30pm but it was great to hang out on course with all of the sponsors and exhibitors at the event. Redbull knows how to throw a gig, and with the big Oakley pavilion and giveaways it was just an exciting time!

Watching the live feed standings as I warm up for my qualifier
(David Albert-Lebrun Photo)

When it came down to race time the crows showed up in the thousands! The energy was pumping and I loved the call up, I thought that I looked good and prepped, but some adorable little girl voiced concern for me

“Do your legs hurt?” She said looking at the bleeding and scabbed legs

“Yeah, thanks! I think that I’ll be fine”

The adorable little girl nodded and smiled and walked back to her Dad, but it was really nice to feel like someone was watching out for me.

80 riders all lined up for one hell of a time (David Albert-Lebrun photo)

 Now the race was really about to start and people were throwing money down as primes on laps - $200 for the first guy across the first lap, and $50 for several others. This last detail made me nervous, I knew that the race would be crazy, technical, and overly bunched up – but with money people tend to get pretty stupid. I know I would.

At the start it was The Fish, trackstanding (which I guess is ok because it’s an unsanctioned race) gave him a quick jump right from the gun, but I managed to reel him back just as we were blasting through the technical bits.

(David Albert-Lebrun photo)

I went into the cave second place, and absolutely screaming fast. This feature was pretty nuts because it was a bright day and suddenly lights out! You had to remember and do the cave by feel just hoping to make it out the other side with the rubber side still down. Unfortunately on the first lap I leaned too hard while cornering through the cave and I slid out and was down. I smacked the ground hard and didn’t even have a second to skid before I hit the cave wall, or to even get worried before Richard who was right behind me at the time (and won the $200 on the first lap) almost hit me. I still don’t understand how he managed to plant a foot and pop his bike up over me without even hitting me. The other guys were amazed at how fast I got back up and out of there (panic of being hit by other riders spurred me), and then the race was back on!

Leading the lead group zigzagging into the cave (David Albert-Lebrun photo)

A quick damage check revealed some serious pain in bumps, bruises, and scrapes, as well as a back brake that was making seriously odd noise and I figured was not to be trusted. I considered abandoning the race, it was suicide to try to race without a rear brake, right? Well there were other guys doing it and I was way too jacked up and determined to stop. So now I couldn’t use my shifting with my left hand (I could big ring it anyway, right?!), and lost the brake in my right hand, but my wheels still turned and I had come a long way to shut the show down early.

Sitting 3rd wheel in the chase group after my fall, just waiting for the moment to spring back to the leaders as we wind through the picturesque and haunting abandoned theme park (David Albert-Lebrun photo)

It took a few laps for me to catch back up to the leaders, but when I did I went hard and didn't look back. I stayed in the rotation with the top 3 riders in the breakaway group, always weary that if someone did anything crazy in the technical sections of the course they could either drop me behind the group or drop me to the ground (again).

It didn't take long until we had a group of 7 guys established as the breakaway group and other riders started to get pulled from the course as we were lapping them – this group was next level on anyone else it seemed.

Lapping riders and staying focused on each corner (David Albert-Lebrun photo)

I pulled through and drove the pace hard so that nobody would have a chance of catching  us, and realized that this race would be decided in the last lap, so for the remainder of the race was to stay ahead of the rest of the field. The middle of the race went with the same crazy guys doing the same crazy pace through the tight sections, over the bridge, through the tunnel, and along the back stretch, we got into a good groove as a group, and I never thought that I was wasting too much energy at the front. Every time we pulled through for a new lap the crowd went wild, people everywhere were taking pictures and yelling – I loved it.

Riders crossing the narrow bridge to the theme  park island

Coming through the start finish for the final lap is where the whole race really unfolded, I was leading through and then my buddy Jon just rocketed by me, and on him were The Fish and the rider from the East Coast Richard, and me? Well my legs were apparently tired and didn't have any real snap to them! One more guy made his way by me, and I managed to catch him back through the technical section. Here was some guy who had been sitting with the lead group and not lead the pace or touched the wind once, I didn’t even know that he was there and now he was ahead of me, keeping me just out of the money in the last lap. When I caught him I yelled “short pulls, we’ll catch them back”! And we started working together and closing in on the leaders who had broken away with about 2 minutes to go in the race. We were getting close and I had just done a solid pull as we went into the turns close to the finish when this guy just sprang away from me. I sprinted my best for a hopeless 5^th place overall finish, as the crowds raged.

Congrats to the guys who definitely outplayed me, I have much to learn about road racing and when to take a break or when to pull hard! I may need to relax more, but finishing 5^th place overall was still total rockstar status at the race, the afterparty, and on the RedBull website! (Check photo below from their site)

Sudbury Canada Cup

This year has been quite a summer for me, if anyone has followed my blog lately it probably won't come as a surprise to hear that I had been a little nervous before my last race; the Canada Cup in Sudbury. Canada Cup racing is certainly a whole other step above any other racing that I do, the competition is fierce and people come early from across the nation to practice the course. These are the nation's top athletes, olympians, world cup racers, and the french. The aggression in the riders in races like these frightens me sometimes, and given how tired I am these days, I decided to get to Sudbury as early as I could. I arrived at Sudbury Thursday morning, set up camp (a friend of the family actually got me my own apartment). I'm lucky to have some great friends in town (the Wolfpack), and got out for plenty of riding on course.
The course itself is an amazing one, 6 km laps with tons of rock, one very punishing climb, and TONS of blueberries.

I was well prepared for the race in most every way, though admittedly a bit tired. The race start was chaos; 70 riders, with people jostling to have the best position. As one might expect, there was a big pile up probably 10 seconds into the race. My poor friend Matt's bike went flying about 10 feet into the air and everyone got jammed up. As I passed the the carnage I saw Matt looking around, dirty, bloody and confused looking for his bike. Of course I yelled at him where his bike is and seeing if he's ok but I doubt he heard. The usual pileups and bottlenecks happened in the first couple of pieces of trail but soon I was able to ride my pace. I wasn't moving quickly, but I ignored this in my head, refusing to think of how overtired I was feeling, but instead focusing on my strengths. As it turned out, my technical ability was gaining time through the descents and singletrack, but just wasn't enough to make up for my physical form. Though it was a 70 rider start, I raced the race on my own, wishing I had people to pace with. I fought a hard race, remembering a meaningful compliment that I received before the race
"You'll be fine Chris, I've seen you before, you're a fighter"
I fought my way indeed, and even when my bike started giving me troubles I was off, fixing it and back on board. But when it rains, it pours and unfortunately my bike began to act like a fixed-gear or a fly wheel and I could no longer coast. I tried my best to take apart the hub on the side of the trail, desperate to finish the race but with no luck. I was told though that I fought a great race, apparently always looking strong while coming through spectator areas, and I never really felt alone riding the course because of all of the spectators yelling my name/sponsors/race number.

steaming in for some water in the feed zone

I was lucky to race before my girlfriend this week and had a great time watching her and my friends race after me. We had practiced the course together and she was riding impeccably well - absolutely geared for a win! It was fantastic to see her coming through strongly every lap, and Tori took the senior expert women's field by over 12 minutes! All wasn't lost that day as I got to share the joy of a win with her and eat blueberries while watching it happen!

Wolfpack racing throws down with some big time results, local boys know it best!
Also U of G favorite up on the podium Will "the Shermanator" Clarke killing it!

Keep posted for more updates, the nationals XC eliminator is tomorrow, I've taken time right off the bike this week to hopefully get some rejuvenation in my legs and body - time to prepare for nationals!

Honourable mention to my car for rolling over 100000 this weekend!
is half a million too much to ask for?

Inspired by http://www.abikeslife.com/

A buddy of mine has put an awesome website and video together here with a bike's life. Inspired by his photographs, here is a quick blip of my trip - from the bike's point of view. 

A hopeful departure from Canada

Left out on the roof

The afternoon off

Chased by shadows

Smuggling

Last Arizona sunset