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)!

A whole new level of competition at the Elite Canada Cup

This past weekend I had the privilege of racing with some truly dedicated riders in what I am told is always the most aggressive Canada Cup race of the year. I actually got to stand on the starting line with Olympians, who apparently keep 5-7 YEAR training plans (I train for a peak every couple of months).
The Elite Men field was stacked with the world cup racing crowd, including former Olympian who will be representing us this year in London Geoff Kabush, as well other hopefuls. Conditions were dismal for the race, including a constant rain, which got pretty serious at points. There were 71 of us at the start line; all elite men who have fitness, years of racing experience, and an aggressive desire to win. Within the first 100m of the course there were already two pile ups, which is apparently expected with Hardwood Hills as the venue, because of wood chips flying up from the trail and getting into riders' drivetrains.

CREDITS: TITLE: COPYRIGHT: Rob Jones/www.canadiancyclist.com 2012

CREDITS: TITLE: COPYRIGHT: Rob Jones/www.canadiancyclist.com 2012

Coach Eric Batty avoids the chaos calmly, a couple panicked faces in the crowd, and you can see my red shoulder right no top of Eric's helmet!
CREDITS: TITLE: COPYRIGHT: Rob Jones/www.canadiancyclist.com 2012

Luckily, I did not get tangled up in this chaos, but the next kilometer of the race was a staged climb with gradual and steep sections, and much jostling for position. When we finally reached the first piece of singletrack (tight, technical trail), I had to get off my bike and wait my turn to get into the trail. . . An absolute traffic jam! I could just feel the womens category closing in on us, and the guys who were in and moving on their bikes were just getting time on us, and there was simply nothing that I could do about it. This was also the first time that I noticed an unusual amount of aggression. There was some swearing (mostly in french), and pushing, which turned me off a little bit. 

Race photos from Canadian Cyclist

Once clear of the first traffic jam, I was riding among the constant train of riders, unable to govern my speed, and each of us having trouble controlling our bikes; this was possibly the most rain affected course that I have ever been on. It was as though the trails had a trench dug through them, and that trench was filled with gumballs, roots, and peanut butter. Except there were definitely not pleasant things like gumballs and peanut butter on that course. At one point as I was passing one of the women elite riders, she was on the brink of tears, and I got off my bike and showed her that it made sense to just walk some sections, because it could be faster, and less risky. There were men all over the side of the course, just sitting down, with a look of resignation on their faces. 

Coming through one of the spectators favorite sections, thanks Meagan Broughton for the photo!

Personally, I found it to be an eye opening experience. My bike was working acceptably well for the first couple of laps (the race is 6 laps of 6km, and for the elite men we were either climbing a hill, or navigating through an insanely technical and ripped trail). By the third lap, I had blood flowing down my knees, elbow, and wrist; I also had a bike that couldn't stay in gear and wasn't pedalling properly due to the mud (I found out later that guys were spraying their drivetrains in the feed zone to keep them working - this caused me to miss a feed). I had begun to let people by, because I couldn't handle the out of control and aggressive racers that were all over the course. I decided at that point that I should keep riding, and observe the way that the others were handling the race style, and trails.

A collection of photos of me going through the "boneshaker", you can see on my face how impressed I am in some of these.

I am embarrassed and a bit ashamed that I was outdone this race, and that I really only kept my race pace together for two laps. I have realized that I am not some fearless aggressive racer, and that I need to work on racing in large groups in the trails. This was nothing like any race I had ever experienced, and I need an other shot. I'll be trying my best to get out to nationals on the 16th in St. Felicien, Quebec. Just because I wasn't great once, doesn't mean that I'll be giving up, it just gives me another area to improve!

My first race ever with Trek!

As far as I could tell, everything was lined up well for the first race, I had even filled my water bottles up the night before leaving (I get a fresh bottle every lap). I know that I got to bed late, and I woke up about four times the night before thinking “TODAY’S THE DAY.” and realized it would be 2am or something and I just had to pee. Morning came and I fueled myself with my favourite pre race meal (a giant bowl of oatmeal and eggs mixed into a big paste), and I even had my stuff together when Alex and his Dad came to pick me up. This would have to be my day, no excuses, right? My Mom, brother, aunt, cousin, and girlfriend would be there to support me, as well as the Trek Bicycles tents, and Barry who brought me a few things from the store. I was resolute to try my best, and most importantly not to be disappointed with myself. I’m new to the Elite racing game anyways so this race is a learning experience!

The elite men's startline, photo stolen from my buddy James 

Once the race started, I took my spot where I thought that I belonged; dead last. We proceeded to climb straight up the hill (a daunting task in a five lap race), and by the top I was second last, riding in a long train of riders. This was the plan; move up if I can, and finish the race – after all, I’m not really a pro. 

Hanging off the back, where I thought I belonged - didn't want to get in the real pro's way!

While riding at the back of a train of riders I quickly realized something; I was not in control of my own riding, I was riding slower than I would normally, and with much less efficiency. Obviously it would be advantageous to not be the “caboose”.  Throughout the first lap I made my passes here and there, and was ecstatic to pass any elite rider. By the end of the first lap, getting ready to head up the big hill at the start of every lap I was happy with my position, but could see a big group of riders further up with some notably fast boys in it, how was I still so close to them?

I always wanted an excuse to wear my mom's pink Trek cycling hat from the 70s, unfortunately
I forgot to take it off before the race, and raced looking like a bit of a clown!
(Photo by Carly Wilson)

By the end of that giant uphill I had passed every single guy that I could see on the hill, and a few had dropped off the group. I did get pretty breathless on the way up, but now it was my turn to lead the train, which proved advantageous indeed. Throughout the second lap, I was riding my pace in the singletrack, and hauling through the doubletrack. I learned to control the train of riders behind me, and spit a few “cabooses” off the back too. 

Leading the train, sticking out my tongue or something, and controlling my race.
(Photo by Carly Wilson)

The only thing that I was unsure of (which became highly evident in the third lap) was that I had clearly not hydrated properly! Every time that I would stand up and bend my knees to absorb the bumps jumping or the terrain beneath me, the tops of my quads would lock up (it felt like a paralyzing foot cramp searing up my quads). Though I finished off the water in my remaining bottles every lap, I could not shake the phenomenon; at one point, the guy riding behind me said

“I’m afraid of cramping..”

To which I replied

“I am cramping!”

“What?”

“Uhhh. I’m afraid of cramping too”

I figured it would be a pretty bad idea to tell competitors of a weakness like that!

Quick little action shot, can you see where the trail comes from?

By midway through the third lap I was a couple turns ahead of the next guys back, and there was nobody in my sights ahead of me. At the pace I was going, I would possibly widen the gap between me and the guys behind, but I thought that as long as they could still see me ahead, they would keep their attack and likely reel me back in.

The turning point of the race was one quick instant! As a tactic to get far out of sight from the guys behind me, went full speed on a downhill with a very tight, loose corner and lost it. I fell pretty hard, and at the bottom of a steep hill too. By the time that I had remounted my bike, I was being passed by the guys behind me. By the time I had myself moving at a respectable pace again, they were far away up the trail. I did not chase. I was in a better position than I thought I would be capable of, and I was sure that I could beat one of the riders at least anyway (which I did); it was not worth risking my race, or taking the risk of another head injury because I got too caught up and started riding poorly. So I dialled back my effort 5-7% and sat in to ride my own race out. I certainly missed having guys to pace with, but catching them back would burn too much of my energy!

Red is my heart rate (a good indication of my effort) and green shows course profile

I'm totally happy with my results; 22nd in the race overall, counting the out of province guys. I had a great time, and am totally amped for my second season back on the bike! Thanks to all of the readers of my blog, my friends and family that come out to my races, Barry and Trek, and every single person that cheers me on during races, YOU ARE THE BEST!!

Getting to the finish line, in no apparent rush, and with a blissful grin on my face
a good day's work, and job well done!

A winter's worth of preparation, and my first race with Trek!

So here it comes, time to see how hard I’ve really been working and how will I stack up against the rest of the elite category for Sunday’s Ontario Cup. The race will be at Mansfield outdoor center, and this year I’m lining up with the big boys; the elite division. It’s crazy to think that two nights from now it will all be over and racing season will have officially started, but until then that’s all that I can think about…Of course I’m nervous!

I got my bike all cleaned, tuned and ready for the race on Friday, and today (Saturday) I went to ride the course. I was ecstatic with the weight of my bike (I know it seems like a petty thing to worry about, but it’s nice to have a light bike!). The only change I did from the stock build on the bike was to add bar ends, and white bar tape as grips, then put my old super light race wheels on the bike.

According to my housemate's luggage scale, my bike is just over 22 lbs!

My bike is ready, it’s clean, works well, and likes to go fast. Now, time to check out the course! Mansfield is an outdoor center on the side of a massive hill, so naturally there is a lot of climbing in the course. I have to say I love it (the course, not the uphills!) though! The course caters to speed demons, and there are almost no sections that are very technical. The hardest thing to do on this course is decide exactly how fast you want to throw your bike into the corners (and my new Trek Superfly Elite is a fast bike, it likes to go fast, and it takes me through those corners at alarming speeds). Last year I somehow managed to top out at 66 km/h during the race (if cycling computers are to be believed).

If computers are to be believed, I was going VERY fast in those trails

An alarmingly hilly profile with (unbelievable?) speeds

You can see from the course profile that I did 3 laps today and there are some monster up and downhills! I did the math, and we will be climbing more than 900m over 5 laps…Not bad at all for an Ontario Cup!

We’ll see how it goes tomorrow, I’m sure it will be a great race to build up from, and I look forward to the challenge! 

Two weeks till race season!

I went to the big city the on the weekend to finish getting ready for the season and get my bike fitted to me at the Trek Store. I got down to the store and set up with the bike fitting center that’s right in the Trek Store. Barry (the store owner, and pretty much Santa Claus) set me up on a bike trainer and proceeded to take out levels and allen keys and got me pedalling. Within about 2 seconds he declared that my left leg was shorter than my right, and I still don’t know what to think about that! Next he raised my seat and moved it around and made sure that the angle of the seat no more or no less than 2 degrees (nose down). After seeing the gargantuan length of my arms Barry disappeared downstairs for a minute and came back up with a sweet white full carbon Bontrager XXX stem (12 degree, 110mm for the bike nerds), which was the coolest part that they had in the store for sure! It turns out that I’ve been riding with my seat way lower than I should (probably about 3 inches); which means I’ll put down more power and be more efficient now, but manoeuvrability is a little compromised. After setting me all up on the bike Barry had one more thing for me: my 2012 Trek kits! (which is really just technical jargon for spandex suits) I’m so happy about the colours and designs. They look AWESOME!

Tuesday was my first opportunity to show off the sweet new kit at the Speed River Cycling Club weekly hammerfest! I showed up at the meeting spot where there were about 10 of us grouped up. There were one or two comments on my new kit, but mostly the guys just thought I looked dumb because I didn’t bring any warmers with me. Apparently the temperature would drop to 3 degrees by 8...oops! The first Tuesday ride with the Speed River Cycling Club was...unreal.

Naive of the pace of the ride and the temperatures that were about to happen
BUT I LOVE THIS KIT!

I’m pretty sure that I cried the entire time. The group may have started out as a 10 person group, but there were only 5 survivors, and that’s all that I could do to end with them; survive. There were solid chunks of that ride that were greater than 50km/hr speeds (and I’m not talking about just downhills).

"Superfly Elite" my partner for the year!

My first ride on the newly fitted (and now personalized) Superfly (I know, best name ever for a bike, right?) was much more pleasant. When getting a new bike, there is a learning curve involved (so if you’re not feeling confident on your bike yet – don’t worry about it, just practise!), but I think that curve is far behind me! I can say that I will confidently ride that bike as fast as my legs will take me (which I hope is pretty fast!), and with confidence on the trails. I love my new bike, and things like the tapered head tube and front thru axel make that a notably stiffer bike than one would expect! I know that the bike nerds will judge the photos of my “customized” rig, so I’ll address that now. Bar ends are meant for gaining more leverage on your bike while sprinting and hill climbing, and yes, those bars are 680mm (really wide). I realize those are the most hipster bars that will likely be on the race course with the 12 degree sweep, bar ends, bar tape, and mega wide stance – but I had the bar ends so I threw them on! It was only after the fact that I realized I have a redundantly huge amount of leverage over my bike with the wide/bar ends combo. Maybe I’ll retape mid season, but I think it looks great and is comfy so I’m not messing with it now!

My other Trek kit, and newly fitted bike!