Any cyclist won't believe that this actually happened...

The winter has been treating me well, I'm getting much stronger due to my secret "mountain man" training, and following my training plan as laid out by my coach Eric Batty. Today I had the opportunity to ride with my good buddy Anton before he heads to Arizona for the rest of his winter training (lucky guy!). Winter riding is pretty great, as long as you dress appropriately (last weekend I spent 5 hours outside riding and was almost brought to tears as my poor feet thawed out!).
My winter bike is my classic Gary Fisher Ziggurat from way back! I bought this fine piece of equipment used for $600, and until today she was still kickin! That bike is my original partner, with its long top tube, tight rear triangle, and steep aggressive geometry I loved whipping around with my oldschool geometry and tight bars!
http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/2004/archive/Ziggurat

It is an entirely different beast now though. The front brake is probably the original V-Brake, while the rear is a disk brake and disk brake wheel. This was unfortunately a necessary thing to do to the bike as I actually managed to brake all the way through my rim on the way to an exam! Maximum inconvenience, right? Either way, I was only 40 minutes late for the exam, but still had enough time to finish it.

A picture of the zig zag rim, good thing it was the back one!
(strangely enough I didn't even  flat the tube)

To me, that bike represents simplicity; the fork doesn't work, and there are no gears, and you just pedal. The perfect winter bike!

Classic seat, love it so much!

On Today's ride however, something unheard of happened. As I was chugging up a hill in the snowy singletrack (which is quite a trick on its own in the winter, it's a signlespeed, so pedal slowly to keep grip, but hard to keep up with the gear), I heard a snap! and then there was no tension on my chain! Firstly I was impressed with myself (and annoyed) because I figured that I had broken the thick bmx chain that I had on the bike. Then I looked.

I managed to shear through my crankset. This is completely unheard of! There are 50+ year old bikes that are in just fine condition and I did this by riding singlespeed in a high gear?!

Happy Belated Holidays, and don't sweat the new year!

Here’s hoping that everyone had a good, productive and holiday season!  I kicked off the holiday with a trip to the big city; Toronto. This involved my first train ride, my first solo subway experience, and my first visit to the Trek Toronto Store! I had a meeting with Barry, and am now on board with them! More details on events that I will be running and putting together soon!

After the very fortunate and enjoyable visit with Barry at the Trek store I hopped on a train to go to my good friend and coach Eric Batty’s place! He lives now far from his family, who run a pretty big beef farm. I spent about 5 days there this winter break and really enjoyed having the time to catch up with Eric and his family. The entire family except Emily was there, and I enjoyed the good company and hospitality (I even spent a day on the farm working with his brother Mark!).

It was easy to keep fit over the break, the trick is really just not to stress about things. If you miss a workout – it’s really not a big deal. People seem to lose motivation or hope over the holidays and set themselves up to a very high standard with a “new year’s resolution”.  It is not hard to lose weight, and much easier than one would think to be in shape. I have an awesome coach so that I can reach my full potential on the bike, but it is amazing how simple so many of my workouts are. To keep fit over the holidays I did a lot of running, hiking, and what Eric calls “mountain man workouts” (more on these another day).  

I spend about 8 hours a week on simple endurance such as hiking, obviously 8 hours is excessive – but just going for two hikes a week for up to two hours does a lot more than one would think. Over the winter I will be doing a lot of snowshoeing and Nordic skiing as well. It is not like any of this is done at a high intensity, base level aerobic exercise can be done by anyone, it does not depend on fitness level, nor does it take working up to! Just take the dog for a big walk!

So don’t sweat a crazy new year’s resolution out, most people seem to burn out by February! Just live more actively, walk to class or the groceries, eat well, and sleep lots.

A dozen reasons that I might rather workout during the senior hours at the gym!

12 You hear all of the latest news and weather in the changeroom before/after the workout!

11 Its funny to watch a few old men shave together at the gym, though inconvenient if you need a sink.

10 Listening to their banter in the changeroom will teach you new (very old) slang

9 You always hear a good story in the sauna after a workout.

8 Working out; if they can do it then I damn well can too!

7 The flip side of 8: you are almost guaranteed to be the fittest person in the gym

6 Seniors never try to be intimidating with ripped shirts and lifting too much, they just smile.

5 They don't drop weights loudly.

4 The men don't peruse the women at the cardio machines.

3 They trudge tirelessly on a 100m track, which is quite endearing.

2 it really is motivating And I hope that I'm still working out when I retire!

1 they love the "student atmosphere" at this gym (sport and wellness center in Peterborough), and love to chat and listen to almost anything you will say.

My race bike is for sale...

Those who I am lucky enough to have had supporting me this year whether through reading my blog, asking about my races, or just saying hi at the races know that I fell in love with my bike this year. Reality hits when you break 12 teeth though, and about $4500 won’t be covered by insurance of any sort...

I am selling my the bike that I rode back into the sport with. It’s a sad thing but I’ve got to sell my one of a kind bike. We’ve had a great season, and anyone who read my blog knows that my bike never left me hanging for a race. I custom picked all of the componentry and paint, the bike was handmade in Bromont Quebec out of Columbus Zona Megatube, it is size Large.I got it at the start o this season and have taken meticulous care of it (as I am an elite xc racer and need my bike to be in perfect shape). It was only ridden either in races or pre-riding for races. Everything in excellent condition. All components are either carbon or white (component list below) and the sales guy for the company told me at a Canada Cup that I had the nicest looking bike on display at their exhibition. The steel frame is incredibly durable and the most comfortable ride you can find - my buddy on a niner wants the frame, but the bike is selling as a complete. This bike feels like a 26er because it is so light and the head tube is so steep, but still rolls as fast and flawlessly as a 29er. I've ridden everything on this bike with no problems, from Mont Saint Anne Worldcup trails to southern Ontario hardpack tight turning tracks. It is sitting in the factory right now waiting to hear what colour it will be painted, you can choose the new colour if you want to buy it! Looking for $2500, let me know if you are interested, we can talk about the price.

Components:
Fork Reba RL 29er, lockout included 
Seat clamp Fsa Seat post SL-250 SBS SB20 WHITE 
Saddle San Marco Ponza 
Headset FSA 1-1/8 orbit-MX white 
Stem Truvativ Stylo World Cup white 
Handlebar Ritchey wcs "wet white" 
Front derailleur SRAM X.9 2X10 
Rear derailleur Sram X0 10 speed 
Shifters Sram X.9 
Chain Sram PC 1071 
Crankset Sram X0 2X10
Brakes Elixir CR white 
Cassette SRAM PG 1070 
Wheels Shimano XT WH-MT75 (we can talk about my race wheels too)
Tires Hutchison Python Tubeless Light 
I love this bike and don't know what I'll do to race or ride mtb with next year but I have no choice at this point. Email or call if you want pictures! 
519 362 3421

cfruetel AT uougelph DOT ca

Most recent picture that I have of what she looks like, in action!

A Transition Towards a Training Blog

I guess that I’ve been neglecting my blog lately; nothing terribly interesting to say! I haven’t really been training since the Ontario Cup race at Kelso; I’ve just been keeping active in my cycling community! This week I got back on board with my training plan, and am so stoked for next season. I’m coached by Eric Batty at Mountain Addict Athletics and am super stoked. He’s got me doing a huge variety of stuff, 

everything from hiking to rock climbing, biking to skiing, and don’t forget the rest days.

One off season ambition of mine is to improve my rock climbing abilities and get into a couple of competitions. I have started training with my good friend David; he’s the co-president of the rock climbing club here at the University of Guelph, and is getting a “team” together for the very first inter-university climbing competition. It is my ambition to be on that team, and kick ass! It’s going to take a lot of work.

The workouts are pretty intense, we start up with traversing the gym

Here it is:

Start with traversing the gym – this means that you climb your way around the whole gym, not going more than 8 feet above the floor.

Next a rotation of five exercises;

leg raises on the chinup bar until you can touch your feet to your hands

chin-ups on what are essentially two wooden balls hanging from the ceiling

plank

standing in the same spot on an inclined wall (inclined overhead) and you have to change your hands to different (very slim) holds 40 times

push ups

Quick break then we went on the wall for 15 minutes all at once climbing around the “new gym”. If you fall off it’s 20 situps and then back on the wall. This is an excellent endurance test, and it’s funny when people have to climb over eachother in the process.

The last planned workout was one where our hands were banded by elastic with a partner, and we had to climb the wall like that. This works out one arm a lot more than the other (the non banded arm), makes you work on finesse, and go slowly. Trust and teamwork are also essential. I was working Jen, and climbing is a great thing because men and women seem to be pretty equally good at it due to the finesse involved (she's way better and stronger than me though!).

This girl kicks ass, I'd be lucky to climb as well as she does!

I wrapped up the workout with minuters, climbing up and down the wall as many times as you can in a minute, then doing a minute plank, and repeating the process three times.

These workouts are happening every Tuesday at 10:00am, and anyone in the climbing club is welcome! If you don’t know about the climbing club it’s in the bottom of the athletic centre, where it occupies two fortified squash court rooms, and the small training room. Membership is $50 for the year of $30 for the semester, and your first visit is free. It’s a friendly great bunch of people and a nice atmosphere all of the time down there, open from 1:30 to 10:00pm. Happy climbing!

A big start to a big new season!

Well, schools back in and rolling in full force, which means a change in focus; my focus and effort on a bike go to the University of Guelph Cycling Club! For those who aren’t familiar, we have a superfantastic club here at the university with a very driven and talented race team component! There is a series of four races run by the University of Toronto (specifically Dave). UoG has been quite a powerhouse race team since its establishment (some 8 years ago) and we just keep gaining momentum every year. Our success is undeniably a function of how awesome friends we are our ability to help eachother out at races and with training, and the drive of the individuals in the club to train, and to achieve.  I am so excited to see so many new faces out this year at the events we hold and racing!

Half of the team here, cheering for the brave racers on the course!

The first race in the University Cup mountain bike race series is at Mansfield, and in my opinion it is one of the best races of the year. Mansfield is a two day event with three races; a criterium (an incredibly short course that you do two laps of), a time trial (another short course (about 3.5km) which each rider completes on their own as fast as they can), and Sunday is the typical cross-country mountain bike race.

We arrived on Saturday in the morning, set up camp, and registered for the races, fixed bikes, and then raced!

This tent needed some fixing, green wood and a roll of electrical tape got it up though!

The criterium is such an awesome event to compete in and to watch, because from the middle of the loop you can actually see the whole race. Riders are let out 3 or 4 at a time and must complete 2 laps; the top two of each heat move on to the next round. Shoving 4 racers at a time on a trail and telling them to do it as fast as they possibly can makes for a bit of a gongshow and some close calls – but everybody survived. Guelph had some really awesome results, with our boys Scott (a varsity Nordic skier) and Mark finishing 2^nd and 3^rd respectively. By the end of this event I was already losing my voice from yelling, cheering and heckling to the best of my ability. Next up was the time trial, which was a beautiful course of almost exclusively singletrack. After finishing Scott and his twin from Queen’s Brett came out to the biggest hill on the course with me to cheer people on. Weekends like these make me want to cheer more than I want to race sometimes, and we were told afterwards that it was very helpful to the riders.

Just a blurry streak of gold flying by in the crit!

After all the racers were done and everyone was either packing up for the night or setting up camp, a few of us guys from Guelph as well as a couple of U of T riders went out to the race course and cleaned it up. We cleared sticks, fallen logs, and half fallen trees (you should see Scotty W. with an axe!). I was pretty stoked that the guys from Guelph helped out with this (even our Alex, who hadn’t raced U-cup before was raking the trails with his bare hands), and it earned us free dinner from U of T. It’s so great that we can all camp and help each other out with absolutely no animosity between the teams.

Scott, later at the campfire while trying to wipe a smudge off his face ended up with a very smudged face

That night was one of the most fun nights that I’ve had in a while. We were camping out in a cleared area on the property along with University of Toronto, Trent, and maybe some other small university groups as well. One teammate in particular made the effort to ensure a great camping experience for everyone; our perpetual Rookie Dan. He brought bacon, trailmix, sportsdrinks, chips, and possibly most importantly, an axe and a saw. I don’t know where the energy came from, but soon I was out in the bush sawing fallen trees, balancing on fallen trees and sawing their branches, and chopping trees down. Dan was dragging the fallen branches out to near the fire pit would be, and soon more guys jumped in. Kelsey, Kyle, and our new first year Alex (who is dangerously fast) came out for the fun. Between us we demolished a bunch of dead trees, made a vine rope swing, and chopped through a log that was almost two feet in diameter (which took a few hours and about 10 coordinated guys to drag out). I have no idea where any of us got all of that energy from after racing twice that day, and how we managed to race the next day either! Once a substantial pile of wood was taken out, a tepee was set around a decrepit picnic table, and a fire was light both below the table and on top of the table. Needless to say this had flames greater than ten feet high, kept all that were near nice and warm, and brought the schools all together.

The camfire, and the bench that we chopped, and dragged out.

The next morning was cold, and I am very glad that when I finally did get out of my tent, there was bacon already cooked (courtesy of Danno) and the fire was still nice and warm. That day it wasn’t the race that I was really looking forward to; it was the totally awesome fun of cheering the racers up the hill. Guelph had a great showing, and the competition was stiff. For some reason the Men’s A field is now packed with elite men (almost all of which seem to be engineers; who I guess need some outlet and relief from school), and the other categories are quite serious as well. At the end of the weekend Guelph had two racers on the podium, and I am very proud of everybody. We did it all this weekend, we camped, we raced, and we built a stronger team. Looking forward to next weekend’s race at Boler Mountain in London! I dare some riders from Western to come out!

A seriously good kickstart to my fall semester!

Why am I an environmental scientist? It’s not because I’m a treehugging hippie, not because I really think that I’ll save the world with my science, and it’s not because I love to do schoolwork. I am an environmental scientist because I love the outdoors. I want it to stay the way that I can remember it when I was a kid, and I want everybody to have the opportunities and experiences that I have been lucky enough to experience myself. I also believe that anybody can make a difference, and that I can have an influence for the good.

One of the compulsary components of my program (Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences, majoring in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences) is a field course component. I chose to do the geology field course which involves a week up north in a small place called Espanola living out of tents and mapping the rock formations up there.

Which was awesome!

We all arrived early in the morning to meet out behind the Earth Sciences building on Monday and crammed our gear into the vans. We are a group of 21 students, a professor, a lab coordinator, and a teacing assistant. Upon loading the vans (mine was full of 7 guys) we found that ours had a flat tire. We arrived at the rental place with a caravan with a flat tire, and left in a gigantic Chevy Suburban. All it took was for me to make a comment to the guy in charge there and he upgraded our vehicle free of charge! Even in the suburban though it was a tight squeeze; I was sitting on a bench seat with my friends Kent and Scott (who is about 4 inches taller than I am). At least Kent was a good sport and took the middle seat.

When we got to the campground, I was thoroughly impressed! A beautiful campground on the shores of Lake Apsey, a few km from town and at the end of a dirt road.

One of the sites we camped at

 We had a great group of people, everybody camped, cooked together, swam together, socialized, and played games. Nights were eventful, but we all got lots of sleep and kept it together for the full days of hiking through the rocky northern terrain. We got to subdivide ourselves into groups of three, each group was designated an area to map. Me and my buddy Peter managed to convince another geologist friend who spends his summer in the Yukon working to be in our group, and we all worked well together splitting the jobs (strike guy, map guy, and diary guy).

Pete and Chris on Penguin Island

Our group got the most beautiful area to map; some would say an island, some a peninsula – depending on how long your legs are and how far you can jump. Our site was the furthest from the drop off point, and just hiking out there was a job, we had to use landmarks like the elephant rock, and avoid swampy areas. When you get out to where the island (Hereby known as Penguin Island), all that you can see is rocky shores, with few trees – most of which are jackpine trees (which I found especially endearing because they remind me of family camping trips when we lived in Thunder Bay). Not only were the rocks interesting in composition; but they were amazingly shaped as well. These are almost all sedimentary bedrock, which is prone to weathering (being worn down easily). The last glaciations carved pipes between the bottom of the ice and the rocks to let meltwater out which left half-pipes, tubes, quarter-pipes, and interesting striations everywhere.

Glacial pipes

 I would have a field day there with my bike for sure. The best part of all is that you couldn’t see any people or buildings out in the field. The east side of the island had some cool cliffs to jump off of, and to enjoy the view of the surrounding features from.

East side off the cliffs

Our group had a good dynamic; we kept up lively conversation the whole time. These guys have some senses of humour and after a three days in the field you wouldn’t believe the conversations that were taking place! It was tough slugging through the bush which is good because I consider that great training for the upcoming University Cup race series, so I have nothing to complain about! The weather was fantastic, however almost too fantastic. Unfortunately I’m covered in heat rash, but oh boy am I ever nicely tanned!

Looking up onto the island

I think I’m a bit weird compared to my colleagues though. Personally I can’t get enough of camping, and being away from society. The nice calm feeling of independence and the open possibilities of exploration that I feel when I’m camping is just phenomenal. I could live like this. When I mentioned this, everybody said it was about time that they got back to Guelph, and were getting sick of “roughing it” I guess. It took us three full days of mapping to get that island mapped (rock types, contacts, dykes, faults, etc,). And I’d do it all again!