Today at work I had a reminder about life. Most that have been reading my blog for a while know I lost both my father and grandmother to cnacer a couple years back. Its a very tough thing to deal with. Today at a service call I had a reminder on how cruel cancer is. As I was finishing up a young boy came into the laundry room to his mother. He was about 4 years old and full of energy. He didn't have any hair. I asked in a polite way and his mother replied that the chemo was working. He was full of energy but I've seen the bad side of it.
This month a great fundraising event is happening. Its called Tour for Kids. It helps raise money for 3 camps for children with cancer. This is an event I would love to ride in but time restraints stop me. Please donate if you can or better still sign up and ride. Cancer doesn't care how old you are.
http://www.tourforkids.com/
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Its Coming Its Coming!!!!
Yep a long weekend is coming and I'm getting a bit impatient. No major training plans just sit back hang out and relax. I'm in Ottawa this weekend. Jen and Rick get the new house and will need a bit of help with the final moving. At least the got movers for the grunt of it. They have way to much stuff. I'm hoping my cat obsessed buddy will be around to get out for a ride with Rick and I. Off to work.
Monday, July 30, 2007
All the time in the world
Ya thats what it feels like. So this is what lazy people do. 2 days with no bike and I'm not sure what to do with myself. I'm not compalaining and I know my body isn't either.
Had a great day Sunday just relaxing. My buddy Marlon was playing at a local bar/restaurant in the afternoon so had to hang out there for a couple hours. Ended up getting a couple free pints which was great for restocking lost carbs. Spent the rest of the evening in the hottub. So a few strange things that are becoming a apres race rituaul. Cooking and eating french fries at 5:30 am the day after the race. Is this weird? They taste great. That and the 6:30 am hot tub to actually get body parts bending.
Now a shitty thing that happened today. My nice big tree in the backyard decided to shed a limb. Not just a little limb but say equivelent to losing a leg. I've already sourced out a couple different people to take it down but its going to really put a whole in the sky of my little backyard oasis. The sooner these guys show up the better. I'm owing Molly a bit of play time and since its a little heat wave we're going to go for a swim.
Had a great day Sunday just relaxing. My buddy Marlon was playing at a local bar/restaurant in the afternoon so had to hang out there for a couple hours. Ended up getting a couple free pints which was great for restocking lost carbs. Spent the rest of the evening in the hottub. So a few strange things that are becoming a apres race rituaul. Cooking and eating french fries at 5:30 am the day after the race. Is this weird? They taste great. That and the 6:30 am hot tub to actually get body parts bending.
Now a shitty thing that happened today. My nice big tree in the backyard decided to shed a limb. Not just a little limb but say equivelent to losing a leg. I've already sourced out a couple different people to take it down but its going to really put a whole in the sky of my little backyard oasis. The sooner these guys show up the better. I'm owing Molly a bit of play time and since its a little heat wave we're going to go for a swim.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Mountainview 9 hour part 2
So as I mentioned earlier that this was a great race. This was the best course I've ridden. The flow was awesome!!!! Mountainview is a small ski hill in Midland Ontario and the guy responsible for all of this is Thomas Wood. He started a weekly race series 5 years ago and its continued to grow every year along with his trail system.
Its been a whille since I've really ridden up there but man was I ever surprised at the course. The first km is through the ski hill face with a couple short single track sections before head in the bush. This is where the fun begins. tons of switchback single track slowly weaving its way up the hill. Even the grindy uphills of the riverbed had a rythem to it. Thomas has also mixed in a couple stepup rocks into his course just to keep you on your toes. Once on top of the hill the awesome flow continues.
From there was a nice double track section across the farm field. Great area for a stretch or to lay the hammer down. Now with all the climbing in the beginning of the course comes the major treats. Going back down. The trail is awesome with quick hard turns and berms. Feels like a downhill course and puts this big smile on your face. From there its into a fast double track section followed by more single track. This course is about 85 percent single track. Most solo events that I've ridden have been 65-75 percent single track.
This is the third year for this event and I can see it growing in numbers. Every lap has 300 meters of climbing which is all single track. For solo racers there are a few sections to recover on and get in a stretch or two with out lossing moumentum. The techincal level will challenge the top riders without making it to hard for newer racers.
The other trail systems are awesome and will only continue to grow. This is definatly an event to keep on your calander for next year. This is not a easy road ride course. You have to work hard here but the pay offs are worth it.
This fall Thomas will be running a night race which should be awesome. I have a link to the right to his website. Come out and play when it gets dark.
Its been a whille since I've really ridden up there but man was I ever surprised at the course. The first km is through the ski hill face with a couple short single track sections before head in the bush. This is where the fun begins. tons of switchback single track slowly weaving its way up the hill. Even the grindy uphills of the riverbed had a rythem to it. Thomas has also mixed in a couple stepup rocks into his course just to keep you on your toes. Once on top of the hill the awesome flow continues.
From there was a nice double track section across the farm field. Great area for a stretch or to lay the hammer down. Now with all the climbing in the beginning of the course comes the major treats. Going back down. The trail is awesome with quick hard turns and berms. Feels like a downhill course and puts this big smile on your face. From there its into a fast double track section followed by more single track. This course is about 85 percent single track. Most solo events that I've ridden have been 65-75 percent single track.
This is the third year for this event and I can see it growing in numbers. Every lap has 300 meters of climbing which is all single track. For solo racers there are a few sections to recover on and get in a stretch or two with out lossing moumentum. The techincal level will challenge the top riders without making it to hard for newer racers.
The other trail systems are awesome and will only continue to grow. This is definatly an event to keep on your calander for next year. This is not a easy road ride course. You have to work hard here but the pay offs are worth it.
This fall Thomas will be running a night race which should be awesome. I have a link to the right to his website. Come out and play when it gets dark.
Mountainview 9 Hour part 1
I need to do this in two stages so that I can get everything down. I'm now recovering from the Mountainview 9 hour in Midland Ontario. All I can say was awesome. This was the best course I've ever raced on. I'll get more into it in part 2. This is the all about ME section.
So the regular routine on Saturday morning. It was a nice change not having to travel far to race. Midland is basiclly my hometown so with that it definatly motivated me to ride hard. Unfortunatly I was doiing the race unsupported which was a new change for me. That did change through the day.
My plan was to go hard and drive the pace really high for the first few hours. As I said I was very motivated to do well at this race. I was still not 100 sure how recovered I was from the 8 hour solo the weekend before but figured go hard and take a chance. It pretty much worked and lapped all but one of the solo racers by the 5 hour mark. Up to lap 9 I ran sub 32 minute laps with most at the 30 minute mark. I backed things down a bit to maintain.
Mom showed up for a couple hours n the morning to keep bottles filled then Brent and his family stopped in for a bit. Thank you SO much for the bag of ice!!!! Mom was back shortly after that and was there for the rest of the race. Thanks again. Everything was on track and my legs felt amazing. Now as teh race came closer to the end my stomach started to jump around and my energy when down. It end up being a banana that my stomach didnt like. Yep you know what that means. Threw up a couple times and got that evil out. A bit of complaining and a gel pack and I was back out on the bike.
Now that lap before was tough. The climbs went really bad and this course was uphill for the first 10 minutes. No cramping or anything it was just my stomach saying get that out of me and it took my energy away to prove it. After the lunch drop I felt great again. I took it pretty easy on the first couple climbs then picked up the pace again to catch up with Matt Wynen so we could finish the race together. This guy did awesome riding it on a single speed. Sorry but my little chicken legs need gears!!!! We've raced against each other a few times. Great guy racing for Cambridge Cycle.
So with all said and done I added a 1st place to my list. 16 laps. I really wanted to win this race, something about having the hometown crowd around plus after an out of towner took the solo last year I figured that title needs to stay in this area.
Thanks to Lee for the beer after the race. MMMM hit the spot and defintaly tasted to better that sport drinks!!! My Giant NRS1 ran flawless even with all the dust. Oh yes the dust. I'm also over the stomach problems after races. No dizziesness or vomiting and food is staying in me. That has definatly been a big thing with me making sure that I can eat after races.
So with the back to back 8 and 9 hour races some body parts are a little ticked at me so I'm going to take the week off the bike and let things heal. I have a massage now set up for sometime this week. Cindy from Handle with Care massage is going to squeeze me in. My legs feel really good but having the massage will be great. Today is sitting on my butt staringly blankly. That and the hottub!!!!!
So the regular routine on Saturday morning. It was a nice change not having to travel far to race. Midland is basiclly my hometown so with that it definatly motivated me to ride hard. Unfortunatly I was doiing the race unsupported which was a new change for me. That did change through the day.
My plan was to go hard and drive the pace really high for the first few hours. As I said I was very motivated to do well at this race. I was still not 100 sure how recovered I was from the 8 hour solo the weekend before but figured go hard and take a chance. It pretty much worked and lapped all but one of the solo racers by the 5 hour mark. Up to lap 9 I ran sub 32 minute laps with most at the 30 minute mark. I backed things down a bit to maintain.
Mom showed up for a couple hours n the morning to keep bottles filled then Brent and his family stopped in for a bit. Thank you SO much for the bag of ice!!!! Mom was back shortly after that and was there for the rest of the race. Thanks again. Everything was on track and my legs felt amazing. Now as teh race came closer to the end my stomach started to jump around and my energy when down. It end up being a banana that my stomach didnt like. Yep you know what that means. Threw up a couple times and got that evil out. A bit of complaining and a gel pack and I was back out on the bike.
Now that lap before was tough. The climbs went really bad and this course was uphill for the first 10 minutes. No cramping or anything it was just my stomach saying get that out of me and it took my energy away to prove it. After the lunch drop I felt great again. I took it pretty easy on the first couple climbs then picked up the pace again to catch up with Matt Wynen so we could finish the race together. This guy did awesome riding it on a single speed. Sorry but my little chicken legs need gears!!!! We've raced against each other a few times. Great guy racing for Cambridge Cycle.
So with all said and done I added a 1st place to my list. 16 laps. I really wanted to win this race, something about having the hometown crowd around plus after an out of towner took the solo last year I figured that title needs to stay in this area.
Thanks to Lee for the beer after the race. MMMM hit the spot and defintaly tasted to better that sport drinks!!! My Giant NRS1 ran flawless even with all the dust. Oh yes the dust. I'm also over the stomach problems after races. No dizziesness or vomiting and food is staying in me. That has definatly been a big thing with me making sure that I can eat after races.
So with the back to back 8 and 9 hour races some body parts are a little ticked at me so I'm going to take the week off the bike and let things heal. I have a massage now set up for sometime this week. Cindy from Handle with Care massage is going to squeeze me in. My legs feel really good but having the massage will be great. Today is sitting on my butt staringly blankly. That and the hottub!!!!!
Friday, July 27, 2007
Gotta love the tour. Its not even worth complaining about and as for picking a favorite to win. The boys in the club always have a bit of a betting pool on the winner. I don't thinmk there is a single pick still in the tour. Maybe next year we will bet on who will get caught and who doesn't.
Things are flipped around again for this weekends race. I'll be doing the Mountainview 9 hour solo. Rick's timing will be off with his work and I had always planned on doing the hometown event solo. I was up at the venue last night for the weekly series. It should be a tough race. I got out on the road bike for an hour last night just to get the legs firing and they felt surprisingly strong. A little fiesty.
The Mountainview course is a tough one with a grindy climb right out of the start with the first few k's technical single track. Plan is to take the first 2 laps a bit slower to find the flow of the course then pick up the pace. They have called for a chance of rain today and tomorrow. Could make things interesting.
Things are flipped around again for this weekends race. I'll be doing the Mountainview 9 hour solo. Rick's timing will be off with his work and I had always planned on doing the hometown event solo. I was up at the venue last night for the weekly series. It should be a tough race. I got out on the road bike for an hour last night just to get the legs firing and they felt surprisingly strong. A little fiesty.
The Mountainview course is a tough one with a grindy climb right out of the start with the first few k's technical single track. Plan is to take the first 2 laps a bit slower to find the flow of the course then pick up the pace. They have called for a chance of rain today and tomorrow. Could make things interesting.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Ok so what is happening in the Tour. If things keep going the way they are by the time they get into Paris the only rider left will be some rookie bottle fetcher. Have you ever noticed that pro cycling gets the biggest punishments for drugs. Baseball players get a couple games suspension for drugs cyclist get 2 years which is literly a life sentence. I don't approve of drugs but we all know they do it, Hell let them runfree with them for a few years. Maybe a few hearts blowing up might scare the shit out of them and cleen them up. I'll I know that free run with the drugs would make some interesting Time Trials and mountain stages. I wouldn't mind seeing the prologe top speed of 80 km/h and 45 km/h up Alpe de Huez.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Hardwood 8 hour part 2
Hardwood Hills puts on some awesome events. They hold a Canada Cup event along with being a world class x-c ski area holding a world cup race. The summer 8 hour course was a fun and physically demanding course. They used a section of the trail on the next grid acroos the street that used to be used in the 24 hour of adrenaline. Hardwood was know for that event as it was the lasrgest in North America. That title has been sent over to Chico Racings Summer Solsitce.
The start of the course was about 3/4 of a kilometer of wide double track climbing. In these events having a section of single track always reaks havoc on the pack when it bottle necks. Always a couple clowns who come riping in thinking they should be at the front of the pack instead of waiting like everyone else for everyone to merge into the single track. These are also the same clowns that you pass going up the next climb!!!!
From there they set in a nice little single track section that we use in the weekly series as the final section. Back to another double track section and link into a section of sidewinder to the top of Coffee Run. This is a great section that is in every Canada Cup. Its all about keeping your hands off the brakes. A hard left at the bottom to cross the street into the other grid. A long grindy single track climb with 2 quick little rises. You know the ones I'm talking about. Short only going up 3to 4 feet but extremely steep. Just enough to wreck your momentum.
This is when the fun begins. You move into the only double track section that isnt going up and you start smokin into the next single track section. Everything here is extremely fast with lots of quick turns that you can rail. Working into the rocks with 4-5 hard tight switch backs with lots of roots.
This is where the course starts to beat up your body. Lots of fast bumpy sections that its all about staying off your brakes. Of course what type of course would it be with out a section of single track through the pine trees. Of course after the fast section its into a bunck of single track switch back climbs with lots of roots. For single lap racers no worries, Soloing these start to wear you down. After the last climb on this side of the grid you get the best section of trail with some awesome flow before you cross the road and head back up to the top of the main trail to decend into the start finish area.
The course was 9.5 km long and had 500 meters of climbing per lap. There was zero sections for real rest recovery per lap. All double track sections were basiclly up hill or a setup for the single track. The single track was better than in recent years with its flow But very rough and hard on the whole body. My shoulders are still aching. Hardwood is definatly a venue desgined for shorter races when it comes to transition areas for teams. This was a problem during the 24 hour races when it came to camping. No space but their trails, shop and organization of the events area amazing. This is definatly an event that you should consider with a fall 8 hour race also in the 2007 schedule. They have promised a different course. I'll be there.
The start of the course was about 3/4 of a kilometer of wide double track climbing. In these events having a section of single track always reaks havoc on the pack when it bottle necks. Always a couple clowns who come riping in thinking they should be at the front of the pack instead of waiting like everyone else for everyone to merge into the single track. These are also the same clowns that you pass going up the next climb!!!!
From there they set in a nice little single track section that we use in the weekly series as the final section. Back to another double track section and link into a section of sidewinder to the top of Coffee Run. This is a great section that is in every Canada Cup. Its all about keeping your hands off the brakes. A hard left at the bottom to cross the street into the other grid. A long grindy single track climb with 2 quick little rises. You know the ones I'm talking about. Short only going up 3to 4 feet but extremely steep. Just enough to wreck your momentum.
This is when the fun begins. You move into the only double track section that isnt going up and you start smokin into the next single track section. Everything here is extremely fast with lots of quick turns that you can rail. Working into the rocks with 4-5 hard tight switch backs with lots of roots.
This is where the course starts to beat up your body. Lots of fast bumpy sections that its all about staying off your brakes. Of course what type of course would it be with out a section of single track through the pine trees. Of course after the fast section its into a bunck of single track switch back climbs with lots of roots. For single lap racers no worries, Soloing these start to wear you down. After the last climb on this side of the grid you get the best section of trail with some awesome flow before you cross the road and head back up to the top of the main trail to decend into the start finish area.
The course was 9.5 km long and had 500 meters of climbing per lap. There was zero sections for real rest recovery per lap. All double track sections were basiclly up hill or a setup for the single track. The single track was better than in recent years with its flow But very rough and hard on the whole body. My shoulders are still aching. Hardwood is definatly a venue desgined for shorter races when it comes to transition areas for teams. This was a problem during the 24 hour races when it came to camping. No space but their trails, shop and organization of the events area amazing. This is definatly an event that you should consider with a fall 8 hour race also in the 2007 schedule. They have promised a different course. I'll be there.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Race Season changes
I kinda had this in the plans. I'm changing a few of my races for the season. Talking to Rick last night I asked what he wanted to do for Hot August Nights. Let's Tag It. I know he wants revenge and we lost out on the podium because of my stomach issues. Wait I want some revenge also. So that means no 24 solos for this summer.
Now with that race being switched around we have also decided to use the MountainView 9 hour as a warm up. It won't be a cake walk because its a pretty tough course but I'm hoping Rick and I can win this event and will be a great base for Hot August Nights.
Rick has the bonus of holidays this week so will be getting some big training in. Me, I won't be doing much more than stretching, yoga, and getting a massage. Am I disappointed that I'm not doing the solo in August? Yes and no. I was looking forward to it but this will also make it possible for me to do the Provincial Time Trial Championships. The other nice things is the fact that I can back off on the training a hair. Oh did I mention that I love the tag team 24's more than solos. For anyone thinking that tag is easy. Think of doing your short hard race full out. Now do that 12 times with no sleep.
Now with that race being switched around we have also decided to use the MountainView 9 hour as a warm up. It won't be a cake walk because its a pretty tough course but I'm hoping Rick and I can win this event and will be a great base for Hot August Nights.
Rick has the bonus of holidays this week so will be getting some big training in. Me, I won't be doing much more than stretching, yoga, and getting a massage. Am I disappointed that I'm not doing the solo in August? Yes and no. I was looking forward to it but this will also make it possible for me to do the Provincial Time Trial Championships. The other nice things is the fact that I can back off on the training a hair. Oh did I mention that I love the tag team 24's more than solos. For anyone thinking that tag is easy. Think of doing your short hard race full out. Now do that 12 times with no sleep.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Hardwood 8 hour report
And the air was just right for racing. Actually it was. Beautiful temp of mid 20's with sun. It was the normal morning routine and the car was pretty much packed and ready to go. Got to Hardwood around 9 giving lots of time to set up and warm up. Everything was going pretty good even though I wasn't to impressed with where the solo transition was. They had us off the course and this later on calculated into time lost and dropped me a couple positions.
Finally set up and get ready to warmup when I look in my bin. F$%k I forgot my helmet. I couldnt belive it. I'm anal about my setup and I forgot something so stupid. Lucky Hardwood has a bike shop so race down and bought another Giro. Atleast they had the same helmet. With all that time wasted I did'nt get much of a warmup and I didn't realize how crappy the route into transition was. If I had I would have had Mom and Ruth on the race course. Sounds simple and common sense now but at the time I was thinking to much of other things. I estimate it added 1 minute to every lap. We did start out on the race course but by then that was lap 10.
So sitting in the start line in the second row who rolls up but one of our favorite superheros. Shane and Brendan decided to be supeheros and were racing tagteam.
These 2 are extremely fast and even wearing the cosutmes still blast the fastest laps and topped all teams with a total of 17 laps.
They sent us off and I went out pretty hard but was feeling great. First lap just under 32 minutes and the 2nd was just over that. Things were really on track and paced into an 34 minute laps for mainting. Then things started to go a bit bad. 5th lap I started to get a few cramps but just kept pushing hoping to work through them. I backed things down a bit because climbing was getting a bit painful. There was zero places to recover on this course.
In otherwords NO place to get a stretch in. Well just keep going and deal with it. Of course the demons always come out when the pain starts saying aww just quit. I was battling for 3rd at this point but my pace contined to drop. At the 10th lap I hit the low and slowest lap but manged to pick things up for the last 3. The legs were really really mad at me and I'm still fighting some cramping.
The dramatic weightloss at the begining of the this week seems to be the logical cause of it. Monday morning I was down 6-7 pounds and was having dizzy spells. I had managed to gain a couple pounds back but you cannot recover that quickly with weight loss. Even with the cramping I was very happy with my performance finishing 7th in the under 40 and 9th overall out of 61 male solos.
Now on the good note of it all, I think the stomach issues are gone. No gut pain through the night. I was able to eat and drink with no problems and except for the legs I feel really good. I've done a round in the hot tub this morning and will be heading out on the road bike for a recovery ride very shortly. I'm still in decesion about the 9 hour next weekend. I have a masage this week and figure I will wait till the last minute to register. If the legs are feeling questionable or if the weight doesnt come back on smoothly I'll skip this race to make sure I'm healthy for the 24 in August.
Thanks to my Mom and Aunt for support. Can't do what I do without you guys there and thanks to Rob from Barrie Cycling Club for some awesome picutes.
Finally set up and get ready to warmup when I look in my bin. F$%k I forgot my helmet. I couldnt belive it. I'm anal about my setup and I forgot something so stupid. Lucky Hardwood has a bike shop so race down and bought another Giro. Atleast they had the same helmet. With all that time wasted I did'nt get much of a warmup and I didn't realize how crappy the route into transition was. If I had I would have had Mom and Ruth on the race course. Sounds simple and common sense now but at the time I was thinking to much of other things. I estimate it added 1 minute to every lap. We did start out on the race course but by then that was lap 10.
So sitting in the start line in the second row who rolls up but one of our favorite superheros. Shane and Brendan decided to be supeheros and were racing tagteam.
These 2 are extremely fast and even wearing the cosutmes still blast the fastest laps and topped all teams with a total of 17 laps.
They sent us off and I went out pretty hard but was feeling great. First lap just under 32 minutes and the 2nd was just over that. Things were really on track and paced into an 34 minute laps for mainting. Then things started to go a bit bad. 5th lap I started to get a few cramps but just kept pushing hoping to work through them. I backed things down a bit because climbing was getting a bit painful. There was zero places to recover on this course.
In otherwords NO place to get a stretch in. Well just keep going and deal with it. Of course the demons always come out when the pain starts saying aww just quit. I was battling for 3rd at this point but my pace contined to drop. At the 10th lap I hit the low and slowest lap but manged to pick things up for the last 3. The legs were really really mad at me and I'm still fighting some cramping.
The dramatic weightloss at the begining of the this week seems to be the logical cause of it. Monday morning I was down 6-7 pounds and was having dizzy spells. I had managed to gain a couple pounds back but you cannot recover that quickly with weight loss. Even with the cramping I was very happy with my performance finishing 7th in the under 40 and 9th overall out of 61 male solos.
Now on the good note of it all, I think the stomach issues are gone. No gut pain through the night. I was able to eat and drink with no problems and except for the legs I feel really good. I've done a round in the hot tub this morning and will be heading out on the road bike for a recovery ride very shortly. I'm still in decesion about the 9 hour next weekend. I have a masage this week and figure I will wait till the last minute to register. If the legs are feeling questionable or if the weight doesnt come back on smoothly I'll skip this race to make sure I'm healthy for the 24 in August.
Thanks to my Mom and Aunt for support. Can't do what I do without you guys there and thanks to Rob from Barrie Cycling Club for some awesome picutes.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
beaten up but still standing
Finished 7th in age group and 9 overall out of 61 solo males. Will give a full brakedown of the race tomorrow. Right now I want to curl up in the fetile position for a few hours. This was a very event filled race.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Road the MountainView 9 hour course tonight. Wow have they ever done a great job with trail building. The course is roughly 10 km and looks like lap times will be just over the 32 minute mark. It is a fairly technical course with some good climbs right off the start. This event is very much a home grown grass roots race. There might be a total of 150 racers compared to 1000 at the Hardwood race.
I felt pretty good though and cruised the course. Total time on the bike was 1:20. I'm also happy that the quick weight loss is almost all returned. I'll be eating large again today. 24 hours from now will bve the start of a long day.
I felt pretty good though and cruised the course. Total time on the bike was 1:20. I'm also happy that the quick weight loss is almost all returned. I'll be eating large again today. 24 hours from now will bve the start of a long day.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Feeling a little relieved as the weight is coming back on. Been eating and carb loading the last 2 days. Trying to fatten me up you could say. I'm still down almost 2 pounds but I'm hoping things will be normal by Saturday morning. The plan tonight is to preride the MountainView 9 hour course tonight. It will be ridden at a very sane pace. They hold their weekly series tonight and are using the 9 hour course for the race tonight.
I'll ride in the slowest least amount of laps race. As much as I can show constraint it will be all my friends that are racing in the elite catagory and I don't want to get into a bike battle with the Hardwood 8 hour 2 days away. They have called for rain this afternoon so that means the race rig is staying on the stand and I'll play on the backup NRS. I'm still having some issues with the rear wheel on the NRS1 but with Dave out of commision right now I won't have time to play with it till after the Hardwood race.
Will update on the course tonight.
I'll ride in the slowest least amount of laps race. As much as I can show constraint it will be all my friends that are racing in the elite catagory and I don't want to get into a bike battle with the Hardwood 8 hour 2 days away. They have called for rain this afternoon so that means the race rig is staying on the stand and I'll play on the backup NRS. I'm still having some issues with the rear wheel on the NRS1 but with Dave out of commision right now I won't have time to play with it till after the Hardwood race.
Will update on the course tonight.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Getting closer
So I woke up this morning feeling a bit strange. I was starving for some strange reason. I weighed myself like usual in the morning. I'm not a total freak about my weight but I do monitor it before a race. I was down 3 pounds from normal. Kinda freaked me but just conitnued on with my morning till I got a little dizzy spell. This was just after breakfast and my stomach went nuts screaming feed me.
I ate all morning and things felt better. Went out for a mellow road ride tonight. 1:13 at just over a 30 km average. heartrate was kept down to a 145 average. Just enough to keep the legs working and feeling fresh. I'm going to be packing back the food tonight with some chicken lasagna. I've had this happen to me once before at that spring 8 hour so I'm not in panic mood about the weight change as long as it returns to normal. My legs did feel good and mixed in a couple quick burst on a couple short hills hitting 180bpm a couple times. Tommorow will be another rest day but will still do an hour of yoga.
I ate all morning and things felt better. Went out for a mellow road ride tonight. 1:13 at just over a 30 km average. heartrate was kept down to a 145 average. Just enough to keep the legs working and feeling fresh. I'm going to be packing back the food tonight with some chicken lasagna. I've had this happen to me once before at that spring 8 hour so I'm not in panic mood about the weight change as long as it returns to normal. My legs did feel good and mixed in a couple quick burst on a couple short hills hitting 180bpm a couple times. Tommorow will be another rest day but will still do an hour of yoga.
snap, crackle, pop
Awww the sounds that my body make. Last night was the no bike night. Did my favorite hour yoga routine and those are the noises my body makes as muscles stretch and joints pop back in line. Feels great. 4 days and countinng till the Hardwood 8 hour. I'm getting a bit anxious now.
Right now the weather is looking prefect for the race. Sunny skys and 22 degrees. Dam. I wanted for cold or extreme heat. Sorry but I wanted to make people suffer. I love the crappy conditions. The only downfall with some of the 8 hours is no access to see who is racing. I'm pretty sure Jeff Shikaze will not be there since him and his brother are off to Trans Rockies in a couple weeks. There are a couple local short course racers that are very fast BUT I've seen these guys go down after about 4 hours. This all comes back to racing your own race and I will have to keep yelling at myself not to try and chase them down in the first couple hours.
I'm going to be spoiled in my pits this race as my aunt will be in town and wants to come to an 8 hour event with Mom. Its sometimes great having your Mom as support crew because you just cant tell your Mom to F off when your tired. You just keep going. Maybe thats why Tinker has his Mom in the pits. My aunt who is a big part of our 24 hour support crew has wanted to check out the fast pace of an hour so I have to put up a good result. Hopefully thats on the podium. Legs feel great, gear is ready, the course is, well not my favorite but not to bad.
Now next weekends 9 hour is a different story
Right now the weather is looking prefect for the race. Sunny skys and 22 degrees. Dam. I wanted for cold or extreme heat. Sorry but I wanted to make people suffer. I love the crappy conditions. The only downfall with some of the 8 hours is no access to see who is racing. I'm pretty sure Jeff Shikaze will not be there since him and his brother are off to Trans Rockies in a couple weeks. There are a couple local short course racers that are very fast BUT I've seen these guys go down after about 4 hours. This all comes back to racing your own race and I will have to keep yelling at myself not to try and chase them down in the first couple hours.
I'm going to be spoiled in my pits this race as my aunt will be in town and wants to come to an 8 hour event with Mom. Its sometimes great having your Mom as support crew because you just cant tell your Mom to F off when your tired. You just keep going. Maybe thats why Tinker has his Mom in the pits. My aunt who is a big part of our 24 hour support crew has wanted to check out the fast pace of an hour so I have to put up a good result. Hopefully thats on the podium. Legs feel great, gear is ready, the course is, well not my favorite but not to bad.
Now next weekends 9 hour is a different story
Monday, July 16, 2007
I wonder who get more excited about riding. Molly or me. Trying to keep her from driving me crazy as I was getting gear packed up and eating breakfast can be a bit trying some mornings. It had rained again overnight so I was expecting lots of mud. I was quite surprised to find the trails dry. Now all the leaves on the trees were another story.
Having the extra rest time and short riders the last couple days the legs felt awesome. Like usually it takes me a little bit to warm up but it was a fast ride. I'm getting a bit anxious for the 8 hour now. Now about the only tough part yesterday was riding on the wet roots and rocks. Its been extremely dry with next to no rain the last 2 months that I almost forgot how to ride over slippery logs.
I litterly did the splits going over one log bridge as the bike came out from under me. I didn't help that I am still running the Michelin XCR drys. They are a great fast tire but I'm still not sure what I'm going to run for the Hardwood race. They have called for a couple more days of rain this week then clearing for the event.
On another note the MountainView Cycling Club race kits are finally in. I haven't picked mine up yet but they are looking good. Helping promote the local club is important for this area. The club is growing but its still a very very small number of active people in are area.
Unfortunately this area has a very high precentage inactive people. Being healthy and in shape you are definatly a minority around here. I don't think I could handle myself having a belly and being out of breathe climbing a flight of stairs. I think the scary part of it is when you see out of shape children. If the are like that now what will happen in 10 years. Put the Playstation down and play outside!!!!
Having the extra rest time and short riders the last couple days the legs felt awesome. Like usually it takes me a little bit to warm up but it was a fast ride. I'm getting a bit anxious for the 8 hour now. Now about the only tough part yesterday was riding on the wet roots and rocks. Its been extremely dry with next to no rain the last 2 months that I almost forgot how to ride over slippery logs.
I litterly did the splits going over one log bridge as the bike came out from under me. I didn't help that I am still running the Michelin XCR drys. They are a great fast tire but I'm still not sure what I'm going to run for the Hardwood race. They have called for a couple more days of rain this week then clearing for the event.
On another note the MountainView Cycling Club race kits are finally in. I haven't picked mine up yet but they are looking good. Helping promote the local club is important for this area. The club is growing but its still a very very small number of active people in are area.
Unfortunately this area has a very high precentage inactive people. Being healthy and in shape you are definatly a minority around here. I don't think I could handle myself having a belly and being out of breathe climbing a flight of stairs. I think the scary part of it is when you see out of shape children. If the are like that now what will happen in 10 years. Put the Playstation down and play outside!!!!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Its a beautiful day. Yep rain, wind and cold. Personally one of my favorite times to ride. I kept things at a mellow pace of 29 km/h average for 1:40 today. Its funny I started having fun as the ride progressed and the rain increased. You never know what your going to race in so you might as well train in the worst conditions so you know what it feels like.
It's been nice with the taper/rest week. I really don't know what to do with myself in some cases. I did get to hang out with the boys last night and stayed up way past my bedtime and consumed a few to many no sport drink beverages. The ride this morning got rid of the hang over pretty quick. My massage yesterday also made me feel a whole lot better. I'll spend some time this afternoon stretching since its a rain delay for outdoor activities. I'm really happy yo so the rain though, the trails really needed it and Hardwood can be a really dry dusty course so this will help the course.
As much as I love the rain for road rides the crappy part is the cleaning after the fact. My poor baby is hanging in the bike stand waiting for me to get off my butt. Time to get at it. More later.
It's been nice with the taper/rest week. I really don't know what to do with myself in some cases. I did get to hang out with the boys last night and stayed up way past my bedtime and consumed a few to many no sport drink beverages. The ride this morning got rid of the hang over pretty quick. My massage yesterday also made me feel a whole lot better. I'll spend some time this afternoon stretching since its a rain delay for outdoor activities. I'm really happy yo so the rain though, the trails really needed it and Hardwood can be a really dry dusty course so this will help the course.
As much as I love the rain for road rides the crappy part is the cleaning after the fact. My poor baby is hanging in the bike stand waiting for me to get off my butt. Time to get at it. More later.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Its strange having a bit of extra time on my hands. I almost don't know what to do with myself. This is the first time in a few months that I'm not on the bike on a Thursday night.It's kinda nice. A couple extra days of rest is not going to hurt my fitness level. I know it but I do have to keep reminding myself that. I feel guilty for not being on the bike. WIth no really training reports its back to picking at my brain for training. I've put some posts up on Mountain Bike Review helping some riders get ready for 8 and 12 hour races. Time to lay out some stratgey guide lines. 8 hours races are probably tougher physically than a 24. Everyone says pace. Sure pacing is great if you just want to finish. If your looking to place well its basiclly a sprint from the start. Spend as little time as possible in the pits. I've ssen the top 5 guys all be with in 15 minutes of one another,Thats pretty close when you figure that is over 8 hours. Minor mistakes can me not making the cut off time also.
Now the tough thing is figuring out how hard can you go. This comes with time The first race, just look at finishing it. From there you can pick up the pace. I personally love 8 hours,they suit my riding style. Food is a minor thing in an 8 hour. I've food that I pretty much live on gel packs and bananas. Eat big the night before. You really don't have time to eat much more. Gear is the other issue. If you have any type of mechanical on the course you better fix it quick. I had my bars come loose on me and lost time because I didn't have the tools to fix it. You do not want this to happen. Even though I caught the riders that had passed me I did waste alot of energy doing it. Having a 2nd bike is a bonus.
Preriding a 24 hour race is important but preride an 8 hour is a must. Setting up lap times is important for both you and your support crew. The more you know about the course the better. Ok thats all my brain can deal with for tonight.
The tour is on and is pulling me away from the computer. Lets go Vino!!!
Now the tough thing is figuring out how hard can you go. This comes with time The first race, just look at finishing it. From there you can pick up the pace. I personally love 8 hours,they suit my riding style. Food is a minor thing in an 8 hour. I've food that I pretty much live on gel packs and bananas. Eat big the night before. You really don't have time to eat much more. Gear is the other issue. If you have any type of mechanical on the course you better fix it quick. I had my bars come loose on me and lost time because I didn't have the tools to fix it. You do not want this to happen. Even though I caught the riders that had passed me I did waste alot of energy doing it. Having a 2nd bike is a bonus.
Preriding a 24 hour race is important but preride an 8 hour is a must. Setting up lap times is important for both you and your support crew. The more you know about the course the better. Ok thats all my brain can deal with for tonight.
The tour is on and is pulling me away from the computer. Lets go Vino!!!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
8 hour preride
Combination ride tonight. Got a chance to preride the Hardwood 8 hour course. No new surprises on this course. Its basiclly identical to last years fall 8 hour. I was kinda disapointed. Its not a bad course but there are a few things that I don't like about it. There are alot of flow interuptions. You finally get a rythem and then there is a hard 90 which you almost have to stop to make. There are alot of these sections. Its also going to be a last minute tire selection. There are lots of roots and soft spots after the 3 days of rain. It did dry up pretty quickly though. I was running the XCR dry's and they were not to bad. Lets see what the weather brings for next weekend.
The course is 10km and I cruised it with a lap of 35 minutes. I'm figuring around 29-31 minute laps for the first 4-5 hours and drop down to around 35 near the end of the race. A top 5 finish is the plan. Last year I was 9th on the same course and was just on the recovery road, this year things are good.
From there I did the weekly series. I got a crap start and must have been in 30th by the top of the first single track section. Bad positioning at the start. Like usual, lots went to hard at the begining and I started sucking people in. I backed things off a couple times in the course since I didn't feel my fiesty self. Still smoked the course though. Now I think they messed up in the timing tent tonight. Preston finished right behing me but they show him in 7th and me in 14th. Awww still just for fun and its more winning my age catagory that I look at and more my time. I was 30 seconds faster than the last time I raced.
The plan for the next week is more rest than riding. I have my massage on Friday which I really need. Yoga is awesome, the hot tub helps alot and tons of stretching helps maintain but nothing beats a massage. Hurts like hell but feels great later. Its been nuts at work and I've been feeling a bit tired the last couple days. Hell I had a 15 minute nap at the side of the road this afternoon. A nice calm weekend is what I need both physically and mentally.
Ahh and the other thing on the list is the tuneup of the race bike. Normally the beast goes into the shop but with Dave breaking his collarbone he has decided to shut down for a couple weeks while things heal. I'm hoping he heals quickly with no problems. I know its got him down.
Alright time for the hot tub.
The course is 10km and I cruised it with a lap of 35 minutes. I'm figuring around 29-31 minute laps for the first 4-5 hours and drop down to around 35 near the end of the race. A top 5 finish is the plan. Last year I was 9th on the same course and was just on the recovery road, this year things are good.
From there I did the weekly series. I got a crap start and must have been in 30th by the top of the first single track section. Bad positioning at the start. Like usual, lots went to hard at the begining and I started sucking people in. I backed things off a couple times in the course since I didn't feel my fiesty self. Still smoked the course though. Now I think they messed up in the timing tent tonight. Preston finished right behing me but they show him in 7th and me in 14th. Awww still just for fun and its more winning my age catagory that I look at and more my time. I was 30 seconds faster than the last time I raced.
The plan for the next week is more rest than riding. I have my massage on Friday which I really need. Yoga is awesome, the hot tub helps alot and tons of stretching helps maintain but nothing beats a massage. Hurts like hell but feels great later. Its been nuts at work and I've been feeling a bit tired the last couple days. Hell I had a 15 minute nap at the side of the road this afternoon. A nice calm weekend is what I need both physically and mentally.
Ahh and the other thing on the list is the tuneup of the race bike. Normally the beast goes into the shop but with Dave breaking his collarbone he has decided to shut down for a couple weeks while things heal. I'm hoping he heals quickly with no problems. I know its got him down.
Alright time for the hot tub.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Sunday, July 8, 2007
The weekend just seems to short. Got out for a short ride on the mountain bike this morning but with other commitments training kinda got bumped to the back seat this weekend. It is the start of a recovery week so I'm far from panicing. It finally rained today and the trails were actually a bit slick in places. We still need alot more rain though.
So with not much to talk about on the training aspect I figured I would give a little hype to my tag team partner. He does deserve it. Rick is someone to never ever count out as a threat. We have all said that if he was able to drop another 20 pounds non of us could touch him in a short race. Short race I mean 8 hour or 12 hour. He stays totally stead though any race. He is not a guy that you would look at though and think he is fast. Hell when we finished 3rd in 05 it looked like he just ate one of the racers compared to everyone else on the stage. I felt really bad this year when I was curled up puking because Rick was smoking his laps and we were on track for a podium finish again. Rick was really good about it though. I think he was a bit disappointed when I told him I still wanted to solo Hot August Nights instead of getting revenge at the tag team. Ya he likes going on to the podium also.
So who is Rick Clancy. He is an adventure racer, runner, cyclist and my sister's boyfriend. We curse and swear at each other steady and are always trash talking each other but when it comes down tot the business of racing we just work well together. Awww he treats my sister good which is the other important part of it. Now I will say that it will be fun kicking his ass at Hot August Nights. I've yet to beat him. The first time was Hot August Nights 2004 and he just muscled through. It was my first 24 solo and I learned alot. Last year at Solsitce I was on and a major threat expcpet for the 2 weeks of flu I had before the race. Ya I didn't get past 7 hours and lost 12 pounds of weight in that time. Rick just pushed on through like usual.
Alright my dinner is ready and its another night of the tour de france.
So with not much to talk about on the training aspect I figured I would give a little hype to my tag team partner. He does deserve it. Rick is someone to never ever count out as a threat. We have all said that if he was able to drop another 20 pounds non of us could touch him in a short race. Short race I mean 8 hour or 12 hour. He stays totally stead though any race. He is not a guy that you would look at though and think he is fast. Hell when we finished 3rd in 05 it looked like he just ate one of the racers compared to everyone else on the stage. I felt really bad this year when I was curled up puking because Rick was smoking his laps and we were on track for a podium finish again. Rick was really good about it though. I think he was a bit disappointed when I told him I still wanted to solo Hot August Nights instead of getting revenge at the tag team. Ya he likes going on to the podium also.
So who is Rick Clancy. He is an adventure racer, runner, cyclist and my sister's boyfriend. We curse and swear at each other steady and are always trash talking each other but when it comes down tot the business of racing we just work well together. Awww he treats my sister good which is the other important part of it. Now I will say that it will be fun kicking his ass at Hot August Nights. I've yet to beat him. The first time was Hot August Nights 2004 and he just muscled through. It was my first 24 solo and I learned alot. Last year at Solsitce I was on and a major threat expcpet for the 2 weeks of flu I had before the race. Ya I didn't get past 7 hours and lost 12 pounds of weight in that time. Rick just pushed on through like usual.
Alright my dinner is ready and its another night of the tour de france.
Had a fun time yesterday backing down the pace and riding with my sister. Tempatures were great and the sun kept hiding behind the clouds. It was a total of 4 hours on the bike. I know less than planned but you can't always control the day. I was dragging in the morning and didnnt get out on the bike till 11 am.
We did the big chute loop which is an awesome ride. Lots of rolling hills with great scenery and cool winding roads. We kept the pace down a bit so we could chat alot. Jenn road really well and only went in the draft when the wind was nuts or when we were forced to go single on the highway.
Coming in to Waubaushene we came across these guys out for an adventure.
From there it was a bit of work on the deck and then watching the tour on the big screen in the backyard. I'm almost done which means back to 100 percent focus on for the 24 hours of Hot August Nights. The next couple weeks will be pretty tough on the body. I have the Hardwood 8 hour on the 21 and then the following weekend the MountainView 9 hour.
Time to play on the mountain bike for a few hours. It finally rained this morning and I'm hoping it will continue. The trails really need it.
We did the big chute loop which is an awesome ride. Lots of rolling hills with great scenery and cool winding roads. We kept the pace down a bit so we could chat alot. Jenn road really well and only went in the draft when the wind was nuts or when we were forced to go single on the highway.
Coming in to Waubaushene we came across these guys out for an adventure.
From there it was a bit of work on the deck and then watching the tour on the big screen in the backyard. I'm almost done which means back to 100 percent focus on for the 24 hours of Hot August Nights. The next couple weeks will be pretty tough on the body. I have the Hardwood 8 hour on the 21 and then the following weekend the MountainView 9 hour.
Time to play on the mountain bike for a few hours. It finally rained this morning and I'm hoping it will continue. The trails really need it.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Its going to be a busy weekend for this fella. My sister showed up at Mom's mid afternoon yesterday and we headed out to the concert around 6. Mariposa is a huge outdoor music festival that last the weekend. We were more interested in Hawksley Workman. Did some wandering around and heard some great bands while waiting for the finally. Serena Ryder was definatly a highlight. One hell of an amazing voice.
It was just before 10 pm when Hawksley came out. Now the coolest part of all this with an outdoor festival was seating. We were about 15 feet from the satge and everyone pretty stayed seated for the first 3/4 of the performance. It was awesome. As they came closer to wrapping up the songs got a bit faster in pace and everyone was up singing and dancing. It was definatly worth staying up past my bedtime. Rolled in around midnight. I was draggin my butt a bit this morning. No club ride for me.
No I'm not dogging it today. I'll be on the bike shortly for an hour plus ride before Jenn and I head out for the big chute loop. Should be about a 6 hour ride total for me.
Now the next fun thing is its those wonderfull 21 days of July. Yep the Tour is starting. Hardest time of the summer to train when I want to be sitting infront of the tube watching. I have to get an audio/video feed out to the backyard this afternoon to watch things on the big screen. It may also mean a couple sessions on the rollers!!! Coffee is kicking in so time to start moving. More later.
It was just before 10 pm when Hawksley came out. Now the coolest part of all this with an outdoor festival was seating. We were about 15 feet from the satge and everyone pretty stayed seated for the first 3/4 of the performance. It was awesome. As they came closer to wrapping up the songs got a bit faster in pace and everyone was up singing and dancing. It was definatly worth staying up past my bedtime. Rolled in around midnight. I was draggin my butt a bit this morning. No club ride for me.
No I'm not dogging it today. I'll be on the bike shortly for an hour plus ride before Jenn and I head out for the big chute loop. Should be about a 6 hour ride total for me.
Now the next fun thing is its those wonderfull 21 days of July. Yep the Tour is starting. Hardest time of the summer to train when I want to be sitting infront of the tube watching. I have to get an audio/video feed out to the backyard this afternoon to watch things on the big screen. It may also mean a couple sessions on the rollers!!! Coffee is kicking in so time to start moving. More later.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
off his meds
K, I ran out of Glucosamine a couple days ago and I can't beleive how my knees feel. I need my drugs!!!! Well the dumbass that forgot to buy more the last grocery store run is to blame. Oh wait thats me. Actually the whole body is a bit tired but I'm coming into a recovery week. The line that you get slower before you get faster hopefully comes true like it has in the past. I can feel that its rest time when I can't get my heartrate up. Its funny that i still rode in the low 30
s average on a crappy paved climbing route and I only had an average heartrate of 130. Hell my happy place in in the mid 170s and race pace is in the 180-185 range. It was 2:15 total 700 meters of climbing. Vasey line has got the best super glue pavement around and that nice west head wind always makes it a little harder.
So its going to be a cool weekend. My sister will be down and were hitting the Maraposa music festival on friday night. Hawksley Workman is playing which for us is the main draw. Jenn is bringing her road bike and we are planning the big chute loop. It will be abit more of a relaxing ride with her so my plan is to get out for an 1.5 to 2 hours before we head out. This will give me a 6-6.5 hour total.
Unfortunatly Rick couldnt make it down. For some reason Craig wants his bathroom finished. Its that time management thing Craig, keep him off the shitter!!!! Picked up what is hopefully the last of the lumber needed for the backyard. Will be nice to have that done.
s average on a crappy paved climbing route and I only had an average heartrate of 130. Hell my happy place in in the mid 170s and race pace is in the 180-185 range. It was 2:15 total 700 meters of climbing. Vasey line has got the best super glue pavement around and that nice west head wind always makes it a little harder.
So its going to be a cool weekend. My sister will be down and were hitting the Maraposa music festival on friday night. Hawksley Workman is playing which for us is the main draw. Jenn is bringing her road bike and we are planning the big chute loop. It will be abit more of a relaxing ride with her so my plan is to get out for an 1.5 to 2 hours before we head out. This will give me a 6-6.5 hour total.
Unfortunatly Rick couldnt make it down. For some reason Craig wants his bathroom finished. Its that time management thing Craig, keep him off the shitter!!!! Picked up what is hopefully the last of the lumber needed for the backyard. Will be nice to have that done.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
up past my bedtime
Had a great day today. Work, well work is work. I love my job/company. Hell if I didn't I wouldnt own it. Got home and pulled the road bike off the wall for a couple hours of play time. That changed in about 3 seconds when all i heard was pop and some metal rattle. Popped a spoke. Now this isnt a big deal but turned that way. 1st they are bladed and a low spoke count wheel. 2nd I didnn't have any spare spokes for this wheel set. Ya I know dumb but havnt had a problem with them.
Well a quick call to Georgain Cycle and Davce said he had some in stock. Switched up to the TT bike and I was off. With the delays and plans for later this evening I had to cut things down to an 1.5 hour ride tonight. Yep real world life and training can sometimes conflict. Either way it was a good ride.
From there it was eat clean up and stretch before a trip over to my buddy Marlons. I'm helping him put in a garage door next week so it was a once over on materal needed. Marlon is helping with some cool promo stuff for me. I'm good with my hands mechanically, he is good on the computer with graphic design.
After the setup we ventured over to a local pub where a buddy of his was playing. Hey nothing beats live music and a good beer. So it was a bit lax on the training tonight but it was one of those nights I needed. All work and no play. Well it sucks!!!!
Well a quick call to Georgain Cycle and Davce said he had some in stock. Switched up to the TT bike and I was off. With the delays and plans for later this evening I had to cut things down to an 1.5 hour ride tonight. Yep real world life and training can sometimes conflict. Either way it was a good ride.
From there it was eat clean up and stretch before a trip over to my buddy Marlons. I'm helping him put in a garage door next week so it was a once over on materal needed. Marlon is helping with some cool promo stuff for me. I'm good with my hands mechanically, he is good on the computer with graphic design.
After the setup we ventured over to a local pub where a buddy of his was playing. Hey nothing beats live music and a good beer. So it was a bit lax on the training tonight but it was one of those nights I needed. All work and no play. Well it sucks!!!!
The power of yoga
Woke up this morning feeling 500% better. Why, because of the hour of yoga after my ride. Does it work, dam right it does. Because of the time most of us spend on the bike, running etc recovery is almost more important than the training itself. Active recovery is even better. I've had some serious problems with my SI nerve along with low back pain. My fantastic sister who is also a runner/cyclist along with an R.M.T. loaned me the cure a couple years ago.
Yoga Conditioning for Athletes with Rodney Yee is awesome. Gaiam is the distributor. Another one I use is Yoga Complete for Athletes. Its by bodywisdom media. Coming from a guy that couldn't even come close to touching his toes a year and a half ago to putting hands flat on the floor now, it works. It also clears your mind and can help remove stress. At least for a short time.
On a second note, it's raining out. Finally. It hasn't rained in over a month and the trails are hurting. It may be a session on the rollers tonight depending on the intensity of the rain. Off to work. Dam job gets in the way of training but when you're the owner you can't fire yourself to often.
Yoga Conditioning for Athletes with Rodney Yee is awesome. Gaiam is the distributor. Another one I use is Yoga Complete for Athletes. Its by bodywisdom media. Coming from a guy that couldn't even come close to touching his toes a year and a half ago to putting hands flat on the floor now, it works. It also clears your mind and can help remove stress. At least for a short time.
On a second note, it's raining out. Finally. It hasn't rained in over a month and the trails are hurting. It may be a session on the rollers tonight depending on the intensity of the rain. Off to work. Dam job gets in the way of training but when you're the owner you can't fire yourself to often.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Feeling like an old man
Ya thats how the legs and back felt this morning. 2 days of steady work on the deck along with regular training took a toll on the body. I skipped time trails tonight. I did pick up my road bike though. Unfortunatly Dave didnt get the new front end on before he broke his collarbone. We'll wait it out till he is healed for that upgrade.
Its the lowest end bike I have and its my favorite. No carbon (for now) and its not all that light at around 18.5 pounds. But its smooth. It was originally a Giant OCR2 and my first start with a Giant bike. The only original part on it is the frame and fork. Full Ultegra, Mavic Aksium race wheels and only a front brake. Why might you ask. The short of it was the rear brake cable broke at the end of the season last year so I took the brake off and have never thought about fixing it. The hills here are not long enough to need both brakes and I've so far never needed both.
So back to the ride. Its back to endurance miles for this week but because of the back I shortened up the ride to make time for yoga. 45km 1 hour 31 mins average HR 137. Did mix in some hills though with a runup Hwy 93 and also the Old Fort Road. From there is was into the long routine of an hour of yoga. I'm feeling a lot better now. They are calling for rain tomorrow. HMMMMM I've heard this before. I'm skipping the weekly mtb series also for a 2-2.5 hour road ride instead. Next week will be back to interval training.
Its the lowest end bike I have and its my favorite. No carbon (for now) and its not all that light at around 18.5 pounds. But its smooth. It was originally a Giant OCR2 and my first start with a Giant bike. The only original part on it is the frame and fork. Full Ultegra, Mavic Aksium race wheels and only a front brake. Why might you ask. The short of it was the rear brake cable broke at the end of the season last year so I took the brake off and have never thought about fixing it. The hills here are not long enough to need both brakes and I've so far never needed both.
So back to the ride. Its back to endurance miles for this week but because of the back I shortened up the ride to make time for yoga. 45km 1 hour 31 mins average HR 137. Did mix in some hills though with a runup Hwy 93 and also the Old Fort Road. From there is was into the long routine of an hour of yoga. I'm feeling a lot better now. They are calling for rain tomorrow. HMMMMM I've heard this before. I'm skipping the weekly mtb series also for a 2-2.5 hour road ride instead. Next week will be back to interval training.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Canada Day
Have you seen this guy before?
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These guys had. Slimer has been on the back of my helmet for a couple years now. I even have him light up at night.
Was down at Tom's forest for my usual Sunday morning ride and hooked up with these guys. Its a small world, one of them rides with the Misfit Psycles crowd and new a friend of mine that does the same. It was there first time playing in Tom's so we crused over to the 7th line grid. The guys ride pretty quick for being on single speeds, I was really impressed on how fast these guys to climb having to muscle one gear. I'm a wimp I like shifting!!!
Unfortunatly for me my tour guide skills were off and I routed us on to the same trail section twice. I'm still learning which trail link goes where on this side myself. They were runnnig low on fluids so showed them the trail out and proceded with my own ride. Of course I now find the trail head I wanted to show them. They told me about a cool trail system near Bolton which I will definatly have to put on the agenda this summer.
Molly and I crossed over to the other grid. This section has very fast rolling singletrack. Awww my favorite. An hour later we were back at the car. 2 hours in the trails was a great warm up. Molly wasn't as energetic as I was so it was back to the house. Not without some pay offs first.
I'd say she felt a bit better after her swim.
This was my treat.
Got home swapped out the bikes and went for another hour on the TT bike. I'll have to get over to Georgian Cycle on Tuesday to see whats up with my road bike. I do miss it. I heard that Dave had broke his collar bone again. The poor guy. I'll get the run down from him then.
So just over 3 hours on the bike Sunday. Of course I kepts motoring and worked on the deck in the backyard. I think this was the more abusive to the body than all the riding. Its almost done so I'll have lots of down time after it. Awww and the hot tub will help.
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These guys had. Slimer has been on the back of my helmet for a couple years now. I even have him light up at night.
Was down at Tom's forest for my usual Sunday morning ride and hooked up with these guys. Its a small world, one of them rides with the Misfit Psycles crowd and new a friend of mine that does the same. It was there first time playing in Tom's so we crused over to the 7th line grid. The guys ride pretty quick for being on single speeds, I was really impressed on how fast these guys to climb having to muscle one gear. I'm a wimp I like shifting!!!
Unfortunatly for me my tour guide skills were off and I routed us on to the same trail section twice. I'm still learning which trail link goes where on this side myself. They were runnnig low on fluids so showed them the trail out and proceded with my own ride. Of course I now find the trail head I wanted to show them. They told me about a cool trail system near Bolton which I will definatly have to put on the agenda this summer.
Molly and I crossed over to the other grid. This section has very fast rolling singletrack. Awww my favorite. An hour later we were back at the car. 2 hours in the trails was a great warm up. Molly wasn't as energetic as I was so it was back to the house. Not without some pay offs first.
I'd say she felt a bit better after her swim.
This was my treat.
Got home swapped out the bikes and went for another hour on the TT bike. I'll have to get over to Georgian Cycle on Tuesday to see whats up with my road bike. I do miss it. I heard that Dave had broke his collar bone again. The poor guy. I'll get the run down from him then.
So just over 3 hours on the bike Sunday. Of course I kepts motoring and worked on the deck in the backyard. I think this was the more abusive to the body than all the riding. Its almost done so I'll have lots of down time after it. Awww and the hot tub will help.
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