The weekend is upon us, the first O-cup is this weekend and I'll be there. Sort of. I'll be rolling on The Chuck, not any type of off road designed bike. Timing this year has O-cups on the very bottom of the list of to do's. Mansfield though will be very entertaining, the rumours I've heard have the elite race turning into a Canada Cup type proving ground with team Quebec crossing international boarders into the land of the free. I've even heard that riders from even farther east may be flying in. So the plan is to put in a good day of training with Tristan with a mid ride stop to see the start of the 1:00 race.
Mansfield is always that race that everyone comes out and riders way harder than they should off the start, blow up and then play damage control, finish and remind themselves of what not to do for the rest of the season. It's always entertaining. It will be strange being on the sidelines. I find it always weird being a spectator, there are some races, like cross that I have no problem with it but mountain bike events that I can race and I'm not is something I'm just not used to. I might enjoy it. Probably not. I think though this may be the case for a good chunk of the short races this year.
In other exciting news, Doug is home, a few pounds lighter and in back to normal spirits. surgery is fine. On an additional note, the Molly Monster had a complimentary X-ray done yesterday. The vet was curious on why she recovered so well and able to run and play like she has all winter after her accident last summer. What the body is capable of is still amazing. The bone mended it's self, without the help of surgery. The vet's were amazed and happy, I'd be curious if they will pass this info on to the surgeon that wanted to cut Molly open and do multiple things to her leg with no guarantee of success.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Cat's in the closet
Training is training but a cat coming out of the closet is more entertaining. Dealing with a cat that has sexual identity issues has been interesting to say the least. Yes I'm talking about Doug or Dougless as he/she has now been known. It's surgery day, no this isn't my revenge on the freak for hiding his/hers true sex from both myself and the ospca. It's just that this household would prefer Dougless doesn't come home as a baby momma for some two bit four legged gangsta. So time to get snipped and wrapped or what ever else they do.
I'll admit that I'm still in denial that Doug is a girl, that she has been a transvestite for the last 6 months. I'm not sure if she started her cross sexing early to protect herself from the Bob, I could understand that. Bobke has most definitely followed in the steps of the man he was named after and for any woman this is a creepy thing. Of course it didn't take long for them to become close. At first we thought cute little buddies but then it wandered into the gay love with the two spending way to much quality time together in a very small bed. What ever amuses you, they always waited till no one was in the room. Of course this is where Doug's personality began to show. He/she was cool, played in the water, was interested in mechanical things, curious about everything, beat the shit out of dogs, you know boy things. Can you see why I'm still not fully accepting it. I don't want him to be a her. It's not right, it's not fair.
Well in the next 24 hours he/she will be a not got anything left and the problem will be solved. I don't think Doug will ever admit to herself that she is a bit butch. There is so much more that can be told about Bob and Doug but I'm running late this morning and someone has a date with the vet. I'll continue another day. Random thought, my Polar has now decided that it doesn't want to talk with the computer, any suggestions????
I'll admit that I'm still in denial that Doug is a girl, that she has been a transvestite for the last 6 months. I'm not sure if she started her cross sexing early to protect herself from the Bob, I could understand that. Bobke has most definitely followed in the steps of the man he was named after and for any woman this is a creepy thing. Of course it didn't take long for them to become close. At first we thought cute little buddies but then it wandered into the gay love with the two spending way to much quality time together in a very small bed. What ever amuses you, they always waited till no one was in the room. Of course this is where Doug's personality began to show. He/she was cool, played in the water, was interested in mechanical things, curious about everything, beat the shit out of dogs, you know boy things. Can you see why I'm still not fully accepting it. I don't want him to be a her. It's not right, it's not fair.
Well in the next 24 hours he/she will be a not got anything left and the problem will be solved. I don't think Doug will ever admit to herself that she is a bit butch. There is so much more that can be told about Bob and Doug but I'm running late this morning and someone has a date with the vet. I'll continue another day. Random thought, my Polar has now decided that it doesn't want to talk with the computer, any suggestions????
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Don't screw with Chuck's new shoes
I thought about it long and hard, it didn't make sense at first. As I pulled in the driveway it was, well it was almost nice out. It had stopped raining, the roads were actually dry, the wind was there but didn't seem to make and impact in any direction. Looks like I could scrap my original plan of hiding indoors. The question was why? Why had it stopped. Was it my continued bitching and complaining that Mother Nature is a (fill in the blank), maybe.
Rolled out to now do my favorite thing ever built by our local township, the rail trail. It was another one of those days filled with short hard blasts. Being on the water's edge I'd exp[etched to get blasted with cold wind like the past month, strangely that didn't happen. I could hear the wind and even slightly felt it, but it was strange. It was actually enjoyable and didn't seem to stop me like a brick wall every time it increased. A half second later I was screaming at myself to get rid of that thought, Mother Nature is a sneaky lady and reads minds. Hit the end of the trail and began the return trip still warm and dry and moving at a relatively fast pace mixed in with blasts up to warp speed. I was stunned, I was beginning to remember that I really like road riding.
As I finished up the must do list and coasted to a stop at the other end, it's still clear, hmmmm. Where I would have normally turned right and headed for home I took a chance and turned left. I had to milk as much out of this as I could, it's been a long time since I've really enjoyed being out on the road, I was in that happy place. As I made my way north up the service road a few minutes later I knew I was pushing my luck. I felt the first of what would for sure be followed by many more drops of rain. I put the pedals down, hit Port Severn still dry, turned left and then left again coming back south waiting to get soaked. As I made the last little climb I again felt a couple more drops, rolled down the driveway, walked in the house. Less than a minute later it hammered down.
So why did Mother Nature seem to be nice? Well I've narrowed it down to one of two choices. First off, it could be the hair. I've finally had the first of many summer hair cuts, short and cool. She thought about being nice and not forcing me to wear a toque all the time to stay warm. This seemed like a good option but I think it was only a coincidence. The real reason. Chuck has some new bling and he threatened her. That's right, Chuck is rolling on some sweet white tires mounted on his sweet white rimed wheels. I'm pretty sure that had they gotten dirty there would have been hell to pay as Chuck would have gone all action movie star on her. For her own self survival Mother Nature cleared the roads, the sky and her medical expenses. We should all say thank you to Chuck.
Rolled out to now do my favorite thing ever built by our local township, the rail trail. It was another one of those days filled with short hard blasts. Being on the water's edge I'd exp[etched to get blasted with cold wind like the past month, strangely that didn't happen. I could hear the wind and even slightly felt it, but it was strange. It was actually enjoyable and didn't seem to stop me like a brick wall every time it increased. A half second later I was screaming at myself to get rid of that thought, Mother Nature is a sneaky lady and reads minds. Hit the end of the trail and began the return trip still warm and dry and moving at a relatively fast pace mixed in with blasts up to warp speed. I was stunned, I was beginning to remember that I really like road riding.
As I finished up the must do list and coasted to a stop at the other end, it's still clear, hmmmm. Where I would have normally turned right and headed for home I took a chance and turned left. I had to milk as much out of this as I could, it's been a long time since I've really enjoyed being out on the road, I was in that happy place. As I made my way north up the service road a few minutes later I knew I was pushing my luck. I felt the first of what would for sure be followed by many more drops of rain. I put the pedals down, hit Port Severn still dry, turned left and then left again coming back south waiting to get soaked. As I made the last little climb I again felt a couple more drops, rolled down the driveway, walked in the house. Less than a minute later it hammered down.
So why did Mother Nature seem to be nice? Well I've narrowed it down to one of two choices. First off, it could be the hair. I've finally had the first of many summer hair cuts, short and cool. She thought about being nice and not forcing me to wear a toque all the time to stay warm. This seemed like a good option but I think it was only a coincidence. The real reason. Chuck has some new bling and he threatened her. That's right, Chuck is rolling on some sweet white tires mounted on his sweet white rimed wheels. I'm pretty sure that had they gotten dirty there would have been hell to pay as Chuck would have gone all action movie star on her. For her own self survival Mother Nature cleared the roads, the sky and her medical expenses. We should all say thank you to Chuck.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Stop it please
I'm getting a little frustrated but maybe, just maybe things will work out. Yes I'm on another venting spree about the weather. How much rain can we really get? The taps have got to run dry soon. The snow has melted in the woods, the roads are clear, you can stop now. I know that the old line of April showers bring May flowers but I really don't like flowers.
I'm looking at the week do list on the bike and I'm side glancing at the long term weather, I'm not impressed. Of course it could warm up 20 degrees and I wouldn't complain as much. See what the rain and cold does to people. Makes them ride road bikes on the dirt. Watch closely and you will see a couple AWI racing members near the end of the video.
I'm looking at the week do list on the bike and I'm side glancing at the long term weather, I'm not impressed. Of course it could warm up 20 degrees and I wouldn't complain as much. See what the rain and cold does to people. Makes them ride road bikes on the dirt. Watch closely and you will see a couple AWI racing members near the end of the video.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Will train for food
That seemed to be the idea for this weekend with two family dinners to enjoy and 3 days of training in what almost felt like spring. Started out with a good 3 hour ride with Dr. Bill in the big backyard. Legs were feeling great and feisty on the climbs, good conversations and great weather. A good way to start the long weekend.
As early early Saturday morning came around that notorious sound of rain and wind returned. It was such a nasty sound that it woke me from a wonderful sleep to let me know what my morning ride was going to be like. Screw you Mother Nature was my thought and pulled the trainer out into the living room, fired the video wall up and watched Sir Watson and others kill it on the world cup. Little did I know I was about to kill myself. There is a reason I train in the cool padded room, there is a reason I don't train in a warm, fire heated living room. The body is currently used to cooler weather, well I felt like I was sitting on the equator and after the first of many 5 minute beat the shit out of myself pace intervals I blew up, HARD. The legs were questionable but my head was ready to explode with the heat. Yes, I'm aware that I could have opened a door or do this or do that, but I didn't' and I got what I deserved.
After a few minutes of refocusing I gathered myself, added a layer of clothing, grabbed the hard tail and did the ride the way I should have in the first place, outside. A good rip around the horse trail single track got the bike dirty, me wet and the the training done. Returned home, did the clean up and look respectable thing before heading south to Toronto. No more than 20 minutes after we left here the sun came out and the temperature double. Yes, Mother Nature is a $#&%#. Great meal was followed by a trip back north for what turned into and AWI Racing team meeting. There was beer involved. The topics discussed are top secret, sorry.
Topped out the weekend with an epic adventure on Sunday. The epic part came when I had my first ever mechanical on my Anthem. Not the one I race on that has seemed to have a bit of a curse when I train on it, nope the one that I've put quality time of use and abuse on with next to nothing more than clean, lube oil and filter type upkeep. As I did something stupid popping over a log I knew exactly what was about to happen. Crack, snapped a chain. Got the chain repair 101 lesson from Jacob that made it well worth doing it. Continued along for a while before picking up 2 more AWI team members. Scott flew in just for this ride. It only took about 15 minutes for him to decide that he should have missed the flight.
Scott left his geared bike up north and suffered hard keeping up on a rigid single speed. Of course with the team mentality Jacob lead us to pretty much all the tough climbs on the east side of Copeland. Climb and descend was the name of the game for the next couple hours. We finally finished up at the bottom of the 5th line downhill where I cut the strings and turned right while they turned left towards home. I still had miles to go and hills to climb. This included the gravel climb beside an unnamed ski hill. Never realized how steep it really is. Back on pavement eventually I motored my way towards home where another family dinner would be waiting for me. Rolled into the driveway at 5.5 hours of exertion time. 2 hours on the road, yes I know riding on the road sucks with a mountain bike but when the mid way point destination is Copeland forest it's worth the suffering. 3800 feet of climbing, most of that being in the 3 hours of trail play. A solid weekend or eating and riding. The countdown till race season is sub month now. After this ride I'm feeling a lot more confident in my legs. Felt great through the whole ride right up to the last climbs. Of course Shannon laughed when I said I was driving the 2 blocks to dinner, walking, like running, low on the priority scale.
Posts up on AWI Racing also.
As early early Saturday morning came around that notorious sound of rain and wind returned. It was such a nasty sound that it woke me from a wonderful sleep to let me know what my morning ride was going to be like. Screw you Mother Nature was my thought and pulled the trainer out into the living room, fired the video wall up and watched Sir Watson and others kill it on the world cup. Little did I know I was about to kill myself. There is a reason I train in the cool padded room, there is a reason I don't train in a warm, fire heated living room. The body is currently used to cooler weather, well I felt like I was sitting on the equator and after the first of many 5 minute beat the shit out of myself pace intervals I blew up, HARD. The legs were questionable but my head was ready to explode with the heat. Yes, I'm aware that I could have opened a door or do this or do that, but I didn't' and I got what I deserved.
After a few minutes of refocusing I gathered myself, added a layer of clothing, grabbed the hard tail and did the ride the way I should have in the first place, outside. A good rip around the horse trail single track got the bike dirty, me wet and the the training done. Returned home, did the clean up and look respectable thing before heading south to Toronto. No more than 20 minutes after we left here the sun came out and the temperature double. Yes, Mother Nature is a $#&%#. Great meal was followed by a trip back north for what turned into and AWI Racing team meeting. There was beer involved. The topics discussed are top secret, sorry.
Topped out the weekend with an epic adventure on Sunday. The epic part came when I had my first ever mechanical on my Anthem. Not the one I race on that has seemed to have a bit of a curse when I train on it, nope the one that I've put quality time of use and abuse on with next to nothing more than clean, lube oil and filter type upkeep. As I did something stupid popping over a log I knew exactly what was about to happen. Crack, snapped a chain. Got the chain repair 101 lesson from Jacob that made it well worth doing it. Continued along for a while before picking up 2 more AWI team members. Scott flew in just for this ride. It only took about 15 minutes for him to decide that he should have missed the flight.
Scott left his geared bike up north and suffered hard keeping up on a rigid single speed. Of course with the team mentality Jacob lead us to pretty much all the tough climbs on the east side of Copeland. Climb and descend was the name of the game for the next couple hours. We finally finished up at the bottom of the 5th line downhill where I cut the strings and turned right while they turned left towards home. I still had miles to go and hills to climb. This included the gravel climb beside an unnamed ski hill. Never realized how steep it really is. Back on pavement eventually I motored my way towards home where another family dinner would be waiting for me. Rolled into the driveway at 5.5 hours of exertion time. 2 hours on the road, yes I know riding on the road sucks with a mountain bike but when the mid way point destination is Copeland forest it's worth the suffering. 3800 feet of climbing, most of that being in the 3 hours of trail play. A solid weekend or eating and riding. The countdown till race season is sub month now. After this ride I'm feeling a lot more confident in my legs. Felt great through the whole ride right up to the last climbs. Of course Shannon laughed when I said I was driving the 2 blocks to dinner, walking, like running, low on the priority scale.
Posts up on AWI Racing also.
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