May 2009
25 posts
I put two five hour rides into my legs in the last two days, each with significant time in Gatineau Park. Time seems to go by faster as you climb the hills there, finding your rhythm in the peace and quiet of the woods. It is really nice that the road is still closed to traffic so there are no cars to worry about. This morning I started out the ride with Warren MacDonald, a local masters star (he...
April 2009
28 posts
I’m back in Ottawa and very relieved to not have to drive some obscene distance again. It was very nice to see my family and the visit was too short, but I am happy to be in Ottawa. I am staying with a friend that I raced with on CycleLogik. It is a nice apartment with a great location, a super spot to base myself out of.
I am going to go training in Gatineau park this morning, however I...
This morning I went out with Sandy for my first loop of Gatineau Park for 2009. I am very excited to once again have this playground at my disposal as I get back into the business of going up hills fast. Was out for 4 hrs on a nice sunny day. It is kind of crazy having such extreme weather fluctuations recently, 7 degrees one day and 31 the next.
Now I am back in Deep River to pick up some things...
Tabarnac..well that was good training. After we all had a go at the early break, Gilbert flew away with a strong group. Perfect! !We now just had to cover any moves going off the front and let the group ahead get a big gap. Then..uh oh..a lap and a half into the race and Gilbert is back in the bunch. He had broken a spoke and couldn’t get serviced quick enough to rejoin the break. So to the...
Easy ride this morning, then packed up the car and off to Ottawa. It is amazing how what used to seem like a pretty long drive now seems like a hop skip and a jump down the highway.
I poked around town a bit and had a few pretty cool occurrences. First of all, I went to park at MEC and was about to buy a ticket for the lot when a stranger came up and offered me his that had not expired yet. Next,...
So another nice easy ride here in Deep River,training here brings back some fond memories of my very early days in this sport. I have come a long way since cycling first captured my imagination but still I am driven on by those early dreams founded riding these few local roads.A quiet afternoon then off to Pembroke for a family portrait that Mum made sure to schedule when I was home. Dinner at...
Oh man, it was nice to sleep in my own bed again. Easy ride in the morning, some last minute organizing, and I was on the road. The last few weeks sure have seen a lot of traveling for me. Today I’ll do a spin, maybe on my cross bike, then start taking care of some business that has been waiting for me here.
Nice easy ride to Zooma’s coffee shop today with Hunt. It is sometimes nice to just turn the pedals over easily and enjoy the morning. I’ve done most of my packing and am now taking care of some business on the internet at Starbucks. I am really looking forward to getting home to see friends and family for a couple days.
So I was on a bit of a shocker at Battenkill, I was just tired all around and not going as I would have liked. An early break went with some dangerous guys and quickly myself Andrew and Max went to ride the front and stabilize the gap, we were able to do a good job here so I can take some satisfaction from that. Early in the second lap Planet Energy started to open up the race and go on the...
Went out for just under 3hrs today, easy but I wanted to make sure that the legs were still ticking. I felt ok, not great, but I still have a few days ‘til things are critical. Battenkill is going to be one heck of a race.
My back has gone a little funny,I was getting a shooting pain on my lower left hand side right above my ass whenever I stood up straight, the pain would kind of move down...
It is nice to be back in Canada! A quiet morning here for me (have not had one of those in a long time). South America is nice, but so loud. Coffee, CBC, and no rush is so very much appreciated. The trip took over 24hrs and I arrived pretty exhausted, I did go for a quick spin on my old bike last evening to get some fresh air and clear my head. I built my bike this morning and a nice easy coffee...
The bike’s are packed, bags ready.. now a few hours wait and the long plane ride will begin. We leave Montevideo around 530 then fly to Santiago, Chile to Miami to Toronto.. arriving around 1PM on Tuesday. It has been a great experience down here, now a few days’ rest and it is off to Battenkill, a very cool race that already has me excited. Thank you very much for the support, the comments left...
Its all over.. ten days of racing in the legs, I wish we had more to show for it but it was good experience and bike racing education. Today I had probably the best legs I have had all race, I was aggressive early on then rode the front all day, and in the last 10km was active racing at the front following moves as we raced into Montevideo. The finish was a little bit of a cluster for us as we...
Stage 9 of ten is in the books, it was another hot and windy one. My legs are starting to feel a little tired, after 60km we went to help Kelly ride at the front to keep the break controlled and pretty much stayed there all day. It was almost a relief to not have to fight for wheels the whole time. With 25k to go we turned into a crosswind and the s**t went down, I had great position and all but...
Another day done, windy as heck and more missed breaks. I have to figure out how to pick my moments, its super frustrating to not be in the right splits… I work hard and try to race aggressively but I never seem to be there when the time is right. There was heaps of battling on crappy roads with bad crosswinds. My legs were good, I just have to make a chance for myself somehow, it sure...
So I had a chat with Steve last night and we decided that I should take it easy for the TT, it wasn’t my first inclination yesterday in the heat of the moment but I’m glad I did, I didn’t have the legs to light anything up and into a nasty headwind a TT bike was a must if you wanted to go fast, so I went out.. kept the revs high and rode a good tempo to the finish. I still wouldn’t say that it was...
So some more s**t luck for me today, I was going well all day and getting ready to start drilling it in the crosswinds of the finale when some retarded South American decided to chop me with 25km to go, I stayed up but my wheel was finished with two broken spokes… the change was good but I was now way back in the caravan with the racing going full gas ahead. I was a bloc fighting in the...
Thanks for all of the supportive comments left behind yesterday, thankfully today was much better. No stomach worries and some good legs under me, we raced hard for the first 2 hours trying to get a break established. I desperately wanted to make the breakaway and tried over and over but luck was not on my side and the one that stuck went away just as mine got caught. From then on, the race was in...
Well today was pretty awful, I woke up (at 530AM) to a sore stomach and diarrhea. We had an hour and a half transfer before our 9AM start time, then once we arrived and I was getting prepared for the race I realized that somebody had pinched my Heart Rate Monitor/Computer overnight when the bikes were locked up in the hotel. During the race my stomach was in knots and I could hardly eat or drink...
Another day of on the gas racing today but the winds were not quite as bad and the sun was shining instead of yesterday’s rain. My legs were good out there and I tried to be active at the front and follow moves though I never put myself in any of the really significant moves, it seemed that whenever I was up there nothing would stick then something would go as soon as I took a minute to...
Blimey that was a tough day, the cross winds were relentless as was the pace and today there were hills to top it off. The pack split into echelons in the first 10km and from there on in it was a battle… I got very familiar with the gutter. I suffered a lot trying to bring myself back up to the front echelon after getting caught behind on a few occasions. By the end I was starting to feel...
I am lying in the hotel lobby here in a beautiful seaside resort town after the first day of racing here in Uruguay is in the books and things went pretty well. I went away in a breakaway of 4 within the first 10km and rode pretty hard for the next hour and a half before we were pulled in by the pack. As Steve explained afterwards conditions were not really right for us to really get established...
Another day of riding in the morning with a few efforts today to open up the legs. We did a bit of an echelon with the team but it wasn’t quite the even effort that I find I need to get my legs flowing so I did one solo near the end of the ride for the peace of mind and body that I like going into a race. The show begins tomorrow, I’d like to race hard so we will see how things turn out.
Today went well, 2.5hrs of easy riding along the coast in the morning, then back for some relaxation and a bit of a walk about town to get a glimpse of Montevideo, it is certainly a pretty neat place.
The food we are being served here is pretty abysmal, I’m not sure that I have ever seen such sorry pasta. It is a shame as I believe that the cuisine down here can be pretty incredible.
