May 2009
25 posts
Well I hit the deck but Randell kicked ass and lapped the field solo. About half an hour in I covered a move going into a downhill corner but in my earnest to stay on the wheel I neglected to adjust my line for the manhole cover in the middle of the turn and lost traction smashing into the pavement with my elbow and sliding on my chin for a bit. I also managed to get a pretty nasty slice in the...
I am back in St.Kitts, the last two days of training have been allright..short but pretty intense on wed. Theb just a quick spin yesterday before jumping in the car. The drive was a-ok until I hit traffic in TO..by the time I was through that I was ready for a break so stopped at the whole foods in Oakville for some dinner.
Tonight is the Toronto crit down in the Saint Lawrence market..if you are...
This morning I got up and headed to Bushtukah where I had an appointment for a job interview. I need some income and hopefully I can find some relatively flexible work that I will be able to fit into my racing and training schedule. I felt like the meeting went well, I was forthright about my limitations but left feeling like I had done good job illuminating the assets that I would bring to such a...
Shorter ride for me today with lots of sprinting, basically doing laps around the experimental farm with a full bore attack every turn round. I am not likely to ever win a bunch sprint but at least it will get the system going.
It has been a real weekend of rejuvenation for me. Yesterday I did a light spin then took in the Ottawa Health and Fitness Expo, spent some time at the coffee shop, then went to Margo and Warren’s to watch the 10km running race and have dinner. The race was pretty outstanding, there were 1000s and 1000s of people, starting with the ridiculously fast Africans (one guy was 20seconds off the...
I woke up really early this morning for some reason and well once I’m awake I can’t get back to sleep, pottered about for a bit and put the Giro on and had a few coffee’s then headed out on the bike. Pretty typical.
I rode lightly for a couple hours then met up for an hour and a half behind the motorbike. I was still feeling yesterdays’ efforts in my legs but it was good...
Oh boy I beat the shit out of myself today, it was a million degrees out and I put in some very hard intervals on Fortune today, going up it as hard as I possibly could but keeping my cadence between 100 and 110 rpm and focusing on my pedal stroke. Climbing at such a fast cadence really takes a lot out of me as I’m naturally inclined to grind a big gear however I need to make strides on my...
So another 200km ride yesterday rounded out with the Tuesday night A crit at the finish. I was feeling a little shot going into the race after 5hrs of hilly riding in the Gats but figured that the speed would be valuable and I would just sit in. Of course as soon as I was in a bike race I had to start giving it a bit of stick, I wasn’t lighting the world on fire but it was a fun jumping into...
It was a beautiful crisp day in Ottawa, I had a quiet morning with a bit of time down in Westboro then went for a ride on my TT bike in the afternoon. I was out for 3 hours, all aerobic and mainly focused on better accustoming myself to the feel of the new bike. Tomorrow things ramp up again, I’ve got some big races ahead!
A bit more detail on Sunday’s race, I felt good on the bike...
Just a quick one tonight, I’m ready for bed. Today’s race was an improvement, I had good legs and did the job for the team. Martin was 2nd in the sprint from the final group. I’ll write more tomorrow. Thanks for checking in.
I decided not to drive the 45minutes back and forth between st. raymond and the hotel so ended up spending most of the day dozing and browzing the internet on my blackberry. Late in the afternoon it started to belt rain so that was pretty miserable.
My TT start was around 745 tonight, I did my warmup about a km from the start, setting up a trainer under an overhang on the local justice...
Well I felt pretty awful during this morning’s race. My legs were all stuffed up and had no fluidity. I was able to do a bit out there still but wasn’t riding up to standard. I’ll chalk it up to yesterdays drive and focus on tonights short TT. I was getting better feelings towards the end so who knows..I’ll keep you posted.
An easy day today coincided nicely with some stormy weather. I set up my trainer and spun the legs out for a bit after watching the Giro. Headed into town and got my hair cut and took care of a few errands (namely getting a US money order to pay off my now very late speeding ticket). My ticket doesn’t seem so bad considering though….
Tomorrow it is off to Saint Raymond, 3 races, two...
Ouch, we didn’t actually do much motorpacing but the workout was tough. I was out with Ross Knight, a legend, beside me on the motorbike for 2 hours in the park. Every climb we would ratchet up the intensity, Ross beside yelling instructions… when to shift, stand up sit down, spin faster, attack…. and encouragement/beratement all to get the last drop of force out of my legs as I...
Another big day rounded out with the A loop, I did a few laps of the park then headed out to Wakefield for a loop, came back for another lap and did the race. I was a little tired by race time but could still make some good efforts. After that many kilometers, it seems like I am still good for short intense burts but can no longer maintain a hard effort at the same level. Today should not be much...
So it seems that I have responded really well to my recent training efforts. At Bear Mountain I felt like I had stepped up another level with my fitness, especially going uphill. The 22km circuit was pretty exceptional with one significant and very cool climb of a few kilometres every lap as well as some extended false flat sections and a few kickers. The first time up the climb I attacked solo...
At Bear Mtn, I was in the break all day..Joel bridged up on the last lap and got second.
Yesterday I chilled about town for a bit then went and picked up my tt bike at the shop and took it for a light spin in the arvo. Geez, it feels fast ..and comfy too. In the evening I went over to a bit of a dinner party with some cycling friends..breakfast for supper and good times. Now I’m up early and on the road to.Bear mtn. The other guys are better than me and doing the Grandby tt this...
It was raining for most of today but I rode 200k, it took a bit less than 7hrs with a loop out Kemptville way. I was going a good steady pace for most of the ride then in the last 2hrs picked it up a bit and did some sprints. That is where races are won and I want to get better. Tomorrow will be easy and I’ll take care of some errands around town. Probably continue my coffee exploration as well.
I was a little tired yesterday (just a little) so I took it easy on the bike, just cruised out to Manotick and back. In the morning I had dropped my TT bike off at the Cyclery to get tidied up, I can’t wait to start putting some time in on that thing.
The team starts Joe Martin today.
Yesterday I put in one of the bigger days of training of my life, I set off in the park and rode there for 5.5 hours. Now there is essentially zero flat road in Gatineau Park so this amounted to a lot of climbing. Then I rode across the city for the Tuesday night criterium,the race is an hour plus 5 laps and all the top local guys come and give it full stick. Last night there were 95 starters and...
Today was nice and relaxing, in the morning I went down into the market to find idealcoffee a cool little spot downtown that had a bit of an online reputation. That espresso made the whole trip worthwhile. I was kind of underwhelmed by Francescos beans so I’ll head down there when I next run out. Its neat, almost reminiscent of a diner atmosphere with the roaster working away in plain sight...
So another solid day in the park, broken up with a pleasant interlude riding and chatting with Sheri and Kevin who I met up on Champlain. I was out for 4 hrs 45min and was doing some strength work on the climbs.
Tomorrow I’m taking a rest, it was a long week and I need to recoup.
Also, I’ve been searching for a great source of coffee beans here in town to play with using my...
I got up really early this morning for the local hammerhead CycleLogik ride. It was 2.5 hrs always at a good pace and full on for a good deal of it. I was a little low on fuel after eating pretty lightly last night so wasn’t flying but gave quite a few digs and had fun, its probably good for me. After the ride, I stopped in at the new CycleLogik location for my first time to say hi then...
Another day with lots of climbing, steady for the loop then fast up Fortune. Repeat.
Otherwise, I went looking for a foam roller in town but Fitness Depot was sold out and no body else seemed to have one.
Now a quiet friday night, up early tomorrow for a group ride.
