December Wink.wink. (Wink,wink).

Eat to much. Drink to much. Eat to much again, drink to much again. Vow that training has started and that I need to cut back on the Christmas dinner's and Drinking. Lasts one or two days then, eat to much again followed by drinking way to much.
I have come to realize that it is way more for fun and probably more healthy to enjoy good food and good drinks with great friends, which sounds bogus but mentally makes all the sense. Isn't athletics 90% mental and only 10% physical? So why bother fretting over the minority?
I have been a long time believer in this philosophy, but not always been the first to follow suit. For the month of December I have trained as usual, but made sure that I was taking almost every opportunity to give'er (piss off mark). Alright within reason. Long story short, I am not to sure where December went.

On another note, Adam figured out how to legitimately swap itunes libraries(so cool) because he has so much great music! I am getting tired of the same old "radio" tunes that seem to be overplayed far to quick, especially some really good songs. It just seems that as soon as the radio gets a hold of the song(s) or they realize that people like them, they crush it.

I have been fighting winter outside so far everyday in one form or another. Some time has been spent on the bike, but on really hard days outside(-20or below, w/wind chill) I have resorted to skiing, snowshoeing or running. I have really just put a focus on "work", which is basically calories out. If I feel like running a marathon today, I will. If I feel like skiing a marathon tomorrow I will. I still have plenty of time to get specific, but for right now I am still trying to engage in as many things as possible other than riding. I have yet to expel any calories on the trainer, and I am not planning on riding inside until the new year.

I met up with Peter G for a last minute pole run, followed by a Starbucks coffee date. We Ran around Hockley Valley on trails that he was familiar with. The Starbucks we went to was also familiar to him, as they knew exactly what he wanted and even added extra foam on top.She said she did it because it "looked good", then Pete replied, "or was it because I looked good?".

Sweet.

I am still mountain biking on ground without the "oh so sweet" white stuff! and to boot we are one solid week into December!! I have been working afternoon's at the new bike park in Markham. Training in the mornings and swinging hammer in the afternoon's! Joyride 150 (new indoor bike park) is one of the best things to happen to cycling in Ontario in quite some time! It is Huge! Like 90000 sq/ft huge! and freaking amazing! The guys there have really done a fantastic job! If you are a cyclist(doesn't matter if it's mountain, road or bmx/street) you cannot help but simply smile when you are in this place. Here is a pic of the 18ft wall ride.

Okay, starting for real this time.

Right, so over the past month and a half I have "started" training for next year. Ya, right. This week however is the "real deal", as I am for sure 100% started my training that includes structure and some (note the"some") attention being payed to what is fueling the "old fire". Cause lately it's been Fruit loops and mmmmmmm' fruit loops......Where was I? So my week has gone a little something like this:

Monday: 1 Hr run with 25 min modified strength tossed in.

Tuesday: 4.5hrs Road ride in crappy weather and on my heavy bike. Note, it was also windy, which can make you sad. I also decided to find a sweet little bike park around the 2hr mark of my ride to jam some laps on. It was fun. Also Tim Horton's Candy Cane Doughnuts are fantastic!

Wednesday: Wow, haven't ridden my bike that long for quite some time. Sure can feel it today. Whimp.... Nothing that a 3hr pole run wouldn't cure. It was raining cats and dogs, which made the clay extra clay'y and worse to run on than ice! That's right ICE!! (note: good thing I was... pole running!). Also found some sick new trails which I will have to go throw down on, on my bike on a dryer day.

Thursday: AM: Banks suck. Officially, all banks suck. So this mornings workout was unrecorded(wish it was) it involved a bunch of crap that I hate doing and probably ends up burning as many calories as riding, and or pole running. Again just putting it out there, but "the banks" are bloody frustrating!
PM: 2.5hr road ride, quite enjoyable actually. Followed by a un-enjoyable foam roll/ stretch session.

Tomorrow: Not sure yet.

That is all.

A New Bike Club? Cool.

I have my winter bike all set and ready to rock and roll (Trek 6000). Training has commenced, and started with a "easy" mt bike ride on my old stomping ground Tuesday. Good day out, around 2.5hrs ride time or 1750kcals. Wednesday was a 3hr mt bike ride with Wagon Wheel at the famous 3 stage trails. We were both sporting bikes that made getting the heart rate up that much easier. Funny thing, I think there may be a new club in the making titled "Pro's on 30 plus pound bikes, with tubes and high tire pressure". It was all Pete's idea, I am just going along. I did 3hrs or 2300kcals worth of work. We then chatted at my place about stuff and realized we should be drinking coffee over this conversation not sitting on my floor. p.s I found your apple core Pete!

I was all stoked to get more hours in on the bike today,,,, but it's raining and being only November I opted for only 1.5hrs or 1000kcals of riding bike paths and exploring my "new" stomping ground! It doesn't matter how tough you are, 5 degrees and raining buckets will make even the strongest willed athlete fall. Computer time and maybe some picture hanging for me today!

Peace.

Way To CLOSE!!!!!!

I ran into a Bear. Straight up ran into a 2-3yr old male(guessing) bear. 250ish pounds of power and muscle way over capable of ripping me in half.

It Started out like most "Rocky" training days, usually with a destination in mind, I had wanted to go check out a few cliff bands on a topo map that map that I had been eying up for quite some time now. It is a great time of year to scope new areas because looking through the forest is possible, unlike the summer time when you can't see crap. Not to mention the bugs. Anyways I found a great cliff and followed it along for a few hundred meters until it petered out to the lake, I then went up over the cliff/hill and found a even better cliff on the other side of this one and descended into the gully to check out the cool lines I had found! Note: I am roughly about 1hr from the car, which is also the nearest road. It was one of the days when you just "followed your nose".

As I am standing there in awe at the potential lines, no farther than 5ft away a bear comes out of a perfect looking hole under a tree that I had neglected to notice(I was way to excited for what I had found). He rears up on his back legs, ears up and glares at me.. Uh. Hmmmm Right, so 5ft away there is a bear ready to make out with me. I have had some "close" encounters with bears before, but 5ft!!!! Come on, that's way to close for comfort!! I could of shoved him if I wanted to. Now the little dude inside me said, "run"! The other dude in their said "Arms up, act calm and cool", "make eye contact and don't look away", "Straighten up, big as you can make yourself" and at a whooping 5ft 7inches tall that not much! I spoke in a deep mellow voice, "easy there big fellow, we are good, we are good, easy there". I slowly backed away, fully crapping my pants! Once I got about 7-10 steps back he dropped onto all fours and with his ears still up maintained to stand in front of his perfect den under the Perfect cliff. I backed around a corner a bit more until I was well out of sight and then RAN!!! like no tomorrow, I ran hard!!! Through the thick Muskoka Woods, I bloody "hit it hard"!. A few hundred feet later I found myself at a point where I either went up a cliff, across a lake(oh, so cold) or back past the bear. Up I went, probably life wet 5.5 climbing in trail runners and with trekking poles in hand, I literally ran up the cliff. Once on top I ran along the ridge to a safer area away from the bear (a few hundred meters down wind). Since nobody really knew where I was (smart) I called Meg and filled here in on where I was and what had just happened(Good old iphone). I Proceeded to make my way back to familiar terrain and then onto the car.

I have had a few close calls over the last few years, most of you probably already know them, but this was seriously one I will never forget! It is almost impossible for me to explain the details that I can remember on this bear and needless to say I hada rough night sleeping last night.

It is so beautiful outside and I am.......Sick.......(sigh).

It is sunny out, has been for awhile now. I am stuck inside quarantining myself from all others except Meg. This November has been a beautiful month(so far) and the last four days I have felt horrible. I should be outside cramming in as many hours of riding, pole running and climbing, but no, I am sick. It seems that everyone around me has, or had some sort of illness.... oh no, cough, sniffle H1N1! Sneeze..H1N1! Headache? probably safe to say H1N1. Come on for real? Everyone thinks they had the "swine flu". There are still just as many other illnesses jumping around as there has ever been and most people who think they have had H!N! probably didn't. They like me probably were just sick with the "common cold" or maybe they happened to eat too much dinner at the Mandarin last night( possible they forgot or something) whatever, from what I have read about the H!N! is that the people that did have it felt like they were about to die. I am not ranting at anyone in particular, just the public in general.

Anyways enough about that, on a more positive note, Collingwood is great! Over the years I have lived and traveled to some cool locations. I have been all over the map, some stops for a quick visit, others for an extended period. I however have not every lived in Collingwood. I have spent a wee bit of time exploring the area in years previous, but nothing too extensive. Since moving here 4 weeks ago, I have ridden a pile of the roads(sick) ran a mountain of the trails(also sick) and climbed at a few locations that I have never been to(super sick x3).

From my door I can jam 1400ft of vertical ascent on pavement, or dirt (whatever you choose) in the first 30min of a ride! I have not ridden anything over a few hours, but I can only imagine the loop possibilities when I will venturing out over 3 hrs(I can hardly wait). I am still hammering the pole running in full force, I have just recently decided that these not too often "beautiful fall days" are meant to be enjoyed on me bike. Pole running can wait until I get into the sloppy time of year(and the lazy, note: I don't really like cleaning my bike). I have only had a couple days out on the rock this fall(also a sigh) I was really hoping to get out and climb some fantastic limestone more than just a handful of days. I am also pumped for a possible ice year(ya that's right,, ice baby!). Last year I climbed no ice..But.. this year, All the ice!

Gotta run, the kettle is boiling,, time to make some more tea(cheesy, but unfortunately true).

Peace.

This just in.....Pole Running? Old News? or New?

I am not sure where October has disappeared to? Tons of great things have happened over the last couple weeks. It has been 5 full weeks (except 1 afternoon of mountain biking) since I have done anything that involves pedaling. Yesterday was the first day since Austria that I had some thoughts about the bike. I am still not planning on doing anything about that thought for at least another month to month and a half. As much as I like riding bikes, I like other stuff too. I have been doing a good amount of running, 90-120km per week, part road and part trail. I try to keep the longer stuff off piste and with poles. People usually look at you with a weird intriging look on their face as you zip by them, easly manouvering the most technical (and sometimes wet) sections on the bruce trail with ease and stability. Pole running is a amazing cross/fall/winter training workout for a couple reasons.

1) It lowers the impact forces that are put on your body by a enormouse amount, meaning you can run longer miles with less fatigue and stress on your body.
2) Stability, poles give you double the number of contact points with you and the surface you are running on, lessening the chance of a slip or fall. (I will second that, poles have saved my ass a couple of times).
3) It fires more muscle groups than traditional running, raising your heart rate easier to your target hr zone. (burns more kcals).
4) It is faster. Simply put, pole running is quicker than regular running/jogging. (Who doesn't want to go faster?).

You don't need to go drop $200 on the most expensive poles that you can buy (although if you have cash to burn, than a nice set of carbon poles that are stupid light would be worth the investment). A simple set of downhill ski poles will work for most people. They are usually crazy cheap if not free from the lost and found at your local ski hill.

Love Fall (minus the rain).

Been busy lately. Racing wrapped up for the season and now it is back to the real world. I have been riding as little as possible, which a good thing because rest is one of the most important things to a athlete, actually make that to everyone. Rest is key. Unfortunately I don't rest very well. Sure I may not be racing every weekend, or logging serious miles on the bike, but this is the only time of year that I have to cram all the other things I like to do and in such a short time. So scratch the rest. I'll do that later. Right, so 5:45am runs (trail/ road/ Some crossfit tossed in) until just after the sun comes up. Fight traffic across a almost ridiculous maze of 50 zones and stop lights to king township where I am working this fall. It is almost funny driving from here to there cause it is so SLOW! We have been trying to find the fastest way there and back? Funny, the other day on Aurora Rd. we found a Starbucks 10 min out of our way. Well that just kiboshed the fastest route plan, because I have had way to much tim horton's. Tim's sucks and especially just after coming from a couple of weeks in europe where they actually appreciate and enjoy their coffee. Rather than North American's where the majority of our daily calories comes from a "dubbledubble" or a bloody "tribbletribble". Are you kidding me? I get a "half of a milk" half of a sugar" and that's really just to cut the crappy taste. Right, I think it's time to change topics.

I am hoping to hit up the Ishpatina ridge next weekend, totally depending on what the weather is saying though. I am also trying to get out climbing more before the white stuff comes and the the option for so many other great things arise! I have a pile of stuff to do this fall and as of right now, I am playing like it's still July!. Minus the cold rain, which snaps you back into reality that "yes it is October".

Great Trip

I made it home after a amazing trip to Europe. It was one of the best flights that I have ever had, decent food and not one, not two, not three but four movies watched! I had a mini movie marathon and it totally made up for the trip two weeks ago heading over there when the tv's didn't work and I was magazineless. I was not on the ground for more than a couple minutes and the Mandarin was in conversation. Yep Mandarin it is, all you can eat buffet. The most north American way to chow a pile of grub and a huge shock from the euro way of life. I really like the way of life that most euros embrace. They take their time and enjoy everything, the food, their family, their surroundings, it's a different lifestyle that many north Americans need to learn from. Anyways I am home and I have a eventful fall planned (weather pending). I will keep you updated on what I have been up to.

Well, that was fun.

Yesterday was the world cup finals in Schladming Austria. I have been here all week drooling over the endless amount of epic exploring that is to be had here. I am here to race my bike around a 5.5km course for six laps chasing other crazy fit dudes wearing tights. The course is a real "hilly cross race", it isn't very technical, but it is a course of pure fitness. I had a solid start jamming hard with the rest of the 180 men. The sky was blue, the temp was strangely warm and that was different than what weather we have had for the past week and a half.

Lap 1 I felt decent, passing a couple riders at each opportunity. I went into lap two feeling much better, taking more and more riders all the time. Almost at the end of the second lap, some anaerobic dude crashed in front of me, I slowed down to avoid piling into him, when some other anaerobic dude came barreling by me crashing into the dude who was scrambling to his feet and he had to put a foot onto my chain almost taking my rear derailleur out. I got untangled from the mess and got going ahead of the guys that were literally killing them selves to be where they were. A couple of minutes later I noticed my chain starting to come apart. Ummmhmmm, you have got to be kidding me? Why, and how is this happening? I felt good and was moving through a solid field of riders. I didn't really know what to do? My bike was still pedaling, but the chain was getting really bad starting the third lap, which was just after I noticed something was wrong. I finally blew it apart on one of the steep climbs and scrambled to get it fixed. Now as many of you may know, one of the hardest things to fix while under race conditions is your chain. Especially when you loose your power link in the long grass. I even had the camera men helping me look for it. We (me and the camera men) were then resorted to trying to put a old pin back in the chain. It was freaking hard and my hands were shaking way to much. I suddenly got spooked by the silent battery operated dirt bike, as he all of a sudden appeared behind me and gave me the option to either run the whole lap or dnf. I started to run, all 4km of the course. I finished, chainless and all, running the climbs and coasting the descents. I was honestly bummed about the ordeal. Like I have said before, Mechanicals suck, they suck less when you are having a off or hurting day and really freaking suck when you feel good.

Next up was a big day on Sunday following a OK night of beer and wine. Peter and I just got back from a mountain climbing day, which entailed a 4000ft vertical 1.5hr ride up to the point where we hid our bikes and changed into running shoes. We then ran another 1200ft vertical to the to of some mountain that I cannot and probably will never be able to pronounce. It was a great view and fun day out. I am now slouched here on my computer surrounded by euro smoke at a great little outdoor cafe on round two of a delicious tasting cappuccino.

I really wish yesterday went a bit better, but that's the way it goes.

World Cup #7 Champery Switzerland (stop and start)

Today was hard. Straight up, hard. The pace was fast right from the gun as we jammed the start loop and completely bottle necked once we hit the first single track descent. The euro's can hammer crazy hard on the climbs and for some they have a bit more trouble in the muddier, slicker tech sections of the course. This made for frustrating (and fun) racing as really fit guys crush it on the climbs. I had a "kind of" solid start and tried to move up from there. All I wanted to do was to pass was a couple racers per lap. If you try and pass to many racers to quickly you kind of blow up from going to hard, that is unless you are that much fitter than the racers around you and being in Europe, that is hard. I went out a bit hard (as did most) and tried to wing it, three laps in I was feeling my "wing it" tactic and while I was still passing some racers some faster racers were coming from behind. I fought it out and finished in 80th place. It was fun and is always a great learning experience to battle with the best in the world!

After the race Peter and I went for another ride and slammed out another 2500ft of climbing (total today was 6700ft ascended) as we went out and explored the region around us. The time that we have here is defintley not long enough. We are in for a 10hr drive over to Schladming Austria tomorrow and hopefully will see some cool stuff along the way (pretty sure we will). Peter and I are really stoked that and we have Sandra Walter (pedal Mag) to travel with. We decided to join in on there Privater trip over here for these two world cups and it has been great! We would of had a hard time without her (seriously). Anyways I hope all is good back home and I will try to keep you guys updated on what's happening over here.
I am having a great time here in Switzerland and I will try and keep updates flowing.

Suisse...

Here are a couple pics of Champery. I am in complete Heaven here, it is my first time to Switzerland and definitely not my last. We race tomorrow at 2:30pm here, which is 8:30am home time. The course is phenomenal!! I am really glad that I brought my Trek Top Fuel dually and I think it is the bike for the course.

Peter and I are going to go on an adventure after the race tomorrow, he says "not to think about it before the race", Puff I say to that, we are in Switzerland and all I want to do is go conquer stuff! It is seriously everything I imagined, including the amazing cheese and stuff.

Word up from the land of cheese and chocolate!

We finally made it to our first destination in Champery Switzerland yesterday afternoon after a "full travel day". Time change is whatever you make of it. Yelling crying kids on a plane with no "working" TVs is a rough 7hrs. I was so pumped to get to have a bit of a movie marathon on the flight only to find out that most of the planes "in seat TVs" were not working. Yay, I didn't even buy a magazine to read, totally counting on the fact that I was excited to watch movies. I decided I was going to try and sleep, on a 7 hr flight I slept for a whopping 4.5 minutes. Yes! Nothing to read, nothing to watch and not able to sleep, all the while poofing like the Michelin man. Thankfully Peter had a "Runners World" he let me read. Hm mm, I think I am excited to run when I get home?

The course is amazing and so is everything else here! Who doesn't like cheese and Chocolate? The view is good too, although all I want to do is go and conquer everything! Above is the view from our place, all just a tease.

It's Friday already? (with a rant).

Wow that week flew by! I was(still am) a mess from that crash on the weekend. My head still is pounding, especially when I bend over! (I am trying to get fire wood wrapped up before going to Europe, so take that however you want). I was supposed to not really ride that much this week.... Ya that's it. I am loving the great weather and I am supposed to "take it easy" uh? nope. I have to cram in all my big rides that I didn't get ticked off the list this year. So it's cram time! Plus I am heading Europe next week so that means I really have to get fit this week! It's great, get fit and get to see some of the country I only see on maybe one or two rides a year!

I am running a bit out of time here, Laundry is almost done(at laundromat) and basically I apparently burned a massive pile of calories this week. Check this out, in one ride I burnt over 5 grand worth! My new training program is called "get off your butt and ride"(rant coming up). All these people are always looking for the fastest, laziest way to get fit(or un-fat) and its simple, just go do it. Anything, frig it doesn't have to be a bike it can be anything just go do something. There is no healthy way to get "healthy" other than doing what we are physically and mechanically designed to do, MOVE! People are seriously willing to PAY to lose weight and get in shape, just move more and eat less. You even save some cash on the lesser amount of grub your consuming.

Anyways hopefully nobody found my rant offensive, I am just tired of seeing gimmicks on the tube, in magazines etc. All trying to sell you "health". Ya that's it.

Whaa happened?

Yesterday was our Ontario world championships! It was a great course, maybe one of the best Kelso courses to date, it was fast and had good flow.

I had a solid start with mike g pinning it super hard up the crappy grassy section! We quickly grouped back together at the base of the first climb. The pace that was being set was quick as the group of 4 of us (Garrigan, Watson, Glassford and myself) all rode together for the most part of the race. Mike G and Peter put a few really solid efforts in the first lap and Watson gave'er on the lap around. Peter and mike pounded really hard up the climb on the end of the third lap opening up a slight gap on Watson and me. I shut it down pretty quick at the top of climb and I actually felt good. Much better than the first 3 laps. Part way through the 4th lap I got to the front and put in a good effort, as I was feeling better as the race was going on. Kelso is such a fast course that if you try and ride away from anyone you quickly get realed back in because usually by that point in the race we are lapping riders and get caught quickly in the singletrack.

So halfway through the last lap it was still a 3 man race and we were all trying to figure out how the race wad going to play out in our heads (at least I was). Then it happened! Not sure what exactly did happen but all I know is that I hit the deck really freaking hard! Watson was right on my wheel and apparently I clipped a tree, which shot me face first into the second tree( I hit the left side of my head, cheek bone and temple area). Then I did a nose dive head first into the dirt. I don't remember anything really except Watson handing me my bike! (thanks man). I got up pretty shaken and did a "all systems check" once I got back on my bike. My head really hurt bad. I feel frusterated for crashing and especially in such a mindless section of the course. I rode in feeling weird, I guess it's kinda hard to explain but basically croozed in for third place. I had lost the edge to fight for the win as both Peter and Andrew were both riding really strong. At the end of the day it was a great race and a fun battle.

I awoke this morning thinking, hmmm I wonder how I am going to feel when I get out of bed? Yep, crap. Yay, everything hurts especially my right knee, which is crazzy swollen! My face feels like I was in a bar fight last night and it didn't go so well for me.

Anyways enough of me being a baby and complaining so much. Good ride this weekend boys. After all that's why it is called the "Ontario world championships".


-- Post From My iPhone

Pics.

Lots of great training this last few weeks. Provincials are this weekend, then I am off to Europe for the last two World Cups. Here are some pics of what has been happening lately. I got out for a few days on Georgian Bay for a great kayak trip. We had amazing weather! All sunshine and wind! Yay.

Stranded in this spooky town.

I really didn't realize that it has been almost two weeks since I updated my blog. Working from today backwards I will fill you in on what's been happening, okay here we go.

Today I got the new issue of Whats Up Muskoka and found it amusing that my mug was on the front cover! Cool! The photos used in the mag are from the Canmore Canada cup a couple of months ago. Both images are from Brad Chisholm ( thanks Brad) great shots! The article was written by Sandy Lockhart and is very well done! (thanks Sandy).

Sunday was O Cup #5 at mountainview in midland. I don't even have a race report for that because it is really hard to explain what 6 min of racing feels like, other than it sucks. All the prep, from me and everyone else that was there for me, to only get 6 min of racing in before you have a "un- fixable" mechanical. I ripped my rear derailer right off! It would of taken me forever to run to the tech zone, so I opted to pull out. I really hate opting to pull out, it is not a good feeling. I didn't know what to do? Yell? Did that. Throw bike? Na not my style, or sportsman like. Cry? Not imortant enough of a race. Also I don't cry. Ever. To tough I guess (kidding on the last one).

So that led me to my record time around lake muskoka of 2hr14 min or avg 39.1km/hr. I drove home, warmed up riding into town and pinned it. I did the loop clockwise and dodged crazzy thunderstorms everywhere. I made it from gravenhurst to port carling in just under 1hr!! That was fun. I could of come home after my 6 min of racing and turned to "the bottle" which I almost did, but instead I went and did something more productive. Although I did have a handful of "lo carb" wobbly pops when I got home after my ride. They were much better after my ride then they would of been if I didn't drill myself before hand.

The world cup in Bromont was muddy. Everything was able to be ridden and that was way better than the Canada cup there a month ago! The euro's are so friggin fast! and there are so many fast guys it's insane. Cycling in Europe is much different than in north America. Anyways I was sick at the world cup at saint Anne and I was still sick in bromont and that was way to frusterating to express. I still had a solid ride finishing 50th.

I forget everything else that has happened recently, so on that note I am going to go cut the lawn.

Peace


-- Post From My iPhone

Take Two...

Ok, so Monday I typed this wicked race report and uploaded it to my blog, only to find out it never uploaded. It never saved, and I did save it. It just disappeared into cyberspace. Awesome! I love typing on a mini keypad (iPhone) for nothing. Anyways most of the time I am a pretty positive, glass half full kinda guy. But lately the weather sucks. Everyone is complaining about the weather," there's to much rain", "there is never any sun"," it's cold"," it's snowing" blah, blah, blah, and all rightfully so. I have had enough rain, I want to be "to hot" before winter is back again and then it's "to cold". Anyways not to sure where I am going with this, I am just kinda rambling.

I did 100km ride in the rain today. It sucked. Poured right from doorstep to doorstep. I did a really fun Mtb ride on home turf yesterday and that was rad. It looked like it was going to pour buckets, it didn't. I blew a corner going way to fast into a massive poison ivy patch. I am not itchy yet, that's a good thing because if you know me, you know what poison ivy does to me. Yay. Monday I sat in the team van for way to long. I hate driving. I had some homemade cookies when I got to my parents house, Charlotte made them and they were good. I had a couple more. So see I am really a positve guy, cause cookies and mountain biking are fun.


I had a crappy World Cup race last weekend and I am hoping for some better legs at the next round this weekend.

Peace.

-- Post From My iPhone

Buckwallow O-Cup

Yesterday was Ontario Cup# 5 held close to my home in Muskoka, so I did have a bit of a home court advantage. Although their are enough fast guys racing in Ontario that all are talented enough bike racers, that a "home court" advantage is very minimal. Right now Ontario has 7 of the top 15 racers in Canada and that makes our provincial series really fast. Which in the log run is a good thing because we all feed off each other and are faster because of it.

I started my morning off tired, I slept like crap, it was one of those nights where you go to bed and just lay there thinking. I hate thinking when I should be sleeping!! Anways I was up early because Meg was doing the gravenhurst duathalon and it was my turn to be the cheering squad. Yay. The clouds looked like rain and it was cold out, I was tired and wanted to be back in bed. Super Yay! That aside Meg had a solid race finishing 2nd in her catagory! Despite not getting home until 2am from a catering the night before her race. After she had finished her race we ran to the car, tossed her gear in and hit the road for my race.

We started at 130 pm and with a full pro men's field here to give'er. Most of us are heading to the world cups the next two weekends and were all probably equally tired coming into this race, from prepping with some sort of traing block the week leading up to this weekends race. I had a decent start going to the front right before the first singletrack and with Ryan Atkins on my wheel we ended up with a good gap going through onto the 2nd lap. We worked pretty good together, which we had to if we wanted to stay infront of a likely train behind with serious horsepower all wanting to real us in. Ryan was really strong, especially in the singletrack, he was riding very well. Anyways with something like 3 or 4 min before the finish I made a quick attack into the last singletrack section and tried to keep it smooth all the way to the finish and we put it one last good effort up the short finishing stretch, Ryan hot on my heels. I looked back quickly as I crossed the finish to take the win and then looked back up and BAM! I was into a crowd of people!! I skidded right from the finish line and still managed to hit Haydon Boucher's girlfriend, Catherine. I completely shoulder checked her and I felt really bad for running straight into her. It was a sprint finish and I could not get stopped in time. Obviously it was an accident, but one guy took it I guess the wrong way and maybe thought that it was intentional ?? He even shoved me and called me a "$&@!:; idiot" and that the finish line was back there buddy and that I should be dq'ed!! Not to sure what his deal was but he kinda looked like a goof trying to be tough or something? Anyways Catherine was ok and we joked about it after. And who the dude was that pushed me? No clue? It almost through me off my feet!! Oh and apparently I had a bit of an excited bottle toss in the feed zone, I tossed it up at mark, it somehow hooked straight up in the air and into the crowd of people in the feed zone, I did not mean for that to happen either. Anways all in all a solid day out and next up is the two races which I most want to be in good form for, the two world cups.

On another note, this post is from my phone with no spelling or grammer check. Yay. Thanks all for the solid cheers!!

Nationals, Quick update...Kind of.

Today was our Canadian National Mountain Bike Championships in Saint Felicien Quebec and on probably the best course we have ever raced on. The sky was threatening with heavy rain, which luckily only was a couple quick passing showers. Our field was stacked with the fastest, fittest and most experienced racers that our country has. Canada has a really strong field of pro men right now and you have to come into a day like today with a full book of matches and be ready to burn them all. There are so many guys with some serious horsepower that if you are having an "off" day or, if anything at all goes wrong your chewed up and spit out the back pretty fast.

I had a decent start, sitting right where I was comfortable, in and around 10th place. The laps seemed to fly by, and before I knew it we were emptying the tank going onto the last lap. I guess I was having so much fun on this amazing course!! Ya right, it is kind of hard to have "fun" while you are working so hard, your heart rate MAXED for 1hr 50min and you are feeling a pain that you are inducing on yourself, all to go a bit faster and chase while being chased. Long story short, it's business!. Anyways back to my race, I cruised across the finish line the 8th fastest pro man in the country today. I had a personal goal of top 5, and a "back up" goal of top 10. I guess I am happy with my result.

Best Story Ever!

Last weekend I had off from racing. It was sweet. Great time to cram a couple more solid days of training in before Bromont and the 5 weeks after that. We are going to be racing back to back for the next bit. Nationals, 2 World Cups a US Cup and another race that I am forgetting at this moment, anyways in it is going to be the "core" races for my season.

Last week I got to play "farming", I was helping get the hay done while we had some sunshine and dry air. Being a Farmer is Fun! I mean it has its moments just like any other job, but where else can you go for a 120km bike ride, come home, then scarf down some recovery grub, grab some water and food, toss on clothes that are almost designated "bike rags" and then go play on big tractors? and there is really nobody to answer to, except if you break something. Which happens allot. It is totally acceptable to get as dirty as you want, swear as much as you can, because really, the dirtier you are the harder your working, and since you are almost wearing rags for clothes, when you do get covered in grease you get to just wipe it on your clothes! How sweet is that? Shower time sucks because heavy duty grease doesn't come off your skin that easy and it turns you into a permanent "grease monkey", and that sucks. Anyways it was a solid week of training and driving tractors chasing coyote's at midnight while stacking hay. Which brings me to my next story.

I just finished eating the best Orange ever! Not just a good orange, but one of those oranges that you are just like "man, that's a good orange"! and to really top it off, after I ate the "best orange ever" I ate one of the best Fuji apples ever too! Fruit rocks! Everything is in season and tastes better than candy! Strawberries, Blueberries, Blackberries, Wine, plums, peaches, you name it fruit is so good. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that beer tastes great too! Got a bit carried away with that last night, yes it is tuesday and yesterday was monday, but mondays are kind of like my "fridays" so it was totally fine. Tomorrow is Canada Day! Yay, Super yay! Wonder how that works? Canada Day on a Wednesday? The fruit brings to my next story....

I did a solid 125km ride today, got soaked more than once, actually like 5 serious downpours I had to ride through. The rain is fine, I really don't mind getting wet, as long as I have a rain jacket close by. In this case I was wearing it because I had no other place to stash it. My jersey pockets were full with other junk and that meant I either wear the hot, clammy, pain in the butt coat, or put it in a backpack or camelback, and I am not doing the latter. So off I went rain jacket and all, it ended up being a sweet ride, one of my favorite loops. Now just around the 105km mark I was suddenly being bombarded by this flying thing?!!! I think it was a Pheasant! and it was not leaving me alone.. It came so close to hitting me a couple of times, I was like "you have got to be kidding me, I am being ambushed by a bloody little bird"! I think finally it decided I was "alright" and it left me alone. Riding in Muskoka Rocks! I love being home, even just for a couple days. It is really one of the best road riding destinations I have found yet!. You get barked at a ton, that's fine, I can live with that. I only got barked at once today, and funny thing is it was not even a bloody dog! It was coming from a "pimped out" Dodge Neon. Oh ya, "High Roller" and after seeing the dude that was barking at me I had to laugh, because if he were to just take a quick glance in the mirror and see himself, he really didn't have any grounds to go on. It was hilarious, and the more I laughed at him the madder he got. Which made it even Funnier! Anyways I have to wrap this up somewhere, so I hope everyone has a solid Canada Day and, Oh Ya, FIREWORKS!!!!!

Canmore Canada Cup

Short and not so sweet. I had a off day yesterday, I had no problems with my bike, my body just didn't want to fire. I had a solid first lap and lost it from there. It was a amazing course to race on and I tried to make the best of a not so great day, at least I could enjoy the "mountain" descents. I tried to regroup my body and mind on lap two and three and tried to gas it on the last lap, it didn't quite play out as I had invisioned it, but on the other hand it was a fast race in a field with some serious horsepower, and if anything goes wrong or your body is just not cooperating there are 20 plus guys ready to gobble you up. I still finished 12th. On another note I had a great time over the last few weeks with a great crew from Alberta. They organized a solid event in Edmonton and were quite hospitable, thanks Kirk for the wicked accommodation. I am sitting in the airport writing this with my feet up, compression socks and all! I am ready to go home for some down time and a BBQ or two. Cheers.


-- Post From My iPhone

Long Spring? When is Summer going to be here?

Jasper!!!

The riding in Jasper is Phenomenal! There is a huge abundance of amazing trails, all right from town. We have had a couple solid days of MTB riding and seen some really cool sights. The town is definitely one that I have have to remember as I could spend more than only a couple of days here! We are heading down the parkway to Canmore tomorrow to get ready for Canada Cup 5 this weekend.

Canada cup #4 Edmonton

This is going to be a short and sweet post, as I am having trouble getting my computer conected to the Internet, and now I am on my phone typing.

The race started at 2pm right at the peak of the hot afternoon. We were going to have six laps but it got knocked down to five at the last minute, which was great especially with the lack of training in the heat that we have been doing which is a spin off of the crappy spring we have had. I had a fairly solid ride right from the gun and felt good for the most part. Around lap 4 or 5 I was really glad we were not going to be going around the hot dusty course 6 times and all I could think of was a cold bottle of water!! Kind of like a carrot dangling in front of me I chased hard and finished in 5th place. Happy and ready for a beer or two....


-- Post From My iPhone

Great Weekend.

This past weekend was the Trek Store Canada Cup at Hardwood Hills in Ontario. It was our third stop on the National Racing circuit. Saturday started with a "Meet and Greet the Trek Store Toronto Team" with myself and fellow teammates Adam, Emily, Peter and Mical. We went out for a couple of pre-ride laps with Ontario's up and coming talent, most of whom were racing the next day. We followed the ride up with a little autograph session and chatted with most. It was a fun day and really great to see the amount of young riders that we have riding so strong at such a young age.

Sunday I had a fairly solid race. I have been sick for the last two weeks and was very anxious for this event. After having a really bad day at Mount Tremblant I was in need of a solid ride. I was still not 100% but close enough. I had a plan to just go out, have fun, and "wing it". The first 3 of 5 laps went by rather quickly, I was in the top 5 ish group right from the start of the race and felt like my legs were going to cooperate today. Starting the 4th lap making a much needed "pass" I had to go "in the rough" and squeeze by a uncooperative lapped rider, doing that I torqued my chain and bent it pretty bad, I thought that it was going break. Now with Hardwood being such a fast race course, if my chain were to break and if I had to take the time and stop and fix it, I would have been gobbled up pretty quickly. I just prayed that it didn't break on me. I also had to be super careful on my pedaling and make sure I was making "bang on shifts". I lost the use of my big ring, I found out the hard way that a bent chain likes to jump off your big ring and trail behind you! Anyways a bent chain is still faster than a broken chain, you just have to be really careful. In the end the Trek store ended up having a really solid day out with the men taking 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th and the Woman taking 1st and 3rd. Props goes out to Cam, Adam, Peter, Mical and Emily for given'er. I ended the day with a 5th place and bit of relief that I am not sick anymore.

Zoo....?

Yesterday I went for a really fun road ride, I basically toured around all of my "Local" roads close to home. I did something like 120km, without leaving a 20km radius from home base. I had to soft pedal the 4 hrs it took, but if I didn't I would just start coughing. I really just needed to go for a scenic ride. I had the pleasure of seeing most of the Animals that Muskoka has to offer, 1 Bear(BIG), 1 Coyote, 1 Fox, 2 Deer, 1 Baby fawn, 1 Owl, 2 Hawks, 1 Turtle, 1 Raccoon, 1 Flock of Turkey's and a handful of hicks(Pick-up truck and all). Now the funny thing is, almost everything that I got to see was either into garbage, or on-route to some garbage (including the hicks). So as cool as it was, it was kind of sad... The only animals I missed were Moose and Wolves. Anyways It was mostly a solid ride up until I decided I was going to drink an "un-opened" brand new can of Red Bull that I had found (I was thirsty and I was out longer than I had planned on being riding for). Turns out expired Red Bull doesn't taste so good after it has gone down. Oh and a quick note: When someone is yelling to get out of their Garbage, it is probably for a good reason. I now know how Raccoon's feel...

Horseshoes Anyone...

I am sick... I have been trying to avoid admitting to myself that I have a chest cold all week, but finally after 5 days of me trying to convince myself that "No, I am not sick," and "Ah, it's all just in my head", I have finally acknowledged defeat. There is nothing worse to a serious athlete than the dreaded four letter words,, "Sick" and "Cold" and especially right in between some big races. I survived all winter with not even a slight hiccup, and almost all of the spring until last Monday, the day after Baie Saint Paul, at around 5pm, I felt it, the worst feeling imaginable. The "Tickle". Quick pound all the Natural remedies out (Ginseng Root, Greens etc), all in hopes of getting ahead of something that can take a whole pile of work and crush it in a couple of days. Now what is important is that you keep moving forward and work with what you have. In other words, once your sick, get better..

Canada Cup #2 Mont Tremblant. I had nice call up(front row), and went out at a decent pace on the first lap, I was in the top 10. After about 20-25min of racing, I could really start to feel what I was dreading all week, my chest was closing in on me, I was hacking crap out of my lungs and my head wanted to explode! I hung in for another lap hoping it was just going to be a "bad lap" and get back into the game. Half way through the third lap I heard a little ppssssss, looked down and I could see tire sealant coming out of my tire. I had a flat, maybe a kind of blessing in disguise? I felt like crap and had a flat. Maybe better than having a flat and feeling great? Ya, I think so. I fixed my tire and cruised in to the village. I was not in any mood to start a serious battle to try and catch back up, I was ready for bed.

I am frustrated right now because I finally feel like I have some legs after Canada Cup #1 and then bam! Here ya go, deal with this.. As much as crap like this sucks sometimes, you have to look past and keep moving forward. Hopefully I am feeling much better at Hardwood this coming weekend. On another note it looks like a sunny gorgeous week in the forecast and hopefully everyone is able to get out and enjoy the sunshine!.

Tremblant Tanning!

So this is as close to the beach that we will be seeing this race season. The ingredients: 1 warm sun, sand, and instead of water you can substitute with a handful of black flies. And be careful not to overdo it on the black flies, which we did.

Canada Cup #1 Baie Saint Paul (Short Story) ( Kind of)

Today is the kick off to our National Mountain Bike Race series. We Had 6 laps to do today, and of a fairly hard course. Tons of climbing and some single track that seemed to be a bit harder once your heart was high from the climbing that you had been doing. The field was stacked, with all of Canada's fastest, and some from the neighbors beside us at the start line all coming out to test the winter past of hard training. We had some serious rain on the Saturday night, which led us all to assume that we will be racing in the mud. When we showed up Sunday morning the course had somehow drained all the rain and was in impeccable condition. So dry tires it is.

I Had a front row call up,(based on UCI points) and that was nice because we only had a small start loop and then bamm! into the fun stuff. I started a bit conservative, I wanted to make sure that I would have some gas for the second half of the race. Going through on the first lap I was in around 10th'ish place. I had a small group of riders up the trail in front of me and many chasing hard from behind. I slowly tried to up my pace, or effort each lap, trying to pass at least one racer per lap. It doesn't always work out to one racer per lap, it maybe one lap with no moving up, then one lap with two racers passed. I cruised along most of the race kind of by myself, other racers were always in sight, just not super close. I rode in today for a 7th place finish, Happy and ready for next weekend, uh and, the 5 weekends after that.

On another note, passing lapped riders was kind of tight, I never like trying to make passes in the tough stuff, it increases the risk of both of us for something to go wrong. But because it was tight, some tight passes had to happen. And that always is tough on its own, if you look at it, you are riding along a trail at race pace, then to make a pass in single track you have to go from a nice fast trail to slow soft dirt with moss and sticks. Yay, and then to make the pass you have to up the effort. Yay again. Sometimes some of the racers that are getting lapped understand the situation and sometimes they don't. And hopefully they realize that we are racing too, and sometimes we "really" need to come by. Anyways just a quick note to no situation in particular, I just wanted to put it out there.

See you in Tremblant.

Albion Hills O Cup 2

3 Mud holes per lap times 5 laps equals 15 times through a mudbath. There was a couple muddy climbs tossed in per lap which made up the best Albion Hills course I think I have ever raced on. Despite the two inches of rain on Saturday the race course was in decent condition. I came into today's race right where I wanted to be, tired. I have had a couple really solid weeks of training in and I am stoked for the next three Canada cups coming up.

Back to the race, the pace was set high right from the gun. Derek Z. Pinned it and never let up. The first lap we had a mini train jamming which ended up with us all slightly spaced out. I raced for almost two hours by myself. Yay super yay! It always seems more fun when you have someone else around you to jam with. Sometimes racing out in no mans land is hard, you end up having no clue if you are going hard enough and no clue as to who is ripping around you. I raced my own race and croozed in for 5th place. I had a solid training day and even had the pleasure of taking my bike for a quick dip in the warm pond after the race. Na it was cold, and my bike was still dirty after we got out of the water. See you in Baie Saint Paul.

Scrap That.

So the Ishpatina ridge is going to yet be put on hold. Things didn't work out and we were unable to get there. Oh well I am planning to go back in the fall, once the bug season has long since gone. It would be worth your life to try and get in there in peak black fly season, and for some reason the pests are drawn to me more than everyone else, or at least that is the way it seems.

On another note I wrapped up a great week of training Sunday, rolling just over 700km over a 7 day block. I was really spent come Sunday night, grumpy and groggy. I had day after day of blue skies, big miles and big watts.! We had some dodgy weather through the week, but missed the rain on all rides but one. Oh well, life goes on.

Yesterday Meg and I went for a hike into Torrence Barrens, which is how we found out that black fly season is upon us. They were freaking annoying. It always seems like the first wave of black flies at the beginning of the season are the dumb ones. They are not to sure how to find their way into the cracks and crevices in your clothing yet. They just seem to just fly around you waisting energy. Bbbzzzz. And for the odd smart one that seems to somehow luck into landing on, and squirming it's way into a nice warm piece of flesh they don't know what to do yet. I guess they are similar to crows and ravens, where each generation passes on one piece of knowledge to the next up and coming pests. Or so it seems that way.

This month is Photography month on TVO and there has been some really good programs on everything about capturing images. I know it has gotten my wheels turning and I am not to sure if this is a good or bad thing. I think anything that inspires you is a good thing and you must run with it while you can. Cheers.

Ishpatina Ridge

For some reason some things seem to stand out more than others. The Ishpatina ridge is not something that sticks in most people's minds. Over the last couple of years I have had thoughts about going into the Ridge. It is kind of hard to get to and consists of, a long drive, then a longer drive on a crappy road, then a short MTB ride, which may be a long ride if we make it a short drive. Then the bushwhack up over a ridge to a lake, along the shore of that lake, then up over another ridge, and down to the second lake shore, follow that to a trail that we will hike 5km up hill (1100ft vertical) to what is known as the Ishpatina ridge. It is the highest point above sea level in Ontario.

Recently there has been an article published about a trip into the Ishpatina ridge in Explore magazine, only they paddled in. It is still the same high point that they were trying to reach and according to most people, a canoe is the way to go. Apparently it is easier to get to with a boat. I really don't feel like canoeing, I guess I am not in the mood to sit in a boat. I have decided to "Try" and get to the Ridge by means of land. I am not sure why? I guess sometimes I like to do things the hard way. I have talked an accomplice into joining me for the day. Meg probably doesn't know what she is in for... I had to kind of sugar coat it. Ah it will be a easy day out,( a rest day for me from my regular training schedule) that is why I chose to do it a Monday. Drive up and in Sunday afternoon, camp out, then go from there. Should be fun.

O Cup # 1 Mansfield

Sunday April 26th, O Cup #1, Mansfield. The Skies are gray and in the past 24 hours they have done more than threaten us with rain, they have doused us in it. On the up side of things, if there is any course that I would have to race in the rain, this would be the one. At the start we were missing a few riders on the front line, but on the same note we had had some extra horsepower coming from a strong Planet Energy rider.. Mark Batty ( yes my brother) he is going good and after a really solid 10 day stage race in South America, I would put my money on him (Meagan would vouch for me on this one). It was a quick start, right from the gun, the pace was set high and did not relent, the course was very fast and didn't have any "real climbs" to put a good hurt on. None the less it was a very fast race. The main train stuck together right till the last lap, where Peter, Mark and myself were able to get a slight gap on the hard chasing field, which was being led by some really strong racers, Mike Mitchnick and Cam Jette. It was all going to come down to the last few km's. Bringing a strong Sprinter like Mark in the last few fighting minutes of a race is not always such a great idea, he packs one hell of a punch. 2km to go, he pinned it, rode right through myself and Peter to take the first O Cup win of the season. Good stuff bro, you got legs man. All in all it was a solid day out, and everyone that worked in the train deserves a pat on the back, or in our case, a juicy burger and greasy fries...

Dinner on Drive Home.

Who ever says that you can't eat healthy on the road ? Fred and I made it home last Wednesday night at Midnight. It was by far the best drive across the continent that I think I have ever had. 3 days of travel, 2 - good 3hr road rides and some decent sleeps in "real beds" made it nicer than it has been in the past. We did the whole drive and did not buy any food! We had enough food in the cooler ( hard boiled eggs, cooked steak and tons of salad) to make it almost 5000km. Thanks Fred. For some reason driving across the country seems to scratch the itchy feet that I sometimes get, I like to explore, go and see things, do stuff and learn something. In this case it was that a cereal box makes a excellent salad bowl in a pinch.

2100km

Quick update, right now we are 2100km closer to home and almost into Nebraska. I am sitting eating frootloops trying to decide if I want a sprinkled doughnut or not. I am headed out for a couple hour road ride at 8000ft, and zero degrees temp. Should be nice.



-- Post From My iPhone

Sea Otter Short Track

Saturday is the 20min plus 3 lap short track race, which in total rounds out to be around 25 min. The weather is perfect, 20 degrees and sunny with minimal wind. The field is stacked, the way it should be, with some of the top riders from around the world here to contend for a tittle at a real classic, The Sea Otter Classic.

We started late, 3:15pm and that meant a morning of chilling and waiting to get the gear on to go and race, and as funny as it sounds that is much worse than racing earlier in the day. Adam, Peter and I were seated way at the back, like in the 50's and 60's and in this short of a race that is hard to be competitive, all you can do is deal with what you are given.

First Lap, chilled in the group, the leaders establishing a very strung out field, I felt good, passed about 6 riders on the first lap and a handful more on the second. With teammate Adam pushing me, we managed to pace the same lap times as the guys at the front and that was kind of interesting. Anyways we plugged along taking more and more riders every lap and after what seemed unusually short for time we were done. I finished in a really satisfying 19th place and Adam 21st. Sunday is the XC race and a fun course and fine test. Yay, super yay.

Sandblasted.

It's cold out. No, really it's not "cold" out, it is just cooler than Tucson was. We have moved ship over to the California coast, for the Sea Otter classic being held this weekend. It is one of the coolest racing events of the season, with one of the most amazing courses to boot. We have a short track race on Saturday, and the classic XC on Sunday. The XC course is going to be two laps of a 29km course, for a total of 58-60km. It is truly a spectacular course, the terrain almost has a "Lord of the Rings" feel to it. We had a easy 13hr drive over here from Tucson and managed to beat our arrival time record from last year, which was 6:30am, we made it here this year at a quarter past midnight!.

Yesterday it was windy out. Emily, Adam and myself were going to ride to the state park beach from our place, seemed easy enough, 21km one way. We got close enough to want to get the heck out of there. The scene at the beach was Sand! Like "The Mummy" kind of sand. A wall of sand blowing at 60km plus per hour made it very painful on any skin that was left exposed. In my case almost everything was pounded by the burly wall of sand wind. I have been in many situations where I have had to deal with crazy wind, blowing snow and deep cold. Example: Meagan and I were forced to descend off of Mount Rainier in one of the worst Summer storms in the Mountains history. I however have never felt like I just got sandblasted before. It was not super cold, nor soaking wet, it was just plain painful. From 100m away there was no way you could see the one thing that was creating the painful wind that we were enduring, the Ocean.

Right, moving on now, I have to wrap up a solid two weeks of training that had happened in Tucson previous to my current location. It was a solid 14 day block with a good mix of good road riding, and stellar Mountain Biking! Toss in a couple "Shoot-Outs", one flat tire, and only 20 minutes of rain over two weeks and you get one very happy athlete. Next week I am pointing the Van due east and head'ner home for the end of the month. Fred is going to be joining me for the glorious 5000km journey across some cool country. There is really so much to see and do in this part of the US, I could spend years exploring the western States and provinces. This is truly a amazing Continent. I have tried to figure out how many times that I have driven across the country? Actually Continent? I have added the trips up and this is going to be my 23rd time driving from either west to east or east to west, across the most exciting thing ever! The Prairies!. Yay super yay!.

Rest Days.

Adam all dolled up. Me chowing a orange.

Mountain Biking Rules!

Yesterday Emily, Adam and myself went for a amazing mtb ride on Mt. Lemmon. We rode from our house in Tucson up to mile marker 11.5, hit the trails and blazed down the mountain. The 1hr descent, with the occasional up hill was so much fun, it felt like we had only been riding down for at the most 10 minutes. Descending on a bike that rides as good going down as it does going up is not that common in a race bike. Our Trek 9.9ssl dually is a seriously fun bike to rip on. I was all smiles for that ride. The first two hours were on the road to and up the mountain and all for one sweet ride down. The trail was fast and flowing, with the occasional tight hair pin and maybe a techie section tossed in the mix here and there. The view was superb and the weather perfect. It was what Mountain biking is. Fun. Now don't get me wrong, I quite enjoy cruising on the road, logging serious endurance days as well as short hard ones, but at the end of the day, I never finish a road ride with the same giddiness as I do when I come home from a sick day on the trails.

PS. It's nice and warm here. How is the weather back home? Oh ya it's snowing!.

Urban ride.

Doing some strength (chin-ups) while out for a stroll.

Stuff.

Today, Friday a much needed easy day, we (Emily, Adam, Peter and Myself) are going to head over to the Tucson BMX track for a bit of a cruiser ride. So far the weather has been phenominal here and I have got some good training in. My week in a nut shell went like this.
Monday- am: 1/2hr Agility run. pm:1 hr easy ride with the clan, way out in the middle of knowhere ( south of Joshua Tree).
Tuesday- 4hr 15min ride Up Lemmon and back. With 90min of tempo up. From the base to the summit in 1hr 47min. When I arrived up there and the cookie place was closed I was so sad, I was really looking forwaed to the cookie! And all I had left was half a cliff bar. Yay. Rungery.
Wednesday- am: 3hr RR with Steph, ended up at LE Buzz for Java and a treat. pm: 1/2hr agility run with 20 min strength.
Thursday- 3hr ride up Lemmon with 2 sets of 30 by 30's. 5 min between sets. That was hard. Almost got smoked on the descent at mile 5.5 when a car pulled out infront of me. I had to pass him on the outside, then quikly dodge bak in to avoid the oncoming car. It was kinda sketchy.

So far it has been solid riding down here. Oh and not forget the washing machine that doesn't turn itself off when full. Ya watch out for those guys they like to flood the house.

Shattered.

Today is the first race of the 2009 season, Fontana Ca. The pro men have 5 laps to do. I had a good starting position and solid first lap, I was in the top 20 and comfortable. 200m after the feed zone, going onto the 2nd lap I somehow wrapped my rear derailer around my cassette and shattered it. I knew as soon as I looked at it that there was nothing that I could do and since I was past the tech zone I was not able to just go backwards to the pit zone. I would of had to walk/run the full lap to get it fixed. I was done. Only 24 min into it and I was done. I stood there completely bazzled at what had happened. I am not one to let these things get to me, but sometimes it just sucks. I now have three weeks until the Sea Otter and I am planning on getting some solid training in while in Tucson.

News From California.

US CUP #1 Fontana Ca. The course is similar to last year, with a bit of a different twist on it. In my opinion it is much more fun than the course that we raced on last year. It is a bit shorter, tighter and steeper so it will be a more spectator friendly race course. Fred and I arrived here Wednesday evening at around 8pm, we were going to be picked up by Emily and Adam when we landed, only they had a slight delay because Adam's bike was late arriving in Tucson, no big deal we(I) grabbed a few hours of shut eye waiting in the airport for our ride. We made it to the hotel by midnight and to bed by 1am, which with the time change felt more like 4am, and that is almost the same time that I would be getting up to start training through the winter. All in all an uneventful trip here.

Back to the bike, so this course is great, almost un-relentless climbing or descending and that is the way a mtb race should be. Hard. The heat here is not that bad, mid twenties with cool nights. I really like the way the bike rides, it is like day and night compared to last years Top Fuel. I found it to be one of the most balanced rides ever, and that was after 2.5hrs of solid off-roading. I can hardly wait until I get to see what it races like. Well time to go get some good old "Truck Stop" java. Mmmmm Java.

Snow Mountain Biking !!!

I got to ride my new Trek Top Fuel 9.9ssl today! It was a bit cold out this morning when I started my ride, but with the sun shinning it quickly warmed up. I felt great, maybe it was me or maybe it was the fact that I was on a new ride! I was planning to just stick to the road, but with a nice frozen snow pack on the sledding trails it was way to tempting to giver a go. It was amazing! the trails were perfect and hard packed, natural berms, whoops and jumps made it feel like I was riding a world class trail. Now the bike, it was fast, as soon as you pedal it you just want to go! Smooth, light and responsive. I can hardly wait to Fontana this weekend. It weights in just under 22lbs ready to go, cages, bar ends etc. all included. Happy trails!

A sprinkle and dash!

Training is going well, race reports will be coming next weekend. It has been a beautiful march for riding and just being outside. I am really finding it hard to believe that racing is here already! Anyways below is a little Tim's rant. Enjoy.

Coffee, Tim Hortons, Roll up the rim. How many of us have increased our coffee consumption in hopes of winning something, anything, and have only found a "Please Play Again" under the coffee cup rim we were so eager to roll up. I have, I played time and time again. I have tried it early in the morning and late at night. I have had coffee in all different sizes from small to XL. All I have won to date is another bloody coffee. I really wonder how much there sales increase with this silly game? It is not even that great of a coffee. And the best part is that half of the time they somehow mess up my order! Half of One milk, one sugar. Sounds simple enough, but never seems that way. Holly crap someone doesn't want the world famous "double double". Ya who in their right mind doesn't want a half cup of cream and half cup of sugar,? Why even bother eating breakfast? I guess some skip it for a good ol' "double double". Back to my half of one milk one sugar, which half of the time has ended up being everything from a cup that was half full of coffee and half full of milk to a coffee that had so much cream in it I thought I was drinking warm triple churn coffee flavoured ice cream. Anyways so I have come to the conclusion that I now have to ask for not " half of one milk one sugar" but a simple sprinkle of sugar and a dash of milk. Hopefully this may seem easier.


-- Post From My iPhone

Here's a mouthfull!

Posted form my phone so pease ingnor selling mstakes and gramer ( me fail English that's impossible). Pppfffff. No seriously.

Over the last month there has been quite a bit going on with me. I have learned how to sail, pretty cool. I snorkeled for the first time, in water that you can actually see things! And as a bonus you don't come out and have to peel any leeches off of you. So I guess I will start with my trip to the BVI, duh. It was as good as anyone could imagine and then some. I had 15 amazing days with a highlight or two on each day. The weather was solid for the most part, some people complained about the two days of rain that we had in the middle portion of the trip. Coming from -30 and going to +30 who cares if we get a couple wee rain showers.

Now my biggest worry to me was, how am I supposed to train? I am coming from 16-18 hr weeks and going to be on a boat for 15 days. I had no clue of what to expect. To my surprise, the training situation worked out quite well, 2 hrs a day was what I needed to maintain the fitness level that I had worked so hard for all winter. I did not want all of those 5 am mornings to be for nothing. Don't get me wrong here I knew that I was going to have a wicked time, it is just that if my training were for pure fun, I would not be worried with what I got in and didn't get in. This is business. I have to not just be a fit person, I need to be a fast cyclist.

Our days (meg and mine) consisted of waking at sun up, going for a kick ass run/ hike, usually around 1.5-2hrs. Returning to the boat, pulling anchor, and setting sail (or starting the motor) and hitting the high seas. No more than 2 hrs at sea and we would be arriving at our next destination for the night. Usually by 2pm. We would then go snorkelling and proceed to open the bar (a cooler) for happy Arrrr. Ok maybe a exageration, 3pm the cooler opened. We had some sick days under the sea.! Sea turtles, eagle rays, 1 manta ray, some serious barracuda, tarpon and all sorts of other crazzy shit to try and touch. No seriously it was like we were in the imax 3d theater and it was starring us! I am so hooked on snorkelling. The sailing may take a couple more times on the sea to break me in. Knowbody got sick (excet of each other) but if you have never sailed before, when the sail touches the water because you are tipped so far sideways, and when you have no clue how much it takes to tip the boat over it makes it a wee bit nervy.


As for the land adventures, running, hiking, sun tanning boob watching (another story) . Straight up, the running was world class. Half road half trail and each day seemed to best the previous. Needles to say I arrived home (itching to get on the bike) with no fitness lost and one reguvinated mind. I went from no running, I had been riding indoor and xc skiing all winter, to 245km of running in two weeks. I have some blisters and kinks but the payoff was well worth it. We were able to experience all the BVI had to offer. We drank rum like the pirates did, ok ocasionally we had beer, and painkillers but none the less we drank a boat load of booze (pun intended). Props goes out to the captain and crew( me included), I was the dingy captain and in charge of getting the up most imortant provision, The Ice!

BVI Photo

Trail running above the Bitter End Yacht Club. Scorching morning out, even at 9am.

I am Outta Here!

Feb. 3rd 2009. I am doing some final packing for my trip down to the British Virgin Islands, I am leaving before sun up tomorrow morning. It is a trip like nothing that I have done before, sailing? Me? All of my trips usually are packed with riding, climbing, running and whatever else I can get into. I am going to be on a Sailboat for two weeks!. I am pumped and Nervous at the same time, I mean my last two months has not been a breeze by any means, I have been training hard on top of work and almost maintaining a schedule with the hours that I would be looking at with no work. I was in such a routine that I was waking up well before the alarm sounded off. Now I get to sleep in, eat Brunch, not a 5am'er breakfast. I have never quite gotten the whole brunch thing, I am usually starving when I get up in the morning, how am I supposed to slowly get up, putter and then eat? Anyways I am going to have to find out. I am still planning on doing a mountain of swimming, running, hiking etc, I am just going to feel a bit empty without my bike. I hope you all enjoy the snow because I am going sailing!

Nervous?

It is January 24Th, Christmas was just over 4 weeks ago, anybody else feeling that the time is flying by? Racing season starts for me in 2 months, kicking off with NMBS#1 in Fontana California. I am excited and yet nervous all at the same time. I am training either indoors (riding trainer/ strength) or Nordic skiing. I am taking a bit of a different approach to my program for this year, trying to be much more specific with each workout. I only have a certain amount of time to train, even though we all wish there were more hours in the day. I have quickly figured out that with working outside in the cold, I am favoring the indoor trainer sessions. Don't get me wrong I love going for a ski in -30 weather, but I can gain more from being indoors. Now any of you who know me, up until this year my record indoor ride time was probably no more than 30 minutes. I much favor being outside than in. Really who likes starring at a wall? Although I am known to pound some big hours, with training stress coming in the from of pure volume, I am actually kind of digging the specific stuff. I mean you can't gap out the same and venture off into LA LA land, you always are thinking about what is going on, or what is coming next and you know what time flies by. I am almost up to 4 hr rides inside! Now mind you those are my endurance days, but come on, for me that is a feat. Last year I would way rather log a 200km day way before doing 4hrs on the trainer. I had a bit of a weakness in my noggin about training inside, I not only have met my goal to get my damn head around the fact that this is the way it is and get tough, get your head in, or get out.

A Constant.

Last night I went to the Hunstville stop of the Banff Film fest World Tour. It's a evening where people from all different kinds of activities and life styles come together to view some of the best outdoor footage shot over the past year(s). Among the crowd were Paddlers, Climbers, Skiers and Snowboarders, Cyclists and avid outdoors people. They all have some sort of a interest in the outdoor Culture and lifestyle. Even if you do not have a great interest in the outdoors, you can not help but get that little tickle down your spine as you watch some of the films. It is inspiring for some, motvating for others.

There was a common interest in the crowd there last night, we all turn to the outdoors at some point in our life. Whether it be any of the above listed sports, we use them as a way to get out, get some from fresh air, some time alone, or to spend some time with friends. We use our activities for such a wide range of reasons and to each their own. Maybe to burn some holiday pounds off, or to capture some of Nature's fine sunsets, or even sunrises for that matter (I do). The outdoors is a Constant. It is something that hopefully will always be there.

Everyone has something they turn to in their life. For some its Booze, Butts or even Food. It is something that comforts you. A Constant, something you can turn to when your up or down, good or bad, when your bummed or feeling good. And for some it is what is, Big beard or not its simply getting Outside.

Breakfast Pre Tempo Workout

99 out of 100!

Life is like a game of blackjack, except on a scale of 100. Whoever gets as close to 100 without going over wins. Where ever point is a measure of stress, and everything counts, if you happen to go over, you lose. It is a good way to keep yourself in check. It does not matter if you are an athelete or not, it is something to think about. For me this week was as close as I think I have ever gotten without going over. I feel as if I have had a proper mix of training, work and life and I still feel good, but today is definetly a rest day.

Winter

Today was a solid 3 hour trainer ride with some strength tossed in to mix things up a bit, 180 Min's starring at a wall trying to stay motivated gets kind of hard. I only have 3 channels on the tube and after the news is over at 9am the rest of the morning is a gong show, some Ellen and Dotto Tech is all that was on. Oh and some Religious talk show. So I resorted to the tunes again as I always do, Loud and motivating. That has got to get the wheels rolling a bit faster, and then I got thinking of how cold it is going to be outside for the next 48 hours, and when they talk about where Fahrenheit and Celsius meet, you know it is going to be cold out there!

Where did the Holiday's go?

Last that I remember it was 2008 and Christmas was still a couple of days away. I sit here now, on my first real day off in the last 18 days and I am trying to remember how my Holiday's went. In a nutshell my days were a blurred routine, up at 5:05am, get the coffee brewing (that's Priority), put some oatmeal on the stove, get the fire stoked (or going if it was a cold night), use the toilet, eat breakfast and be on the bike for 5:50am. It is a dialed system that I have lay ed out for my morning and it has to be otherwise I would not get out of bed, who would? I ride for 90min probably with some specific workout, either some intensity or efficiency focus. I start to strip down with 3 min remaining in my workout, that way I can jump straight into the shower. Get dressed and go. Grab coffee en route to work, maybe ad a little treat in there, yes it is still only 8:15am but I have already been up for 3 hours.

Work is the easy part of my day, and I find it quite relaxing. I teach Snowboarding full time. To some(most) people teaching snowboarding all day is more than enough energy expended in one day, but just teaching snowboarding does not get you fast on a bike. Or does it? Actually it probably helps with the technical side of racing Mountain bikes. Agility, coordination etc. I work until around 3:30pm and hit the road with another coffee(and some banana bread) and try to squeeze in some more training time. Usually a 1-2 hour xc ski. I always rush to get to the trails to try and get as much of the workout in the daylight as possible. I really don't mind the skiing in the dark, it just gets colder and darker and makes it a bit less motivating to stay out there. After that it is straight home, maybe with a detour to pick up Meg and on to home. Build a fire, the temp at home after being gone all day hovers round 5 degrees, we heat with wood only, Yay. Eat dinner, lay out all my wet cloths to dry, make my lunch, stoke the fire and crash!.