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.