Probably should update this thing......

Canada Cup #2 Mont Tremblant Quebec. We had 5 laps of a very similar course to what it has been for the last few years. The weather was great! (hot and sunny). I knew that I felt pretty good in my warmup and after having some bad luck at Baie Saint Paul last weekend I was hoping for a clean mechanical free day and the only worry in my mind was flat tires. I made it 4.6 of 5 laps before I ripped my front tire open. I was in a very solid top 5 position and had a very good chance to be top 3. I was gassing it really hard on the last lap emptying the tank on the final climb before we hit the nasty decent onto the bike path and then into the village. Starting the decent I came up on a group of riders (being lapped) and some of them had a hard time understanding that I am lapping you and that you need to get out of my way. When a pro rider is lapping you that means they are going a substantial amount faster and that by not moving out of the way you will be costing them time, placings, UCI points and of course some cash. It usually works out for the best of both riders (the lapped and lapper) to just move. Now there is always certain situations where you cannot pull slightly out of the way but that is very rare. Some pro's are much more agressive than others and holding a rider that is lapping you up could possibly work out not so well for both party's. Some of the top Pro Men will be passing you no matter where on the course they are and if you let them or not, they are going by you. Another great situation is when you are passing a group of racers (being lapped) (and for example a group of 4) the first 3 in the group move out of the way as soon as they hear "pro rider" being called out, the person at the back of the group decides to take the opportunity to get passed 3 more riders and pass them! What they don't realize ( not sure how they don't) but they are being lapped too! It gets really good when you get the classic " I am racing too" or how about a few "F offs"? I received both of those comments on Saturday and they could of easily been avoided by just pulling out of they way! When I personally approach a lapped racer I call "pro rider". And on that call you should move. If not you get another "pro rider lapping you, please move". If the racer is still infront of me after two pretty obvious calls to pass I am not warning you anymore and I am going to come by. I will call either "on your left" or "on your right" as I am going to pass you.

I was held up on Saturday by a rider that I for sure knows how this situation goes! I called out to pass more than I should have and I got desperate to get by and with no racer in their category anywhere in sight of them, they didn't move so I took the pass. I flatted and had to run the whole decent to the tech zone where I lost 11 placings, UCI points and money. Anyways enough of a of a rant here, but it is very frustrating when racers still do not understand this topic.

I couldn't believe what my ears were hearing!

Peter Glassford ate a MUFFIN!!! Not just any muffin, BUT a Massive COSTCO muffin! I also witnessed a rather Large McFlurry be crushed too...!!!

Right, moving along then. We are in the Mont Tremblant region and there is a solid network of bike paths and MTB trails to be explored. I started today off with a "easy" cruise to the hill (via the amazing bike paths) a climb to the top of Mont Tremblant, followed by a few laps on a surprisingly dry course and finished with some more bike path cruising home. Sorry Forgot to mention my 4 blend cereal bowl and apple crumble muffin (thanks conti breakfast).

Yesterday I managed to stretch and foam roll followed by an icing session of the sore hip from Sunday. We (Peter G, Matt F and Myself) hiked to the top of one of the peaks north of Baie Saint Paul and were treated to some stellar views of one of the most beautiful areas in the east.

Canada Cup #1 Baie Saint Paul Quebec

Yesterday was The first Canada Cup in a block of three Canada Cups. Baie Saint Paul is one of the nicest towns in Eastern Quebec, it truly is what comes to mind when I think of the Province of Quebec. The Course is great! much like something you would ride on the west coast.
I had a pretty good start staying in the front group for the first lap. I rode the second lap mostly solo always still in sight of the leaders. Starting the third lap, crossing one of the only bridges on the course I somehow managed to ram my hip/quad into the handrail as I was entering the bridge. It was a minor setback as my quad was charley horsing like no tomorrow. I managed to kind of push through it as best that I could. It hurt, but the thought of not finishing because of something silly outweighed that. I gave'er and with a hungry group of talented fast racers behind me, I only lost a few placings.
I will be spending the week in Quebec (not too sure exactly where yet) and I plan on seeing and doing as much as possible before we race yet again next weekend in Mont Tremblant.

Whats The Date Again?

May 12th!!!. Hard to believe that the first Canada Cup is about to kick off this weekend in Beautiful Baie Saint Paul Quebec. Time is motoring by faster then I actually realized. I kind of forgot the last time I updated my blog was 2.5 weeks ago!. I have been busy logging many hours on the bike and even more hours planning some things coming up and burning far to much time sitting on my butt working on my computer (in my opinion, really anytime on my butt is too much time). The weather has been holding up and I have really just made my "on the fly" training program very heavily dependent on what the skies are saying. I have been working on a few photo Projects that I have on the go. Um so ya, if I don't have anything that interesting to write about, I prefer not to just write a bunch of jibber jabber. So peace out.

I have been sorting through files and files of older photos and came across one of my all time favorites.

O-Cup #1 Mansfield Ont.

The Ontario Cup Mountain Bike circuit is never short on some guys with some serious horsepower on the start line. Today the field included, but definitely was not limited to, my two teammates A.Morka and P.Glassford ( who are both riding super strong this season), Raph Gagne( Quebec's top Mountain biker and one fast dude), Cam Jette ( who also is riding really strong this season), then you have other strong men like M. Garrigan or Ryan Atkins who both could be a serious threat at the front.

The course was one of the best I have ever raced at Mansfield, it was fast and had great flow. The weather looked like rain but nobody actually got wet... We (Trek Canada) controlled the race right from the start with Adam taking a good pull on the first lap, weaning our group down to 7 racers. On the 2nd and 3rd lap I did the work at the front, trying to keep a good pace and our speed high. On the 4th lap Peter went to the front and like the tempo monster he is put in a very solid effort. Just after the longer climb starting the 5th lap I went back to the front and put in a bit of an attach with only Raphael staying with me. We jammed hard and had many people to pass. On one of the last pieces of singletrack I has a little washout from a sandy corner and Raph snuck by me. I Knew that in the last 1.5km of the course that If I was going to win, I needed to be infront. I chased super hard but Raph was attaching me with full force! Coming into the last bit on the course is where it is won here, Raph was out front and I tried to get back, but I was pretty gassed. I Finished 2nd only a few seconds behind him, with Peter taking 3rd not far back from me. Cam had a solid day finishing 4th and Adam rolling in 5th (note: on the drive home from sea otter, adam got food poisoning from an apparent fast food chain with a "Jared" spokesperson). So all in all it was a good day out for sure, not quite the World Cup that was in England, but still a pretty fun day of racing!

Well That's a Wrap...

It's Sunday night, 9pm here in Monterey California. I am at the Sea Otter Classic and the cross country was today. Temps were good and the course fun. I had a decent start hitting the first singletrack section in the top 15 ish. There was ton's of passing on this course and I wasn't to worried about moving up through the race. There were only two rock sections on the course (hardly even that) and somehow I managed to flat on the second lap in the first of two mini rock piles. I did a quick fix, through a tube in and got going again. Pinned it for another lap and about halfway through the 3rd lap I managed to flat again! This time it was out in the middle of a double track section! Nothing even around to blame! Fixed the flat yet again, this time only slightly slower than the first tire fix. I got back riding and as I came out to go onto my fourth lap I decided that I was way to far back to make up anytime and get back into the race. I did the "go or no go" and I chose "no go". I went out and did a few hrs on some nice roads instead. Anyways hopefully since I had two flats today that will make up for any other flats that I would maybe of gotten later in the season(fingers crossed). There is really no point dwelling on something that is mostly out of my control, all I can do is look forward to what's coming next. On that note it is still always a bit frustrating knowing that I am fit and that I would of probably done well today.
Next up? A 3am rise n' shine to hit the San Fran airport for my 745am flight back home.

Sea Otter Classic

We (Mical, Peter, Fred and I) are at the Sea Otter Classic. We arrived here Thursday afternoon and are staying at a very cool local Ranch. Laguna Seca is literally in plain sight of our guest house. The weather really couldn't get any better (20 degrees and sunny). The XC course is much different then it has been in the past, it is basically a short lap of around 5km and really doesn't leave very far from the Pit area. Which is good because it makes it way more spectator friendly and exciting for the thousands of fans that are out here to watch us battle it out. The expo area is as BIG and complete as I think I have ever seen it, with a bunch of really cool products coming down the pipe. We are racing the short track at 3:15pm Saturday (tomorrow) and the XC at 2:00pm on Sunday. The start list is a impressive one with many of the top racers from around the globe here to compete.