The Fine Grind

Tip to Tip

2010-08-12T06:10:00.001-07:00

I decided to do the Biking for Breakfast Challenge over the 8 Hours of Gore because I haven't done the tip to tip thing before, and it was going to be much cheaper than the 8 hour jaunt through the woods. I figured I could pull out about 8-10 hours on the roadie, but that on a MTB might be a bit rough.

I also realized Im partially retarded when I decided to do the tip to tip(285km) on an antique Peugeot I had recently restored. I tried to go as close to the real deal days of racing complete with spare tubular strapped around my shoulders, steel bottles and of course the old rig. I topped everything off with some wool and an ashtray to smoke for good measure. I retained some of my sanity by keep my clipless pedals and chamois creme....

There were a few of us who headed to North Cape the evening before to stay on the gym floor as to forgo the 3am departure from Charlottetown the next morning. The bus ride was fine and the dinner provided at the school was just dandy. It was early to bed as the crew of us awoke at 4:30 to make our way to North Cape.

To my surprise the Jay boys showed up which proved to be good company. They also pushed the pace a little bit faster than I was planning and within 15km I realized the decision to ride the old bike was a big mistake.

We pushed on and the first 150km flew by. I popped my Ipod in one ear and the soothing voice of Lady Ga Ga helped to numb the pain in the legs, it also brought back memories of french sport directors singing in perfect English who could normally not say a word in my mother tongue.

It was when the hills hit in Bonshaw that Trivett and the Jay boys put down the pepper. Maybe it was the 150km before that, or it being the longest ride since May, or even the fact my smallest gear was a 42x19 but I was off the back like it was 1992. I huffed and puffed as Im sure I looked like I was attacking my own bicycle but couldn't hold strong with those boys.

I coasted into Charlottetown with Matt and a few other guys and I was pleased the see we weren't stupid late, and in fact the Jay boys hadn't left the mid-ride feed station yet as we arrived so quickly it simply hadn't been set up!

Along with this my feed bag with my fresh supply of cigars also hadn't arrived so I was forced to keep the lungs clean for the further kms.

We sat around for enough time to grab a bowl of soup, some bread and a coke and off we went again. The final kilos weren't much fun as it was a steady push all the way to east point. Many of us(myself included) bonked hard but managed to pull it back together enough to finish.

One things for sure, no one was talking the last 100km......

The final 20km were the toughest for me. We maintained a steady pace and the pain of a consistently slipping seat post was setting in. I relegated myself to sitting on the back avoiding all pulls as I knew that would be the straw that broke the camels back. Once again Cory did the brute of the work and we rolled into East Point in 8h 3m. I was cooked....that's for sure.

Trivett proved he is the real deal and stayed strong the whole ride.....scary strong.

I was fully done by the end of this and the only stop I made after was Macdonalds to get a chicken burger and fries....Jesus it was good.... then promptly went to bed at 8:30.

(the fini)

I was up early the next morning at 7 and headed for work...anther day of Kayaking.

Opus Stakh

2010-08-04T08:24:00.001-07:00

(MTB bikes look better dirty)

I figured it was time for a new ride. The problem however was the I had no coin to throw down. After thinking about new Mountain bikes for months I decided to take the plunge and borrow some cash. With my strategically laid down new part purchasing along with using some of the newer parts from the old rig I managed to put together a pretty sweet new ride for myself.

I decided on the Opus Stakh. Opus has always been good to me and my Fhast was one of the best riding bikes I have ever ridden, so it wasn't a hard decision to stick with them. There have been many Stakh's floating around PEI the past few years and everyone Ive spoken to has always had good things to say. Because of this I figured I wasn't going to get any bad surprises.

When I pulled then new frame out of the box I was shocked to see I had been given the 2009 paint scheme. Most of Opus paint jobs you either love or hate, and for me this was one of the worst. In my opinion it looks like the french tried to pay tribute to the Crucifixion of Christ with the black, white, and crimson color combined with the weird barb-wiring like font.... I was honestly thinking of painting the front triangle before building it up. hah

I waited a week or so for the remainder of the parts to roll in and between hectic work and drink schedules I build up the new girl. To my surprise and shock the bike doesn't actually look that bad built up. I threw on a mix of Sram XO, Mavic CrossMax wheels which are always solid and the new Fox F100. Ive never ridden a Fox but their reputation is something to hear.

First Ride:

Unreal. That's all I have to say. I took the rig out to the trusty St Catherine's trail on a down pour kinda day(only days I have off really). Despite the rain I had the new rig looking at me begging to be ridden. I have test ridden a few duellys of many brands in my time, but never liked any of them which was why I stuck to the tried and true hardtails until this bike.

I imagine its the VPP technology that Opus used to design the bike but its simply unreal. The bike handles great and instead of feeling like your always working against the bike , it feel like it is complimenting each pedal stroke. I find the bike is the best tool Ive ridden yet for finding flow on trails that have a hidden line. The Fox fork is everything I imagined it to be in a dream fork, and I can see why people have been ignoring the few extra grams in favor of them.

The Sram components are tried and true and have always proven to work well. I would go as far to say I prefer Sram over Shimano XTR now.....which was a bold statement even a few years ago.

I haven't run into any problems with the rig after a few weeks of riding. Its still proving to be a dream machine for me. I find myself looking for the odd couple hours that I can rush out to the trail to get a quick ride on the rig.....its proving to be something that motivates me to ride!

I'm moving to Halifax in a few weeks and I'm looking foreword to doing some exploring on the new rig on some gnarlier trails and testing its limits!

eeeeek

2010-07-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

Life has been moving very rapidly, and find that it has taken a complete 180degree shift from merely 2 months ago. As you all know I was racing in Europe and now I'm living the chilled life here on PEI. I went back to my old job of being a kayak guide which is pretty stress free and also a great way to stay outdoors. Along with that Ive been pulling the odd shift at Smooth Cycle.

I haven't dropped off my bike duties completely and still ride often. My interest in cycling has never wained but sometimes the motivation to pound out a hard 5 hour ride does. With that being said though I hopped into the 100km Mtb race Concour the Pass with Ardelle and Brucious. It proved to be a tough day for me though day for though as I suffered from heat stroke and pulled out at the 70km mark. During the last section of single track I wondered whether I was going to make it out alive as I was so dizzy riding the rig. Luckily I had the shops Scott duelly equipped with a Fox Talas which in all honesty did most of the riding for me in the last parts. Not only was I not accustom to the distance, but also the high heat just killed this guy. Bruce had a great race and is showing great form now. The old man took the show...you know who I mean.

I ordered a new MTB being a Opus Stackh. I plan on throwing some of the parts from the Fhast onto the frame along with ordering a couple new bling pieces to spruce it up. When I ordered it I asked for white, but received last years color......which you either love or hate as with most Opus paint schemes.....this one Im not so much a fan, but I think it will grow on me. As it stands I'm waiting on a new derailleur then the bad boy is ready to be built up.....ohhhhh exciting!

I think life is a continual search for balance and Im constantly working on it in pursuit of happiness. PEI in the summer offers this and I find work, riding,fun, and dancing are fairly well balanced in my life right now. Im still throwing in the odd race here and there which is good for me. The problem with racing is that it falls after a Saturday night. Hah.

(Damn bridge was out...added over an hour to ride for 10pm roll in)

Spell Check works in Canada

2010-06-14T07:25:00.001-07:00

Life has been moving on. After France I absolutely needed some time off. I needed to see my friends and family and have some beers and live the easy life here on old PEI. I think I hit the rest a bit too hard as its been about a month since Ive done a race. hah

Im starting to get back on the bike mixing between some mountain bike rides and the odd ride with the boys. The itch to ride and race is gingerly coming back. I felt my life was so one sided in France that when I rolled back into Canada I had to go the opposite direction for a little while....which was a success for sure. I find myself looking to go back on the rig again...which is a good feeling. Toward the end of my time in France I was getting burned out thats for sure.

The Cyst has gone....It lingered for a good few weeks and I tried to pop it a few times with no luck as I didn't have the "balls' to go as deep as I needed to. One night I simply got tired of the damn thing and drove that needle in as far as the bite piece could take and managed to get to the root of the bastard. Its good as new now!

I haven't been taking my camera out on rides mostly from being absent minded so no pics this post.

IN other news Im selling my SRM. Mainly because I want the money to put toward MTB parts and because having the numbers there drive me crazy. It works great, but not for a guy who is slightly obsessive compulsive. hah $1700 or best offer.

New Lands

2010-05-12T04:01:00.001-07:00

Racing has been going horrible to tell you the truth. I was in the Tour de La Manche late last week. It was a 5 stage, 4 day race and is one of the premeier races in the region which has a very high calibre of racers, mostly filled out with DN1 and Dn2 teams.

The first stage proved to play out for me as most other races have done this year. I rode well the first 50km. When we went into the hills I got a flat and had to chase. I managed to get a horrible wheel change from a friendly team that too way too long, and I also got a Campagnolo cassette which didnt work very well at all. Its tough trying to get back onto the pack after a series of tough climbs, especially when the pack is 150 guys strong and pushing it. Needless to say I didnt make it.

So, becuause I didnt make it back on I rode that last 100km by myself into a the head wind(pt to pt) with the broom wagon 15 feet behind me. My lead moto got lost 3 times and twice I had to stop and wait for them to look at the map of where to go. It was brutal.

Ive been nursing a solid cyist that I got form riding my TT bike a few weeks ago and nothing seems to make it better. I even got a perscription form the doctor for it, but its still keeping on.....Anyway. So I rode he TT a good 14km. Nothing crazy..I wasnt the best but wasnt the worst either. The problem was the 20 minutes hard effort with MR cyist caused it to inflamme like crazy.

I started the next stage later in the day, but pulled out after 50km as it was like riding with marbles under your skin...what a nightmare.

So that was it for my racing in France. I go back to Canada......tomorrow actually...and Ill be looking foreward to it.

I had 3 days left in Flers and couldnt ride becuase of Mr cyist so I decided to take a little trip up to Caen to help the time pass. Its a bigger city and there is more going on. I mostly just walked around and did some shopping. Nothing crazy. Its and old town right on the coast of the continent. You may know it as its the closest city to the Juno beaches where the Allies landed during the war.

I knew I would probably find some English here. It seems like finding English people is what I would think buying drugs is like. Everyone seems to know someone who is from England or is fluant in English. The thing is you have to ask, and they may or may not know depending whether they like you or not.

I had my ears open all day listening for the framilier English jibberish when finally at the end of the day I heard two gals speaking English to each other. Now, this is where it gets tricky as you dont want to appear like some crazy person. Basically what I said to them was "You speak English! want to be friends?!"

So this is how it went down. The two gals are here for school to better their French and they are from differant parts of the US. We later got some pizza and met up with two of their friends form England and had a few beers in an Irish Pub. It was great!

Being in an Irish Pub speaking English is very bizzare for me. When ordering you definetly get a shock when you realize your not in either Ireland or Canada for that matter.

It ended up beign a great night. The next day I bummed around the town a bit and headed down south to Flers. Here I sit at the computer desk with my life skattered all over the floor as I have to pack and do laundry...tie some loose ends and fit my life back into the suitcase before heading to the Great White North.

Uncertain Days

2010-05-04T03:27:00.000-07:00

(Canada comes out on top!)

No posts in awile but a few interesting things have been happening. Zack and I went to Mont St Michelle last week. It is a huge attraction in Europe, but I had never heard of it until Benoit mentioned it. Its basically an old Abbey that was made in 700Ad, which turned into a jail and a few other things throughout the years. Words cant do it justice, as its turely amazing to see. It was nice to be purely a tourist for a day.

The real fun started later that night when Benoit dropped us off at the train station. No big deal. He was headed to see his girlfriend who lives in the area, and the plan was the take the train back to Flers for the night.

We soon found out that there is only three trains that depart from that town in the course of a day, and of course we had missed all of them. Well friends, we didnt really have many options of what to do. I miraculously had Francks number in my bag so we called him in Flers to see if he could get us, but he wasnt home. Zack and I then walked to an internet cafe and facebook stalked Benoit to get his cell number. We tried calling him to see if we could devise a new plan, but it turned out Bens cell had died.

Well it seemed Zack and I were shit out of luck(excuse my French). We walked around the town with the ten oclock hour approaching and went into random bars to see if we could use their phones, to make a long distance calls to Flers. Of course with this I had to buy beer at each place. Zack doesnt drink so I found myself with 3 beer into me at 3 differant bars within an hour.

Anyone who knows me knows Im a cheap date, and I was feeling pretty good by this point. Also, it had becoome obvious that no one was answering their phones and we should find a place to stay for the night. The train station seemed like the best option, but was something each of us were looking to get out of.

Keep in mind I dont speak french well, Im basically useless to tell you the truth. Any progress we had made was solely from Zacks french skills, which he tells me arent very good. If it were up to me to get us home and we had gotten ahold of someone, I would have no idea how to get the message accross that were stuck in a town 100kms away. My key role in this was to drink the beer that got us the use of the telephone.

So, Zack and I walking around this cool little town when we spot a group of 4 girls. We walk up the them and Zack speaks french when they abruptly cut him off and say "We speak English" in perfect English! Turns out we meet 4 gals who are teachers. Ones from England, ones from Mexico who speaks perfect English and the rest are from France who also speak English well.

I instantly have a mini freak out, as other than Zack this is my first face to face conversation with anyone who speaks English in over a month, Ho daisy.

So we head to the bar. We all get drinks and I have a couple more beer which puts me in a good mood. The ladies offer us to stay at their place for the night and it ends up being a great night, and an even better story.

The next day Zack and I wake up early and head out to explore this little town that proves to be a sight in itself. Its directly on the water and reminds both of us Maritimes boys, of home. Feeling the salty air and seeing the active fishing harbour is something only a guy from the Maritimes can appreciate.

With that we get some breakfast and wait for the train to take us to Flers. An omlette and a few coffees later we meet up with a brother and sister from Austrailia that just finished an extensive bus tour of Europe. They were quite the cats and we chatted for a good 45 minutes before they had to take off to find a rental car.

We made it home later that day with tired bodies and the scent of adventure still in our minds. It was the random and uncertain days like that, that will stay with me as memories from this trip.

No Blue in France.

2010-04-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

This week is an easier week for me here in France. Easy weeks are dangerous buisness, as there is the potential to go stir crazy. Im not one that likes waking up and having nothing to accomplish throughout the course of the day, so this leads me to have to fill my time with something when the bike demands only a few hours a day.

Ive been having a hard time sleeping as of late. Wether this is from too much on my mind, or too much time at the coffee shop I dont know. Most likely its a combination of both.

As mentioned, in France they dont have coffee shops per se....just bars that happen to serve coffee. I have carved a spot in a couple of small bars here in Flers, and each has its own unique characteristics and benefits.

One is the 'happin' spot in town I guess you could say. Its right in the center of town and it draws a lot of the youth of the town. the atmosphere is good, and the coffee ok. I always feel at odds with the manager though. In realilty, I only go for coffee and the odd beer which doesnt amount to much money spent at once. The fact I dont speak French seems to make it difficult for everyone and sometimes it seems like Im the odd ball of the place.

(The Old Man Bar)

The other place I know as the 'Old Man Bar'. Its a small place tucked away in the corner of Flers. I call it the old man bar as there is only old men and sketchy Turks that go there. The bartender is a solid guy. Ive never been able to have a real conversation with him obviously, but I noticed one day his hands were that of a working mans hands in a former life. This guy would have no use for something as silly as a pair of oven mits. In my mind I picture him tending a farm or being a mechanic and giving it all up one day to open up HIS bar, accomlishing his dream after a lifetime of manual labour.

The coffee is cheap and the beer is good here.

Of course the hip bar seems to draw in the few attractive women that Flers has. Its nice to sit and simply hear people talk who are your age. So here is the draw back, Do I go to the place with the cute gals and the sketchy Turks, or the place with the unreal bartender with the old men and the sketchy Turks?

Either way I cant talk with anyone, so in reality it doesnt matter. I guess varition is the spice of life when it comes down to it. A bar to suit your mood when the mood strikes. When you only know how to order one type of coffee and one type of beer, consistant change in scenery becomes very important.

Clear Days

2010-04-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

I raced in the beer league this weekend. There was a higher end race that the team also went to but there was only so many riders they could send. Since Ive been sucking as of late I got to race in the beer league.

Keep in mind, a beer league race in Canada means that some of the riders have beer guts....but in France they are old pros and upcomming strong guys. Since people have a 'relaxed' work schedule in France, everyone has a ton of time to train aswell. Beer league also brings out about 100 guys at least, even with another big race going on.

About 85% of the races that Ive raced in France, the break has always gone within the first 20km or so. Keeping this in mind for this race I had a good warm up and tried to get in everything that moved. I had some great attacks, and managed to be at the front and got in about 3-4 good breaks but they didnt stick and only lasted about 10 minutes or so.

I rode my ass off until the 50km mark and I thought to myself "Well Ryan, maybe it'll come down to a bigger group today." The course was pretty flat so it was probable. After 5 km of sitting in the pack I looked up and saw the pack split. It was one of those breaks where you knew it was the break of the day.

I thought to myself why me...and moved to the front again and attacked to try to bridge up. I was in no mans land for a good 5-8 minutes when a couple other guys bridged up. We worked for about 20km to try to bridge up but we couldnt find the last bit of juice to get up there. Even in France it seems there are guys who want to bridge up and guys who just want to look cool for their friends, and we had a couple of these guys which didnt make life easy. It was in this group that I finished. I rolled in about 35th or something.

This time of year co-incides with allergy season, and today was quite the show. There wasnt a time when my nose felt clear. Most people wouldnt know, but the farmers blow(close one side of your nose with your finger, and blow) is a constant action among all us cyclists. Usually by the end of the race your covered in both your own and other peoples spit and snot. Its not uncommon for someones snot to get carried by the wind into your face. Its funny, because at the time you dont really think about it, as its just something that happens, but if it happened to me on the street I would be pretty disgusted.

I caught myself walking down the street in Flers and had the urge to clear my nose. I had a finger on one side of my nose to blow...when I caught myself and realized that this is something not to do in normal life. hah.

During the ride with Arnault(Bens brother) last week he came around me and I didnt see him as he pased. Just as he passed I spit out a pretty solid piece of spit...and caught him right in the hip..dead on. A big "ahhhhhh' was let out by both of us and I sincerly appologised in my best French as it was an accident. He relaized this and I whipped my loogie off of him with my hand and rubbed it on my shorts...again appologising.

When was the last time you spit on a FDJ rider?

Lucky 300th

2010-04-22T03:26:00.000-07:00

This is the 300th post on The Fine Grind!

I had a great training week this week, a good hard 3 hour ride with a chill 4 hour ride yesterday. Benoits brother decided to hop in with us. He's an unreal guy who you can sence would never think a negative thing toward anyone. He has absolutely no conceided head on him. This for someone who dabbles between the French National team, and FDJ Protour team. Good Company.

The people here in France have treated us Canadians so well during our stay. I could not ask for anything more and the hospitality has been simply unreal. To take someone you have never met, accept them into your home, feed them for months, and never ask for anything in return is humbling.

One of the things that has been hard on me living in France is that my french is not good enough to actually communicate with these people. I can sence the quality of these people and I know under differant circumstances many of these guys would be my best friends. Because we cant speak, my relationships stop at simple greatful gestures and smiles. It really is a damn shame. Its something I know Ill regret, but not something that I cant really remedy.

The weather has been holding out, and we have a nice day again. I got a tubular flat on the weekend. Because you have to replace the tire this is usually a huge pain in the ass and can be very expensive($30-$120) so its not something you want to do often.

You know cycling is ingrained in the culture when you can buy Vittoria tubulars at the grocery store. No Joke!

Rough Stuff

2010-04-19T04:07:00.000-07:00

The weather has been great here. The boys and I are all rocking pretty good sun-burns/tans and I might spend some time in the sun today to chase away the Casper appearance.

Traning went great this week, the races however did not. We started out Tuesday as Zack and I had a great interval session during a three hour ride. The next day I was pretty stiff and didnt feel particularily perky but we did put in a good 4 hours regardless. Im ashamed to say I bonked a little bit toward th end, but thats how it goes. Either way I felt I recovered well, and was set for the the races this weekend.

The DN1 race on Saturday was pretty bad. For some reason on the first climb I felt I didnt have any power and just lost contact with the main group going into the windy section. It was wierd because my climbing legs this year arent great, but they werent that bad.

I honestly set it aside as a mental barrier. Saything that it probably wasnt my legs but just my head, and that I may have went into the race not full mentally focused as I should have been.

The next morning the questions were answered as I woke up sick. Having another race that day I didnt feel great about it. I suited up and rode the first 40 km, but pulled out after that feeling pretty shitty.

This season has been like that. When ever you think the match get lit, it quickly gets blown out. I still have plenty of matches left in reserve, but its just frustrating to have the good legs one day and bad ones the next.

In other news(or lack there of) We now have four English channels in Chez Benoit. They are CNN, France 24, Sky news and Russia news TV. CNN is the staple here and I find myself watching hte same programs at least 3 times before they get replaced. Its great to see actually. Simply having English tv in the background is kind of comforting.

From what Ive gathered there is nothing going on in the world other than the Volcano errupting in Iceland. Its on about 23 hours a day. As most of you know most of Europe is grounded and France is no exception. Here in Normandy the air was definatley bizzare for a couple days last week. Zack and I figured it was from the Volcano.

I bought a killer coffee grinder in a flea market here. Its made in Holland and is pretty sick if you ask me. I havent used it yet because surprisingly its very difficult to find decent whole beans in France. It makes you earn your coffee.

In the Mind

2010-04-13T02:26:00.000-07:00

I had a decent race on the weekend. It wasnt a crazy high-end one, just a regional France race but it was the first time this year where I felt really great. Honestly, I felt like myself for the first time in a couple years. I didnt get any crazy results but I felt I had decent power and managed to get a top 20 or so.

I missed the winning break but toward the end of the race Zack put out an attack and only a couple of us went with him so we finished in the second group a few minutes back. The course was great being a true roulier course with a ton of wind thrown in.

Yesterday Ben, Zack, Franck and I went to the Normandy beaches to see where the European continent was taken back from the Germans during WW2. It was a team effort with Canadian, English, and American soldiers. Being a history buff it was bizzare to see the places that Ive watched in history documentaries over the years.

All of France gives you the feel that the war is still in recent memory. It wasnt long ago the WW2 happened here. 60-70 years is a blink of an eye in France when you consider a lot of the houses and buildings are over 200 years old.

The beaches and area itself is an interesting place. I got the impression that it was(and still is) a tourist destination as the beaches are similar in beauty to that of PEI or tropical locations. It was difficult to picture the sight of them with the water being red for many days after the landings.

In for the long haul

2010-04-09T03:01:00.000-07:00

Race again this weekend. I feel better going into the race this week compared to last. We've had some great rides this week and the household is very positive.

(Ben crashed last weekend)

As mentioned Im living with team-mate Benoit, a 24 year old Butcher and Zack Garland from Newfoundland. Honestly this has probably been the best living situation Ive ever been in for cycling. Every night we usually make dinner together, we share all of our food, and cleaning duties seem to get done without anything said.

(Thats a load-bearing poster)

We all seem to have differant strengths in the kitchen and the meals have all been great. On top of that becuase Ben is a butcher meat is cheeeeeap!

Ive been thinking about the Biking for Breakfast Challenge on PEI this summer. I've never done it, but Id love to on the Bartali. Hopefully I can get that rig rolling by then. I would hope to do it on that old bike, along with a vintage jersey I bought here in France. It would be sweet to rock out for the 300km in full vintage style. Ideally Id like to do it only with red wine to drink, and a baguette strapped to the top-tube for food.

Ive slowly been buying and stealing momentos from France. Ricard is a harsh drink everyone seems to be in love with here. I enjoy it the odd time, but only the odd time.

I obtained the ashtray with the intention of somehow strapping it to my handlebars for the BFBC to have the odd cigar during the ride.

2010-04-06T13:37:00.001-07:00

(pre race meal, always)

The race went terrible. From the gun the pace was hot. We went into a serious climb and the pack split and split again. It was intense. Like war I tell ya. I found myself on the wrong side of the split and as we crested the climb I made a break for it to get into the break, or the remnants of the pack. On the decent I went as hard and as aero as I could. I got about 3seconds to the pack, so close I could feel it, but it was then that they pulled away.

(hurting a few races ago)

I dnf'd the race. Mostly becuase I was disgusted and embarassed. Its tough to explain but I was just fed up with everything. I didnt want to do the remaining 100km with the groupetto and I was just basically annoyed with myself for poor position and not anticipating the hard attack off the line.

Zack rode well getting a 15th place and Guillome netted the win. That guy oozes talent. I could see it from the first training camp.

That means today was a riding day. We went out for a good 3 hours with some good punches thrown in. It was the first nice day this year I think. The temps hovered around 20, and I could ride with bare legs. This alone was enough to make it a great day. Its one thing to have fun training, but its another to have fun riding. Today was a riding day.

I usually take a Vitamin D suppliment everyday(from the sun) to improve my mood, but a little pill would have to work pretty hard to make you happy after a 4 hour ride in the rain and hail. Its pretty sweet to feel the sun on your skin after being hidden for the better part of 6 months.

2010-04-04T11:18:00.000-07:00

Life is getting back to normal here in France. I race today for the first time in about 2 weeks so it will be hit or miss I think. The past few rides have gone pretty well but I found myself really tired yesterday.

As I am half way through my stay here in France I moved into a new place with a team mate. Im now in Chez Benoit with fellow Maritimer Zack Garland. Its great to have another Canadian around and someone to speak english with. This place is feeling good and Ben, Zack and I have been sharing cooking, washing and cleaning duties pretty well.

Its hard to believe that im half-way through my stay here. Im not going to lie I miss the Red Dirt. I use to crave the instability in my life that travelling brings. The feeling of always being on edge and that new things are around the corner. I find my mind has been wanting the stability of old PEI. Im still loving racing, but there are definitley hard days here in France, both on the bike and in the mind. Its tough to explain to anyone who hasnt lived this life, but at the same time it needs no explination to someone who has.

The boys and I watched Flanders on the TV!!! yesterday. France TV 4 had a good 2.5 hours of it and we had bets for 10 beers who would win. Of course I bet on Cancellara and won....either way I was comming up on top as Im the only one who drinks! hah.

With that Im off to the races!

On my Feet

2010-04-01T13:38:00.001-07:00

Whoa, long time no posts. No, I havnet been slacking, just travelling a bit. Being my first time in Europe and also missing my darling, I decided to take a week off and do some sightseeing. This may be the only time in my life I'm in Europe, so I wanted to make the best of it.

I booked my flights to Dublin (where Mal is living) with RyanAir, which proved to be cheap but ended up being a nightmare. They treated me the worst I have ever been treated by a company ever. Not only did they make me wait 3 hours longer for my flight, they then cancelled it at mid-night. It was then that I had to wait in line for 3 hours in the airport waiting for my new ticket. I was at the ticket counter finally at 3am waiting for my ticket to print off when the printer broke.

I was then told that they wouldnt be paying for a hotel and I had to take a bus at 3am, an hour to Paris, and buy my own hotel(which is against the law in Europe). I didnt get to bed until 5am that morning. The next day at 10pm(over 24 hours lag time) I arrived back at the airport after paying $25 for another bus ride. This flight went ok, but it was still a kick in the face.

Moving on........................

The trip went great. I had fun just being a toursit and looking around Dublin with my lady. I drank much beer, ate a lot of beef stews, and saw all of the sights including the Guiness Brewery. It was great to be able to speak English freely!

From there Mal and I travelled to Paris for a couple days. She has a chill-do-things-as-they-come attitude, while I have a list of things to do, and sights to see attitude. Surprisingly we made it out great, still seeing most of the sights while doing it at a chill pace.

Our rented apartment came with a Saeco espresso machine and we poished off 2lbs of espresso between us in 4 days, it was great.

Of course the highlights were the Eifell tower, Montparnasse, the Catacombs(thanks Bill) Champs Elysee, Momartre(sp?) and a lot of time at churches and simply sitting at coffee shops and going to bakeries.

Traveling through Paris and Dublin was great. Seeing all of the sights and being a tourist is needed to let the mind relaxe, but the best part for me was really just seeing my lady. As a bike racer you spend so much time alone in wierd places not really talking to anyone and living a life that is lightyears away from a normal 23 year old. So because of this, its a huge decompression to see the ones your close to, even for only a few days.

a couple days

2010-03-19T04:02:00.000-07:00

It has been quiet week for me. I had a bit of fatigue at the end of the races and a few weeks of training. Whether it was from the training, the weather, or an underlying sickness, if your tired, your tired.

So with that I havent had any killer days this week. A few 2h+ rides, some alone, some with the boys and a lot of time at the coffee shop. The coffee shop is more of a bar that serves coffee. Its ok...I get what Im looking for. Stu and I had a pretty good date there last week.

We race again this weekend. A DN1,2 race Im told so its gonna be a douzy. Im told its a difficult race, but I dont know what to expect..it could be a race around the parkinglot and I wouldnt know until I arrived there. Suit up and go with the flow.

Ive noticed that Crits and Time Trials dont seem to exsist in France....Their logic seems to be "why would you race 50km Crit when you can race 180km at crit pace, then have a few 5km loops around the town? "

I ordered some books from amazon.co.uk and thank god they came in last week. Other than being addicted to the computer, the coffee shop and the odd ride, my filller for the day has been these books.

Cooked

2010-03-15T11:05:00.000-07:00

Whoo, it was difficult weekend pour moi dans le velo. I knew going into this weekend that I was racing twice. No big deal I thought, espeically when the first race was only 80km. I thought that 80km was odd, but thats what I was told. Saturday rolls around and I find out the morning of, that the race isnt 80km, but 170km.

Franck who told me about the race but he ment he was only going to stay in the race for 80km. So I find out in the morning that the race is a DN1/2/Pro race. This means its just below ProTour here in France. With a couple of French Pro teams thrown in there too, I knew I was getting into the real deal.

Well talk about a hard race. Holy Crow. I only lasted about 80km, and rolled into town for an even 100km on the day but the race was insane. It was probably up there with the hardest races Ive ever done. You are always working and fighting for pack position. Whether your going up or down or on the flats your usually working. Pack position is crucial and you have to fight for it. It had 3 laps of a 50km long course, which was really cool followed by a small crit. We raced though a lot of small towns which threw a lot of road furniture at you, and road dividers just popped out of no where.

I was pretty much terrified for most of the race. To be in a pack of 200ish guys going like 80km/h with people elbowing you fighting for position....the only way to destribe it was controlled sketchy-ness.

There was a huge crash mid-race while we were going about 65km/h. I didnt look back as I knew I would see death for sure. The race was Neutrelized and we re-grouped to get things under control again.

Finally at the 80km mark there was a KOM and with a bunch of attacks from the pack I just blew...knowing I had to race tomorrow, I was ok with that. Its good to see the level of where you have to get to though! I doubt there is a harder race in Canada....maybe Nationals some years or Beauce.

The next day we had a interclub/DN2 race. It was only a 100km but my legs were fried. We still had a good 150 riders but the race was very un-eventful for me. The break went away first km. I made it into the 2nd break a couple times but nothing came of it. My legs were cooked, so I sat in and finished 50th or something like that.

My team mate Ben won the friggin' race. What a guy! And young Stuart proved to surpriese everyone and took 3rd. Holy Crow.

Turns out I won 10 euro in a Sprint during the race that I have no idea I won. Problem is that I forgot to give my number back(standard piece of paper with a number on it you pin on your jersey) which turns out is a big deal in Europe. In Canada or the US it wouldnt matter at all but apparently I HAVE to give it back. So to get my 10 euro prize I have to ride to this town 35km away and find some bike shop to give the number back. Its bizzare, but thats how it goes I guess.

I made the paper in the town where my team is based out of. I think mostly because its an oddity that there is a Canadian in their midst and for no other reason.

Im feeling pretty tired after the past couple weeks. Ive been doing a lot of intensity and that DN1 race being my 2nd real race of the year took it out of me. I think Im going to slip into some LSD and minimalize the intensity before running off to Ireland for a couple days. We'll see how that goes.

The Plain

2010-03-11T02:46:00.000-08:00

(Again, things never seem to work as they should in France so the pics are first, stupid electronics)

Last weekend was the first real race of the year for me, and oh man did I feel it! The thing about racing is that it pushes your limits in all ways. You have to think sharp, you body has to be sharpe and you have to push yourself further than you noramlly would in training.

The worst was my hips. I went from doing mostly LSD and intervals to 3+ hours hard in the drops over terrible gravel-type roads. This is quite a change for the old body and when I got off the bike after the race my hips were sooooooo sore I could barely walk or bend over. The next day every little muscle in my hips were pretty much torn apart and I looked like and old man walking around.

Tuesday I did some climbing intervals. Its interesting using a power meter. I thought I would simply plug it in and go for a ride, not pay attention to the numbers and just send the file off to coach Luc. Honestly I hate electronics and prety much everything to do with them, but I notice I use the SRM as a tool now, and Tuesday I realized how valuable it was. I noticed when I did the intervals on the climb while standing the power was much better than last week, but while doing seated intervals the numbers were a bit down.

Makes sence as 2 days before was basically allllllllll seated power intervals. But its interesting to see real number that show that part of your riding is tired.

Yesterday I made the push for a 4 hours ride. Again, the wind has been brutal here and you find yourself either riding at 20km/h or 45km/h. Like last week the last half hour I bonked which I was expected, especially fighting the wind.

I felt a bit tired too, so Im taking today and tomorrow pretty easy. I have to race twice this weekend....the details of the race is something my understanding of french cannot grasp so Im going to go with the flow. Apparently there is hills in one of them?!

I have one more week of training before I go to Ireland/Paris where I wont have my bike. Im looking foreward to it. Luckily the trip co-incided with a rest week so Im trying to push myself a little bit more as to justify a week of the bike.

Hopefully a week with my darling will ease the mind. As the saying goes, when your head is good, usually your legs are too.

Race

2010-03-08T03:21:00.000-08:00

(The Internet, my computer or blogger isnt working so your getting the pictures first! Stupid electronics!)

After last weeks terrible showing on my part, I entered the second race with a little more aggression knowing I had to fight a lot morein the pack. I couldnt let any gaps form during the start and in the eschelons otherwise in France it seems your done for. It was a smaller field this week with about 70 riders, and the course was differant, being mostly flat but with an UNREAL windy section.

We had a 9km loop, with one section looking exactly like Paris-Roubaix. It had the narrow narrow roads through fields(team cars werent allowed this race, only motorcycles) with super high banks on either side. There wasnt any cobbles but a mixture of dirt, gravel, and broken chipseal. It was so cool to look up while riding and see dust blowing around each rider in the pack.

The backstretch before the finish line was tough as we were only about 20km from the Atlantic, and you could see directly to it. There were no trees or buldings to block the wind and you could definitley feel it!

The race started very chaotic. Everyone was nervous and rammed into the narrow streets from the startline heading into the field section. After a couple laps it calmed down as some guys dropped off, the pack narrowed and everyone got a feel for the race.

A major break happened mid-race. I made a huge push to get into it where a teammate followed me into the wind. We made it, but once we hit the really windy section I simply couldt hold the echelon and dropped back again, cooked from the effort. My team-mate stayed in the break which was good. I though it would all come together in the end for a sprint but the break ended up staying away...hah.

It was so windy its hard to describe. At one point I looked up and saw a rider get blown over into the field about 5ft. If France Im leanring if you dont know how to ride in an escelon you learn really really quickly!

From that point when I dropped off back into the second pack, it was an un-eventful race really. The break stayed away and people continued to drop off. I had to fight each time to make sure I was in the front going into the windy section otherwise you were gonner.

I ended up netting 15th of 20 finishers, 4th in the pack sprint. With about 70 entrees, 15th is ok.

The Boys who were in the break did great. Guillaume netted 2nd on the day! Rodolphe a 7th and Ben a 6th(Im pretty sure ?).

Lessons learned yesterday. If you get blown off the road and find yourself riding in a ditch or on grass or dirt....its no need to panic.

On the Friday spin young Stu and I pedalled to the crazy old town of Domfront. Its about 20km away from Flers, and is right out of the middle ages. Its pretty insane this place. I think Domfront was orginally as castle with a giant wall surrounding it. Some of the wall and castle have colapsed or were destroyed in one of the 10 wars since then, but it was neat because you could look at the ruins and see the walkways built of stone and see inside the castle. The whole town is built on a hill, with a modern-ish town built on the indside. Its really facinating to see.

Stu and I also chatted IN ENGLISH. the first face to face conversation Ive had in a month, and manged to find a real coffee machine in a bar. And we all rejoice.

into thin air

2010-03-04T09:57:00.000-08:00

The days have been passing here in France. The weather has been slowly getting better, but the wind has picked up it seems, which makes for effective training but hard annoying days on the bike.

I rode Monday which normally I wouldnt do, but since my race didnt go so well I hoped to ride off the extra calories I packed in for the race. The legs felt a bit sluggish, but otherwise the ride was fine. I did a good 3 hours on Wednesday that lead to a major bonk. As I mentioned the wind has been annoying and combine it with consistant climbs, it takes it out of a guy!

Ive always ridden alone when building my base, so its been good to get out alone and just explore the area. France is unreal. You can have the best ride of you life simply by exploring. Most roads dont have signs or names but there is usually a direction arrow to where you want to go along the way. The riding here is so nice I would go here as a cyclotourist when Im like 50, hopefully Im still riding then, but the palce is a cyclists dream.

I believe a solid bonk is good for you every now and then. It keeps the body in check and tells it when it has to adapt, and start taking in more energy. This is what I was hoping to accomplish, and Im starting to feel like my old self again.

I did intervals today. HARD ones, and now that I have gotten into the high end, I hope the body knows where it has to go to race effectively. It takes a few of those sessions before It gets the idea I think.

More observations about France.

France likes to burn things. Since most of the houses are about 500 years old a lot of them still use a fire place as a primary source of heat. If you look to the horizon on a chilly day in France you will see a haze of smoke covering the rolling terrain. It looks nice but it reaks havoc on this guys asthma. During the cold snap I was dredding the cold days.

So the French will pretty much burn anything. Paper, wood, plastic, plastic bottles, garbage...anything thats lieing around goes into the fire.....along with burning Canadian cyclists legs.

There also seems to Condom machines everywhere.

downer

2010-03-01T11:31:00.000-08:00

Well that was terrible. I basically got kicked in the face. The worst is that the race started how I predicted it would. There were about 120 or something riders and it started off really fast. I didnt get a warmup and right off the gun I was fighting for position as we went though this small town. Its bizzare to have to dodge traffic furniture with 120 other guys fighting it out.

The packs here are pretty aggressive and the wind played a huge factor today. With stroms all accross Europe we had about 80km/h gusts, and when the pack rolled around a corner to start the first climb out of town I was blasted by the wind. It was horrible posioning on my part. I tried to hide as best I could but I bascially went back-words. The climb then started with me directly in the wind and that was it really. With no warm-up, a ton of attacks, and bad positioning I was popped out the back. I was kind of in shock to tell you the truth..everything happened so fast.

It was a really shitty way to start the year and was a lot like getting thrown into the cauldron on full boil. I am far from getting my racing legs, but the poor positioning is what killed me. Racing in France is not like racing in the US or Canada. You simply cant make mistakes like that, especially with the wind playing such a factor.

up in the air

2010-02-27T01:42:00.000-08:00

The first race of the year is tomorrow. A nice jaunt of 120km. Im nervous but at the same time Im not, as I have no idea what to expect. The legs felt good during quick training ride yesterday so that gives me a bit of confidence. With all the terrible weather I havent been able to get out for a lot of solo rides over 120km. Because of that, I notice I fade after the 80km mark. My game plan for tomorrow is to sit in and concerve until the final part of the race then if I feel good try to get into a break or something. First race of the year is always a gong show.

In europe they say each country has its own style of racing. Ive heard this from many people. In France they say its just attacks. Right from the gun. The whole race is attacking. Team-mates attacking team-mates who are int the break. Attack after counter attack. Simply put, fast hard racing and mass chaos.

It remains to be seen.

I went to the local big-box sport store the other day looking for a Wilson Volly Ball to make a "Wilson" friend. I just wanted someone to talk English to, like out of like on the movie "Cast Away." I even found some sweet straw in the garage for it. Unfortunatley I couldnt find a Volly-ball. I guess it isnt a big sport in France.

yellow cup

2010-02-25T02:39:00.001-08:00

The legs are starting to come back to me after a couple days of rest. I was hoping to hop on the rig today for a couple miles but it seems to be downpouring, which is in vogue here in Normandie lately. For some reason it seems to hail at least once a day aswell. Today just might be another trainer day.

Im not too worried about the amount of miles I get this year as I have a secret weapon. I realize I have been doing everything wrong the past few years. I stumbled upon something that made everything so much clearer for me. GQ magazine(British) has given me step by step instructions on how to win a Stage of the Tour de France, so with this guide, if I follow it I should be a shoo-in for at least one stage. Watch out Mark Cavendish.

Mistranslation

2010-02-23T03:59:00.001-08:00

Whoa, what a past few days! I just completed a good little training camp with the team Saturday and Sunday. It went pretty well until I got horribly horribly sick hours after I got home. I got kicked in the face in the worst way possible. Suddenly I felt like I was going to get sick, then the next 2 days I spent either hugging or sitting on the toilet. If I wasnt in the bathroom I was lieing in bed shaking with cold. It was terrible.

I thought I had food poisoning but no one on the team seemed to have it other than myself, and we ate the same food all weekend. Yikes it was terrible. I feel better this morning and managed to eat a bowl of oatmeal(first food since 1pm on Sunday) and that went down ok, the coffee on the other hand is fighting to show itself though.

Well. Other than that the training camp went ok. It was a weekend of mis-translations thats for sure. On Friday I got a call from my team director telling me we were going to camp in AN HOUR. "Holy Shit" I thought. and I rushed to pack my bags before he arrived to head to the hotel. Turns out it was a mis-comunicatioon and he was dropping another rider off at the house in an hour.

So, we go to camp the next day at 11, get checked in, have lunch and suit up. The new team kits that were suppose to be in Friday were late, which is the case with every other clothing order in the history of mankind.

So, we got ready and I asked how long the ride would be. My impression I got from The DS was 70km which I thought was a bit light but didnt really think much about it. 40 km into the ride we approached the area of Suisse-Normandy, which you can imagine is full of small mountains. So, I was thinking this ride was 70km, so I rode hard up it and to my surprise came out in the font group of about 4 guys in the 5km climb. It was then as the ride carried on that I realized that this ride was much more than 70km. Having only brought enough food and water for 70km I was fighting a huge bonk brought on by the effort of the climb, and I travelled back to the team car to beg for food.

The thing about Normandy that ive learned is that the rides always seem to start out easy. It isnt until 50km that everyone basically attacks and attacks the ride becomes hard. If its not hard enough then you work on paceline, which is slightly easier but you still go like 50km/h.

So I basically rode myself into the ground to finish the ride, but all in all it was a good 120km.

The next day we awoke early to slap out another ride. As the trends are going now in Europe it was cold(about 2-5degrees) and rainy. The pace was ok at first, but then again it went up and attacks and climbs took their toll on me. I rode until the 90km point in the paceline but then just didnt have any power left(not to mention I was harbouring a horrible virus which I didnt know about) and dropped off.

So, I rode back to the hotel. Problem was I got lost along the way. Now, my french is good enough to ask where something is or where a hotel is or even a town is. The thing about France is that in 5km/sq there is about 60 small towns. So, everyone I asked had never heard of this town we were staying in, even though it was like 8km away. YIKES>.

Anyway, I managed to find the hotel and made my way in just before lunch with a total ride of about 135-140km, about an hour more than I anticipated. I was feeling ok, just really frustrated as you can imagine.

Well Im feeling better today and I might jaunt down to the boulangerie to get a coissont. I think I can afford it consdering the only thing Ive eaten for 2 days was perrier and coke.

Other than the sickenss and the mis-communication life in France is ok. I miss my woman like crazy, but I'm heading to Ireland to see her in a month, cant wait!

Patton

2010-02-18T03:36:00.001-08:00

The days are passing and the weather is getting steadily better. I find myself stuck with a slight cold though, so I'm going to take the day off today. I need a haircut and to do some errands aswell.

Ive been having some serious bootie problems as of late. 4 pairs of booties( 2 winter, 2 summer) should be enough to sustain someone right? Well after 2 weeks I have broken 3 of the four winter booties I have. 2 zippers broke(one that was just repaired on PEI) and another the stitching ripped on the velcro. Holy Moly.

I have a very modest size 9.5 foot and am wearing large booties. They just dont make them like they use to I guess. Ive been wearing mis-matched pairs in order to keep the feel warm, but as mentioned, another one broke yesterday.

I went for my first solo ride of the year yesterday. It seems like no one rides alone here. There is always people going on group rides and they randomly show up at your house to go riding. Its nice but at the same time I like my solo rides. Going from riding in a group of 5-10 guys to solo where your open to the wind definitly shows that I still am weak as a kitten.

France is unbeliveable. Yesterday for my ride I went in a random direction out of town, taking random turns and manged to have a great ride. In this part of Normandy its insane hilly. I was either going up or down, similar to PEI, but the climbs are steeper and much longer. Its really unbelieveable riding. Beutiful views, great roads. If PEI is one of the best places to ride in North America, France is 10x that. Not to bad-mouth PEI or North America, but it really is unbelieveable.

I can see why cycling is so huge here. There are great programs to develope juniors, and also the roads are super quiet so parents wouldnt have to worry as much as in the rest of the world. Of the few cars you would see on a ride, they seem more respectful than say.......oh Tucson Arizona. On top of that most of the group rides even have a follow car. Wether it be a father of a young person or just a random guy who likes cycling, there is usually the club's van that follows any scheduled ride.

The team has a training camp this weekend, where we get our new kits and cool stuff. I dont really know what to expect. I dont even know what kind of rides we will be doing. That has been the trend of my time in France. Becuase of the language barrier i just go into situation not knowing what to expect.

Luckily there are some good people taking care of me.

Moi en France

2010-02-14T10:49:00.001-08:00

I managed to hop on the rig both Saturday and Sunday after a good trainer session on Fri. The weather still didnt co-opegrate, but we faced it anyway. Saturday was a nice 2degrees, and Sunday was a very cold -10 for the start of the 9am Sunday morning ride.

I dressed in most of the winter gear I had, and I wasnt freezing, but I was not comfortable thats for sure. Being the Canadian in the group there was no way I could skip out on the cold ride. I told everyone this day was like a nice summer day in Canada. Luckily working construction taught me a couple good tricks to keeping warm on the cold days.

We did a good 100km each day. The legs feel like their comming around, but its hard to tell when its that cold. I had to make sure I had high RPMs as the legs felt like sludge if I dropped below 90.

Some of the roads are still covered in snow, which causes mass panic in France. I had to work on the cross skills and managed to fall once, no harm done though.

Bofore most rides it seems the people get together and have a french coffee. Which is of course fake coffee. Its nice to chill out before the ride.

Couple more bizzare to me facts about France:

-The doors ALWAYs swing into the building. I dont think I've encountered one that opens out.

-The Milk doesnt have a fat percentage on it, and is kept in the isle of the grocery store un-chilled. Pops told me they might kill the bacteria with UV light.

-Your plug adapter for France will work on some houses, but not others, depending when the house was made.

-No one puts milk in their coffee. I put some in mine one day and people saw, now I`m the talk of the town.

Tomorrow, a coissont, and rest.

outrageous

2010-02-11T13:29:00.000-08:00

Well it happened again. The snow fell. This time a good 15cm. This guy went for a walk.

Spell check doesnt work in France

2010-02-10T02:46:00.001-08:00

The weather has taken a turn for the worse. The balmy 10degree temps I had when I got here have long since gone. The temps are in the negatives and yesterday I did intervals in Francks garage on the trainer. It was my first real set of intervals and they felt ok...not great and the last two I died on but again, thats to be expected.

I was suppose to go for a ride this morning with a teamamte but awoke to a good 2cm of snow on the ground that had fallen overnight. Button down the hatches, warm up the Diesel for 20 mins, put on your snowsuits as its mass chaos in France. I really dont feel like riding the trainer again today, especially when I have to ride to Francks to go on it.

I set up the SRM fully yesterday. Talk about a nightmare. Imagine setting up 2 of the most finicky bike computer of your life, where the tolorances are 1-2mm on a frame that is so 'new' it was never designed to work with in the first place. There were many brackets and modifications to be had. Just to get the SRM from the box onto the bike took about 6 hours total.

Not only that, the software isnt the most user friendly. With the Garmins I found I could DL it and figure it out as I went, but with the SRM I'm constantly looking at the manual to figure out what I'm doing wrong. On top of that there is so many odd numbers and settings it puts out, once you have it figured out another setting and number jumps out at you that doesnt make any sence. Ahh well at least I look like I know what I'm doing.

I picked up a new coffee maker at the Supermarche the other day. Its funny, In Canada, land of the decent coffee, its hard to find a good coffee maker. I had to go to a specialty store to find the one I had. In France, land of the terrible coffee(from what I've seen) you can find a good coffee maker for 10 euro at the grocery store. Makes sence I guess.

Man I complain a lot.

France What

2010-02-05T09:10:00.000-08:00

Well I'm here in France. As usual getting packed up was stressful as my new SRM came in hours before my flight was set to leave which threw a wrench into my plans. No matter, I ended up getting to the airport with a decent amount of time and had a very un-eventful flight. Nothing crazy happened and it was smooth sailing.

I'm one of those poeple who cant sleep on planes, and this was no exception. Being an all night flight I'm going on about 30 hours of no sleep and I'm starting to hit the wall as I write this.

I got a pick up from my team director/driver and Franck, one of the older fast guys in Paris ,and I was was greeted with a nice coissont, and a strong cup of espresso. They marvalled how I could fit 2 bikes in one bike bag, and I marvalled at how useless I am at French. Problem.

So it seems that most of the people on my team, and who Ill be living with dont speak english. Dont get me wrong I dont expect to move to France, and have everyone speak English for me. It just means I have to kick start my french skills in a bad way.

The team car is fully legit being a Renault, with sponsor logos all over it. On top there are enough racks to hold a few bikes and about 15 wheels with speakers on the top to yell at riders. Its pretty funny actually. The best part is the "peleton" horn which is the one you hear if you ever watch any PROTOUR bike racing vid.

We crammed all my stuff into the car and made the way into Paris for a quick stop over at a friend of the teams. There we had some wierd french alchohol called Ricard, which you mix with water and tastes like black liquorish. Im pretty sure Andrew told me to stay away from it if I knew what was good for me. Its pretty terrible stuff.

2 days later____________________________________________________

Fast foreward a couple days as I am now settled and have internet at my host house. I went for a couple rides with the team and it turns out the team is one of the biggest in the area with about 12 riders. We did a couple 80+ km days and the terrain is surprisingly hilly. Its a lot like PEI with rolling hills. The guys are pretty fast as some of them have a lot of kms in their legs. The first day I felt fine but the second I was cooked by the end of the 100km mark. I was expecting that with the cold,being the first few rides of the year and the guys drilling it on the climbs.

The scenery is exactly what you would picture rural France to be. Any view is like out of a Europe calendar. You ride through hilly spots through fields with a ton of churches. The roads are super narrow and every now and then you pop into a town that has 15 buildings from 1200AD. Old guys come out smoking and watch you go by. Its really funny how steriotypical it is.

Ill go into more detail about things in later posts but here are things I have noticed.

-Apparently taking your shoes off to go into a house is a Canadian only thing as everyone doesnt do it here and in parts of america I've noticed.

-People kiss on the cheek to say hello, women get it on both cheeks, kids only on their right.

-No one drinks real coffee. Its a power like making hot chocolate. They drink 15 cups a day, but its the mix. I went looking for a steriotypical cafe today in Centreville Flers and there was nothing to be had. Bummer.

-Everything is little, cars, meals, houses espeically. The house I"m staying in some of the stairways are just as wide as my shoulders. The cars are smaller than a bike length and height ways.

-French keyboards are annoying.

These are some other things I have noticed and I'll keep more coming. Its bizzare here, very bizzare. Its much more difficult than what I imagined. The language is of course, but just that everything is slightly differant from Canada. I'm not complaining, its just difficult to get use to. My french is comming along quickly actually. It sounds terrible but at least I can get by now.

With that I'm off to bed, more pictures tomorrow.

Twist

2010-01-26T11:17:00.001-08:00

I think yoga instructors would be excellent phone sex workers. Anyone who has been to a yoga class would probably agree. The ability to speak clearly about what your doing while twisting yourself in an awkward pose and thinking three moves ahead while blending your words seamlessly in a clear and relaxing manner are all talents that are needed in both fields. Not to mention most yoga instructors aren't hard to look at.

I've been doing the odd hot yoga class. I think its great for this time of year as it forces you to stretch, and reveals odd weaknesses that a person normally wouldn't be aware of. I've been going to yoga on and off for the past three years and I find I ride a bike faster when I do it a couple times a week. I don't think its benefits come from the strengthening of the core, but more so clears my head and put me in a nice relaxed state.

I'm not going to lie. I started going to Yoga in Vancouver because I was lonely and wanted to meet girls. Well this backfired on me as the $5 community rec center yoga was 97% women over 50. Either way it was a good class and I took a lot from it.

Stevie and I have been riding a bit along with going to the gym. I always love starting the gym routine but by the time I leave I'm done with it, and this is no exception. I leave soon, and I'll be happy to leave the squats on PEI.

A lot of people have been asking me about how I feel about leaving. In reality I'm terrified. Not so much about the racing, or the weather, or the culture shock, because I know I can adapt to all of those things. Mostly I'm scared of what will happen on the bike. Last year was so hard on my mind, that I'm kind of terrified of it happening again. I feel good, but at the same time I have the lingering feelings in my mind. I'm hoping some good training, a new environment, and some fresh competition will sooth these thoughts out of me.

I had a lot to prove last year, and I have even more to prove this year. The difference is that instead of proving it to other people my desire comes from proving it to myself.

Fenders

2010-01-14T08:13:00.001-08:00

(Chruch in Downtown Flers)

Its coming together. Tickets are booked for France leaving on the 4th of February and returning 16th of June, just in time for Nationals. When plane tickets get booked, usually I get a rush of relief as my mind goes from thinking about where I'm going, to counting the days until I go.

As with most times I leave its always bitter sweet. I leave PEI which is cold as hell, to go somewhere to pursue a dream, but PEI has all the family and friends who I wont see for many months. I've been doing this for long enough that I know what to expect, but it never gets easy. The whole time I wonder about how they are changing while I'm gone, and how I'm changing and what our relationships will be once I return.

Most years when leaving I get to go to someplace warm and soak up the sun. This year I'm, leaving cold as hell PEI for slightly warmer, rainy, windy France. This year has been especially bad as most people know in Europe for weather. Flers France, where I'm going, is no exception.

Its funny how people tend to follow a trend. Along with me heading to France I will meet up with three other Maritime cyclists. Zack Garland, Dustin MacBurnie,and Stuart Writeare all heading to the same region if not the same small town. Bizarre.

I'm told my living arrangements are with another teammate who just bought a house. I'm stationed with him because he is a single guy and I'm staying there the longest(as opposed to living with a family). Its expected that we will live to the fullest the bachelor life of the mid-twenties cyclist. This of course means a busy house, and busy beds with all of the rice cooking in the kitchen and going to bed at 9pm.

When I say I'm going to France, most people think of a twenty something backpacking, staying in hostels, and living wild. For me and most cyclists, its consists of 6+ months of being celabit.

Francais

2010-01-05T07:56:00.000-08:00

My new team in France, hope you can read French.

http://www.agorvalcoutances.info/

January First

2010-01-03T09:21:00.001-08:00

Most people have a ritual that dictates what they do on January first. Whether people are comforted by it or simply like doing the same thing on January First. I chose to have a mild New Year celebration this year. I didn't really feel like getting drunk, and decided to simply have a few beers while watching hockey game with the boys.

I was home just after midnight and made sure to take a shower. Being a former goalie, I am ripe with traditions and superstitions. I wanted to take a shower to symbolize getting all of the garbage off me from 2009. It was a tough year for me, and I want 2010 to be the year that overshadows the past 12 months.

One tradition that I wanted to continue, was the 12th annual New Years Day Ride. Ive been going to them since 2003 I think, and it is something I really enjoy.

Last year we had to postpone the ride due to a snowstorm, but this year it went off without a hitch. there is very little structure, as most people show up around 10:30, some in better shape than others and we mount our rigs and do the ceremonial loop around Brackley Beach. The pace is moderate, with picture time somewhere in the middle of the ride.

The day turned out to be great, with most of us avoiding the slush, sand and salt that PEI roads have so much of.

Afterword everyone joins in the potluck highlighted by Mark Grimmets waffles and hot espresso. Of course the cabin we use has no electricity, but Harvey and Bruce usually solve this problem by bringing their generators for the occasion. We all left with full stomachs that's for sure.

Andrew Brown, a legend in PEI cycling made the trip from Comox BC to visit family and showed up un-expectantly on the ride. It was really great to see him.

I'm excited 2010 is here. I leave in about a month, and I'm looking foreword to starting a new page in my life.

The Winter Bike.

2009-12-26T12:45:00.000-08:00

I got a new frame for the winter bike/train-whore bike. Unfortunately the weather has been terrible, so even though I have a beater bike, I haven't had much motivation to get out on it. Its made up mostly of pieces Ive collected over the years working at shops. The total cost is about $400. The Powertap is a loaner. Frame was free

I wish I had a 39/53 crank, but $60 bones for a FSA compact with BB I'll take. Now to find the right front derailer clamp!

Yee haw

France

2009-12-19T11:45:00.000-08:00

Well I'm headed to France. Through one of Lucs hookups I'll be on a small team in Saint Lo, by Flers France. Its in North Western France, if my geography serves me right.

I don't know a lot about the deal just yet, but I'm thinking a lot of the nitty gritty will be handled. It doesn't include bikes, but I think a lot of the major expenses are covered. In most cases I would much rather that, than a free bike and no way to a race.

I'm thinking I'll head out around the first week of February straight to the town I'll be living in. In my mind it seems so much easier and straight fore ward, compared to year past where I go to Arizona then have to fly somewhere else and spend so much time travelling just to train/race/live.

I'm excited its all worked out. I've been super stressed as the process took a lot longer than I thought and left me without a team into December, which is getting really late.

I hope some new and exciting adventures lye ahead for me.

Problem

2009-12-08T13:58:00.001-08:00

Rub it In

2009-12-03T13:29:00.001-08:00

For years I used Bag Balm as my sole reliever of friction. I had tried many other Chamois Cremes, like Chamois Butter, Vaseline, Noxema(good for in a pinch), but Bag Balm seemed to be the most consistent.

It did have its drawbacks though. For one it completely ruins chamois. Over time they become a seeping mess of Bag Balm and leave it feeling like a used diaper. Along with this is also ruins any bike seat you may be using leaving it with a permanent shine that coats any surface it touches. Also, any car seat, deck, other persons bike is ruined as soon as you sit on it with a bag balm chamois. (There are wooden decks that still have a wet-ass stain on them from years before, after I sat on them with an older Bag Balm chamois.)

I lived with this predicament, rather having to deal with diaper ass/ruined seat than be in horrible pain from lack of a lube down there until I came across Assoss Chamois Creme!

UNREAL, is all I have to say. I've been using it all season and I will never go back to anything else. It leaves you with a minty tingling fresh feeling after application and it must be water based or something because it doesn't stain anything, and simply washes out. Unlike other cremes I find it is consistent throughout rides, especially longer ones.

Looking at my season old chamois, they look as though I don't use a lube on them. Its great!

It is a bit pricey though and hard to find compared to other chamois cremes. I see it the odd time at some bike shops, but it seems to be the industry's best kept secret. I think it runs for about $20 American, but I wouldn't mind paying that for a tub of it.

In all my travels I found the easiest way to get it was to ask the BMC/Assoss director for some. Once he gave me like 4 tubs of it....unreal.

It really is the best stuff going.

2009-11-26T07:54:00.001-08:00

I still don't know what the hell is happening for me next year, but I have a few leeds that I might take advantage of. I'm really looking fore ward to next year for a lot of reasons. Part of getting fast on a bike is changing things that didn't work the year before, or simply modifying them to be more efficient.

Last year was a shit show, and blatantly showed me what I was doing wrong. I learned a lot about my body and myself, and I'd like to think I learned the hard way to listen to it better than I was. The older you get the more you realize you are far from invincible.

Next year I want to do some experiments as well with training. Nothing huge, just little things, like staying a bit heavier. That is a red flag in most cyclists minds, but I think it might be for the best. As soon as the season ends I bulk up from 155 to about 175, so I think my body is naturally a bit bigger and heavier than most skinny cyclists. I think it might work best in the 160 range. Ill see how that goes.

Also, throwing in more rest, less LSD and more intensity in the early year. I don't know where I'll be so I might forgo Tucson. I'd love to train in Georgia in the Spring. The weather isn't as good, but the riding is better I hear, and it might give my head a fresh start.

I'm hoping to get everything figured out in the next week. At least that will give me a clear flight plan.

Stevie and I have been riding quite a bit. Its great. I started working 3 days a week instead of 5 and getting more day-to-day things done and its working out well. So far November has been amazing here on old PEI and I'd like to think I'm taking advantage of it

Cooked

2009-11-19T14:40:00.000-08:00

The CPEI Banquet was last night which always proves to be a good time. Usually this time of year when the fall fades into the brink of winter I find I don't see as many of the people in the cycling community as often as I would like. The banquet is a good way to catch up again before the big snows hit, and its a good recap of the year.

Because the Canada games guys are my drinking buddies on the weekend, I don't really look at them as 'the Canada Games Team.' last night was a good recap of their season as their accomplishments were awarded, and a few stories were told. Every one on the team overcame a obstacle. Whether it be broken hands and wrists from brawling, or working on school during training, broken bikes , or simply not riding a bike competitively until this year. When looking back on the year it was great to see them go through that journey and to compete alongside them.

I hope the Craftsman team comes to fruition. It would be great to have an avenue become available for these guys to kill the rest of the Maritimes in Atlantic races. It wasn't long ago that riders from the the Island would regularly sweep the podium at most Atlantic Canadian races. Maybe its something in the soil.

Work Work Work is what I do all the time. I haven't really been doing much else other than french class which I'm skipping tonight because I'm exhausted from work. I've started to take a recovery/protein shake after work because I'm just fried afterword. 10 hours of lugging is killing this guy. My arms however are loving the attention. They use to be little and weak but Ive noticed a huge jump in bulk up there.

Being able to rip phone books in half is a cool party trick, but it doesn't make you fast on a bike, so I guess it will have to go.

Looking for a team in Europe...anyone have a leed?

Trivia Fact

2009-11-15T11:21:00.000-08:00

As of 2006, 200 million blogs were left without updates

BFF

2009-11-08T15:34:00.001-08:00

Cool things are happening from ERIC and CPEI http://2010cssc.blogspot.com/, check it out!

Shorter Days.....

2009-11-05T16:44:00.000-08:00

I guess its time for a year recap and whats going on in my head. This year was a really terrible year, and also a really great one at the same time. I experienced a lot of problems with my body throughout the season. Some that have been explained, some that haven't.

I was forced to take a lot of time off, and it showed me many things. One was how to let go of things that you cannot change, and to let life take you as it pleases. Turning Pro was one of the most exciting things to happen to me in my life. I was living the dream, and it sucked that when I got to where I worked for years to get to, it wasn't meant to be.

This year taught me a lot about being an adult. I felt I aged a lot this year in terms of mentality. Although the years racing was feable, I also got to travel to a lot of cool places, see lots of new things, and experience a later summer without it being bike oriented.

(Many, many coffee shop days this summer)

I hung out with the guys a lot more, and simply enjoyed the summer, as most years I was away racing. I did the Tour De Quebec, with the Canada Games crew, which was a great experience, one of the highlights of my year. I took a job as a kayak guide which was something I always wanted to do. Many of my days were spent sitting at the coffee shop chatting, and the nights sitting at the bar drinking, or having campfires. It was a great way to chill out. I also did the cabot trail ride at the end of the year, which has always been an extrordinary way to spend a weekend.

As the winter approaches here on old PEI I find myself working construction again. Balls its tough, but it keeps you on your toes. A little bit of suffering a day is good for the body.

( Tried to hang out with this guy as much as possible)

For next year my plans are straight foreward. I plan on going to Europe. Most likely I'll end up in Northern France, where the races are long, hard and shitty. Hard man racing is what I love. The harder the better. Every racing cyclist would be lieing if they said they didn't want to race in Europe, and I feel I've put it off for too long. Coach Luc is working on my set up now. I've even enrolled in French class to work on the lingo. Its tough when the instructor barely speaks English.

From a racing point of view, this year has shown me just how much I love racing a bike. You don't realize how much you love something until its taken away from you. Motivation was always high this year, and I find as the fall wears on I cant seem to stop thinking about next year. I realized that I love racing bikes not because I like the ride of the bike, but I like the competition. If I cant sprint to climb or race someone into the ground it starts to come out in odd ways as I learned this summer. I love the competitive feelings when a group of people are simply trying to destroy each other. That's what does it for me.

I rarely hop on a bike these days(work, daylight, etc) but the time to start training is coming soon.

Check out bartape.net for great docs on the Cervelo Test Team.

Ghetto Thanks

2009-10-13T19:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't been riding a bike much this week. After the Eligin 80 I had intentions of hopping on the new roadie and putting the miles, but a solid flu hit me, which I'm still trying to fight off. Lately the cold has manifested itself into my ear plugging it solid, making me feel as if I have one ear plug in all the time.

I started a new construction job today. Its funny how it seems construction is the job of choice for poor cyclists in Charlottetown. The list of construction monkey-cyclists these days are myself, Ryan Belli, Flan-jam, Derek, with of course Cory, Kent and Nick who are not so poor, and not so much monkeys as they employ the rest of us.

I don't mind working construction. You freeze your ass of most of the time but you learn real world knowledge, and get to hang out with the guys. It also teaches you the finer points in life to appreciate. After working construction you never look at a good coat, a sunny day or a good cup of coffee the same way again.

Thanksgiving was this weekend along with it was the annaul Ghetto Thanksgiving. Ghetto Thanks is like the Real Thanks but as if it were in the ghetto. Instead of turkey, we have KFC. Instead of stuffing you mom spent hours on, we have Stove Top. Instead of shirts and ties, we have shirtless and pantless. All the fixxin's are included but consist of chips, Joe Louis, and mystery wieners in a can. I'm sure they are a delicacy in Harlem.

.....And we all rejoice! It was a great hangover brunch!

(Cutting the Bird)

(The result)

Time to get back on Track

2009-10-11T18:15:00.001-07:00

Here it is folks....first post in 3 months! Many of you have been wondering if I had died, when in fact I did not! The odd bit has been happening here and there, which I will update within the next few days.

My lack of posts has been half laziness and half the results of a computer that would crash every time I would try to load a picture on it. Well, here I sit with a new computer and some insight into my boring life!

I realized I had a lonely gap in my life. No matter what I tried, I simply couldn't fill the gap. It felt like there was always something missing. I tried the gym, girls, the church, but nothing could fill the void which has been wide open in my life. Then it hit me......

I needed a new booze cruiser! Yes, pulled from the wreckage of the CPEI bike swap I claimed this old bird. After some restoration, some rebuilding of the bearings, layers of fresh paint and new wood panelling, I now have a new best friend to get me home from the bar.

A brake less fixed gear with flats was getting too risky.

5 Fingers

2009-06-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

(Halloween last year)

Today is the Canadian Road Nationals. I had a pretty good race there last year, and honestly thinking about this day was what pulled me through the long lonely hours in Tucson. Unfortunatly I had different ideas of how it would go at the time. In the TT a couple days ago there were some surprises. Some guys road great, but in the end the big guy Svein took the win again. It was good to see, as he's had a tough year this year. Christian surprised everyone with a 2nd in the TT....those little legs have the power.

Anyone of my buddies on the island knows I've been having a tough 3 weeks. Whatever I have took hold in a bad way and I had a lot of trouble simply functioning for the past while. I became so weak and sick I had a hard time getting out of bed some days. Along with horrible stomach pain, difficulty breathing, incredible weakness and dizzy-ness, some days I felt like I was about to die.

For three weeks I felt this, going from doctor to doctor with no satisfying answers, and all negative blood tests. Then, it seems the sickness started to subside. I was strong enough to go for a walk one day, then went to the park with my friend and her little boy the next day. The day after that I went for a mountain bike ride, then yesterday I went for a road ride.

I'm feeling ok now. Some symptoms I've looked at as single possible things. A doctor suggested I have an ulcer, which I then started a med for I feel much better in that area, after a week on it. In another area I started an allergy medication, which seems to be helping the breathing problems quite a bit. As far as the crazy sickness, I think it may have been a long long bought with mono(It felt like the mono I had when I was younger, apparently you can get it again?).

Anyway, I think I'm starting to feel like my old self.

PS. I love this guy....he's like a bull! I read a forum about how Bert Grabsch hasn't really been heard of until last year when he won the World TT championships. Of course many people pointed to the dope, then one guy said...."Have you ever thought that maybe these are the guys who would win(Bert, Svein) normally if everyone else wasnt on dope" His chest is like an oil drum.

New Ground

2009-06-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

Most fresh cut trails need a good year or so of use to get broken in to the point where the ride feels natural. Well, with the upcoming Canada Games in a month, the new trail needed a little bit of speed cleaning and fast breaking in.

I headed out with the crew to put my efforts into raking and stomping down the fresh cut trail to try to get some flow out of the dirt. To my surprise everyone else on PEI who rides a bike seemed to think the same, and headed out to Brookvale to do their part. In total there was probably about 50 people out to either rake, chop, or stomp the new trail. Some crew simply rode, which in this case is what was needed.

Being out the woods working on trail brought back a lot of memories. When your riding you seldom take the time to simply smell the fresh pine, or the fresh dirt. Despite the horrible bugs, it created an inch in me to build some trail. I have been guilty of not making any new trail in many years, but maybe it something that I will have to take up again. It is something that only takes a few afternoons, but proves to pay off over years and years. Like a good tattoo.

I just finished "We Might As well Win" by Lance's DS Johan Bruyneel. It just came out on paperback, which brings the price down quite a bit. Picking up the book, I could tell the gist of it would be about Lance's tours. I dont mind reading that stuff, but any cyclist in North America gets pummelled with literature and movies about those seven years, so I didn't rush into reading it.

As expected most of the book is about Johans relationship with Lance, and his seven year run. Anyone who has an interest in cycling pretty much knows those years in detail as its hard to find anything else related to cycling unless you get an obscure book from amazon.com.

The book also speaks about Johan's own professional career throughout the 90's. Its funny how he continually says he was nothing special despite wearing the yellow jersey and winning two stages of the Tour.

Toward the end he talks about his time with Alberto Contrador, which was what I was really interested in. It offers a glimpse into the stressful life of a director sportif, but was written for the layman of the sport. Don't get me wrong it was very interesting, especially providing the mirror view of the sport which most people and racing cyclists never see, but it didn't get into the nitty gritty which what really interested me.

The book only lightly touched on the training habits of himself, Lance, and the other many great cyclists he's worked with. He would mention the training plans, but wouldn't talk numbers or anything in specific detail which was what I was hoping the book would go through.

Overall "We Might As well Win" is definitely worth reading. Cycling books to me are like candy, they usually read really easy, and fly by as my mind is usually in that head space for most of the day anyway.

One thing Johan did touch on that was interesting are racing tactics that get overlooked in our North American society. It seems that as I was growing up most riders in NA are concerned with the numbers, the training, and how 'strong' a rider is. Johan talked a lot about the strategy of the race. Predicting how it would play out and who was riding well simply by noticing small things about the way they ride. Anyone who has been in a bike race knows that when race day comes usually the guy who can read the pack the best, and play the one correct card when needed is the guy who wins.

Its during the race that the numbers usually go out the window. I think the difference between Europe and NA, is that in Europe there has always been the old guy who tells you how the race will play out. The guy who has been there 40 years before and knows who is riding well, and who isn't simply based on seeing how they sit on the saddle. Its the guy like that who teaches the younger generations, and it seems those guys are few and far between in our society. I guess that makes it more valuable when you finally do encounter a 'Johan Bruyneel'

Into the Clouds

2009-06-13T11:19:00.000-07:00

Life has been moving pretty slow as of late. I raced the PEI Canada Games warm up last weekend, and netted a 3rd overall. The courses were super nice, especially the road race. There was a ton of climbing and wind, but super nice views. I'm glad I drove the course beforehand because while bike racing you don't really notice anything else but the race itself. Stuart Write and Justin from NB are riding really strong as Nationals and Canada Games are approaching. They will both make really strong showings.

Directly after the race and until later in the week I caught some sort of flu or bug that knocked me out solid. I pretty much just stayed in bed for a couple days. It was really odd how you can loose all strength all of a sudden. I think some of it is still lingering, although I'm feeling better.

The Tour De PEI happened all this week as well. Its pretty neat how how there is a World Cup bike race in your backyard. PEI is the perfect place for an event like this with a great mixture of solid roads, nice riding, interesting loops, but its something that is slow to catch on here on old PEI.

Its funny how something like a U15 Regional Hockey championship would net gossip for a month after the event and be all over the papers, the news and the coffee shops, but when you have WORLD CUP bike race, with riders from all over the world, everyone complains that they had to close the roads for a couple hours.

In other news......There has been an influx of bikes that people donated to be fixed up and re-distributed to anyone who would want a bike that otherwise wouldn't have been used. Well, I took the liberty of looking over the pile and found an old rusty gem that has been missed from all the other scavengers. The old girl is in rough shape but has quite a bit of history.

Its an old Bartali, which was hand made in Italy in the early 50's. Its mostly Campagnolo Record and it was the brand made by Gino Bartali, who won the Tour in 1952(I think). He was Coppi's number 1 rival, and there is now a race named after the both of them in Italy(Won by Damian Cunego this year I think).

(Bartali and Coppi, they say he was built more for manual labor or playing rugby, instead of cycling. Sounds like someone else I know)

Someone did a god-awful job of re-paining it, so it looks like crap, but after some work I think it should still have some life left in it. I've been looking for a bike like this for a couple years now, and until now haven't had any luck. I knew with bikes like this, they find you....not the other way around. After measurement, it should fit me like a glove.

The plan is to get it going before the Cape Breton ride in October. Which is a 300+km 3 day loop with camping and bonfires and the like. I'd like to rock the wool the whole time and ride solely on wine and baguettes. Its gonna be sweet.

The Red Dirt

2009-06-05T06:34:00.000-07:00

I decided to head back to the Island last minute. I booked the ticket at midnight, and was on the plane 14 hours later to head East. There were many reason to come back to the Red Dirt, mainly that there might be some happenings in the works for me, and I would need to do some specific training....which was hard to do in the city of Montreal.

Whatever the next few weeks hold for me, I would have come back anyway for a few weeks, so I decided not to waste any time. I was spending too much money in the big city too.

Its nice to sleep in your own bed for a change too.

Life has been good the past few days. I've been making a point of not saying I'll be anywhere, and letting the day play out as it will. The weather has been great and I had a killer 4 hour hard ride yesterday over the hills of Kinkora.

Coach Luc perscribed some 1 minute/power intervals a few days ago. I thought to myself I could probably do them on the singlespeed. Seeing as how I haven't had a single speed ride(and only 2 MTB rides) this year, I thought it would be good to get on the old girl. When all of the complications of gadgets are taken away sometimes it gives you the opportunity to simply pedal.

(WT(Dad) let me borrow the truck for a couple days. The thing is the sickest ride around, and because its diesel will drive from one coast of Canada and back on a tank of gas)

The Surly Single Speed is by far my favorite bike of all time. If I had any bike for the rest of my life it would be a rigid Surly. No Question.

Before the ride I hopped out of the truck and quickly learned I had forgotten my insoles for my MTB shoes(I have 1 set of orthopedics). This really sucks as the trail is like half hour away from home, and MTB shoes have 2 bolts to hold the cleat into the shoe. Without insoles the bolts quickly make your feel hurt from having 2 bolt screws driving into your feet.

No MATTER! The day was beautiful, I was out on the trail, I was rocking the MTB....it was a good day!

I rode half the trail before coming out to one of my favorite traditional hill climbs to do the 1 minute intervals on. I got a couple in before BAM........folded a chain ring. This seems to happen to me every now and then. I think I need to run downhill specific chainrings from now on.

At least the power seems to be coming back.

So I was walking.....Luckily Luke(who lives 8 minutes away) picked me up and took me back to the truck.

(ahhh well, cant beat the view)

Dont forget the Pepper

2009-06-01T19:31:00.000-07:00

My time in Montreal is comming to an end soon. I havnt booked any tickets or made any travel plans but its time to head out soon I think.

The main reason for me coming to Quebec to was to do the GP Charlevoux race in Baie St Paul. Luckily I hopped in with Stephen Keeping's BluBeri team and got a ride to the Baie and managed to stay with them in a cool old french house.

I haven't really seen Stephen since Canada Games in 2005, and to tell you the truth, I didn't really know the guy. Well, living in a house that exclusively speaks french tends to draw the two English speakers a bit closer. He's a pretty cool guy if you ask me. Its funny how some of our expressions are similar being from the Maritimes. Hearing a phase I would say kind of makes me laugh when everyone else in the room doesn't understand it.

The race went decent and terrible at the same time. I went into the time trial pretty old school in that I didn't have any aero gear, no race wheels, and simply a bike with 32spoked training wheels with a powertap without even the meager clip-on aero bars. Eddy Merckx style as one would say.

Over the time trial I lost 2 minutes to the winner, which put me in 41st place(of 68). With no TT gear it wasn't a bad result, and I was happy with it. A TT bike, and disc wheel does make quite a bit of difference.

The Crit was a sketchy as shit. It was a 1.1km, 4 corner course that went through the European style french town of Baie St Paul, and even gave us a tour of the sketchy church parking lot complete with hay bails and barricades that suddenly popped out into the path of the race.

The race was super fast, averaging 42km hour, which is pretty quick for a 4 corner short course. It hurt a lot more than last weeks crit only being 30 minutes long and showed that this guy needs some more crit time, both for the handling aspects, and fitness aspects. There was a crash on the 3rd last corner so it split the field and I came in about 10 seconds back.

All in all I was pretty happy. Really happy actually, I was sitting in 36th, only a couple minutes back going into the main event. The insanely hilly road race.

This was where my luck went down again. The first 10km I got a flat. No big deal, you get flats all the time. I grabbed the neutral wheel, and discovered it was the definition of a training wheel complete with 25c tire, and actually weighed more than a 32 spoke powertap wheel(which I flatted) No matter, and I popped it in the frame and took off for the pack.

Well, another thing I discovered was that Shimano Cassettes and old Sram chains don't work great together, so I had to fight this for the rest of the day as well.

I chased the pack for about 10 minutes where they approached the first climb. I got to about 20 ft from the pack, when I shifted into the 39 to climb the hill.

Of course I lost my chain.

So, in the end I ended up having to get off in the middle of the hill and put my chain back on. Anyone who this has happened to knows its hard to start a climb from a dead stop while chasing a pack, that you almost caught seconds earlier.

I chased and chased and chased but I simply couldn't re-group. So I was off the back.

Needless to say I was really really frustrated and had burned many matches trying to get back on. From here I rode the course for 70km, before being so frustrated with the chain/cassette combo I pulled out. Pullin out is one thing that I really really hate doing, and yes, there IS shame in it. But, at that point I didn't care at all.

This is how the season has been going. You question how far down you can be pushed before you simply don't have anything left to give, then all of a sudden a bright spot, which then is followed by more bad luck and bad happenings.

After the race I was pretty down. At the end of day I'm more mentally drained than anything else. This year has been pretty tough on the head that's for sure.

Today as I'm looking at the Powertap files, the numbers maybe don't seem that bad. The mood turned positive again today. I just have to plan my next move from here on out.

With that, here are random pictures from Montreal.

(killer bike paths)

(Progressive City: community bikes, $5 for 24 hours)

(John Lennon's bed....I guess Yoko's too)

(Famous Montreal Bagels)

(24 Hours a day, making bagels)

Steve Larsen

2009-05-26T08:43:00.000-07:00

Its always odd when a former Pro cyclist suddenly dies. You of course start to wonder wether it was from a life of doping or not. Many people point the fingers to 'the dope' when this happens, but of course we are all humans, and we don't know when our clock is going to run out. Most likely these guys clocks simply ran out.

I grew up watching mountain biking on OLN back in 99. It was pretty cool to race all Sunday afternoon as a U15, then drive home and watch the World Cups and Norba races on TV while eating the post race meal of pizza. These were good times that I remember fondly.

Steve Larsen was one of the guys who was at the top of the Mountain Bike world in 1999. He didn't dominate, but he was always there, and did take the odd victory.

It was in early 2000 that the US chose its Olympic mountain bike team to go to Sydney(I think). But to most peoples surprise Steve Larsen wasn't selected. He was easily one of the top 5 guys who probably should have been chosen for the team, but sometimes life sucks like that. There was a lot of protests and angry people that he wasn't selected, but in the end of the day, Steve still didnt go.

Well, Steve didn't like this so much. For the rest of the 2000 year, and a lot of 2001, Steve Larsen pretty much destroyed every other mountain biker in the US. It was almost embarrassing just how much he dominated the races for the rest of the year. He especially took it out on the selected athletes for the US National team.

The rest of the cycling world couldnt help but notice this and slightly poked fun at this happening. For years I kept a ripped-out full page picture of Steve crossing the line at the Norba holding his bike over his head after a dominant victory. It was one thing that gave me goosebumps every time I saw the picture, knowing the back story.

It was a shock to everyone when Steve died last week while on a light run.

2009-05-24T16:54:00.000-07:00

I cant seem to find a USB cable, so there will Be no pics...

I've come and gone on old PEI. A little over a week has been good and bad to me. Of course it was great to see the boys, and Katie, but at the same time PEI was very stressful for me. For some reason I have this habit where I plan too much into my day and end up rushing everywhere. I never seem be able to get the important things done, and as a result my day is much more hectic than it should be. WT would say that there simply isn't enough hours in the day.

There was a lot I wanted to do on the Gentle Island, and I guess this made my life more hectic than it needed to be. Either way I still had a great time. I spent a couple cold nights at the cottage, and also had a bonfire with the boys. The times that I made a point of chilling out were definitely worth the trip that's for sure.

I also raced the Fredericton Road Race. The course was tougher than I remembered with quite a bit of climbing. Actually, about half of the race was climbing, which was more than these old legs were use to. Of course the weather was terrible as well. It was about as bad as it could be without snowing. It hovered around 10-15 degrees(50ish for you Yankees) and only stopped down pouring for the last half hour or so. It didn't matter what you wore as you would be wet and cold within 10 minutes.

I rode hard for the first 80km chasing breaks and trying to make the race hard. There are strong guys in the Maritimes and they definitely didn't make it easy. Justin went on a flier that I should have been in, and he rode strong for the whole race, but eventually was brought back on the last lap.

Well, after some hard chasing, and some surges from Brian my legs were pretty cooked. I started to hit the wall, and eventually rolled in for 5th. I would be lying if I said I wasn't hoping for a better result, but in retrospect I did ok.

I was pretty hard on myself after the race. Its tough not having the power in the legs that your use to, but thinking about the race afterword, there was nothing bizarre about the result. After 80km of hard climbing and racing in terrible weather after not having any solid days on the bike for a month....man I realized I simply bonked. That's all there is to it.

Directly after the race I migrated to Moncton for a couple days training at coach Luc's place. I spun out the legs on Monday, but Tuesday we had a killer motor pacing session. I did the Fundy climb a number of times and of course the climb on "School Road" which is a steep mother. Anyone who lives in the Maritimes knows these climbs well.

During the Motor Pacing and climbing I felt terrible. At the same time Luc mentioned that my times up the climb and watts really werent as bad as they 'feel.' He said my numbers are still good and it gave me a little bit of a confidence boost.

With that I headed back to the Red Dirt to get my life together and prepare for the next migration.

I'm in Montreal now staying with my good friend/ex gf Jordan. We've known each other for a long time, and staying with her has been really great so far. I've been cruising around Montreal and exploring a bit on my rides and spending some time climbing MT Royal, which is no small hill. (Home of the legendary woman's world cup race)

I'm a firm believer that exploring a city by bike is the best way to truley experience it, and I can honestly say I love Montreal. Its such a cool hip city with so much history. Man, the food is killer too.

The past few days have been real mood boosters. A smile hasn't left my face since I got here, and taking the time to chill out is helping me out I think.

I raced a Crit today in the downtown, about and hour ride away, and it went pretty well. It was super fast, but I think it may have been the best Crit of my life! I felt really great and the legs had the power that I have been looking for for a long time. I netted a top 10, maybe a top 15, but it felt good to get the speed in my legs and fly around a course at about 60km/h.

I could even say it was fun......I didn't think that could happen in a crit before today. Hah

The Lebowski

2009-05-15T07:50:00.000-07:00

(Summer is comming)

I've been home for about a week, and things are starting to come together. When I decided to come home I was very torn between the idea of it. On one hand I wanted to relax, and see the boys and the family and develop a new mental base to springboard into the rest of the season on. At the same time I really didn't want to come home in a state where I feel I haven't achieved something. It almost felt like giving up, and returning home without some new notches in the belt.

After a week I know it was the right decision. I've been seeing doctors and getting more blood tests, and I think things are starting to level off. I can feel myself getting back into form. One blood test came back and it turns out I'm pretty close to being anemic. Basically my red blood cell count, hemoglobin count, and hematacrit were on the lowest of the low for a normal human. This proves to be a pretty big deal for a cyclist.

So that's something else I'm working on. On the other side of things though, riding has been great. I went for my first MTB ride of the year a few days ago and I felt great, and had a ton of fun. Riding with your doctor is also a bonus!

JF has been great for explaining what all the numbers mean with so many blood tests under my belt, and also has helped me get some odd tests that might explain some things. His advice and help has been invaluable. Before now Ive been driving myself crazy googling all these odd numbers, trying to figure out what they mean.

(The good Doctor)

This week has changed a lot. For the first time in a long time, right now I have a lot of optimism. Which sometimes is more powerful than any drug.

Eric and I did some Motor pacing today to try to kick start some speed into these old legs. It went really well, but my hips are killing me from not having a good stretch in awhile.

With that I've been pounding the liver into me to try to build up the blood values to normal range. The stuff looks terrible, smells terrible, and of course tastes terrible, but apparently it makes you fast on a bike? It remains to be seen.

At least it falls into the bike racers price range.

This One Goes Out to Slick

2009-05-09T12:26:00.001-07:00

I needed some pep in my life. Vancouver Washington was bringing me down. Facing another week alone in the team house, and terrible weather forecasted all week, I decided to jump ship and booked a night-before flight across the continent to old PEI.

When I walked off the plane after a quick hour flight to Vancouver BC, I noticed the air was a little fresher, the trees a little greener, and my head a little clearer. Its the little differences that you notice when crossing the boarder between Canada and the US. Instead of a coat check on the plane you have your hockey stick, lumberjack axe, and pro-socialist flag check. Things of this sort are so awkward to carry on a plane anyway. Also, random nurses and doctors walk around offering people free check -ups and medical advice. Its like people trying to get you to buy prostitutes in Mexico.

Mmonths of hearing about the same three things in the US news, being the recession, President Obama, one of the wars no-one cares about, and now the swine flu. These things have covered the news and of course the front pages of the newspapers. When walking into the airport terminal I noticed a fresh Canadian Globe and Mail....on the cover was a story about seal clubbing.(no joke)

Of course there is the whole bilingual thing as well.

In Canada its also acceptable, and fashionable to wear a hockey jersey with your normal clothes, especially to work.

Suddenly, a one hour plane ride up North, turns the Mexicans into the minorities again.

So a long day of travel was had by me. Living in BC for the past few years has made me accustomed to the jumps across the continent. You begin to know where the best lunches and coffee are hidden in the random spots in the airports.

When I arrived home I noticed it was pretty chilly and rainy. Pretty much the same weather in Portland. I could see my breath as I walked out the plane, but no matter, I was home.

I have this fantasy in my mind of what PEI is like. I hadn't been here in May, since 2005. I've always arrived home in August after the cycling season The weather is nice, and its the perfect time of year and temperature to ride around town, and chill at the coffee shop.

I think I had this idea in my head when I booked the plane ticket. In reality its pretty cold and damp. At the same time I'm happy with that. Suddenly I can ride and train on the same roads I grew up on. For me, PEI roads are like that old pair of jeans that you forget about in the bottom of the droor. You re-discover them every so often and when you pull them on they are worn in just right and you feel comfortable in them. They remind you of good times.

So after a week or so of hanging around, I plan to head up to Montreal to see if there is any intense racing to be had, then I hope to re-join the team for either CSC, Philly, or Nature Vally GP

And I also got to see the little man.

Roman wins In Gila!

2009-05-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

Holy Shit....This is so cool.....I'm so proud of that guy! Take that Lance.

Rest?

2009-05-01T09:33:00.000-07:00

I thought yesterday was Friday, so I acted accordingly. For me the difference between Friday and the rest of the week is that Friday is when Oakley releases all their new and cool glasses on the website. I was perplexed yesterday when there was no new glasses posted. Friday is also garbage day. I kicked myself for missing it yesterday, then realized I missed it again this morning(as its actually Friday) when I watched the garbage truck pass. (Sorry Norrene)

Its also May 1st as my new phone tells me. I've been using the Garmin as a clock the past few months, its not the best but it got the job done. At least with the phone I have an alarm now.

May is the month that I associate with mountain bike racing. When I was a kid sitting in school, May would always be the month that the trails cleared out of snow on old PEI and I can remember requesting the seat next to the window in JR High so I could smell that mud/spring/farmers fertilizer smell. To me that clicks the switch in my brain that the mountain bike season is here. Also, its when the Canada Cup MTB races start.

I was taken aback when I randomly checked the PEI forecast and found that it was 22 degrees. Holy Crap. At least the temperature went down again to 1, so I can feel good about myself.

Here in Oregon/Washington, it been a pretty steady 55(whatever that is in normal temperatures). Expect a sunny day until you ride, then expect rain. One of the nicest rides I did a couple days ago to test the legs was of course the Germantown climb. It was beauty until I got to the top where I promptly got pounded by a serious downpour of cold-ass rain, then the rain turned to hail for a few minutes. When I rounded the top and started the decent of course it became as dry as can be.

My main activities has been the following......

-Get up, eat Oatmeal

-Go on the Internet and drink coffee all morning

-Ride and/or go to doctors appointment

-come home make dinner/ drink tea/wonder what the hell is wrong with me then worry about it

-Read/go to bed.

That has been every day for the past 3 weeks. It sounds relaxing but its pretty much torture. When you life is built around racing a bike, and every day the legs are patchy and you spend all morning reading about your teammates racing against the best in the world........when YOUR spot is open on the team(they are racing with 8 guys.....with a max of 9 spots). It pretty much gives me panic attacks. hah

I did go out with Eric Tsai(Ping Pong as he is known) the other night. Hes our mechanic/great guy/great rider. I joined him and his Trivia team for a couple beers. They are called 'The Minorities" as everyone there was a minority....Ie Eric's Asian, the black guy, the SWF, and I was the white guy.....but I'm from Canada, so that's enough of a minority I guess.

I'm seeing lots of Portland, and it a pretty killer town I do say so myself. Its May 1st and I'm excited to try my hand at cross racing if I stick around this fall. I might just make this area a home base for awhile. There is that whole job/money problem though.

I'll Post More Often.....Promise!

2009-04-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

I have been diagnosed with a hypothyroid. Basically it means that I have cooked my thyroid gland, and it isnt regulating my hormone levels, and bodily funtons as it should. This explains most of my symptoms and a lot of the odd things that have been happening.

Its not clear to me what really caused it. Whether it was from too much hard training, too much stress, or it could have been something that was steadily declining since I was younger. I suspect the whole Guadeloupe fiasco played a part in it though....I never felt the same after visiting that place..on and off the bike.

My condition is pretty slight. It do have all the symptoms and are definatly effected by them, but I notice it the most when training and riding really hard. I doubt anyone living a normal life would notice a HUGE problem, but when your body works frequently at the highest points its capable of, its then you notice slight changes.

So, I'm going to get the verdict of what type of medication on Thursday. From what I've been able to gather I can either go synthetic or natural(The natural med is made of group up pig thyroids). I've been basically spending all my time re-searching all these things. Usually multiple times of the day I'll start reading medical trials and studys then find that I've just spent 3 hours on the internet reading about 18-word chemicals, hormones and treatment plans, and case studies.

If an underactive thyroid doesnt kill me, or bike racing, then for sure radiation from too much internet time shurley will.

With all this going on, I've been riding pretty consistantly. The legs feel slow, but at least now I have an explination. I joined with riding group for a great Saturday ride. They took me on the Oregon roads I wanted to see, and knew were around, but havnt been able to find.

Of course I was treated with typical Oregon weather as well, made up of rain, sun, cloud, sun, 10-minute downpour.....repeated all day.

This area has some crazy nice rides and loops, it was just a matter of finding them I guess. There is also a shit-ton of climbing as well that I didnt realize was around. We probalby climbed over 2000m, which makes the ride no walk in the park. The ride turned out to be a little over 5 hours, and for that whole time we probably only rode through crap traffic for about 30minutes, while getting out of, and comming into town.

One of the fast guys in the group who has been giving me the info on the riding scene around here also went to the Tour de L'Abitibi twice as a junior. Its funny, the more I travel and ride with different groups, it seems everyone has gone to that race.

With that I'm out for a ride. Hopefully I can get this thing figured out and get back on track!

Moving On

2009-04-19T18:53:00.000-07:00

(Nice climb)

Well its been an odd few weeks. I haven't been posting as I have been waiting for some blood tests to come back. When we arrived back form California, I was looking foreword to a week of rest. Well that week came and went. Usually after a rest week you feel a little odd, but the legs usually feel pretty good. They end up better than they have been as the idea is that your recovered from all the training you have been doing.

Well, after that week of rest I didn't feel good, but felt even worse...horrible even. There were some other things going on that I couldn't really ignore any longer and a rest week didn't seem to fix any problems. So, I went to a couple clinics and have been giving blood and talking with doctors. So far I've given 5 samples of blood over the course of a week and a half. I look like a junkie.

The big test results come back tomorrow and I have one final one tomorrow morning to give to see whats up. What the doctors think that I've cooked my adrenal gland or pituitary glad meaning my hormones are kinda out of wack. The main hormone I would be lacking would be testosterone which is vital for recovery and muscle building, not to mention day to day operations of this rig. That would explain a lot of things, and would explain feeling terrible during the later parts of Redlands.

So, that's whats been up. After a week of not riding(doctors orders) I hopped on the bike the past few days for light rides. I didn't feel great, but not bad either. The weather has been great here lately as well.

Because of a few appointments and horrible legs I skipped out on going to Sea Otter with the boys. I have been hanging around Portland exploring the city since most of the docs visits are there. It really is a cool place and there is a lot of good energy in the city. The cycling scene is great too and I'm excited to start exploring the riding routes.

That's basically been my life the past few weeks. I've mainly been trying to relax and de-stress.

On a ride last week Roman, Josh and I went to the legendary VooDoo donuts. You may have seen it on the Food Network on the "Diners, Dives, and Drive ins" show. Its basically a hole in the wall that makes delicious donuts. I think a job requirement is to have tons of tattoos and piercings and to 'hate the man'

I resisted as much as I could but I managed to steal half of Romans Bacon and Maple donut. It was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo delicious. After that we asked them about the mythical 'Bucket of Donuts' which sells for $5 for a full bucket of day-olds.

So after paying $4 for 2 donuts, we paid $5 for a bucket......3 minutes later.

The tricky part was getting the donuts home. Roman took charge and we successfully got the deliciousness home. I'm proud to say the donuts have sat on the table in the bucket for a full week since the boys left and I've resisted the temptation to eat one. Yes.

The Migration

2009-04-02T17:16:00.000-07:00

250th Post on the Fine Grind

(While in Redlands we visited the Loma Linda childrens hospital)

The boys and I finished up Redlands with mixed results. The last stage was a killer day. Basically I got dropped on the first climb and suffered in the back pack for the rest of the day. Many guys didn't finish and I rolled out in the GC 88th, which was a finish, but still a half hour down.

The legs were definitely tired as we hit the first climb and there was simply no climbing or intensity left in them after the Crit.

The next day the team spilled out of our host houses who were great all week, and we started to make the hike up North. Josh, Roman and I decided to take a leisurely pace and did some sightseeing around Hollywood, the Coast, and San Fransisco. We stayed an extra night on the road but after much dodaling we still had to kill it driving all night to make it home on Wednesday Morning at 7am. The drive was pretty ridiculous and I think most of us are still feeling it today.

I got a chance to explore Portland today(we live in Vancouver Washington, just across the bridge from Portland), and its a neat little town. Roman and I just got back from the coffee shop, and I can see myself spending some time there. There is a theater just down the street that has $3 movies.

The house is a pretty sweet team house. There are 3 beds in the basement which will be my home for the next little while. Each of us have our own little space to spread out. After month of sleeping on terrible beds I finally have a killer killer bed. I slept like a baby for a solid 10 hours straight last night.

The family room is the hub of the house where the TV is always on and there are about 4 laptops always running. There is also a signed Yellow Jersey from Lance Armstrong to Norrene's Mom hanging on the wall.

As expected its rainy and cold.

Trail by Fire

2009-03-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

Both Redlands and San Dimas are proving to be character building races. These are some of the hardest races I've ever raced and its proving to be a lesson in how to get your ass kicked.

Simple mistakes prove to be the difference between finishing well and simply falling off the back. If you find yourself out in the wind, or try to gain position the wrong way of simply don't fight for the wheel infront of you, you find yourself off the back. For me the past 2 weeks have been a trial by fire into the world of Pro road racing. Its definitely been building my character as I'm basically getting my ass kicked.

Every day I've been riding until my legs simply don't work anymore. I throw myself into the gutter of what my body can hold and basically stay there. The thing about it is that its not that I'm out of shape, I just need to learn when to use energy effectively, and when to hold back, and let someone else to the work.

The time trial at Redlands was interesting. Another uphill TT of around 6km or something. I hopped on the new TT bike and gave it as hard as I could....which wasn't ideal...hah.

In the first 3 minutes I caught my 30 second man, but in the last part of the stage, which was 2km of climbing, some at 13% I simply hit the wall. Literally I guess.

I should have conserved a little bit more as I hit the wall with the 44x26(smalled ring) and blew up. And my 30 second man, re-passed me. I rode the bastard like my single speed pulling so hard on the bars I unraveled the bar tape. In the end I had a pretty crap time.

The road race proved to be pretty difficult as well. Some steep climbing, but the wind was the MAJOR factor. In a number of stretches the pack was overspun(no more gears to shift down to) and I was getting passed going 75-80km/h spinning my gear at 120RPM. Here is where pack positioning was key and I got caught out in a couple places wasting energy before the climb. In parts the pack would be riding going about 15-20km/h because the then headwind was so strong.

After that we hit the climb. I made it up fine 2 of the 4 times, but in the last part of the race I dropped back to grab a bottle from the feed zone and had difficulty getting back to the front before the attack. BAM. Dropped on that climb.

I rode the last lap with a small group and came in 10 minutes down. Its little decisions and bad moves that make the race.

Today was the Crit. It was my second Crit of the year and proved to be the fastest of my life I think. It was aggressive, super technical, and decently sketchy. 150 guys rammed through the corners and I told myself if I could hold on for 20 minutes, then I could finish the race. I rode my heart out for an hour and ten minutes, but then just couldn't close the gap, and fell off the back, 20 minutes before the finish. I was simply spent. I couldn't pedal anymore. I finished covered in dirt and road grime(from being at the back on of the pack) with my own snot and spit dried all over my face and legs.

Again, the problem isn't that I'm out of shape(overtrained probably)its that I waste too much energy being at the back of the pack, where I should be at the front sitting in the slipstream. I was up there for the Crit on and off, but I just didn't fight for the wheel aggressively enough and in the end dropped back and paid for it.

The team is doing pretty well. Even Elkin our coach/old guy/ super strong rider got 9th today in the Crit and is riding a good race. There are a humps in the road with all of us, but for the whole the team is doing pretty well for jumping into one of the toughest races of the year. The NZL guys are riding great.

Tomorrow is a pretty insane stage. It will probably be the toughest race of my life as its pretty much all climbing. We go up a pretty serious climb 12 times, for 150ish km. What I'm telling myself now is to simply try to stay in the first part of the bunch, save energy where ever I can, and be aggressive in staying toward the front.

From there we go up to Portland....and my new home. Its 17 hours of driving, and I have the choice of doing it straight through, leave after the race and arrive Monday morning, or go slack and arrive on Wednesday. From there we have another stage race in Oregon on the weekend.

Busy Time

2009-03-25T20:42:00.000-07:00

Busy Busy Busy lately. The team made it to Redlands and the past few days we've just been cruising around having easy rides trying to keep the legs fresh for the upcoming race. I got the new TT bike today and spun it around the course for about 2 hours, but it felt super weird being the first time on the funny bike since last year. It will take a while to work out the bugs for sure.

We have been staying at host housing and but unfortunately I don't have wireless Internet so updates are going to be sparse.

We visited the Loma Linda Children's hospital here in Redlands and hung out with the kids in the Cancer ward. It was good to get the head out of bike racing for at least a couple hours. I hope they had fun. Roman was the man who stole the show I think. It puts things in perspective that little things in our bike racing lives aren't usually a big deal when you see 10 year olds dealing with Cancer.

LINK

http://www.pe.com/localnews/lomalinda/stories/PE_News_Local_N_bike25.4818c76.html

For some reason they chose my ugly mug for the promotional cards....

Mixed Bag

2009-03-21T10:15:00.000-07:00

The days have been passing quickly as there is lots going on and lots to do. St. Pattys day came and went, and although I spent it watching TV taking an easy night(as I seem to every year this time of year) I made sure to celebrate the occasion a little bit.

A couple days later Josh and I said good bye to Tucson, as we packed up the car and headed for California to meet the rest of the team, and to start our first big race of the year, the San Dimas Stage race.

We were weighted down pretty heavy as both of us took everything we own for the next 8 months. It was so tight I couldn't find room for my pillow when it was all said and done so I had to hold it on my lap the whole 8 hour drive.

We arrived in California and are bunked up in some great host housing. The climate in California is great(so far) other than the smog, but its a nice change from the heat and dessert of Tucson.

The next morning we rolled out and met the rest of the team. I picked up my new race bike aswell, equipped with our new wheel sponosr Rolf Wheels, and Sram Force instead of Rival. On the scale, with heavy bars/stem/seatpost it came in at 16.5lbs. If I can EARN the Super Carbon Race wheels the team has for the GC leader, it would come in under the UCI weight limit I think. I also got to check out my new TT bike. Its not 100% uilt up yet, but is a pretty sweet rig.

With that we checked out the 6km Prologue uphill time trial. After a couple times up it, we kept on riding over the ridge. It was a little bit more climbing than most of us wanted coming in at 3 hours of 80% climbing, before an uphill TT but the riding along the ridge was some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. Its neat how a lot of bike races are organized to promote an area for tourism. Although the race brings the cyclists much horrible pain, its almost worth it to see such great areas. So far the scenery in California has been good to me.

At one point in the ride I was suffering and when looking around at the other guys they all seemed to be pedalling pretty swiftly. I couldnt understand what was going on as they were in their easiest gear as was I. I had fleeting thoughts that maybe my power was down? After the TT yesterday Dave(team director) told me he put on a 23T cassette(when I thought I had a 26, which was on the training bike I was riding before). Hmmm

The next day we had a light spin followed by some coffee shop time then some down time before heading over to the hill again to start the prologue. I was starting later so I had to wait around a little bit. I would rather go first just to get the damn thing over with.

When I was at Guadeloupe last year, the race there was huge. Lots of spectators, lots of organization and tons of riders. The race was a really big event. While warming up and riding around the race site I get the same feeling at this race(even though its pretty small compared to an NRC or World Cup) There are a ton of riders, organization and lots going on. I feel these are the types of races I want to be in, and feel I should be in. Its weird riding around seeing all of the guys in the mags you read about for years.

With that, my prologue was decent. I wanted to go hard the last part of the race. I took it easy for the first, third but think I went too hard in the middle, just kind of cruising in over the line unable to sprint.

As soon as I crossed the line I simply stopped pedalling. I unclipped and almost fell over not being able to get enough air. After a couple seconds of recuperation I was able to spin down the hill again. It was an odd feeling.

With that effort I netted an 81st place(of 150). Not great, but pretty much mid-pack. Being the first TT of the year its hard to know what to expect. I know I can do much better, but its a matter of getting into a rhythm of racing I think.

With that, we race this afternoon 140km(ish) on a circuit which is pretty much up or down it seems. There is 1, 13% hill in it, but we do it 12 times. We'll see how it goes.

____________________UPDATE_______________________________________

So......The road stage didn't go so well. I can honestly say it was the craziest fastest, sketchiest Race I've ever been in. The first 50km were insane. It was one of those races where you NEEDED to be in the front part of the race and if you stopped constantly moving up and fighting to the bike length in front of you, you found yourself at the back of the pack. The roads were super tight.

I thought Quebec racing was aggressive compared to BC racing, but man that race was insane. On the third lap, I had a fleeting thought that I forgot to give Dave my Emergency info before te race.

Being the first big race of the year it was a real eye opener. I went as hard as I could to maintain position on the climb, but after the 5th lap of going as hard as I could in the big ring, up a 13% climb, I just slowly started to slide through the pack. Once we crested the climb, I was still in the group, but you had to fight for your position on the downhill and once it ended a small gap formed in front of me, and I simply couldn't close it. From there I slid off the back of the pack. I don't think it was simply too hard, I think I burned way too many matches on the climb and fighting for position. Ideally you can slide in and out of the pack efficiently, but I'm just not use to that at this stage of the game. It was a real eye opener just how important pack position is.

From there I joined a group just off the back, but the pack steadily gained time throughout the race. We raced for the last 70km(ish) but were pulled going onto the last lap. 12km from the finish. It sucked pretty hard.

So now here I sit listening to the pouring rain heading out for a training ride in the mountains as we were pulled so I cant start the Crit. The worst part is that it shows up as a DNF, where we still rode hard to try to finish the race.

Ahhhhhhhh sucky...

Onward and Upward

2009-03-16T10:42:00.000-07:00

I am now counting down the days before leaving Tucson on Wednesday. With the times spent here, some good some bad, I am now taking the time the enjoy the last couple days I have here. Although I don't see the sights, experience the nightlife, or learn the culture down here, this place I realized last night is almost a second home in a way.

The past few(5?) years have been constant travel for me, where the only place I've been more than once, (other than PEI) is here. I pretty much have the layout of city down pat in my head, and when thinking about a specific road or a specific place I find I can norrow down where it is, pretty easily in my head. Something I could only do with PEI before hand. While thinking about this, it gave me a weird feeling.

Training is progressing. Yesterday Josh and I headed up to the peak of MT Lemmon. Although both of us had a pretty terrible day on the bike in the 5 hour Shootout ride the day before, we pushed onward and upward to the peak. In a normal day, with this much fatigue, I wouldn't have climbed that much, but seeing as how we're only in town for another couple days, and I haven't been to the peak this year, it was a must do.

I find I only go all the way to the top once a year. Sure, I ride the hill to do intervals or whatever, but never really push the whole 26(ish) miles to the top. Usually its so cold and friggin windy that its more of a pain than anything. It is really beautiful up there though.

So on we pushed. The grades averag around 5-7% which is not mellow, but not killer either. Its just a good climb with a decent shoulder. The factor that makes it tougher is it last 26 miles.

Up and up it goes switch-backing over the crazy moon terrain. Slowly, as I mentioned before the scenery changes and you go from 25degrees at the bottom to snow on the top. You have to make sure to pack arm warmers, knee warmers a vest and gloves at least.

After about 2 hours(the Garmin died) of climbing we pulled into the ski resort at the top. Last year as a treat, I got the legendary pie at the cafe up there. $8 was a little steep for pie, so I decided to test out the massive cookies at the Cookie Cabin. Honestly, this makes the climb worth it. These cookies are pretty unbelievable. At first I was taken aback by the $5 price tag, but then I saw the size and tasted the deliciousness of the cookie let me tell you, it was well worth it.

If I had known the cookies were that good, I would have ridden up there more often.

After a coffee, a hot chocolate, a cookie...and another half cookie that I swindled, Josh and I made the decent back home. I stupidly forgot my gloves, but it has been warmer up there than years

past I think. Last year I nearly froze to death descending the mountain.

We cruised into town with a ride time of just over 5 hours. A great way to cap of riding week for me of just over 28-29 hours. I was happy to roll into the house, with a gut still full of cookie.

Afterword I said to hell with the diet and Josh and I went to La Salsa for some franchise Mexican food. The burrito, chips, and Taco were all delicious, but I can definitely notice it on the scale this morning.

As I wake up this morning with cup of coffee number 2 in my belly I'm off to clean the bike. After that I think a nap may be in order.

On Wednesday we say farewell to Tucson and head to California for the San Dimas stage race. No more fooling around as the real racing starts. Yikes!

STALEMATE

2009-03-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

The squirrel and the neighbors dog had a stalemate today. I was hanging around the house when I heard this horrible squawking(squirrel) followed by the most annoying barking.

This went on for 4 HOURS......NO JOKE

Delicous Tacos

2009-03-12T19:06:00.000-07:00

(I think these are Almond Trees?)

Back on the bike again. I only have 5 more hard days in a row before I get some time off to travel to California for the San Dimas Stage Race.

Yesterday was a pretty sweet 6 hour ride out to the Madera Hill again. This time I seemed to feel a little bit better. The scenery is so nice out there, the 20%+ grades not so much though.

(Up Madera)

(Down Madera)

I started going to a new cafe too. It was my fav from last year, and oh no the sweets are deadly. I think the coffee is better too. Life is good!

Its kinda a 'hipster' cafe so you get a good mix of University students, dirty hobos and crazy bike geeks. (oh yeah...all the hobos in the US migrate to Tucson during the winter). Everyone seems to be in a balance though with guys in buisness'casual' working on their Macs, and students with tattoos everywhere who havnt bathed in days with a fine layer of dessert dust on them ...ahh working on their macs.

(Crazy weird erosion)

Today was a pretty intense double day. Intervals in the AM, Intervals in the PM. I found a killer killer climb by the house. I didn't have the Garmin, but it felt pretty steep. The upper part of the climb is an access road for the UofA Biology class that switchbacks into a remote area on top of a small mountain. Its paved and I was in my 39x26 and I was having trouble getting up. Hoo man.

Ahhh another 5-6 hours tomorrow, then the Shootout!

Thumping

2009-03-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

I've been on the run the past few days. I'm in the middle of a pretty hectic couple weeks of training and I'm definitely feeling it. On Thursday I made a hike up to the infamous MT. Lemmon, I only had some quick threshold intervals to do, so I only went up to mile 11(of 29).

I forgot how nice it is up there. Its hard to believe this whole area thousands of years ago was all covered in water as an inland ocean. The whole area has its distinct look because of this, and even most of MT Lemmon is the way it because it in fact was covered under water. The higher you climb the colder it gets, and the terrain changes from Tucson-like dessert shrub, to plains and rolling terrain, to full on forest BC like trees where the ski area is at the top of the mountain. Its really a beautiful ride.

So the next day after a hard week was the Prologue of the Tucson Bicycle classic. I intended that stage/day to be a rest day as it was only like 6km. I figured I would spin there, ride my heart out and spin back for like a decent 3.5ish hour ride. WRONG

So somehow the winds on that particular day picked up like insane insane crazy. Usually a 45 minute ride, turned into a 1.5 hour ride.....just to get to the frigging Prologue spot. The winds combined with the rush hour traffic, combined with the traffic from the train that scoots through Tucson left this guy realizing he might miss his prologue time!(Anyone who has seen trains in the South knows you can wait at a railway track for like....20 minutes easy)

Anyway so I was doing the math in my head as I was riding and getting closer and thought.....oh no, so I steadily picked up the pace faster and faster. Eventually I was riding and feeling like I was going no-where fighting with the winds going over Gates Pass(picture the T-hill climb x 3-4km).

The time trial to the time trial was like a half hour of hard as I could go. I managed to roll into the starting area huffing and puffing as my 30-second man went down the ramp!

I threw off my helmet, popped on my TT helmet and got onto the start ramp and promptly rolled off with no-one holding me hopping on my bike and clipping in as I rolled down the start ramp. I rode the TT as hard as I could even though I was cooked beyond belief. Complete with saddle bag.

So I ended up 38th of 44. Which is pretty horrible. I would rather that place, however than missing a start time!

In my own defence. To put it in perspective how strong the winds were/traffic cluster, I rode to the same area where the TT was a couple days later for the Circuit race, leaving at the same time and I had enough time to get a coffee and sit for 20 minutes before the Circuit started.

So I was pretty cooked. My rest day, turned out to not be very restful.

The next day we had a 130ish km RR which had a gradual climb and super fast downhill. Being the second race of the year the intensity was killing me! After a long week with 5 of the 6 training days being intense I definatly was feeling the pace.

Right off the gun, in the first 15 minutes I noticed a break go off the front with most of the teams being represented. I said to myself "Ryan, this is the break you want to be in" So I lunged out of the pack and tried to bridge up to break. I got about 5 -7 seconds from the break-away when I looked back and a guy had done the same and was riding with me. Unfortunately he had brought the pack with him and my attempt to get into the break was all for not.

From there the day just got worse and worse. The legs kept up with the crazy accelerations and I was doing fine. Josh was sitting in a top 20 spot in the GC, only a couple seconds out, so I worked the front of the main pack with a couple other guys to try to bring back the break, which I just mentioned. It was pretty negative racing as the only two teams who could actually help just ended up messing everything up and fighting amongst their team-mates and yelling at everyone. It really was childish racing.

After some time on the front the pack split up again and I found myself in a bad position. My legs were just so cooked I couldn't make the second split and I was relegated to the second part of the break. Luckily Josh was in the middle pack, and had a decent day there.

The accumulation of the bad day was when I then got a flat on the last lap and had to chase to get back into the end-group. The neutrel wheel car didnt have a SRAM cassette in the back of the truck. So, he had to go into the of the cab of the truck to grab it. Of course the truck had automatic locking doors and it took awile before both the guys could get the frigging wheel out of the truck.

What a way to end the day. Your legs are cooked beyond belief, you have an insane head wind up a climb, and you just got a flat. I kept saying to myself " Ryan, well your the last guy in the race.....the last guy in the GC" What a day.

Eventually I made it back into the group and finished 22nd of 45ish on the day. Still like 15 minutes back from the winning break.

The next day was a 50mile Circuit race. I was barely alive as I pedalled to the course. I was offered drives by a couple other races but for some reason I wanted to ride there. The idea of just coasting to warm up for an hour at like 20km/h was sooooooooo appealing.

As I was riding I was pretty much falling asleep I was so cooked. As I mentioned I went to coffee shop and got an espresso and sat in the sun and enjoyed it before getting involved in the pain I knew was on the horizon. Luckily the espresso kicked in and I started to feel great!

The Circuit started like a bat out of hell. Instantly off the line guys attacked. The pack was strung out within the first 15 seconds and I found myself in my drops staring at the wheel in front of me thinking ...."Holy shit....there is no way I'm going to survive"

I know its negative, but its not that you just give up, its simply your legs cannot pedal any harder or faster.....in your mind the logical thing to do is to pull over on the side of the road in the dessert and have a nap in the dirt.

The pace was pretty insane the whole race. I really had to work the pack to stay in and lots of guys simply dropped off. There was a gradual climb which the Slipstream Devo guys just hammered up. I had to go into the pain cave that's for sure.

A group of guys split the pack and I found myself in no position to try to get in it. After the week of hard training and racing I was so so so cooked. The race ended fast, but not insanely fast and I stuck in it finishing in the second group. I think overall I got 28th of 35 or something.

Josh did great getting into the break and finishing 6th on the day. I think 13th? overall. In the money!

The race was obviously nothing to scream about for me. the main goal now is to try to recover from the intensity and try to come out stronger. I took yesterday completely off, and I think I might just go for a spin today. Yesterday the resting HR was pretty high which is normal after so much intensity, but today its back down and lower than I've ever seen it at 36bpm.

The rest of the week has some pretty big rides with riding from Wednesday all the way until Monday(I think) Lots of hours and a couple 6 hours days I think. I'm going to try to get to the top of Lemmon at least once and to the Madera climb a few times, in prep for Tour of Gila which is basically all climbing. Then we head to California again!

Over and Out!

Cloudy Days

2009-03-05T09:12:00.000-08:00

It hit me today. Usually during periods of lots of training you are constantly tired. Well, up until yesterday I was fine, but this morning I'm pretty cooked. I'm on my second cup of coffee, but it isn't doing much.

After Yuma I took a coffee shop day, but Tuesday was a double day. Some intense intervals were in order of .45 seconds and I decided to explore the crazy crazy climb in my neighborhood that Josh pointed out. I figure I'm sucking on the steep grades, so I might as well work on it.

The Garmin doesn't lie and parts of this beast go up to 22%! Its basically a grind in the 39x26(yeah we have 26's) but I'm hoping it will build some decent attacking speed/power. I'm just glad that ride is over. Later in the day called for a pretty chill 1.5 hours which I took the liberty

of stopping at the coffee shop before the ride.

Yesterday was a monster. A standard 6 hour ride turned into 6.5 hours and a crazy 210km! Usually when I have a ride that long I throw in some mountains to climb just to fill in the time, but I figured with the climbing the day before, and today I have some climbing I opted for a flatter day. Well the average speeds were up I guess as I seemed to rack up the miles.

Though I'm tired the resting HR this morning and the past few days has been hovering around 39BPM(Lance's was 26 during tour time) which was around what it was this time last year.

Today is another double day scheduled. We'll see how it goes.

(I think I saw a domination porno once called the 'Roasted Nut Crunch')

This weekend is the Tucson Bicycle Classic. Its made up of a short 6km TT, a road race, and a Circuit race. Thank god there isn't any Crits. Stupid American crits.

I'm trying to give the blog something other than what my boring day to day life consists of. I think its kind of selfish just telling people what I do everyday. I guess that's that point of the blog, but I'm trying to give it something else other than my life.

Now for something completely different.

I just finished reading 'Confessions of an Economic Hitman' Josh knows this book well, despite not reading it, as every time I see him I usually tell him to read it at some point. Basically its about a guy who works for a major American Electrical Corporation that goes into developing countries who have natural resources(IE Oil/water/minerals). His job is to convince them to upgrade their country with new technologies and electrical needs in order for that country to develop into a 'Modern' new player in the world.

Basically he convinces them to go into debt to the United States. Once the country becomes in debt with a loan they cannot possibly pay back....they US then can control this country and use what they have when needed. Sound framilier...Panama...Venesuala...Iran...Iraq(failed attempt, but they got it anyway;))

Its a TRUE/Memoir written by John Perkins and really is fascinating. After reading it you'll never watch the news the same again. Especially American News.

With that, its time to finish cup number 2.

Yuma!

2009-03-02T10:43:00.001-08:00

The first race of the year went decent but not great. Josh and I rolled into Yuma about an hour before the crit after a steady 4 hour drive. Nothing too exciting except for seeing blatant boarder jumpers running out of the bushes into parked cars on the side of the road.

The Crit in downtown Yuma was super, super technical. It took me awhile to get the hang of things being on the new bike. Right off the gun the race started on a climb and we charged in the pack into the super sweeping corners, with surprisingly decent pavement. Most crit organizers I find try to kill to riders putting these races on roads that wouldn't be fit for a mountain bike.

About 20 minutes in I found myself in no-mans land between the front group and the back group. I charged with all I had to try to bridge up the split then BAM! I blew. We came around the corner to the climb and I was dropped. I finished the rest of the race with a group of guys who were also dropped and sprinted to a meager 15th place.

Josh had a great race making the split and working like a dog to get 8th.

Last year this race had over 100 people in the Pro/Cat 1 pack. This year because of a race in California on the same weekend and the fact most people got shelled the year before only 20-25 people showed in the Pro/1 pack. It made for some interesting racing.

Some of the guys were on top form and have been in Tucson since October training(?). Then there are guys like myself who was hoping to hold on to get some racing experience.

The main point of the race for me was to build leg speed for the upcoming bigger races like Redlands and San Dimas, along with getting some longer racing miles. The best way to build the speed is through racing. But is kind of a bugger to get into the swing of things.

The road race went better. It was 112miles of pancake flat roads. The biggest elevation gain was over the overpass. This can be deceiving though as the winds in the area are sometimes insane!

We started at a brisk 7:15am. Anyone who has been to the dessert knows its FREEZING this time of day. It was so cold I could see the riders breath as we rolled on the first lap.(Later that day it was 90degrees).

Because there were only about 25 guys in the race it made for some odd dynamics. The first 80km were basically just an attack fest. Breaks would form then get brought back then counter attack upon counter attack would come. The pack would then settle down and more attacks would come. I sprinted full out as fast as these legs could spin probably about 139 times in the race.

Halfway through two guys went up the road and the pack simply didn't chase. It was kind of odd actually. Then Josh decided it would be a good time to try something and took a flyer off the front. Later on another guy went a bridged up to him and this was basically the race. From that point on it was pretty chill. I still had to sprint like a madman to stay in the first 10 guys as there was a lot of cat and mouse games, but my work day was over after Josh went for it.

His little legs managed to power out front with the other guy who bridged up to him and he took 4th.(Two guys were up the road from earlier).

The last 45 minutes the notorious winds picked up and I found myself in the gutter with a crazy cross wind just trying to hold on until we made the turn for the sprint finish. The last 10km were crazy as we had a downhill sprint, with an insane tailwind. I was maxing out the 53x12/13 just trying to keep up with the attacks.

In the end I sprinted for 7th in the pack, which placed me 11th in the race(I think).

Josh got 8th overall, and I took 13th.

(This is the only picture I took all weekend... of our hotel room. I think we got the porno sweet as it was one bed, with one wall covered in a huge mirror, then a pretty big mirror on the other wall. Besically you could watch TV facing anywhere in the room. I'm surpried there wasnt a mirror on the ceiling.)

Overall it was a good weekend. I'm happy with how the legs faired out and I definitely built up some speed and intensity in them. Josh I'm sure is super happy as he had a great race. Today, I'm crazy tired from the longer miles, travel, and bump in intensity. I went to bed pretty early last night and woke up super early. That just means I waste more time on the Internet and drink too much coffee. Ahh my stomach is hurting.

Next week we have to Tucson bicycle classic which is a Crit, RR, and TT. I don't think my TT bike is going to arrive in time.....hmmm.

Man, the dollar is taking a beating. I'm too scared to look.

2009-02-27T17:36:00.000-08:00

The blog just went over 15,000 page views.

The Progression

2009-02-27T17:16:00.000-08:00

Popped the first saddle sore of the year the other day. Feels like I'm riding on a cloud now(or the Orbea Orca). Who knew jabbing your genitals with a needle could feel so satisfying.

Coach Luc is in the process of killing me slowly. I started the first real serious training of the year. Mixing in intervals, and longer rides along with some racing. Its all a mixed bag and its one of those things it will either kill me or make me stronger. Keep checking that resting HR.

Tuesday I hopped into some intervals which I did on some pretty nice rolling terrain. The legs were still stiff from the car, and I was still tired from the travel but it woke me up a bit. Wednesday was a great ride topping in at 5.5 hours. I've learned the hard way that the winds change like clockwork here in Tucson. For some reason I cant seem to learn from this as I usually have a killer headwind up the 45minute climb to start the ride, then another even worse headwind all the way home.

After some relaxing and putting the feet up I headed out for a great 6 hours the next day. First 6 hour ride of the year over some killer hills. Once again I hit the headwind up the Mission climb, and had it all the way home...this one was a bastard though. After 6 hours, 6 bottles, a muffin, 2bars, an apple and a can of POP I was pretty much swearing it this stupid headwind.

In that ride I threw in the Madera climb which I haven't done fully yet this year. All of the riding I've been doing has been on like 2-5% climbs, but Madera averages probably 6-9% then ramps up to a crazy 20%(according to the Garmin).

(Run to the Hills)
Going up it I was hurting like crazy as I haven't really don't anything that steep yet this year. Yikes!

Today was an easier day where I plotted along and saw Bill the foot doctor to pick up my new insoles. Of course I forgot the new Mavic Pedals with Dave in California, so it'll be awhile before I pop on my new shoes.

Tomorrow is my first race of the year. A Crit in Yuma Arizona(yes, same place as the movie) then followed by a 112Mile road race on Sunday. First time ever I will plop down that new pro licence. I'm scared shitless.

A Big Post. The Tour of California Road Trip

2009-02-23T12:02:00.000-08:00

Wow. The past few days have been crazy. I haven't been able to check my mail since Thursday as we've been on the run the whole time. On Thursday Josh and I headed to California for some Expo/training camp at the Tour of California.

We didn't arrive until late and didn't get to sleep until way past my usual bedtime. The event lifestyle, of course, had us up super early to catch the continental breakfast before heading to the race sight to set up some tents and stuff for Orbea and LandRover.

On the first day(stage 6 day of the TT) we got to ride a SUPER nice loop in Solvang. We hopped into the journalists ride and it was fun to chat with the guys who put out the literature that keeps us all up to date in the cycling world. It was especially neat to ride with Zapata Espanosa(sp?) the legendary MTB journalist who I've been reading since I picked up my first MTB mag in 1999.

That was also the first day on the new bike. We get a training bike, Race bike and TT bike, and the night before I hastily set up the training riggus at 11:30 at night. On the ride I definitely noticed things I had to change but for the most part the bike was great! Honestly the Orbea Orca is probably the best bike I've ever ridden. Its so so so stiff, but still rides great and is such an unique looking bike. I am very very pleased with it.

The training bikes get Sram Rival, and the race bikes get Force. Its been taking time to get use to the rival, but its breaking in and so are these fingers which have ONLY used Shimano. we've been experimenting with the new S60 and S80 wheels and both are very solid. The S80s are little hard to handle in some situations for obvious reasons, but they definitely have their place and would be deadly on a flat stage.

The ride in Solvang was probably the nicest ride I've ever done. This place is amazing. Everything from the little Dutch town, to the roads, to the community. I think I might look to go there next year to train as opposed to Tucson. It really is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.

When I think about the trip I think about being stuck in traffic. With long transfers often in rush hour time, many many hours were spent being stuck in traffic multiple times of the day around LA and southern California. Its just how it is down there I guess.

The next day the boys and I headed up a monster 10mile climb in Pasedino(I think) The ride itself wasn't super long but crazy intense as most of us just ended up attacking each other all the time. Originally the team had 4 guys there, me, Evan Elkin(who headed home the day after we got there) Josh of course, and Carson Miller.

We climbed to the top with me hitting the wall about 6 miles in, then the boys attacked the shit out of me and I was left to struggle up the last little bit. It was all in good fun though and the legs

felt decent for not having any intensity in the legs.

Later that day we worked the LiveStrong booth. We probably gave away a million bracelets and got quite a bit of money I think. Its one of those things where people just walk by throw money at you and take a bracelet. Toward the end of the stage it becomes INSANE.

Later that night we had a photo shoot for Orbea and Land Rover for some advertising. It was SO PRO as we went to the studio and got all kitted up. It was pretty sweet. More on that later.

Another long transfer with a late night and an early morning and we headed toward San Diago(or the whales vagina as it translates) and we did another great ride under cloudy skies. Instead of one giant mountain we climbed a lot of little(meaning like 3-5km) hills and worked in part of the race course. We climbed up part of MT. Polamar which is super super nice and which had thousands of spectators all along the way. It was really great to see these courses and the people.

I started to modify the Orca to get the new girl the way I want her, and on this ride it really started to feel comfortable. We again attacked the shit out of each other with the 130pounders usually taking the crest of the climb. It was great to have someone to chase for a change.

This was the last stage and after the ride and some hanging out Josh and I hit the road. The drive proved to be a long one and I didn't hit the hay until 3am this morning. Needless to say I'm so cooked as I write this.

Although we didn't put in the big miles this week, the rides we definitely great. We had a solid 3 days of short rides which were crazy intense. Not only did I get to see beautiful amazing parts of California, but also met my teammates, directors, and all the great people at Orbea.

Hats off to Eric, and Dave the team director as he probably only got an average of 4 hours of sleep a night keeping the operations going, even volunteering to sleep on the floor. If I'm cooked after 3 days this guy must be a Zombie. So many behind the scenes thing that have to be taken care of. Thanks Man!

Being my first time at the Tour of California it was interesting to see bike racing on such a grand scale. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people were at the event at each stage. It really was amazing to see so many people at a bike race on North American soil.

We today I'm tieing up loose ends and having a coffee shop day. All of the traveling, transfers, and intensity leave me wanted to simply do nothing.

This post is Un-edited

2009-02-19T09:25:00.000-08:00

I went to the foot doctor to get set up with some insoles. As I mentioned the guy has worked with pretty much every US Pro team since Motorola, so he knew his stuff. It was funny because before looking at my feet he put me and my bike on the trainer and looked at my pedalling style. Right away he noticed quite a few wonky things.

So I hopped off my bike and sat down the bench leaving a giant bagbalm stain that I tired to clean off after, but with no luck.

He started taking all different kinds of measurmets of my feet, and leg ligaments and found a number of crazy stuff.

For years I knew something was wrong, but I just tried to ignore it. This year the problem with my left leg was especially bad. In times when trying to put the pedal to the metal it felt like my leg just couldn't go the place where I wanted it to go. There was just no way I could push the pedal down comfortably. Not to mention I was getting crazy saddle sores for years.

I suspected one leg was longer than the other for years, and after a number of tests and measurements the Doc confirmed it. All this time the damn Left leg was 4mm shorter than the right.

So, with all the measurements I should be getting my new orthopedics next week. Among getting my feet molded(the left foot was SUPER messed up too) the doc also made some suggestions on my position. Some after looking at myself in the mirror just made sense, and in turn are a good thing.

Other things he did were:

-4mm shim on the Left cleat

-After a bunch of measurement moved my left cleat 5degrees(which is huge)

-moved both cleats back to the furthest position possible.

I found it interesting that he said most cycling shoes are sooooooo far behind the times. In a sport soaked in tradition where every company copies every other company it was funny how some of the things he was saying made sense. 95% of shoes on the market are designed with bad ergonomics in that it is impossible to put your cleats as far back to attain optimal force for the foot.

Anyway. So I rode home and didn't really notice much, but on the next day I felt a huge difference. Honestly the way I'm set up now(with old shoes and NO orthopedics yet) I have never been as comfortable on a bike in my life. It feels like when I need to push down, my leg has the ability to go where it needs to.

I've been having a couple great days. Tuesday was a solid 5.5 hours and another 170km ride. Then yesterday I did my intervals in the evening up MT. Lemmon. It felt great to get up that mountain first time of the year.

I did my drivers class yesterday morning. I had to be there at 7:30, and of course forgot the ticket so I had to bike home again to get it. Everyone in the class thought it was ridiculous/funny that I had to take the drivers class when I don't even own a car. Ridiculous.

Did you know that 1/8 drivers in Tucson have guns in their cars at all times?! Ridiculous.

There were 2 distinct groups that had a prejudice against them that I noticed in the class. One was cyclists. and the other were males 18-25. A lot of people on the class ragged on these groups when the time to vent came about.

With this in mind I looked around the class of 50 and at least 85% of the class were over 45. Many were over 60. If the 18-25 year olds were such bad drivers wouldn't the numbers of the class reflect that?

So, I'm typing this in a frantic while waiting for Josh to arrive. Today we head to California!

Over and Out.

Flat Feet

2009-02-16T10:13:00.000-08:00

Stress is a big part of being an athlete. Life is dictated by stress at all different levels. Stress on the body is what makes the body strong. 6 hour rides stress a body in a way to recover and become stronger as a result.

Interval training stresses the body in a different way in which has a similar effect. The body adapts, and becomes stronger.

The mind is no different. A strong mind in many ways has been stressed to a point where the mind in tern becomes strong. Look at Svein Tuft for example.

As I get older an the world becomes harsher and harsher(I know I'm in a bubble compared to most lives) and the innocence of my youth starts to fade away, problems, big and small arise. I'm realizing that throughout life there will always be problems big and small, and instead of dwelling on them, one must learn to let the big and small stuff remain(as there will always be problems) but not to dwell on them.

Anyone who really knows me knows that I am my own worst enemy in a lot of ways. My head when strong and clear cannot be beat. When its full of clutter I tend to be less calm, less 'happy' and more irritable. I think a real goal which I work on daily is to push much of the small stuff aside, and simple work on the bigger picture, as most problems seem to eventually work themselves out.

I had a very productive morning, being the last day of a rest week. I scheduled an appointment for a driving school to get rid of the ticket, which was luckily 5km away. $200 bones, is better than $260 bones(the ticket price). So on Wednesday hopefully I will walk out of the class a better driver, despite that fact I was on a bike(?!), and with one of the minor problems out of my mind.

I've also scheduled a Orthopedics appointment with a specialist in town. I've been having some weird problems since the Guadeloupe crash on my left hip which I've been going to physio for all winter. Corina did wonders and diagnosed the problem, but I want to make sure the 'power to the pedal' is as good as I can make it before turning the pedals as that leg I assume will always be a little wonky.

I was referred from a bike shop to this Orthopedics guy who is apparently 'THE MAN' when it comes to things like this. I hesitantly asked about what he did, and his former clients over the phone, and he replied....."Well, I've done every PRO team in the US since Motorola." hmmm good enough for me.

He cut me a special poor bike racers deal, and the price wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

I'm heading there today, so I'll give the play by play.

Over and Out.

Fill'er Up

2009-02-13T09:40:00.000-08:00

I've always heard the saying "Rest as hard as you train." Being a rest week I've taken full advantage of that.

Monday and Tuesday I simply did coffee shop rides that accumulated for about 3 hours of riding in total, mostly in casual clothes. Not only did the legs need a break, but also the head did.

Wednesday I hopped back into action with the old guy ride which is usually a chill effort for about 3 hours. The best part of the ride is that it kicks your ass to get out of bed at 7, to be at the ride by 8:30. This means that all the training is mostly done by noon, where you happen to roll into the coffee shop after the ride, to hang out and chat with all the crew. It really is a good spin to the mid-week hump. Then you have the rest of the day to do what-ever. Its great!

I might try to incorporate the Wednesday ride into a double-day next week.

Yesterday was a decent 4 hour ride starting off with Josh and coffee time. We chatted about our plans and the upcoming California trip while trying to avoid being shit on by the thousands of birds that hover around the Starbucks looking for treats. Josh wasn't so lucky as one of them got a direct hit.

It is impossible to efficiently carry enough water in the dessert for a 3+hour ride. When you get into the 5-6 hour rides a cyclist has to find a water source somewhere. This leads to stopping by the odd gas station to fill up on Gatorade, sometimes multiple times on a ride.

Because we rely on these pit stops so much, you start to develop a routine. One gas station in the middle of the dessert in particular I HATE going to. Its the one with the RoadRunner on the sign(every cyclist in Tucson knows it).

Of the probably 5 times I've gone there this year, there has been an employee there to make my experience terrible. Usually as I roll in, even before I get off my bike someone is there to yell at me from across the parking lot not to lean my bike against the wall....or the bench...or the plant, and definitely not to take it inside. Its one thing to say it in a nice way, but these people are just being bastards about it. Even when going to the counter to pay for your purchases, they usually treat you as if you stole their first born. Isn't there some saying somewhere that you should be nice to people who are your customers?

So, the past few rides I've been stocking up a little bit earlier, or waiting a little bit longer to avoid this place which has a prime location.

Yesterday while on the ride I was pleasantly surprised when I rolled up to the GasCity on Houton(first time being there), and promptly leaned my bike against a wood pile. A friendly employee saw me and in a super friendly way said "You can take your bike inside if you want."

I was kind of taken aback by his friendly-ness and smiled at him, while I walked my bike inside and leaned it gently against a wall.

Huh, thanks GasCity employee for being a nice guy.

Laundry Day

2009-02-09T10:45:00.001-08:00

The past few days were the last of the long days for this build period . I was pretty happy with my form after the 170km ride, but it appeared I went a little bit too far into the power reserves.

After a coffee shop day on Friday, I mounted the steed again for 4 hours on Saturday, everything was going great until I hit the wall at about 2 hours. Not even a Dr. Pepper could bring these legs back. I attributed the 'body bonk' to going a bit too hard on Thursday, and not eating enough on Friday. As a cyclist your always walking the edge between loosing weight and simply not eating enough calories to fuel a 4-6hour ride.

So, I cut back the 4 hour ride, and headed home after 3 hours. When the body needs rest its hard to argue with it.

That night I had a beer, and bit more desert, and headed out Sunday morning for the big final 5 hours. Everything went fine. I did loose some power the last hour, but I attributed it to FREEZING cold that has hit Tucson, and the rain which has been flying periodically the past few days.

(ahhhh that sucks)

I was starting to hit the wall, but luckily in anticipation of a bonk I bought a package of 4 Mr.Christie cookies, which definitely got me home. Those things are pretty much rocket fuel. hah

Well, today is beer and pizza day combined with a coffee shop day. I'm about to roll into town and do some errands along with fill my body with caffeine. Ahhhh yes, the perfect way to start a rest week.

The big miles start again next week.

2009-02-07T15:03:00.000-08:00

Two More

2009-02-06T10:40:00.000-08:00

Life is moving along.

Its turns out I mismatched the numbers wrong when figuring out the price of the right-hand-turn-ticket, and it is actually $290American. This thing is a nightmare hanging over my head. I called a friendly from the league of American Bicyclists, and she said she might get the court to wave the ticket if I take a 9 hour bicycle safely class. She said she needed a hand teaching the class as well. The other option is to pay $200 for a drivers safety class. Hmmmm.

Its funny because everyone I talk to seems to think the ticket is the most outrageous thing ever. The woman at the League of American Bicyclists was told about it and never heard of anything so ridiculous.

I called the court today to try to move the court date up, as I might be in California, and I gave her a briefing of what the ticket was about and she thought it was the most ridiculous thing in the history of man as well. It seem everyone does but the cop who issued it.

Moving on......

Riding has been going pretty good. the weather has been great in the low-eighties. I got 4.5 hours of Tuesday super chill, then I changed the pace and went out with an older group of great guys for a good 3 hours on Wednesday. The conversation was great, and the coffee shop run was a relaxer. We counted the amount of people at the table and between Pro cyclists, and snowbirds there were more Canadians than Americans. Hah

Thursday was an INSANE ride. I went out with one of Chloe's friends, Nick, who is heading off to Belgium in a few weeks. We did a pretty good out and back to the town of Mammoth, which has a killer climb. By the end of the day we had 170km in just over 5 hours, with over 1800m of climbing. I was pretty cooked, but luckily today is a rest day and a quick cruse to the coffee shop to loosen up the legs is in order.

(The old HR moniter had a blip on the decent I think)

Busy Police

2009-02-02T13:01:00.000-08:00

After a day off on Thursday to let the rash heal a bit with the help of the magic(an expensive) creme JF recommended, I was back on the road on Friday. After 4 hours on Friday I realized that the chaffing was mostly due to worn out(I think) chamois, so I devised a steady balance of

making riding bearable.

(I've been trying ot eat actual food as its cheaper, and better for you)

First off I cover the chamois with 2 kinds of chamois creme in different areas(different kinds of chaffing). The front part must have at least 1/8cup (no joke). After the ride I make sure to use the magic creme before I go to bed.

It stinks like fish, and stains the hell outta clothes, but it manages to heal the rash enough that I can stand riding. I love how I give daily updates on a rash on the blog. hah

So another seemingly successful week this week. 4 hours on Friday, 3 on Saturday, and the big push of 5 hours, 160km on Sunday. Nothing too killer, but it had a good amount of climbing.

I just got some pics of the new race rigs, hopefully I can mount the new steed soon.

Lock up your daughters, and put bars on your windows folks as Ryan Taylor from Canada is coming to town. This outlaw has been known to turn RIGHT on a RED light....without stopping in the middle of the remote desert. The devil works through him folks. The police in Tucson seem to have this character under wraps with his Right hand turning fiasco......$135 dollar fine.

That's right...I'm going to say it again....$135 fine for turning RIGHT on a RED light, without stopping...oh...on a bicycle.

Idiots.

The Plague has Come

2009-01-29T13:33:00.001-08:00

Things have been happening the past few days. Some good, some bad. I've been grabbing the occasional coffee with teammate Josh, I've also convinced him that the weekly beer and pizza day(Monday) is a good thing.

4 hours on Tuesday, 3.5 on Wednesday, and a hopeful 4 hours today. Well, after much biting of the lip I have decided to take a day or so off.

The rainy ride last week combined with the hot ride the day after has caused a horrible rash. I've been riding through it hoping the plague would die off, but no luck. After much pain with each pedal stroke, and barely being able to walk the night following most rides, I've decided to sit a day out.

On advice from Doc JF, I got about $40 worth of supplies from Walgreens and fingers crossed a couple days of nothing will put the end to this thing. What a nightmare.

On to other things......

Integration is something that is a sign of progress in our world. When things evolve in these times, integration is usually a sign of this. In the bike industry we see integrated headsets, now integrated bottom brackets and shifters.

In the business world, in times of recession we see integrated companies, who streamline all in the name of process and efficiency.

In humans, we see a new trend, integrated people(IE SheMales)

Now, I have seen the future, in the name of integrated footwear. Yes, integrated socks and shoes! All of this evolution for only $5 in the sale bin(from $19.99). I've decided I'm going to pick up the other 5 pairs before someone else sees the future.

2009-01-26T18:38:00.001-08:00

This operation is slowly starting to take form. I got the last piece of the puzzle yesterday. Its a healthy protection being SPF 4.

I've decided to move the old tans lines up a bit this year. You've been good to me the past few years tan lines, but its time to move on. Time to go to bigger and better things. Time to show more leg.

The past few rides I've been slowly upping the hours. I did a good 4.5 hour, 135km ride on Saturday, then went onward to the 5 hour on Sunday. Well. the body had different things in mind as it decided it only wanted to do about 3 hours.

I think the combination of travel, former sickness, and adaptation to the climate took its toll. I still put in about a 20 hour week, which is ok for the first week of the year. Under normal circumstances I don't think that would be a problem, but going from nothing(sick) to 20 hours was a little bit too much of a jump.

I've noticed I start to crave 4 things once training starts to ramp up. They are:

Peanut Butter: Man, its soo good. I could eat a whole jar just with a spoon. Its so deadly though.

Coffee Shop Run: There are few things I enjoy more than the coffee shop run. The feeling of being social while not talking to anyone all while enjoying coffee better than home. Oh yeah

Oatmeal: Its something I cant understand, but as soon as the big weeks hit I cant stand to have anything other than oatmeal. I could eat it breakfast, lunch and dinner, everyday of the week. I don't know what it is. The funny thing is that as soon as the season ends, and the structured training stops, I cant get enough eggs. I crave eggs the opposite way. Weird.

Civil War Documentaries. Even Weirder. I often catch myself on rides thinking about watching civil War documentaries. For some reason its all I feel like watching on TV. If they arent on TV I look for them online. I should become a re-enactor or something. I guess I would have to figure out how to grow a mustache before that happens.

New Dance Shoes

2009-01-22T18:41:00.001-08:00

New Dance Shoes

2009-01-22T18:33:00.001-08:00

Three hours in the pouring rain today....Yuck

Tucson sucks in the rain for 2 reasons. Basically the whole city is a giant crator with mountain ranges all around so water just fills the place. Usually the soil is so dry that it doesnt take any water and the streets get flooded like what happened today. It was like riding in a giant floating ashtray with cigaratte butts everywhere.....ahhh

Dusk

2009-01-22T10:10:00.001-08:00

The days continue. I'm starting to get use to this place a little bit more everyday. After three days of not sleeping and laying in bed all night, I finally had a decent sleep last night. Too bad I awoke to some rain this morning. Of all the time I've spent in Tucson, this is the second time I've seen it rain. The clouds seem to be parting though as I write this.

Yesterdays ride was a pretty good way to kick start the season. I went out with the intention of doing about 3 hours. Along the way I ran into Josh and we cruised for a good bit before parting ways. He was doing an assault on Mt Lemmon, which second day on the bike, I was having no part of.

I've been using googlemaps to map out my rides. I can usually get a decent judgement of how long it takes to rip a loop, and for the most part it shows all the decent side roads and connector roads as the main drags of Tucson really suck on a bike.

So it it turns out I horribly misjudged the loop I had planned and instead of doing 3ish hours, I ended up with a solid 4 hours, and just over 110km. That is usually a decent ride, but not for your second time on the bike.

At one point I was bonking about halfway through and I couldn't really figure out why. It was then that I looked at the ride plan on the Garmin and found I had been climbing gradually for over 25km in to a headwind. Ohhhhhh

So I said to myself...."Ryan, your half way through this ride in the middle of the dessert, and you might not make it home as your bonking....."

I decided to give in a get the first emergency Coke of the year. Second ride....pathetic.

After I managed to down the magic juice I had come around and had more energy than a 15 year old guy in a brothel. I managed to slide back home and killed some of Josh's Banana bread.

Don't get me wrong. Four hours was definitely more than I wanted to do yesterday. these types of rides aren't the things that make you fast second time on the bike. I dont think I went into the red, but it was definitely more than the body wanted to do. What can ya do when your out in the middle of the dessert though?

No Telling

2009-01-20T20:30:00.000-08:00

Ahhhh Tucson. I arrived in town last night around midnight. I knew the address to my place, and had a rough idea how to get there, but didn't have a map. So after the flight came in I frantically ran around the airport to look for a phone book to rip the map out of. Unfortunately someone had similar ideas and no map was found.

I went to a taxi/shuttle company thinking they would have maps, and they pointed me to the Tucson visitors guide. The guy and gal were super helpful until they found out that I wasn't using their service. At which point they promptly stopped talking to me and said they "cant help me anymore"

I was kinda bummed and angry as it was 4:00ish my time, and I was denied a map. It was then that my new team-mate Josh showed up.He offered me a ride from the airport, and I was never as happy to see a friendly face after about 14 hours of travel.

The guy even made me a loaf of banana bread, HOT out of the oven as he anticipated I wouldn't have any breakfast foods. WHAT A GUY! Ladies I will foreword his number to you.

So I arrived at my new place and promptly went to bed.

When I woke up this morning I puttered around a bit and scoped out the place. Chole and Tom(people I'm staying with) are super nice. Believe me, anyone who has had BAD living arrangements really appreciates when you can get good ones. I have a good feeling so far about this place and we all seem to get along great.

(My shack, where I will be living)

My room/shack is starting to grow on me. Its pretty minimal but that's all I want.

(What I see out the door)

I went out for a quick 65km burn to get the legs going. Its weird because last year I lived in Tucson, on the other side of town. So a lot of the roads are familiar but ...need to be backwards. I got lost on the way home today. I'm about 5km from the base of the legendary MT Lemmon. 27 MILES of up.

At this point I'm just trying to take it easy and get use to the place. Time to hit the hay.

2009-01-19T20:07:00.000-08:00

I’m now in Denver….In my travels today I’ve noticed a few things. One is that there seems to be a Cowboy convention in town or something as there are about 250 people with Cowboys hats. Interesting..

One thing that caught my interest was the availability of porn mags in the states in airports. I don’t know about everyone else, but I would feel really uncomfortable sitting next to someone for 4 hours while they read a porn mag. Maybe its just me, Maybe I’m missing out on something great in these airports. Hmmmm

I’m currently enjoying a Fat Tire ale in a wee pub in the Denver airport. The airport here is practically a shopping center, and they have decent pubs here.

To tell you the truth, I forgot how great the beer was in the US. So many Indie breweries and little nice ales. Ahhhhh man its soo good. Not to mention beer is so cheap you might as well drink it than water. Holy Moly.

I thought a fat Tire ale would good measure as I learned it was spawned from a mountain bike trip the brewmaster had. Anything that spawns from a sweet MTB adventure must be good.

On The Road

2009-01-19T20:01:00.000-08:00

Here I am sitting in the Charlottetown airport. Once again bad luck has struck me again with flights. Good luck did show its head through briefly. It seems in times like these, expect bad luck when dealing with airlines. The good luck happens when flights go the way they are suppose to go, IE no delays, a bag of free pretzels, luggage arrives, your stuff isn't confiscated,.....this my friends, is good luck.

My flights were delayed due to the rain in Charlottetown. Instead of getting out at 6am, I'm now going out at 1:30....wait...2:15...wait...2:35.....
This calls for a little bit more sleep in time, but which means arriving in Tucson at about 11:30pm or like 3:30 PEI time. Yikes!

I have enough books to read until November and I'm hoping to pick up a new cycling mag as most of the old ones I've all ready flipped though.

I had some great chatting with the boys and the lovely lady last night over some beers. We said our good byes, and despite the fact that leaving one life for another is starting to become routine for me, this time leaving dug a little bit deeper than normal. I'd like to think that my skin is becoming calloused when it comes to good-byes, but this time it seemed to get through the rough spot.

I picked up some compression tights. These things are suppose to promote recovery through compressing the muscle, and also claims to get rid of the jet-leg feeling in the 'ol legs. Well I'm giving them the trail today. When I put them on they felt like regular...tights that were too small, but now as I sit in the airport with them on I can defiantly feel them in the legs. MR. Laliberte swore by them, and Carson, one of my new teammates basically compared them to the second comming of Christ. With that review I decided to spring for them and give em a go.

I'll give a more complete review later.Until then. Adios.

2009-01-16T06:40:00.000-08:00

http://www.velonews.com/article/86570/the-coached-corner-tucson-training-camp

Good Article

This and That.

2009-01-15T08:20:00.001-08:00

I'm still doing nothing, taking 4 vitamins a day and downing a good smoothie to even things out.

I had a great dinner last night with Mr. Scott Dickieson. That guy leads a great life. The falafal was great as per usual, but the one beer left me feeling pretty tipsy. I'll be the first to tell you I'm an unbelievable lightweight when it comes to the beers, but this was just weird....must be the sickness.

One of the new team family wagons has arrived....It would probably be easier to pick up with this than compared with previous years on a woman's commuter bike. We'll see.

(Last years commuter)

(This years commuter)

Its cold...and I mean cold here on the East Coast of Canada. Its suppose to be -38C tomorrow. That's enough for my grandmother to bring out her snowsuit.

I Need a Witch Doctor

2009-01-14T08:07:00.001-08:00

The big day is approaching fast. Unfortunately my body isn't so ready to go. The persistent cold/flu keeps going and coming back. I haven't done a lick of exercise in 2 weeks in an attempt to fight it. I'm starting to go crazy.

Usually when I feel sick I cut back what I'm doing, try to go to bed a little earlier, and get up a bit later or minimalize my day to day activities in hopes of giving my body the rest it needs to fight the sickness.

After 2 weeks of fighting I've dropped everything I've been doing and basically just stay home and sleep/read/do things around the house in an effort to kill whatever is in my body. Yeesh.

With all the down time I've been able to prepare for leaving a little bit earlier than I have in previous years. Tieing up the loose ends is always something I leave to the last minute, but staying at home give me time to get the bikes ready for the big day.

Today's task is to finally build up last years TT bike that has been sitting in a bike box since Guadeluope!

The new Selle San Marco Concors have come in! These saddles are a pleasure to ride, and I was able to grab a couple of the 09 versions right out of the box from Italy through OGC(Thanks Dave!). Finally no seams!

Last night I popped one on the Casati, which will be my big miles bike until the new Orbeas Arrive. Of course that depends if the sickness ever leaves! Ahhhh

Roll Call! 2009 Land Rover-Orbea UCI Continental Team

2009-01-12T07:28:00.000-08:00

http://www.trubicon.org/node/165

Life is Good

2009-01-11T08:37:00.001-08:00

I'm going on over a week with no exercise as the cold seems to get a little better.....then get worse...then get better....then worse...ahhhhhh its driving me crazy. I have to continually remind myself that its better to hit Tucson with no cold and crappy legs, than it is to try to pedal while sick and hit Tucson in rough shape. Because of this simple problem I'm trying to enjoy some sick days.....but its hard to stay still.

I'm the type of person who gets bogged down by the little things. I tend to dwell on life's small problems that in the long run, tend to work themselves out. For some reason things like this tend to stick in my mind, but once they do eventually clear out, then a new problem always seems to present itself.

I wouldn't say I'm a negative person, its just the way I am I guess. Maybe its from being a perfectionist, or maybe I hold onto things, I don't know why, its just how it is.

Today when I woke up from a solid 10 hours of sickly sleep, I had an epiphany, as I do from time to time. For some reason the words of Harvey Chandler and Billy Doucette struck my mind. Anyone who knows these cats would agree with me that they seem to take the term "Life is Good" as their motto. No matter whats going on. These guys are an inspiration to well-being. In the years I've known both of them, I would say between them both, I wouldn't be able to count on one hand the days they were slightly negative.

While saying this in my head this morning, I analyzed my life. Yeah, its cold as shit outside and I'm sick and I have 14 000 things to do before leaving for the dessert next week, but ya know what,I have a pretty good life.

"Life is Good" I kept saying to myself. Not that I'm going to buy T-shirts from that crappy clothing brand that came out a few years ago, but its something that I told myself to repeat.

I realized that colds tend to go away, I have a great girl, great parents, great friends and the opportunity to follow a dream few people have the resources to run with. Even though training camp is pretty lonely, I have the opportunity to go to the dessert to do nothing but ride a bike in January, on a $10 000 bike, with 3 others on the way, and all the sweet gear I would ever need.

Taking a step back, that is pretty unreal.

Life is Good even without the gear. The bikes, the dessert, the good coach, etc etc etc, dont matter. Life is Good because I have the opportunity to chase a dream that I have been thinking of in my head since I was 12 years old. No matter if its biking, becoming a lawyer, a doctor, a professional clown or whatever.

Life is Good iF you fight for.... and have the opportunity to chase your dream

2009-01-08T14:51:00.001-08:00

Thank God these were recalled......what a death trap....eh Zack?

Horas

2009-01-08T14:39:00.000-08:00

I've been sick for the past week. Since New Years, I've had a persistent cold that doesn't seem to want to go. I've named it Horas the cold. I've been taking it easy staying off the bike and out of the gym in the hopes that Horas will go, but every time I think I have him on the run, BAM, the bastard comes back.

I went to the doctor today and told her about my relationship with Horas. After a quick check over with the usual pokes and prods, she determined that....yep, Horas is a cold. The whole Island is infected with these lot and she says 10-14 days is usually enough time for the fella to leave town. No exercise for a week leaves me feeling 400lbs. What else can ya do?

I did go to the gym last night and tried to chase out Horas with a couple squats and about 75% of my usual routine, but he still lingers.

Cold as a Witches Tit

2009-01-04T11:34:00.000-08:00

Now that the storm of New Years Day has passed, and the dust has settled, some of the riding crew of PEI grabbed their bikes for the annual New Years Day ride(plus 4 days). For me, this is honestly one of my favorite rides of the year. I truly get excited for this event. Not only do you get to ride and suffer in the cold with your buds(many of whom I've known since I was 12) but you also get to eat great food after in the small cabin where everyone meets.

There is usually more food than everyone can eat and its all great quality. This years feast included, salmon sandwiches, buckwheat waffles fresh off the grill, ribs, fresh corn chowder, (almost organic) vegetarian quiche, and perogies....mine and Eric's contribution.

Because of the re-schedule, the turnout wasn't as big as most years, but a good time was still had by all. The wind was pounding fiercely as we were right by the water....and well.... its the middle of winter in Canada. Its funny how PEI's main tourist attraction would probably be the beaches, but for most of the year they are pretty horrible to be around.

The past few days I've been thinking of New Years resolutions. What exactly can I 'give' up or try to improve in my life. With passing thoughts I couldn't really think of anything(other than cigar smoking). I know if I were to ask my friends what I should improve they would probably take a couple days and give me a list.

It was then that I realized that New Years is a day like any other. Why would I pick that specific day to realize something that should be changed, and try to use it as motivation to change it. "Eff it" I thought to myself. Every new day should be reason enough to change something you don't like about your self or whats going on in your life.

Here's to hoping I can keep my resolution.

Break in the New Year

2009-01-03T07:13:00.000-08:00

New Years came and went. This year I did something a little different by going to a New Years Gala. I managed to pull together a suit, and the lady and I were treated to a good meal and some great dancing. The liquor was flowing, but I stayed away from most of it. Yup, I had a 80% sober New Years, and it felt great.

Two things awaited me the next day. One was a pretty killer cold that I'm trying to fight off today, and an insane snowstorm that hit the Maritimes. A lot of my buddy's from the Gala had to spend an extra night at the hotel as there was no way to leave. They seem to be stuck with no food in a crazy nice hotel with nothing but fancy dress wear.

I stayed an extra day at the Lady's house, as the car was covered in about 6 feet of snow and the roads were impassable. Eventually I had to hit the trail and started to 2km walk to my place. Unfortunately, I didn't have any clothes other than my fancy suit, so I dressed head to toe in my 5,0" tall girlfriends winter garb. Luckily no one was around and managed to stumble into the house about 45 minutes later.