dans le Groupetto

Subduction Leads to Orogeny

2011-01-29T17:40:00.001-05:00

And orogeny allows people to accomplish things like this. Truly inspiring.

Crushin

2011-01-20T22:53:00.001-05:00

Having fun with training right now. We're in the annual deep freeze where the daily high rarely reaches over -20 so skiing really isnt an option. i bust out some trainer time when i'm home (which isn't much), so really the only option left is snowshoeing. Dejock and i did the Big Thunder ski jump a few times when he was up but the owners weren't happy so now i'm doing the Coppin Rd trails, basically an endless supply of trails over the Nor'westers and down to Superior. The loops are great and its real easy to get in some good hours and i can keep a pace that keeps my HR high so i'm not complaining at all. My Feb break looks like another epic road trip south, only this time i'll still be in ontario at the end of it.

Got word of the proposed TbayCC 40k TT course the other day, and if they decided to do it i think it will go down as one of the most difficult club TT courses certainly in ontario, and i'd put it up against any other in canada. i really hope they run with it for no other reason than it will be an awesome test for myself. i'll be surprised if i can even break the hour in full TT gear.

Some Purple Stuff

2011-01-11T18:10:00.000-05:00

yes it has been a while since my last post, but rather than lack of time or desire the reason i haven't posted is there isn't much to talk about. my day is pretty simple, up at 6:30, in the gym at 7:30, class from 9 til noonish, ski in the afternoon, back to the lab or library to do some work, class in the evening then its back at it the next morning. Not very exciting i know, but its the job and its got to be done. The workload is pretty tough at the moment, but Geology has a great group of guys and we chuck on some good beats in the lab and rip through til its done.

Below is a photo i took of Anorthosite under the microscope. each little patch of colours is a different mineral and its my job to ID each one, then play a game of clue to see what the name of the rock is. Seems pretty simple but unfortunately thats not so. For example the blue stuff in the middle is spinel, but it could also be sodalite, fluorite, or tourmaline, each of which could lead you into a thinking you have a different rock than you really do. Sometimes i get it right, most of the time im wrong but its all learning. Each rock takes about 45 min to properly ID and a list of 15 is standard for a weekly assignment. All that means is i have to budget my training, school and work time but for the moment it seems to be working.

2010-12-26T15:57:00.002-05:00

Its been a month since the truck arrived in out driveway and holly man its been great. Took her moose hunting after exams and she plowed through the snow like a sled and more recently she pulled an F350 out of the ditch, her crowing moment for sure. The subwoofer in the back was of huge help during exams as it killed my hearing so much I was able to concentrate during the 3h tests in The Thunder Dome.

Exams went well enough, I did enough to get into igneous processes and geochemistry, and pulled off a high enough mark in sedimentology so keep the GPA at a respectable location. This winter will be a new can of tuna as the degree of difficulty apparently goes sky high and where the majority of the dropouts occur. We’ll see.

Training has resumed to full pace, later than most but nationals is still a half year away, and if I cant get fit in 6 months then I think I need to look at other options for athletics. The time off was great, I really needed a long break away from all things athlete related and now I’ve decided it is time to get back on the ball. Neither my coach nor parents put any pressure on my to start back up and just allowed me to do my own thing and when the time was right for a training plan to be posted, then it was. I’m looking forward to 2011, I’m on a great team with great support and I think with a little elbow grease it will be something special.

Hillbilly deluxe, slick pick-'em-up trucks

2010-11-29T20:29:00.000-05:00

Unlike my sworn rival over at Andrew Watson Incorporated, Kyle Fry Enterprises doesn’t rely on democratic elections to make his decisions, no sir this here is a dictatorship. So after lots of leaning this way and that, today was decision day on a truck and it came down to either green 4 door Tacoma or a bad ass 2 door TRD Tacoma. At the end of the day it came down to two things, first my grandfather saying “if you want a four door buy a god-damn car” and the second was how good I would look driving her to school. Obviously both those factors point right to the white TRD and so as of noon today shes now a member of the family.

Did a nice/solid/pleasant/awesome/fantastic ride on the weekend on the trainer. Actually it sucked balls but I’m just throwing out some synonyms for Watson to borrow as long as he references them using APA style citation.

Exams next week, but first it’s the Speziale Christmas Party this weekend. I’ve got the tankard shined, polished and ready to go.

Motivation

2010-11-28T09:44:00.000-05:00

Been seaching for a truck to replace the old Silverado who gave up the ghost a couple weeks back. Saw this girl on Kijiji and although its not particularly practical, it is a beauty of a truck. This got me thinking about how sweet its going to be to finish up school and actually be able to afford a babe like this and cruise up and down Memorial showing her off. I listened to a presentation from the editors of The Northern Miner and it looks like the immediate future looks good for geologists so i hope to polish off this undergrad in the next 3 years and score one of the jobs within the Ring of Fire project.

Never Send a Truck to do a Camry's Job

2010-11-23T14:00:00.001-05:00

It is my opinion that the 1997 Toyota Camry is the greatest piece of human engineering since, well, ever actually. I’ve been saying since April that she is on her last leg and yet she finds a away to repair herself, except for the sticky caliper, that really did need to be replaced. So naturally it only made sense to get another and when pops found one at Joe’s Auto for dirt cheap we scooped it up right quick. Im currently in the process of pimpin her out Tbay style, which of course means moose lights and truck nutz. Once I get those two items sorted out I’ll look into the other Tbay essentials such as a lift kit, mudders and exhaust stacks. Definitely looking forward to showing off the finished product next summer on the 401, and once I get my custom LakeheadU bumper sticker on the back I think the looks on people’s faces will be worth the price of admission.

So training commenced yesterday, and to be honest I’m glad to be back on the program. Being a student bum is fun for a week or two but honest I’m kind of bored with the idea so now its back to structured days which seem to work much better for me. Yesterday was a pump session at the gym and I already feel like Ronnie Colman, bustin set of bench with the 25s on each end. Feel the burn.

And because I feel i've started a trend, here's the song that is currently on the top of my favorites list

Its Good to Share

2010-11-18T09:48:00.004-05:00

Last Tuesday I did a ridiculously long hike into the Sleepy G with the hopes of making a loop up the Chimney then back down through the Top of the Giant trail. The Chimney trail has been closed for a few years and i've heard some rumblings that it might soon be impassable. I took me just over 2h to reach the talas slope that signals the start of the climb up through the crevasse that is leads to Giant’s ‘feet.’ This part of the trail is composed mostly of laminated (not stratified) shale and so the climbing was very difficult as every step broke the slick shale into even smaller pieces. Maintaining purchase with the slope was quite difficult but once up through into the Chimney proper the shale gave way to diabase boulders which are much more solid made the climbing a little easier, however not much further up I reached the diabase capping rock that makes the Giant what it is. This part has weathered to the point where the slope is near vertical and I felt it wasn’t safe to climb any higher without having someone with me to evacuate my sorry ass in the case I had a tumble. Made a 180 there and hauled it back to the parking lot just as the sun was setting.

So that was last Tuesday’s adventure, this Tuesday was an adventure of a different sort. Since I’ll be starting structured training again next week i made the best of my last opportunity enjoy Tankard Tuesday in it's fullest before resuming my post as the DD for the lucky basterds that don’t have to race Svein Tuft next June. The specifics of the night are pretty blurry, I do remember my ride getting kicked out for some reason, and I also recall the cabbie giving me short change, so that calculus course must be paying off if I can do basic math in a highly inebriated state. Had a great time but I know it will be a long while before I can to do another anaerobic effort like that, maybe March 6 2011 is good date.

And because it was Country Night:

For lack of a Better Name

2010-11-15T00:07:00.001-05:00

They say a man can do anything with a truck, a dog, and a dream. Sadly this week the family made the desision to put of them down. No it wasn’t Basso, he’s still running away anytime he gets the chance, but rather we had to put down the ‘ld 91 Chevrolet Silverado 4X4. She had a good run, I’ve got plenty of great memoires in that old girl, but her time has come to go to a better place, namely Lakehead Scrap Metal.

First snowfall today and I got up bright and early to test out the scooter in the snow. Though it seemed like a good idea, it really wasn’t, and before long I put an end to that dream and just got out the sled and ripped it around. The remainder of the day was spent working on my Sedimentology term paper. There was some major conference calls going on and a few stupidly fast drives to classmate’s homes to grab data and mutually manipulate it so the numbers actually make sense. At one point late last night a couple of us thought it would be best to just kidnap the TA, lucky for her she’s super nice. We really were running low on options on how to get all the numbers correlated in a manner that might make us pass, and i'm still think the kidnap plan is a solid plan C.

I’ve been enjoying life away from cycling, its actually nice answering ‘yes’ when asked questions like: do you want to upsize your meal? And any dessert for you tonight? Well it all ends soon so I’m making the most of it. Haven’t thought much about 2011 yet, probably just give’r good and see what shakes.

Now for the tune of the week:

Don't even worry about the spelling and grammer errors

I, Sniper

2010-11-09T09:08:00.002-05:00

Started reading the latest of the Bob Lee Swagger novels on the drive home Sunday, and though its hasn’t been bad, as of 200 pages I cant say it has been terribly great. One thing I have learned since I begain reading the series is to never count out Swagger, and I’m sure sooner than later he’ll grab a .50 cal and be blasting bogies before too long.

Since Saturday I’ve had some time to think about what may have caused the meltdown, and I’m still searching for answers. To paraphrase the Pink and Famous, shit happens, move on and learn from it. I think I put too much pressure on myself to repeat the medal I won 2 years ago, but that was against a much weaker field, and I think anyone on the top 10 this year would have been able to win 2 years ago. I had a great start this year but once gaps began to open and I wasn’t able to hold the wheels I sort of panicked and then it all went to hell. oh well, I made that bed and so it was time for me to lie in it.

The next 2 weeks will be off the bike and away from cycling. It sucks leaving good form behind (beat my 15k record last week) but my head is in need of a break. I think I cracked mentally the last week of October and since the motivation hasn’t been as high as it was once. I’m going to take the time to do the things I really enjoy like climbing Sleepy G, and chasing moose around with the .25-06.

Tune of the week:

Keep that stick on the ice

Wha Happen??

2010-11-06T20:49:00.002-04:00

Solid question, and it's one I don't know the answer too. Everything was spot on from the training to the warmup and all the other preperation. Today I just didn't have anything in the tank. No excuses or reasons, my body just didn't go, simple as that.

I'm feeling pretty disapponted right now because I had friends and family driving upwards of 3h to cheer me on and maybe see me win a medal, and then for me to put on such a shit preformance isn't sitting well at all. With 3 laps to go I wanted nothing more than to pull the plug and go home, but because of the work that everyone has done for me leading up to this day, I knew the only option was to nut up and man it out, no matter how much it sucked.

To those who have supported me through this year I owe a massive thank you. I've had the best season of my life and even though it finished on a sour note, I can still take refuge in the fact I met all but one of the goals I set for myself a year ago. Without the support that I've been given, none of the results I achieved this year would have happened, and it modivates me everyday to go out in the pissin rain and freezing cold and dust off 15 trips up Dufferein St, because I know behind the scenes my family and friends are working just as hard to make this all possible.

Fry

Shit or get off the pot

2010-11-02T10:31:00.000-04:00

Next few days are pretty big. gots me a massively important midterm tomorrow (i really should be studying) then it's up early the next morning for my flight to TO for cx nats. I've already got my LU Tankard and a 12 of Crystal packed so i should be in good shape for the race. Had a few wobbly pops at St. Urho's in Nolalu during the Geomorphology field trip on saturday. Pretty fun throwing a few back with the profs but my form was horrible compared to my classmates who've been rippin hard since September. No worries though i'll do some good base work saturday night and i should be fine by the end of exams.

Not sure there's much more going on, the last week has been spent completing term papers and getting ahead on work so i'll be free for this weekend. Going for an easy spin this afternoon to clear the head then its back to the books for one final cram session. This 2nd year crap is a lot tougher than last year, makes me wish i was a rec'r, they only have to portage canoes and climb Mt. Mckay for their miderms, both being exceptionally not difficult.

the tune of the week:

see ya on the other side...

Halloween

2010-10-29T19:38:00.002-04:00

Its like my 3rd favorite holiday behind Christmas and Family Day. No prize for guessing my costume, and from the number of dirt-stash's i've seen growin this week i'm thinkin there will be a few Deanners runnin around but no worries.

Watson is soft

sure i've posted these before but if not they're good laugh:

Gillies Gallop

2010-10-12T17:01:00.000-04:00

Did the final TbayCC race of the year on Saturday. It didn’t go well. I got crushed by some juniors on the climbs then crushed even more in the sprint, finishing 4^th of 4 in the lead group. Its crazy how fast the fitness goes in just a month of being stationary. Of course Sunday didn’t help when I devoured an absurd about of turkey and stuffing. Rather than ride it off yesterday I thought it would be much more productive to shoot guns, and it definitely was. I felt like Bob Lee Swagger out there blasting pumpkin- sized targets at 400 yards.

So it looks like I’ll be going to cx nationals, should go alright, I certainly don’t have the form I had back at provincial time trial but I’ll give’r a shot. The race is still 3.5 weeks out so a with a short build and taper I might be able to get enough form for a top-5, but I think that might be pushing the luck a bit.

And for your listening pleasure:

"you will never become a geologist"

2010-10-05T08:24:00.002-04:00

That quote is on the door geology lab, staring me in the face every time i go in there to do some sort of analysis on sediment from the McIntyer river and Lake Tambyn water systems. Its pretty dull work, you put a bunch of mud through some sieves and then see what's at the bottom, work some witchcraft equations and bam, you confirm your sample is from the place you got it, either a river or small lake. I am happy though to finally be doing some hands on work, as the constant "read champers 7-10 and do the all the questions for tomorrow" stuff was beginning to wear on me a bit. The other downer is there are 6 other students in 2 of my clases, so i cant just cruze on my iphone all class, i actually have to pay attention because chances are 1 in 7 of the prof's questions are heading my way.

So it's October, the best month because you can train when you want, if you want, and for how long you want, without the worry of being unbelievably unfit going into the next event. Also moose, deer and grouse seasons are open so when the urge strikes, I can hop on the quad and go get some organic, no hormone meat.

The riding has been going alright since the season final at Queens Park. Nothing too dramatic, a couple of dirt road cx rides, some longer group rides, but on the whole i think i'm still relatively fit considering the amount of effort i've actually put into cycling in the last 3 weeks. There's a little extra layer of insulation around the core area, but thats mostly due to a weekly lunch trip to Hoito and the daily lunch trip to the Persian Man for one of these bad boys. Once i decide to resume full time training those trips will have to be cut back, maybe to 2-3 trips per week.

I'm still unsure if i'll be going to cx nationals this year, but i'll likely make that decision sometime this week or next, then have a 1h special on ESPN to announce it. It really depends on how far ahead i can get ahead on school work and free up some training time, but if i can't then thats fine too, at the end of the day its school that comes first.

Fry

Quote of the day (a la Andrew Watson)

"What's the main difference between brecca and conglomerate?"
"trick question"
"no Fry, its not"

If it ain't Boeing, I'm not going

2010-09-12T20:48:00.003-04:00

Sitting at gate 22 in Pearson wating for my flight back to Tbay. It's been some time since I've flown, I think the last time was for Good Friday RR back in April. Since then I've driven to Tbay from the south 5 times, so this 1h wait at the gate is nothing compaired to that 15h haul.

The road season is on the downswing now, only the Queens Park GP next weekend then it's a nice break before gearing up for a little cx action. As of right now i'm only schedualed to do a couple races, and I'm cool with that. I've been going hard since April and I'm lookin forward to a few weekends up in Tbay.

Time for boarding, which really means: wait in a massive line, then get on plane and wait some more. Still better than driving tho.

- Posted from iPhone

On the Road Again

2010-09-01T16:29:00.000-04:00

After 10 days home I’m packing again for another trip across the north shores of Superior and Huron then down to Southern Ontario. This weekend is provincial criterium, which I’m excited to announce, will be my first race with my boys in pink at Garneau. I got the call last week that they needed a rider to fill a void so I jumped at the opportunity to race alongside my bros with Ontario’s best team. After this weekend’s race I head to St. Kitties for provincial TT, then its back home for school next Monday.

I remember Riggs mentioning last year how much he enjoyed going back to school. At the time I thought he was crazy, but after a year of really enjoying Lakehead I can see his point. I’m fortunate enough to be in a program I really enjoy and so I see school as an opportunity to increase my knowledge of that field, and crush Tanker Tuesdays. Not to mention the fact that every year that goes by gets me one step closer to a real job so I can make some major cash and buy this beauty:

2010-08-24T10:28:00.001-04:00

Well I woke up this morning to the news that my Gmail account sent out a nice, healthy, does of spam to all of my contacts. Not only that but it also deleted all of my contacts so now I have to start from scratch and try to remember the 600+ emails I’ve saved over the last 6 years.

So anyways if you got an email from me this morning about buying a Mac or something like that, I’m really sorry and I hope that changing my password and taking just about every other security measure on Gmail will prevent this from happening again.

I’m not sure how it got hacked, but I have a feeling it was during my trip south when I was in numerous coffee shops surfing unsecured Wifi. Hopefully it won’t happen again, and I’m glad that my friends have found the time to help aid my misfortune with texts like “thanks for the spam bro” and “you’re and idot.”

Now enough with that.

Some may have noticed I wasn’t on the results page for provincial mountain bike, and the reason for that is a mild chest cold that made even changing tires a workout. I wasn’t really down with forking out $60 to the Chico Fund just to ride around in the bottom ten so after consulting with the CFO (dad), CEO (coach), and the MD (mom), it was decided that I should just pull the plug on what was simply a ‘B’ race. Obviously being a DNS puts me right on the bottom of the Hardness Scale, but I hope that once I see the doc the afternoon and get cleared up I’ll be able to move up a few spots.

and in case you didn't get it the news:

Just received my Apple MC226LL from this homepage, www.ok-wholesaler.com. It's so cheaper but genuine, Wow - that's amazing. I like it very much!!

I paid it $740US couier charges included , They have some other products. If you want to get one. you can check it out ! How about you?

god bless!!

Turbo Awesome

2010-08-19T10:00:00.003-04:00

Last night I was at the Hardwood Hills weekly mtb series, and I was quite surprised with how many people complained to me about my lack of updates on here. I honestly thought my mom and Watson were the only two who bothered to read this, but since there are at least 4 other readers, I guess I'll keep it up to date.

So why was I at a mtb race you ask? Well since my road season is on the downswing I figured that, since I’m down here in Goodder Toronto Area, I might as well have some fun and go back to my mountain bike roots. I borrowed the bike off my dad, who happend to be borrowing it off the owner of C-Path in Tbay. Since I hadn't ridden a 29er before I decided it would be best to have a go on her at race speed and see how both the bike, and myself, would make out. Gnarly was the course of choice, and after 40min of smashing into trees and missing trail signs I was rewarded with a nice t-shirt and some free canoe information pamphlets. Got attacked by Starbuck after the race, such a vicious dog, definitaly shouldn't be in public. after receiving treatment i caught up with a few old mates then hit the road for Port Hope, my home base til Sunday.

So this weekend is the Ontario mountain bike championships of the world, not too sure what to expect, anything other than last/getting lapped would be nice. If I manage a top 20 I’ll be happy but I‘ll likely be the last call-up, meaning I’ll get to wait at back of the bottleneck when the race hits the first singletrack. Either way I’m looking forward to a nice, no stress race before heading back to the North Pole for year 2 of rockology.

“are the chips free, or…?”

Update Bro

2010-07-23T19:32:00.001-04:00

So it's been a while, so let's ketchup.
We'll start with the Tbay tripple crown, a 2 day points race with a crit on Saturday and a RR on Sunday. Parked down in Pass Lake and rode into to Tbay along the lake as to avoid the endless construction thats enough to make a man go mad. Got to the start and noticed I was the only one without deep dish carbon wheels, I guess this really was a race. Basicly got hammered into the ground for the next 45min then rode back home making for a nice 4.5h day.
I took Sunday a little more seriously, using somewhat race wheels and only doing an hour of secret training before the start. I got a little pissed during the race as 2 other strong guys had no intention of getting a workout in, opting instead to weld everything back together eveytime I attacked, then riding a light tempo. Of course at the time I forgot winning a stage of the Tbay tripple crown is much more important than winning an actual race that has results and wierd things like that, silly me. Anyways finished with a good 1.5h of tempo before doing some more stuff down in Kakabekastane Park. Got home and finished up my school then rocked a 30min car pack before getting to bed ahead of the long drive down to Millwakee.

Now my thumbs are sore so I'll do the SuperWeek update tomorrow on my way up to Bike the Bruce.

- Posted from iPhone

Edmonton Canada Cup

2010-07-12T14:06:00.001-04:00

No I didn’t race it, but Andrew Watson did and I’m sitting here hitting refresh every 10 minutes hoping a report will magically appear on his blog. I’m doing this to avoid writing an essay about video cameras, and maybe after reading one of his world-class race reports it will inspire me to do my own. My other hope is that if I procrastinate long enough the words will magically appear, or the prof realizes that writing a quality essay on video cameras is not humanly possible and in turn nullifies this assignment.

So I think I’m over my illness, no idea what it was but it seemed to disappear as quickly as it arrived, maybe I should write an essay on that. Did a good ride Sunday in the pouring rain, was feeling good until I flatted between Nolalu and, well, there really isn't another landmark close enough. For those wondering where the middle of nowhere is, that’s pretty close, though a nice farmer offered to give me a ride to town, but I respectfully declined as i needed the miles.

Also enjoyed my first Loon Lake Italian Night on Saturday, lots of pasta and wine and shooters, I had no idea Sambuca was Italian.

Now off to pick blueberries.

False Start

2010-07-08T13:26:00.001-04:00

Got back into the training regime Saturday after a nice 5 day break from the action. Then on Sunday I woke up with a sore throat, and because I’m an idiot I decided to ignore it and ride for 3h anyways (in the rain no less). Fast forward to today and I’m on the couch with less then 1h of training in my legs so far this week, and unless the sauce my doc gave me kicks in soon, it looks like my 5 day holiday will be more like a 14 days. Not to worry though, I still have a good month before provincials to gain back some fitness, and with a nice block of racing coming up the ass-kicking I receive then should be enough to restart the engine. This is of course assuming I recover from what I can only assume is H1N1 powered by Rabies. Now if you excuse me I’m off to drink another gallon of green tea and chomp on some blueberries.

PS:

LeBron James to Miami

Netherlands for the World Cup

Sebastian Vettel for the British Grand Prix

Hesjedal does a top 10 at the Tour

Enjoy

National RR

2010-07-03T20:32:00.000-04:00

Lost track of time during my mini holiday, and now I see its been nearly a week since the 183k journey through Edmonton so i guess I had better get my post on. The race went well, I sat in mostly waiting for the big guns to show up and hoping I could hold on once the group shattered. Unfortunately that didn’t come, and after being too far back when the final split came, I found myself somewhere off the front of the last group on the road trying to salvage something. I ran out of steam on the last lap and got caught by the groupetto, then spit out the back on the final climb, but I was able to get back on on the downhill and move up just enough to finish 20^th for U23. Not exactly what I was hoping for but its definitely something I can build on.

After the race pops and I took the scenic route back to Tbay via Jasper National Park. Though it added a day onto the drive, it was every extra kilometer. I’ll bare the whole geology lecture but I will say this: if you haven’t been down the Icefields Parkway, go. I’ve been lucky in the sense that my cycling has taken me to many cool places, but that drive was without a doubt one of the most breathtaking/ amazing/ humbling/ remarkable things I have ever done.

So now I’m back home, and after a week of cutting trails, fishing, roasting hotdogs, etc. its time to get back to serious training.

A tiny avalanche occurred as were stopped for a nature break

The lateral moraines from the Columbia Ice field/ Athabasca Glacier

Athabasca Glacier

During a hike up Wilcox Pass (~2300m)

Just a little FYI

Icefields Parkway

National TT

2010-06-29T18:33:00.001-04:00

So nationals came and went, and now I feel like taking a nice long vacation from the bike and do some of the things I wasn't able too during the last few months. Sadly though, I still have a few more goals on the list left to accomplish, so I think that vaca will have to wait until further down the road.

One such goal is beat the 40k TT record set back in '99, and no one has come close to cracking it since. I got within 20sec the week before nationals, which at the time I was unhappy with, but after consulting with the coach, it was a preformance that showed I was where I needed to be be going into the big show.

My pops and I took 3 days and drove out to Edmonton, arriving 3 days before the TT incase we had a car problem or something else major that might slow us down. Anyways rode the TT course a bunch of times and really dialed in the corners, which were a little tricky in the TT tuck, but I know I gained some time there.
I had a plan going in as to how I was going to ride, but as soon as I left the start house I threw that away and just focused on catching my 1min man as soon as I could. My HR jumped up to 195 up the first hill about 5k in, and from there to the turn around it was pinned at 191. Even with the tailwind on the way back I was still humping it along at ~188, letting it drop slightly before the final hill and the flatish 4k push to the line. I badly misjudged my effort upthe hill and rode the false flat over the top well below what I wanted but i got back up to speed quick enough to salvage a top 10 placing, a slight improvement over the 28th I rocked last year.

I'll post the road race story tomorow once my thumbs get a chance to recover from this effort.

- Posted from FryPhone

École

2010-06-14T16:03:00.000-04:00

Just finished up my last assignment for the first half of my summer English course. I wont say a learned very much, and I don’t think my writing style has changed any, but maybe that will come when I begin part 2 in a couple weeks. Tomorrow I’ll be selecting my courses for second year, and just this morning I got a note from the geology department stating I don’t have to take year two chem because of the 80 I scored last year. In its place is geochemistry, which should be a little easier as I wont have to waste my time with all that organic 1,2 dimethyl-useless-hexane junk that I wont ever need again. I’ll also be taking calculus, sediments and sedimentary rocks, Igneous process, mineralogy and earth and life through time, which is the one I’m looking forward to most.

So bike riding was plentiful this week as I try to cram as much fitness into my body as I can before nationals in a little under 2 weeks’ time. I got a little confidence boost on Thursday when I finally broke the 20min barrier for a 15k TT. It surely helped that there was almost no wind and it was on a fast course but even still, it’s nice too at least know I’m going well before I head out to Edmonton.

Because I couldn’t make it down to the O-cup in Kitchener this weekend and there were only crits going on in Minnesota I did a little race of my own down in the park. it took a bit of mental strength to kill it solo for 3h but knowing that the black bears are rampant trough there this time of year I had no choice but to ride hard.

Now I’m off to clean the steed and maybe throw on some fresh bartape. This Thursday is a 40k TT and I think I might just go all in and try to beat the 11 year-old record held by some drug dealer.

Is that a Moustache?

2010-06-08T20:41:00.003-04:00

Simply put, yes. There is definitely something out of the ordinary growing between my nose and my upper lip, though I hesitate to call it a moustache just yet, its more of a well-formed dirt stash. Not sure why I have neglected to shave it, I haven’t done my legs since before the Toronto crit so I’ll just say its general laziness. I doubt it will last until nationals but we’ll see, if I do a good time at this week’s TT then obviously its because of the stash, and therefore it will stay. But that’s enough with hair related news.

Yesterday was a nice chill day on the lake and I used it to get many chores done, like make my TT bike legal and wash my road bike, something that really needed to be done after all the rain and gravel I rode in last week. I also hit up the Amethyst mine for a little tour and to see just how incredibly overpriced the purple rock really is. Last time I was there I wasn’t such a mineralogist protégé so I thought the old guy who runs the place was full of knowledge, turns out he’s really full of something, and it certainly aint knowledge. I thought about calling him on some of the crap he was spewing about how rare special 'his' purple quartz is, but it was a large tour group and I really didn't want to draw attention to the dirt stash.

So my mutt feels that it is necessary that my towel be ripped apart so I need to go take care of that. I’ve got a few solid days on the bike coming up and the weather doesn’t seem like its going to play nice, but I guess that’s the price of doing business in this sport. I think my next time around I might try something a little more indoor, like MMA or horseback riding.

Hwy 17 North (West)

2010-06-05T21:58:00.002-04:00

So I'm back north on Loon lake, and man does it feel good to be back home. The weather hasn't really been cooperating, I've spent most of my rides this week in the rain, but I'll take that over the 35 degree sweat box that I was riding in a week ago. I at least got to do the drive along Superior in the sun for once, its amazing how beautiful the drive is when you're not driving through fog or buckets of rain. I have to say the 40km stretch just west of Marathon has to be the best road in the province. Turn off the radio and the cruise control and listen to the engine turn over at 3000rmp as you give'r through the corners and you'll know exactly what I mean.

Speaking of cars, I always knew F1 cars were hard to drive, but after watching this video I have a whole new level of respect for these guys:

Why Geology rocks

Loon Lake style golf cart

Guns don't kill People

2010-05-31T20:24:00.001-04:00

Crazy people with guns kill people. That same logic can be applied to crits. On there own they aren't too bad, but throw in one or two idiots and all hell breaks loose.

I was 400m from a solid top 15 spot when buddy from the "Z-Team" who was just infront of me decided to make a suicidal inside pass on the final corner at full speed. Unsurprisingly he came out too hot, crashed and took out Mark Batty as well as myself and everyone behind us. This was acually the 2nd crash of the race this guy caused, the first one being about 45min in when he tried a similar move, cutting to the inside, then coming out wide and slaming someone else right into the barriors. Obviously this guy doesn't have any respect for the people he's racing with, which is really too bad. Yesterday was the once-a-year occasion when we have race with the M1's so hopefully we won't have to see that nutbag again.

So today was a really good 4h ride this morning before I made my way up to the Fry hometown of Campbellford to pick up half a cow's worth of frozen beef. That should be enough to feed me for a week or two.

So yeah at 7:30am tomorrow I'll be on the road, with my first layover in Orillia with my chiro. After he gets me all loose I'm back in the car for 5h as I make my way to the Soo, so that should tighten the legs right back up. Money well spent.

Cheers

- Posted from iPhone

Dihydrogen Monoxide Underdose

2010-05-27T12:42:00.001-04:00

Holy Murphy its been hot this week, makes me feel stupid for complaining back in January when I was skiing in -25 weather. Funny thing is training in both these ‘extremes’ are very similar, in that getting enough water is very difficult, as your bottles are either always frozen or empty, depending on which side of spectrum your on.

I’ve been going at it steady since Niagara, I guess I’m in some stage race training block or something. Lately I just look at my training while my oats cook, then make a route, go out and do it and then report back to the boss and he takes care of the rest. It seems to be working as Tuesday I smoked my record TT time by over 40s, though it definitely helped that my legs finally showed up from Thunder Bay, only about a week late.

So tonight is my last chance to grab Thursday Night glory as I’m heading back to Loon Lake on Tuesday. I’m looking forward to getting back up there with my mates and getting back on my favorite training routes. The roads around here are decent but I’m blocked by the Ganaraska Forest and Rice Lake to the North, Oshawa to the West, and Lake Onterrible to the South, so obviously that limits the number of roads you can ride on. Not to mention it like a sweat box around here, and the air quality isn't nearly as good as in TB, obviously the District Manager up there knows what he's doing. Anyways before I head North on hwy 17 I have a little business called the Toronto Crit to take care of first. I’m really happy they moved it to a mid-afternoon time slot, should mean we’re not racing in the dark by the finish like the last 2 years.

Finally one last shout out to Andrew Watson for his 2 silver medal spots at the first two Canada Cups. Congratulations big guy, though I do speculate there might be some “Mechanical Doping” going on. We’ll see.

Mother-Effing-ham

2010-05-23T21:01:00.000-04:00

The Niagara Classic, in Pelham, on Effiingham rd, was blody hard. Haven't looked at the HR file yet but from what I saw it was 3.5h of 170-195bpm.

Now, you're probably asking "fry, why did it take you 3.5h to do the race when Roth did it in a little over 3h?"

The simple answer is I got shelled. I'm not going to make excuses, though I'm 12% sure my rear brake was rubbing, and my glasses were fogged up, and my legs had a little stuble, and I know my massive headtube cost me at least 10sec, well compaired to a cervelo It did.
But like I said no excuses, I just didn't have the great legs needed to haul my (giant) ass up that climb as fast as little Riggsy, so I got to ride the last 3 laps all by my lonesome. Jokes on Riggs though, i got in an extra 15min of training today. Sorry bro.

So I don't know what's up for tomorrow, driving back to P-Hope for sure, tho that 401 drive is not something I'm looking forward too. And btw, if your reading this on your phone, in a car, driving, in the left lane, get the hell over so I can actually get where I'm going in a decent time.

Well my brew is just about done so I best get another one. My cusins are trying to make cookie(s) upstairs, after our failed attempt last night they kicked me off the team. Assholes.

Peace.

Cookie fail.

Haha

- Posted from iPhone

MasterCard Moment

2010-05-18T15:57:00.001-04:00

Gas: $250
Oil Change: $45
Coffee/ Beef Jerkey: $23

Watching your mom cry because you drove to Thunder Bay for her birthday: Priceless

- Posted from iPhone

ENGL-1011

2010-05-11T09:29:00.001-04:00

Taking a quick break from writing to do some more writing. The spring/ summer English course I'm taking is condensed from the normal 12 weeks down to 6 so I get the fun of doing the same workload in half the time. Not complaining though as once August comes around I’ll be done English forever.

So I guess I should talk about the Bristol Mtn RR, though I kind of want to suppress that one deep down in the vault. I'd put in a solid 3 week block of work leading into the race and I think it put me over the edge and now rest is the operative word. My legs were bunged up from the start and the HR just wouldn't go very high when it was time to give'r on the climbs so on the last lap I sacrificed my chance of an incredible top 20 (sarcasm) and hauled back a semi dangerous break to try and help Riggsy get better result. To me its much more enjoyable to do some free-lance work and set up a bro for something good, as opposed to sitting in and getting shelled anyways when the road pointed up. I've worn my HR monitor to bed the last 2 nights and the damn thing is still through the roof so after a good chat with coach it was decided this week would be dedicated to the 3 R’s: rest, relaxation and a whole lot of writing to try and get ahead in this English course.

Since were talking about tranquility, here’s some music to help set the mood:

A Bike Race in London

2010-05-03T10:10:00.005-04:00

Doing this post just for Latts, who is currently writing his final exam of the year, a good 3 weeks after i finished up so he really is a trooper. So lets see, Friday I had to make a run over to my dad's hometown of Campbellford to pick up half a cow worth of meat to bring down to my aunt and uncle in Ancaster as a gift for putting up with me last summer. Stopped in at famous Dooher's Bakery to see just how good their sour cream donuts are. Verdict: right good.

After picking up our new Impreza from Davenport Subaru in Orillia, my dad and I made our way down to Ancaster where I got my first taste of driving stick in almost 3 years. I did decently well, stalled it twice in a row on hill but not bad for being out of practice. Once i figured i was good enough a passenger won't smoke their head on dash, my cuz and I headed over to the movies and watched Clash of the Titans (in 3D no less). Verdict: right awful.
I'm no Andrew Watson, but I do know a good movie when i see it and this just didn't fit the bill. I will say the one good thing about the movie is the geology of where they filmed it was simply stunning, and i found myself watching that (in 3D) more then i did the movie.

Anyways on to the race. Arrived really early, got an unreal parking spot that was ruined when the aforementioned Lattimore parked 6" from our brand new car, causing some tense moments when doors would open and close. Good warmup, felt ok, not super. Drilled it in a bunch of breaks that never stayed away for more than 2 laps. After 18 laps (of 33) 'the' attack went and i was just a little too far back to get across. As soon as it went everyone in the group sat up and the break quickly got 30s. I was quite enraged with how everyone seemed to pack it in with still more then a third of the race left to go. I went on a completely useless tirade on the front and actually got the group within sight but as soon as I pulled off we were back to soft pedaling. Honestly if i'm i wanted to ride my bike at that pace i would have saved the $50 and stayed home and done a coffee shop ride. I figured I'd ride all out until i either bridged or got shelled out the back. With 12 laps to go i jumped on the back straight and stayed away solo for 3 laps until 4 guys bridged up and we got into a good rhythm. We rode around for the last 9 together until DeFranceschi made us all look foolish in the sprint. I finished 10th so not bad but it could have been better I think if I had gotten into the right move but a big part of bike racing is luck. Congrats to Jeff Schiller for taking a win, and since he's a hometown Tbay boy that makes it 2 in-a-row for dem nordern folk.

Today is going to be spent practicing with the new car before i go to peterborough tomorrow, possibly the most hilly town around so i want to make sure i have some basic skills before i take on that challenge.

Oh, and my biggest fear as come true: (click)

Hurricane ADHD

2010-04-28T15:58:00.005-04:00

It has literally blown my mind how windy it has been the last two days. And its not just the wind itself, but the fact that it can’t decide which direction it wants to blow me off the road from. I did my ride early this morning knowing it would be windy, but once I got out in farm country it was too late and I spent 2.5h riding with either a headwind or a stiff crosswind. When I stopped in Pontypool for a train I had only averaged 24.5k/h, though the next hour I covered 36k so that made me feel a bit better.

Yesterday was just as windy but this time I was riding over in Orillia, after a long visit with my chiro. He noticed right away that I had been pedaling on the outside of my left foot by looking at how the muscles in that foot had developed (or lack there of). He hooked me up with some sort of insole that actually does the opposite of what an orthotic does as well as gave me some exercises to help even out the power distribution over the ball of my foot. I decided to do my ride in Orillia rather than drive home and do it, so I parked at the now abandoned Wal-Mart and used my memory of the roads from when I lived in Barrie a couple years ago. I don’t really know where I went, I know I saw Mt. Saint Louis at one point, climbed a steep ass hill on maybe the 6^th line and also rode through Horseshoe Valley to line 3. The roads over that way all point to magnetic north, so naturally with a true north wind you get to fight what feels like a headwind in two directions during your ride. Anyways felt good and I can already feel the pressure put on my left foot is now more evenly distributed then it was before so I’m hoping that in turn means more power to the back wheel, but that might just be wishful thinking.

Game 7 goes tonight between Washington and Montreal. I’m currently 5 for 7 with my picks so I’ll be over 500 no matter which way this one goes. I’d really like to see an Ovechkin V. Crosby in the east final so I still want the Caps to win, but again that might just be wishful thinking.

Right On.

2010-04-26T10:11:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was Tom Jehlicka Memorial Crit in Cobourg, just 10k down the road from here in Port Hope. It was organized by the same Peterborough guys who are making my season a bit easier so I made sure I supported them in return. All week the forecast was for rain but the cycling gods decided to be good and just throw a few clouds are way. Decent turnout, few crit pros like Ed Veal, Walters, Jamie Smith etc. so it was going to be hard. At the start I noticed half my family had come out to watch so I figured I best put on a show so they didn’t have to stand in the cold for nothing. On the first lap fellow PCC member and solid up-an-comer Brendon Spencer got off the front solo for a couple laps. Back in the group I think someone drew a giant target on Veal and Wazzy because they couldn’t blow their nose without 10 guys jumping on their wheels. 3 laps in Veal hit it with a hard attack that would beat my best sprint any day but it got 5 of us away with about 20m on the pack. 1 lap later the gap was 50m, then we were gone the next time round. We spent the next 55min riding in circles, eventually lapping the field, before the attacks came good and thick. La Bici had 2 guys of the 5 so that made it a bit more interesting as to who was best to follow but when Ed jumped with two to go Walters jumped straight on with me in tow. Mark then it hard and once Ed and I got on the back I accelerated about as fast as my pickup truck but it was enough to get a gap as Ed and Mark watched each other. Going through for the bell I figured this was my chance so I put my head down and gave it balls right to the line. I haven’t won a race in a long time so the victory salute was weak to say the least, but it felt good to be first over the line. Big props to the Pro-Race.ca guys for putting on such a great event and I’m hoping they continue with this race in the future.

Today is tranquillo so I’m taking my aunt (in her new Camaro) and uncle up to the Mandarin in Oshawa for lunch. Next week is a nice flat course so I should be ok gaining an extra Kilo or 5.

Coolest aunt ever

going it alone

Yeah, Ok Bud.

2010-04-24T15:42:00.003-04:00

I’m settling in nicely here in my home far away from home. Basically my day consists of eating, riding, napping and watching hockey; yeah this is the life. I start my summer English course next week so I’ll have to do a little work during the week but it will be nice to get it out of the way. I think every once in a while I’ll head over to the Lakehead campus in Orillia and hit up the weekly lectures there so its not just a solo mission. I’ve been getting in some solid riding this week on my old stopping grounds from my years as a junior and before. I have a lot of good memories on and around these roads from my high school days and it’s cool riding past old friends homes to see what there up to these days.

After getting hooked up with some solid swag from WildRock I did a wicked ride with the Peterborough Cycling Club, meeting up with the usual crew for a good old fashioned leg thrashing. I thought I had the win in the bag when I looked back with 100m to go and saw nobody, but 5 meters before the line Doug Hinnen came flying by me at the speed of sound to crush my dream of being Thursday night champ, at least for this week.

Tomorrow is the Tom Jehlicka Crit just 10k from here in Cobourg. Not too many registered, probably because of the chance of rain but I rode the course today and there are really only 2 corners and very wide open so it wont be too bad. Tomorrow is also the first year I wont be at the Mansfield MTB Ocup in a very long time, but I’m not missing it too much. I think if I can find a bike I might show up to an Ocup later this year but for now racing on dirt isn’t something that motivates me enough to want to do it.

Btw the NBC hockey commentators funkin blow.

Like an Egg

2010-04-19T10:40:00.002-04:00

Suffered the ultra-rare double crack yesterday; first from the race, then from the drive. I left Friday morning for Calabogie after writing my final exam of the year. 7h later I was in the Soo and enjoyed the greatest pizza ever with my big sis. The next morning it was off to Pembroke across Hwy 17, another 7h haul but arrived in time to do a little 1.5h spin to open the legs up. I planned ahead and made up some pasta incase I couldn’t find anything in Pembroke, which was the case. That town is a dump, with run down everything and bums littering the sidewalks, it makes Westfort look like Palm Beach.

I got out of there good and early Sunday and headed to the race. On my way in I saw some guy dressed in full Kelly kit and I thought it was just some master. As I got closer I realized it was David Veilleux (no intro needed), which meant tacitly the race was easy, just wait for him to go, but difficult because he’s David Veilleux. Laps 1 and 2 were littered with attacks full of no-names that got chased down by other no-names. Lap 3 a good group got away with Matteo Dal-Cin, Ed Veal and some Quebecers. I noticed Veilleux move up a little so I got on his wheel and sure enough he jumped like a bullet out of a gun and about half a lap later we (mostly he, I got in a token pull) caught the lead group. There were about a dozen at this point but we were going balls out and managed to shed off a few guys leaving 8 up front. I was feeling good so I did a lot of work to try and make it stick. 70k later and I was really starting to die, guess I miss calculated the extra calories burned in a break so and therefore didn’t eat nearly enough. I started to miss pulls, then it was a matter of just holding on. Veilleux jumped with 15k to go and it was all I had to just stay on the group. At this point only 4 of us remained, 3 taking turns as I was done. Ed decided to pull a nice ‘Ontario’ move and let the gap open then sprint back up leaving me behind. Not sure the reasoning behind this was as I obviously couldn’t sprint, and I’m hoping that extra kick was what cost him 3^rd place. Anyways I was right knackered and even with my Hr at 180 I could only turn over 25k/h in the headwind. With 750 to go a group of 5 blew by me and I had to settle for 13^th. In all I’m happy with how the day went, I got in a solid workout and I know fitness is much better then it was this time last year. Big props to Matteo, for a first year senior that kid is super strong and I hope he keeps on givner right through the summer.

After the race I had the final 4h journey to my home base in Port Hope. I hit the proverbial wall around Kaladar and just had to get out of the car for a few minutes. I grabbed a terrible coffee, some awesome ice cream and a couple chunks of Metasedimentary rock. Made it in just after 9 and hit the hay not long after.

Just laying back and chilling today, might do a tour of the town if the mood strikes but we’ll see. Tom Jehlicka Memorial Crit next weekend, should be fun.

Round One

2010-04-13T19:32:00.000-04:00

Its NHL Playoff time so here are my picks for the first round:

In the East:
Washington over Montreal
Philly over New Jersey
Buffalo beats Boston
Pittsburgh over Ottawa (7 games)

For the West:
San Jose over Colorado
Chicago over Nashville
LA beats Vancouver
Detroit over Phoenix (tho I want the coyotes to win)

Give'r

That’s What She Said

2010-04-11T08:58:00.000-04:00

Did a really big one yesterday. Not sure what the official name is for the ride but I’m now calling it the “Loop of Death” because of the insane amount of climbing on over 100k of chipseal and almost no gas stations. When I left my house it was snowing, but by the time I got to town the sun had started to peek out and warm up the air a bit. About an hour in it got right windy and it never really let up until I got onto the 102, when I needed a tail wind most. Finished it in 5h 20m and burned 4100kj, most of which were made up after a visit to Masala.

View Larger Map

Good day of studying for me today as I multitask between watching Roubaix, The Masters, Rangers/Flyers and the Raptors/Bulls tonight, all of which could be classics.

A Day in the Life...

2010-04-08T14:38:00.000-04:00

There seems to be some stereotyping going on about what it’s like living up here in Thunder Bay, so I thought I’d just post this vid to show that were not just a bunch of truck driving, moose chasing idiots.

Ok, maybe we are just a bunch of truck driving, moose chasing idiots, but I wouldn't want it any other way.

Ronde van Good Friday

2010-04-04T18:09:00.000-04:00

Didn’t go really how I would have liked. I had good legs and I can feel there is decent form considering the 2 weeks I had to take off in march, but I got run over by the same stomach pain that ruined my race at the Sleeping Giant Loppet last month. I think it has something to do with lack of hydration, as both races were abnormally hot and I was unprepared for that. I’ll be keeping an eye on my water levels for the upcoming races and hopefully that takes care of the pain. Other than the race I had a great trip and it was nice to catch up with everyone again after a good 6 months away.

Today was a rainy affair but I still got in a couple hours of work, just spinning the legs mostly as they’ve been all bunged up since I flew back yesterday. Now time for my second Easter dinner in 3 days, unreal.

YQT-YYZ-YQT

2010-03-30T19:46:00.000-04:00

So the cool thing to do lately is post the airport names as your title, and so voila, I’m cool. What’s also been cool lately is the temperature, so much so I had to play hop-scotch with my training plan in order to maximize the quality whilst minimizing the frostbite. Saturday was just a miserable day with rain, freezing rain, and snow all falling during my ride. I did the ride that I have my biggest love/hate relationship with, the one up to Ouimet Canyon. First 2 trips up were sub-threshold, and my goodness they were cold on the way back down. I tried my best to work the brake levers through the switchback and slow down before the hitting the road gate but there wasn't enough power and I managed to kiss the 3" tube of medal hanging across the road. The 3^rd time up was all-out and as much as my powertap didn’t want to display anything, I was able to beat my PB power, though my record time still stands, I’ll blame that on the extra weight of 3 layers soaked right through.

Sunday was the last time I will touch the trainer until December, and the only reason I did was because of an exorbitant amount of ice on the roads. sure enough once I came back upstairs the sun came out and all the snow melted. Nothing special Monday, out and back in the park, saw a dike, and about 30 deer that seem less suicidal this year, not sure why.

Anyways I best get back to packing, its crazy how much crap you need for a 3h bike race.

Green Tea

2010-03-26T16:23:00.001-04:00

I’m working on a giant mug of green tea so I thought that would make for a good title. It’s been mighty cold up here the last few days meaning I’ve had to dig deep into my riding bag to find enough gear to keep everything warm. I had some TT work yesterday and I told myself I wasn’t leaving until I saw -5 on the thermometer, unfortunately it got stuck at -7 so I was rocking a 15min TT with a parka, mukluks, and lobster gloves on. Monday was another fun day with 5 trips up Dufferin St after a little 2h pedal to KB falls and back. On the 3^rd effort I pushed a commuter type up the first steep pitch, and on my last trip up I raced an LU runner on the really steep part. There was no finish line so I’ll take credit for the win but it was closer than I would have liked.

So today is tranquillo, just finishing up my rockology lab and doing a few other housekeeping type things before I head south next week for Good Friday. Looking forward to seeing everyone after the winter and also testing out the legs. I’m not expecting much results wise, I'm more going down to try my best and have lots of fun. Isn’t that what racing is supposed to be about anyways?

Give it, Give'r

2010-03-21T20:07:00.001-04:00

Right pumped to be feeling healthy again. Missed out on some good training but it’s still only March so I’ll survive. I’m now a full blown germaphobe with a ready action bottle of Purell in my pocket at all times to ensure proper sanitation.

Got my midterms back this week and all I can say is it’s a good feeling to be the one who brings UP the class average. All I have to do now is put my name on my finals and I’ll be done first year so yeah I’m happy about that. After bike practice on Friday I took a jaunt down to Pass Lake to look at the sandstone formations from the field trip I missed with my geology class. Its hard to describe how cool the things are I found but basically there’s a billion years of history preserved in the outcrop.

Did some more riding this weekend, no real surprise there. Battled a stiff headwind for from Lakesore Drive all the way to the top of Mt. Joe in Minnesotta, making for a longer than expected day. 3150 Kj burned in 4h of riding with an average speed of 26.7 km/h, thanks goodness I had my iPod to keep me company. Today was a ride with hometown Tbay bro Matt DeJock through the metropolitan areas of Hymers, Nolalu, South Gillies and Moosehill. I gave it some gas on Mile Hill and blew a whole lot of crap out of my lungs which felt awesome.

Getting close to 300 words and I’m not getting marks for this so its time to shut ‘er down. 2 weeks of avoiding parking tickets left then its south until June. Hopefully when I’m back there won’t be 3ft of ice on the lake so I can enjoy some of my birthday brews down on the dock.

Million year old ripples from lake bottom preserved in the rock

unsorted rocks from a mountain stream close to a billion years ago underneath layers of sandstone from a former lake bottom

Rough Patch

2010-03-16T21:36:00.000-04:00

Today is the first time since last Saturday (the 6^th) that I’ve felt somewhat healthy. I got run over by strep throat which has meant no more than an hour of soft pedaling here and there for the last week, and now that I’m feeling good the beauty weather is going to move on. But enough with the negative thoughts, I’m calling this my token sickness for the year so from now until cx nats it will be clear sailing. The time off the bike was good for some housekeeping duties too like getting the TT bike set up and killing midterms, one more to go then I can turn my brain off until mid April when those pesky 3h finals show up. It’s looking like I wont be moving south until the late April so I’ll be skipping the spring classics like P2A, however I may just have a couple flights booked for the long weekend in April, hopefully there’s a race then.

Thought I'd just add that Dexter is the greatest show on TV. Next time you're sick, rent the first 2 seasons, you will not be disappointed.

Funny Tale

2010-03-11T11:12:00.000-05:00

I think I picked up a bug at the Loppet as I have been feeling a little under the weather all week. Needless to say there hasn't been any great training going on so I’ve decided to share a funny story form reffing the other night in lieu of a regular post.

I was at the First Nations arena for my last Bantom set of the year, not terribly good hockey but there’s always a chance of a fight to break up so the assigner tends to put in some of the older refs in the area. I was teamed up with another LU student my age and a guy maybe in his mid 30’s, both of who were really funny so it was going to be a good night. I reffed the first game, no problems but I noticed one of my linesman (the 35ish guy) kept adjusting his pants between whistles. I asked him what was up and he said his long underwear felt really tight for some reason and wouldn’t stay up. Between games I switched to linesman duties as he changed into his ref jersey and just before we went on the ice he said asked us to hold up so he could check what was wrong with his underwear.

He looked at the tag, and it read “WM”, which we all concluded meant “Women’s medium”, and the look on his face as he realized he was wearing his wife’s tights was truly priceless. The best part was midway through the game after he called a penalty, one of the coaches from the offending team went ballistic and was yelling everything under the sun. The ref calmly skated over and without cracking a smile said, “Would you give me a break? I’m wearing my wife’s underwear for goodness sakes.”

Not even the coach could hold back his laughter on that one as everyone on the bench was broke out laughing. Let this serve as a lesson to young refs, always do your own laundry!

Sleeping Giant Loppet

2010-03-09T08:47:00.003-05:00

The whole week leading up to the race, all anyone would talk about was how hard the last 10k were going to be. The forecast was for a high of 10 degrees and the wide open trails in the final fifth of the race meant the sun was going to turn the snow into sandpaper. My game plan was pretty simple: take it east off the start and avoid crashes, move up during the next 10k, go hard tempo until the Burma Trail (very hilly) then unleash the fury and hope I survive until the line.

My warmup was a little longer than planned and I ended up at the back of the first wave so the first 12k were spent in the trackset trying to pass as many people as I could before we hit the much narrower Pickerel Lake Trail. I was feeling good through there and kept moving up but when I went to pass this one skier his pole came up and nailed me right in the gems, and I can tell you first hand I would not wish that pain on my worst enemy. I slowed down a bit after that and just followed a group until the pain in my arms and legs surpassed the pain downtown and I could get back on with the race. Onto the Burma where I opened it up to full throttle and was moving along pretty well until I caught a group of 6 which took up the whole trail and slowed my progress. Most stopped at the neutral feed for a drink so I took my opportunity to pass there and get back up to speed. Caught another group not too much further down the trail but got through them eventually. At this point I wished I had stopped for a feed at the last station as I was a hurting unit, but I made it to the 10k to go checkpoint where I got a glass of hot Gatorade. The organizers of Sleepy G are awesome, but I have to question giving hot G-raid to racers when it’s 10 degrees outside. Anyways this did not sit well in the old stomach and 5k later I was down in crawler gear just praying I would make it to the line before my body exploded, or worse yet was passed by Pinner. Anyways I was really happy with how the first 45k of the race went. I know for next year to a) line up sooner and b) bring my own feed.

The snow is receding fast up here so it looks like i'll be hanging up the skis for this year which is alright with me. I love skiing but at the end of the day I like riding outside more so it's time to switch sports until December when the routine starts all over again.

Spring

2010-03-02T08:30:00.000-05:00

First off I would like to thank everyone for their feedback from my last post. Got some great comments and emails and I’m glad to see so many people feel the same way I do.

Since I arrived back home the weather up here has been really incredible (by Tbay standards) that that’s makes it a lot easier to fined the motivation to put in solid hours. Made it down to the park both Thursday and Saturday for the last course recon before this weekend’s 50k race. The trails were pretty good but the upper 30 is in desperate need of more snow so that will make grooming more challenging. The temp for Saturday right now is +8, so my feeling is the race will be much more about attrition and staying fueled, rather than pure speed like last year. Guess i'll just have to give'r.

Owning the Podium

2010-02-25T09:25:00.002-05:00

I’ve never felt so proud to be Canadian. During the last 2 weeks of the games we have seen some incredible performances from our Canadian athletes and it has been truly inspiring to watch. It shows just how little these critics of Own the Podium really know about sport when they write the program off as a failure before the Olympics are even half over. I really shouldn’t be surprised, most of them are the ones who ‘forgot’ their gym clothes in high school and who’s biggest athletic accomplishment was taking the stairs that one time the elevator broke down. These people really don’t seem to understand athletics and put such a huge amount of pressure on our athletes to win gold, then get their rocks off when our athletes fail.

Take Mellisa Hollingsworth, crying and apologizing for letting canada down when she finished 5^thin Skeleton when she was expected to medal. I’m sorry but 5^th in the world is pretty damn incredible, I know many people, including myself, who would do just about anything to finish top 5 at an Olympic games. If an athlete goes out and gives a 100% effort, it shouldn’t matter how they finish, after we're talking about the world's biggest stage, and just getting to this point is a huge accomplishment.

I hope yesterday’s run of 4 medals and Ashleigh Mcivor’s gold on Tuesday are enough to shut these people up for the remainder of the games and allow our athletes perform at their highest level.

Home...almost

2010-02-22T08:14:00.000-05:00

Chilling in Sutton today before I fly back to Tundar Bay tomorrow morning. I'm feeling pretty bunged up after the 26h drive back here from Lake Worth so there is definitely a nap on the schedule for this afternoon.

The last few rides in FL were pretty decent and included some give'r sessions which were fun to do. We did a little club race Saturday morning to get some speed work in, but after an obnoxious american started chirping Canada's performance at the Olympics we decided it was best to drop the hammer for the last 20k and see who could survive. I felt really good during our little TTT at the front, but that feeling soon faded once I jumped in the car.

I'm very pleased with how the week went, I got in some very good quality training and a lot of miles in the legs. The guys I was with were awesome and i had a really great time down there.

Flo-rida

2010-02-16T20:37:00.001-05:00

Watching Canada not beating Norway in Olympic hockey, maybe by the time you read this we will have won 6-0 or something. Anyways training has been going really well down here in Lake Worth, almost 20h in the last 5 days and the legs are coming around nicely. I've had no knee problems which was my biggest concern coming down here on a new bike but everything (1-0 Canada) seems to be fine, and i'm really happy with the Cannondale.

today was a nice 155k haul from here to Fort Lauderdale and then up to Palm Beach and back down to Lake Worth. we had a huge tailwind on (2-0 canada, flood gates are open) the way down so we all expected a 3.5h slog back north but while we were sitting in Sbucks the wind did a 90 and became more off a cross wind so we were able to haul at 30k/h.

tomorrow is going to be a blast after a 2h recovery ride early, then a road trip down to Miami for some sight seeing/ beach cruising/ get my tan on type of thing. I'll have pics.

Florida

2010-02-13T18:54:00.001-05:00

Florida is unreal.
I'm having a great time with the guys down here in Lake Worth and getting some good miles in.
I'm still a little worn down from the 24h drive so I'll do a pic post and later I'll do a full write up once we get some more good rides.

Packing

Lots of coffee

Owl in a tree

Smashing some coconuts

Having some milk

Latts having a good time

Finishing the day on the beach

2010-02-10T12:48:00.001-05:00

Starting to get cranked about heading down to Florida. I finished up my midterms this morning with a stellar performance in chem, and now the rest of the day will be packing/ downloading movies to watch during the trip. We have a big week planned with lots of volume which should be good, I still have 2 months until my first race so not too much throttle will be dropped but I’m sure we’ll see some.

My ride for this season came in the mail Monday and big thanks to the guys at WildRock for getting it up here so fast. I almost had to ride my cx bike, which does not have bottle cages so some j-bag solution was almost needed. Tuesday was spent setting up the bike and dialing in the position. It fits well and feels solid which for me is far and away the most important metric. I’m not a fan of these super light bikes that crack as soon as it sees pavement, I’d rather take an extra trip to the John then spend X dollars to save 30 grams.

I’ll post stories from the trip as they happen, with Latts, Mundy and Schiller there are bound to be some good ones.

- Posted from iPhone

A Breather

2010-02-04T19:53:00.001-05:00

Had one of the most busy weeks since school started up again. I've had 3 midterms and 2 projects due, and that goes on top of the training load that seems to be getting bigger. Now that were into feb it feels like the season is just around the corner, so training and diet become much more intense.

Did a couple good skis early this week, including a sub 3h 50k down in Sleepy G. I was supposed to be racing the Kamview ski Tour this weekend but I got a call from the top ref in Tbay and he asked me to do some big boy games this weekend, and I really couldn't say no.

Well I still have a lab to finish before tomorrow morning at 9 so I best get back to that. 7 days till florida.

Chilly

2010-01-28T14:18:00.002-05:00

Back to a normal post today. I was supposed to do a ski race last Sunday but the weather turned sour so I had to bail on that idea and do a trainer ride instead. Monday was a good ski but Tuesday the temps dropped back down to the -20 area so it was time to bust out the classic skis and shuffle around for a couple hours. Wednesday was more of the same, though I did get a little bit of skating in. Poor Katie Spittlehouse had to teach a grade 6 class how to ski and she looked just about frozen standing out in the cold. Today I suffered through a couple hours on the trainer, however I have a good selection of beats I save for such occasions to that helped to pass the time.

What began as a small ‘Hockey Day in Canada’ outdoor game on the rink here on the lake has morphed into a 20+ man game complete with refs, time keepers, and possibly some eco-friendly lines painted on the ice. Might have to do a savage workout Saturday morning to offset the beer that will no doubt going to be flowing that night.

Scary moment of the week was from a frozen down throttle on my bush sled when I started it up for a quick run behind the house. It made for a wicked hit of adrenalin as I grabbed the kill cord just as she started to take off towards the shed, too close of a call for my liking.

Cheers,

LMFAO

2010-01-27T21:22:00.000-05:00

Too busy training to bother with a proper post so enjoy some laughs courtesy of Top Gear:

Rocks for Jocks

2010-01-22T17:01:00.001-05:00

Went to see an unreal avalanche (sp?) slidshow on tuesday at the school. I took Pappa along as he's really into the backcountry and thought he would enjoy the presentation. Most of the footage was taken at Rogers Pass in BC, a place I rode through in '08 so I recognized most of the landscape which was pretty cool. It made me think that maybe I should consider a graduate study in that field, then I went to chem the next morning and thought maybe I should just focus on rocks for now.

Did a killer double day yesterday, 100k bike then a 20k ski in Finland and then another 3h today outside with a focus on staying warm with the windchill. Weather is turning sour next week so I doubt I'll be back out on the winter rig but we'll see. With every pedalstroke am getting more pumped for Florida, it's gonna be good.

- Posted from iPhone

Snow Dance

2010-01-20T16:52:00.000-05:00

After the 3 days around Christmas that were spent almost entirely moving snow, I never thought I would be asking for more. We haven't had a legit snowfall in almost a month, and with the warmish weather, the ski trails are starting to show some brown patches. I think a good 6" of snow would be perfect so I won't have to worry anymore about tearing up my good skis.

Got the course route for this Sunday's race at Lappe, and it looks like they used every hill in the place. I'm not so worried about detonating, as much as I am about flying into a tree as I try to decsend some of their trails while givin'r 110. At least it's a TT style race as opposed to a mass start so I'll have some breathing room to snowplow.

Quote of the month:
"how does an entire continent move against the rotation of the earth?"

- Posted from iPhone

2010-01-17T20:07:00.001-05:00

Feelin a bit tired after reffing 13 hockey games in the last 3 days, and thats ontop of the usual school, training etc. Only good story is a had a Novice (7-8 year olds) coach flip out on me for a goal he didn't feel crossed the line. I calmly explained how it went down and he told me to get lost, so i reminded him which one of us is in charge and told him to leave the bench. My partner and I were called Saturday night to do this game after this coach lost it on a younger official earlier in the tourney so i guess they wanted some older guys in to make sure it didn't happen again.

Got out for my first ride outside on Thursday, even though it was a little chilly. Managed 80k of out-and-back on Oliver and John Street roads, nice and flat with little traffic. Legs felt good, no HR or power for the ride, just went chill and enjoyed riding in the wind again. Speaking of outside riding, i have made a change to my southern riding plans. rather than trying a solo mission to AZ for 2 weeks in feb, i'm going to Florida for reading week and thats it. The last 2 years i did the big 4-6 weeks of southern riding and i don't think i got out the benefit of all the resources I put in, so this year it's nice and simple and i can mooch of the rents for an extra 4 weeks, not to mention plug away at this little university thing.

Busy

2010-01-13T17:14:00.001-05:00

Big news today is I passed my 'G' drivers test a full 2 months before I would have to start over with a G1. I had a few things come up during the test, like an old man J-walking infront of me, and an OPP RIDE program, good thing I wasn't hammed. Passed with just about flying colors, just forgot to check my blindspot when exiting the hwy, never know when someone might pass you in the ditch then jump the gardrail.

Didn't think the tester would enjoy skis across his lap so I left them at home and packed the snowshoes. Did a great 2.5h hike up and around McKay and took some poor photos of great vistas. I'll spare you the geology lesson on how the mountain was formed. Hit the gym after and I have graduated to the big boy weights on the bench, maybe not the best for cycling, but it pays off come sauna time

- Posted from iPhone

Quickie

2010-01-12T08:51:00.002-05:00

Last Thursday I froze every appendage in my body trying to glide on the slowest snow I have ever experienced. It was -15 in town so I didn’t this it would be too bad skiing, but I didn’t account for Lappe being 30k west of the lake, so there wasn’t any lake-effect warmth (it does exist). It was around 1 degree Kelvin after the windchill, and even with everything covered with multiple layers of Stanfield’s I was just about frozen after an hour. I used the Lappe Grunt to keep warm and somehow squeezed out an extra 15min before I ran into the sauna to thaw out.

It warmed up very nicely for my ski yesterday. It was around -12 when I started out, then -8 when I finished and the trails were groomed to perfection. Did the system twice then some Sunup-Lookout give’r sessions to call it a day. The weather is looking like its going to be around freezing all week so I’ll be able to get out on the bike at least a couple times. Hopefully we get some more snow though as the upper 30k in Sleepy G is just waiting to get opened up.

New Goals

2010-01-08T14:42:00.001-05:00

I offically entered my name today for both the 50k Sleeping Giant Loppet in march and the Lappe Invitational at the end of January. It's been almost 3 months to the day from my last race, and with still another 3 months until te road season starts up, I think these 2 events will be enought to keep me honest through the remainder of the winter. I still have my eyes set on doing the Kamview Ski Tour in early Feb before I head south during reading week.

It was quite fresh outside today so I only did 1.5h at lappe before hitting the sauna to thaw out. Unsurprisingly I was the only one there, even the finlanders thought it was too cold!

An empty parking lot.

Back to it

2010-01-05T17:23:00.001-05:00

Class started up again yesterday after almost a month off. I’m actually happy to be back because it gives my day some much needed structure. I had become a little to fond of sleeping in, eating too much and exercising too little. My schedule is almost the same as last term but my morning class now finishes at 9:30 so it gives me a good 7h before my next class to buzz around doing different activates before I head back home.

Went to see the torch as it passed through Tbay Sunday night. The game plan was to run in front of the torch carrying a giant Canada flag (TdF style), but once I saw that the horsemen were packin' heat, and were all business, I decided to just behave. Managed to get in a dance with the RBC girls while the truck was stopped at a red light and scored some free coke so not all was lost. I also got in a chirp towards the runner for bad form and running too slow, a good day.

Been having some knee pain the past few days during training so after talking to a few ski experts the general consensus was I should not be using my race boots for long distance skis as my ankle/heal zone has too much movement. After getting hooked up with a more practical set I tried them out today, and viola, now more pain. Looking forward to some warmer temps next week as -20 before the windchill is a little cold, but after the elbow incident, i need to regain some lost hardness.

Heading off to Geology class shortly, where I’m hoping someone will have the Canada/USofA game streaming live so I don’t miss out on too much. I have to say I think the scavengers are a better team, but never count out the noble beavers.

and of coarse no post is complete without a pic of the dog:

DJ Basso

Waiting for the show

Blood, Sweat, and Beers

2010-01-02T10:21:00.002-05:00

I’m just about back up to the mileage I was able to do last year at this time on the skis. I spent 3 days in a row over at Kamview getting the technique back and making myself much more efficient at gliding on snow. The Lookout trail finally opened up on day 3 and the first time doing that I had some horrible flashbacks of doing this trail in -20 conditions last year. Got in 100k over the days and hit 2 squirrels and saw 1 giant grouse, I should have brought a biathlon gun to ‘practice’.

So on to New Years, and the Loon Lake Classic, which actually never really happened. I brought cooler full of beer down to the lake on the quad and somehow after that no one wanted to play puck. The atv just became an expensive coffee table as we served nachos and cheese to whoever showed up. Did a rip on the sled later that afternoon and got it promptly stuck, good thing I’m doing so much power lifting at the gym, not.

We invited the lake over for the WJHC game between Canada and the USofA. The drinking game was every time Canada scored, or you hear someone say ‘eh, oh,

Canada

Go!’ you have to do a Jello shooter. My sis made up 130 shooters for about 10 guys, and at the end of overtime we still had about 90 to go, so we decided even shootout goals would count, and if you watched the game, it made for a quick succession of shots. The rest of the night was just I giant chirp show, and almost ended with a naked hockey game, but thank goodness the wives put a kibosh on that one.

Yesterday was a snowshoe/ trail break hike, so now sledding will be a bit more fun with all the trees removed.

All the best in 2010.

Title.

2009-12-29T10:20:00.001-05:00

After spending Christmas and boxing day keeping the rink clear of snow it was time to get back into some real training, although shoveling is a damn good workout. I hit up Kamview for 2h on the 27^th, going everything open twice and then 3x up Sunup to finish it off. The temp was around -7 so very good skate conditions and I felt much better getting back on my good skis, as opposed to my ripped up rock skis.

Overnight the temp took a nosedive and it was -20 before the windchill when I got up so I decided to until the afternoon before I went skiing. I sweated for 2h on the trainer in the morning, playing Quick Hit, and guiding my team to an 8-0-1 all-time record. In the afternoon I put on everything I had in my ski basket and braved the cold for 1.5h before calling it a day. The sauna at the Athletic Club was full of fat nude Italians so I decided to steam room would be a better option.

Watched Inglourious Basterds Sunday night and I’m giving it a full 5 stars. It is a really funny movie and I recommend watching it for sure. Today is a snowshoe/ride day, with the goal to break the trail up to Nala and Anderson lakes so I can take the sled up there fishing once the season opens in feb (I think).

Merry Boxing Day

2009-12-26T16:21:00.002-05:00

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Christmas.

Mine was great as always with all 6 family members showing up Thursday night (4 humans, 2 dogs) and then a great Christmas eve dinner. After disassembling my sis at a game of Wii golf it was off to bed with the hopes Santa would bring the skis I picked out in November. Sure enough there was an awkwardly long present sitting under the tree Christmas morning. After demolishing our presents it was off to operation snow removal to take care of the foot of powder that very rudely fell on the CFL size hockey rink. My dad and I fired up the atv at 9:30 and finished shortly after 1, after taking turns riding and shoveling. An afternoon nap ensued before the best part of Christmas, the dinner. I seriously o-ded it on the turkey and stuffing but it was so good. I might just hook up an IV next year to save digestion time, we’ll have to see.

So now on to boxing day, and it was another day of snow maintenance, this time only taking 2.5h to get through. The Mom and Sis went to town to do the traditional boxing day shop wile the old man and I again took turns shoveling wet, heavy snow. Our rink shrunk a bit today but its still big enough for 2 hockey games to take place at the same time. The ski trails were closed both yesterday and today so I did a trainer workout both days, mostly to offset the food intake. I’ll hopefully get out tomorrow on the new skis and get my post-Christmas hinny back in form.

Next up, New Years!

The updated quiver, thanks to Brian at

Rollin' Thunder

Happy Holidays

2009-12-24T09:30:00.000-05:00

Did the Sleeping Giant- Sawyer Bay loop yesterday because with a big storm arriving later today I was afraid that the upper portions of the hike were going to be snowed in. It was around -15 when I left my house just after sunrise but warmed up to -10 by the time I arrived at the parking lot. The first 6.5k aren’t terribly exciting but I stopped at the ‘sea lion’ to grab some pics, it’s a cool geologic feature but I wont bore you with the details. There was a fair bit of snow and down on the peninsula so I was wishing I had brought my snowshoes, but once I hit the climb over Mink Mountain I was glad I didn’t bring them after all. I did this hike 2 years ago in similar conditions, and I forgot just how dangerous it was in the winter. You climb hands and knees for about 300m straight up, and the snow makes everything a little more slippery. Along the top of the mountain someone removed some of the trail markers, but I was able to figure out the basic layout of the trail with my compass, but if I hadn’t done the hike before it might have been more interesting. Down the other side I stopped in at sawyer bay for a drink of water before the 7k slog back to the parking lot. There was about 2” more snow on the north side of the mountain than the south side so that made for a slow walk back. Took me 4.5h to do the 23k loop, 15min faster than 2 years ago, but I also took fewer photos this time so that might be the difference.

Today is of course Christmas Eve, and that of course means last minute shopping. My elbow is all healed up so I’ll be in full crit mode as I make my way through the various malls. Might get out for ski/gym workout if the respective venues don’t close before I get there, and I wont be ski racing this Saturday as its only classic and I’m a skater.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-22T17:11:00.001-05:00

Got out for my first ski of the year today at Kamview, exactly 1 month later than my first ski last year. Conditions were fair to good, I wont be using my good skis until we get another dump of snow but for now I’ll manage. I did 2 laps of the Northern Lights-Jackrabbit loop, a far cry from the 3 laps of the whole system I was doing a year ago but I know there is room for improvement. It felt nice to be back out doing my 2^nd favorite outdoor activity, something about the tranquility of skiing that keeps me going.

Yesterday we got a about 10cm of snow, but because our rink on the lake is now the size of a football field, it took me almost 3.5h to clear off. I got out for a skate on it today and all the hard work so far has been worth it. The ice is nice and smooth and only a couple small cracks that will take no time to repair.

I was at a house warming partyon Saturday night and a bunch of the people from the lake who will be competing in the Loon Lake World Championships were there. Some smash talk has already begun, even though we have yet to pick teams. It should be a good game, I might even hire one of my ref buds so things don’t get out of hand once the beer begins to flow.

Tomorrow I will attempt to hike the Sleepy G-Sawyer Bay trail down in the park, I think its about 20k so it will be a good days work.

Oh and if you want a good treat this holiday season, buy some chocolate almond milk and get your local Sbucks barista to steam it and throw in a couple shots of espresso, you will thank me.

Crisis Averted

2009-12-17T10:04:00.000-05:00

Last night I had to make a quick, 2h visit to the hospital after I got smoked with a puck during my reffing set. Now I can already hear Riggs calling me soft, but to be fair, I didn’t have any movement in my elbow and I thought it would be best if I had a real doctor check it out, not the trainer from the Norwest Peewee hockey team.

I was standing on the blueline watching the offside when the forward took a slapshot at the redline to dump it in. I would have been fine where I was but the puck bounced off the glass and hit my funny bone dead on. The kicker of the story is when the puck hit me it then bounced off a player who was offside, so as I was doubled over I still made the offside call. The kid who shot the puck came up to me right away and said sorry which I thought was nice, most kids would have laughed or told me to get out of the way.

So I went and got checked out and I think the key to fast hospital service is to be ‘that nice blond kid’. I know the night shift is a crappy one so I made sure to joke with the nurses and thank them repeatedly, and saying the pain was 7 out of 10 might helped get me in faster too. After an couple X-Rays I got the word it was just a soft tissue brose, and should heal up in a couple days, a big relief because if it had been broken, I wouldn’t be skiing (with poles) until the end of Jan, and I just cant wait that long.

Now I’m off to buy some elbow pads for tonight’s set.

Trainer

2009-12-16T13:23:00.001-05:00

Sitting on the bike for my 2^nd workout of the day, the first being a nice hike with the beagle up behind the house. It was -20 this morning so we only did about 2h, the dog was getting ice built up in his paws and then started pulling from behind, his way of saying lets go home. I’m waiting to hear if I’ll be refereeing tonight, I could certainly use the dough for the 3 game set as I get ready to do my part to stimulate the economy. Finished up exams yesterday morning with a top drawer performance, so if I don’t fall flat on my face next term I wont have to take 2^nd year chem, yeah buddy.

I have been struggling to keep my mind busy as I sit here turning my legs around, but last night I found Quick Hit Football, a highly addictive game where you are the coach and just call the plays for your team. Its really easy to do when on the rollers and trainer, and you can kill 2h in no time.

Not sure if I mentioned it before but pops and I took the atv down to the lake on Sunday and cleared an NHL size rink for the ’09 Loon Lake Classic that will go down over the Christmas break. We have 7” of ice at the far end, so you can get an idea of how cold its been over the past 2 weeks, but I see tomorrow its going up to -4 so I could get on the outside bike, we’ll see.

New Blog Post

2009-12-13T16:55:00.000-05:00

Another Sunday, another week without updates, but I’m sure you have been so busy following the latest gossip on Tiger Woods you didn’t even notice. Ha.

Ok so I have written 2 exams, both went decently well, likely around the 80% mark so that should bring the marks up a tad. Between studying I have spent some time either on the bike (trainer) or back in the bush exploring. I found a huge network of trails across the Stix River in West Loon, likely for the logging that they are going back there but I’m really not sure. Followed one trail up to a small lake that I might take a boat up to next summer because it doesn’t look like too many people have been up there, and I bet there’s some good spec fishin’.

So because I am a little down on interesting things to talk about I’ll finish with some good songs that make trainer time the best part of your day.

Michael Mind- Baker Street

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGuP7A4cwzA

Alex Megane & Marc Van Damme - Hava Nagila

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfhHHCZ-ub0

Paul Van Dyk - White Lies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvpacdh6O1Q

Enjoy!

So...

2009-12-06T19:45:00.002-05:00

So it has been a week since my last post, which for once means that I haven’t had enough time to sit down and write about life (as opposed to there being so little going on its not worth talking aboot). So Tuesday I killed my geology lab final so I’m set to get a good mark there, and Wednesday I was the first one finished my chem lab so I either did really well, or bombed it horribly.

Thursday was supposed to be the annual Geology vs. Biology snow football game, but the 4^th year bios had a some major project due so we combined the two majors and played Toronto vs Thunder Bay. Although I was born in Peterborough, which up here means Toronto, I was allowed to play for the Tbay team because of my camo pants/hat/gloves/boots that I wore that day. We began playing touch football, but that quickly turned into tackle football once the egos showed their faces. I started out as tight-end, but just like prison, I finished as a wide receiver (been saving that one for a while). So in the end we gave the TO boys another beat down, just like the ones the Argos, Leafs, Raptors and Jays have been experiencing all year.

So I woke to some sore muscles Friday but I still did a little spin on the indoor bike. I have a nice setup this year in the guest cottage so I can blast my ‘awful’ music as loud as I want. Saturday I did a little V02 test at LU for a grad student, with the end result being 58ml/kg/min. Now that number will go up a bit once I loose my winter layer but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

Today I got out with pops and sis who came up for the winter moose hunt. We hiked around for 4h and saw a ton of sign and one cow moose, too far to shoot but it was promising. Hopefully my studying goes well this week and I can join them again for a day. I start writing Thursday so I got a nice break, but tomorrow I’m back at the books.

Here are some pics from today, mostly of rocks, or ‘dirt’ as my sister calls it.

Beauty Day

folded dirt layers

sideways dirt

The End Nears

2009-11-30T18:53:00.004-05:00

I'm taking a look at the 14 day trend for Tbay and it looks like fall might be over. We had a good run, last year on this date I was skiing at Kamview on their 300m loop so I'm not surprised the end has come. After 4 days on the bike I took Saturday off and did a hike with the dog at an undisclosed location near Pass Lake. The reason I can't say is I found a beautiful patch of purple and red quartz crystals (photos below), and I really don't want people damaging/taking them.

Sunday morning the motivation wasn't super high with the snow storm could see out the window, but then I got a text from Andrew Ross and he said it was sunny near the lake so we decided to meet up and do a ride. I hadn't done a group ride since September so it was nice to actually talk to someone and not have the same songs blasting in my ear for hours on end. After the ride I went into the gym for a sauna to warmup, but since the freewieght room was empty I thought I would pump some iron before hitting the shower. Well on my last set of squats I did something to my right knee, the same one I hurt in SC last march, so I packed it in and took it east for the rest of the day. Today it felt much better so I did what I think will be my last outdoor ride for a bit. Like I mentioned above, the mercury (and windchill) looks like it will be taking a nose dive starting tomorrow. I did one of my favorite loops up through Lappe then hit some frozen dirt roads back to town before one final red-light sprint for good measure.

-Posted from iPhone

Going Rouge

2009-11-28T12:04:00.006-05:00

I watched a Sarah Palin interview on Fox ‘News’ and I just can not believe this person has a chance of running one of the most powerful nations in the world. I’m not going to get into politics here but I didn’t think it was possible for someone to be so against human rights, the environment and healthcare, but in 20 short minutes I was proven wrong. I think John Stewart sums it up best here (about 4 min in)

So I’m almost done the 1^st installment of my 8 part series, “Better become a Geologist” (watch The Colbert Report to understand this reference). I have 3 days left of class, each of which has either a final project or exam due, so actually the time I spend on the bike in the freezing cold will be the most enjoyable part of the day. The riding this week was good, the weather not so much. I enjoyed rain, sleet and snow on all but one ride, which was inside on the trainer because the roads were just a little too icy. My bonehead move of the week was throwing my rain cape in the dryer, and incase you didn’t know, thin plastic and high heat don’t mix. I now need to grow my left arm about 3” longer to get a good fit, or maybe put it back in the dryer to stretch the right arm. We'll see...

Beauty

Loon Lake with Sleepy G in the distance

Ketchup

2009-11-24T18:47:00.001-05:00

Not much has really gone down since the last time I did a post. I have done a couple of rides, nothing too big, more just getting out there and moving the legs around. Winter time is coming soon so hopfully we'll get a good dump of snow all at once and I can go straight to the skis.
Saturday night the fam and I used our gift certificates for a great dinner at the Caribou. This place is the def of high end and I think they took over from Masala as my #1 place to eat in TB.
The highlight of Sunday was an awesome atv ride behind the house in the pouring rain. A couple of the creeks were deerper than I had ever seen and a little on-the-fly switch to 4x4 was needed at one point. I also found a savage trail that I think is really a hiking trail but I managed to fit through all but 1 tree, which needed to be cut. I think I averaged about 3km/h as I navigated through endless bolders. The trail eneded at a great view overlooking the Hunter's lakes, and if I was more on the ball I would have brought my camera.

2h in the rain today and now I'm ready for a nice dinner, après Geology class of course.

- Posted from iPhone

Tiësto

2009-11-19T15:55:00.004-05:00

I was introduced to the Tiesto Power Mix yesterday during chem lab, and I was so amped up I did my most savage gym workout to date. Well that’s not the whole story, I actually forgot that it was an odd week and therefore thought I had wendesday afternoon off, so I had a nice solid ride planned. This plan fizzled out during my chem lecture when the prof reminded us we had the 2h lab, from 2-4, right in the middle of prime riding time. I was a tad angry, especially because it might be the last nice day we are going to have for about 4 months. I plugged into my lab partner’s laptop and when the song came on, I blazed the remainder of my questions and fast-tracked right to the gym to lift some moles of Fe.

Did a good ride today on the gravel roads down in the park, and a few deer decided to join me for cruse. I have thrown my PT back on just to get an idea of where I am compared to last year. Well I have no data from November last year but I think I’m at least where I was as far as absolute power is concerned, the watts/kg might be another story…

I thought this pic of basso with bbq sauce in his eye was kinda funny/cute

Nordic Fest

2009-11-15T11:41:00.001-05:00

Last night was the NTDC Team fundraising dinner featuring an authentic Scandinavian dinner and lots of solid entertainment. With all the items that were sold in the actions on top of the price for admission, I would have to say they easily raised $20k. I would love if cycling could put on something similar, because with his dinner on top of all their corporate sponsors, the 9 skiers on the team won’t have to spend a dime to race this winter. For me the most impressive thing was the organization behind these guys, a 7 member panel of volunteers, with each member assigned a specific job for things such as travel and race logistics to the continuous search for more sponsorship money, as well as their own doctor who takes care of anything medically related. Huge props to these guys and all I can say is best of luck to them this winter.

Not much more on the news front other than I have decided where I’ll be racing next year, and its going to be with the guys who brought me back to the sport in ’06 when I was ready to pack it in. Those guys are the team at Wildrock and the Peterborough Cycling Club, both of whom have grown over the past couple of years and wanted to put together a development team of riders from the Peterborough area. I have been talking to them almost every week since early October and every time the news seems to get better. I really trust these guys to put athletes first, and after all they have done for me these past few years I am more than happy to wear one of their jerseys. Were are not going to be a big team, at least not this year, but we are looking for a couple more U23 riders, and not necessarily from Peterborough, so if you know anyone looking for a team feel free to drop me a line.

Now I’m off to look for my Christmas presents on the shelves of Rollin’ Thunder

Pec

Gauntlet has been dropped

2009-11-07T17:21:00.011-05:00

Looks like Riggs and Rammer have decided to step up on the blog front so I guess I need to step up my own game. Been hitting the gym a bit lately, mostly everyday and rotating between core/ legs for the bike and the upper for sauna season (pronounced s-oh-na). I did a few rides this week, but they were far from a fast pace. In the summer I was doing tranquillo rides to the coffee shop at higher speeds but I guess that what’s expected when you do nothing but eat for 3 weeks. The best ride was down to Sibley on Tuesday (maybe Wednesday, they kinda blend together) with no traffic and a unbelievable amount of deer on the roads. If it hadn’t been so cold I would have stopped for some pics but it is November up here in the arctic so I shouldn’t be surprised by the temp.

I have written down my goals for ’10 and I am looking forward to challenges ahead. I know a few top names have moved on to bigger things, which should give me an opportunity to shine in the marquee races. There are a few youngsters coming up through the ranks however, some of whom looked very strong this year but i think with good preparation i'll be ready. I am talking of course about Loon Lake Sports Weekend, the biggest sporting event next to the Olympics. Rumor has it the Speziale sisters will be competing next year, meaning the lake swim will put me 3^rd at best, but if they team up for the egg toss, I could be in with a chance. Byron “I don’t like beer” Tocheri could be out of the mile run because of his incredible softness, but T-Rev Mikus has announced his intention to reclaim the beer chug world record, so I’ll need to start training right after nationals for that one.

“Geology club isn’t lame”

Weekend

2009-11-02T10:18:00.001-05:00

The weekend started off Friday night with my first (hockey) referee set of the year. Well really I was just the linesman so basically I got paid to stand on the blue line and occasionally blow the whistle for an icing when I’m cold and need a skate. Guess I did a decent enough job so I was rewarded with refereeing 2 more games the next morning. When you get the bands it’s a little more work, you cant just check out the older sisters in the stands like when lining, but I like being in control of the game. I was only heckled once by a fan who said I needed to get my eyes checked, jokes on him because I had my contacts in so my vision was 20-20, ha.

Saturday afternoon I did my first shooting session with the Tbay Biathlon Club on the outside of town. I could knock down the targets pretty well but as soon as they made me run, than shoot, it was a completely new ball game. For a final we did a mock race with a little 500m running loop that we did 5 laps of, and at the end of each lap we fired at the 5 metal targets 50 yards down range. I did alright but on my 3^rd lap I missed all but 1 target meaning I had to run an extra 100m (4x25m) but it was still a good time. There’s nothing like combining the lameness of running with the awesomeness of shooting a gun.

For Halloween I dressed up as Deanner from the movie Fubar and I think I got into character alright. I was showed up completely though my a two of my friends who were the Listerine guy and the Toothbrush from those commercials. Had some fun that night before I unofficially, officially begin training for 2010.

Sunday was the 2^nd CX clinic of the year, this time on a course with a little more elevation change including 2 run-ups and a wooded tree section. We got out 10 or so guys so the interest is growing, and I do think next fall we will be able to get a couple full on races going.

I hit the gym this morning for the first time and it was not pretty. I have lost a bit (lot) of strength from last year but hopefully I will get it back before sauna season at Lappe

Cheers,

2009-10-30T08:29:00.000-04:00

Can't really thing of a good title this morning so we'll just skip that step. So this week has been good, Tuesday I got out for a run around Boulevard Lake, a major accomplishment for such a non-runner. That afternoon I did a nice ride on the MTB down in Centennial, hitting up most of the trails and only getting mildly lost.
Wednesday I had to ship out my TT bike to the lucky eBay winner so that meant a trip to the USA to save on shipping costs. For once it was the Canadian border guard who gave me the biggest hassle, not sure why, I was gone a full 10min, but I got a good drilling on exactly what I was doing for those 10min. Back in Canada I did my first ride along Devon rd, a paved bush road used by almost no one except in the fall when the bush fills with moose hunters. I didn't see any good wildlife, except for a bunch of bald eagles and ravens hanging around a gut pile near the road. I find it funny that the American national bird is really just a scavenger, unlike the hard working and noble Canadian beaver.
It was pissing rain all day yesterday so I took the motorized bicycle up behind the house to cut some trees that had fallen during the summer over the ski-doo trails. While up there I took another look around the prospecting site I mentioned in my last post, and after reading about what type of rock amethyst forms in, I finally found what I was looking for. The crystals aren't nearly as nice as the ones 2.5k west at the Amethyst mine but they were still pretty good. Took a few pieces that has broken off during the blasting as well as a few rocks with the veins embedded inside.
So right now my biggest goal is staying away from H1N1, last night there was a chorus of coughs during my lecture and you could almost see the virus on every surface. The school installed Purel dispensers at every entrance and bathroom, and I think its funny they went with the foam stuff, guess they were afraid of someone doing this.

Snow

2009-10-26T09:02:00.000-04:00

Not sure what the deal is but it seems an abnormal amount of snow has fallen in October. I’m pretty certain we didn’t get a flake of snow before the UCI Toronto races last year (which were in Nov), but this year we skipped the cold rain and dove right into the thick snowman snow, the stuff that makes riding suck because it gets stuck to everything. On Saturday I held my first CX clinic up here in thunder bay, and I think it was a success. We got about an inch of snow Friday night so it made for some slick conditions and I think it also deterred a few from coming out, but still a half dozen braved the weather to learn how to jump safely onto a bike seat. I set up a solid 900m loop, specd out with a bunch of 90 and 180 degree turns, an off camber, sand pit and a barrier set to get the feel for a true CX course. After lunch with TBCC prez Dave Pinner I headed back to Loon to rip apart some ATV trails, and with the aid of 4x4, rip apart I did.

Sunday was pretty much just work around the house helping pops get the place ready for winter. In the afternoon the fam did a grouse hunt up behind the house and we stumbled upon a prospecting site, complete with core samples and a bunch of cool minerals. We spent a few min up there checking it out before heading back to the house to get ready for the week ahead. I’m starting to get the urge to ride again, but I’ll be taking another solid week off before I do any real riding, but I did hit up the gym this morning to get in shape for my real sport, XC Skiing.

Look carefully and you will see a 'cross course in there somewhere.

2009-10-22T11:58:00.003-04:00

I finally gave in and bought glasses. I’ve been having some troubles reading the small print on the screens during my lectures so I decided to man up and get some correction. I also got some contacts so I would be able to keep my movie star good looks, but unfortunately, I have only managed to get them in once, but I’ll keep trying.

I have been really enjoying my off season thus far. I’ve got out for a few good hikes, one last Saturday from Thunder Bay Lookout, and another good one on Monday at Mt Mckay. I tried to hike all the way around the mountain but on the north side there were some gangster types throwing stuff off the side of the cliff so I turned around and took the south route. It was much more challenging and I got within 400m of the road but the trail disappeared into some really thick bush that was very slow to pass through. After a while of bush-whacking I decided to turn back and call it a day. Coincidentally that night in class we discussed how the Norwest Mountain were formed, and it was from volcanic activity some 750 million years ago. The dense volcanic rock formed a ‘cap’ on top of much softer sedimentary rock and prevented it from eroding away like the surrounding area, so if you ever want to impress a chick, just tell her that.

In other off season related news my pops bought a quad this week, so needless to say I have spent most of my time on that. I can see why so many people own one, those things are wicked fun and great for exploring some hard to get through areas.

This Saturday (11am, Trowbridge park) I’ll be putting on first of what will be hopefully be many Cyclocross skills clinics in the fall. I’m really looking forward to growing the sport in this area and hopefully we can get some legit races next season.

My Mountain Bike for '10

The volcanic 'cap' on top of the softer sedimentary layers.

Cooked

2009-10-14T21:40:00.001-04:00

Made the decision today to put an end to my season. I was going to race the UCI CX races this weekend in TO. but there just isn’t enough fuel left in the tank for a whirlwind trip south and then write a midterm Monday morning. My build up for nationals was so intense and then to have it go up in smoke on the 2^nd lap due to a mechanical problem was a tough pill to swallow. Then the next day I was sitting in the top 15 at the start of lap 3 when I hit the deck yet again, and then lost my nerve on the icy corners and fell to way back through the field.

It was a disappointing end to what has been a disappointing season, marred with injury, illness, and lack of mental strength at key moments. The week or so I lost in march due to tendinitis in my knee was a bummer, but the real back breaker was getting pneumonia at the start of June, wiping out my fitness for most of the month. The biggest problem I had this year was with my head and getting it where it needed to be at the right times. I’ll likely be taking the rest of October off the bike and away from cycling and really resting up mentally, something I didn’t do last fall and I feel it may have been one of the reasons why I couldn’t buy a good race when I needed it.

I like to finish on a positive so for me the highlights of ‘09 were both my improved crit and TT skills. I’m by no means a master at either, but now I’m not so embarrassed by looking at the results sheet after one of those events. Another positive from this year was my ability to pick a race and really focus on being on form for that event. After E-lake I circled cx nats on my calendar and prepared 100% for that day, obviously it didn’t come out as planned, but at least I saw for a few minutes that the juice is worth the squeeze.

So like I said, I will be taking the rest of October off the bike and really get ready for 2010. I have already thought up a couple of goals that I would like to achieve, as well as planted a few seeds for a possible trip to Europe next winter and do some of the Christmas Cross races for my last go as an espoir.

Cheers,

Don't Shoot, Don't Score

2009-10-10T19:39:00.001-04:00

I made the decision before I flew out to here to Edmonton that during the race I was going all in with the hopes of coming home with the jersey. I already have a bronze from last year so I wasn't interested in another one of those, and with school I cant afford another trip Europe so the sole purpose of this trip was top 2.

The ground was frozen but with a layer of snow on top that made the corners very slick. On one end was a flat hammer section and the other was in a 'bowl' with 2 steep 'run ups' that almost everyone rode. I did a great per-ride Friday afternoon and made the final call on tires and pressure and was feeling confident. I had a great dinner/ sleep/ breakfast leading up to the race and my head was exactly where it should be. I was loving the cold weather because its in the cold when I do my best work. Warm-up was great and I knew that the last 6 weeks of preparation were about to show.

Off the gun I was 4^th into the first corner were a small crash slowed the field but didn't decide anything. I was feeling fantastic even though it was only 3min into the race. I could have moved up further but with the headwind I stayed tucked in and just followed the lines of the guys in front of me. I was riding well but slipped out on an icy corner and fell back to 8^th but I still had lots of time to make that up so no biggie. The problem was the guys that passed me were pack-fill and couldn't ride a damn corner so that slowed me down more than the crash did. I was sitting on the wheel of one of these aforementioned pack fill when he crashed UPHILL and slowed my progress again. I wont repeat what I said to him but I think I made my point. I could still see the front of the race but I knew I was going to have to work a little harder now to get back to the leaders. I began to move up through the pack and I was taking risks in the corners because the guys up front could all ride very well and I knew I couldn't afford to loose anymore time. I was just 10s off the back of the lead trio when I slid out on an off camber corner and hit my derailleur hanger and my head hard. I got back on but my shifting wasn't great and I had to stop again to pick my chain out of the spokes. The bent hanger pretty much ended my race for all intended purposes because now I had to run up uphills and couldn't accelerate and shift out of the corners. At least I didn't fall into that trap that so often haunts me when things go wrong and I just shut down, but rather I made due with the bike and the small headache that was more annoying than anything and kept riding hard. I tried to catch the guy in front of me but I couldn't make up the time with the bike miss shifting.

So I ended up 7^th, which on first look is disappointing considering the work I have done leading up to today, but I have absolutely no regrets about anything I did during the race. I rode on the very edge, an area that I rarely visit when I'm racing, but I knew thats what i had to do, because if I sat back I would have been 5th at best . I took a shot at the win, I am convinced I had the preparation, legs, and the head to be in the top 2 today, but crashes are a part of bike racing, and one reason why its such an interesting sport. Now I have a year to reflect on today and get ready for the next one.

Cheers,

Wakeup Call

2009-10-04T22:17:00.002-04:00

I learned a great lesson in preparation these past 2 days. Even if you have pretty good fitness, if you don’t take care of the small details, you will never do well. I went into the weekend resting on my laurels far too much, knowing that I had beaten all the riders I would face this weekend either last year or at the USGP a week ago. I cut a few corners in my build up, most notably not doing a workout Friday because of the wind and rain, but also all week when I wasn't going all out in my intervals or skills practice. When I arrived at race #1 Saturday afternoon I did my normal pre-race routine and was feeling decent, not great because of the long drive but I thought a good ride was possible. Things went for a shit right at the gun when I couldn’t clip in and on the very technical course there was no room to pass unless it was a full on sprint through the only straight piece of course, and thus burning a match. Going into lap 3 I had moved up to 5^th or 6^th but was feeling the efforts of passing probably close to 10 guys so I sat back for a lap and caught my breath. On the next time through the (deep) sand pit my chain began to jump around so I decided to switch bikes. Well I hadn’t ridden my Redline all season so that was a nice shock to the system, and switching from Shimano (good) to sram (bad) didn’t help much. Long story short I got passed by everything from masters to single-speeders on my way to ~12. After the race I found out I bent my rear derailleur hanger, thus explaining why I couldn’t ride in the top of my cassette block.

With the legs and lungs blown out, my bike fixed, and the feeling of redemption being needed, I was set for a good go for race 2. The course was not-unlike a week ago in Madison with wide open grassy fields, 100+ corners and almost no recovery, so I was happy to have my tubulars on so I could run lower pressure for speed on the grass and grip for the corners. Again it was a bad start but the long start straight had a good headwind so I easily moved up to 4^th going into the sand pit where a big crash split the group so it was us 4 out front then a larger ~10 man group coming from behind. It was myself, another guy then 2 teammates who played that card very early, sending out consistent attacks with the other sitting on. 2 laps later it was all together when we hit the sand pit, I was 3^rd wheel going in but dabbed a bit and dropped to 4^th about 3 bike lengths back. I killed it over the next lap and was holding the ~5 sec gap when I clipped my foot on the 2^nd barrier and kissed the ground. Got up kinda slow and did a quick 1-over on the bike before getting back on in pursuit. I let a small group of 3 catch up to me and I sat on the back of that as I checked to make sure all was good. We rolled through for the next 6 laps but no one was coming from behind and the guys up front were flying so the pace backed off for the final 3 laps as we began to watch each other. I’m not in the season points but I knew the other 2 guys I was with were sitting in 3^rd and 4^th for points so I let them duke it out and I just sat on for the sprint.

So there was definitely a lesson taught over the last 2 days, and I am happy it was learned in a ‘C’ race, as opposed to one of the big ones on the horizon.

Cheers

USGP

2009-09-28T09:30:00.003-04:00

Just want to start off by thanking the boys a Cyclepath for hooking me up really well to start my CX season. I ordered a Ridley from them and I was told mid-sept it would be in, which normally means mid-oct, but sure enough, it arrived the day before I left for the first USGP of the season. Ben built it up right away and helped me iron out a few kinks so it was good to go for the weekend, so Thanks Guys!

When I arrived in Sun Prairie WI after 10h in the car it was pouring rain, so I decided not to ride and rather go to reg and rub shoulders with the top guys in North America. My number was 22, so in the field of 60+ guys I got a decent start position. The next day the clouds gradually cleared and by noon the sun was out and drying the course. by my 3pm start it was smooth and fast, just the way I like it. The course was really well laid out, with lots of turns, some technical sections and extended run-up. I had a pretty good start going into corner 1 but I wasn’t nearly as aggressive as I should have been and I let some of the guys push me around a bit early in the race. I got into a group of 6 and was feeling not too bad but as the race wore on I got more and more thirsty and started to fade around the 40min mark. I lost a few spots over the next 10min but I found something on the last lap to catch a group of 2 and just get by them before J-Pow came through and lapped me. he was rocking 5:30min laps, and I did 9 laps so I figure I was lapping about 30-40s slower than he was, so much better than last year at the TO UCI race. I ended up 36^th, and 5^th U23 so not a bad start to the season.

Day 2 was a little cooler but very windy and with the effort in my legs from the day before I was feeling like a top 30 was possible. I had brekkie with at the local coffee shop with Neal Rogers from VeloNews, and although I don’t always agree with his reporting, the guy really does know bike racing. I did an extended warmup on the road to clear out the legs from the day before then put my race wheels on for a few laps of the course before the race. The run-up section was modified so instead of a sharp 90 into some railroad ties, you did an off camber 180 just left of the ties and then zig-zaged up the hill. During my warmup it rained for maybe 3min, but it turned the course into a slip and slid. I ate it good on a 180 turn, and just as I got up a group of 5 came around and all of them went down. After then rain it was a mad dash to the pits to change to mud wheels. I liked my setup so I let some air out of my tires, but as I was riding I noticed the rear wheel seemed to not be tracking right. Turns out my tubular was about to roll so I rode to the pits to change just as call-ups started. I only had time to change the rear, so that’s why I’m running a deep front and shallow rear, incase you see photos. so after my tumble in the warm-up I was WAY to cautious on the first lap and was down in ~45^th doing onto lap 2. I began to feel more confident in the corners from there on and I started to pick off guys who went out maybe a little hard. I did battle with a U23 for a bit but I was able to ride the ‘run-up’ a little faster so I could get a gap there and hold it through the hammer fest section. I ended up 38^th, down a lap again but I could see the finish when Trebon lapped me so a little better than the day before. I was 5^th again for U23 so not a bad overall weekend. I know I have some areas that need some major work, and others that just need some minor adjustments, which is exactly what I wanted to take away from this weekend.

Now I’m off to class after a long night of driving and little sleep, but the smell of tubular glue should get me going just fine.

On the run-up (day 1)

More bad luck

2009-09-24T18:45:00.005-04:00

Not sure when I broke a mirror or walked under a ladder but I have been hit hard with bad luck the last few days. On sunday was the BS CC roundup race which I wanted to use as a test to see where my fitness was. I won last year and I wanted to win this time again because you get bragging rights all winter. There was a quick 800m start loop with he first one around getting a nice crisp $20 bill. I almost didn't win when I had a horrible start but I got into the lead just 200m before the line and was able to hold on. I might have had some glue on my rear wheel because on the following 2k of hilly douletrack i had a couple guys stuck to my wheel, but I got rid of them on a longish climb up the the first singletrack. So I had a nice 20s lead and was in cruse when I punctured, it was still early so no worries but then I broke the valve off my spare tube, so I got to hike it back to the start. Big props to Andrew Ross who ended up taking the win by ~7min.
That kid has gotten seriously strong over the last year and deserves to be Roundup World Champion of the World.

Fast forward a couple of days and I was out on my cx bike doing some skills when my seatpost slipped. When I went to tighten it I broke the bolt and this was 8:30am on the opposite side of town from my car so I got a nice 30min standing workout as I rode back to the car. I had class at 11 so by the time the bike shops opened and I got a new collar I couldn't ride so that was a little depressing, not getting in a full workout.

So I got my new cx bike today and it is really, really nice. I'll post some pics later tonight or tomorrow durig the drive to Wisconsin for the USGP.

Now off to class...

Sent from iPhone

Masala

2009-09-17T14:51:00.003-04:00

To start things off I have to say the Masala Grille is the best place to eat in Thunder Bay. I have been twice in the last week after my evening class and each time I was blown away by how good the food is. They serve Indian and Thai dishes and most are loaded with veggies and spices, which combined with the flavored rice is straight up addictive.

So last Sunday was the Caribou Charity Ride and I was blown away by how many came out for the ride. 250 cyclists took on the challenge of 50/100k, with surprisingly most doing the 100k loop through some remote country west of the city. I obviously did the 100k and for the first 15k or so it was nice and tranquil but as soon as we hit the hills the shenanigans began and it was a slew of riders hammering off the front, only to crack moments later and come back to the group that was being led by myself and Andrew Ross. After pretty much everyone in the group had a go off the front I decided to have some fun and dropped the hammer up a steep climb coming out of the town of Hymers. 2 other guys followed me and we did a little TTT to the finish where I took the sprint, well it was more of a 'hey lets make this the finish' as I was pulling through. My prize for 'winning' was getting first in line for the lunch buffet, which could be the most I have gotten yet this year.

So after a recovery ride Monday, Tuesday I was back at 'er with some efforts on a home made CX course in a park on the south end of the city. I had barriers, sand and a run-up so it was pretty close to a legit race course, without any tape to prevent me from cheating myself. Did a couple laps of that then it was off to class with Professor Monotone, seriously I want to hook this guys voice up to a synth or something and put some energy into his lectures, cause right now they are DULL.

Yesterday was a 5k in the morning, which I did in a not-too-shabby 22min. For someone who has only ran 5k once before (7 years ago) I don't think that was a bad time. After another class I did some red-light intervals through the city and then some repeats up Mckay, High St. and Red River Rd, before heading back to the LU for another class.

Today I'm feeling a little tingle in the throat so I'm laying low and drinking lots tea, because with my first USGP next weekend its best I not be sick.

Cheers,

Back to School

2009-09-12T16:16:00.003-04:00

Started my Environmental Studies degree at LU on Thursday with a nice lecture on Geology. As part of the class we will get to go on 2 field trips, and one is to the amethyst mine that I hike to all the time during the fall so i should get through that one alright. I have 14h worth of classes per week which is the about the same amount I was working at Sbucks last year so not a big change on that front. The only difference is my mom got a new job in Marathon so she has one car, which means I get to commute with big Jim every day. I thought it would be harder than it is but really its not that bad and I get my ride over with before noon and I dont have to deal with the wind or heat of the day. I have been getting in some good rides this week because its either ride or sit at the coffee shop and surf the web until dad gets off work.

Today I did my 3^rd 40km TT of the year and it was my best yet so I’m happy with that. A few of my personal records are starting too fall which is nice to see as it means I’m on track for where I want to be this fall. I didn’t feel great at all for the first 25k, and I actually did the back 20k faster than i did on the way out. I finally found a nice rhythm with 15k to go and was able to get on top of the gear all the way to the line.

Tomorrow is the Caribou Charity ride here in thunder bay, a 50/ 100k ride with over 200 people registered which is nice to see. I don’t think the pace will be too hot so I might so a little ride after just for kicks.

With my work load starting to pick up I might not be able to update as much as I want but I’ll try my best.

Cheers,

Long Weekend

2009-09-08T17:43:00.002-04:00

Well now that summer has ‘ended’ we are finally getting some good weather. I’ve been enjoying it as much as I can because up here you never know when winter is going to show up. I did a nice ride down in the park Sunday and was fortunate to have no wind on the way out but a great tailwind on the way back so I averaged almost 35k/h for the day. Monday was another ride down in the park but this time with the CX bike on some of the wider hiking trails. I didn’t get out till late in the afternoon and I had to turn back before I reached Thunder Cape as the sun was beginning to set but I’ll make sure I get out there later this fall.

Today was a hot one with intervals up the Ouimet Cannon road, and on what feels like my 20^th accent this year I finally broke the record I posted almost a year ago. Not sure what the wind was like back then but I know it was in my face this time so I can only assume I am better than before. I was suffering in the heat on my final trip up but a nice old couple gave me some much needed encouragement which got me to the top. As I was turning into my driveway after the ride my front wheel flatted, guess my last post wasn’t really true as this is flat number 4 in 10 days (on 3 different wheels).

It was a fun final weekend of summer up here on Loon. Every night everyone on the lake got together to exchange lots of funny stories and pound back a few wobbly pops. I watched Fubar Saturday night, so get ready for lots of references to that movie in coming posts.

I found a bunch of good music for riding so here’s a sample:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9hazmsUxrM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVUyFQaDKJA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8dMw3v5Q8M

Cheers,

They come in Three's

2009-09-04T11:45:00.002-04:00

My first flat came last Saturday on my way home from Ouimet Canyon, the 2^nd came the next day in Hymers, and because i forgot my pump i had to wait 2h on the side of the road for my mom to give me a lift. The third flat I got was Wednesday night during a Black Sheep MTB Club race. The course was much flatter than the week before and had a bit more singletrack so I wasn’t expecting to do super well, especially because the guys I am racing are super fit and ride these trails all the time. I learned from my mistake last week, and started out much more tranquillo, leading by just a bike length going into the first singletrack. I just rode through as smooth as I could and slowly ramped up the pace through the middle section till I had a decent gap heading into an ~8min technical singletrack section where I was expecting to be caught. I somehow got out the other side with about a 30s gap and from there I kept ramping it up with the goal of doing my last of 3 laps the fastest. Just as I was finishing up my 2^nd lap I hit a rock really hard and instantly flatted, and because I was the one of the only people who didn’t carry a pump or tube, I had to do the walk of shame back to the parking lot.

So with the 3 flats out of the way I knew I was good for my first ride to the border. I had ordered a movie on EBay and it was $5 cheaper to have it shipped to Ryden’s Border Store so I figured I would be green and ride my bike to pick it up. I was surprised with how fast and east it was to cross, just showed my passport and was gone, but I guess cyclists crossing here is almost a daily occurrence. The ride back was very uneventful, however a DVD under my jersey was a little cumbersome so say the least. That evening I did a 15k TT with the Tbay CC, who last week had an unfortunate accident with a rider getting T-boned at the turn but I was glad to hear the rider (and club) are doing fine. The course was pretty simple out and back with a couple false flats, pretty standard TT course. I started a little slower and built my speed through the first 4k, but after that it was balls out to the line. I pushed maybe a little hard on one long uphill drag that put me deep in the hurt but I held it together to post a new PB for a 15k, nearly 2min faster than I did in April.

This morning was a run with the dog who did NOT want to be out there and was constantly putting on the brakes in an effort to get me to turn around. I figure sports weekend 2010 is only 11 months away, and I have some unfinished business to take care of there.

Cheers

2009-09-01T13:50:00.001-04:00

I wish I had something to report on but since my last update it hasn't been too exciting around here. Friday I did a hike up to this old trestle bridge with is going to be town down later this fall. I heard it was really hard to get too but if you look at a map and just follow the rail line from the hwy its really quite simple. Anyways the view was really pretty decent but it was pretty windy so I didn't venture too far onto the bridge because without railings it would be a long fall down into the valley.

Saturday was Movie Night on Loon lake, where all the locals gather in one person's back yard and watch a couple movies on a big screen. The first movie was Hanna Montana where I was able to demonstrate some of my better dancing moves such as the 'bus driver' and 'shopping cart.' my attempt at the 'worm' didn't end so well and I'll make sure to wear a cup next time I try. The next movie was Anchorman, which would have been very good but the slightly intoxicated dad's insisted on yelling out every line before it was said, kinda ruining it a bit but still good fun.

Saturday was a ride up Ouimet Canyon that I didn't feel too super doing but I got-r-dun but not much more. Sunday was my long day that was cut short when I flatted about 40k west of the city on some random back road. All would have been good if it hadn't been the only time this year I forgot my pump, thank goodness I had cell coverage or it would have been a LONG walk.

Things should pick up the next few days with a MTB race tomorrow night then a 15k TT on Thursday, which should be my last one of the year because I start school the following week.

Cheers

10 up, 2 down

2009-08-27T12:47:00.000-04:00

Did my first MTB race in almost 3 months last night on a really challenging course. it reminded me of a mini Tremblant with almost non stop climbing to the top of Mt Mckay, then a technical decent back to the start. It took about 10min to reach the top, pretty much all of it in the 34X32 so definitely a grinder of a course, then the 2min of downhill was all you get for recovery before the pain was turned up again. I did 2 laps of the course before it get used to the bike again and while I was out the organizers decided to harden up and give us 4 laps rather than 3 as on the website. Off the start I may have pinned it too hard because half way through the lap I was in a world of hurt, but I settled down towards the end of lap 2 and cranked out the last 2 in identical time. Well they would have been identical but I dropped my bottle and I wasn’t leaving that on the course for someone else to grab.

Big props to the Black Sheep MTB club for putting on such a hard race, and there is enough single track to easily make the course into a 20min lap race, so if we ever get the infrastructure I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Canada Cup up this way.

Tonight is probably a 40k TT with the Tbay CC, depending on whether the weather cooperates (pun intended).

Renovating

2009-08-24T15:36:00.002-04:00

I have been sleeping out in the guest cottage this past week because my room has been under construction. When my ‘rents moved up here I was living in southern Ontario so I didn’t get to make any decisions as far as where my bed goes and how much crap gets put in my room. Now that I am living up here I decided to get rid of the ugly ass paint colour and do some rearranging of things. I now have a desk which will come in handy in a little over 2 weeks when I start Enviro Studies at LU. I got a personal tour on Friday with a good looking girl going into her 3^rd year of Applied Bio-Molecular Science, but it broke my heart when she told me she does triathlons, but at least she admitted to knowing nothing about cycling so props to her.

On Thursday last week I was going to do an uphill TT but it was only 15 degrees, pouring rain and windy so I talked the fam into going to the Masala Grille for some Indian food. I gotta say if you are ever in the Tbay area go here for dinner. I wanted to try as much as possible so I got the Buffet and was blown away by how good the food was, and it definitely heated me up on a cold and misserable day. After my orientation on Friday I did my first MTB ride in 3 months and I was surprised with how little I had lost off road. It was very windy and I wasn’t feeling the idea of fighting a head/ crosswind for hours and my MTB was sitting there still with mud on it from Hardwood so I though ‘why not?’

The MTB ride wasn’t too hard so on Saturday I hit up Ouimet Canyon rd. for some intervals up to the lookout. The wind was still blowing pretty good so the plan was for me to fight the wind for 30k out to the canyon and to meet my dad who was driving and after he rode up a couple times we would do a hike around the park. Between me leaving and my parents there was an accident on the Tans Canada so it took them an hour longer to get there than usual, and in the meantime I had nowhere to ride but up and down the canyon rd. Eventually they did get there and for a little motivation I gave my dad a 4min head start my last time up and for a while I wasn’t sure if I would catch him but I sprinted up the last steep section and passed him with less than 10m to go, so a victory for me. The feeling of a winner didn’t last long because after dinner pops and I hit up the tennis courts for the Wimbledon Final, where I was defeated 6-1, 6-2 in a battering not seen in some time.

All for now…

Elliot Lake

2009-08-17T13:14:00.001-04:00

The adventure started Thursday with the 8h drive to the Soo to stay the night at my sis’ house. Friday morning I did a little spin around town then we drove to E-lake to register and get my start time for the next morning’s TT. 1.5h after reg was supposed to open I got my numbers then headed to my grandparents’ place in Espanola where I was staying for the weekend.

So Saturday was a 3.5k TT up to the lookout. It starts out around 7% then kicks up with 2k to go near 13% with a couple brief downhill sections. I was worried going in because I didn’t feel like I had been climbing well these last few weeks but I was happy to post a time 15s faster than the year before. I could have taken more time off because I know I was too conservative in the first half and I had a lot left in the tank when I saw 150m to go. I managed 9^th overall so not a bad ride overall.

There was a 4h break between the TT and the afternoon crit so I just hung out in the Algo and played Checkers on my phone until it was time to get ready. The roads dried up after a light storm in time for our race, which was a nice bonus on the very technical course. I stayed near the front for most of the race and when the GC guys were watching each other I slipped off the front with 2 other guys with 6 laps to go and we stayed clear for 3 laps even though we were not working well together. Back in the pack Roth decided it was time to race and blew past us with Ivey on his wheel so I was able to recover with a guy up the road. I wasn’t taking the corners well so I decided to lead out the sprint and stay out of any potential trouble. I was just past on the line by 2 guys and Schiller was up the road so 6^th in the crit put me in 8^th for GC going into the RR

They changed the course this year by taking out the climb through town and adding a second 180 degree turn to make it a true out-and-back course. We were supposed to do 7 laps but because of the low turnout for senior they put us with the masters and took a lap off the race. on the first lap everything stayed together because of the GC points preem that was up for grabs at the end of the lap but on the 2^nd go around a group of 4 got clear, including a guy high on GC and Latts who’s job was to simply sit on. MCOR missed the move (frankly I didn’t think with 3 guys working it had a chance) so Mundy and I went to the front and rode tempo to protect Ivey’s 3^rd on GC. No other teams would help in the chase so it was mostly just the 2 of us taking turns on the front for 3 laps until it was 1 to go. On the final lap the gap was 3min but the GC threat had been dropped so I had a good feeling that our work had been worth it. I was happy when Darko attacked and brought all the big boys with him so it was job done until the finish. That group didn’t quite make up to the break but Ivey won the sprint for 4^th behind my boy Latts. My matchbook was pretty much burnt when I took off in the final 2k when there was a lull in the chase and I almost held off the pack but was I caught 20m from the line when my legs ran out of steam.

So Ivey kept 3^rd on GC, I got 8^th and mundy got 10^th as well as both of us landing on the U23 hill climb podium so a good weekend overall.

Death at the line

chasing

more chasing

Crit finish

Weekend

2009-08-09T19:57:00.001-04:00

Saturday was the Tbay CC JC classic which was great interval training, but that was mostly it. I promised to not mention what went down pre-race but 20min after we were supposed too we rolled out for ~20k of neutral, which took about an hour to cover for some reason. Anyways almost as soon as we got racing there was a crash so that caused some more delays and there were about 10 more close calls during the remainder of the race which made for a few words being said about riding a strait line. For the race itself I’ll try to be as positive as possible but lets say there were was some serious negative racing going down and some bazaar tactics like attack then sit up as soon as it was your turn to pull through again. I was hitting it on a few hills but once it became obvious that the group of 6 I was in didn’t want to race I just rolled through and laughed at the lead-outs that formed for the finish. I understand all of Columbia- HTC working for Cavendish at the finish, but when it’s a full on training race I don’t see why anyone would do a lead-out instead of practicing how to sprint from a small group. either way I got in 3h of training so that was good, and after I hauled home but missed most the fun that went down during pirates day so that was a bit of a bummer.

Today I was really lazy, slept in late and didn’t get riding until late in the afternoon. I did a very basic loop to KB Falls and back with nothing remotely exciting to report on. I saw the MTB race down south got some rain so I cant wait to hear the report from that. I was considering going down for it but now I am happy I didn’t.

My 6’7” cousin is staying the night on his way to Sask so there should be some good story telling tonight over a couple wobblies.

All for now

Bike Practice

2009-08-07T09:49:00.002-04:00

This week I have been putting in some good miles on the bike and I have felt pretty good so I’m happy with that. Tuesday I rode the course for the Tbay CC race this Saturday and I was surprised with how hilly it is. The road surface is a lot like the hill climb in Elliot Lake with some sketchy one way bridges its going to be a fun race. Wednesday I rode the loop I always do when I cant think of another one, that that’s up to Lappe on some serious back roads with a couple of long gravel climbs. It meanders by some nice lakes and rivers so its high up on the pretty route list. After the ride I picked up the remaining pieces of my costume for Pirate Day up here on the lake. Basically its Halloween in August and its supposed to be for kids but I’m not turning down free candy.

Yesterday I did an out and back ride along the TransCanada from Nipigon to Rossport. The ride out was pretty uneventful as I had a nice tailwind and was hauling at about 37km/h. The way back was a different story as I miscalculated how many gas stations there are along the route (zero) and I ran out of water 30k from home. It would have been fine normally but the headwind was really strong so it took well over an hour for me to get back to the car. I chugged a bottle of Formula 87 and when I got home I weighed myself and I was still 5lbs lighter than when I left. I hit the bottle hard that evening and after dinner the rents and I went out bass fishing, and of course I caught the biggest (and only) fish of the night.

Running show in the slow pitch game

i call this "dog in the boat"

Sports Weekend

2009-08-03T20:22:00.004-04:00

Today was the last day of the biggest weekend on Loon Lake, known only as ‘sports weekend.’ During the day the kids take part in events like egg toss, 3 leg race and mini triathlon while the older ones drink beer and accuse kids of cheating. Saturday was supposed to be the boat races but the wind was so strong on the lake and the rain coming down so hard almost no one participated in the events. On Sunday we got our first sunny day in 2 weeks but the wind was still blowing very strong making for some tense moments during the swim across the lake, which I was going to take part in but with the race starting at 9am I decided to sleep and save my energy for the later events.

Sunday afternoon was the all important 1 mile running race, with the winner getting important bragging rights for the remainder of the summer. Before the race was a series of short events which I used to gage my opposition, and throw down some intimidation. My partner for the egg toss did an 11^th hour swap from a regular egg to one that had been hard boiled, however we still lost horribly so a couple of 10 year olds. Now on to the running race…

I didn’t want to burn any matches warming up so I did 5-6 lunges on the line and was ready to roll. Off the start I had godd legs settled into 2^nd behind some kid from Iowa who is on a running scholarship, and in front of a member of the Lakehead U running team who post race clamed to have an injury (soft). The guy from Iowa threw down a solid acceleration just before the turn around that blew me off the back but I was able to get a gap on 3^rd that I was able to held to the line. I was happy with 2^nd but after a couple-few post race beers I got into some good humored smack talk with the winner, and I think next years race will be pretty entertaining.

Today was the Baseball game which my team owned from the first pitch and really it was no contest. After that it was nap time then bike practice and that brings me to the now.

Next weekend is Pirate Night, and I have been working on a good costume so that should be a good time.

some photos:

F-U Rain!!

In my custom running uniform.

TT Clinic

2009-07-30T22:40:00.000-04:00

Tonight I put on a clinic on how to not ride a good 40k TT. I did a few hours before and didn’t eat cause I figured I had a big lunch so I would be good. Less than 5k into the ride the sky opened up and it didn’t let up until the last 15k so I was in a pretty bad mood by the time the TT rolled around. So anyways I started out pretty hard because I was cold and I wanted to get warm, and I was holding about 370 for the first 5k but then I warmed up and set into a nice rhythm at 340 and was feeling fast. I caught my 1, 2 and 3min men before the turn but on the way back I loosing energy and my watts dropped below 300 and my speed below 40. It snowballed from there and I ended up with a pretty embarrassing time, but a nice post ride meal at the Neebing Roadhouse got my blood sugar back to up normal.

Now I have to look forward to the Loon Lake Sports Weekend, with all the ‘loonatics’ trying to do physical activity for the first time in a year, while not letting the blood-alcohol level drop too low.

Driving.

2009-07-29T10:46:00.000-04:00

The Prov. RR didn’t go as well as I had hoped, I had pretty good legs but I got caught up in a Catch 22 when the break went. We had Ivey up the road which was good cause he got 2^nd overall, a great result for the team, however there were 6 U23 riders in the group so I really wanted to bridge and I had the legs to but I didn’t want to risk bring the group across. Anyways we still got 2^nd so a good day for MCOR overall.

Monday I packed up my room in Hamilton and stuffed it into the Subaru, I’m actually a little impressed I got 3 bikes and all my stuff in the car and still had all my sightlines. I stayed with some family friends on Monday night in Huntsville and headed out early Tuesday for the drive back to Tbay. 4 gas stops, 48oz of coffee and 14hours later I arrived home without any real stories from the drive, other than a couple of bears who were chillin on the side of the trans Canada.

So today is going to be a light ride to get moving after being stuck in one position for the whole of yesterday. Tomorrow is a 40k TT with the Tbay CC so I’ll no doubt do that, then it’s the biggest event on Loon lake, Sports Weekend. There are a number of events and an overall ominum that I would have gone for but you have to be U19 to get prizes so I might have to talk to the organizer about getting a U23 category next year.

All for now.