First Weekend of Racing for 2009

Just got back from Vancouver last night after a hard weekend of racing. Both days were 115 km, 3 hrs of racing. On Saturday our average speed for 3 hrs was 39.5 km. Saturday was a flatter course and came down to a bunch sprint, which Chris de Vries from our team almost won but Ryan Anderson(Kelly Benefit Stratagies) just clipped him at the line. Owen rode super well, he was at the front all day. It was a good solid day, no breaks stayed away. It was my first race with the Cat. 1&2's. So it took me a while to get up to the front. I did some work up there, which was sweet. But couldn't do much too long because my legs were starting to give out. It was a whole different ball game from Cat. 3.

Saturday night after our potluck dinner at Alison's I got back to the hotel and wasn't feelin' to hot. I ended up throwing up a couple time before bed. I woke up in the morning feeling better but once I ate I felt bad again, my stomach was just sending me on a loop. I think I might have got some food poisoning or something from all the mixed foods that night. But once my food digested and it got closer the race I felt great. It was a weird bug, but I'm glad it didn't affect my race! Sunday was going to be the real test because we had to do the Armstrong hill 15 times. From the gun Trek Red Truck started their attacks. One after another until the pack finally split on the climb. I was dissapointed I missed the split. Owen and Chris make the front group though which was good, but Trek had 5 guys in the 10 man group. The group I was in had Tim and Dan from TR in it and 2 Trek guys along with some others. TR and Trek just sat up in our group to let the front group establish a gap, which would remain until the finish. In my small group a rocky different bikes rider, myself and both trek riders attacked out with 8 laps to go. We kept the gap to the finish where Tyler Trace and I sprinted to the line. They had already taken the finish down so we didn't know who won the sprint between us two. In the front group trek attacked until they finally had their 5 guy s out front who would go on to finish 1 through 5. Right behind was Owen and Chris in the chase group, the worked hard all race doing all the work while Trek sat in so they would be fresh to attack. They just had the numbers that no one else had, which gave them a huge advantage. Owen led up the final climb to finish only to be nipped out by Cyrus of H&R Block. Chris was just back a bit after some cramping and hard work at the front all day. This weekend was a good learning curve for me, I really enjoyed racing with the big boys. I hope the next weekend of racing I am stronger and can do alot more work and help the team do well.

So The CPU was sent express from Quebec on Wednesday, but so far it hasn't arrived yet. I am hoping it will come in today and I can buzz down to the Bike Barn in Penticton and pick it up. Aart called yesterday and my classic Ritchey WCS bar came in though, which is sweet. Won't have time to put it on before the race, but I will slap it on next week and get some hours on it and see how it feels.

Just taking today easy, Leaving to Vancouver tonight for our first Spring Series weekend of racing. I am very excited, hoping its not going to poor rain, but if it does that will play to our advantage as we have been riding in the freezing cold, wet and snowy Okanagan.

Dawson and I aren't working now today, he's heading to Edmonton and I still need to get ready for this weekend. We got our wood in at work, just need to finish cutting flags and then we can start painting wood! I can't wait to finish the job. We are going to get way more money this year, which means I can buy more stuff and hopefully go somewhere for a month to train next year!

Leading into Spring Series 2&3

On Sunday I got in a good hard 4 hours. Rode with the Sunday Ride gang and Cory and myself did 4X10 min strength intervals up all the climbs. Our legs were pretty pooched after those. Then we hit the airport strip which is always fast, and it was a little group which consisted of myself, Cory and Cyrus. We went pretty damn hard and were beat at the end. Then we just strolled back at a good LSD pace to the Bean Scene. Cyrus and I then headed back for Westbank where we ran into a snow storm at the top of bride hill and rode through a blizzard all the way to his house and then to my Grandma's. Took Monday as a rest day and stretched. Also started my job at Alpine Helicopters again. Only two of us doing it this year, which means a lot more money, almost a thousand bucks more. Yesterday I worked first thing in the morning for a few hours and then I rode for four hours and did a workout on Knox Mtn. Then met up with Owen and Jeff and rode steady for another couple hours. Today I slept in and caught up on some European races and had my fresh ground coffee. Made some breakfast and headed out for a easy recovery ride. Came home and showered and then did a half hour stretch which felt amazing. Having some solid weeks the last little while. Hoping it will all pay off for the road races coming up, specially the back to back spring series starting this weekend!

Got a call from Aart today and finally my powertap has come back to me, after being away since early January in Quebec at OGC. Idiots forgot to send me CPU with the wheel, so they shipped it out express this afternoon and hopefully it will be in tomorrow afternoon and I will have it before I head to Van to race.

The week before Spring Break!

This past week has gone pretty well, just getting in the miles. Tuesday I did my most likely last XC ski of the season. Thursday I headed out for a ride in -1 with Owen and Jeff, managed to get in almost 3 hours. On Friday night Cory hosted the TR guys night. We had a feist, lasagna, garlic toast, yam fries, pizza and salad. I was so full I felt like I was about to give birth to an alien. We hung out and told some stories and chatted about the season. Everyone went over their goals and we talked about what races were doing and so on. It was a great night, had tons of fun. On my way home I was ripping through Shannon Lake and was going about 90ish is a 60 zone and was just cruising down this hill in neutral(to save gas) and a car drove past and the sirens went on. I quickly hit the breaks and slowed down and looked behind me and the sirens were now off and I saw the police cars brake lights go on, so once I went around a bend I just hammered on the gas and go going even faster than before and turned onto some side roads and drove around for a bit. I didn't know if the cop was turning around of not, but I didn't want to pay for a ticket tonight! Yesterday the team met for a good long easy ride. We hit 5 hrs, it was a nice day for March(warm, no rain, clear and dry roads and no heavy winds) We rode out westside roads to La Casa and then turned back and headed down lakeshore and back. It was a good day, my legs were just aching by the end. I was able to get in some good recovery last night. So my legs hopefully will be set for today! Gottta run though!

Past Weekend

Got in a couple solid days this past weekend. Saturday was a 4 hr day with a strength workout. I rode with Cory and Marnie. We got in 3 hrs outside before we called it quits. It was a complete blizzard outside. When I left my house up in the hills I had almost 4 inches of snow, but when I got downtown the roads were just wet. We headed out for the ride and about an hour and a half in it started to snow hard and it was hurting our faces. So we turned back and headed for the Mission Park Greenway where there was still a couple inches of snow, just no cars around that could hit us! Once we got off the greenway our bikes were solid pieces of ice, we only had a couple gears to choose from, which made things a little difficult. We headed for Cory's place to finish the ride and then I zipped home and hopped on the trainer for an hour to do my strength workout.

Yesterday ( Sunday ) I was able to ride outside for a whole 5 hrs, which was nice. A bunch of the team and I headed out for the weekly Sunday ride, which contained about 15 riders. We got in some hard little efforts and then a group of us headed back out for a spin after the 3hr group ride and a quick coffee. We rode for 4:45 together and then I got in another 15 min to make for a solid 5 hr day. On my way home I stopped at my Grandparents to say hi to my gramma who has been in Reno all week. I ended up staying for a pizza dinner and a movie!

Just on a rest day today, getting ready for another good weeks worth of training. I have school this afternoon which sucks, but its life, I barley even go anymore! Just nice to hangout with some friends.

Schedule

I've had a pretty solid week so far. On Monday I did a good hour and three quarters, Tuesday I rode for 3 hours and did some strength intervals. On Wednesday I did a hard 1.5 hrs, I felt like I was on EPO on the ride, I felt super fast especially on the climbs, and Thursday I rode another hard 3 hrs, with some threshold intervals. My legs were pretty dead yesterday, so I am taking today super easy because its a big weekend coming up. Tomorrow is 4 hours with a few longer intervals in some hills and then Sunday is a 5 hr ride with some tempo. Should make for a good week on the bike. Next week is sort of similar. Then the week after is a anohter big one heading into the first races of the season, the Spring Series, not everyone looks forward to these are they are usually under some nice wet coastal conditions!

Here is the tentitive schedule for the season:

March
EV Spring Series #2, Langley BC, 21st
EV Spring Series #3, Langley BC, 22nd

April
EV Spring Series Final, Langley BC, 4th-5th
TR Team Camp, Ok Falls BC, 10th-13th
Tour of Walla Walla, WA, 17th-19th
Race the Ridge, Maple Ridge BC, 25th-26th

May
CowTrail Classic, Merrit BC, 3rd
Canada Cup #1, Baie-St-Paul QC, 16th
Canada Cup #2, Mt. Tremblant QC, 23rd

June
Race the Ranch, Kamloops BC, 7th
K-Town Classic, Kelowna BC, 12th-14th
Canada Cup #5, Canmore AB, 20th

July
Yaletown Grand Prix, Vancouver BC, 1st
Canada Cup #6, Bromont QC, 5th
National MTB Championships, St. Felicien QC, 10th-12th
Bear Mountain, Mission BC, 18th ?
World Cup, Mt St Anne QC, 25th-26th ?

August
World Cup, Bromont QC, 1st-2nd ?
Canada Games Prep Camp, Okanagan BC, 8th-11th
Canada Summer Games, Charolette Town PEI, 17th-23rd

September
World Junior MTB Championships, Canberra AUS, 1st-6th
Bow Cycle K-80, AB, 20th
Cheakamus Challenge, Whistler BC, 27th

October
National Cyclo-Cross Championships, Edmonton AB, 10th
UCI Jim Horner Grand Prix, Edmonton AB, 11th

The Last Week....

I've been home for almost a week now, I've just been taking it easy, a nice well deserved rest week. Yesterday I did a solid 4 hrs, 2hrs skiing and 2 hrs riding. Perfect day, I love splitting the day up like that. Today was going to be another rest day, the next couple weeks are big weeks, like 20ish hours. But I headed out with Aart for an easy hour and three quarters, road up around East K and into Black Mtn. Nice day, it ended up being almost 10 degrees. I was only wearing leg warmers, a shamois, t-shirt and a long sleeve. Perfect day in early March! Tomorrow I have school in the morning and then doing a strength workout right after. Hopefully get in a few hours.

I've been just going over the race schedule with the coach and it seems as though I will be racing the Tour of Walla Walla in Washingon instead of doing he Sea Otter Classic, as it will be more beneficial. I will post my schedule for this year asap!