Thursday, March 31, 2011

Monday, March 28, 2011

Lately I've been chef'ing it up. My mother is currently out of commission. So that means instead of eating cereal and toast for dinner I have turned into the chefmiester for now. Not that I compare to my mothers cooking by any means. But I try. Here's a few shots:





Last week I decided the blown rear speakers in my car needed to be replaced. And little did I know that with a Civic Couple you have to remove the upper and lower back seats, both side panels, the upper rear panels and the back deck panel. A couple youtube videos later I gave it a shot. Took me almost 2 hrs to figure it all out, but now I know the sweet spots in case that happens again. I felt a 4 year old learning to hand write..




Lately the weather has been getting better, which means soon I will actually be able to mountain bike. Done a couple little roads climbs with DH runs. But nothing that has satisfied me yet. I've been using the helmet cam a bit lately, check the lower posts to see the videos.

As the year goes on my drive to work gets nicer and nicer. Here's what it looks like in March, you won't even believe what it looks like on a sunny July morning!


Today I finally got around to building a hipster bike, the one and only bike I don't have. And my dad had the perfect one sitting in the garage from 1980. A Raleigh Competion. Can't wait to cruise the Okanagan beaches in the summer with wobly pops in the cage!




Sunday, March 20, 2011

Today I rode my bike and drank coffee in the sun. Then I came home and built a trail and rode my other bike down it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdJLHInA50Q

Monday, March 14, 2011

So I finally got out on a ride with my new Go Pro that my super awesome Grandparents got me for my birthday! Tried to MTB on the snow and ice in the Okanagan in March...And of course I got a sick crash on video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2PWySgUNXI. More video to come later, I thought this would be a good little teaser.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Bikes, Guns, Cars, Golfing..My 2011 Tucson Trip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wd5t9YCecU
As funny as it sounds I am actually sad to be leaving Tucson. I've been here for 15 days, and 14 of them were just beautiful, and one had some snow...I stayed my first few days in a hostel, but once a heroin addict started staying the same room as me and deciding that it would be a good idea to puke everywhere, roll in it and then piss on the other beds I thought it would be a good time to leave and move into a suitable training environment. I found a gracious lady who was willing to put me up. I was so excited I forgot to even ask if she had internet. And most of you know how dependent us cyclists are on inter-webing for a couple weeks of training. So that left my pre and post ride time spent reading, cooking and hanging out with a couple good buddies Boris Martin and Jacob Schwingboth. Boris is down here for 2 months and has a wicked tweaked out VW Golf. So it was a treat when he would be pick me up/drive me home. And sometime we would drive very safely and of course abide by the rules of the law. Who says that when the speed limit is 80 k/ph you can't do that through an intersection while turning??..

So firstly the riding down here is pretty good, not going to rave about it..but you can't beat the consistant sunny skies. I have not been this burnt in a long time, and I have also not had such a sore a** in such a long time, due to the very smooth well paved roads. I have logged some serious miles, as unlike last year I was able to ride long and feel good and strong throughout and after all the rides. Once I got down here I was a little disapointed I didn't decide to bring my mtb, but I think its for the best. I needed to really get some hrs on roadie bike in. I think my best ride was yesterday, I saved Mt Lemmon until my last day. Because no matter how easy you ride up its still dam hard, especially once you hit up around 7,000 ft I could definitely feel that thing they call altitude..I have to say my favourite part of that ride was the absolutely massive chocolate chip cookie at the top. Nothing says burst of energy more than a cookie the size of a dinner plate that is probably somewhere around 600 calories of deliciousness. Here are my meals for my Mt Lemmon day:




And here are some more photos so you can see what I saw!:











And some food of course:





Friday, March 4, 2011

Sun tanning's been going well, trying not to get them cyclist tan lines just yet. Hoping to look like the boys from Jersey Shore by the time I head home. Oh yah and the bike riding has been going well, like 28 degrees the last fews days. Anyway I'd like to share some of the favourite moments of the past few days:










Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Tucson is like Warm

Well Howdy there,

I've been in Tucson for about 6 days, 22 hours, and 14 minutes so far. And up to this point its been warm, its snowed, I've roomed with drunk heroin addicts, cooked some awesome meals and done a bunch of pedaling in the desert.

My first couple days I decided to live like a cheap cyclist, although I did live cheaply..I also shared a 6-bunk hostel room with some "interesting people". And by people I really only mean one dude. You can read the full story here:http://evanguthrie.blogspot.com/2011/02/drunk-heroin-addicts-in-my-room.html. To sum up quick, I had an experience with a drunk herion addict puking and peeing all over the room. And it was a good thing I had a top bunk, otherwise I would have smelt pretty interesting.

After this incident I decided it was time to relocate. I luckily found an open room to rent in house for the same price as the hostel. Thanks to the one and only Cody Canning, yes he is from Alberrrrta. Luckily right before I left the hostel I spotted a nice bird eating another bird.


Now to the reason I am down here. I decided it might be nice to get out of the cold and snowy Okanagan for a couple weeks and ride my bike, as the season is approaching quickly. And since 98% of my endurance work has been done on the snowshoes I knew it was time to actually ride the bike and why not in the sun. So far everything's been going great, the rides are getting longer and feeling easier. Which is a good thing, because this time last year I was down here training with Mononucleosis, and of course I didn't know. But to ride 4 hrs with 2 hrs of coasting I felt like I had just raced a 24hr solo. So this year things are back on track, and I'm ready to race again all healthy and mentally fresh!

I've had a couple chill coffee rides so far, and we tend to ride over to the University and people watch. We sit on a street corner and do this:


I experienced my first Shoot-Out ride on Saturday. It was hard and it was damm early in the AM. I was on the bicycle at 6 am sharp for my hr commute to the start. Then we proceeded to ride out of town in the Master group, having not done the ride before I didn't know why we were so much faster...Then it hit us. So we stopped and waited for the actual normal ride. I would have rather kept rolling slowly because the "normal group" had Todd Wells in it and oh boy let me tell you, never try and stick his wheel on a long uphill sprint for your "endurance ride". I think I did 1000 watts for 20 sec trying to stick it. Then I quit.. Honestly it was a wicked ride. A bunch of US U23 National Team guys were out for a training ride as well. We finished 140 km by 11 am. Then headed to the University to watch some local crit's.

Oh and by the way, the people down here are interesting. Half of the time I have a Canada vest on, and people keep asking me " Are you from Canada...Eh? haha" Sometimes I reply with no, I just like their clothing.. I've also heard some people down here talk about "ice hockey". Yes "ice hockey", not just "hockey". Had some master guy roll up beside a group of us the other and asked the same "are you from canada" question, but this time we replied with "yes". And he asked "do you kids know the Sedin sisters?" And we were all like said hold on a minute there buddy. But he quickly came back with "do you know what colour skirts they are going to wear for the playoff?" I gotta give it to him, it was somewhat funny.

It actually snowed down here a bit the other night. Just a light dusting. but it was funny how big of a deal it was. Haven't seen a day that nice back home since like Oct.


Saw a beauiful redone Model T the other day:

Mr. Cody Canning showing us how its done when your from Alberta:

Enjoying some fine coffee:


Blending in like the part-native I am:

And some of my chefing: