Barrie, Ontario

Weather hasn't been too great the last few days. We've been riding the course and doing some intervals in a park near our place. Did some race pace efforts on the course the other day, felt good, felt way faster than last weekend which is awesome. Just resting it up today before we open up the legs a bit tomorrow before race day. Course is going to be fast, winner should be around 1:40 depending on the weather. It going to be tactical, drafting will be important. By the looks and sounds of it there is going to be a group of riders that lasts most of the race, and guys will slowly pop off. Looking forward to it, put the road legs to the test!

Canada Cup trip update.

Sorry but I haven't had internet since Thursday, so here we go

-Flew into Quebec Thursday
-Met up with a few guys
-Played around with a wheel chair until the coach came
-Drove a couple hours into the middle of nowhere
-Drove around lost in the dark until we found our place
-Woke up drank coffee and pre-rode the course.
-Came home and rested, ate lots
-Race morning feeling good
-Warmed up, felt good, started race, didn't go well. No legs...sweet
-Missed 3rd by 4 sec and missed 1st by 40 sec, punch in the face..
-Went out for dinner and watched a sweet Red Bull XC/DH event
-Woke up Sunday and went canoeing up river for a few hours and came ripping down. Sweet sunburn
-Went riding into the village, rode the course and watched the DH, rode back
-Mexican din din, stuffed myself silly
-Drove to Barrie, Ontario, thought it would be like 4 hours but it turned into 8 hours
-Staying in Rez, better than our house on a river in Quebecville
-Went shopping, finally saw a gorgeous girl, but of course she lives in Ontario no BC
-Cooked a massive 2,000 calorie pizza at 10 pm
-Woke up and finally have internet
-updating this..

Good finish to the long weekend.

Props out to my TR buds for having 3 podium appearence's this past weekend in Wenatchee.

Finished off the long weekend with a 4 and half hour mtb ride, wicked climbs, single track and gnarly decents. Everytime I do a ride like that it just reminds me why I mountain bike. The sun was shinning and the trails were buff which makes life even better. Plus I followed behind my friends Aart the downhill specialist and everytime time I ride with him I get faster and faster and learn some sweet new techniques along the way. Just about to head off to school....lame, but its the last time for two weeks! Because here I come Quebec, Thursday morning at 7 am I fly westjet to montreal. I'll try and keep the updates rollin' while were out there.

May Long

Just about to head down to Penticton for a good long haul on the mtb's today. Should be sweet, hitting ome fun single track. Yesterday was the nicest day so far this year, hit 26 I think. Went out on a mellow mtb ride. Had the jersey unzipped and such, then headed down to the car show in Peachland and saw some awesome muscle. Just slowly getting the things ready to depart for Quebec on Thursday, wow, thats coming fast!

May is equaling horrible so far!

Just got in from my Native grad, yes I'm native, well just Metis! Had a hard long ride on the bicycle today, lots of hills and lots of watts = my legs are toast. And it made it even worse because it actually rained a bit in the Okanagan today. Weather has been horrific. Rest Day tomorrow and back out hard on the hills again Saturday which should make for a pretty solid week.

So LOST had its season finale last night, lame, but good news one more full season, definitely stoked!

Weekend Update.

Got in late last night from the Sunshine Coast. Wicked race course this weekend, it was hot yesterday, and really muddy which made it amazing. Met come cool people and had some fun. Stayed at Casa de Sleep. Awesome race, it was a Rocky Mountain Bikes show forsure. Stefan won, I was third and Marty was 4th(he flatted). Beautiful day on the sunshine coast, 18 degrees, we were in the trees most of time, so it kept us cool. I had an awesome crash in front of Mo and Sean. I was eating a bar and looking at them when my pedal hit a rock and I face planted. Feeling happy about my form, I'm not nervous about the Canada Cups now. Just about to headout for a coffee shop/recovery ride. T-minus 11-days until Quebec.

Don't fail me van!

Just woke up and drinking some of my new kicking horse beans, pretty darn tasty. Just packing up the final touches for the road trip tomorrow. Taking spare wheels and trainer and such. Need to go and pump up the tires on the rapist van. Baby blue old school dodge caravan that was gracially donated by my neighbors. Havent driven it more than 1 km yet, so hopefully she makes the 1000 km return trip this weekend. Getting pretty stoked! First mtb race is always a little nerve racking. Taking down a fellow mtb rider from AB. Should make for a fun weekend, heading home after the race Saturday night so that I can be home for mothers day and a little mtb race Outbound Cycle is putting on it Glenrosa.

Sun+Bikes+Coffee=raddest life ever!

Living in the Okanagan right now is sure paying off, the last 3 days have been like 20 degrees. Did some sweet mtb stuff over the weekend. Did a "practice" race in Penticton yesterday, mapped out a 23ish min loop and raced around it 4 times. Felt pretty good, weird being back on the mtb after being off it so long. Hit a sweet cafe in town, drank a pretty tasty latte and ate a dam near amazing gelato. Just got the new Fizik tundra saddle...which is pretty rad, just getting used to the hardness of it. Just wrecked my second pair of carbon race face cranks...lame. I don't think it's me that's doing it, but its looking that way, so just trying to sort things out before the Rat Race this weekend. Later.

Sunny Days in K-town

Got in a wicked 3 hr mtb ride yesterday with Adam Elliot. Best mtb ride yet this year, I worked in my technical, which is the only thing I'm worried about, but after all the riding yesterday I think my A game is ready to roll. Just taking it easy today, have a grad campout tonigh, should have some good stories from that. Heading up early with some friends to get all the wood cut and start the fire. Just got some of my parts to finish the final touches on the xc bike. Its around 21 lbs now, just need some light tires and get it to 20 lbs. But other than that shes ready to roll, getting pretty comfortable on it. Can't wait to head out east, just booked my tickets, leaving on the 21st of may and getting back on the 31st.

Weather's been holding up pretty nicely. It was 21 yesterday and supposed to get even warmer today and tomorrow. Stoked for Summer!

.

Just on an easy couple days right now, just spending some time on the mtb. Been working at my neighbors the last few days tearing apart a barn, should be there the rest of the week. Just figuring out my insurance situation for the van which I'm driving down to the sunshine coast next weekend for the Rat Race. Should be fun on the new bike. Just got some new stuff for the bike so now its 100% ready to race. This weekend doing a 2 hr jam session on in Penticton on the mountain bikes, just get used to it at speed.

Awesome weekend for TR

This weekend we had two 1st place finishes, three 2nd place finishes, three 3rd places finishes, one 2nd place GC finish and two 3rd place GC finishes. Made some cash and had some fun.

RR on Saturday went well, Alison got the big dubb for the women, Chris almost beat out two Trek guys that he was in a break with. Owen rolled in with a chase group, Tim in a chase group behind that and Jeff, Dan and myself rode in with the pack.

TT Sunday morning, Owen rode into 4th, just 20 seconds off Dave Vukets. Dan was our next best, with Jeff in shortly behind and Chris and Trevor just after that. Tim and I rolled the TT so we would have fresh legs for the crit. We were planning to set up T man for the win.

Criterrium Sunday afternoon was very interesting with a 900 M section on a gravel dyke. I was feeling like money all race and talked the guys about attacking on the gravel because I was getting gaps on the gravel turns everytime, Dan did a wicked lead out for me along the gravel and we both gapped the field by the time we hit the road and the it was a 200 M sprint to the finish, Dan rode into 2nd and Tim won the bunch sprint, so we went 1-2-3 on the stage. Chris hung on to 3rd in GC and Owen was 5th on GC. The girls rode hard, With Alison chasing the overall GC the women worked hard to try and get her the 30 sec advantage she needed. It ended up coming down to a bunch sprint where Alison and Jessica took 1-2 and finshed 1-2 overall.

Rad Weekend!

Just rode the mtb with the wide bars, trying out Kabush style, I can't believe how much faster I could descend! New bars might be in the making...

Another weekend or racing!

The last couple days have been crazy, making plans on getting down to Cycling BC photoshoot in Richmond on Friday night, then racing Race the Ridge this weekend. Got a flight booked from K-town to Van tomorrow afternoon. Then photoshoot then spending the night at someones place, which I haven't figured out yet, then getting a ride out to the race in the morning where all my gear and bike is going to be. Get that all in line and then race in the afternoon. After that everything should be back to normal. I'll be spending the next night in a hotel with the guys and then getting a ride back with them. Should make for an interesting weekend. Still haven't had my suitcase fully unpacked in a month.

Just heading out for a couple hours on the MTB, been loving the rides on it, still getting used to it though, I haven't ridden a mtb since last September. Then I'm heading to my Grandparents for dinner and then off to Fire practice at the hall with the boys.

Calling for a rest period after this weekend, lay low for a couple days and recoup. Then off to the Rat Race on the sunshine coast as Merritt has been cancelled. Lamesauce.

Walla Walla Wrap......

After we finished the TT Saturday morning we all headed back to our country ranch in Waitsburg to veg for a couple hours. Then off to the downtown Walla Walla crit, which turned out to be a twilight crit. Wasn't able to finish the crit due to a sweeeeet nose bleed. Tim was our main man for the crit, he was perfectly positioned in the last corner until a crash went down. He was out for the rest of the weekend. Dan also went down but was back up and gone to finish line fast than I could finish my drum stick!

Sunday was a long haul at 160 km. Hot day also, peaked at 26 degrees. Team rode well, Jeff was in a break for about 60 km, Owen was our GC man, so he was up front on Rob Brittons wheel all day. I was pretty cooked by the final day, so I sat in for the last hour and a half and did a couple hard pulls before the 3km climb to the finish, and rolled in just after the pack. Chris rode solid and was in the front all day with O.-And that's a wrap, back to K-town for a couple days

Also the Walla Walla sweet onion actually is from walla walla, Bam betcha didn't realize that!

Opps

Here is a link from yesterdays stage, T Sherby takes the big W!

http://canadiancyclist.com/dailynews.php?id=16327

Day 2 Part 1

TT first thing this morning. Got suited up with aero wheels which was a nice treat. Haven't seen results yet, but should hopefully be an OK time. Got a nose bleed at the top of the climb so for the descent blood was spraying everywhere. My face, skinsuit and bike were covered, it actually looked pretty funny.

Crit is happening tonight at 740, were hoping Tim can get another stage win, we will do everything we can do to make that happen. Weather's been pretty solid, tomorrow is suposed to be 25 degress and our race is 168 km. Should make things interesting.

Walla Walla Day 1

So today was a wickedly hard stage. It was only 110 km, but we did it in 2..5 hrs. Tim ended up winning it in the sprint. We had all our guys left in the front group, people just fell off the group every climb. It was so hard and so fast . I was way over the rivet, hardest I've gone in a while. Fun though, sweet to know that I can ride with these guys. Tim starts in the Yellow jersey tomorrow, which is awesome, we do the TT in the morning and the crit in the evening. Hopefully we can get Tim another win in the Crit! As for U18 GC there was only one another rider at roll out at the end of the race.

Sun.....Finally

Looking to be blue skies and sunny all day long. Just what we in the Okanagan have been looking forward too all winter long! Headin' out again on the MTB to hit some local trail up, Smith Creek's Holy Pail to be exact. Should be wicked. Just checking out the forecast for Walla Walla this weekend and its looking pretty nifty, Sun and clouds all weekend with a high of 25 by Sunday! Woo! Check ya later

Happy Days

Repped the MTB today on Knox Mtn. Feels awesome, stoked for MTB season. Still recovering from the weekend!

Team Camp Update.

Just got back from a weekend in OK Falls with the team. Got in some sweet rides, had fun and got some sun! Broke my Power Tap screen which is a bummer though. Stills downloads but can't see anything riding. Had some wicked meals this weekend, some people also brought some homemade baking which was tasty on the rides. We some good and some bad weather but all together a solid weekend. Sunday night we had our team building evening which consisted of us making fools out of our selves while playing Rock Band. Cool. T-Minus 3 days until we head'r on down to Washington state for Walla Walla!

Shorts and T's on April 8th!

Went out for a good long ride today, it was 20 degrees when I finished, absolutely amazing! Looking forward to the TR Team Camp this weekend in OK Falls, should be rad.

Spring Series Day 2

Today was one of the sweetest road races I've been in, just because I got into the days break and we were away for over 100 km. Owen was my only team mate in the group of 8. We rode good and steady, worked well together. The climbs were slowly catching up with me and after about 15 laps I was starting to hurt pretty good. So I did the best and hardest ride I could at the front going into the start/finish climb and when I pulled off Owen attacked and everyone followed right away, but as soon as I crested the climb I could see that a few guys had been shed off. Cody Campbell and I rode together to the finish for the next 2 laps. We rode tempo to finish off a 4 hr day, with an average of 265 watts for the 3.5 hr race. Pretty solid day, I am totally wrecked now. Taking a couple easy days before our TR team camp this week. Should be all time!

Atomic Spring Series

Hard race today, didn't quite have the legs after the test in Vic yesterday. The team rode well, covered most of the attacks. Chris got in the days main break. Owen and I got in a chase group that bridged to the front group. I got popped off after Rob Britton made a little effort on one of the climbs. Owen made it across and lasted until 30 km to go when Trek started to mix things up in the break. Tried for a sprint on the uphill to false flat finish but after sprinting the climb I was done. It was a good day, 15 degrees, 140 km in total and 4 hours on the bike. In for another hard one tomorrow!

SRM testing

Owen and I headed down Victoria yesterday morning for some testing on the SRM machines at the Canadian Sport Centre Pacific lab. Steve Lund picked us up from the ferry yesterday, we walked on. He took us to my cousins place down in Vic where we spent the night. Right away we whipped out for a quick 1 hr spin along the ocean front, as soon as we turned around we got dumped on and had to ride back soaked, which was a change from coming from the Okanagan. Met some of my cousins cool room mates, which she has 6 of. We got a fairly good nights sleep, woke up at 630 am to have breakfast. We just laid around for a bit in the morning. We then headed for the lab. I did the test first, then Owen rocked out his test. It was a sweet day, we also got skinfolds done which was cool. Hit the 1 ferry back to Van and ripped to the Hotel. Quickly got dressed and got in a 45 min recovery ride, which made the legs feels a lot better. We have just been veggin' in the hotel since, cleanin' bikes and eatin' grubb. In for a 130 km hard day tomorrow, should be sweet!

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!