Monday, May 31, 2010
Hardwood Wrap
Had a better call up today(42, rather than 85th in Tremblant), but once they told the rest of us to roll up I found a open spot up the side and got in between the second and third row, and off the start everyone went to the right and I went to the left then got up to speed and pull over and was 3rd wheel for the first 3-400 M. Then we hit the climb and it got crazy and my legs were a bit heavy at that point, didn't want to digg too deep too early, that happend last weekend. Rode in the comfort zone and got into the single track top-20 and rested and recovered in the first section and was able to ride a nice steady pace most of the first lap and then got into a little group and started moving a bit. No one really wanted to work and I just wanted to race and not race tactically for like 17th place, I could see we were catching Francis Morin, and I just slowly bridged the gap to him and we had a nice espoir group going, Just Andrew and I did the work, Tyson Wagler attacked off and Just kept riding hard steady and thought he might blow. On the last lap it was just Francis and I he finally came around and just surged a bit on the climb and I didn't have it in the tank, just had the one pace, so I rode that most of the way in, once I was by myself I seemed to slowly slow down, hard to keep the speed up on that course if your not being chased right behind or chasing right in front. Pretty stoked with how the race went, considering I hadn't done any intervals really in like 2 months. Can't wait until I get the race legs back!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Mont Tremblant
Here are a few photos to sum up my Mont Tremblant Canada Cup trip:
Day 1 pre-ride on Tremblant.
This is me post-race which is post-crash as well. Yeye.
View from our cottage's porch.
Recovery day canoeing adventure.
Waterfall.
View of the Mtn from the chairlift.
Pit stop enroute to to Barrie, ON.
Little bit of Ottawa.
Nappy Nap time.
Watching some 90210 on the drive.
Trucker stop in hick-ville Ontario.
First day in Ontario. 32 degrees and counting in the AM.
Day 1 pre-ride on Tremblant.
This is me post-race which is post-crash as well. Yeye.
View from our cottage's porch.
Recovery day canoeing adventure.
Waterfall.
View of the Mtn from the chairlift.
Pit stop enroute to to Barrie, ON.
Little bit of Ottawa.
Nappy Nap time.
Watching some 90210 on the drive.
Trucker stop in hick-ville Ontario.
First day in Ontario. 32 degrees and counting in the AM.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Queebec to Ontario.
Just arrived here in Barrie, ON last night, after a long 8 hour driving day.We had a wicked rest day on Sunday in Mont Tremblant. Started with a sick omlette in the morning, followed by a canoe ride for an hour and a bit up river, only to race back down to the cottage before we suited up and had our easy spin over to the mtn. It was a nice hot sunny day, 25 degrees I believe, which meant the shirts were rolled up, lotion was on and hopefully some well deserved vitamin D. Once we got the mtn, we headed over to check on the DH'ers. Maybe give them all a few tips on descending or whatnot... Off came the chamois's and on came the shorts(commando of course) it was a cooker out. We watched some of the dh runs, some good wipeouts, some good little stylies. We saw the BC Juniors get 1-2-3, Lauren Rosser of BC was third in the junior XC yesterday and won today. That deserves a "Snap". I then decided to go hang out with that Andrew Watson guys and his mini-him Zach Hughes, Cody Canning and Andrew L'esperance. We contemplated luge-ing, and finally decided screw it right. So we went and paid 18 bones for two runs. And was that not the best 18 $ I spent on this trip! It was unreal, Made a video of it too. Took of the camera and duck-taped it to the handle bars so you could see how was done. If you look closely on the vid you can see how fast we flew by everyone. The workers told us not to be assholes....but who needs brakes right?
XC story. So..that was a good interesting first pro Canada Cup race. I was going to be called up like 10th last based on UCI points, and there were 90 starts. So I decided to take the initiative and roll up to the line un-called at about 50th. Its worth the try. And so it was, the commisaire came up and was like "Sir, were you called up" and I was like "yah, Im sure I heard my name, lots of the last names with G sound the same in french right?" So she left it and I was good to let it loose on the 5th or 6th line. Had a slow start, which is unavoidable with the lack of racing and the post-mono thing. Then caught back up going into the singletrack and somehow pulled off getting into the top-20 by the end of the first lap. I guess that euro racing make you super duper uber aggressive. Rolled in a group for the nest lap with teammate Marty Lazarski, fell off the that group and wasn't far behind for the next two laps, I was actually riding with Adam Snyder, pretty rad dude, descends like a mofo and we made fun of people with flat bars with we tore up the descent with our massive riser bars..anyway he broke his pedal and I was on my own riding in like 21st or so and then was trying to close a gap on the last descent and hit a line wrong, was riding half on half off the trail, then missed the bridge that went over a dry creek bed, clipped my front wheel on a hunk of 2X4 that was sticking out and I then went for a quick little solo flight while my bike was flying even higher and went even further. Of course I landed on the big pointy rock on my back, cracked my helmet, didn't hit the spleen side though! that could have been fatal with the whole swelling because of mono thing. The medical people came running and it looked bad because I knocked myself silly for a sec and knocked the wind out so I seemed like a idiot laying there. But they wouildn't let me go until they did a full check over, which took a while. Finally I got back going and rolled to the line, for like 38th or something. Checked the garmin and lost like 8 mins on that last lap crash. So feel good about the ride otherwise, just where I was riding how I was riding compared to the full fledged mono-ride in Fontana. Hope the next few races will get me back up to speed. Good job to Paxton was taking round #2, and teammate Raphael Gagne for taking 3rd spot.
We just hung out for a bit, I iced by elbow, which was now not bending at this points. We went back had some food, then headed back to the village for the Red Bull relay event. Which consisted of an XC race and a DH racer ripping through the village up the mtn and around, and $3000 to the winner. Where Rocky Mountain teammate Raphael Gagne and his dh teammate Steve Smith of all things cleaned up and lapped everyone. Yeyeye!
XC story. So..that was a good interesting first pro Canada Cup race. I was going to be called up like 10th last based on UCI points, and there were 90 starts. So I decided to take the initiative and roll up to the line un-called at about 50th. Its worth the try. And so it was, the commisaire came up and was like "Sir, were you called up" and I was like "yah, Im sure I heard my name, lots of the last names with G sound the same in french right?" So she left it and I was good to let it loose on the 5th or 6th line. Had a slow start, which is unavoidable with the lack of racing and the post-mono thing. Then caught back up going into the singletrack and somehow pulled off getting into the top-20 by the end of the first lap. I guess that euro racing make you super duper uber aggressive. Rolled in a group for the nest lap with teammate Marty Lazarski, fell off the that group and wasn't far behind for the next two laps, I was actually riding with Adam Snyder, pretty rad dude, descends like a mofo and we made fun of people with flat bars with we tore up the descent with our massive riser bars..anyway he broke his pedal and I was on my own riding in like 21st or so and then was trying to close a gap on the last descent and hit a line wrong, was riding half on half off the trail, then missed the bridge that went over a dry creek bed, clipped my front wheel on a hunk of 2X4 that was sticking out and I then went for a quick little solo flight while my bike was flying even higher and went even further. Of course I landed on the big pointy rock on my back, cracked my helmet, didn't hit the spleen side though! that could have been fatal with the whole swelling because of mono thing. The medical people came running and it looked bad because I knocked myself silly for a sec and knocked the wind out so I seemed like a idiot laying there. But they wouildn't let me go until they did a full check over, which took a while. Finally I got back going and rolled to the line, for like 38th or something. Checked the garmin and lost like 8 mins on that last lap crash. So feel good about the ride otherwise, just where I was riding how I was riding compared to the full fledged mono-ride in Fontana. Hope the next few races will get me back up to speed. Good job to Paxton was taking round #2, and teammate Raphael Gagne for taking 3rd spot.
We just hung out for a bit, I iced by elbow, which was now not bending at this points. We went back had some food, then headed back to the village for the Red Bull relay event. Which consisted of an XC race and a DH racer ripping through the village up the mtn and around, and $3000 to the winner. Where Rocky Mountain teammate Raphael Gagne and his dh teammate Steve Smith of all things cleaned up and lapped everyone. Yeyeye!
Queebec to Ontario.
Just arrived here in Barrie, ON last night, after a long 8 hour driving day.We had a wicked rest day on Sunday in Mont Tremblant. Started with a sick omlette in the morning, followed by a canoe ride for an hour and a bit up river, only to race back down to the cottage before we suited up and had our easy spin over to the mtn. It was a nice hot sunny day, 25 degrees I believe, which meant the shirts were rolled up, lotion was on and hopefully some well deserved vitamin D. Once we got the mtn, we headed over to check on the DH'ers. Maybe give them all a few tips on descending or whatnot... Off came the chamois's and on came the shorts(commando of course) it was a cooker out. We watched some of the dh runs, some good wipeouts, some good little stylies. We saw the BC Juniors get 1-2-3, Lauren Rosser of BC was third in the junior XC yesterday and won today. That deserves a "Snap". I then decided to go hang out with that Andrew Watson guys and his mini-him Zach Hughes, Cody Canning and Andrew L'esperance. We contemplated luge-ing, and finally decided screw it right. So we went and paid 18 bones for two runs. And was that not the best 18 $ I spent on this trip! It was unreal, Made a video of it too. Took of the camera and duck-taped it to the handle bars so you could see how was done. If you look closely on the vid you can see how fast we flew by everyone. The workers told us not to be assholes....but who needs brakes right?
XC story. So..that was a good interesting first pro Canada Cup race. I was going to be called up like 10th last based on UCI points, and there were 90 starts. So I decided to take the initiative and roll up to the line un-called at about 50th. Its worth the try. And so it was, the commisaire came up and was like "Sir, were you called up" and I was like "yah, Im sure I heard my name, lots of the last names with G sound the same in french right?" So she left it and I was good to let it loose on the 5th or 6th line. Had a slow start, which is unavoidable with the lack of racing and the post-mono thing. Then caught back up going into the singletrack and somehow pulled off getting into the top-20 by the end of the first lap. I guess that euro racing make you super duper uber aggressive. Rolled in a group for the nest lap with teammate Marty Lazarski, fell off the that group and wasn't far behind for the next two laps, I was actually riding with Adam Snyder, pretty rad dude, descends like a mofo and we made fun of people with flat bars with we tore up the descent with our massive riser bars..anyway he broke his pedal and I was on my own riding in like 21st or so and then was trying to close a gap on the last descent and hit a line wrong, was riding half on half off the trail, then missed the bridge that went over a dry creek bed, clipped my front wheel on a hunk of 2X4 that was sticking out and I then went for a quick little solo flight while my bike was flying even higher and went even further. Of course I landed on the big pointy rock on my back, cracked my helmet, didn't hit the spleen side though! that could have been fatal with the whole swelling because of mono thing. The medical people came running and it looked bad because I knocked myself silly for a sec and knocked the wind out so I seemed like a idiot laying there. But they wouildn't let me go until they did a full check over, which took a while. Finally I got back going and rolled to the line, for like 38th or something. Checked the garmin and lost like 8 mins on that last lap crash. So feel good about the ride otherwise, just where I was riding how I was riding compared to the full fledged mono-ride in Fontana. Hope the next few races will get me back up to speed. Good job to Paxton was taking round #2, and teammate Raphael Gagne for taking 3rd spot.
We just hung out for a bit, I iced by elbow, which was now not bending at this points. We went back had some food, then headed back to the village for the Red Bull relay event. Which consisted of an XC race and a DH racer ripping through the village up the mtn and around, and $3000 to the winner. Where Rocky Mountain teammate Raphael Gagne and his dh teammate Steve Smith of all things cleaned up and lapped everyone. Yeyeye!
XC story. So..that was a good interesting first pro Canada Cup race. I was going to be called up like 10th last based on UCI points, and there were 90 starts. So I decided to take the initiative and roll up to the line un-called at about 50th. Its worth the try. And so it was, the commisaire came up and was like "Sir, were you called up" and I was like "yah, Im sure I heard my name, lots of the last names with G sound the same in french right?" So she left it and I was good to let it loose on the 5th or 6th line. Had a slow start, which is unavoidable with the lack of racing and the post-mono thing. Then caught back up going into the singletrack and somehow pulled off getting into the top-20 by the end of the first lap. I guess that euro racing make you super duper uber aggressive. Rolled in a group for the nest lap with teammate Marty Lazarski, fell off the that group and wasn't far behind for the next two laps, I was actually riding with Adam Snyder, pretty rad dude, descends like a mofo and we made fun of people with flat bars with we tore up the descent with our massive riser bars..anyway he broke his pedal and I was on my own riding in like 21st or so and then was trying to close a gap on the last descent and hit a line wrong, was riding half on half off the trail, then missed the bridge that went over a dry creek bed, clipped my front wheel on a hunk of 2X4 that was sticking out and I then went for a quick little solo flight while my bike was flying even higher and went even further. Of course I landed on the big pointy rock on my back, cracked my helmet, didn't hit the spleen side though! that could have been fatal with the whole swelling because of mono thing. The medical people came running and it looked bad because I knocked myself silly for a sec and knocked the wind out so I seemed like a idiot laying there. But they wouildn't let me go until they did a full check over, which took a while. Finally I got back going and rolled to the line, for like 38th or something. Checked the garmin and lost like 8 mins on that last lap crash. So feel good about the ride otherwise, just where I was riding how I was riding compared to the full fledged mono-ride in Fontana. Hope the next few races will get me back up to speed. Good job to Paxton was taking round #2, and teammate Raphael Gagne for taking 3rd spot.
We just hung out for a bit, I iced by elbow, which was now not bending at this points. We went back had some food, then headed back to the village for the Red Bull relay event. Which consisted of an XC race and a DH racer ripping through the village up the mtn and around, and $3000 to the winner. Where Rocky Mountain teammate Raphael Gagne and his dh teammate Steve Smith of all things cleaned up and lapped everyone. Yeyeye!
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Queeebec
Just a few photos here, have very limited internet access. Will do a big update early next week. Only interesting thing during my race was the sweet crash on the last lap, best crash of my life so far! Stoked on that, but not stoked how many positions I lost...
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
The Working Life.
So I am now a working man as you would call it. Been working at The Bike Barn and its been just great, such a good group of staff members, and its a great work environment. And of course they are helping me out and working with my schedule for training which is unreal, because you can never find a job like that! Its been great though getting back into a routine and livin' life again, it was pretty boring back in April there when I got the doctors word I had mono, and just sitting around doing nothing but spending countless hours on the web and watching 90210 and such.
On another note I raced the local crit on Thursday, and the my teacher gave me a pass, I believe it was like a B, was able to ride the whole race, mix it up, cover moves and do a couple little digs myself. Super stoked on that, considering that when I did the short track in Fontana it was like 15 min and I was pulled at like the 8 min mark. So this crit is definitely a pass in my books.
Been making some tasty food lately. I have been perfecting my omelet's as well, thought I would give a little show below.
This is a little present I got from Rocky Mountain the other day, just got the new shoes all molded up and the new helmet stickered up with the CCA and Geoff Kabush`s "Race Clean, Own Your Victory" slogan.
On another note I raced the local crit on Thursday, and the my teacher gave me a pass, I believe it was like a B, was able to ride the whole race, mix it up, cover moves and do a couple little digs myself. Super stoked on that, considering that when I did the short track in Fontana it was like 15 min and I was pulled at like the 8 min mark. So this crit is definitely a pass in my books.
Been making some tasty food lately. I have been perfecting my omelet's as well, thought I would give a little show below.
This is a little present I got from Rocky Mountain the other day, just got the new shoes all molded up and the new helmet stickered up with the CCA and Geoff Kabush`s "Race Clean, Own Your Victory" slogan.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Salmon Arm-Best Singletrack in the Interior!
Went out and rode some trails in Salmon Arm BC again yesterday, exploring new trails that the city is building. Once again I was in awe when we hit the singletrack. We couldn't ride the single track up the hill yet because of the snow, so we rolled the fire roads, and holy was it worth it! The trails were unbelievable, I was almost getting too excited if you know what I mean! I couldn't get over how well built and flowy they were. We were going down pretty darn fast and pushing the limits on our XC bikes. Which is how and why we Canadians love hard technical singletrack.
Getting prepped for a solid day of bicycling.
Contemplating, should we go back or suck it up and be real men?
Draining the bladder, need to be light and efficient for the downhill.
Yep, we manned up and hiked a bike through the snow, which was totally worth it. Almost five thousand ft of descending is worth some snow-hiking.
Beautifully sculpted trails, the district of Salmon Arm is paying a trail crew to build countless amounts of trails out there, how sweet is that?
My beautiful Rocky Mountain Element. Just sitting there, enjoying the day as much as I was, I put her through alot yesterday and have to really make up with some lovin' today.
Aart tearin' it up.
Just finishing up the singletrack, we are all pretty dissapointed that the ride had to end, after some of the best singletrack I've ever ridden.
Getting prepped for a solid day of bicycling.
Contemplating, should we go back or suck it up and be real men?
Draining the bladder, need to be light and efficient for the downhill.
Yep, we manned up and hiked a bike through the snow, which was totally worth it. Almost five thousand ft of descending is worth some snow-hiking.
Beautifully sculpted trails, the district of Salmon Arm is paying a trail crew to build countless amounts of trails out there, how sweet is that?
My beautiful Rocky Mountain Element. Just sitting there, enjoying the day as much as I was, I put her through alot yesterday and have to really make up with some lovin' today.
Aart tearin' it up.
Just finishing up the singletrack, we are all pretty dissapointed that the ride had to end, after some of the best singletrack I've ever ridden.
Friday, April 30, 2010
2011 Rocky Mountain Element RSL
This tells you all you need to know about the new Element!
http://vimeo.com/11364926
http://vimeo.com/11364926
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Update.
Not too much to report these days, other than the horrible weather that is making a little vacation stop in the Okanagan right now. Pounded out 3 hours in the pissing rain on Tuesday after a 7 hour shift at work. That made a pretty good day, Felt like I was riding in an early season Belgian classic. Also got a job at The Bike Barn in Penticton BC. It`s only the best bike shop out there. And their helping work with my schedule so I am still able to train hard. Oh and that also brings up that at this point it seems like the mono has taken its toll on me and passed on to another victim. As of now I`m feeling pretty good, been training for 2 weeks now and so far so good. Hopefully we can carry that onto the first test races of the season, Canada Cups #2 and 3. Anyway just going to work on the bicycle, trying out the Fizik Antares saddle.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Peachland is wassUP.
Here is a little picture update of my nice little 24 degree cloudy/sunny day in Peachland!
My beautiful lady and I enjoying the day and a chai tea latte; Not to sound like a female dog or anything, but I think it might be the "new" drink for me. Have to cut a bit on the coffee consumption these days..
The beautiful lakefront down in Peachland. Had the best summer's of life along this here strip. Throwing rocks at ducks, having breath holding contests, trying to impress girls while playing football, and hanging out with the buds.
I withheld myself from throwing rocks at these little guys, it was something I would have done back in like 2009.
My beautiful lady and I enjoying the day and a chai tea latte; Not to sound like a female dog or anything, but I think it might be the "new" drink for me. Have to cut a bit on the coffee consumption these days..
The beautiful lakefront down in Peachland. Had the best summer's of life along this here strip. Throwing rocks at ducks, having breath holding contests, trying to impress girls while playing football, and hanging out with the buds.
I withheld myself from throwing rocks at these little guys, it was something I would have done back in like 2009.
Monday, April 19, 2010
NEW Rocky Mountain Element Team
Finally this has been half released and seen down at Sea Otter this past weekend, so I can now talk about it a little bit now, as the full release isn't for a couple weeks. Super stoked on this bike, I was able to ride it in Febuary when I was in Tucson. Rocky Mountain came down with a couple bikes for Kabush and myself to ride and test while we were down there. I can't give out details at the moment, but boy was she a sweet ride. It was like something I've never experienced before while sitting on the saddle of a bike-cycle. Uber smooth and stiff and super light at the same time. Here are some photos below to check it out:
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Kelowna Youth Cycling Club Blog
Today's ride was pretty sick, eight riders showed up even one from Kamloops!
Marty was kind enough to run a bike maintenance seminar, now everyone knows how to change a flat!
Mr. Evan Guthrie came and shared his wealth of knowledge with the group. We did some more handling drills at the KSS field (it smelt like sewage). Evan made the group experts at cyclocross dismounts.
Then we rode around in the old folk subdivision which is the perfect environment to practice what we learnt from the grass fields. Most old people waved and smiled at us while we respectively rolled by. However, when we started to leave the subdivision a grumpy old man started yelling at us and telling us to get out. Evan, being sick of people's ignorance for cyclists went to reason with the old man. The old man then waved his rake around. We went to DQ.
After DQ, I made Scott and Cam practice pace-lining while I was following them in my car down Lakeshore. It was pretty rough to start but then they got the hang of it and are now philosophers of pace-lining. We felt pretty pro. Scott was throwing his unneeded water bottles and warmers in the car like Lance. I really did feel like Johan Bruyneel today! Flick the hazards on behind cyclists and you get automatic respect from motorists, everyone was smiling and waving as they gave a generous space while passing by.
Another fun day at the office!
^^ As is states I came very close to a senior citizen swinging a rake at my face today, just trying to be and explain how were teaching young kids how to ride and feel comfortable out there, and guys like him make the kids nervous and cause crashes. He kept trying to swing his rake at me to convince me to leave, but I was making a point and he didn't want to hear it. Pretty interesting, most dangerous senior citizen encounter yet!
Marty was kind enough to run a bike maintenance seminar, now everyone knows how to change a flat!
Mr. Evan Guthrie came and shared his wealth of knowledge with the group. We did some more handling drills at the KSS field (it smelt like sewage). Evan made the group experts at cyclocross dismounts.
Then we rode around in the old folk subdivision which is the perfect environment to practice what we learnt from the grass fields. Most old people waved and smiled at us while we respectively rolled by. However, when we started to leave the subdivision a grumpy old man started yelling at us and telling us to get out. Evan, being sick of people's ignorance for cyclists went to reason with the old man. The old man then waved his rake around. We went to DQ.
After DQ, I made Scott and Cam practice pace-lining while I was following them in my car down Lakeshore. It was pretty rough to start but then they got the hang of it and are now philosophers of pace-lining. We felt pretty pro. Scott was throwing his unneeded water bottles and warmers in the car like Lance. I really did feel like Johan Bruyneel today! Flick the hazards on behind cyclists and you get automatic respect from motorists, everyone was smiling and waving as they gave a generous space while passing by.
Another fun day at the office!
^^ As is states I came very close to a senior citizen swinging a rake at my face today, just trying to be and explain how were teaching young kids how to ride and feel comfortable out there, and guys like him make the kids nervous and cause crashes. He kept trying to swing his rake at me to convince me to leave, but I was making a point and he didn't want to hear it. Pretty interesting, most dangerous senior citizen encounter yet!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Picture Update.
Just got the SRM hooked up, with the mix between the 7800 Dura-Ace and the new 7900. Jamie Sparling has called this the 7850.
"Race Clean, Own Your Victory" All my bicycles are branded with these stickers, as I have chosen to Race Clean for my career in cycling.
Beautiful day as the bi-cycle see's it.
Shorts and Tee of April 14th is alright by me, if you look hard you can see my no-shave April/ I have mono.
Represent! The new get-ups are pretty sicckkkk!
"Race Clean, Own Your Victory" All my bicycles are branded with these stickers, as I have chosen to Race Clean for my career in cycling.
Beautiful day as the bi-cycle see's it.
Shorts and Tee of April 14th is alright by me, if you look hard you can see my no-shave April/ I have mono.
Represent! The new get-ups are pretty sicckkkk!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Cam McQueen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYqyepZYUPU"
Check out this link!^ This is straight up crazy. First ever backflip in a monster truck. This guy is straight out of Westbank BC.
Check out this link!^ This is straight up crazy. First ever backflip in a monster truck. This guy is straight out of Westbank BC.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Race Clean OWN YOUR VICTORY
Check out this link:
http://www.canadian-cycling.com/cca/media/news/2010/0329_raceclean.shtml
New initiative the CCA is working on so prevent doping on cycling with Canadian Athletes. Pretty stoked on this.
http://www.canadian-cycling.com/cca/media/news/2010/0329_raceclean.shtml
New initiative the CCA is working on so prevent doping on cycling with Canadian Athletes. Pretty stoked on this.
Fontana Re-Cap
Soo........that pretty much sums up my first legit Pro race as this past weekend US National Series Pro XCT in Fontana, CA. It was a pretty good lead up to the race, looking back I was definitely fatigued a little and the flight was horrible, I was up at 3:45 am for a 11 hour travel day, that in fact should is only a 3.5 hour flight from here but all the layovers made it just awesome...
Cross Country Re-cap:
Hot day out there, like 26 degrees and we now start at 2:30 pm as Pro's this year. Peak heat of the day. Also the wind was blowing at about 50 kp/h, which just so happend to be a headwind up the climbs..I got called up in 75th or something like that. There were 95ish starters on the line. From the gun it was fast and furious through a little 700 m start loops, which actually made things a little more crazy then a start loop is supposed to do, people were just dive-bombing through the corners. Turned out good for me, as I was able to stay upright on the bike and gain some places. Felt bad for all the people that went down in the beginning. Then into the climbs we went, with the major climb of the day hitting almost 30% in some sections, we named this climb the big bastard. As it was a bastard to climb. Maintained my position up the climb, maybe gained and lost a couple spots, so it all evened out. I was saying the day before the race I am going to get off my bike and run past a ton of people on the climb, but of course that's all talk and once your racing your legs are just dying in that section, so that was out of the question. I just kept it going good and hard and tried to not get to paranoid about being so far back and just work my way through starting lap two when the race spread apart. I worked hard for a lap and half to move through the field and it played out that it was too hard of an effort for this early season, and I just started to fall apart and get slower and slower after that. If you watch the womens race re-cap at
http://www.cyclingdirt.org/videos/coverage/view_video/236820-us-pro-xct-1-fontana/322299-pro-womens-xc-us-pro-xct-1-fontana-ca
I can personally see that Lene Byberg is climbing faster than I was during my last 3 laps. So pretty much that is the problem right there...I think everything added together to make for not such a great showing last weekend. Which is life, I have years ahead of me to make this weekend not even exsist, racing wise of course. It`s actually pretty funny looking back and watching the womens ride the hills twice as fast as me, not be sexest or anything of course. In the end I believe I ended up 43rd. Just out of getting valuable UCI points! I quickly grabbed my delicious bologna and cheese sandwich and headed out for my cool down with the rest of the Canadian clan. We then headed back to the hotel and jumped in the cold pool with are chamois still on and all. Back to the hotel for a stretch and foam roller session. Then we put the legs up and had some special inter-web time. Here is the men's race:
http://www.cyclingdirt.org/videos/coverage/view_video/236820-us-pro-xct-1-fontana/322252-pro-mens-xc-us-pro-xct-1-fontana-ca
Short Track Re-cap:
So today I woke up feeling good and super phsyched up for the short track race at 3:15 pm. I was thinking ok, first race is out of the legs and lots of time I feel great my second day of racing. So oh dang I was ready for rip it up today. Started out the day with our regular pre-race meal a la hotels free continental breakfast. Which consisted of coffee, fruit, waffle with peanut butter, bananna, yogurt and syrup.
With a little big of scrambled eggs on the side. We suited up in a maple leaf jerseys and our "Race Clean OWN YOUR VICTORY" socks and arm bands. Jumped on my Rocky Mountain Vertex Team RSL and opened up one of my DR Vie Go bars, munched that and I was set to race! We rode 40 min to the race course to get a good warm up in, needed to really open up the legs. Got to the course and laid under a tree for a bit and tried to cool down before we start our efforts in warm up. Was laying there looking at "In and Out Burger" they had a stand set up and gave every racer a free burger. So I had my ticket in my back pocket because the first thing I was going to do after the race was get my burg. Went out and did our warm up on the course, which was a 1.5-2 min course which a 15 sec little climb. The short track races are 15 min plus 1 lap, which makes it even faster out there and more spectator friendly. The Canadian Cycling Association was trying a new pre-race cooling technique. Which consisted of us putting out hands in a cold ice cubed and water filled bag so cool our hands and try to cool the blood while is circulated through our bodies. Definitely worked well, as I was getting shivers before the race in L.A.'s 28 degrees. Had a way better call up today, no clue why but I wasn't about to ask. Off we went and the start went pretty well as I gained a bunch of places and seemed to be in the top 25 and hopefully still going to pass some more people. Things were going well until about half way through the race I dropped my chain off the big ring and of course it had to be the time when the chain doesn't nicely go back on it had to bounce around a bunch get a little stuck and then go back on. Definitely lost a few places, like 15 or so and then chased pretty hard for a lap and blew the energy I had left, it's that kind of race where you go just above your limit and if you push too hard to early you can't recover too well. Anywho it was a great learning curve this weekend, learning that guys in 40th place can climb dam fast, but the reason they're so far back is because technically they're not so great...So good experience weekend and now the first race is done and the season is on! Pretty excited about that.
Oh our way back into L.A. we stopped by Beverly Hills High School, Beverly Blvd. and Had dinner on Hollywood Blvd.
Oh one more funny thing to add, on my trip home my flight from LA to Calgary was pretty late and once I landed in Calgary I had 15 min to get my bags, go through customs, then security and then board my next flight. And of course in these situations they're never easy. So I got off the plain and hussled to baggage claim, where there must have been a couple hundred people all in the same situation as me, with a flight to Toronto about to leave and flight to Frankfurt!!! Uh oh. I ran around looking for my bags and they were late coming out, but some how I managed to make up time by jumping to the front of the customs line with no one even asking because I came from the opposite side of where everyone was lined up. Got through that mess after being questioned. Then I had to wait in a line to drop my bags off,now 7 min until my plane was leaving, luckily the line was slow but the girl as the desk didn't even look at my papers, she just said "Run, if your going to get to your flight!" I liked her very much. While I was running around looking where to go I stopped and looked at the airport map and this young very attractive girl came up beside me because she saw me running and asked if I knew where I was going, if this was a normal day it would have been perfect chatting with her. But I had to say "Sorry I don't gotta run!" That sucked but it had to be done...I ran up the escalator that was coming down because the one going up was backed up with people. I ran all the way to the other end of the airport to my gate, I got there and lined was huge and all backed up. Then a guy came out and said "Everyone the security gates here and backed right up, if you head to the other side of the building to another gate you can go through that security where no one else is, then there is a bypass to get back to the gates here. I jumped the ropes and ran as fast as I could back across the building. Now only 3 min until my plane left. I got there and the line was big, apparently people had already be told the same thing. I went to the front of the line and asked everyone if I could budge to the front as my plane was now leaving in 2 min. There luckily let me do that. But there was some moron guy freaking out about his water and not wanting to dump it out. He was on a mission to get through with his water, finally security came and took him away. My stuff was already going through the scanner, I got the through the body scanner good. I was hoping that for the first time ever my bag would make it through without getting the extra search, and some how it did. I only took thing that wouldn't need extra searching on the way home. Which paid off. Now I had less then a minute to get to my plane. So I grabbed my bag, put it on, grabbed my laptap with one hand and my shoes with the hand, I had no time to put my shoes on or put my laptop in my bag. So I just started running and I ran all the way back across the airport and got to my gate literally 30 sec before they closed the gate. Unreal.
Here is some good videos of the races and pre and post race interviews:
http://www.cyclingdirt.org/videos/coverage/view/236820-us-pro-xct-1-fontana
Cross Country Re-cap:
Hot day out there, like 26 degrees and we now start at 2:30 pm as Pro's this year. Peak heat of the day. Also the wind was blowing at about 50 kp/h, which just so happend to be a headwind up the climbs..I got called up in 75th or something like that. There were 95ish starters on the line. From the gun it was fast and furious through a little 700 m start loops, which actually made things a little more crazy then a start loop is supposed to do, people were just dive-bombing through the corners. Turned out good for me, as I was able to stay upright on the bike and gain some places. Felt bad for all the people that went down in the beginning. Then into the climbs we went, with the major climb of the day hitting almost 30% in some sections, we named this climb the big bastard. As it was a bastard to climb. Maintained my position up the climb, maybe gained and lost a couple spots, so it all evened out. I was saying the day before the race I am going to get off my bike and run past a ton of people on the climb, but of course that's all talk and once your racing your legs are just dying in that section, so that was out of the question. I just kept it going good and hard and tried to not get to paranoid about being so far back and just work my way through starting lap two when the race spread apart. I worked hard for a lap and half to move through the field and it played out that it was too hard of an effort for this early season, and I just started to fall apart and get slower and slower after that. If you watch the womens race re-cap at
http://www.cyclingdirt.org/videos/coverage/view_video/236820-us-pro-xct-1-fontana/322299-pro-womens-xc-us-pro-xct-1-fontana-ca
I can personally see that Lene Byberg is climbing faster than I was during my last 3 laps. So pretty much that is the problem right there...I think everything added together to make for not such a great showing last weekend. Which is life, I have years ahead of me to make this weekend not even exsist, racing wise of course. It`s actually pretty funny looking back and watching the womens ride the hills twice as fast as me, not be sexest or anything of course. In the end I believe I ended up 43rd. Just out of getting valuable UCI points! I quickly grabbed my delicious bologna and cheese sandwich and headed out for my cool down with the rest of the Canadian clan. We then headed back to the hotel and jumped in the cold pool with are chamois still on and all. Back to the hotel for a stretch and foam roller session. Then we put the legs up and had some special inter-web time. Here is the men's race:
http://www.cyclingdirt.org/videos/coverage/view_video/236820-us-pro-xct-1-fontana/322252-pro-mens-xc-us-pro-xct-1-fontana-ca
Short Track Re-cap:
So today I woke up feeling good and super phsyched up for the short track race at 3:15 pm. I was thinking ok, first race is out of the legs and lots of time I feel great my second day of racing. So oh dang I was ready for rip it up today. Started out the day with our regular pre-race meal a la hotels free continental breakfast. Which consisted of coffee, fruit, waffle with peanut butter, bananna, yogurt and syrup.
With a little big of scrambled eggs on the side. We suited up in a maple leaf jerseys and our "Race Clean OWN YOUR VICTORY" socks and arm bands. Jumped on my Rocky Mountain Vertex Team RSL and opened up one of my DR Vie Go bars, munched that and I was set to race! We rode 40 min to the race course to get a good warm up in, needed to really open up the legs. Got to the course and laid under a tree for a bit and tried to cool down before we start our efforts in warm up. Was laying there looking at "In and Out Burger" they had a stand set up and gave every racer a free burger. So I had my ticket in my back pocket because the first thing I was going to do after the race was get my burg. Went out and did our warm up on the course, which was a 1.5-2 min course which a 15 sec little climb. The short track races are 15 min plus 1 lap, which makes it even faster out there and more spectator friendly. The Canadian Cycling Association was trying a new pre-race cooling technique. Which consisted of us putting out hands in a cold ice cubed and water filled bag so cool our hands and try to cool the blood while is circulated through our bodies. Definitely worked well, as I was getting shivers before the race in L.A.'s 28 degrees. Had a way better call up today, no clue why but I wasn't about to ask. Off we went and the start went pretty well as I gained a bunch of places and seemed to be in the top 25 and hopefully still going to pass some more people. Things were going well until about half way through the race I dropped my chain off the big ring and of course it had to be the time when the chain doesn't nicely go back on it had to bounce around a bunch get a little stuck and then go back on. Definitely lost a few places, like 15 or so and then chased pretty hard for a lap and blew the energy I had left, it's that kind of race where you go just above your limit and if you push too hard to early you can't recover too well. Anywho it was a great learning curve this weekend, learning that guys in 40th place can climb dam fast, but the reason they're so far back is because technically they're not so great...So good experience weekend and now the first race is done and the season is on! Pretty excited about that.Oh our way back into L.A. we stopped by Beverly Hills High School, Beverly Blvd. and Had dinner on Hollywood Blvd.
Oh one more funny thing to add, on my trip home my flight from LA to Calgary was pretty late and once I landed in Calgary I had 15 min to get my bags, go through customs, then security and then board my next flight. And of course in these situations they're never easy. So I got off the plain and hussled to baggage claim, where there must have been a couple hundred people all in the same situation as me, with a flight to Toronto about to leave and flight to Frankfurt!!! Uh oh. I ran around looking for my bags and they were late coming out, but some how I managed to make up time by jumping to the front of the customs line with no one even asking because I came from the opposite side of where everyone was lined up. Got through that mess after being questioned. Then I had to wait in a line to drop my bags off,now 7 min until my plane was leaving, luckily the line was slow but the girl as the desk didn't even look at my papers, she just said "Run, if your going to get to your flight!" I liked her very much. While I was running around looking where to go I stopped and looked at the airport map and this young very attractive girl came up beside me because she saw me running and asked if I knew where I was going, if this was a normal day it would have been perfect chatting with her. But I had to say "Sorry I don't gotta run!" That sucked but it had to be done...I ran up the escalator that was coming down because the one going up was backed up with people. I ran all the way to the other end of the airport to my gate, I got there and lined was huge and all backed up. Then a guy came out and said "Everyone the security gates here and backed right up, if you head to the other side of the building to another gate you can go through that security where no one else is, then there is a bypass to get back to the gates here. I jumped the ropes and ran as fast as I could back across the building. Now only 3 min until my plane left. I got there and the line was big, apparently people had already be told the same thing. I went to the front of the line and asked everyone if I could budge to the front as my plane was now leaving in 2 min. There luckily let me do that. But there was some moron guy freaking out about his water and not wanting to dump it out. He was on a mission to get through with his water, finally security came and took him away. My stuff was already going through the scanner, I got the through the body scanner good. I was hoping that for the first time ever my bag would make it through without getting the extra search, and some how it did. I only took thing that wouldn't need extra searching on the way home. Which paid off. Now I had less then a minute to get to my plane. So I grabbed my bag, put it on, grabbed my laptap with one hand and my shoes with the hand, I had no time to put my shoes on or put my laptop in my bag. So I just started running and I ran all the way back across the airport and got to my gate literally 30 sec before they closed the gate. Unreal.
Here is some good videos of the races and pre and post race interviews:
http://www.cyclingdirt.org/videos/coverage/view/236820-us-pro-xct-1-fontana
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Los Angles, California baby!
Arrived in LA late afternoon yesterday, and we had to make the trip down to Manhattan beach before we did anything. We even put off Chipotle for 20 min. Pretty rad view from down there. It wasnn't a great afternoon yesterday with all the clouds, smog and wind. We just checked the beach out, I noticed that every watch tower looks exactly like the one Marrisa Cooper from "The OC" used to hang out at. Then off to Chipotle for burrito time. Back in the dodge caravans we went and headed out to Ontario CA. Went by Compton, didn't even see anyone get shot, must have been a good day on the murder charts. Driving the freeway is a whole new experience I'll have to get used to, that's for sure. Got in sort of late and unpacked the gear, just organized the way we wanted the room set up and shi-bam were set to roll.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)