Tired in Belgium

Fairly lazy day here in Belgium. Just one of those days... Overcast and cool, warm under my blankets and nice to lounge around. Got up and did my ride anyways after breakfast; 3 hours under 200W around the Belgian countryside. Much less windy than yesterday, and no rain which was nice. After some lunch and tea, I spent part of the afternoon watching some live MotoGP and cruising along through the internet. Nice day, for now I believe I feel a pre-dinner nap coming. And as well I have recieved orders to swap my cranks on my bike back to my 172.5mm ones. Apparently the bike fit guy will not like the 175s, and may have an heart attack at the sight of my Speedplay pedals. Oh oh. But to be fair, I like the feel of them, but am considering going either back to Time or maybe trying out Looks when I get home. The cleats on these Speedplays are really giving me some grief. Oh well, they're still working for the time being (and don't look as if the cleat is about to tear out of my shoes again). Looks like I have about 2 weeks of one day races and training time left before we hit stage race season here in Belgium. As long as I show some decent form and teamwork coming up, I should be able to be selected for some of them. They seem to range from 4-6 days in length. Gonna be a hard time coming up. And as another positive, I happen to have a day off the bike on the day the Tour de France comes through Gent (about a 1.5 hour ride from here) so I should most definitely be making my way down to Gent (perhaps for the whole day by bus) to watch the finish of a Tour stage! The house is eerily empty right now with the A team off at Het Volk and several of the boys off on their rides still. Kinda nice just to have some time to myself to just relax though. Several of the guys who have been in the house for longer seem to have come down with an Iron deficiency recently, has me a little worried (probably for no good reason) and am looking at heading to the pharmacy to pick up some multi-vitamins and iron pills. Gotta make sure my body stays at 100%! All for now, work to be done and naps to be taken...

Rain, wind and some race schedule action

For those who have not yet seen my new kits... Say hello to Cap'n America

Got my training/race schedule this morning after our team house cleaning. Looks like I'm doing something right, got myself slotted in for 2 UCI 1.12 level races this coming week. For those not involved in Cycling, this ranking means that the races are very hard. haha. I will race Schaal Schoeters on Monday (156km) and then Pittem on Saturday (164km). Gonna be a hard week, hopefully the weather will improve somewhat as it is again cold and rainy here in Belgium, and both these races apparently have some decent cobbled sections. Along with this race schedule, I also received my training schedule for the next little while, which involves a decent amount of rest in addition to these races this week. Probably a good thing ;). On the other hand, it has also given me some wings in training and has made me work more closely on doing the little things right to make sure my body is at 100% for these coming races. I will be racing against the big boys after all. Expected to be there are of course many of the top Belgian continental teams and the continental wings of several top Pro Tour teams. Wicked! As for my training today, 2.5 hours with big gear sprints every 15 minutes. Weather, 13 and pissing rain. The nice thing about this kind of rain is that it soaks you within about 15 minutes, so after that you are already wet, why not just keep going? Plus, the hot shower and warm food feel that much better after a few hours in the Belgian rain. Needless to say, my tan lines have been suffering as of late, but at least I'm not drowning in my own sweat back home in the traditional Ottawa humidity! I much prefer this Belgian weather, though I hope it returns to ~20 and sunny soon so I can strip off the long sleeve jerseys and leg warmers. Best of luck to my boys of the Echelon Project as they make the trip/adventure down to the Tour of Martinique. I know it'll be one helluva experience for them. Follow that along at http://wqwechelon.blogspot.com/. I for one will be taking an easy afternoon, and having a nice big dinner before settling down for another movie night here at the Cycling Center. Not sure whats on the bill yet, but hell - what do I care? Good luck to those of you racing Canadian Nationals coming up as well, I hope to see some nice new jerseys around Ottawa when (if) I come home...

The sun returns

Got a little warmer today, and the sun was even out for a majority of the day. Good day for some miles and some work on the food front. We had another team meeting this morning, welcomed another new face to the group, went over what is expected of us for the coming period and then busted out into the sun for a nice 3 hours. Even managed to take off the arm warmers for a period. Nice 3 hours, still under 200W with sprints every 15 minutes. Nice training day, good feelings from the legs. After arriving home and showering I proceeded to start with my homemade creations. First up, some pesto for my pasta. With a nice selection of fresh ingredients from the Delhaize, I found myself a food processor and went to town. Not bad if I do say so, think I may buy myself a Basil plant. If any of you have a good recipe for pesto, I would be happy to indulge myself and try them out. After that, biscotti time. With the ovens here not having a temperature gauge, I had to guess on the temperature, but got it almost right. Came out fine, impressing most of my roommates with my culinary skills. Now I have some fresh biscotti to dip in my coffee in the mornings and to bring along as ride food. haha. Next on the list I will be attempting to create some homemade energy bars. Should have all the dried fruits, nuts and other wonders to make them delicious and moist. On to dinner, and now our third installment of Back to the Future. Life continues, and what a wonderful life it is here in Europe. I believe I should be racing again at some point this weekend, which will be nice to be able to learn from the last race and put those lessons to use. Well, ciao for now.

Wind, cobbles, and lessons in patience

Windy day today. I guess that is kind of normal here though, getting to enjoy the wind somewhat though, which could be considered a little odd. Talked to Bernard this morning before he left with one team for IWT (UCI 1.2 - big boy race) and got the word that 4 hours "easy; not over 200W" was in order for the day. I learned a valuable lesson in patience yesterday, from Bernard and the Docs: North American cyclists lack patience. At home, everyone wants results yesterday. Lose 5 pounds a week, get fit fast, sound familiar? Here, they understand that there is no substitute for time and miles. Not hard miles, easy miles. As my test showed, and as 98% of all cyclists coming to the Cycling Center from abroad, we lack the base. Many of us have good top end, and the ability to hold our threshold and above for good periods of time, but have a small base. This is well known to Bernard and the Docs, this is why he runs his program as a development program. As they say, it takes about 3 years to start to see you potential as a rider, it takes that much time to be able to figure out what kind of rider you are. You really need that base. This is why most 1st and 2nd year riders here do mostly long rides and race once a week. You need the training time. It is hard to train through a kermesse. You need to recover, its not like a crit, its still a 3 hour race (~130km). You can see his results too, the guys who started off like myself or others here for the first time, and are now here for the 3rd time (usually 2nd full season) are strong as the Euros. They race mostly the UCI races, and get results. That is development. Not like TIAA-CREF, buying "development", but bringing the riders up. Teaching them and training them. That impresses me, as Bernard says, "you but in the flesh, I meet it and put in some of my own". The man has a very good ability to motivate you, I feel as though I have no problem doing anything asked of me, as I know it will make me a better cyclist. The Center will change a lot next year, I can't reveal too much yet (contracts are being signed and many other details to be ironed out still) but the idea is that He wants the Center to become a Professional Continental team within 3 years. But, all with riders he brings up. Basically, he would still run part of the the program the same, acting as a feeder program. And the pro team will act as a feeder program to a particular Pro Tour team. Pretty cool eh?

Enough on the Center, time for me time. Got up ate my usual breakie of coffee, toast, yogurt with muselli, and some fruit. Wished good luck to the boys off to IWT, saw the van with the A team off to go recon the route for Omloop Het Volk (UCI 1.1 - really big boys race) and then suited up, plugged in and hit the road. Decided on the white 110km route. New roads, and some more cobbles and another Tour of Flander's cobbled climb. Legs felt pretty lead filled for the first hour or so, but began to come around after that. Even got far enough away from home today that the terrain changed from flat windy to rolling windy. Haven't seen many hills for a while, but felt good. Kept my ego in check, and kept it under the requested 200W. Stupid Power Tap is going again though, can't read any numbers on the screen again. Making it a little more difficult to maintain a certain wattage goal. Or see time, or anything really. Oh well. Did the mandatory bakery stop, took Vicky's advice and went for the Rijcetart. Incredible. Man, basically this pudding filled pie. Continued on my route, winding through fields and towns, arriving home after a good 4.5 hours. Quick lunch and some tea, nap time, coffee and here we are. Such is the life. Time for dinner soon, then some more relaxing time, bed, wash, repeat. Off to the grocery store tomorrow morning, and the real good bakery. Gonna get some supplies to make a huge bunch of pesto sauce, and stuff to make some homemade energy bars and biscotti. Cause thats how I roll. Ciao

Testing

Just getting the hurt Started...

Damn computer keeps making it harder... I thought we had a deal!?!?

Hallucinating during the 3 minute effort. Crazy S&^#.

Bernard watches over me as I suffer and sweat all over the SRM bike and floor.

So today was the day. Test day that is. Which was nice, both to get it over with and also due to the shoddy weather we are still receiving here. High of 14 today with showers. Traditional Belgian we call it. Not doing the UCI tomorrow, according to the test my body is still feeling the effects of the travel. Amazing what they can see in these graphs, and by they I mean the wonderful Dr. Dag and his assistant Dr. Micheal. Dr. Dag also happens to be the team doctor for the Discovery Channel Professional Cycling team. No joke, he is also our team doctor (though we usually see more of Dr. Micheal), we managed to catch him between the Tour de Suisse and the Tour de France. But anyways, did 2 tests: a regular ramp test (start at 100W and ramp up by 50W every 3 minutes until explosion) and a 3 minute all out test (which also had to start with a all out sprint). Nothing compares to the pain of this 3 minute test. I was pretty sure my heart was going to explode out of my chest after about 40 seconds, but unfortunately I had to continue going for another 2:20. Good times. With some testing done, we reloaded on chocolate and cream filled "recovery pastries" and then made our way back to the center. We talked a lot with Bernard each way about his philosophies and practices. Basically, we are all now super pumped to be riding for and with him. I can't wait to get to the next race and learn more and finish better. After the test, myself and Joe went for a nice spin for an hour as Bernard had instructed to help flush the legs. Then time for dinner, and now blogging and Back to the Future. Good times as usual at the Cycling Center. Not sure of my coming schedule yet, but I should get that soon from Dag/Bernard after they work it out from my test data. Well, night for now, ciao

First race experiences...

So back from the race. And what a race it was. Serious rain to start, so nice and wet, about 100+ dudes lining up. I should probably start a little earlier... Due to the rain, we decided to drive to the race, about 30-40 minute drive. Got there, got my Belgian license (5 Euro) signed up and signed in (8 Euro - but 5 Euro back when you give your number back) and headed out of the smoky beer tent to get changed. Changed into my uni, and we headed out to the course to learn the course. 6.7km 17 times. Pretty decent length. Especially at the speeds we went off at. First lap was pretty 'tame' (~44km/h) probably due to the weather. But as the second lap began, the speed picked up, and up. By the third lap we would fly down the straight sections at 50-55km/h, which is crazy to begin with, but add the fact that in Belgium you corner at 15km/h or less, that is quite the flippin acceleration. Needless to say, gaps began to open as the pack strung out single file. I closed gaps on the straight sections and moved up when possible on the shorter sections between corners. There was no way I was going to risk getting tossed in the ditch trying to dive corners to move up. I saw a few guys get tossed from the line for doing so. Luckily apparently my riding style seems to suit the Belgians just enough to not feel the need to yell much at me. Which is especially odd, considering how much they seem to love voicing their opinion during a race. I lasted about 45 minutes in the main "field" (which was quite split up at this point) until getting popped after having to close one to many gaps. From there, I spent about 25 minutes in a fruitless and innefective chase group until we were pulled. This group was ridiculous, with only 3 of the 6 of us working, and 1 douche constantly attacking for no particular reason I actually got the chance to test my vocal cords with some good results. After getting pulled, I handed in my number and headed to the van to get changed into some dry clothes. One of our team "fans" slash helpers (the wonderful Blanca) got me some hot tea and talked about the race. Apparently all but one of the team members had also been popped before me or at the same time so we waited and watched as Texas Colt tore up the road finishing in 40th spot. Near the last of the finishers, but also the last money spot, making himself a cool 5 Euros. Lessons learned: stay near the front at all times (closer than I was anyways), corners are weird - gonna have to learn to do that better and more efficient, and I need to be aggressive - I was more aggressive than I have been, but have to again become more so. All in all, an awesome experience, lessons learned and I'm now ready to improve on this for the next race. Testing Tuesday, and then I'll also talk to Bernard to find my next race. There is a potential apparently that I may be racing in the UCI race on Wednesday (the one racing up the Mur, the Bosberg, and the Kongaburg). But nothing confirmed for that, we'll focus on the test for now and figure stuff out from there. As for me now, its time to eat and recover some more. Grocery store run tomorrow, and a nice recovery spin. Ciao.

Rainy updates

So, a little glad I'm not with the boys racing today. It's pouring. Got my ride in anyways, tried to sneak out between rain, almost made it too. Rained lightly throughout but nothing to serious, got my workout in; some sprints, some leg openers and finally some cadence stuff, before the skies emptied on me. I mean emptied. I went from being mildly damp, to soaked to the bone (even with rain cape) in about 10 minutes. And then still had to ride home more. But for some reason, this didn't really bother me. This is what Belgian cycling is about, working through it all and being prepared. Weather doesn't magically improve when we race, why should it while we train. But now I sit here, contemplating my pre-race dinner, and enjoying the warmth of the house. My homemade yogurt from last night is coming along nicely, should be ready to eat soon, have some of that wonderful fresh bread from Oostkamp to eat still. Life is good. Perhaps a nap will be in order next, pre Tour de Suisse... My next project will be buying more supplies to make some more stuff here in bulk, such as a nice pesto sauce. Anything to save some cash. I have also just realized that every day, as I type here on the couch in the common room, I sit next to Lance Armstrong's tt bike. Seriously. Directly behind me is the USPS coloured tt rig of the Texan himself, complete with name sticker, Bonti disc, HED tri-spoke, well worn Concor saddle, and old team issue Deda aero bars. Shit. I knew Bernard was in close with a lot of people, but damn. As for myself, I still need to get my bike cleaned up and race ready after the last 2 days of riding in some rain. Gotta swap the wheels and lube it up. No excuses, its go time. I'll try to post after the race tomorrow, we'll see how tired I am upon arriving home. Time for a snack and a nap. Ciao

Rain and recovery

Woke up a little lethargic this morning, as expected after a few hard days, especially yesterday. Luckily, I was just doing an active recovery day today. Especially due to the weather today, 14 degrees and rain. Nice, traditional Belgie weather. Slept in until 8 this morning, made a nice cafe to go with my toast for breakfast, checked the email and other internet news, then headed off to the general store to pick up some milk to make some yogurt. No one here believes that I make my own yogurt (thanks John), so it's time. I miss the yogurt and cereal in the mornings. Got nice and warmly dressed up for my ride today, 1.5 hours of bakery riding. Started off by riding in to Oostkamp (home of my favorite bakerij) for a bread run; 1 loaf of multi grain (no sourdough today, only on Tuesday & Thursday) and a small loaf of sweet bread. Dropped the the bread off at home then headed out exploring. All in the rain, and it poured at times. That brings up the first rule of Belgian cycling, always carry a rain cape of some kind. No matter what the weather is when you start, it can change very quickly. And always seems to be raining somewhere in Belgium. After arriving home, it was time for a nice hot shower and some warm clothes, and then a nice warm lunch of leftover pizza, and some chicken noodle soup with fresh sweet bread. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go back to regular store bread. Nice ride today, even with the rain, felt good to spin the legs and do some high cadence work to flush the legs. With most of us at the house racing this weekend, most riders are beginning to prepare for the weekend ahead, and awaiting Bernard's return from Albuquerque. As for me, I race my first European race Sunday, easy on Monday, and Testing with the Doc on Tuesday. After that, I will pass my results on to Bernard, who will then finalize my training schedule and racing schedule. I'm just looking forward to my next long ride day when I'll be heading off to ride more climbs of the Tour of Flanders. As for now, I'm back to researching new shoes (considering Keir's route of Rocket 7) as my current ones are beginning to collapse. But, should (knock on wood) last through this season. All for now from rainy Belgium

Long day on Flanderian cobbles

Beautiful day in Belgium, bought some new Hutchinson tyres at the bike shop. 1/2 price, as mine are getting cut up a little faster than planned. Cool shop, carry those cool Bratvus dutch bikes we started carrying at the Cyclery, plus a ton of cool Eddy Merckx bikes. Not a lot of cool random stuff to pick up souvenir wise. Got home, little bit of rain, cool temperatures, and finally the word I'd been waiting for; I'm on the recon ride. Rushed around, packed my bag and quickly changed my front tube (apparently I'd had my first flat yesterday sometime). Jumped into the "fun bus" with the other boys and hit the road. As we drove, the sun came out. Arriving in Gooik, we parked the bus and dressed ourselves for the ride. Hitting the road we, headed off, following the yellow signs we thought where the course. Through the rolling roads, we followed these sings until they eventually ended. Pulling out a map, and making ourselves look even more like tourists (remeber that we 6 dudes wearing American flag spandex) we attempted to figure out the course. No luck, so instead we pointed ourselves towards the climbs of the course: the Mur, the Bossburg, the Kongaburg (all famous from Tour of Flanders). After 3 hours ride time and one bakery stop, we hit the Mur. And what an incredible climb it was. Steep, cobbled and twisty, I climbed, watching the names written on the road before me, seeing the steep sections where the greats had once attacked to victory. As I accelerated through these corners I quickly came to the top to take in the view. With a cool church and giant cross on the top, I waited for the rest to summit and took a few pictures. After descending the cobbles (much sketchier than climbing) we hit it again, to get a better feel for the climb. Most definitely one of the coolest things I have ever ridden. After the top, we descended down the other side and headed off towards the Bosburg. Arriving at the base, attacks started to fly as many were anxious to get some speed for the slightly rougher Bosburg. It was not quite as fun, more of a single gradient, and harder due to the fact that you could constantly see the finish straight ahead of you. None the less, cobbled climbs are the bomb. After that and a few more pictures, we started the ride back to the fun bus. End ride time, 4.5 hours; distance, 123km; fun factor, 10 on 10. Getting home, exhausted at about 8:30, everyone quickly showered, ate and hit the sack. Good nights sleep last night for sure. Gonna take it a little easier today, maybe ride to the awesome bakery in Oostkamp (as our local one is closed for a week for summer holidays). Nice easy day, spin de legs. Gotta make sure my legs are good to go for the race on Sunday. Feelings are good though, I hope there are some cobbled climbs!

Glorious morning in Belgium

So, morning is starting off pretty well. Found out I'm getting my testing done Tuesday, racing for sure on Sunday, and best of all free food. Thats right. Those who know me, realize how excited this has made me. Bunch of guys left early this morning to return home for US Nat's, and of course left behind a bunch of unfinished food. Myself, being early to rise this morning, was the first to discover this pile of gold. And then of course pillaged it for all I could carry. Thats the rule around this house, if its free for the taking, you can take whatever you can carry. Luckily my spider arms allow for me to run off giggling with quite a bit. Now, I sit waiting for the bike shop run, mostly for shits and giggles (though I'm sure I'll have to buy something), and watching the Zoncolan climb from this year's Giro (thanks Keir). I also wait to hear how many of the boys are heading on today's recon ride for Tuesday's UCI race, if there is room, I will shoving myself into the van for a ~5 hour day of climbing several of the famous Tour of Flander's climbs! With that being one of my "must do while in Belgium" items, I will do all I can to get on this ride. Plus Bernard has me down for a 4 hour day "with sprints" so, whats another hour with cobbles??? I'm off to the shop, but I'll bring my camera if I head off to da Ronde...

More sun and wind from Belggie

Awesome day today, talked with Bernard last night when the teams arrived home from the UCI races; got my team kits (2 jerseys, 1 long sleeve, 1 vest, 2 shorts) in USA flag colours, got word that I will be getting my testing done early next week with doc Dag, and most importantly I should be racing on Sunday. Here we go boys and girls! Basically I have a few hard days of training, then we are into race mode here for me. I that spirit, I rode a hard day today in the wind. And windy it was... 4 hours and change, 120km, with 3 hours at a tempo pace. Pretty shattered when I arrived back to the house, wearing what looks like an American flag in spandex form. haha. Really actually looking forward to yelling back at the first Belggie who calls me "stupid amerikan" in the race. Wankers. Apparently I need to do some yelling back and ride very aggressively in order not to be made the pack "bitch". They will jump on any weakness around here to gain an advantage. All is well though, ate a good bowl of leftover pasta (with the new love of my life, tobasco sauce!) to get the body back rolling. Now, enjoying some tea, I sit here, writing to you fine folks and watching the very fine Tour de Suisse. I have discovered an awesome new bakery where I buy my bread now, I am somewhat partial to the sourdough and the multi grain, one slice from one of these bad boys is not only delicious, but weighs as much as an entire loaf of Loblaws bread back home... Thats some fine calorie laden bread, especially when covered in Nutella, fine breakfast AND ride food... I'm off for a nap (this life rules), we'll see whats up tomorrow, heading into our local bike shop... ciao

Hard day, plus some Belggie brews...

So got up early to get 3 hours in on the bike. 3 hard hours, Started off with a good sprint workout, then moved on to a solid interval session. Good feelings from the legs. Got home to an almost empty house as we had 2 full teams in action today at different UCI races, both taking a team van and car. Like I say, the house was pretty empty. But made myself some lunch, then headed out to the bus stop with 3 of the other boys. With it being Joe's birthday, we decided to head to Brugge to celebrate and explore. Bought myself a 10 pass for the Belgian bus service, figure I'll use it a few times. Headed out, in some amazing weather (30 degrees and sunny) to explore the ancient city of Brugges. And what a city it is. The whole thing is medival buildings and cobbled streets. Its almost like stepping back in time. Met up with Peter, one of our Belgian riders while enjoying some frites and mayo in the main square. Which also happened to be the spot (according to Peter) where the riders gathered and signed in for Ronde van Flandeeren. After meeting up with Peter, we headed along to explore, take some pictures and find a good patio to sit, eat and drink. Bought myself a good map of Belgium and a Lion of Flanders flag (of course). Sat down, ate mussels, some more frites and sampled a good selection of beers. I mean a good selection. Mussels were incredible. Wow. Enjoyed talking with out Belgian teammate about life and Belgium and riding. We left after being offered some Vodka shots (they where out of Vodka at the bar) by some extremely inebriated Russian business men. They like me/us because I was Canadian and we are "great hockey country". They spoke very little English, and barely could stand up, except about hockey. After a little more exploring, Peter gave us a ride home in his little VW. Well appreciated. Now, time for another dinner, something small perhaps after the feast we had this afternoon. I feel tomorrow should be another longer day, perhaps heading out to some of the climbs from da Ronde...

Rest and recovery

Decided to take it relatively easy today. Body is still adapting to the time change and it is my usual recovery after all. Might as well keep the grove going, shock the body a little less. Went out with Joe and Colt on the white 55km loop. 2 hours, nice chill ride with some photos. I'll get to posting some more of those eventually. Started the day off with a house cleaning, apparently a Monday morning "tradition". After words, grocery store run. Stocked up on many things to last for a while and a few more perishables. Got back, nice little sandwiches for lunch, finally met Bernard for the first time. Fresh off the plane from Bahrain (don't ask my where it is). Really cool guy, let us in on a few secrets regarding the Discovery Channel pro team (can't say more, but apparently word should be released in a few days). Busy this afternoon dividing my attention between Tour of Suisse on TV right now and working our some license issues to be ready to race. Hopefully soon, I'm getting that itch. I figure I'll get myself a good hard day tomorrow in the morning and then going to head into Brugges for the afternoon with Joe and possibly some other guys as part of Joe's birthday. Should be a sweet day. Weather is coming around here, mostly sunny today, still windy as shit right now though. I guess that's Belgium though haha. Time for some fish and curry tonight.... Sandy out.

Pictures, as promised.

Home in Belgium.

Windy day in Belgium. 125km in this was still fun somehow...

Sitting in front of a cool Belgie Cafe... Closed though, for lunch. Picture that in Canada!

Cobbles, finally. Bumpy.

Long day in the wind

Today was a good day in Belgium. The sun has come out (apparently Belgium is generally quite warm and dry through June and July, contrary to what I've seen the last few days. Managed to remove my knee/leg warmers and long sleeve jersey today. Even tossed the arm warmers in the second half of the ride as the sun warmed me. I decided to make a long hard day for myself to test my legs today and see how they are reacting while most of the rest of the house was out suffering like dogs in some local Kermesses. Did 2 loops today, first the green loop then after a quick bottle refill, the yellow loop again. Good stuff, pretty damn windy today though to go with the nice sun. In the end, 4.5 hours and 125km. Plus a couple of 10min efforts at threshold near the middle of the ride to test my legs and make it a real workout. Did the trick, arrived home after 3 waffles, a banana and 4 water bottles quite knackered. Quick shower, a few sandwiches then sat myself down on the couch to watch the final stage of the Dauphine (poor Levi!) and then on to the finale of the second stage of the Tour of Suisse (again a crash but rock on Zabel!). Now, I sit here typing, and working on my grocery list (not a good idea while hungry) for tomorrows grocery store run. Hope all went well in Preston and the course was safe and fun, maybe I'll even be able to find results in the next few days. Saw the funniest thing yet on my ride today, as a can passed me (not that quickly) I noticed a kid (probably about 12) drafting it on this road bike that seemed so large he wouldn't even be able to sit down. T-shirt flailing in the wind, running shoes spinning away. Man, strong little guy though. Big day for group rides though, everyone from Grandma and Grandpa doing their tour, to old man clubs, to the occasional racing club (heading to a race I assume). Most of the old man clubs are the best (for reasons other than their hideous XXXL jerseys) they seem to meet at these club house style buildings to have a meeting of some kind, do their ride, and finally conclude their day at the bar about 1pm. Now that is training! I took some more sweet pictures today, so will post them later tonight when I get my act together, for now its time to get dinner going. Ciao from Belgium

ps one of the other guys and I are making plans to head up to Gent to watch the finish of the Tour de France stage 2 on July 8! And then head out to watch the start if the next stage in Weregem?. Both are like a 1-1.5 hour ride from the Center! Sweet!!!

rain and cobbles

So, pissing rain here in Belgium right now. Went from a cool and overcast morning with quick little showers to this. Dark, thunder and absolutely pissing rain. To make matters more fun, about 8 of the boys are out reconing the UCI course for tomorrow. They would be at about 2 hours of a 5 hour ride right now. Shitty. Oh well, personally, I got back from 2.5 hours about a hour ago and am currently sitting on the couch after a nice hot shower drinking tea and waiting for today's stage of the Dauphine to come on at 3:30. Good ride today, slowly getting into the grove of things. Up at 7:30 today, breakfast, followed by a team meeting at 9. Basically to get us new guys up to date on basic rules and to help meet everyone because everyone runs kinda different schedules. After that, I headed out for my ride and decided to follow the green H's today. Sweet ride, little rain for about 5 minutes but for the most part spent the ride home racing against the the clouds to beat it back. Job done. Did my first section of pave today, about 400-500m of bouncing along, awesome, and then visited my first Belgian bakery (Brakrij Chris). Had this smokin sweet little pastry which was like two layers of fine, sugary crust with this jam-eske stuff sandwiched in between (kinda like balaclava). Turned into the wind from there for the remainder of the loop home. I really want to learn some flemish, feels kinda weird right now being in a place where I don't understand much of what is happening or being said. English and french have generally gotten me by everywhere I've been before. All for now, apparently Bernard returns on Monday so I should get some kits and some more word on when I can start racing soon. Starting to get a little excited to get a Kermesse under my belt. I will try some tempo work during my ride tomorrow to get a better feel for how my legs are doing, felt decently strong today while letting loose with some high cadence work and form sprints. We'll see how it goes...

First full day and general thoughts

So European life is the shit. Especially for a cyclist. Our little town is awesome, our house lies about 150m from the bakery, butcher shop, and general store. That is really pretty much the town, oh and the church which is the center of town. As usual here in Belgium. I'm slowly meeting all the guys and just as quickly forgetting everyone's names. Oh well, more guys arriving in the next couple of days and more names to forget. C'est la vie. Got up today around 9am, decided to sleep in a bit to help my body out which was quite exhausted from the travel. Nice big brekkie and a cafe, then off for my ride. Decided about 2 hours where in order, so received directions to head to the church and follow the "white h" route which would be about 55km. I should probably explain that there are about 6 routes that leave from the center of most towns where you basically follow theses painted "H" with an arrow (h for Hertsberge) and they lead you on the awesome loops of different lengths. So I set off, armed with some Euros, ID, a pump and a rain vest as it was a little overcast. Never did rain. Roads here are incredible, very narrow (they claim 2 lanes but seriously, 1 car and a cyclist fills it to the max. Funny to watch cars come at each other. But roads are also not squares like home, nothing is straight, and no names for most, so without a map (which really wouldn't help much) you really need these little lettered arrows to not get lost. Basically they are painted on the road the whole loop, warn you of corners and and show you where to turn. Awesome ride anyways, little farm roads, bike paths, and almost no cars. Missed a few of the turns, but figured it out quickly when I wouldn't see any more "H"s for a while. Ended up that I ended up doing 3 hours and a bit (~75km) as apparently the white H route has 2 options, turn left on the cobbles for 55km, right for 75km. I went right. Woops. Oh well, nice ride anyways. Should have brought more waffles to eat I guess. Which happen to be awesome ride food by the way. Home, shower, eat, and now watching the Dauphine again, live in Flemish. Good stuff. Gonna have to jump in the next grocery run though to go pick up the stuff I forgot. Other than that, life is good here in Belgium, got some pics on my ride today, so I'll share those.

Beglium

So I'm here. After sooo many hours in planes and rushing trough airports, I have made it. Managed to get all my packing done, just barely might I add. Got to the airport with plenty of time, checked my bike and bag and boarded my flight. A little nervously I might add. Next stop Toronto, not much time, rushed to my next flight which had its first boarding call just as I pulled up. Got on and started reading to wait for dinner and the movie. Dinner was usual airline food, movie was terrible (something involving a "Veil" and some sappy romance). But on the plus side it put me right to sleep and I woke up as breakfast arrived at 6:30am London time. Then bam, jolly England. Which by the way is completely false. At least from the Londoners I met a the airport, but I did see a lot of airport, even had to take a Mercedes bus across to another terminal where I did my damnedest not to laugh at the fact that we where driving on the wrong side of the road. From there, I bought the latest issue of Pro Cycling and a cafe (might as well force my body into this new time zone) and sat around and explored for an hour or so until it was time to board the next flight. Now onto British Midland Airways where I boarded a jet that I'm sure was built the year I was born, kinda old and pleather-y. None the less, it managed one more flight and deposited me into Belgium, where luckily the signs are french and flemish, but most people seem to be flemish so far. After some talking with local airport folk, I determined how to get to the train, buy a ticket and then most importantly get on the right train. Right, off the train in Tielt, picked up by some of the Cycling Center boys and time for groceries, and then a ride. Plus we watched todays stage of the Dauphine Libere live in flemish. Pretty cool. I have now settled myself into a room, begun to figure out what I forgot to pack, and got my bike set up. Not too bad. Unfortunately, Bernard is currently away from the center for a few days so no new kits for me yet. Oh well, with time... That about sums up my adventure to date, one ride in, pretty good so far. Now time to relax and see if I can stay awake to 9ish. Ciao for now

Last day

So the rush is on, my procrastination has finally caught up. I leave tomorrow, and I have way too much shit to do. But first some beers and goodbyes. Not too late, I have a long day ahead of me. Leave Ottawa at 4pm, arrive Brussels at 10:50am. Hop a train to Tielt, meet up with someone from the Cycling Center. Good stuff, nice and easy. The hard part is getting ready. To make matters worse, I discovered this afternoon (about 10 minutes before I left for the crit) that my fork was cracked. I am having the worst luck with bikes this season. Luckily according to my new no stress lifestyle, this cannot and will not bother me. We have another black Steven's fork with the special oversize lower bearings at the shop, so I will just wire in tomorrow morning, swap my fork and say my goodbyes again. After that, it should be somewhat more simple, pack my bag and bike (could be interesting to pack 2 wheels and a bike in the box...), get some Euro's and deposit my final check for a while (bar some Euro winnings, knock on wood) then photocopy some important documents. Easy enough? Well according to my nothing bothers me, no stress lifestyle, for sure! On the other note, had a good crit today, did some work on the front, rode very smart and well (I'd say) in this much more technical than usual local crit course. The only mistake I made was not pulling out with 5 to go as planned (wanting to avoid any chance of hurting myself with some of the usual sketch bags). So as was bound to happen (keep in mind I was still running top 10 easily) someone went down after a touch of wheels, then the guy in front of me hit him, I used my "incredible" reflexes (something like that) to jump the curb at a somewhat awkward angle then jump from my bike to avoid some other riders and make a nice rolling soft impact on the grass. No damage to bike (more than original anyways) or to rider. No stress. Got home. Here I am. Ciao for now, the next update should come from Europe. Shit ya.
Or at very least an airport if I get bored.

post weekend update

So successful weekend on the recovery side of things. Other than the usual pain inflicted by Westie during our motor pacing session on Friday evening. Ouch. Other than that, the weekend was full of cottage life and easy riding. Made my way up to Pook's cottage on Saturday afternoon on the Ottawa river to discover some seriously gorgeous weather. F*^&$# ya. Broke out the old bbq and some cold beers (Belgian of course!) and then proceeded to move our chairs onto the flooded dock to enjoy the sun. After dinner and the arrival of a few other guests (local and friends) we proceeded to ramp up the drinks and bump the party up to a slightly rowdier level. Good times. After a few rounds of made up drinking games and the usual shenanigans, we all proceeded to pass out to MIB. Again, good stuff. Finally capped off with a day of tubing and lounging and finally some grunt work (helping big D load dump his 8 gaggilion pounds raft into the water) we headed for home. Now here I am, down to 1.5 days left here in Ottawa. I really should start packing. Got good news from Larry the photographer (http://www.hagar.ca/e_project.htm) too, pictures worked out well, so I should have myself some personalized post-cards to hand out to adoring fans soon. Word. Take a look, we look pretty damn pro I'd say.

Final details.

So Belgium is coming up fast. Details are being ironed out, money is being worked out. Packing is of course not yet started. Save that for next week. Credit card company aware that I will be buying stuff in Belgium, not Canada for a while. Work aware that I will not be attending for some months, Belgian beer company's aware to bump up production... The usual. Got my report from the doctor's yesterday, I officially have "exercise induced asthma". Have a prescription for some puffers, have charts full of numbers to prove it to the Canadian Center for Ethics in Sport. Now just gotta test how fast they can rush paperwork. haha. Bureaucracy will screw me yet. On one hand, I'm happy to at least know whats going on with my body (apparently all that coughing is not as normal as I thought) but on the other hand, I really don't want to become dependent on some drugs. Perhaps I'll talk about it more with a sports doctor (or Bernard or the infamous Doctor Dag in Belgium). On a separate note (actually somewhat related), after inducing the asthma for the doc to do my lung spirograph, I actually threw out my back a bit coughing. Seriously. F*#^. Oh well, we'll let DeVeer take care of that during my massage tomorrow (I definitely feel pro now!). Should be a good day tomorrow, early morning massage with DeVeer followed by an evening motor pacing session with Westie. Both painful during (one slightly more relaxing) but both should lead to significant gains... Interesting. For now, I'm off to work to finish gluing up my new rubber. Ciao
Oh, forgot to mention, we had this sweet team photo shoot the last night pre-sens loss (I'm not even going to discuss how bad we played). But definitely pretty cool, basically we motor paced off this Toyota while our photographer hung out the trunk snapping action pics. Plus a few group ones after. Should look good! I'll see if I can get a hold of some of them and post a few up here.

Rain, cold, lame

So its pouring rain here today. Like really pouring, plus it feels like its 5 degrees out. My hands where frozen just riding home from work. What the hell's with the weather this year?? Needless to say, I have decided to take full advantage of this rain and take a second day off. Recovery is paramount after all. I will be out anyways for my intervals tomorrow morning/my lung test thing. With my legs and body still somewhat tired, this is probably a good opportunity to take care of the many last minute things to get ready for my departure next week. Kinda scary, talked to Belgium today and confirmed that they know when I arrive so will be able to pick me up from Tielt after my train ride from the airport. Looking out my window, I find myself truly glad to have not gone to the loop race, or even done my own ride. The wind is howling and the rain is coming down. The last thing I need right now is to get sick, and I know my body is tired. I am living life right now ding every old Euro trick in the book to get my body running 100% and recovering. I am wearing pants when the temp is below 15-20 degrees, I wear my toque around, I drink tons of tea, and generally ride in leg warmers/arm warmers. Plus of course with the lack of riding, I spend some more time enjoying some beers (the last couple of days while gluing up my fresh new Continental Comp 22 tubulars!). I am even planing on reviving my social life somewhat by seeing some non cycling friends over then next couple of days before I leave. And of course, heading up to Pook's cottage for the weekend for a tube-off and drink-off. Hopefully this weather improves, and my legs continue to as well. Ciao

Hills, coughs, and rest

So, the Charlevoix Road Race was interesting. Hard from the gun really. Other than the neutral start. Basically we where neutral until we hit the time trial course then the speed picked up and I muscled my way towards the front to have a decent position for the first climb. Then the climb came, and so did the rest of the pack. All the senior 1,2 & 3s plus the juniors all diving through one corner at this climb. Needless to say I was caught a little off guard and got swamped. I knew the climb was long, and many would want to push the pace early to make a selection. So I began moving up through the now very spread out field. As I looked up, I saw more gaps. Basically the field was split in the first 10km. There where now several large groups all over the road. Shit, after bridging up to the third group on the road I found myself unable to close the gap to the next group. As we crested the climb, several of us began to rotate in an attempt to close the gap, working hard, we began to close it down to about 15-20 seconds. But on the rolling, head roads of Charelevoix, with not enough riders working, we never made it. With still only a few of us working and some wanker juniors attacking at every possible chance, I settled myself into a tempo on the front of the group, working with a few other riders not willing to give up. As we descended the valley back down before the Eboulements (a section of 4 walls of climbs) I felt good, definitely tired from these past several weeks of hard training, but good. As we hit the walls, I exploded into a pretty decent coughing fit. Seriously, it sucked. I couldn't shake it for the rest of the race. Needless to say I dropped off my group and mostly held a tempo pace coughing up my lungs for about the next 3 hours. Now back in Ottawa, an back from the doc's, apparently I have asthma. Wonderful news for someone about to leave for a racing stint in Europe. I get to go in for more tests on Wednesday to help document this to the UCI to allow me to use a puffer. Other than that, it was a good weekend. Now I'm down to the last week pre-departure. Off the bike today (super tired) local loop race tomorrow if I feel more rested, medical tests Wednesday and some intervals, motorpacing Thursday and then some easy miles until I leave June 13. Really makes you realize how fast time flies. But at this point, recovery in paramount, gotta have some fresh legs after these last few intense weeks. Ciao for now

Pre race prep

So here we are, 6 am, drinking an espresso (yes I brought my machine with me as usual) getting ready to head downstairs with the team for a nice big breakfast before our 9am start. The main problem lies in the fact that we must also be packed and checked out. But hell, its a 130km road race, not like you need a warm-up. You can feel the nervousness already as more coffee brews. Its another chilly day today, with a high of around 12 degree apparently. Looks like we'll be breaking out the warming cream today. But should be a good day, and a hard day. I'm off for breakfast, ciao

Some crit redemption

So the crit did go better. With high speeds and some serious sketch bag riders we all finished much happier with our legs (still no podium) but ready for the road race tommorow. With one of the coolest, most technical crits you'll find, you better have a good time. Plus, running it at dusk (8pm) and you have fun. Minus some sketch bag Quebec riders of course. Lucklily I have decent control over my french swearing and yelling and my elbows were in need of a good workout. On the plus side, all of the boys finished (Shawn and Joel got lapped).
With a poor start position, and my notoriously slow starts, I had to quickly rely on my fitness to close gaps and move up. The first 5 laps sucked. Pain, with speeds of 50+ on the straight it quickly became apparent that while closing the numerous gaps I would have to both pass on the straights and try to pass on the corner. After 5-7 laps, things calmed down a bit and I began hearing rumours of several Trek VW guys off the front, things began to heat up again leading into the finale (it was only a 20 lap race). With more gaps opening and beginning to catch lapped riders I found myself 20 feet off the pack with about 8 other riders with 2 to go. Towing this group around, with no one else "able to work" 1 rider quickly decided to attack me. After bringing him back about 30 feet later, I got back to work holding the gap on the pack as riders ahead began to sit up for the sprint. To finish it off, some wanker from CIBC decided he needed the honour of sprinting the guy who towed his ass around the course for 2 laps. What a tool. But the finish was in sight. And I held the field to the same 5 second or so gap. Now, after a good dinner, we are preparing for bed and the tough 130km road race to come tomorrow morning. All for now, time to crack some skulls in the road race...

tt suck. really suck

So, we have an upset team right now. A dismal performance was had by all. Except Joel. He had the ride of his life it would seem, and is quite content.
33 - Joel Sidhu - 23:01
39 - Geoff O'Toole - 23:29
45 - Phillipe Boisvert - 24:11
48 - Steve Keeping - 24:20
49 - Sandy Fulton - 24:22
55 - Shawn Clarke - 25:32

16km.
There are not a lot of happy riders in our room right now. We are doing our best to leave this behind and prepare for the next 2 stages, the road race is what we are here for anyways. THe crit course would be fast, except for the ridiculous tail wind on the way out and therefore huge headwind on the way home. I always seemed to be 44km/h + to the turnaround, then struggled to hold 30km/h at some points on the way back. I have also just learned that we got girled. All of us. By Lynn Bessette. She was 25th. Time to eat, rest and get ready for our 8pm crit tonight. Should be better, much easier after our US crit experience. Plus, we are only here for stage wins. If are too high up on GC we will be marked when we attack to solo in for the win. Call us Euskatel. So from Quebec, pamplemousse...

Charlevoix pt. 1

So after finally hitting the road (I left packing until morning of and breakfast at the diner was decided by the boys) we have now arrived in beautiful Baie-St-Paul Qc. A quick sign-in and pre-ride of the tt course to freshen up the legs and we made our way out for dinner. After some fresh fish and wine, we made a run for the local grocery store for breakfast, lunch and snack supplies. Now, relaxing and chilling in the room, we are trying to mentally prepare ourselves for the fun involved in a 16km tt. I bet you can feel my excitement. On the other hand, I'm for sure looking forward to the crit and road race. Apparently it's time to relax further and watch a movie, on my computer. So more updates will follow when the wankers are done. Apparently cable isn't good enough. I'll sign off with some pics...