Christmas comes and goes

It came with food, and left with the stomach flu. Though I did manage to pack in many a good meal before this debilitating round with the flu. 24 hour bug type thing it appears, as other than being slightly tired today, I am fine. With a family including no young children, the meaning has changed over the last few years; going from Santa, presents and pictures, to family, food and pictures. No matter how hard I try, I think there is no getting out of documenting a family affair while trying to remember how to put the camera on timer. On the other hand, you capture some truly golden moments when people are not paying attention. My plans for skiing the last few days have been torn up through rain, porcelain clutching and other engagements but life does go on. Today will have a few hours spent on the rollers after spending my morning cleaning out the basement making room for bikes, new tools and generally me. Only a week left of holidays I think, then back to school and some good hard training to get the year really going. Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays,
Merry Festivus... the holiday for the rest of us!

Sorry

Been busy. Mostly in the shop working on some Christmas projects. Little riding too of course. Not nearly enough skiing. Not only that, but I hear that 'tis the season for some lactate testing. But first I have some gift receiving/ giving to go through. Not to mention some serious turkey consumption. Good times. Also worth note, and mildly exciting... there are 26 minutes until Christmas day. So on that note, I'll leave you with another promise of more regular blogging. And some attempts to make my life more exciting. But not prison exciting, that may put a damper on other aspects of life.

Studious

Exams are in swing here. 2 down, 2 to go. I'm not super stressed or anything and still riding, but that does take up some time. Got out for my first xc ski of the year on Sunday and had a pretty damn good time, though it was pretty short. I'll put up a post in a few with team details and riding plans for the year in the coming week, but suffice to say - I'm pumped. On a separate note, I hate Telus. 'Tis the time of the month to call and complain about being misbilled again, and I've had enough. Not to mention their hold music (I was on the phone, mostly on hold) consists of 2 of my least favourite things in the world: christmas music and Rachel Ray's voice. I love christmas but I also have a low tolerance for christmas music. So when a rendition of Jingle Bells came on with what sounded like Rachel Ray screeching the lyrics, I nearly lost it. Luckily I get to ride to my exams today in the snow storm, and riding out of control in snow storms is truely wicked. A movie and a roller ride is probably in store for tonight, and then one more exam on Thursday before moving back to Ottawa for a few weeks of holidays. I'm currently working on building back up my trusty Stevens Vuelta to its glory which is pretty exciting in my books. Thanks to the generous support of Stevens I'll be back on these fine German machines again for '09...

Retro

Going through my pictures the other day, so today is now retro Friday....

Sandy's first every road race. Mosport. I clung to the back of the pack all day to finish. Never so happy in my life.

Halloween cross in Kanata. As a skinny dude, with worn out knee warmers. And rockin a huge mullet. Paul O'Blenes also pictured, he wishes he was having the fun I am.

Second season mountain bike racing. This looks like the Bromont Canada Cup as a Junior Ex. I think I was fueled by twizzlers on this day. Didn't work.

Done.

Yes, I am aware that I still have a week of exams (no I'm not fully certain of exact dates or times) but the point is I'm done my papers. 62 pages of writing, architectural drawings and some pictures. More hours than I care to count invested in this. How does someone like me celebrate you might ask? Well, let me tell you: I ride a bike. Then drink a Guinness. A couple of hours on the rollers followed by a quality stout and nothing. I am intending to do nothing tonight for the first time in a while. Perhaps I will continue this trend into the weekend. But add in a ski and maybe a ride. Good times. One more week of school, then 3 weeks of training, friends and family. I'd go into some kind of feelings about the current state of our economy, but to be honest that is getting overdone a bit and this blog was certainly not created with any political reasons. So draw your own conclusions and theories with the ample other resources to be found. I'm going back to enjoying my Guinness and enjoying my peace.

math....the bane of my existence

How did carpentry end up involving so many papers and math issues? I don't know. But at least I'm sticking to minimal training guidelines set out last week. Oh, and the rollers are becoming fun again. This could be trouble. That and I have discovered that my new riding show of choice (How I met your mother) is onto season 4, with about 25 episodes a season. That should at least get me through December. If only Californication and Entourage would pick up the slack...
Next step. Win the lottery. I figure its the only and most logical solution to living life as a non-working member of society. Otherwise I need to figure out how to go on the EI... Though I hear you need a job and to get fired from that job. To be fair, I get fired often. I just keep showing up. PS. This post was about nothing. I was just bored an in that blog kind of mood.

Crunch

Crunch time is here for me. I have made a deal with myself however, I will take part in a minimum of 1 hour of training each day. Its been hard to get in the grove with so much else going on. So far so good. Riding the rollers, running, whatever. Hopefully this week will do me over until exams in 2 weeks. So many papers, but getting there. Who knew carpentry involved so much reading and writing? Felt that tingle in my throat today so spent most of the day drinking tea, working, napping and eating soup. I think that my spicy thai soup this evening should finish off whatever is trying to invade me. It certainly cleared my sinuses. Hopefully going to go look into xc skiing around Perth tomorrow to mix things up a bit. I hear there are trails around. Then what do you know, its almost the weekend again. Time does fly. Looks like team related news will have to wait until Christmas holidays as I really don't have time to deal with everything right now. And I need to use that time to ride so I don't get the boots handed to me too badly.

Frozen bottles.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to still be riding outside and all... but my poor bottles only got 45 minutes into my ride today, and 1.5 hours in on Wednesday. Oddly, the halfway point each time. 'Tis the season I suppose, and I should learn a lesson and put the water bottle shuffle into effect. On a separate note, I've found a place to ski near Perth so am actually a little excited for snow. A change of pace this year with slightly less mindless hours on the trainer. That and an increased school load will mean more quality and focused rides I think instead of the long hours I rolled out last winter. Busy sourcing out racing plans at the moment, and have some stuff nearly ironed out. I may have to make some phone calls this weekend to confirm before any real announcements come, but it would appear Europe is in my future again. Almost wish I could just hop the Atlantic right now... Otherwise life is pretty good. Welcome to another Canadian winter.

Ps - here is my new motivational picture. I look at this when I think I don't want to ride. It makes me want to suffer. Got any other good ones to share? Send them my way. We'll make a scrap book of winter motivation.

Ol' Yellow

My old yellow fixie had seen better days. So many winter miles through snow, sleet, rain, and salt had left her with numerous flats, some profoundly out of true wheels and generally a bunch of rust. Only one option. New stuff. And by new stuff I mean clean out Vince's shop and my mom's basement with "new" and generally unwanted stuff. Meet my new Frankenstein. I'd put up some pictures, but I lent my camera to someone. So those will have to wait. As a hint, I'm digging the comfort of the new mustache bars. Unfortunately I'm in that training dead zone at the moment. But this "zone" has several reasons:
a - Its really cold and I forgot my winter tights again. With the cold comes less daylight hours. Not to mention the occaisional snow flurry, but still not enough to ski.
b - School. I am back in essay zone. I pounded out several thousand researched words in the last few days. And have a few thousand more to go I fear. Plus some architectural drawings. Should be over this hump by weeks end as I'm trying to just motor through as much as possible today.
Otherwise life continues along. Things are looking up for next season, I just need to find some legs to go with it. I think its about time to start watching some race DVDs to up my willingness to ride the rollers/turbo. I'm really just not feeling that right now. Though, it does beat homework.

Coffee

This just in (very exciting).... coffee helps boost recovery too! Not only can endurance be boosted with that pre-ride cup of joe, but now a cup post ride will help with the replenishment of those old glycogen stores. Thank you Mrs. Ryan of Velonews for making my morning. Wisdom teeth (or lack thereof) are also doing pretty well, little tender at times but I am ignoring it and forging ahead. Unfortunately, real Canadian fall weather has arrived so I had to bundle up for my 3 hours today. Pretty damn good ride though. Note, when the weather man says 3, try harder to find booties and warm gloves. Nothing a hot shower and some coffee couldn't fix though. Feels damn good to be getting back into a training grove though. Not sure I'll have the time for the hours I was putting in on the turbo last winter, but I certainly intend for a good winter of quality miles. Hell, I gotta be ready for what the next spring brings....

weekend... goodbye

I sit here, for this quick post hopped up on Tylenol 3s. Why you might ask, well mostly because I just had 4 teeth removed. They billed me for "removal with complications". That is why. On the other hand, I should be able to drink without spilling soon as I have begun tasting blood again. Needless to say I will not be racing this weekend, and if a few particular people have their way... not even riding. We all know I am highly unlikely to not ride. Maybe just stop taking the T3s first....

Sour

Back in Perth, had a pretty decent day (not excellent due to my being in class instead of truely enjoying this) weather. Not to mention that the smoke alarm has been going off in the house for ohhhhhh.... about 2 HOURS. Not fun. And before any smart asses start questioning why I don't just take the battery out... this pos is hard wired in. And any removal or fiddling will make it worse. I have however tried punching it, and calling the alarm company. Quote of the day; "Yes Mr. Fulton, the technician has been notified already..... (me) Is this the same one you notified TWO HOURS AGO????". Needless to say, I'm a little grumpy. I did manage to squeeze in a pretty glorious 1.5 hours spinning between classes. Next up, I'll be putting my hammering skills to use by breaking a small noisy white box.

Snow?

You have got to be kidding me. Needless to say, this motivation stuff is being tested. By tested I mean I'm going to ride the rollers. Not too much else to report so far this week. Working on team stuff for next season (and starting to get pretty damn excited about it), some homework, some food and generally enjoying myself. Hopefully this snow will be gone by tomorrow so I can spend some time riding outside again. I have an itch for a nice long ride. I'll sign off with a few photos courtesy of Joel and his dad. If you feel the need to see hundreds of pictures from any race Joel attends, check them out.

Notice the smiles. Nothing like some bicycle derbys in the mud to get back in the game.

Checks that crowd. Plus it looks like I am actually going fast.

Re-motimivated

Sandy is back. Not entirely sure what happened or what clicked but I'm back. I am still slow at the moment, but I suddenly felt the urge to put an effort in and thoroughly enjoyed my race day. Needless to say, I hope to turn this new motivation into some solid training. At the moment I feel great. Thanks to all who I had some good conversation and motivating with after the race. As a denture commercial just told me; bye bye ooze, hello seabent. This speaks to me. Now to get some season plans in order. Big ideas, time to put some into action. I also hereby promise to be less sucky at maintaining this blog.

Rain

So looks like a muddy cross race for tomorrow. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Normally I'm all for some fun in the mud, but I'm currently not really feeling it. Needless to say, I'll probably be there anyways. On the other hand, this cold and miserably rainy weather has reminded me that winter is approaching. Not to mention, I realized today that it is not only October, but near the end of October. No idea how this nugget of information got by me. Apparently I'm calendar challenged. But in the end, I got some rollers to start riding more. Who knows when the urge may hit. In other news, I need money. But that's normal. Working on some riding plans for next year... but more on that later.

Update on nothing

First up. For those nervous about why I have not been posting exciting and cool news... sorry. I just don't have much. I have been spending more time then I ever thought possible doing school related stuff. I'm pretty sure that in the last 3 weeks, I have done more school work than I have in the entire rest of my academic career. On the plus side, I don't half-ass anything. On the negative side, this time last year I was riding 20 hours a week outside with not a worry in the world. Given, I am probably still the most stress free person you have ever met. Time is tight so my training is going commando, I am getting itchy to train. Snuck out for a hike on Sunday in the Gats, ran today for an hour (running does suck, but requires less light than riding) and will hopefully ride again tomorrow to prepare for the Kingston cross race this weekend. I love the Kingston course from last year, and will attempt to avoid the same hospital visit after. Hopefully see some of you there!

This one is for Sheri

It was recently brought to my attention by an alert reader that I have neglected this outflow of my thoughts for a period of time. Perhaps too long. On the other hand I have done very little other than be sick, rest and not ride my bike. In fact until today it had been slightly over a week. School has been busy, and generally I have been taking advantage of this fall rest period. I did race the first OBC race at Brittania. Things didn't go as planned, though it was not due to a lack of training. Maybe more due to a lack of sleep and an untimely first lap crash removing me of use of my front brake. This lead to a chain of events. And by events, I mean more crashing. Though may I add, I crash with panache. I skipped the madison due to some bailing partners, a few beers too many the evening before and some lingering sickness. Either way, some time away from just riding has done me some good. But alas, I can only stay away from my 2 wheels for so long. And so without further adieu, I bring you a new season.
Step 1: Find a team. EVA-Devinci is no more. Too bad, another good team is now a memory. Good times were had, and I'll miss those boys. Though I'm sure we'll see each other around. Cycling really is a small world.
Step 2: Ride my bike. I started again today. Another day of gravel road exploration. Some sun and good times. Training this time of the year really has no structure. Do something active. I also hand planed a 12 ft 7 inch x 7 inch pine beam today. That would be 2 hours of pretty decent aerobic work. Plus my arms will be huge in no time.
Enough has been said about Svein (not that his incredible ride doesn't deserve it) and the dopers, so I'm going to keep this post upbeat, and on track. I'll leave you with some pictures to make up for the lack of posting on my part.

What almost was...

Close call this week, I was very nearly full on sick like everyone around me seems to be. My roommates were all sick, my entire class seems to be or have been sick, and I nearly was. Had that itch in the throat, tired, the whole deal. Myself and Matt made a quick anti-sick run to stock up on Zinc lozenges, enchinacea, and ginger tea supplies and it would appear to be at bay. Knock on wood. Or at least this wood veneered Ikea desk.
I find myself laughing lately, at many things really, but especially at our Ottawa Cross scene. I love it. This is where my first bike race was. I had a Sport Chek special mountain bike and was brought out to Upper Canada Village by a certain Kiwi to try out this odd Sunday morning activity. I am quite certain I got lapped probably 3-4 times, but did so with a huge smile on my face. I don't think all that many had "actual" cross bikes and plenty cheered me on anyways. I even have a fague memory of being pulled over on the way home by a confused officer telling Kiwi that he could not motorpace a couple of dudes home. I came the next fall with a different mountain bike and got faster. Every year I came back, sometimes with a new bike, and eventually with a cross bike of my own. Now here we are, same wonderful folks organizing us every Sunday morning (though now into 2 distinct starts due to the popularity) and many new and old faces to chat with. The smack talk seems to begin earlier and earlier every year as people get more focused, training changes and people rediscover some motivation lost towards the end of a long season. This year I have seen enough pimped out cross bikes to make many a World Cup hardened vetran jealous, not to mention the owner of Stevens' Bikes very giddy. But to me, this is the same series as when I first started, first timers welcome, everyone has fun, and don't bunny hop the barriers. I say lets go have some fun. Whether your goals extend beyond Ottawa or whether you simply want to beat that nemesis you battled so hard last year (heck, why not simply find a nemesis) common out. Even to just watch. I'll be the dude in white and orange with a ridiculous smile plastered on my face, come say hi.
And while you're at it, thank Bob, Cheryl, and Ian for all their work and dedication over the years. Heck, help set up or tear down even.
Ottawa Cyclocross

Midweek

Not much really happening at the moment. School is busy. The tt pretty much sucked. 55:05 was my final time. A nice solid 7 or so minutes down on the win. Headwind out, tailwind back. I couldn't get into a rythym or find the motivation to really push. Either way, last skinny tyred race of the season. Not a great way to end, but now its time for some fun and cross. Not riding a tremedous amount at the moment. More riding when the urge hits and riding my cross bike for some general explorations. Spent 2.5 hours yesterday being generally "temporarily misplaced" (we had a general idea which way to point to get home) riding on old gravel farms roads, dirt goat tracks and generally enjoying some sun. Found some pretty cool stuff and had a blast. That is what fall riding is about right now. I don't really have the legs or mental motivation to go out and train specifically or ride a road race (let alone a tt) but cross is motivating me and these random rides are peaceful and refreshing. Who knows, maybe after I get a cross race under my belt things will change. In the mean time, life is pretty stress free.

why? I have no rational answer

I am going to tt Provincials. I'm entirely sure on my reasoning behind this still, but am registered. Some work and cleaning needs to be done to the bike (aka this afternoon's plans) but otherwise I'm pretty much ready. Even have scored myself a ridiculously stylish set of eye wear to sport. Hopefully some pictures to come. My life lately has been spent in school with randoms amounts of riding thrown in. I pretty much spent my time sharpening tools until my arms and hands hurt. I have also acquired a few new coffee machines so am having some fun in that department. A race report will come, it has been a while since one of those. And then we'll be into cross season. As a side note, it smells like fall out there.

Plug

You hear that noise of dripping water, thats me pulling the plug on Tour of Quebec. Looks like a wicked sweet race, but my body is not into it at the moment. In fact, it needs a good rest. I have been feeling pretty bad lately in races and generally lacking a certain something. Generally at the end of the year I find you should either be coming into some form, or starting to be tired. I am tired this time. Went out to test myself last week to the tt and got the answer I knew was coming but didn't want to admit. I felt awful. Full aero gear and went just under 21. For the time my SRM was working, my power was almost 40 watts lower than I know I can hold. And my legs were "a block" as they say. That is French for "felt like &$)$*ing lead". Needless to say I am resting. Haven't touched a bike since Thursday and the tt. Don't even have one in Perth right now though I would like one. I will spend next week back riding again to test myself to see if I will be ready for tt provincials and then switch fully into cross training (aka beer drinking) and cyclo cross to wind down my year. Back at school for now and building some cool stuff.

return (I swear)

Sorry for the lack of posts. Not too much worth really writing about. A couple good moments but overall some tired legs. Made a few breaks, no particular results, but overall have to say I'm at least happy with my effort. Took a week's vacation (ok, more like a couple of days between races) to rest up a bit and am now in the closing moments of this years season. Well, road season. Still got a few months of cross to help me unwind a bit. Tour of Quebec beckons, but its now a matter of getting myself prepared. Maybe another tt. Oh and that Provincial tt as we all know how much I enjoy a good 40km tt. The long weekend is nearly upon us as well, which means only one thing.... school. My final year for now so I guess I have to change a few gears to get rolling. Changes are in the work for next season. Plans are being made. If you don't own a cross bike, I suggest getting one. Heck, find an old mountain bike. Just come on out!

Life

Life is good right now. The legs are starting to feel strong again, and I sit here now watching some rain fall (really not that unusual this summer I guess) with a strong mug of joe and the Olympics on in the background. Like I say, life is good. Spent my evening last night doing what I do every Tuesday.... racing Mardi de Lachine. Needless to say, my motivation was not that high for yet another crit. Not to mention the dead feelings in my legs leading into it. Spent the first half of the race playing tail gunner with a group of boys who were also tired from Mtl-Que. Oddly enough I felt stronger and more comfortable as the race continued. What I had hoped, but not truly expected. I guess we were holding a decent pace as riders were popping off all over the place. THe nice thing about the tail gun position is you don't need to brake in the corners like the middle of the pack. Instead of wasting tons of energy sprinting like a madman and fighting for 800th spot in line, you can simply let a gap open a bit just before the corner, carve the corner like you want and then come through and around any new gaps already holding 5-10km/h faster. With 15 to go I was feeling stronger so started to make my move up to the front. Things were a little sketch as usual (I even pulled a bit of a junior move through one corner miss judging how many riders I could move up without being a jack ass). Got to the front, missed the break, then lost my position in the sprint. The day ended up basically being a motor pacing workout. Hopefully it'll help my legs for this weekend's Ste-Marie de Beauce stage race. For this, I am motivated. Crit Friday, morning tt Saturday followed by an uphill mass start tt in the afternoon (ouch), then a nice 140km road race on Sunday. Today should be a nice tt ride to help prepare. Otherwise, not much happening.

A tale of 2 flats

Sunday has come and gone. Shit went down and we came so close to coming out on top. My job was the first half of the race, and I was motivated. Cover anything that moves off the front and try to get in an early move. The first 3.5-4 hours came and went and I worked myself hard. Counldn't quite get a move to stick (pretty good headwind going on) but kept trying none the less to make sure our boys for the day didn't have to stick their noses in the wind. I was pretty damn happy with myself, my form and my work. A little after Trois-Riveres I started to feel my efforts and the big boys started coming to the front to play a bit. I became a little more selective with my efforts and eventually drifted back a bit to recover and eat a bit. The goal was now stay hidden to finish or (if needed) make a few more final efforts to put us in a good position. Luckily Dom and Matt got in a real good move and George got in the chase group so I was able to sit in and focus on finishing. Unfortunately during a rough single file stretch I rode directly into a pot hole the size of Alaska and promptly flatted. I pulled over (starting to lose control at 50km/h) put my hand up and tossed the wheel just as Mavic pulled up. Slid a new rear in jumped before realizing that my front was flat too. *#)*^%#$. Swapped the front, knocked off the chain (a bit of panic now as the caravan had pretty much all passed) before getting a big push. The commissars watched me like a hawk and wouldn't let me get any help so I gritted my teeth a bit and proceeded to burn my final bullets to try and get back. Got so close twice before finally having to give up the ghost. Rode for a while until the broom wagon caught up. Saw a sign telling me I still had wayyy to long to Quebec City so hopped in for a drive. My legs were pretty toast by now and there was not much else to be done. Not happy about that, but happy with my ride in general. The form starting to come again. Now if only I could learn to ride a 4 corner crit....
In the end, the tan got a good addition with all the sun and I learned that for point to point races you should always remember to bring a bag with a change of clothes to the finish. After 6 hours bike shorts the least pleasant thing you can do is sit in a car for another 2 hours back to Montreal. Lesson learned. Today will be a pretty bloody chill day with a brief ride before heading back to la belle provence for my usual Tuesday evening cursing festival, better known as les Mardis de Lachine. Sweet.

go time

Montreal-Quebec is nearly here. And I must say I am pumped. There is no more training to be done, just some resting. Going to have to leave it all on the road. Lachine this week is really not even worth talking about for me or the team. We lost Guillaume's yellow jersey and I DNF'd. I felt pretty much awful. I was not comfortable fighting for spots, my back was hurting and eventually kinda blew a bit. A little before half way I was sitting close to the front (but quite unable to make the final moves to be on the front for whatever reason) when my back kind of seized. It was pretty painful so I sat up. I'm not proud, and was very unhappy (I hate DNF's) but my head was no longer in it and I didn't want to risk so much on a Lachine, we still had a large team to help out Guillaume. Either way, that is behind me. The training has been going well, and its time to find out how my body reacts to a 200+km race. Never done a race so long, but am pumped to crush myself. Off to Montreal tomorrow I think as the start is real nice and early on Sunday. Good times.
Side note. I have for some reason had the urge to ride some cross so have nearly finished re-assembling my old war horse for a ride. Odd, considering last season I both built and glued tyres the night before the first race. Aka, my first cross ride.

Long weekends

Although much of my life seems to consist of long weekends, a real long weekend always seems to provide some added fun. Probably because other people also find themselves not having to work on Mondays. Had a good Saturday exploring downtown Montreal with good food, better company and then a good ol' Belgian style race. The course brought falshbacks of a particular Kermis I did last season. Though the roads were a little wider (not too much though) and this day was probably slightly slower. Decided I wanted a good day in my legs and wanted to finish pretty shattered, Montreal-Quebec is next week and I have not done a good road race in some time. Got myself into the front in the rain right from the gun and spent the entire first 2 laps following attacks, rolling in breaks and chasing moves down for the boys. I was very happy with myself and my riding. The middle two laps were not quite as nice, I fell back a little to eat and recover a bit and let someone else take a turn up front and my legs hit a bit of a bad patch. No worries though, I kind of expected that so focused and gritted my teeth a bit. Got back to the front for the last 2 laps and got myself into what proved to be the winning move with JS. After bridging up I got myself to the front of the move to bring back a solo rider up the road and hopefully set JS up for something. JS, as usual did not disappoint attacking at just the right time with 2 to go just as I brought back the dude out front. Now with 3 riders up front it became time for me to simply sit on the remainder of the break (now chase group) and see if we could hold off the pack. I rolled through the front a few times pretty relax as otherwise most of this chase group was intent on sitting on me for some reason and I wanted to stay away from the pack. A second LG rider launched a pretty good move on a little climb which caught me off guard and a little flat legged. We got caught coming through the start/finish by the Volks/Sleeman's train and I swallowed hard and jumped into the top ten as gate keeper to their train. I was feeling pretty toast by this point but their was only 1 lap to go and if JS was caught I needed to be there to go. Unfortunately there was a touch of wheels on the back stretch about 10km from the finish in the leadout train bringing down about 3/4 of the field I hear. I manged to jump/roll over the crash (they were directly in front of me) before ending up in a ditch then corn field and then getting back on the road to chase down the leaders group ahead. After bridging up I blew hard and fell back into the little chase group (aka 3rd group on the road) and just held on rolling through when I could to the finish. Finished 21st in the end with JS taking the win. The legs are coming and I'm now super pumped to race again tonight. Its good to be a cyclist.

tt and news

I'm in Montreal. Nice place. Spent the afternoon exploring a bit and having a bite to eat before tomorrow's race. It is now raining. Of course. That's what it does in summer here in Canada apparently. The polar ice caps are melting and causing a generalized rain storm to follow me around. I'm over it though. The tt went decent, set a new pb at 20:48 with no real aero gear to speak of and I know I could have gone a little harder too. I have also learned that I like riding tts with my SRM. I found in a couple of sections where I am sure I lost time before or let up a bit I was now able to simply look down and tell myself that I could go harder. Going to have to break out the aero gear for one this year to finally accomplish my goal of sub 20:00. Les Cedres tomorrow so I'm pretty pumped to be racing a race which is not
a) in Lachine &
b) not a crit.
Hell, its 140km race on a (probably) windy & open circuit. Belgian styles. But with French people. And no cobbles. Either way. I'm pumped to throw down a bit. I hope it rains.

How to ride a tt. by Sandy

I don't know. The end.
I will attempt an in depth research project tonight in which I ride a 15km tt (with my SRM) to attempt to figure it out. I expect some serious pain, but such is the game with science. Now if only summer would start and the rain end.
In other news, there are way too many sketch bags at Lachine on Tuesday nights. Someone needs to do something about that.

Late breaking news story!

In recent news, Sandy has been seen riding a bicycle with a large smile on his face. A witness was quoted as saying, "I didn't get it. This dork rode by in the pouring rain with a goofy smile on his face. It was &$*+ing wet out". When asked for a comment the accused simply replied, " Rain? Thats some catty wompus shit". When asked for the definition of "catty wompus" we received a laugh and were told to check with Wenzel.
In other news, I am going camping. Enjoy your weekend, I know I'll enjoy mine.

sharing

I felt as though I needed to share this. I nearly peed myself with giddy giggling.
Retarded Wheelset Hall of Fame

random ramblings

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. Life has continued, in its general way. My mid season break is at a close as the return to full on training and racing is starting. Minus my little camping trip this weekend. I'm pretty pumped on that. First off, my list of the day... things that are impressing me in the Tour (Alpe d'Huez is on right now):
-CSC & Gerolstiner. I have never seen the boys in blue riding this aggressively or this close to the front in a grand tour. Schummacher is again in the break today. These boys are off their rockers crazy. CSC is taking all the pressure they had as the strongest team in the race and proving that they are stronger than anyone thought. With the doped up climbers out, the Schleck's and Sastre and taking turns inflicting massive damage. Not to mention the rest of the boys who are riding out of their skin every day. And it is paying with the brothers from Luxemberg holding onto to each a white or yellow jersey. Hats off.
-The Tour in general. Its been a while since I have been so interested in the race. Everyday is exciting. No more "how much will Lance win by?" and now just gasps as some crazy fool attacks like a monkey in search of glory. The race is more reminiscent of Giro's of recent years with plenty of changes in GC, attacks everywhere and general excitement. Bien fait les boys.
On to my other life, aka the one that doesn't involve soiling myself watching the race. Got back slowly into riding last week with mostly some nice easy spins and an interval session or 2 to reawaken the suffering within. Off to Lachine last night for my usual Tuesday evening in Montreal. It turned out to be a little different, other than the rain threats. I did a bunch of work and decided I needed to turn over a more aggressive new racing leaf in this second half of the season. No regrets, take some chances. I felt pretty crappy from the start so took my time a bit moving up to the front. That was to be expected after riding so little in the last week though so didn't think much and just focused on finding my legs. Got up where I wanted to be at about the halfway point and then stayed up there to try and help out our yellow jersey a bit. Generally working on pushing my comfort zone and fight hard for wheels. JS got away after a bit and ended up staying away in a group of 4, even taking the win in the end with a Cancellera eske attack in te closing kms. Big ups. With 5 to go it was time for the real fighting to go on. Luckily I had some confidence now and so pushed my comfort levels hard a few times to maintain my position. Finally with our final lead out train going for Gui, I got boxed in and missed out on position for the final lead out/sprint. Not happy about that, but I am happy with how I managed my race. A couple of training days now and a camping trip before the next Lachine then the racing gets back underway. Wicked.

&#^%$ dopers

I think when I stop riding I will apply for a new job title with the UCI. I'm not yet sure of the title I will put on my business cards, but the general idea is that I will wonder around with a baseball bat or other such weapon (maybe I'll change weapons daily kinda like Rock Racing and their kits) and smoke any dopers in the baby maker as soon as they cross the finish line. Picture it, Ricco crosses the line, arms in the arm, little tear rolling down his cobra face.... then wham. He is on the ground, clutching his nether regions as his bike ghost rides along. I would then continue along my way signing autographs and posing for pictures with all the pretty girls as journalists come up with clever titles to send to cycling news.
At very least, its time for me to start riding again. I have some anger to ride off. Plus I need to get fast. Today should hold a nice hard day on the bike, complete with some Doper's Suck socks to show my displeasure. Perhaps an afternoon nap before heading back into Telus to voice some more displeasure.

The story

Sorry for the lack of posting for the last bit. Been taking some rest time before cranking the season back up to come in strong for the remainder again. Its time to get rolling aggressive and improve on the early part's mistakes. As for the OBC GP, I'm not going to say much but basically I missed my start. First time ever I've done that. I think I was just not fully paying attention probably as it was a local race I thought I knew and was overly comfortable with. I got myself over with plenty of time to the "start/finish" banner and rolled around in little circles around there chatting with other riders and generally getting my mental prep on. After a bit, I started to wonder why the race wasn't starting. Finally someone yelled at me that the race was starting... about a 1km up the road. I sprinted up through groups only to find that my group was long gone and the Juniors were about to start. I got into gear and took off up the road. Chased and chased eventually bringing the gap from about 5 minutes down to 2 minutes before coming back towards Fortune again and being caught by the Junior pack just before. Mentally toast and not super happy to be rolling in this pack I pulled the plug a little later. Nothing else to be done, I took the rest of the weekend as planned as some recovery time away from the bike. That part was pretty good. Nothing like some mid season down time to recharge. Today will be back on the bike as I head back to Montreal for a good old Lachine. Not ideal rest time, but I am a little pumped to race and to make some legs hurt again.

Nationals report

The good and the bad. The bad, I did not accomplish my goal of finishing. I pretty much rode like an idiot technical wise with my usual culprit being to blame: placement in the pack. The good, I rode hard, never gave up and had good legs. I should have finished with the legs I had, no problems on the climb but there are only so many gaps one can close up to the leaders in a day. I went in with the goal of finishing and not giving up. Every time you feel like quiting, drop it down a gear and dig deeper. Proud to say I did just that. After fighting hard on the first lap for some position coming into the climb, I dropped my chain on the final corner starting the climb but was luckily able to get the chain back one with minimal trouble. Unfortunately I was now back at the back with gaps opening. Followed a bit of wise advice rode conservatively on the early pitch pulling myself back up through the pack and then continuing to move up as the folks who went too hard exploded out the back. Not bad. The second time up the climb went much harder making it harder to keep moving up. More gaps and another big effort over the top of the climb to get back into the game. Much of the rest of the race continued like this. Sometimes spending a lap off the back chasing in special needs gruppettos. Apparently no one is able to ride a caravan anymore. Finally the last straw snapped after I spent 2 laps several hundred meters behind the pack, but unable to close the final gap. Finished off a lap on my own at pretty much a snails pace. End total: 12 laps, 11 bidons, 1 turkey sandwich (apparently I can't eat Cliff bars without throwing up), 2 gels, and 12 lbs of salt lost. Hard day. Next up: OBC GP. Time to ride a better race, hopefully with the same legs. Time to rest up.

A photo update

Overall a pretty good day for a pre-race day. Got up and headed where you always go at a bike race if you want to find someone.... the closest coffee shop. In this case, the Van Houte downstairs. Convenient. Had a little breakfast and some coffee with a few of the good old boys before heading back up to the room for the final 45km of the first stage in le Tour. A quick grocery store run and some lunch and then out for a nice spin. Did a spin of the course (more to follow on that monkey of a course) before heading up to check out the woman's race and then back down for another lap of our course. A little less than 2 hours pretty easy in the end, though I did try to put a little gas down on the climb to get a better feel for it the second time. Little bit of an issue when I got home looking for a shower and a nap as apparently we had been changed rooms and no one had bothered to tell me. Spend a while getting pissed off trying to find my crap and where I am now to live before finally finding it. Such is life. Now back to the course. 10km with a 1.5km finishing climb leading into a few kms of windy rollers at the top before dropping back down through some curves into a bumpy (and certainly sketch) run in to the climb again.

Near the bottom of the climb... The pain is already underway by here after the certainly volatile fight for positions leading up to this.

Looking down the climb. The truck parked there is the start finish. Nice little false flat over the top behind me before swinging right onto some rollers.

The start of the descent back into the downtown means one thing... speed and the climb. Again.

Results

Elite:
Tuft
Roth
Bell

u23:
Veilleux
Bowers
McLeod

Big ups. Tough course. First 20km was headwind, and mostly up. I held back a lot (probably not the best idea) being worried about cracking myself before the turn-around. I came in anonymously in about 1:01:something so basically about 10 minutes down on Tuft. He's going to the Olympics, so I'll let it go. I had a decent amount left in the tank, but was happy anyways. I need to learn to pace myself and how to simply ride a tt to be in the game. The effort should be good to help prepare me for the road race on Sunday. Some problems in the bike measuring department pre-race, caused me some stress and had my saddle moved back almost 2cm. The crazy commissars still think my bike is illegal even though its on the limit. I used my polite French to allow myself to start anyways. Now just waiting in line for the shower. Oh and my cleat has come loose and is stripped in the shoe. Fun times.

Welcome to Beauce

The rain has stopped, which seems odd considering the last month or so of weather. That is not to say it let up without a fight as it rained quite hard starting this morning until we arrived here mid afternoon. At least it let up for our ride. Settled into the hotel and then saddled up for a spin out on the tt course. Gonna be a tough one fo sho. Not that tt's are ever easy.... pretty much up and down, with potentially some very open and windy sections. Either way, I'm pumped and have no particular pressure on me. I'm hungry to push myself, but other than a few good tt's, I'm no against the clock pro. Le Gouverneur seems to a pretty prime place, a coffee shop downstairs, centrally located in "downtown" Ste-Georges, and of course being next door to Mondo bar doesn't hurt. For now, I'm tired. So bed. But we have internet so I'll be updating you directly on race results. Maybe try to beat that Scott Kelly character in his canadiancyclist.com and pedalmag.com updates. Maybe he should track me down so we can grab a beverage. Or I can point him towards Vipond and the bar.

Woops

So its been a little while since my last rambling. To be fair, not much has been going on. Some decent training, some decent relaxation and of course some good times. Skipped the race in Magog on the weekend for some rainy training and to generally avoid racing yet another crit. Mixed emotions for the weekend, part excited, part nervous and part just wanting to do my thing. Not really sure what to expect, but I have my goals. Its time. Hitting the road soon to get my butt to Bromont and rejoin the boys before heading down to Beauce tomorrow. Time trial Friday, road race Sunday. I'll try for some updates from Beauce. Gotta get back in the blogging grove. Hope you all enjoyed Canada Day.

Home for a rest

Well, not actually rest just yet. First we have that little suffer fest called Nationals to go. Nothing but a little 180km of hills. At least the crits are done. Bit of an odd Lachine last night. I've always heard stories of how tough these things are and how sketch... they are really not that bad (well the frist was pretty bloody fast at the end thank to the S-train). So far I've learned that they are like any other crit, maybe slightly faster at point: the middle of the pack is the worst place to be. So with this theory, I spent the first half of the race riding the front guarding against counter attacks (Guillaume had got himself into the break of the day with Rollin, Parisien and Lacombe) and generally following wheels and attacks. There was a big crash at one point which lead to 80% of the field being held up and rolling in for a free lap, much to the dismay of the commies. So they re-started the race, with a 5 second gap for the break. I sat myself down in the front again with my gears now jumping all over the place. I guess the douche who hit me from behind (no, I didn't go down) also managed to bump my derailleur. I pulled in for a quick Formula 1 wheel change hoping for the best, but just ended up with more of the same. Luckily managed to jump back in the back 3rd wheel anyways. With 10 to go I felt my efforts and drifted back a bit. As soon as you leave the control and speed of the top 20 you are now into the jungle of sketchiness and battle for random top 16 wheels with a million wankers who are wayyyy to into the red. With jumping gears, and a little tired from my efforts I settled into the caboose poistion with a large amount of good riders who had missed the break. The back is nice if you have the power, things are much less sketchy and you can go through the corners much faster by leaving a gap in the corners and then not having to sprint out like a banshee. In the end, a good race. But I am sick of crits. Sipping a coffee back in Ottawa now before my ride. Should be a nice day....

1 to go

Bit of a mixed up day today. Didn't sleep well at all last night, woke up to more rain, and packed our gear for another crit. Pretty cool and tough course, so I was kind of pumped. Got to the race and discovered that I still had no front derailleur. The team didn't have one kicking around, so I scrambled a bit but came up empty. Decided against wasting energy being angry so grabbed a chair and settled myself into a prime spot on the climb to cheer on the boys. A rest day should do me good. Still one more to go after all. Got home, made up some nice curry chicken and am now chilling out a bit. We are looking to maybe pass on the St-Jean Baptiste day festivities with a race tomorrow and most of us a little tired. Consensus seems to be a few beers (I think its law in Quebec that you must at least drink on this day) and play poker. At least the rain has cleared into a nice evening. Life is so exciting. Now a week to train my butt off slash maybe taper a bit then Nationals. Summer is just flying by...

Some times...

Seriously, it really should not be so hard to hold 2 wheels in a straight line. How about not freaking out at the slightest possibility of a touch of bodies? That would be nice, but probably will never happen for many. And most of those riders seemed to be out at today's crit. A short 4 corner course with plenty of holes and bumps, but mostly should have been quite easy. Turn right or go straight. My legs had no jump in them whatso ever. On the plus side my form appears to be good enough to just sit in and roll when I feel like crap. Settled myself in avoiding crashes and trying to move up until I touched elbows with a fellow in corner 1. Litterally the slightest brush, and next thing I knew he was going down and his bike was hitting me. A lot of bad noises behind me so I hopped the curb and a large piece of yellow concrete, cyclo-crossed my way through a front yard and some fans before beginning my chase. After about a minute of adrenaline filled chase, I realized that I was probably due a free lap. Pulled in, got the ok and set myself up to jump back in. I jumped, but my bike did not. The front derailleur gave way into about a billion pieces and the chain imploded as well. Sweet. At least I was still in one piece. Mavic set me up with the Opus spare bike (size S) and I hopped back in. Unfortunately, this also seemed to be the precise moment when Rollin decided to give it a go so I needed up sprinting onto his wheel and into a break. Small bikes are sketchy in corners, but luckily we got caught before I fell down. Rode for a bit but my back was dieing on this midget bike so I pulled the plug. Probably a good thing as the crashes came fast and furious just after that. Tomorrow will be a better day. I can feel it. Now I'm hungry.

Crit update

The rain will not stop. Even when it is sunny in the morning, the rain seems to roll in just in time for the race. No matter, life continues. Three down, 3 to go. Finished the first Coupe de la Paix just off the back. Rode a descent race following a few attacks and getting some work in before I had some body issues (should have eaten something perhaps) with about 7 or 8 to go. I started getting kind of dizzy and twitchy and lacked any real power. Not sure quite why I kept going but slowly drifted back to tail-gunner position and stayed there (closing any gaps as needed) until I heard the bell announcing last lap and then sat up. Not a huge pack left but I was in no position to sprint mentally or physically at this point. Stronger than the day before at least. Spent the night at Guillaume's house before heading out nice and early this morning to the 2nd stage at 10:30am. Rain fell in buckets as we arrived and did not let up until a decent way into the race. Needless to say there were a number of crashes. I pretty much spent the first 5-6 laps chasing due to my "awesome" call up to the back row. No matter, I had again a little more in the legs. As soon as it let up a bit I got to the front to do my job to help out Guillaume and Perras. Got in a few breaks (nothing which really stuck for long) and then made a big effort to bring back a 15 or 20 second gap to a very dangerous break we had missed. Effort definitely cost me but helped launch Perras into the winning break. Plus it was good for the head to look back and see the pack strung out single file behind me. Decided to try my hand a bit in the sprint and work on my nerves in a sketchy pack sprint. Fought hard only to finally get elbowed out a bit into the curb in the last corner. Touched the brakes a tad to avoid said curb and that was it. I rolled in with the pack. Still, a good race anyways and my legs are coming along. Not to mention I'm feeling better at the speed and pretty much just riding crits. Tomorrow is most likely a long easy day, then rest Saturday and race again Sun-Tues. Very nice.

Quick

No more internet at the house. We must get more interesting in our attempts to be not totally uninvolved with society. First Lachine is in the books. A good hard ride, think my legs are starting to come around. We averaged 49.8km for the 50km race. Not too shabby for sure. Not nearly as sketchy as I had been warned, even in my poor position of near tail gunner. I put no presssure on myself just wanting to ride safe, survive and get a bit of speed in my legs to be good to go for the Coupe de la Paix starting today. Symmetrics did a wicked leadout for their made Zach Bell starting with about 10 to go and needless to say blew the race apart. In the end about 15 guys seemed to be in the final group sprinting. Our man Guillaume came 4th. I pulled the plug with about 4-5 laps to go after gaps began to open to quickly for me to close them. Never really dug super deep but I am now ready and confident for today. It's time to burn some matches. Went out for a quick spin this morning as the race today is not until 7pm again. Tomorrow's is at 10am however so I'll be staying with Guillaume at his place in Montreal. Let's hope the sun I see now will hold out through the evening.

Crits

That will be my business for the next week or so. Hopefully pull a few good races out. On the other hand, I'm pretty rested right now. I think a couple days off the bike were just what I needed. Couple days hanging out in and around cottages with some good friends have left me much more refreshed and helped out in the motivation. Managed to sneak out to the Preston St. Italian Festival crit on Sunday. Didn't go quite as well as hoped with torrential rain and some seriosuly slippery and slidy surfaces. After a few delays we got underway, I missed my pedal on the line and quickly fell back in the pack with a fast start. Lost my nerve in the corners on the first 2 corners after sliding through and then spent the rest of the day riding hard through the straight aways and then riding like a corner phobic school child through the bends. Oh well, good to get a little intensity in before this week. Time to hop back in the car for the week to see the boys and hopefully win some cash. Probably some more regular blog posting again.

Sabbatical

Home. Not quite yet, but tomorrow. I'll be taking a few personal days away from the bike (and most likely the blog) to recharge and generally do non bike related activities. Still got a while to go in the season and more races to go. On the plus side, we have Euro 2008 here at the hotel, so I've been catching a few matches. Even headed out last night for a few beers with many of the other "hors delai" riders, mechanos, and even a former Giro d'Italia rider. Needless to say I slept in this morning before wandering around the town a bit.

Done

One of the perhaps worst days on a bike ever is now done, and so is my Tour. That is the short of it. Started off all right (yet very hot) sitting at the front as the pack slowly meandered along. The first GPM came and then the pack went. I knew better than to try and climb with the little Mexicans around me at the front so rode my own pace up the climb slowly losing ground. Apparently a lot of people lost a lot of ground. Things went a little worse as after the GPM sprint as the climbing kept going in the gutter on this wicked false false riser. Now of the back, took a deep breathe and got myself behind a car in the caravan. Of course things slowed up a bit and I worked my way back through a couple of cars with some hand slings back into the pack, where I promptly threw up. Not that the effort to get back was that much, but the heat was crushing me. Tried to drink and eat (which also caused me to throw up) and tried to get closer to the front to make it easier on myself, the second GPM promised to be much harder and longer. Made a quick trip back to the car to get some more water, and got back just in time for another gutter climb. Too much. Settled into my own pace again, into the caravan, but it wasn't too be. Tried another bar, threw up again. Settled into a rythym with a "special needs" gruppetto. By special needs I mean I pulled with one other rider until one of the other 3 riders behind us felt the need to accelerate ahead on a climb. I don't think he spoke english, french or dutch but I'm also pretty sure I got my point across a few times. Another member of team special needs then decided after picking up a musette full of bottles from his soigneur, that he needed one more to give him a round 4 bidons. So he swooped in front of me and grabbed mine. He didn't keep that one long. I opened up a gap on them on the next GPM and basically rode home solo. No food, 38 degrees and 165km. Though the broom wagon did finally catch me with a few kms to go and informed me that the race was over and I was to be hors delai. Thats the long. Motivation is low right now, and I think I need a brief respite. We'll see now what to do in terms of hanging around doing nothing, or making it home.

Beauce

We're here. Waiting for the buffet to fight, and I'm ready to fire off some bullets. Hell hath no fury like a hungry skinny kid. And yes I realize there are excessive amounts of these folks around, but I'm a confident individual. Excitement is in the air here at the Georgetown, quite nice and posh for a bunch of dirty bicycle racers. I've been saying my hellos and shaking some hands, but am sitting down now. I'll be spending plenty of energy later - gotta conserve for now. Wicked.

Time

Been working on getting back in the early morning grove this week, as many of our stages seem to start at 9:30. On the plus side, this is also the most quiet time in the house (aka no one else is awake) and it is also much cooler (aka less oppressively humid). The morning will be spent organizing my crap, then packing it (I obviously have not started this, and still need to do laundry) and then burning some cds of cruising tunes for the drive. Perhaps a quick ride to open the legs before the drive, but I have other slightly more pressing things to do first. I'm definitely pretty excited to start racing. Apparently (according to 2 eye witness accounts) I was so excited last night while sleeping that I spent a good portion of the night either talking to myself (mostly incomprehensible gibberish) or falling out of bed and then flailing around. I have no recollection of the events in question, but can say that I indeed did wake up still in my bed and very rested. Oh, and I couldn't find any bruising. Don't judge.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/jun08/beauce08/

I know I complain a little...

My morning. Cappuccino, water, tools & shade.

Especially about the weather, but damn. One day its 10 degrees and pissing rain, suddenly now apparently the sun just burned a hole in the atmosphere directly above Canada. It was therefor 39 degrees for my ride today. On the plus side, my tan has come back quickly. Though even though I drank 5 bidons in 3.5 hours I am pretty sure I lost several pounds of water weight. On the other hand, the cold beer after was possibly the best beer I have ever had. But, I was also pretty sure that the shower I had after was the greatest experience of my life. So my judgment may have been slightly hazed by the heat.
The house is currently full of excitement after dinner with the discovery of some kind of gigantic mutant wasp. JS currently has it trapped in a bowl and there is quite a ruckus going on as to finding a sufficient piece of paper/cardboard to slide under the bowl. The current thought is that the bugger will kill us all, especially JS who is allergic. I, for one, am confident that as a quick runner and individual the furthest from the king kong wasp, that I will not be stung.
In other news, I have overhauled my bike. There were some dirty noises coming from the bb area and I was in need of a new chain and cables after the last round of wet and wild training/racing. Plus I figure pre-Beauce is a good time to make things work top notch. Tomorrow will be a super relaxing out, maxing out kinda day. Quick spin on the tt bike in the morning pre-death heat, perhaps with a stop at Momo for some race sandals. You cyclists know what I'm talking about. then Some tubular gluing and general not moving of the legs.

General ramblings of a cyclist

Breakfast of champions right here.

On the other hand, its raining again. We had one day of cloud and no rain to mock me, now its back. Not to mention that apparently its gonna be ridiculously humid and ridiculous to go with it. On the plus side, the long term weather apparently looks decent for Beauce (knock on wood)... Wednesday turned out to be a good training day, I got wet and muddy by really don't care anymore. Did a nice ride to Sutton with some tempo climbing in the middle up and down Sutton through some thick fog and muddy construction. Yesterday was a chilled out tt ride on the bike paths out to Granby. Had to stop by the bike shop anyways for some chamois cream in advance of next week. Feeling pretty ridiculously good on my tt bike at the moment. Given, didn't really push all that hard.. but damn that bike feels good. Today will provide me with one more day of intensity before resting up completely for Beauce. I'm getting excited to get going already. In the mean time, plenty of time spent with the legs in the air either watching movies or playing x-box. More time with movies for this author as my video game skills are slightly lacking. Plus team sickness plays a lot of xbox. Soon to come, haircut pictures (Charly bought some clippers), and photos of the new kits..... ooooooohhhhhh

Here at EVA, we piss excellence.

The weather gods hate me

Seriously, it has been raining everywhere I go for the last 3 weeks. Nay, pouring. And on the 2 days it didn't rain we had bloody hurricane winds. My tan is disappearing faster than a cold beer at a AA meeting. We waited all day yesterday to ride (one of the benefits of being a full time cyclist and only having a recovery spin on the ride sched) with promises from that coked up moron at the weather network of a clear afternoon. If I ever meet a real weather forecaster, it will be hard to not simply clock him. I know he just reads the tele-prompter, but still. In the end the rain managed to lightly subside (never quite fully) for approximately 1.5 hours. We rode for about 2. Spun down the paths to Granby to check out the woman's Tour de Grand Montreal. Cool beans. Opted out of the evening race as I was really not feeling all that much bounce in my step nor excitement at a "open" crit in the rain. On the plus side, with all this sit around waiting rain to stop time on my hands, I have become very adept at the espresso machine, cranking out cappuccinos and machiattos by the dozen. Today will be a slightly longer ride with some hills, and I have simply given up on staying dry. The hard rain seems to have subsided so it is probably a good time. I figure a back road spin down towards Sutton is in order, then some climb exploration. The time to be careful is here too, sickness is in the air. Everyone is fit, and the weather is bad. We have 2 house members currently wandering around with sore throats and 1 week until Beauce. I think I'm gonna go buy several tons of ginger and garlic.

A picture is worth a thousand words

By this logic, this post should have taken me several hours to compose. Luckily, I'm better than that.

Service course EVA-Devinci. / Pimp notre char. Please note the chromed rims.

That is one hot bike. / That is a dirty Sandy. White shorts get ruined quick.

Today is back into the grove of things. Yesterday was pretty much a write off in terms of anything productive. Unless you count groceries (spent way too much) and xbox. Oh, and naps. The internet was down as well for our recovery day, which was fun, but we're back online here now. Today will involve getting back on the bike. There is a race tonight, but I'm not sure sure yet whether I'll make my way to it. We'll see whats up with the threats of more rain. And whether I get my bike cleaned from the weekend's wet and wild escapades. First, a second coffee is in order.

Up and down

Wicked tt and crit, not quite so great road race. On the plus side, I blew up trying. 20:49 for the tt, and finished up in the lead group in the crit - a rainy, dark, sketchy affair. Not bad for a Saturday at the office. Got up Sunday and readied myself for a foggy, rainy, 5 degree day in the saddle. I honestly cannot say that I am adverse to these conditions. Made the lead selection on the first climb, climbing my own pace and settled into the group, rolling away with a few breaks. By the top of the climb I had even moved from 6th to 4th on GC after Oz's flat and Lachance's crash. I even had 2 teammates ahead in the GC. On the climb out of the valley, I blew. Third steep pitch (after the long false flat) I found myself 50m back of the lead group with some stragglers. It was not to last. I played in the caravan for about 15-20 mintes but never closed that final gap. Couldn't recover from the effort. That was the end of my race. I finished the day in a little chase group some 20 minutes down in the end. No one particular was willing to work with me. Ups and downs. I was pissed, but such is racing. Now, I prepare. For the Tour de Beauce. Time to dig deep and pull hard. More to come, now that I again have internet.

Chicoutimi update

Team presentation has come and gone. Actually a pretty impresive opertaion. A packed room in the Devinci factory, sponsors gallore (hands to shake), some stage time in the light and of course many a snack to consume from the caterers. Maybe a little embarrasing to see a bunch of skinny cyclists gorging on hors doeuvres, but hey... we hadnt eaten all day. We were even in the paper the next day, as we are apparently quite a big deal around here. Even got our incredibly hot new team van all in team colours compliments of Honda. Big ups. Went for a good hard ride in the hills and wind of the area yesterday. Took in some absolutely stunning scenery between bouts of gutter riding. Lots of excellent climbs, some quiet farm roads and some sketch highway riding. Though to be fair, any time we hit a highway things seemed to get put in the gutter anyways; hell, we spent the first half hour to La Baie averaging 52kmh with a pretty wicked cross wind. A good hard 130ish kms in the end left us ready for a quick nap and some food. Not really warm here, but we jsut spent a nice hour and a half cruising today nice and chill. Got treated to a nice steak dinner after the team presentation by one of the sponsors, much appreaciated by some of us poorer members of the team. A quick grocery run take car of breakfast and lunch needs kept us rolling on the cheap. Tonight weère heading out to Simons house for dinner with his family, should be nice. Tomorrow we leave our kind hosts at Hotel Chicoutimi for Baie St-Paul and the Charlevoix race that follows this weekend. Try to get a quasi early start to allow us the time to get out for a nice tt training ride on the course. Not much else to report I guess, life is good. I do apologize for the lack of photo updates, apparently I have gotten quite camera lazy.

I don't even know

Does anyone even know where Chicoutimi is? I know so far it is in the Sagenuay region of Quebec and that many of my teammates come from this region, but that is it. Oh. And I will be there as of this evening. And for the next couple of days. Exciting. I get to do some kind of team presentation for sponsors and check out the Devinci factory and all other sorts of cool, team related stuff. Generally my job will be to look good, and strain really, really hard to try and understand what is being said to me. Other wise I may just keep saying "oui" and end up in some kind of Quebecois prison.
As a separate, and also quite funny story, we were accosted by the police last night. Apparently, when 3 cyclists sit in a parking lot in a car eating ice cream in the dark (no, it wasn't even late yet) things look suspicious to Bromont's finest. Needless to say, as we sat enjoying our frozen milk treat, the police pulled up behind us, apparently thinking that they were on the cusp of busting some drug smoking, no-do-gooder kids in a stolen vehicle. Untrue, we borrowed the vehicle from our teammate, and the rest is completely erroneous. As they came a knocking on the window with flashlights, we explained that "non madame, on mange des McFlurry's" and I held up the tray with the evidence towards them. Slightly perplexed, they demanded more explanation. So we talked about cycling, and how I was not from around here. How they figured this nugget of information, I will never know.

Race breakdown

Small pack on a windy square. Cool to race a crit in downtown Montreal, but really not very exciting or fun. The fact that my legs were not quite there and some stomach issues never really helped my day. Basically, Perras and a Sleeman's rider got away early and held the pack at the 22-30 second mark until about 5 or 6 laps to go. I followed a few bridging attempts but generally sat in the pack trying to stay out of the wind. There was just no top end in my legs. The break was eventually caught by the Volks train who continued to control the race, a few small moves moved up but the pack was controlled with our train waiting directly behind Volks to launch Guillaume for the sprint. JS let Guillaume go out of the final corner launching the man to a sweet victory. Or so we thought. Guillaume took a free lap for a "mechanical" (a plastic bag was caught in his derailleur) before being allowed to hop back in by the commissars. After the race, a protest was filed by the second place team (obviously) cough...cough...Sleeman's... and Gui was relegated as a plastic bag is technically not a broken bike. After a long discussion with the people in charge, we discovered that this particular rule is open to interpretation; even if Gui's seat post had slipped all the way down, that as well would not have counted (if interpreted) as that is not a "broken bike". Apparently he should have crashed. Day done.
Pretty shoddy day today; rain and cool weather. Luckily it is a recovery day. Wasn't terribly tired last night, went out for one of the best burgers ever at the Brouemont (cheap too). Slept like a baby afterwards, and am quite tired this morning. Trying to work out my training and travel plans for the week currently. Really have a stick in the drivetrain at the moment with this having to travel to a team function thing in Chicoutimi. Good times. Next up, Charlevoix...

Of no particular interest

I managed to sneak out yesterday for a quick little 2 hour bike path spin up into Granby yesterday in between torrential rain storms. JS and I waited until one stopped late in the afternoon, jumped on our bike, enjoyed a brief appearance by the sun and then returned home to have the rain start again 10 minutes after our arrival. Not bad. Cooked us up a massively sweet steak, sweet potatos and a grilled veggie salad. Not bad. Windy again today, but at least it doesn't look like rain for the sake of the boys racing on the track today. I on the other hand am having a pretty chill morning here in front of the computer and waiting until the weather decides to warm up a tad. Planning another ride into Granby with some sprints, and to find a particular bike shop to fix my shoes. Damn cleat snapped, and some screws are stripped. Merde. Think I may swing by the track after to check out some of the action and see whats what with track racing. Otherwise, I think its time for another coffee and wait for the action to start in today's first real mountain stage in the Giro.

The Return

Back in Bromont. Woke up early this morning to head out for a ride with Geoff and JS, but first some pancakes. Weird weather. Started off quite chilly and light rain, then the sun proceeded to come out for our intervals on Blacks, followed by Geoff and I getting absolutely soaked as soon as we hit the long gravel stretch towards JS's place. It was actually quite Belgian, good stiff cross wind, mud, gravel and some serious downpour action. Then of course the sun came out as we arrived home. Such is life. Shower, nap and then we broke out the bbq for some tasty burgers before hitting the road. Just got into Bromont here, and am settling back into the house. I little more full and less tidy then when we left last week, but home none the less for the next bit. I'm bloody tired and a half, so I'm out. Hopefully some fun news to come. Racing a crit in Montreal Sunday, and may try to head out to try the track here soon.

The return

Busy

Man, for someone with such a theoretically simple life, I definitely have very little spare time. Especially at the moment while trying to get my life organized enough to spend several weeks away again. Went out for the crit last night and had a jolly good time. Bit of work on the front, slip into a few ill fated breaks, and then played 'follow JS' for a bit to work on my ability to focus and follow a particular wheel without wasting energy. Good times. Got my Nova Scotian boy Geoff staying with me at th moment too, so fun times have definitely been increased. Or at very least, I don't feel quite as lame sitting around drinking coffee in the morning as there are now 2 of us sitting around. Heading out for my first loop of the park in a few minutes, could also be my last for a while. Well I guess I better get moving, too much time blogging and no one will believe that I actually have very little spare time. Sorry.

weekend pics from Ste-Raymond

Rest

Ride today you may ask? Only if it is warm and sunny. So it would appear no. A tiring weekend of racing. I'll give you the short of it as I really just feel like a nap and a movie. Maybe some stretching and a session on the foam roller. Got down to Ste-Raymond area Friday evening and settled into our home for the weekend. A somewhat early race start Saturaday morning for 110km. I raced aggressively trying to get into a good brake for the majority of the race. Got hit with some wicked stomach cramps in the second half though which stayed with me for the rest of the day. I tried to stay near the front after that, but lacked the power for the sprint and got swamped. Crawled back to the car and tried to sleep and recover a bit to get the stomach calmed down before the evening tt. 8km tt with some real good burn courtesy of some good little risers made for a tough time on my hot new tt bike. Not super happy with the tt result (I came out a little hard on the first climb and never could settle back into a good pace) but on the other hand it wasn't terrible. After a real late dinner we finally arrived home and in bed for about 11. With an 8am start the next day, this was far from ideal. 130km on a hard course promised to make a selective race, especially when the big guns decided to go and make the selection. With JS sitting in 3rd overall (1 second down on first) and 3 others in the top 11 (max 23 seconds down) I was working hard today. Cover early moves and follow attacks were the orders of the day. And that I did. Rode in a few breaks, chased some others and generally created Sandy the human time bomb. Eventually, a break I was in was caught on a long false flat headwind section with the pack strung out single file in the gutter. I managed to jump back in line but riders were detonating all around me. With a few too many gaps to close, I as well blew like the atomic bomb. On the plus side, the selection was made at this point and both JS and Georges made it. Job done, time for a Coke. About 110km completed and one hard ass day in the saddle. Back in Ottawa now for the next few days before the schedule really heats up and some more travel days. Next up, the Tuesday night world championships (sorry, its not a race) and the gluing of 4 pairs of Cosmic Carbones and a Comete disc. I have a camera again now so I promise some pictures soon. Now, about that nap...

Its a pre race

Don't have to hit the road today until closer to 5 pm. So a nice chill day. Two or so hours with the tt bike on some on some wicked bike paths with JS and Georges-Edouard has my legs feeling pretty nice and fresh. Swung by the Canada Cup course on the way home (about 12 seconds from the house) to meet up with Viper dude , Paziuk, say hello to a few others. Gotta say, I didn't even feel the need to go out and get muddy in a mountain bike race. Though I did get some funny looks rolling through the gravel parking lot on my tt bike all dressed in white and orange. I'm pretty sure most were looks of jealousy about how good our stuff looks and how much cleaner I was. I could be mistaken though. At the moment, I am starving; and trying to avoid gorging myself. Recovery/ easy days are bad like that for me the body keeps working hard expecting some work to be done and seems to continue running in overdrive to replenish stores and prepare for what it knows is coming. Time for a nap I think, still got a few hours of relaxing before the 2 road races and 1 tt this weekend. Hopefully the legs are there, cause the head is in the game.

Merde Alors

In the last little bit, though my brain now seems to work faster in French, I don't seem to speak much better. Though my knowledge of dirty French words has increased exponentially. Today's ride was promised to be a mellow affair, I had Martin Gilbert's word on it. Though I expect he knew better as he decided not to come in the end. Brilliant weather, smokin' sweet route through the mountains of Vermont lead us towards a "chill" 5 hour day. 160km, 4:45 including a 30 minute climb and the ~20 minute ascent of Jay Peak. Francois Parrisien cracked our legs on the way up the hills, and we all took turns riding tempo on the "flats". Nice little group, basically me and 5 former/current National Champs. Rollin, Parisien, Perras, Boivin, Duquette, myself and 2 others whom I have managed to forget the names of. Not really according to the training plan, but wicked good fun none the less. After arriving home we all showered up and headed out to Brouemont for a meal and a beer, though we somehow swapped Perras for Toulouse. I guess those with children sometimes need to go home. Either way, a good evening. We all slept like babies last night. Woke up to a super chill morning of coffee and relaxing. Not bad, rain this morning anyways. Plus our tt bikes aren't supposed to arrive until this afternoon so the ride will be pushed back until we receive those I think. Time to put the legs up and rest before this weekend's multiple races. Not gonna lie, I'm a little pumped.

going local

After a ridiculously relax Monday, I rode about 2 hours with Charles and G-E on some bike paths and back roads, today was back to some more serious work. Oh, we also did some house shopping at WalMart (my least favourite place in the world) for a new toaster and a basic coffee grinder. We may have also taken advantage of some cheap cereal and other foodstuffs. A beer at night to welcome Guillaume to the house finished off our day. A nice spin in the morning sun got us off to a good start on Tuesday, which also seems to be know as the international day of evening world championships. Things are no different around here with us making the quick drive down to Sherbroke for their version. 10$ got you an entry, into what was a smaller and less quite field than I'm used to, but we set about making the race hard for all. We made a plan of being on the attack constantly, and that we did. From the gun. Georges was the first to manage to escape the grasps of the peleton, even managing to stay away with one other rider for the duration and take the 2 up sprint. In the end a good day, though I was somewhat upset to have my final break caught just before the sprint. No worries, a good day training. And the nachos after were quite wonderous. Meeting a group of boys today for a nice hilly ride down into the US I think. From what I hear, it should be quite the group of boys. Tt bikes should be arriving tomorrow, along with my boy JS. The weekend is on its way.....

Bromont

A Bromont update here, Bromont rocks. Great training, good people and of course some good times. Found myself a sweet 5 hour route yesterday down through Knowlton (no sign of Lynn Bessette), through Sutton (some pretty wicked climbing), along the Vermont border, and then back up through some sweet gravel road climbing. Tons of friendly folk out on their bikes (pedal and motor powered) and some ridiculously good scenery. Every little town seemed to cry out at me with bakeries, and coffee shops. Got home, with a steep final climb up "Iron Hill" to the house (about 5-10 minutes of steep pitches). A good salmon dinner, seafood is cheap, set me up for a good evening of relaxing. Georges is at the house today, and we all seem to have a nice chill coffee ride on the schedule for the day.

negative racing, defined

Ontario, I'm pretty sure that is the definition. Everyone is happy to chase, then sit up. No one wants to commit to a good effort. Well, to be fair, its not everyone; its just a majority. My only teammate (le toujours sympatique Charles Thibault) managed to attack solo on the start of the second lap as a form of anger versus the 12km/h pace we seemed content to hold. A few riders scurried across at various points with various success levels with me scrambling around to try and cover everything. Needless to say, a few got away including a very nice little move by fellow blogger (though his blogging seems a rare occurrence) James Riggs and the man himself, Evan Mundy. Eventually the move settled with 5 boys up the road, soon enough a chase group formed, and though it lasted for some time, a few of us managed to whip the pack into chase shape and pull it back with about 3-4 laps remaining. After that, everyone pretty much sat up and returned to stop and go racing. Also known as, everyone sit and wait for Oz to attack and then chase. At least this managed to shed a few more riders And allowed me to simply sit near the front on some particularly 'draft worthy' dudes and eat some food. With 2 to go, things started getting a little impatient and it became apparent that the escape would not be coming back. Just after the feed zone I got fed up with rolling at 12km/h and then chasing so put in a move of my own and had a nice little solo/Jens move. I rocked and rolled my bike all the way into the finish just holding off the field sprint after a particularly brutal head win finish straight. Good enough for 6th place, with Charles taking 2nd. Not bad for a team of 2. Hoped ourselves back into the car and then booted it down the 401 to my home for the week in beautiful Bromont, QC. I'd post some pictures of our pad, but apparently I did not bring my camera. So those will have to wait. For now, its time to hit the local pub for a celebratory brew...
I should also mention that the dude who won was approx. 112 years old from Arkansas. When I saw him go I had some type of war flashback to being on Belgian roads and getting worked of by similar old men with down tube shifters, 1 bottle and flasks of espresso/scotch. Needless to say, apparently the the flashbacks proved correct. Charles has just informed me that google tells us he is a multiple time US National Masters champ. I think there is a moral to this story....

how to laze

Begin by pouring yourself a generous cup of your favourite brew, in my case a wonderfully smooth and robust bialletti cup this morning. Grab your computer, your remote, or a good book and proceed to put you legs up and let your cares float away. I have even gotten to the point that with the return of Mr. sunshine, my shy friend of years, that I will soon put down the computer head downstairs to the sunny deck to sit with my new cook book and a second cup of joe. Such is my morning. I do have a few things to do on my platter today, but before those of you more gainfully employed loose a gasket reading this from your cubicles, I would like to share the current downsides to my life. For examples, while going out to redevelop a social life last night, I was the most sober person within a 10 mile radius of the market. Not terrible per say, but most certainly not old Sandy either. The biggest minus to my current lifestyle would have to be the bank account balance. I know, cry me a river. But, I guess it is time to fill the page of this blog with something more meaningful, I just seem to be in a pretty bloody relaxed mood today. Due to the getting caught in the rain bit the other day, I need to give my bike a good cleaning. Can't show up to a race with a grimy bike, that is just not kosher. I also need to pack for the week to live in Bromont. You know, usual cyclist life things: Nutella, books, movies galore and some chain lube. Nothing big. I also intend to head off in a few minutes to the ol' Canada Tire to build myself a quick pit kit for my bike washing. I have a bunch of stuff, but feel the need for some more. Perhaps I'll check my basement stashes first... Got myself a solid interval session in yesterday's wind. Even managed to work it out so that all my intervals were into the head wind, and I could cruise a beautiful tail wind home with the sunset. Enjoy your weekend, and hope to see some of y'all at Brockville. The weather looks bike-race-'tastic.

Quick

Crit went well last night. Things got a little on the sketch side when coming towards the final sprint when a few riders who apparently really should not have been near a sprint, let alone a fast moving pack of cyclists, deciding to use the last of their "strength" to make their way to the front. Luckily their inability to hold a straight line, and an apparent need to dive bomb (poorly) corners moved them out of the way. That and a powerful pull/surge from a particular rider to pop the pace to about 51 on the back straight, allowed for a decent sprint. And by decent I mean I was the first to cross the line. Other than the dudes in the break. But JS won the real race, so it works out for us in the white and orange. Things are coming along nicely and I'm feeling better and better on the bike. Its time for a good race this weekend I feel. Solid ride today, though I may have pushed it a little long as I got caught in the rain for the last 45 minutes to an hour. No biggie. Nice day to cruise. About 6 hours in the end of solid zone .5. This equates to roughly "slow as ass" in metric. Not that I'm bragging or anything. I just happen to be really good at Zone .5, its kinda my thing. Keep the easy easy, and the hard hard. And keep your stick on the ice.

reportage

Some good days of racing under the belt. Legs were less than ideal I'd say, but I'd also say that I saw those 'base endurance miles' paying off. First off, with the legs I had, I would say that last year I would very likely not have finished either race. At very least, not with the pack. But that was then, this is now. Hit the road Friday with good ol' JS, direction Montreal to meet up with the boys. Made good time, so met up with an early Charles and settled ourselves in for a cafe and some shop talk before the arrival of the others. With Perras suffering from some gastro issues, we were now down to 5. No worries, Boivin promised some good form on his return from the hard man's land of Belgium so we continued along to MA. After having JS explain to the nice border man that we were driving to Bangkok (Thailand???) I took over the explanations and question answering duties (we were actually heading to Hancock, MA) for the slightly bewildered border guard. Back on the road, we stopped for a buter filled meal at some random US restaurant chain of whom name escapes me. Pulled in and checked in to our home for the night, meeting up with our 5th rider, Georges-Edouard, who had just finished a training camp in Virginia. Sleep, the a hostile takeover of the hotel's continental breakfast waffle machine. Sorry to any other patrons who waited for waffles before giving us a dirty look and leaving with a muffin. A 10:30 race start wasn't too bad, but the fresh temperatures (7 degrees), rain and wind left us deciding that an in-car warm up was in order. Rolling down the start, I discovered a slow leak in my rear tyre so made my way over to the lovely SRAM neutral boys in red to grab myself a Zipp. Sweet. The race started off alright, a real nice rolling course with a long headwind false flat, turn into a nice 2km finishing climb to put some weaker riders into difficulty. With the break beginning to establish itself after the first lap (~30km in), I found myself struggling a bit with some "lead legs" so played it safe staying near the front and out of the wind. Boivin got himself into the break while JS and Georges-Edouard did a good job covering any other early attacks or attempts to bridge. My legs began to come around slowly through the race, and I was climbing pretty well, so got myself in the front and started working on covering attacks as well, and generally following wheels in a defensive pattern. It became somewhat important to stay near the front on the climb as there was always a split. The long descent allowed for some re-grouping, but not without some effort on your part. On the last lap, I made a move with 1km to go on the final ascent to bridge to a solo rider (who was unfortunately cracked) and ended up leading out the sprint and getting caught with 250m to go. Still held on for about a top 10 in the field sprint on the climb. Should be about 25th overall I think. Not bad for the first 150km race day of the year. I should have put a bit more gas into my effort I think at the end as I got kind of caught up in 'saving' something in case I got caught. These efforts must be all or nothing, I had the legs for that.
Drove back to our new home after the race in Bromont, were we had an excellent night's sleep and a cold beer to celebrate a good day in the saddle. With the Brossard crit not going off until 4:30, we allowed ourselves a nice long sleep before heading out to buy some lunch supplies. Another coffee after some naps left us energized and ready for the day's efforts. With 9 of us at the race, we had a simple plan: make the day hard, and always be in every break. I got myself right to the front on the start (a little Belgian slip got myself backed into the front line) and then got into the first attack of the day. From there I got myself slowly back comfortably into the front and ended up getting into the break of the day with no effort, about 12-15 of us just kinda rolled away. This ended up being perfect for us as we had 4 riders in the break, all committed and working hard to attack, chase and counter. In the end, I did a large pull to bring back a small group setting up JS for the winning attack. He went with one other VW rider with 5 to go and was never seen again. Boivin took the sprint for 3rd, and Cossette was 5th. 1-3-5. Pay day again. I was pretty toast the last 5 laps but just tried to follow some wheels and make sure no one caught JS. A good day for the team, and a good day for me. I had very little jump, and as JS put it, I rode more like a diesel all day. Well, thats the long report. Luckily I had a big cup of coffee.