Day Schedule:
7-8am - wake up.
8-9 - food. coffee (see below for more on that). news.
9-10 - bike repairs. New bar tape, install new shifter, realize I don't have any narrow zap straps to re-install my SRM power sensor. General cursing.
11-12 - massage. Kudos to Holtz Spa for fitting me in. My body is muchos content now.
1-4 - ride. First hill intervals of the year. A little chilly, nice and painful, but a solid day on the bike. Finished the ride off with a recovery bike path cruise.
6 - dinner.
7 - Took some advice and grabbed myself a foam roller from OHPC.
NOW - tea. relaxing. stretching. I may need a beer for the hockey game though in a vain attempt to excite my life and therefore this blog.

Instead I will now go through some product reviews. First up, the Aerobie Aeropress. Brilliant little coffee maker, really. Well worth the $30 total it cost me. Basically, the complex is:

• Total immersion of the grounds in the water results in rapid yet robust extraction of flavor.
  
• Total immersion permits extraction at a moderate temperature, resulting in a smoother brew.
  
• Air pressure shortens filtering time to 20 seconds. This avoids the bitterness of long
  processes such as drip brewing.
  

Here's the Sandy break down:

• Shit is delicious.

Pretty sure this is undoubtedly the greatest portable (see race weekend) coffee maker available. Sturdy and simple design, and most importantly an excellent brew. Next on the list, gotta try and score myself a new Bialetti, maybe even one of the plug in ones to give myself some pre-race options...
Next time on 'stuff that doesn't suck', Sandy will look at either the foam roller or compression socks. Stay tuned.

Rest

Not much of a riding day today. Cold this morning, and my body was feeling quite tired from the weekend and the crash. Spent some time stretching and slept in a bit before heading out to help kiwi with a reno project for a bit. Some dinner, now some tea and soon some more stretching and Hell's Kitchen. Still working on tracking myself down a massage before the weekend...
Anyone out there know where the best place in Ottawa is to find foam rollers? A figure a little self massage might be nice. Tried these suckers out in Belgium and what a difference they can make! For now I'll see what I can track down to make do. Preparations are underway for the weekend, got some errands to take care of for the long drive...
-music prep
-new batteries for my GameBoy.
-American cash monies.
-repair bike (new shifter, new bar tape, re-attach SRM power sensor, clean...)

I've also been playing around with a couple new toys.
-Aerobie Aero Press. Finally got around to getting my hands on the ideal race coffee maker. Just bring this syringe type press, some grinds, and get some boiling water. 10 seconds later you have some brilliant coffee. If you ride on my team, expect to see this baby in action this weekend. Otherwise, I'll try to post a picture blog soon.
-Compression socks. I look like an old man in them, but they are wickedly incredible for recovery and the long travel days. Mine are brown and, according to the old man who sold them to me, the highest available compression available sans prescription. He reminded me of my grandfather, and gave me a deal. Plus, they are brown.

Haut fur doma

This was a phrase I have not heard uttered in a race situation until I let er' loose in yesterday's race. Basically, too many overly excited bike racers in the hurt box (see gutter) not watching the wheels around them lead to a 15-20 man pile up. With me caught in the middle. Oh, and all this happened about 5km into the race. You could hear it coming with Calyon jersey's scattered across the road and the traditional sounds of crunching carbon, girlish screams, and metal encountering pavement. I'm sure you could smell some burning flesh too as we were holding about 45+km/h at the time. As I was moving up at the time (and in the top 1/3 of the pack) I took a quick looks for an escape plan only to find myself boxed in by 2 confused riders refusing to use their available exit strategies so instead grabbed my breaks like the rest only to plow into Joel Poitras of team RACE pro, who was also down, and then grabbed some hang time as I ditched the bike and continued my forward trajectory over top of him. Landed down pretty hard on the shoulder area and then continued my 'drop & roll' technique ending my with a rashed shoulder/arm, a very sore back and a bloody knee. Got up, straighten out then many parts on my bike, quick broken bone check, tied off my SRM power sensor and then a fat and energetic French man gave me a wicked push to get going. 3 laps of mostly solo chasing all out allowed me to finally get a group which latched onto the Junior/Senior 3 break. Truly an embarrassing and angering situation. After they sprinted, I went to the front of the chase group with 3 others and put some coals on the fire which lead to our group of 8-10 quickly becoming a group of 4, then 3, then 2. The 2 of us manged to work the final 2 laps well together and hold off the remainder of the peloton/break to finish the race. As many of you know, I hate that DNF more than most things in the world. Picked up my new bag of schwag from the team car (see custom team edition Oakly Radars) and hit the road to try and cure my injuries before next weekend. I think I need to head out and ride soon, thinking a little spin on the tt bike to work out the stiffness and hopefully beat the rain.

Race day

Apparently I am the only person around here up at 7am. Nice. Some nice crepes for breakfast, some coffee from my new Aerobie Aero Press (a few of you from the house in SC will know what I'm talking about, the rest of you can punch that into google) and now some relaxing with some new tunes and bloggin. As usual I am procrastinating my packing efforts. Which could actually end badly this time as I have not even unpacked from my move back from Perth so have fully no ide whatsoever where anything is. Luckily Thomas will be driving on this expedition so I don't have to worry about that bit of logistics. Legs are feeling mighty decent at the moment, so we'll see what we can pull out of the hat today. Hopefully another good week of training with a bit of working thrown in to make ends meet. See if I can get a race report up tonight/tomorrow morning. If you aren't racing, at least get out and enjoy what appears the be the last of the sun for a bit. Here come the spring showers....

Bing

Summer has come. Official now that the shackles of education have been left behind. A little of that working thing to do now to pay some bills, but for the most part - call me cyclist. Went out a a real nice spin on the Quebec side taking a slightly longer route up to Wakefield in the sun making for a nice chill 4 hours in the saddle. And speaking of saddles, this SLR is killing me softly. I picked up an old school Flite from the shop while working to try out yesterday as I'm not sure how much longer I can last on the SLR. Should be another decent riding day today, heading out for my intervals soon-ish and then meeting up with LP and Devi for a quick spin at 11. Home, shower and then a few hours of labour at the shop. Good times. Sunday will be a race day in Ste-Martine, QC and I'm starting to feel better. The legs are coming around after that crit and the nose is only mildy runny. Life is good being back in Ottawa. Other than having to get used to the wanker drivers this city seems to be populated with. Already had to 'express' my discontent to one particularly potent example of rushed Ottawa commuter scum yesterday. He is now well aware of my thoughts on why I should not "get off the road." Got an incredible cook book the other day from a used book shop too, so I'm pretty pumped to turn it and its tasty treats into my summer project. More on that as it comes available. Enjoy your day and hopefully see some of you this weekend/

the good and the bad

Great day. Other than that pesky exam in the morning, but it went quite well. One more final exam to go and I am done 1 year of post secondary studies. Cool. I guess we'll go with the bad news first: my roommate the food thief is back at work. And full of denial.
Me: Greg, did you eat my burgers last night?
Greg: No way.
Me: Greg is that avocado on the ground next to you?
Greg: What? Oh ya, where the hell did that come from?
Me: My burger.
In good news, I made it to the crit last night and moved back the first batch of my large amounts of crap. Crit went quite well, and it appears that my body and legs are beginning to come around a bit more. Rode what I would describe as a very smart and tactical race (other than one failed bridging attempt). The early break actually managed to stay away, but barely and I pulled out a 2nd place in the field sprint. Apparently Bill's wheel was well worth the fight. Got back in the car for the drive back out to Perth after and now find myself attempting to submerge my brain with Math for the Trades II. Luckily my mark is quite good by my math standards. I even got in a fight with a wasp over my fruit salad this morning. He got the first hit in (stung my middle toe) but I won the battle crashing him with a towel and taking home the salad. Great success.

2 more

This is Sandy after 2 days sans long sleeves/leggies. Woah.

One exam down, 2 to go. Spun the legs nice and easy in the sun for a good little hour and a half after my morning exam yesterday, and will probably do something similar today. I kind of want to drive into Ottawa after my exam to ride the A crit tonight, but ma being realistic in the sense that I should probably at least pretend to study for my math exam tomorrow, especially considering my incredible math skillz. Decided yesterday that it would be a complete waste of my day to not bbq hamburgers in the sun and drink a beer or 2 with the weather being so bloody nice. My only issue (I happened to have a few Belgian blondes around) was a lack of a bbq. Luckily I am a problem solver, so I Macguyvered myself a bbq type device and bought a little charcoal. Aluminum foil pan, some "found" chicken wire type grill thing and a little wire stand to avoid burning the porch. Worked like a charm (see inserted picture).

I was fully quite full after the first burger and some couscous salad, but I ate a second massive one because I still had a few toppings to try out (see avocado burger!). Side note, I really need to stay away from grocery stores when I'm hungry. Either way, a cold Stella, some fat burgers and a good hockey game (go habs!) left me quite satisfied with my evening. Now we'll see how much studying I can pack into my afternoon to see if I can allow myself to go a crit ridin' this eve. I really need to start packing up my crap too. I think I own wayyyy to much stuff. Especially to shove it all into a Civic. Maybe I'll use tonight as an excuse to bring the first load home...

Homemade 1/2 lbs pattie, tomato, fresh greens, gouda cheese, caramelized onions, avocado, grilled mushrooms, and an ancient grain bun. Wicked.

The short and long

Short: racing while still sick does not yield good results. At least it was a fun weekend.
Long: Up early to pack and get some errands done before heading up to meet with Alex at his place near Montreal. Got a few new team items from Alex before heading off on a "milk run" of a few errands of picking up licenses and the van before meeting up with the boys on the edge on Montreal. Now would be where I turn from mild mannered english speaking Sandy to french immersion, mildly confused Sandy. I will say my french seemed to improve over the weekend, though I think my mouth still moves faster than my brain works in french. Other than an incident involving poor Charles forgetting his wallet (see passport and other ID) in Drummondville, things went quite smoothly. We hit the road and the border getting ourselves about 3 hours from home (30 minutes from the race start) and finding a nice little hotel. I roomed with good ol' JS Perron. Good man. A quick round of laughs with an episode of "jackass" put us right to sleep. Up at out for breakfast to a little diner type place down the road. With a little confusion from the non english speakers, I now became translator and coffee ordering person for the boys. With my incredible knowledge of menus and how to get the most food for the buck, I spotted the best item, much to the shagrin of the rest of the crowd. $10 got you 2 pancakes with 2 strawberries and half a banana, while my $11 got me the same 2 pancakes (minus the fruit) with the addition of 2 pieces of toast, 3 eggs, hash browns, & bacon. Not bad for the extra dollar. An enraged Stephane promptly inhaled his pancakes and hit the local McDonalds up before the rest of us could down a coffee. We then continued along to the race site and got ourselves ready. Poor Simon and Stephane of course had no licenses apparently so it involved a little extra convincing to get them into the race. The race went off with a decent pace and an incredible course. Mostly paved, but with many climbs (some much longer than expected) and plenty of hard packed gravel. I had much trouble breathing with the sickness and got dropped post haste. Though to be fair, I didn't give up and held the gap over the top of the first long climb, chased back on for some time before finally catching back on at the end of the next section of pave... where we promptly hit a gravel wall. Pop. I did manage to pass quite a few riders walking up the hill but soon resigned myself to not making it back on as my legs were feeling absolutely awful and I was coughing up my lungs. Caught up to David from the team and spent the rest of the race day as a training day, and crushing the cat 4 and 3 packs that were scattered all over the road. A quick shower and a Coke left me feeling refreshed if not mildly sunburnt. Back in the cars, drop of Perras in Montreal, drop off the rental van, pick up my car from Alex's and then lead the boys (minus JS, Alex, and Dom) to Ottawa to crash at my place for Calabogie. 2am arrival was made worthwhile after the massive Dunn's breakfast in the morning and a nice cup of the brown stuff from S'bucks. Packed up, printed out some licenses for Simon and Stephane and then headed off to the race course with plenty of time. Luckily as Stephane managed to somehow have 3 flats before the race even started. I felt a bit better and was convinced that I at least had to avenge my showing from the previous day and help out the boys. So I got myself into a few early moves, screwed up my tactics a bit and then spent the rest of the day trying to convince the pack to chase the break, or trying to find people to work with me. Got some pretty bad cramps in the second half so had to spend a little extra time recovering between efforts. Finished in the pack. No results, but some good feeling from the legs and some serious burn/tan developments. That is the long. Exams are started, the weather is brilliant so I'm out.

Off

Quick this morning. As usual I must pack my bags, and finish many other random tasks before I am ready. Meeting up near Montreal for just afternoon. Running a few errands with the boss, then off to NY. Good times. Not bringing a computer with me, so I will update again at the end of the weekend. Perhaps see some of you at 'bogie?

Slowly back on track

Things are getting better after a nasty few days in bed. Got this thing finally back down to a simply runny nose. Though the sucker is going like bloody Niagra falls. Snuck into Ottawa quick last night to pick up my new bike, pretty solid and snapped out a quick spin to see how it felt. For the most part it turned into a 45 minute spin that took 1 hour with my constant stopping and adjustment. After this, I felt sickboy deserved a nice schwarma for dinner before heading back home to sleep. Sleep, tea, zinc, soup and a quick 2 hour spin on the new bike made up today. Oh, and that pesky school thing. Made up for it with some of the sweet gravel roads I cruised. Though, other than exams, I am now down 1 year of post secondary studies. Tomorrow will involve a brief stop at school to drop off some stuff and print out some other documents, followed by a stop at home to swap out some gear and then off to Montreal to meet up with the team boys. Hit the road en mass and break for Salem New York, home of the Tour of Battenkill.
The new bike is truly pretty sweet. Real impressions to follow after the racing this weekend or perhaps with some tougher rides, but first impressions are good. SRAM is also pretty nice, comfy hoods and so far no problems misfiring the shifting and dropping gears instead of going easier. Though again, true race situations will show how comfortable I am with the system. Big thanks to the folks at Devinci, SRAM, FSA, and Mavic for setting us and me up with all this swank gear. But enough talk, here's some pics. I know this is the only reason many of you read this far...

Checks it

EVA-Devinci announcement.
At very least, after today I should be on my way to being very well rested and fresh for this weekend. Also, Casino Royale is a wicked film. Not sure on the healing effects of tubular cement versus the common cold, but I gots to get something done today.

quarrentine

Heightened amber alert chez Fulton this morning. After a wicked nice spin yesterday, I got home and relaxed to watch the Senators continue sucking it up. Big ups to Alfie however for trying to step in injured to get them going. Either way, went to bed early as I was quite tired. Woke up this morning with that tingling kinda sore throat action. Needless to say, I will be taking it very easy today and after a quick run to the grocery store to stock up on fresh ginger and lemon, will be mixing ginger tea and napping into my itinerary for the day. Gotta knock this out before the weekend! Alright, time to nap. Enjoy the sun if you can.

Roubiax report

Mud, hills, cold an fun. It was decided that the Almonte-Roubaix truely is more of a Ronde Van Almonten really. Roubaix certainly does not have this hilly profile. Either way, it was a chilly start to the morning with the racing quickly getting underway. Kept myself much closer to the front than in previous years which paid off when the selections were made. Apparently it was under some serious tempo setting by a certain Mr. Atkins that caused the most damage, bringing out front group down to about 15 riders, most of whom were certainly suffering in this particularly rough and long mud section. In got bad enough in the mud that my glasses got completely covered to the point where I could no longer tell where I was going on whether I was still following the wheel in front. Thinking there were more riders than there was, I made the decision to sit up for a sec and remove them. Oops. About 8 riders passed me and then nothing. Quickly shoved them up my jersey and made a pretty tough chase to get back on. Worked quickly with another group of popped riders and got back. Phew. Sat in for the next bit while everyone recouped from the efforts. Then flat. Road the rim for a few minutes until pulling over and peeling away the tub. Pulled out my spare (22mm Comp 22 race tub), flipped it on, pumped it up and got back into chase mode. Pretty much a 40km tt tempo effort. Felt pretty decent, especially with only my one working gear, 53x15. Hard on the ups, easy on the downs. And fun times in the headwind. Overall, good fun times were had and a very satisfying shower to finish it off. Would have liked a placing on the results to write about, but a good effort. Got home, bite to eat then a nice real easy 2 hour spin to clear out the legs later in the afternoon. Celebrated the end of the first race of the season with a good Belgian brew and some take out Chinese. What can I say, I got a craving and figured I deserved it. One week of class and the same time until Battenkill. Time to turn up the heat.

Bike Tech: Sandy's Almonte-Roubaix Steed

The Man. The Myth. The Legend.

With huge snow falls in the Almonte/Ottawa area, the regions riders now find themselves quickly swapping over to cross rigs and fatty tyres for tomorrows local epic. Steep, soft sand climbs, mud galore and plenty of gravel create a true testing ground in the "Hell of the Ottawa Valley". Our local stud muffin and blog author, has taken this opportunity to relax in his pre-race activities to provide us at the Fulton News Network with an in depth look at his bike choice and gear choice for the weekend. "It was kinda through together," quotes Fulton, "I have never even used tubular tape before tonight, I really hope it holds on." With cool temperatures, but possibly no rain, it promises to be a hard day in the saddle.

Frame: Javelin Primitivo (sorry Devinci)
Fork: Currently unbroken Aerus carbon

Front brake: Avid Shorty 7 w/ kool stop salmon
Rear brake: Avid Shorty 7 w/ Kool stop salmon
Levers: Campagnolo Centaur
Front derailleurs: Random cheapo Shimano
Rear derailleurs: Campagnolo Centaur
Cassette: Campagnolo Chorus 13-26
Chain: Campagnolo Record Ultra Narrow
Crankset: Campagnolo Chorus 42/53 (39s are for little girls.)
Bottom bracket: Campagnolo Chorus

Rims: Mavic Reflex tubular
Hubs: Campagnolo Centaur 32-hole
Spokes: Stainless steel, 14g straight, three-cross, w/brass nipples tied & soldered.
Tyres: Vittoria 28mm Tigre Cross (its muddy, sandy and loose)

Bars: Pro PLT Classic bend 44cm
Stem: Pro PLT 140mm (man size)
Headset: FSA
Tape/grip: Bontrager Grippy Tape

Pedals: TIME
Seat post: Campagnolo Chorus
Saddle: Selle Italia Turbo
Bottle cages: Elite
Computer: None. I kinda broke it today. I will now study the sun for time.

changes

Well, like a bad country song, my weekend continues to change. On the plus side, I no longer have to drive to Mtl to get my new bike. The kind folks at Devinci have offered to ship me the bike directly so I should have it (fingers crossed) early next week. Next note of business, Mosport again canceled. This time due to lack of pre-registered riders. Common. If you have an early season race and you keep changing starts dates OF COURSE people aren't gonna want to pre-reg. Oh well, weather looks better for Sunday. No one appears to want to drive to the Hammer with me, and I sure as hell don't feel like just driving all that way this early in the season on my own, so I am now an Almonte-Roubaix man. Prepare your hurt box, its time to get messy. As long as I get a bike built in time. And glue up my wheels. Haha. I'm bringing pre-race packing to a new level of lateness here I think. Hung out with the girls at work yesterday, heading out for a chilly morning pre-race ride today and then up wayyyy too early tomorrow for the Hell of the Ottawa Valley. Time to get the white kit a real muddy break in.

In the bag

with Sandy
Today will be a special feature on what's in Sandy's pockets when ride time rolls around. Since I returned from active racing duty in the land of cobbles and beer, I have not touched an "engineering food product" whiles riding. Keep in mind I'm not counting the dozens of calorie laden sticky buns and the like from South Carolina, I mean those bars and gels. I am quite happy about this and will continue along my merry way in such fashion, maybe packing the occasional gel for the end of a race. My stomach has been quite happy. This week in Sandy's bag-'o-ride-food I have eaten:
-nutella sammies. well, actually, PC brand Chocolate Spread sammies. It's cheaper.
-Apple butter sammies. Delicious stuff this. Goes brilliant on my cinnamon, raisin, vanilla bread.
-fruit. apples, bananas, pears. Whatever is in the cupboard.
-fresh chocolate chip cookies. Compliments of my grandmother. Sooooooo good.
-chocolate chip banana bread. Another pick-me up reserved (at looked forward too) at the end of a long ride.
-nuts. I love almonds. Fatty little buggers, but packed with energy. Try mixing some chocolate covered peanuts in the bag too.

Also in the pockets...
-iPod. what are long solo miles without some background music?
-tube/pump/multi tool. You never know.
-$$ not much, but nothing worse than a bonk or a cinnamon bun craving 2 hours from home.
-rain cape or layers. lately, not so much the cape. But it's nice to room to shed layers or bring some extra stuff. Sometimes I think I'm hard and don't wear gloves. Then I realize my hands are cold, its 8am and pull them out of my pocket when no one is looking.

Welcome to my pockets, where there is enough food for me to eat once an hour, 20 something gigs of music and some bike repair equipment. Today was a good day to ride. Along with all my gear, I packed in an excellent 5 hours in the sun. Still leg warmer and long sleeve, not to mention tuque and neck warmer, but sunny, warm and excellent none the less. I figure when its 15 when I start, then we'll consider knee warmers or just a regular cap. That is all. The weekend is in sight, and so is by association the first weekend of racing.

Desicions

Weekend plans are changing by the second. Team ride is now off due to crap weather and missing teammates. Ah, the early season. So far I am fairly certain I will be heading direction Montreal on Friday to pick up my new bike. Exciting. Then I plan on racing. Weather seems kinda shitty all over, so the best option seems to be heading south to the land of smog, also known as Toronto. Mosport on Saturday, Hamilton on Sunday. Still not sure if I'll do both, or one. I think it will be one of those near the end decisions, but Mosport is leading due to being closer driving wise. If I feel good during and after, then maybe continue along to the dirty Hammer. We'll see, maybe bed bath and beyond. I don't know if we'll have enough time! Back on track and away from the Old School quotes, I mostly just want to stay healthy and get some racing miles in my legs pre-Battenkill. Today provided me with some excellent weather and even better riding. Honestly, 16 degrees by 10am in April is pretty good in my books. 2 hours with my super secret training in the AM, class/recovery time followed by a super chill 2 hour spin in the PM after class. About 5 minutes of light rain at the start of the second ride which quickly gave way to sunshine and lollipops. Nice steak for dinner. Was planning on salmon, but a few of my food items have recently disappeared. Never saw them claims the roomie.... I am unimpressed and quite unhappy about this. Should be another nice day tomorrow though, which means one thing: more quality miles.

Write off

Due to my incredible slacking and procrastinating skills, I took yesterday off the bike. Really had to finish the stupid term paper and get rolling on this stupid estimation assignment. Overall, Sandy was not a happy camper yesterday. Luckily the weather appears to be nice again, so I will be hitting the road shortly for a good spin and workout. Things are looking more and more likely like I will be able to score my new bike this weekend, so pictures and reports to come. Plus, ideally the blog should once again become quasi interesting with the start of race season visible on the horizon. For whatever reason, I seem to find myself excited to race, but unexcited to have to drive hours to get to said races. I think I should be back in Belgium. Time for a final pre-ride temperature check. Note: apple butter is a delicious topping for breads AND meats (such as pork).

closed? "expletive deletive"

That about sums up my ride yesterday. Pretty wicked anyways. Went out for a solid 5.5 hour loop with a perfectly planned Saint Cinnabon stop en route with about 2 hours until home. Apparently the clowns at St. Cinnabon decided to screw me and are currently closed on Mondays for winter hours. Hey, wankers, its spring. And Sandy is very hungry. Needless to say, I spend 3.5 hours looking forward to some icing covered glory, and instead, got chased by several dogs on an empty stomach. Not to mention the sun seemed to be holding some kind of grudge. At least it was warm and the route was good. Plans are beginning to take shape for this weekend. First team weekend of the year, get my new bike(s) and see who else feels like going for a spin. There is even a chance that I may be making an appearance at the Almonte-Roubaix now. Don't get you hopes up too much, but there is a chance. Almost makes me wish I had participated in some of the course riding going on. Today is some essay work, some school then an after class ride schedule. Good times.

tales of akward forehead tan lines

Good solid weekend. Got a quick ride in Friday in the frigid slush which promptly chilled me to the core and made me question my will to ride outside on such days. A quick tea, some warm clothes and an extra garlic-y chicken schwarma brought my spirits back up and kept me going through an afternoon of working at the shop. A quite and tame evening of tea, some reggae and some bike maintenance finished off the day. Up early Saturday morning for a nice tt bike ride out to the Peak Center and then back into work for the rest of the day. Just a little under 2.5 hours on the tt bike left me feeling really good and perhaps even jovial. I think this will be my new thing: tt bike riding for recovery days. Mix it up, freshen it up and use some slightly different muscle groups to leave the legs feeling glorious. Went out with Geoff and some other characters for beers after work, kind of welcome and goodbye ceremony for Geoff and a general excuse to go out and re-develop some aspect, or veneer, or a social life. Needless to say, I was a little late starting my ride on Sunday, but the sun and warmth was beckoning so I grabbed a coffee and went for a spin until Geoff was able to drag himself out of bed to join me. Pretty sweet loop complete with the necessary gas station refuel stop and a quick break on a patio in the sun. If there was a better coffee shop/bakery en-route this could have exemplified all that is glorious about spring miles. In the end, a hair under 6 hours for yours truly and some pretty ridiculous tan lines. Note, if you wear a tuque while riding in the sun, move it around some. I now have this horrendous tan line across the middle of my forehead and some nearly quality wrist lines due to no gloves and long sleeves. Back in Perth now, and just preparing for a second nice long day in the sun. Another nice one, 14 degrees and sunny it would appear, or perhaps not quite that warm yet. Maybe I'll find a different hat to wear. My testing went decently as well. Not super happy with the numbers, but don't think I ever have been or probably ever will be. They are looking quite decent for this time of the year though, time to focus on week or simply unstarted areas.

Its spring?

Man, another sunny warm day. It was quite literally all my will power to not push my ride long and go to class. Unfortunately, I will be doing some testing action tomorrow now so we'll chalk this up as a win for class. A glorious ride it was though. And this weekend looks even better. I wonder what the chances are that Vince doesn't need me to work on Saturday? Or perhaps need me on time? At this rate I may be able to show more skin than my face during a ride. Maybe begin developing a tan again. As just reported, I will be finding out where I stand fitness wise tomorrow. I really dislike testing, but it seems to be one of those helpful things to do. Also the added advantage of making my intensity training create the desired benefits will be nice too. But the act of sweating on an immobile bike while some dude keeps telling you to "push harder" and removing blood from your ear/finger is less than exciting too me. Enjoy your weekends, I know I will. Now if only I could get started on my term paper...

Let the classics season commence

With the arrival of the wind and rain today, I find myself reminded that the true classics season is starting to switch into "hard man" mode. I'm referring to the cobbled classics of Belgium and Northern France. Back here in Canada, we seemed to be creating our own version of the classic's weather. Starting off with some good solid rain and leading into some pretty ridiculous wind. I chose to do my ride in the wind instead of the rain. Kinda took a chance and really just wanted to take full advantage of the 10 degree temperatures. 3 hours of full on head wind or tail wind. At least I didn't get blown off the road this time. Other wise life is good. School is not terribly stressful, but perhaps I should just get more focused on it. Then again, it's somewhat hard to focus on school with only 3 weeks left and warm weather on the horizon. Such is life, I just need to squeeze 2.5 more weeks out of my "learning" section of my brain. Tomorrow is Wednesday, interval day, and then only 2 days until the weekend. Then only 2 weeks of class. Woopee.