Lesson A

It appears to be much easier to ride for long periods on a trainer than on rollers. Who knew? On the plus side, I am still able to sit there and ride for 3 hours. Actually, not sure if thats a plus really. But its what needs to be done. The week has gone well, though it was long. Got the hours on the bike done, in school, and after school. School is busy. This morning, I don't feel like waking up the folks in the house with my trainer intervals (I am so kind) so I'll be doing some core work, building an Ikea "thing" and enjoying my coffee slowly. Intervals are now for later in the day. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday really.

Done

I land in Nice, France May 4th. Wicked. Need some motivation to up it? Book a plane ticket. That will light a fire under your butt. Testing was about where expected (not super) but with a pleasant surprise in my lactate tolerance. It would seem my body is better at dealing with it, but more importantly I associate a lot of the pain tolerance with mental freshness. That is good.

Woops

So instead of spending a solid weekend training and racing some rollers, I instead spent some time in emergency and now sitting around with some bandages. Basically, I stabbed myself with a screwdriver like a champ. Straight into that web stuff between your thumb and pointer finger. And it went deep. So I pulled the Phillips #2 out and proceeded to access the damage, cleaned it out a bit before getting a little light headed from looking INTO my hand. So I called Telehealth Ontario where a nice lady suggested in a serious voice that I make my way to a qualified medical practitioner. She was not convinced that my experienced lifeguard status was enough. So I went to emerg, where another nice nurse made me clean it out again... myself. Now, I gotta run because I have some testing chez Peak Center. I hope I can hold the bar.

Moral of the story: screwdirvers aren't sharp, but when moving fast enough they can puncture you pretty good. Also, the "ideal" place (according to the doctor) to stab your hand is where I did. No muscles, tendons, or nerves there in the webbing stuff.

A kick off to racing

Many things going on lately. School is busy, training is getting into a nice groove, and life in general is busy. Trying to source out a local for some southern training in mid-February, but things are not looking so good. I have no money. Life in Europe isn't cheep, so I may have to simply create my own mini training camp here. On the other hand I've been getting some pretty solid skiing in this week. I have now fully explored all trails at Murphy's Point Provincial park (not bad, but not long enough for a solid day haha) and even done a sweet ski along the Rideau "trail" directly from my door. One of the benefits to living in the boonies. Walked into my front yard, strapped the skis on and skied on snowmobile tracks (through front yards) down to the river then onto the "trail". By trail I am refering to following a few deer tracks that happened to follow little trail markers in the trees. Wicked. Tonight represents a theoretical start to racing with the first West of Quebec Roller race of the year. SAW gallery in the market, doors open at 7 if anyone is interested. Should be a blast. I'm also booked for some testing on Monday so that should be a painful experience. Nothing like having your finger pricked while cross-eyed to tell you you're not fit enough yet. Enjoy your weekends.

Rolling along

Another weekend has come and gone, and my motivational levels continue to creep higher and higher. I'm not going to lie, I'm pumped for spring. With my slight delay in starting serious training this year with increased school load, I'm hoping to come into the season fresh and firing for some results. I've got a plan set out and so far doing pretty good at following it. Many a day seem to be marked now by rising early again to ride before class/work so that I can also take advantage of the evenings with some down time/homework time/other training time. By other training I mean I did pushups and crunches this one time last week. At least the weather has improved so I should be getting some more xc skiing in this week. At present, a southern training local for reading week is not looking as promising as hoped and unless some incredible deal comes up... looks like I'll be spending my February in Ottawa for the first time in a few years. Unfortunate, but workable. Otherwise, life goes on.

Welcome to Canada

Welcome to Ottawa, Canada. Current operating tempurature of -28 Celsius (or -18.4 F) for our American friends). But no worries, we are Canadians. I have still been hearing snowmobiles outside (I am in Perth after all) through the evening. Though that may just be cause their cars won't start or they are too drunk to drive their cars. Maybe a mix of both. On the plus side, its not even cold today! CBC weather has just informed me of a high of -34 C tomorrow evening! Hurray! Just when I find some good ski tracks around here.... back on the rollers. Time got away a little today, so just stuck with a little strength and core work but back on the bike tomorrow. The strep in my throat feels loads better at least, so the pills I got seem to be doing the trick (last one tomorrow). I may have even found a little local ski race around here for fun coming up. I wonder if I can shuffle my ski quick for 20km still??? Its been a few years since my last efforts on the the suffering sticks...

Uhhhgg.

So apparently the reason I was sick last week is strep throat. The moral of the story is, if you are sick for a while, but only your throat hurts (generally like you're swallowing steel wool) then go see a doctor. I probably could have salvaged a day or two in there somewhere, but either way. I'm on some anti-biotics now and feel mildly better. Went out for a roller riding morning with the Wheelers on Saturday morning, great time if you are free from 9am to 11am by the way, and had a great time considering my energy levels and throat pain. Thanks to John L. for getting me out. Plus could be good in fine tuning that form for this year's roller racing. Check the West of Quebec Wheeler's page for more info on that. Or I'll post some soon. Otherwise, gonna try another easy spin tonight to get back into the grove. Keep it real.

The Grind

Back in Perth, back in class and back to my routine. But with some changes.
1 - Two roomates have moved out, and I have one new replacement one... she is middle aged and doesn't really speak english. I think this will be like a bad sitcom.
2 - There is no snow in Perth. I see grass. This ruins my skiing plans, but I hear 15-20cm are in the forecast so maybe I'll be back supplementing my training on snow again soon.
Otherwise, life rolls on. Classes look pretty sweet, with mostly all shop class. We're building some pretty wicked stuff and doing almost all detail work. So I'm pumped to learn and actually interested enough to attend large percentage of my classes. Riding is going well, rolling away on the rollers, and will begin adding in a little intensity soon on the old turbo. I will only use it for intensity for the simple reason that while on it I am unable to hold less than 170-180 watts because the resistance unit is broken. That and my brain goes to mush. I have also added in some new misery to my riding repertoire with a set of Power Cranks. Its kind of like 1 legged pedaling drills (with both legs) for your entire ride. It wasn't as bad as I thought to learn, though you do feel it more. The good news is last week I tried (and succeeded, barely) for an hour and half ride on them and nearly didn't make it up the stairs out of the basement. Today, 1.5 hours... pfft. No worries. They're certainly pretty bad ass.
I also promised a team update for next season, so for anyone who has not heard it verbally from me yet: I'm hopping the pond once again. More specifically down to the south of France, in Nice for the season. Hop a jet in early May, settle into a new pad and race my face off until September. Sprinter Club de Nice, here I come. Bananas. Helping me out will be Stevens bikes once again of Germany (see Vince at the Cyclery if you want to match me). Big ups. With that being said, I'll start off my season with some early season races under the Cyclery banner flying the blues through April and early May. For now if anyone wants (or knows anyone looking for) a EVA-Devinci team bike (size large) or a 55cm Javelin Torgiano framset... you contact me. Please.

The End

Not of much in particular really. More just my holidays. Spent the last couple days skiing and relaxing. And now its done with a gold medal match-up on the tele. Wicked. I as well have acquired myself a pretty wicked old-school Rancilio espresso machine some am super pumped on that. Training is underway and life is good. I promise to bring folks more fully up to date on Sandy and his shanigans in the coming days.

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2009. Full of promise and possibility. I for one will be starting things off with a day of telemark skiing. Enjoy!