Ode

An ode to the frame pump. In addition to being classy as*#%$, the frame pump also allows you to actually pump you flat tire on the side of the road in less than 36 1/2 hours.
Reason #3:

Large angry dog. Bottles are good, but sometimes you're running a littl elow on the water. Sometimes you spring, but are both tired from your workout and the dog is damn tenacious. Then you slowly and calmly pop the frame pump off....
Great day for a ride yesterday though.

Tuesday

Tuesdays are my favourite school day of the week this semester; 1 class at 10am leaving me with a full afternoon to ride, relax and generally enjoy the day. Today will be no different. The sun is already out after all. School is coming to a close as well, rather quickly I might add. I move back to Ottawa starting this weekend meaning I will be commuting back and forth for a partial month. I really should start packing my stuff. Shortly thereafter I will repack and hop on a plane. Eventually this last second packing will bite me on the ass. If you are looking for a good read or some good motivation, try no further than Micheal Barry's newest post on Velonews. Not only can the man ride a bike, but he is quite the extrodinary writer.

Chilly, but hey. It's Canada

Not warm today, but also not nearly cold enough to keep me off the bike. And off the turbo and/or rollers. Speaking of which, roller races last night.. and they were a blast! A good crowd of friendly folks to encourage us (and more particularly me) as I attempted to not embarrass myself in the kilo and the 5km. I only fell off in the 5km. No damage done, but judging from the noises of the crowd it was pretty sweet. I still managed to climb back up and finish er' up as the crash was in the last kilo. A great night, and thanks again go out to John and the Wheelers for putting on this event. Met up with the Cyclery boys this morning for a good 3 hour jaunt into the winds. Seriously, it was windy. In addition to being bottle freezing cold. But a good time was had by all and the hammer got put down a couple of times. No falling this time. Happy birthday will have to go out to my mom, and I will soon be cheffing up a birthday feast suitable for a woman who has had to bear with me and my shinanigans for the last 23 years. The lamb alone should make up for at least a couple of the worst years. I learned today 2 things as well: Ottawa has not seen a true snow fall for 43 days (exciting for the more 2 wheeled inclined of us), and second of all there are still people up skiing in the Gatineaus. What is up with that? I for one am much more content on the bike, and finishing up with a nice lunch and some coffee in the sun. Cheers

Long time, no info

My computer cracked. And it cracked hard. So hard in fact, that I spent quite some time in the internet "dark" until I could get it to tech support (Pook) and have him reboot the sucker for me. The last few days have been spent reloading various programs, files and of course my music. You haven't missed much here; weather has been glorious so I made various decisions such as ditching the car and riding to Ottawa Friday morning then back to Perth Monday morning. The new bike is assembled, and pictures will follow once I reclaim my camera. School is busy, but it should be. They should be handing me a diploma shortly. Got a few projects on the go and and generally wishing for more riding time. The weekend isn't looking quite so glorious as the past 2 so I may need to book a little extra riding time into my day tomorrow. France is near after all, and the racing is even closer. Speaking of which, come out Saturday night to the roller races. If for no other reason than to watch me suffer in the 5km race.

TGIF

Long week, tests, papers plus some hard ass training. Needless to say I am more than ready for a weekend. In fact, another reading week would be much appreaciated. At least spring is here, got in a couple rides outside this weekend and even enjoyed some sun. I learned a few things on these rides as well, power cranks are wayyyy hard outside, much more so than on the rollers. Say for example your legs start crying at the 1 hour turn around point. You still have 1 hour to go. I could barely lift my legs up the 3 stairs into the house. Ouch. But good times. Now for some more good weather hopefully, and some cruising outside. Good for the moral most deffinitely. Racing season is approaching!
In fact, under 2 months until I'm in France. Shit. Got some work to do!

Back

Ok, think I'm back now. My computer is on the fritz still, but I seem to be able to use the blog again, just not with Firefox??? Either way, for the time being you haven't missed much in my life. And I'm sure the 3 of you have all let loose a large sigh of relief. Basically it's been a hard month of training after the week of suffering through the plague. Lots of hard work, and I'm feeling good. Motivation remains high, and is peaked with intervals of positive temperatures where I can ride outside. School has been pretty hectic the last 2 weeks with tests and papers all over the place, but I'm surviving. In fact, I've discovered that the faster I write my tests, the more time off I get to ride (class is done when I finish the test). This is nice. I even got my new frame for the year on the weekend. Should be able to pick up the gruppo this weekend and then post some pictures for you clowns. For a sneak preview, follow the link on the right to the Stevens website and look for the red/white/back Vuelta. It looks beyond wicked. Even better looking than my old Vuelta.

Delayed

EPIC ski was about a week ago.Dorry for the delay, I have no working mobile (NEVER pay Telus to handle your shit) and my computer is on the fritz and won't let me upload anything. Otherwise, pretty good day. I felt good until the last 2km (which happens to be straight uphill) so had an apple and finished 'er up. 7 hours (including a nice breakfast stop at the cabin) of xc red trail skiing is never "easy". Poor Vipond snapped his ski in half in the middle of no where and had to walk out to the trail where we found him a ski patrol and therefor a ski-doo lift out of there. Either way, I was ready for a nap when I got home. Needless to say, training is going well. Keir brought some funny pics to my attention... tdu... scroll down to the Lance and some dufus trying to poke him with giant syringes. Not funny in the sense that the fat man is a tool and deserved to be Bart Wellons kicked in the face, yet funny in the sense that that is pretty much what Lance does. Bonus points for Lance for not really losing any composure. Leave the riders room you tool. Not what a racer wants to worry about, enough shit going on in a race to not have to worry about a fat man with comicaly large syringes. THe last weeks have been filled with some hard riding, lots of school work and generally not much else. The deep freeze is back, just making the itch for spring that much worse. Speaking of which, the turbo is calling my name. Cheers,