Almost

Well. I'm nearly back. Nuked that sickness pretty good the last couple of days with ginger tea, echinacea, multi vitamins and plenty of rest. I'm not sure who is really winning, it pretty much had me pinned the last few days... but I'm slowly coming back out on top. Apparently I have now missed much of the good warm weather, but the urge to ride is strong. And hard to ignore. At least I took advantage of some down time and am feeling fretty damn rested at the moment. Now I just need to go outside again before I loose my marbles.

sick

That about sums up my weekend. Lying in bed trying to battle whatever this is. So much for some outdoor riding, I feel like death. Damn.

General info post

50... number of board feet of kiln dried Walnut sitting in my living room.
2... number of espressos I've consumed so far this morning.
3... number of days since my mobile has been in the mood to charge.
9... number of days class until reading week.
6,266... number of kms from Ottawa to Nice.
9... number of hours I'll spend in school today. (6 of which are for class)

Side note: for some good listening try out K'Naan or Bell Orchestre. Thanks to Q of CBC Radio for these hints. Good listening. I am super pumped to get my new race wheels glued up. Mavic Reflex on Ultegra. Classy.

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.