A Long Weekend of Racing

This past Victoria long weekend I had my third Alberta Cup Race and first marathon race near Stoney Plain. As well Nadine's Parents and Grandma were over for a visit and to help out with some gardening.

Sunday was the Bacon ABA Cup #3, for the expert men it was 4 laps around a 6.3 km course with a short prolog. Our start time was @ 2:15 which allowed things to warm up to decent racing temperature. As planned I went hard off the start and got myself in the top 5, but not long after I slipped on a root and went of the trail and was dropped to the back (I think 15th). Luckily I was feeling really strong and immediately started attacking and worked my way back to the top 5 by the end of the first lap. On the second lap I continued to move up and passed Simon for 2nd, but that didn't last. I held that position till half way through the 3rd lap, but I was starting to feel the earlier work and was slowing down. Simon took back 2nd and soon put a gap between us that I would never make up. I finished the race in 3rd happy with my come back, but curious how things would have turned out if I didn't make that early mistake. First went to a fellow teammate Brian Robinson.

The next morning was the Trans. Stoney Supper Hero Challenge, which was the first marathon race of the ABA season. We would be lapping a modified version of the Bacon course in reverse for 6 hrs. It was a less technical course, but nice to ride something different. We started at 10:15 with nicer weather then the day before. I did a poor job watching who was in front of me and never new where I was in the race. I think it was lap 11 when Gabor Csonka (finished 1st) lapped me and lap 13 when Jon Nutbrown (finished 2nd) lapped me. I also new Ryan Correy (finshed 3rd) was in front of me riding strong, so at the best I would be 4th, but figured there was more ahead of me and was happy to just finish with a good effort. The top three guys did 15 laps with Pat Doyle finishing 4th with 14 laps and myself in 5th with 14 laps. I was happy with my result and effort. I was doing some experimenting with food in preparation for 24 hrs solo and had really bad stomach cramps for the last 5 laps and know a few more things that don't work for me.

All in all it was a good weekend, I believe my 3rd place at the Bacon was fast enough to count towards being upgraded to Elite, now I just need a win... The Tran. Stoney was a good test and I think I have come away with a few more things to add to my 24 hrs menu.

Thanks to all of the volunteers, organizers, feeder and racers for a great weekend.

Perogy XC

Some weekends you have it and some weekends you don't! This weekend I definitely didn't, I finished 12th of 21 in the Expert. I've been going over last week in my mind to see if I can think of anything that would have contributed to my lack of power and energy and have come up with a few things that I will do differently.

The first lap went as planned, I had a good start and was in 2nd or 3rd after the initial sprint. I thought that we were moving at a decent pace, but then one of the guys on a cross bike got the lead and pushed the pace a bit more and I fell back a spot or two. I was hurting really bad, my mouth was dry and we were only a few minutes into the first lap. I started to have doubts about the race, but pushed them aside and hammered on. I think I finished the first lap in 4th place and grabbed a water from Nadine, as I couldn't get my energy drink down. About a km into the second lap I made a wrong turn. Ryan Correy was just behind me and let me know my mistake, but it took a bit for me to realize what he had yelled. I knew exactly what he said when I turned around and saw no one there. I turn myself around and hammered on my peddles to make the time I had just lost and realized that I had been passed by at least 5 expert racers. I worked really hard to try and get with the chase group, but blew up on one of he hills. I was dizzy and my vision was blurry and I almost called the race. I turned down my effort and drank a lot of water and pushed on. I think Tom passed me at some point as well. Nothing much happened for the rest of the 2nd lap or the 3rd. About halfway through the 4th lap I started to feel stronger again and picked up the pace. Unfortunately I was unable to catch anyone ahead of me.

The race didn't go as I had hoped or expected. I think after finishing the Coulee Cruiser and feeling so strong I had a lot of expectations for myself. I feel hungry for the next race and hope to redeem myself.

2010 Coulee Cruiser

I almost didn't make the 7+ hr drive down to Lethbridge for the XC season opener, but decided to go for it in the end. I broke up the drive by staying in Calgary for both Friday and Saturday night with Nadine's parents. Being in Calgary also gave me lots of opportunity to hang out with friends and have bit of a social life again. Staying up late the night before the race wasn't the best idea, but I was well rested that week and it helped me relax.

I was pumped when I got to Lethbridge and saw that the course was in decent shape, as I was expecting it to be a big mud pit. I hung around watching the youth and novice racers loop the course while chatting with teammates and other racers for a little while.

The Expert men started a couple minutes behind the Elite's around 1:30. I had miss heard the race organizer, I thought I heard something like"I'll give you a 30 second warning before you start", but what he said was "you start within the next 30 seconds". I was not ready when he said go, and got stuck near the back of the group. Luckily I was positioned on the left side the racers and we had a quick sharp left turn which allowed me to move up a couple spots. I moved in just behind Ryan Correy in the middle of the pack as we ascended the first climb. Not long after that most of us were caught in a tangle where I was stopped dead, but luckily I didn't unclip and some how I was able to ride out of the mess in 4th place. I attacked on the next small climb and was in 3rd place, and was amazed that I could be in that position after such a bad start. After the first big climb Simon Williams (Speed Theory) had the lead with Jonathan Benskin (Hardcore Racing) in a close second and then I rounded out the top three. The three of us would stay in the top three for the remainder of the race, but we did move around a bit. on the next big climb I attacked and passed Jonathan for second and a bit later I tried to pass Simon, but picked a bad line and had to back off. Nearing the end of our first lap on a sharp hairpin turn I got my drivetrain tangled in some brush and could not peddle, while I was removing the bush Jonathan regained second and at some point soon after took the lead (I didn't see the pass). I worked hard to catch up to Simon and made my move to pass him on the same hill I passed Jonathan earlier in the race. I spent the rest of the race trying to real Jonathan in and did eventually catch him on that last lap, but without any more passing opportunities it was to late. I was just under 4 seconds behind him with a time of 1:12:28.1 (Jonathan was 1:12.24.2 and Simon was 1:12:56.4).

I was extremely happy with my result, not only was it my first podium in Expert, I also believe it was fast enough to qualify for one of my podiums that I will need to upgrade to Elite. Apart from the results I felt great and that I could have kept that pace going for a longer race. My next race is in Edmonton for the Perogy XC, it is a much longer race at about 40 km compared to the 24 km we did in Lethbridge.

Thank you Headwinds Cycling Club for putting on a great race!

Wednesday in Jasper

Yesterday I planned to test my endurance, I was going to bump my longest ride of the season from 4 hrs to 6 hrs. Right from the start my legs felt empty and I could tell that it was going to be a tough day. I'm not sure if it was the gym workout or the message the day before, either way I felt slow. Soon the temperature and my legs warmed up and I started to remove some layers. It was going to be much warmer then the +13 predicted, I think it reached +20. I road from the north to south on the Overlander trail to the sixth bridge at Maligne Canyon and turned up to climb an impressive steep little climb along the Canyon. Once I got to the top I turned around and continued along the Athabasca River to Old Fort Point parking lot. From there I headed towards the Valley of Five Lakes and shortly after I turned around I hit the 3 hr mark and had a quick break. I realized that I was almost out of fluids and I had a craving for salt, so I was off to Jasper townsite. Sitting outside a gas station after 4 hrs of riding I decided that I was too wiped to ride the Overlander back to my car, so locked out the suspension and and hit the highway. In the end I road 4 hrs and 48 min, a ways off from what I had planned. I think next time I would push through and ride the trail back, it's a boring highway ride back and it was with a headwind the whole time.

Trail Conditions:

-The Overlander Trail is now free of snow and ice, there are still some wet and muddy spots, but mostly dry. I would say that it is in the best shape of all the trails I have been on this year.

-Trails out to Valley of the Five Lakes (1 to 9 to 9a and back on 9 to 9c) are in decent shape, but there are still sections of snow and ice in most of the low shady areas, but the rest of the riding is mostly dry with a few wet and muddy spots. A couple more weeks and it should be all good!

-Maligne Canyon trail 7 at the bottom of the canyon is a bit wet, but not bad. The trail 7h hill is in good shape, with very tacky dirt. I'm thinking of doing some hill repeats next week on it...

2010 Goals

Looking back at my past three years of racing I realize I really only have one season of competitive race experience and that would be from 2007 when I started racing (from Novice to Expert). In 2008 I did one race at the beginning of May because Nadine and I had our long awaited year off to travel. When we got back in 2009 I started the season off with no endurance, strength or training and it showed, I believe I finished last in my first two races. As the season was coming to an end at Provincials felt that I was finally in race shape, or at least close to it. I'm well into my training for 2010 with over 3 months of training behind me now and feeling stronger then any time last year.

I have set the bar high for myself in 2010, with ambitious goals and a busy race season. I am planning to move up to Elite by the end of May, which means that I will need to win 2 of 3 races or 1 win and 2 other podium finishes along with average lap time that would put me in the top 2/3 of the Elite riders to show that I would be competitive at that level. I'm sure that Expert is going to have a very competitive field this year with determined riders like Ryan Corey who want to move up for a chance at the 2012 Olympic team. My biggest race/goal of the year is my second attempt at 24 Hrs Solo in which I am aiming for a podium spot and possibly a WSC qualification (in Australia). I went into my first solo race with no expectations and little knowledge of what it would take physically and mentally. From that race I have developed a new race plan that I hope will produce results. Depending on how my season is going I'm sure new goals and opportunities will show themselves along the way.

Since we moved from Calgary to Edson I haven't had a job, sure I've been keeping busy with house reno's and bike training, but I've had no income of my own. I feel fortunate that I have a wife who is able and willing to support me in mountain bike racing while she works. Thanks Nadine!

Trail Maintenance

I have felt really lucky for the mild winter we have had, being able to train outside helps keeps me motivated and I look forward to each training ride. But after riding the highways and then fire roads for a couple months it starts to get boring, so two weekends ago I drove out to Hinton. I brought my hiking boots, axe, and bow saw with a plan to hike the big loop at the Hinton Nordic Centre and clean up the trails. I had also brought all of my mtn. bike gear hoping that the trails would be ridable. Unfortunately the trails were not ready, with areas of deep snow and a lot of ice it looks to a few weeks away. So I got my hiking stuff together and set off at a hight pace to clean the trail. I spent a little under 3 hrs hiking and sawing my way around the course, I believe I removed 20+ fallen trees and only leaving one behind ( to large for saw...). It was a beautiful day and I am excited to hit the trail once it clears up. I guess it's back to the highways, fire roads and trainer for a bit longer.

Winter Training in Edson...

As the 2009 bike season was coming to an end, I was looking forward to the 2010 season and trying to mentally prepare myself for a long winter on my trainer. I had a few good cycling DVD's, spinnervals and some workouts written up. But to my surprise and excitement it has been far milder this winter then what I was expecting, I have been able to ride my bike outside all winter long with only a 3 week period in December that was either to cold or I was away on holidays. I have still spent a decent amount of time on the trainer, but it is sure nice to mix things up and go outside. In January and early February I was working on my bike handling skills riding on hardened snowmobile tracks, these rides weren't long but they kept things fun. Since we returned from our Ski Tour across the Wapta Icefields in the middle of February I have been on my bike outside 3-4 times a week and riding well over 2 hrs. Now I'm waiting for the trails in Hinton and Jasper to clear up a bit more, hopefully I can get a few solid weeks in April before race season begins.

Architecture

It is coming up on 2 years since I have actually worked in an architectural office and I find myself wondering if I should still consider architecture (tech. / draftsman) my occupation. After taking a year off to travel and now living in Edson, Ab I feel I'm getting further and further from having a career in Architecture. I worked in the industry for 5 years and was starting to feel pretty confident, I had moved into a Intermediate Tech. position with greater responsibility and more exciting projects. On the other side living in Edson has allowed me to design and then move to the construction side of things. I am part way though renovating the main floor of our first house and have gained some more insight on some of the finer details finish carpentry.