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!