big yellow taxi

I finally booked my plane ticket today to the lovely, rainy, Comox Valley on Vancouver Island. I'll be flying out on Feuary 13th, and staying until the 30th of April. I'm hoping to put in the miles and get some solid legs for the up coming Van Isle Cups, BC Cups, and Canada Cups.
Opus Bicycles, being the troopers they are, said they would send my brand spanking new Opus Fhast mountain bike to me in BC. Deadly.

I also finally got my passport, after a few months of questions and wondering. It should make the life of a nomad a little easier when airport jumping.

Holy Crap!

Jono Page finished 2nd at Elite Cyclo-Cross worlds today. For those who dont know: http://www.cyclingnews.com/riders/2007/interviews/?id=jonathan_page07

Its like Chewbacca winning Miss America

.

The FenceBuster

Well, its been pretty slow on the riding front lately, especially with a storm in the forecast for tomorrow.
During the off season, a 20 year old fella cant be blamed for having a little fun at the bar, and chasing after some ladies while getting a little tipsy in the process. The problem that many of us have to deal with is, of course getting home in the wee-hours of the morning when driving is not an option.
Being the cheap person that I am, and not getting a cab. I've discovered a faithful friend. That being......The Fencebuster.
We've ridden together many a time, even during snowstorms, especially when the hardest part of getting home, is riding in a straight line.

Selfish-ness

(Getting some calories during the 12 hour)


I realized the other day while on a ride, just how selfish racing and training is. As an athlete we are constantly thinking about ourselves. Thinking what we can do to recover faster, sparing no expense to save seconds. All this in a quest to become stronger and more fit. We take enormous sacrifices, and expect our close ones to do the same along with us. I've often skipped out on family events or dinners to go for a ride or go to the gym. I just recently missed a coffee meeting with a friend because nice days this time of year a few and far between, so I went for a ride. That being an example when she said that she knew me too well to keep me inside.


I couldn't count the times my mother and father and girlfriends have spent all day in the feed zone for me, without question during a race. Another prime example was last year during the 12 hours of Cumberland, where my mom stood out in the 30degree temperature for about 15 hours feeding me the whole day, also while volunteering. During a 12 hour race you sometimes don't treat the person who has your back as best you can, and I realized that after. My communication with people during that race was pretty harsh, but when your racing, you sometimes don't think about that, or the effort someone is putting out for you.




(Death, after the 12 hour)

Last night I had a realization about selfishness in racing. I was going to dinner with my father and some other family members. One of them, who I don't know that well asked me if I was taking my bike to BC. A simple question, but in my mind I was thinking it was outrageous......of course I am, that's the ONLY reason I'm going. To ride my bike. I responded with a quiet "yeah, for sure" but in my mind it made me feel so alienated with everyone else, even though they are my family. Athletes sometimes appear to have a lot of ego, but I think a lot of it can be attributed to a misunderstanding between two people. One, the cyclist commits enormous amounts of time, and money and effort in to one thing. The other person interested, but un-aware asks some simple questions, which plays down everything the athlete has worked for and done. I guess its the ability to keep your triumphs close to your heart, and to authentically celebrate with the people who know you, and the hardships you face, that makes the differene between a true peoples champion(Rocky) and just another arrogant athlete.


(Enjoying a beer with my support crew, after a long day, and a hard fought win)

Picking Your Brain

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Title and Registration

Well, not much to post as of late. I seem to fill my time looking outside, and checking the weather forecast for Victoria.(big sigh) Soon, soon Ryan.

In the meantime, I've been trying to get some trainwhore rides in along, with other things. I just have to master turning off all senses and numbing my brain so I cant feel or think, then maybe I'll be able to get a few hours in. Heroin would be good for a person if they wanted to become the trainwhore World Champion, if such a thing exists. Wait......http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/14/stationary.bike.ap/index.html




(In case you cant see, that is Rocky running in the snow.....in of course Rocky 4. Between watching it at work day in day out, and it being my only VHS movie, I can act out the part better than a wax museum figure of Sylvester Stallone.)

Ripped Apart

The past few years during the fall, I've worked for The 24Hours of Adrenalin. If some of you haven't heard of it, its a company that puts on 24 hour mountain bike races all across North America. People race either on a team, or solo.

The most coveted race in 24 hour racing is the World Championships, put on by the company that I've worked for. Its the high light of the season, with hundreds of racers going for top spot in the world.

Ive seen a lot of 24 hour races, but the Worlds race last October 2006 was, Honestly, the most amazing thing I have EVER seen in my life. Check the link:

http://www.velonews.com/race/mtn/articles/11025.0.html

Training Partners

Like most Canadian cyclists, I usually look for some sort of cross training during the cold winter months to get away from the dreaded trainwhore. I find Trail running is a great way to whip you into shape, and re-kindle memories of warm summer days when the trail isn't covered with blasphemous snow.

Since I've been about sixteen, I've always had a secret way to roughly judge my fitness, no matter what the time of year. That being if I could run my dog into the ground over a 2 hour period of trail running.

Well after years of faithful service, and many miles of trail, I decided it was time to retire my current dog, Bobbi. Shes still sprightly, but not so much at the age of 15.

Bobbi

Bring on the Mean Machine.

I set my sights to my new training aid, that being Lola. My friends new, year old dog, who was literally made to run. The heart rate monitor doesn't lie.

"Pick up the pace fatty" -Lola

Inside the Postal Bus

For Christmas, one of the sneeky gifts I got my mom was Mike Barry's "Inside The Postal Bus". I figured she liked both of Lance's books, so it would be an easy way to get a gift for her, and also a treat for myself. A way of getting two birds stoned at once.
For those who havn't heard of Mike Barry, he is a Toronto native who is one of the only Canadians in the Pro Peleton right now. If you ever watch the Olympics or the World road Race Championships on TV, he is the lone Canadian in the field of hundreds. He also happens to be on Lance's famed USPS/Discovery team.

The book is a run down of his entire season, from early season training camps in California, and Texas, to the Olympics in 2004, and also the post Tour de France Races. He covers it all with intimate detail of the way the team works, and also little traits of each team member on USPS.
I think any cyclist can get something out of this book. What a lot of people don't realize about professionals in Europe is that, other than Lance Armstrong, these guys race probably 4-6 times a WEEK. The Tour De France, in retrospect is a very small part of the year for them. They race in everything from snow in February, to the 40+ degree weather in Spain in the heat of the summer. Mike does a great job of documenting this in a way that you wouldn't be exposed to in other ways, its essentially his diary.

The book is written well for someone who spends their life on a bike, but it is slow in parts, and is a bit mono-tone. I found Lance's book to flow very well, and to be very easy to read. A read that even, a non-cyclist could understand and enjoy. Mikes book, although written well, would be difficult to follow if you were a non-cyclist, but makes it that much better if you are a cyclist.

In any case, I found it interesting. Even if you just pop it in the washroom, and take a few chapters out of it every once in awhile, its great. Much better than reading the same MTB magazine from 2000 over and over again. I would give it 4.5 stars out of 5.

BONK!

With the extremely mild weather PEI has been getting (and the rest of the country it seems) I took the opportunity to get off the winter Fixxie, and hop on my new roadie, an Opus Toccata for the very first ride(not even on the trainor).
Getting a new bike is such a bittersweet thing. There is something special about hopping on a brand new virgin bike, but at the same time it takes a few rides and some miles to get the feel for what it should be like, and usually results in about 100 changes before its right.
Within the first half kilometer I made about 4 changes. Rotate the bars, up/down the seatpost, change the angle of the seat, etc. I have the pleasure of riding the Selle San Marco Concor, which I've ridden before, and is the ONLY saddle I've never gone numb on. Its also the same seat Lance and Discovery uses(they got the idea from me). I would kiss this saddle if it wasnt covered in a fine goo of Bag Balm.


The ride started off great. I only had time to get in a brisk 3 hours, because of the appraoching darkness, and I had to go to work. The past few years I've been a pretty much a ghost on PEI, and Holy Crap! I forgot how hilly it was. Also there was a very brisk wind, a cold winter wind puffing at about 60km/h, which didnt help my weak unconditioned legs. Other than my poor form, it felt good to get back on island roads as it has been over a year since I've done a road ride on PEI.

Another of my realizations on the ride was that I dont know how to use gears anymore. I found myself cranking up hills in my hardest gear, not realizing I now can shift. This ride was the first time I've been on a geared bike in 7 months.

As I started to find my way back to Charlottetown, I felt the framilier feeling that every athlete hates. That being........the BONK.
BAM! it hit me hard. suddenly, the wind was psuhing oh so much harder, and the cold was getting me to the bone. For about a half hour I was licking my stem up every climb, which was a lot on PEI. As dusk appraoched the only thing I could think about was milk, and peanut butter. Needless to say I didnt have any with me.

I finally made it home, barely able to summit the last climb because my arms(?) were shaking with weakness. As I walked in, I was greated by my mom who was busy making supper, and to my delight, it was chicken crepes for dinner. OHHH deadly. You dont realize how good home is until you leave. After a long shower and a quick nap, I was ready to head to work.
The Opus was great, despite my poor conditioning. The Aluminum bottom bracket is super stiff for my thrashing style this time of year, and once again the tried tested and true Dura-Ace/Mavic Ksyriums combo are pretty much bombproof. You cant go wrong with a combo like that.

Grey skies are going to clear up....

I tried to defy the gods yesterday by trying to put in some base miles on January 5th. After an hour, the Fixxie and I decided it was time to pack it in. It was a chill 3C, when the rain strted which contributed to freezing wetness.

Of course, it was garbage day on the route I picked, so every 10 minutes I got soaked by garbage truckes heading in either directions. Time to watch the Jr game.

The Winter Bike

Whoa, 9 speeds!

I wrote this blurb about (my) old school MTB racing days mid May 2006 on another blog when I was living in Cumberland, and working at the Hostel. I thought it might be a good way to start the new blog off.



There is a huge BMX racing scene in Cumberland. We're talking mainly little kids and young teenagers. Last weekeend was part of the Island cup of BMX racing, so of course there were tonnes of wee tots riding around the town rippin', and lovin life.



A father and his 2 sons stayed at the hostel for the night before the race. I saw the bikes in the bike room and the kids running around, didnt think much of it. It was when I talked to them the next morning that brought back sweet memories of how good racing really is, and where the heart of it is.



Their father was super into them racing, but not pushy, no, he was supportive but the right kind, the kind that is missing now from young sport. He asked me about the town and some things about the track and Cumbeland etc, then I saw them pile everything back into the biggest piece of shit car I have ever seen. I dont think he/they had a whole lot of money, but because they came all the way from Victoria to race just made my heart fill with racing love. It took me back to when I was 14 and when my mom and I would cram all of my mtb racing stuff into the back of her Toyota Camry and we would drive a minimum of 4 hours to the mtb races on the mainland.



All of the skratches on that car are from pedals, and my own general awkword teenage hands loading bikes into the trunk. We would drive all day Saturday to race in the Atlantic Series in U15, the most slack category there is. We would stay in some terrible drive up hotel room. The ones with the stains on the ceilings, and rings in the tub, but it didnt matter, we were tough, we were Mtb racers.



Some of the time she would hand wash my shorts that I wore the day earlier on the pre-lap if we couldnt find a washing machine. Now thats love. Often some of my young riding buddies would come along with us. My best firend today is a guy who travelled to races with me. Hah, we still go to races together(note SSWC ....the death march).



We would do the one lap-U15 race. It was always in the morning, and would be about an hour of pain for my wee legs and then pack er in, hang out in our gross dirty shorts, most of the time covered in cakes of mud and wait for the elite race to start.



The Elite guys I looked up to, doing 5 laps, at a time where doing 2 was unfathonable to me. They would rip and ride sections I had no idea were rideable, and they would do it not even thinking about it. I looked at these guys in awe.....all of us did. They were the apitamy of mtbing in my eyes in those early days.



Time passes and now I find myself thinking about those days again with the visit from the father and his boys. I was was just cleaning they're room when I found package of Sobe Adrenalin Rush, A staple in racing. Most of my best firends today, come from those days where we would rip around the maritmes on our bikes and race because it was fun. It was all we wanted to do, and all we cared about.



Well again, time has passed and I realize that the elite races that I thought we impossible to even attempt, I've won those them and won the series they were in. But looking back, even after winning, it wasn't half as much fun as going out and doing the one lapper with my mom and my best bud with me. One thing for sure that is always a staple in racing no matter how old you are, or how fast you can pedal a bike......Dairy Queen is after the race.




Loving life at MTB Nats in 2000 (age 13)


Pro News interview at 13, Hah

New Challenges

2007 brings a lot of new challenges for me this year. I'm tearing myself away from my beloved Single Speed to follow, once again the Canada Cup circuit, and hopefully bigger and better things. With a brand new sponsor(Opus Bikes), an old sponsor(Maxxis Tires), and 2 brand new bikes, I'm looking fore ward to living like a monk once again until October.
Its funny comparing this years goals to last years. My main goal for the 2006 season was to have fun, drink a lot and move to a new place to start a new life and to ride my bike. With the 2007 season here already in January, I'm looking to the National racing scene with the hope of having a building year, and getting some solid results. (ALL ABROAD A GEARED BIKE AS WELL!)
Going over the newly released schedule, I'm going to be hoping the country A LOT and probably going into debt hardcore.

Here is a look at what my plans are:

Spring:
BC once again, The lovely valley of Comox. Doing as many Island Cups as possible, and hopefully some BC Cup road races in the Spring. I want to see if I can get hooked up with the Pac-Sport Crew again for some camps.

April:
Heading back to The East Coast to see the family and riding some of the Atlantic Cups. Also, fine tuning the form for the upcoming Canada Cups in Quebec.

Canada Cup #1 Baie St. Paul, Quebec May 13th 2007
Canada Cup #2 Bromont Quebec, May 19th 2007
Canada Cup #3 Mont. Tremblant, Que, May 26th 2007

June:
From the end of May, there is a bit of a question mark. Nationals is on my home Turf of Mt. Washington, and I would love to do the Test of Metal again in Squamish because it is a great race and I had a lot of success there last year.

The Test of Metal: June 17th 2007,
Nationals: Mt. Washington BC, July 22nd 2007
Some more BC/Canada Cups at this time, but depends on my funds

In this time I would like to do be more based in BC and continually hit up the Island Cups and Marathon races. Either way it looks like a lot of time on the road.

Ahhhhhh yes, January 1st again

After a night of solid dancing, I awoke to the foggy and hurting realization that it was January 1st. For me, January 1st means one thing, a freezing cold bike ride with other fellow cyclists on PEI. Following that, the potluck/pig out/smoozing with all the fellas I havn't seen since the snow started flying and the trails are only accessible to crazy.