Can I Have the $2 Special?

Time to take some time off, and put up the feet.

Such Great Heights

I entered the Mt. Tremblant Canada Cup with a sense of last redemption. The 2 Canada Cups before it were a wash, and these strings of races looked the same as the others had the years before. No stellar results and ton of bad luck and bad legs. I was looking foreward to the end of it so the crew and I could hit the road. I was missing home, and the slow island life.

I again went into the race very calm and relaxed, as much as you could knowing that you have a world class pain train ahead of you. As usual, I was at the back of the pack. No call up for Ryan, but ended up a little better around 60th spot of 80.

As the gun went I was still calm. I reminded myself to take it easy and I was only going about 80% on the first climb before we went into the woods. Steadily I worked my way up and up. You don't really know how high up you are because it seems there is always 20 riders ahead when you start in the sixties. So for the first lap I worked and worked. Then toward the end of the first I noticed some familiar faces I was racing with....and passing. I kept putting the pedal to the medal and riding the tech zones well and before I knew it I was in the top 20. Even on the climbs I was doing well, against the teeny tiny climbers.

I realized I had the best positioning in any Canada Cup I ever entered but I kept my head down and kept working.

I had to collect myself and keep the nerves cool when the people who said they would feed me that morning before the race didn't bother to show up. Luckily I had put my bottles at the feed zone so I could personally get them. Its a real pain when your doing pace line up a ski-hill in your big ring with a group of the best athletes in Canada and then you have to stop, pull over, and get your own water bottle while everyone just keeps cruising. Lesson learned.

On the race went. I steadily kept working as the heat pounded down and I was pretty much ecstatic going into the 5th lap(of 6). This would be the best Canada Cup race I've ever had, I would be catapulted up in th rankings, and I would be in the money for the day.

I was pretty much in tears when I came around toward the start of the 5th lap when a characteristic Tremblant rock sliced through my tire. I couldn't believe it as I heard the whissssssss and looked down to see the Stans tire sealant piss out of my tire. As I pulled over, grabbed my tube and tightened my Co2 cartridge it went off on a weird angle and I instantly lost about half of the air. I couldn't believe it.

On and on I collected myself, got the tube changed, and rolled on, but because of the lost air I could only put in minimal pressure in the tire so it washed out around most corners. At this point I was back in the 30's/40's and I kept the pace up just to finish the race. Then, because of the low air pressure the tube flatted again, and I was done. I didn't have another tube, or air. So I ran the last 20 minutes of the race. I ended up 57th.

After I was a mixed bag. I was so angry and disappointed I could barely talk. But on the other hand I was so internally excited because I knew I had the legs to be up there with the top guys in Canada. For years I had been looking for a race like that, where I managed to pull it all together. Even though it fell through at the end, it was out of my control, and you have to look at it with "shit happens" viewpoint.

So, I'm back on PEI and for the next week I've decided to get my bearings together and chill out. I haven't unpacked the car yet, or any luggage(luggage from BC still isn't unpacked) so I'm looking to get settled at least for a few weeks, keep putting the miles in and see what the legs are doing after that.

Soft and Sticky

The Fellas and I bit farewell to Bromont and headed North to Mt.Tremblant. First of course, we stopped in Montreal to see the sights. The sights being a dozen Montreal Bagels and some smoked meat sandwiches from Schwart's. Ive been in Montreal a 4 or 5 times the past few years, and the only reason was to do the rounds and experience some solid french cuisine.

Of course both the bagels and fat meat sandwiches were delicious, but always leave you with a feeling of being 400 pounds. Not the best before a bike race.



On we went toward Tremblant, and we were greeted with something none of us expected. 33 degree heat. For the first time in my racing career(so far) the Tremblant course is dry. Usually you have to fight through 6 inch deep muck and go through drive-trains and full sets of brake pads in one race(similar to Bromont last weekend).





There is threatening thunderstorms tonight, which add a big question mark to the days events tomorrow, so there might be some fast tire changes tomorrow morning. The future will tell.
We have 5 people from the maritimes in our small hotel room right now to keep expenses down, but the real test will come after the race on Sunday when we all b-line it back to the old country. 5 bike racers, 5 bikes, and a months worth of gear each....crammed into a 5 seater Subaru for 10 hours. Yeesh. I need a drink

Bringing It Back to Life

The boys and I have some downtime here in Bromont Quebec until we make the push over to Tremblant. Fortunately the weather has been super nice. Its good to ride in just shorts and see the leaves are out at least in one part of Canada.

The 3 of us took the day completely off from riding a bike. I was thinking back to the last time I hadn't ridden at least for a recovery ride, and other than my travel day from BC, I couldn't remember, so at least 4 weeks. We found a rickety pedal boat that was by the house which was infested with spiders, so we figured it probably came with the house rental. Even on a recovery day, we still had to pedal.

2 hours later and 3 km down river we explored a part of Bromont that otherwise we wouldn't have seen. We also realized just how in-efficient pedal boats are, and we're putting our cyclist/engineering minds together to squeeze a little more speed from the ol girl.

Today, we hopped on the bikes for a pretty solid ride. Nothing too intense but it included getting lost on the Bromont ski hill and climbing up the runs for about 2 hours looking for a way to the downhill trails. Then we realized we were on the wrong mountain. Either way, the jersey tan got a workout, and we gave up after 3 hours with hopes of a better day tomorrow.

Uphill Battles

It was a rough day of racing today. I managed to pull out a 40th place in Elite, which is pretty horrible. I was aiming for a top 20, so 40th is a major bummer. The field was HUGE, 84 starters, which is the biggest Canada Cup I've ever raced. I cant seem to find my legs on these Quebec courses for some reason. I'm the lightest I've ever been, had some great rides this week, and went into the race with a great mindset, but for some reason the legs didn't show up with me.

The start was a nightmare too, out of 84 guys I was about 75th on the start line, so in that respect passing about half the field isn't too bad. The key now is getting everything together and racing hard at Mt. Tremblant next week. One more race to go before we head back to the old country.

The boys did pretty well today, Matt keeping with constancy pulled out an 8th, and Danny boy from the Yukon was content with a 20th. We had a weigh in last week after a ride and the boys fought it out but Dan came in the winner at 134Ibs, Matt a close second at 135Ibs. And I came in a far 3rd at 165. I'm still waiting for the thigh measurement competition.

Again, more stories from rural Quebec. We're in a nice house that we managed to score until Thursday. There are 10 people in it, 9 from the Maritimes, and Dan, who is out of the club. Of course being in the middle of no-where Internet signals are hard to come by so we've been hanging out the local BMX track stealing the signal that's available there. The police have been stopping by every so often to see what we're up to, no arrests yet. Tremblant should be better on the update side of things.

Chilly Willy

The past few days have been rough for me. If the old saying "you create you own good luck" is true, then I should invest everything I own into a good luck factory, cause man I'm in rough shape.

Today's ride on the best New Hampshire has to offer was interesting. It literally downpoured as much rain as the sky could muster all day...especially during the ride. It was much like most Quebec Canada Cups oddly enough. The trail was like riding on glass and with all the exposed rock, it was simply hold onto the bar for dear life.

10 minutes into the ride I managed to rip the fuck out of my shorts. After a few trail passes something had to be done as I couldn't deal with the fella flopping around as it was out in the open, so I manged to rig up a solution with some zip-ties to finish up the ride.

The worst is that this problem seems to happen to me a lot, where it doesn't seem to happen to others at all. Despite the weather and the clothing problems, the boys and I pulled out a good 2 hours of solid trail. Tomorrow we head up North again to visit Quebec. New Hampshire was great, we met some solid friends and rode some gnarly trail. I would love to come down again in the fall where the beers will flow a little more liberally out of race season.

Living the Bum Life

OK, fourth attempt of posting.

Bad luck at the Canada Cup last weekend at Baie St. Paul. The Elite group had about 50 guys and we all went hard off the line. About 15 minutes into the race while the pack was still mainly together, a guy came out of no where and locked bars with me. Before I knew it I was on the ground, and in less than a second the rig went from working perfect to:

-Twisted Bars

-Bent ft. wheel

-Bent ft. Rotor

-Broken left bar-end

-Bent water bottle cage

-Bent Derailer hanger

-RIPPED the cable/hosing from my fork lockout.

I got up to realized my knees which had just healed also took another bad beating. I tired to twist the bars back but they were too tight, so I kept riding with them bent. I caught back up to the pack and tried to work my way back up, but going onto the 3rd lap I pulled out because of the knees/bike problems/and frustration. Bromont will be better.

On the other hand Hadley pulled out a 5th place, that guy has some legs.

We left Quebec yesterday, and crossed the boarder and are now in New Hampshire living in a little town called Plymouth. The place rocks. We just got back from a solid ride just over 3 hours with ALLLLLL single track. It was no slouch pace though, and we were exposed to some amazing views. The town is very small and very cool. It has a great bike shop, unreal trails, and the girls at the grocery store pretty much jumped all 3 of us last night. Not too bad after some time on the road.

Which reminds me. We picked up a new kid. Daniel Sessford from the Yukon. Hes also on the same Canada Cup Campaign as we are. Despite his cold hometown, the fella is quick and has pulled out a 3rd at Canada Games MTB before.

Another tough day is planned for tomorrow, not as long as today, but Ben(guy were staying with) promises it will be intense. Then on Thursday we head up to Quebec once again for Canada Cup #2 in Bromont this weekend. Going back to land of the long tough climbs.

Road Trip

After a relaxing and busy 7 days at home, I'm back on the road. This time to the first big races of the year. The first of 3 Canada Cups coming over the next few weeks. The blog updates have been scarce as Hadley and I are in Rural Quebec, where the water runs brown due to the spring thaw and the bed sheets are like sleeping in carpet. Either way its a cheap set up. This is the first time in a couple weeks where I have been able to get a consistent sleep, with no hardcore intensity, and with a bed to myself. 11 hours of sleep consistently is very refreshing.
After being home with lots of things going on, its almost refreshing to back to the life where cycling dictates your daily routine.

Baie St. Paul is the area we're in now. Its an old french town est. in the 1600's. Its super Euro with narrow streets and old buildings complimented with snooty french. Hadley and I had to wait for about 10 minutes to get a coffee at a cafe yesterday(2 other people at the bar). It's part of the experience I guess.

We've been riding the course the past couple days and its good to see a new course on the circuit which is different from the typical Canada Cup, where you climb up the ski hill, then turn around and ride the technical back down. This course is predominately flat with some nice flowly sections. There is still snow in some areas as we're super far North, but the course is mainly clear.

Since this is my first major race on a geared bike I'm getting the old stressed out feelings a few days beforehand. I keep trying to remind myself to relax, and have fun. I know I have the legs to be up at the front, but its just a matter of getting in the right mindset for it. I'm trying to picture myself riding my single speed as I did last year, and it reminds me to not give a fuck, whatever happens, happens, right?. On that frame of mind I bought a case of beer yesterday and had one with the meal to give myself a mental switch off to relax. I'm not racing still drunk from the night before, like last year, but hopefully its loosen up the legs and the mind as well.

Taking a week off from the blog, too much business right now. Quebec adventures loom in a couple days. -Ryan

The Shuffle

Never again will I catch a red eye and skip 4 times zones. Holy Crap. Its hard to get a nap in your own 1.5 feet of coffin like sitting room when you can see the sun rise over Toronto and its 2 am your time. Talk about messed up.

You know you fly a lot when the pilot tells you over the loudspeaker that your next gate is 11o in Toronto and you know where it is before getting off the plane, and where the best deals for food and coffee are. I realized I knew the place too well when I went to a specific mag shop because they always had the newest selection of bike mags compared to the other stands in the airport. I need a break. At least I didn't get arrested this time.

After a firm 3 hours sleep in my own bed(which smelled like hotel sheets) I awoke to the phone ringing. It was Eric of course(best bud) wanting me to help him move a couch to the dump that was covered in cat piss. Some things never change. It all went well and the old crew ended up at the Cougars Den for some hardy meals with a little old time milkshakes afterword. It was good to see all the boys again.

(the fellas at Single Speed Worlds 05)

I just woke up after 12 hours of solid sleep. The most I've gotten over 3 days and realized the day is all ready half over. Damn time changes. I'm going to skip the scheduled ride today and recoup a little bit more as 12 hours of straight sleep is a sign of being tired in my books. So the ride today is a mellow spin down to the coffee shop on the much missed fixxie.

No rest for the wicked as I'm back on the road for the weekend to Fredericton for a Stage race, then back home for a couple of days before heading to Quebec. Bring on the Red Bull.