The Ice Storm

One thing about being on the trainer is that is gets crazy hot where-ever you seem to be. I can start off in a full on sweater, but after 15minutes usually I'm drenched in sweat, with a puddle underneath my bike.
Last night while finishing up some intervals I was on on the verge of drowning in my own sweat when I decided to turn off the lights of the room to try to cool it down a bit. BAM! just as the thought crossed my mind the power went out.
Luckily I was able to finish watching the Lance DVD that I had seen 5 times last week because of battery power in the Laptop. The cold shower afterword wasn't too pleasant though.

Reminded me of something else too.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XHl-WrefNE

Coffee Extremeo!

Counting down the days now. Not a whole lot to report. Plans are coming together with the team and with my travel/housing schedule. Anyone know a good place to stay somewhere around Vancouver?

The thing about travelling is that there is always little things that you overlook. Things like getting the Ipod sorted out before hitting a 8 hour Airport trip and getting a licence for the upcoming year. Other things like making sure all of the paper work is done with the sport association..little things. A list is usually the best way to go. I'd like to think I have a handle on all these little things, but something is always overlooked.

Its funny how the little things are the ones that cause you the most problems, and the big things usually take care of themselves. Matt Hadley is the master of not worrying about the big things. If its something I learned from him its that big things usually take care of themselves. He would travel to races 20 hours away and not have a place to stay once he got there. No worries, they take care of themselves. What would we/he do when we got there and how would we get to the next race....it'll take care of itself. Its funny how being a poor cyclist, there is always people looking to carpool and to split something. Max capacity is a thing for school buses...not cyclists.

on and on

Days are getting longer, and its getting colder. I dont want this blog to be a spew of how much winter sucks, because everyone has to deal with it(But hey, its my blog so I can rant as much as I want) These months offer a chance to clear the mind before te hectic months begin, and to work on things that usually get over looked throughout the year.

I'm going to the Canada Games spin class tonight. Its my first group spin class in years, and I'm looking foreward to riding with the tribe. I can remember suffering in years past when a thin layer of corrosive salt coated all the spin bikes from 10 other people who hopped on the slutbikes that day. I cringe thinking about it. We would leave the 20x20 room at least 10lbs lighter. Oh yeah...it's 18degrees in Tucson.

minus10

Things are changing here and there in my life. Number one is that I've found a road team to ride for in BC, so after Arizona I'll be heading back to the wet coast to ride the BC cups and few races in the Vancouver area. That means moving to Vancouver, which I think might get in the way of me mountain biking, but will be something new to experience. I've never lived in a major city before so I'll have to sample big city strip clubs and compare to Angie's style, smaller town strip clubs. Whoo--eee.

Number two thing that is happening is that I am finally getting sick of the gym, and indoor training. I dont have much juice left in me for trainer sessions since I was burned to a crisp from it when I was a junior. Riding a bike is fun, a trainor is not.


To spice up the weekend Andrew Scott and I heading out with a few chaps for some solid winter camping. It was my first time and the green was showing. Andrew saved me from freezing to death by showing me the ropes. 3 sleeping bags and full on winter clothing kept me warm enough to get through the night,and a good time was had by all.

Tree-fidy

I need some moola, so I'm selling my training wheels(not the kind on a kids bike). Velomax Circuits, WITH tires, and skewers for $300 bones.

They come in at a decent weight, but ARE bombproof(never needed to be trued) and are easily the best riding wheel I've ever hopped on. Pic on the winter bike below. -Ryan

Yeah..Its wing night!

After a nice balmy 8 degrees last week, snow has fallen on PEI again. During the former nice weather, I didnt ride outside though much of the other fellow cyclists in the Martimies did, heck, I didnt even ride the trainer yet this year. But I do have a secret weapon for the bad weather/trainer occasion. Le Winter Bike Exremeo. Totoal cost...$180.






In other news, I booked my plane tickets to Arizona yesterday. Yee haw. I decided to escape the cold of PEI, and the rain of BC, and try something different. Thanks Buck! Who knew its only $239 from C-Town? I'm I really excited to try something new for next year. From there its (maybe) up to BC. I'll find oout more on that in the next few days. The main thing is that after a few months of trying to piece a season together from nothing. Form is starting to take shape.



Although I havent been on the mind killing trainer yet this year. I've been running like a mo-fo. More than I ever have years past. I like the whole cross training thing. Sports I have been doing other than riding a bike are.....Hockey(with some advice from TT), running, snowshoesing, hiking, lots of gym work, and of course the odd bit of high intensity dancing.





The gym is a big part of the cyclists off season and come mid November, I'm usually pretty excited to try something different. I think the main thing is that going to the gym is a much more social form of training than spending long hours on the bike alone. The funny part is that I usually have my IPod on and dont talk to anyone. Nor do they talk to me. But at least I can give the non-schelaunt head nod to people I know. I think I'm going to buy some stock in Lululemon.

The Test

As every cyclist knows, January is the time for testing. The test is not to see how strong you are, but just how much you suck this time of year. It comes in the form of the standard wattage test, which basically means you ride until you throw up...or your legs just wont pedal fast enough anymore. Either way its not a fun way to spend an evening.

Coach Andrew is the man who distributes the pain this time around, and I managed to hop in with the Canada Games eligible kids. Aboard a new Comu-trainer the team bought, we were ready to roll. Some of the kids managed to push the big gears and were given a taste of the wattage test love. Props go to my boy Derek for moving those chicken legs.

I managed to get into the 360W range, which isn't bad, but isn't great either. The key is that I've stayed relatively light surviving the Christmas/Drinking season. I still haven't found a warm place to ride yet, that's next on the agenda.

Times they are a Changin'

Ok Kids, here we go again. This is the 100th post of "The Fine Grind" which is a good way to start off the 2008 racing season. I'm back folks for what hopes to be a great season of racing, travelling and stories you wouldn't tell your mother.

So far my season is very patchy, meaning it hasn't been planned at all yet. The Canada Cup schedule hasn't been released, and I don't have a warm place to go and train..yet. It seems I've put too much stock in one thing, and I am now left with not much of anything to show for it. No team, no plans, but a lot of motivation.

I'm planning on doing more of the road side of things next year in the hopes that I can get a little more support and get into a solid development program. I have a new coach with Luc Arsenault from the Atlantic Cycling Center, and an idea of a couple races I'd like to hit up.

I managed to get my entry into the coveted Single Speed World Championship 2008. The first 350 applicants were taken out of 800 who applied and I managed to squeeze in when registration opened on New Years Day. I think it might have been the picture I sent the organizers in the comment box that gave me the extra lee-way.

The race takes place on my birthday, August 23rd in Napa California. The boys and I have been to one other SSChamps in 2005, and I can honestly say it was the best, and worst experience of my life.

( My friend Pat who came to the race for the sole purpose of getting drunk. He doesn't even ride a MTB. At SSWC the drunker the better, and he managed to get a job driving from feed station to feed station in someone else's car as drunk as a skunk on Sunday. Not to mention he was 18 at the time.)