In Between

I managed to build up the new Opus the day before the race last weekend. I got a smaller frame and trying to mess with the new angles is kind of a nightmare, even though it the same bike. On my test ride I got pains in the front of my knees being a shorter cockpit, then upon getting a layback seatpost I got pains in the back of my knees.....change is bad.

The race last weekend was horrible. We had a team get-together the night before and something disagreed with a couple of the guys stomachs(myself included) and it seemed to take effect in the form of odd stomach cramps. Either way throw in some heat stroke and you get a recipe for dry heaving on the side of the course. Motivation for that race for me was low as well.

The weather has been great the past few days! I'm going to try to get in a MTB ride in tomorrow morning as the brain needs to get into the woods. Luckily Nels Guloien lives in Port Moody. Hes like the Ned Overand of Vancouver and seems to have some solid knowledge of the hidden trail loops around this jungle.

(Cipo..what were you thinking?)

With that I'm off. Time to hit up the motor pacing session.

Outlaw

"Yes officer 50km/h biking to work is a little fast I guess."

I got my legs dirty for the first time of year year last night. I was having the worst day ever. The type of day where everything you touch goes bad. Simple things like getting a glass of water results in a broken glass. Whatever.

So I went mountain biking. WOW, it is so much fun. I cant believe how much fun I had. Port Moody use to be the place to ride XC in Vancouver until the contractors discovered it, but some of the love still remains. Surprisingly there is pretty good trail right out the front door. I found myself trapped in the flow of the trail on numerous occasions then I looked up and realized I was 4 feet of the ground with a 5 foot drop in front of me. It was then that I decided to put on the brakes.

The mountain bike feels so weird compared to the road. Despite that the Fhast was the perfect tool for finding flow.

Since Linda has bit the dust, I'm off today to built up Linda Part Deux! Hopefully she will go together smoothly as I have to race her tomorrow.

I often wonder what kind of form riding will take after I hang up the racing bike. I hope to hop back on the single speed once again and simply ride.

My mind wonders now, to what kind of riding I will do after I hang up the racing bike THIS year, after the racing season is over. My desire to build up a Surly Cross Check has been simmering for a long time now. To me that bike represents freedom. It was what I was going to get before the need for a TT bike became apparent.

The idea of long haul riding, from one point to another at what-ever pace I want is very appealing to me. I find my mind wondering and secretly planning out little trips for myself. If I see a nice area I add it to a little route I have in mind.

As my Dad would say, there just isn't enough hours in the day and it seems of all the things I want to do this year I wont have time if I want to go to some sort of school in September...where-ever that will be.

I don't know where I'll be in a month, so its hard to plan long haul bike trips to clear the head, and even school on top of that. For some reason camping in a ditch with your bike handcuffed to your ankle seems oddly appealing.

....bam

I think I'm going to invest in a horseshoe factory, because I think its the only way I'm going to get rid of all this bad luck.

The weekend was up and down. The team and I were greeted with 38degree temperatures in Washington for the race. The change in weather is ridiculous but oh man I was loving it. I was almost at home in the heat coming from Tucson. Our Thermal long sleeve skin suits were a little ridiculous, but got the job done in style. I think I might cut the arms off for Euro trash factor and turn them into arm warmers.

(Gordan and le team)

I got 10th in the TT(of 46) which was ok for 3rd time on the new TT bike. The photos reveal that lots of work needs to be done on the position though to scrub a little extra drag.

The Crit was where the trouble started. It was a twilight/night crit on a pretty good course if you were riding a mountain bike. Honestly the pavement was so bad the race was rougher than the Harris Roubaix race. A lot of people's wheels were exploding hitting the potholes and there was about 15 flats in a hour long race.

I was having the best Crit I raced all year. Honestly the legs were fast and fresh and I never dropped below the top 20, which I was super pleased with. The problem started on the second-last corner of the race....300meters to go. The pack went in super hot and a Total Restoration guy slid out directly in front of us(I was running 8th). He took me and about 5 other guys out sliding directly in front of the pack.

I cant remember the crash but I remember getting up. Brett, who was behind me said I rode over a guy(we saw the chain ring marks), then hit the deck, slid for a 10 feet directly into a curb. All going 52km/h..the Garmin/Polar doesn't lie.

When I got up I was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo pissed off that I was so close to having a great result...honestly so close, and the team and I were in perfect position. Luckily Scott who was running about 5th sprinted for 4th on the Stage.

The Ambulance yielded a very bruised knee, shoulder, left calf, and I re-opened the elbow that had just healed that week from the crash 2 weeks before. What a mess. Not to mention some new ventilation holes in a brand new team kit.

When I looked at my bike later that night it revealed something more expensive.....crack.

So I was out for the road stage. I was VERY bummed about that as it was such a beautiful course. Brett said it was like racing in Europe with 14km climbs and super fast descents. I might go down in a few weeks to ride in that area again simply because the riding was so nice and I didn't get to ride the friggin' course.

(The Road Race course)

Scott kept showing all of us who is boss and pulled out another 4th on the road race stage to get 4th overall. That guys a legend. Brett got a top 10, and overall the team did well.

So that's that. I went to the hospital last night for some x-rays on the knee and a check of the shoulder and nothings broken..just stiff and swollen. Doc said take a couple days off, so I'm hoping to get back on the bike tomorrow. I think I might ride the MTB now that the roadie is out of commission until I find a new frame.

I think someone is forcefully telling me to ride a friggin' mountain bike.

(We went to the wonderful Spanish store on the way down)

(When asking the Spanish woman at the counter what this was...she replied "Mongoose")

Away at a bike race

Yesterday was a nice day?!


I went on a little rip out to the Golden Ears Provinchial Park to get a little zip in the legs after being on rollers the past few days. I even found some BagBalm! I think that deserves a beer.

friction free

I've run out of BagBalm. I went on stint this spring where I didn't use it...just for experiment sake, but it yielded bad results. If I've been using it this long, there is a reason.

Andrew Brown experimented without the coveted chamois lube last year, and as hard as he tried, I heard the complaints during and after the rides.

I don't understand how some people don't use champois cream. I think its because they have never actually tried it in their life and therefore don't know the joys of friction free loins. I've come to the conclusion with this SLR saddle on the TT bike, it will have to be even more of a staple.

I have the 'Chamois Butt'r' and I've tried it on a a few rides, but it just isn't the same as Bag Balm...just not as good. Its water based instead of oil, which means it washes out of clothes and stuff, but its just not as reliable as the oil based Bag Balm. Not to mention Bag Balm is also ani-septic which is good for the hot days, or days where you have to sit around in gross bike shorts.

Last week I borrowed a bit of Gordon's Assos Chamois cream, which is about $25 for a thimble full. It gave the sweet cooling sensation of ..mint or something(no joke). It was really good but, bang for the buck, the Bag is still king.

The problem I'm faced with now is that I have to find an agricultural store in the mass of concrete that is Vancouver. This is a problem.

Around Town

Yesterday I was bound to the rollers for late work obligations, and today because of the rain. Le Schedule calls for motor pacing in the AM, with the Crit this evening. Crit is most likely cancelled, and Motor pacing was called off due to sub 10degree temps filtered with bone chilling rain.

I've been riding the TT bike here and there to try to get use to the position. I cant seem to get it dialed, so maybe a swapping of seats is the key(I think the one that came on it was slightly bent) I'll muck around with it today.

Burney and I have a love/hate relationship. He's drawn blood many times, but I think I've shown him who's boss and he's warming up to me. If your going to sleep on my bed big fella, I'm not taking your shit.

When there is 3 cyclists in the house the rollers never cool down on a rainy day, so I'm hoping to muster up enough motivation to get on them early.

I was thinking about it the other day, and I cant remember the last time I had 2 consecutive days off the bike from training. The only time I could think was when I was sick in Tucson in early March. Even on the 'rest days' for me I commute on my race bike and work at a bike shop. Thank God for Gemma.

I've been getting the urge to go camping lately. Maybe in the next couple weeks I'll steal Scott's camping gear and hide in the woods for a couple days. I need to get some heavy reading done away from this computer. Heavily charred food over a fire is sometimes better than a $50 steak.

Hola!

You either love 'em or hate 'em, but they are definitely different.

The Ravensdale road race was this weekend in Washington. The original course called for a 22% climb x2 laps, which would dictate the race, but a couple days before the race organizers took it out because some disagreement/politics with the road.

Without the climb, it made the race very rolling, but with super nice quiet roads. The likes I haven't seen since Oregon. Gordon and I were giddy as we did a spin the night before.

The race went well. On the first of 2 laps there were attacks like crazy. Probably every 3-5 minutes there were attacks. Guys were just giving it everything they had over and over and over. Nothing came to anything good, and when it did, no one seemed to work? It was really weird....and frustrating actually.

The second lap settled down a bit, less attacks but super fast. I found myself in a 3 man break 15km from the finish. We didn't have a big gap, but when I looked back for the other guys to take a pull I noticed they had dropped off? So I though I might as well give it a go and I found myself in a solo break with about a minute gap. I held off until the last 3km thinking about the win the whole time but when I rounded the corner to the small finishing loop I found a ton of climbing. Bah. (We didn't get to see the course much before the race as we got in late)

Anyway, so the pack re-grouped for the last 3km. Again, attacks kept going and the pace was high. I noticed one of the stronger guys who I had been watching all race attack in the last km for the win. For some reason I went with him and we rounded the corner with the finish line in sight with about 5 second gap, but there was an insanely steep climb to the line(remember kids...KNOW THE COURSE!!!) We hit in the big rings and BAM I just slowed down with no juice left.

I couldn't carry on with the leaders and watch the pack go through for the sprint. Chalk it up to poor patience again.

The race ended up being pretty quick with an average speed of 42km/h for 115km.

The story of the race for me was how well my teammates rode throughout the race. There were only 3 of us in the 1,2(race wasn't on the team schedule so not everyone went down) and we rode like a team of 6. Every time I looked up, or to the left or right, I always saw the Campione-Ratcliff jersey. They never got out of the top 20 the whole race. It was great too see.

On the way home we pulled off to a killer Mexican restaurant and we all had burritos the size of my lower arm(no joke). It was aptly named the 'Macho Burrito" and was enough to satisfy some hungry cyclists.

Just before the boarder I pulled over to this ghetto Mexican convenience store...it was like being in Mexico. Everyone who worked there only spoke Spanish, and everything in it was in Spanish with only Spanish products and food I've only seen in Mexico. It was like being in some sort of Mexican time warp.

I found the golden treasure I had been looking for for years. A Mexican collard shirt with embroidered cocks on it(chickens). I looked for it for days in Mexico and couldn't find a single one, but here it was in Washington of all places. I didn't have enough American money to buy it..$25. But the team will be heading that was next week for the Winachee Stage Race, so I started writing myself notes to remind me to stop there when we go down again.

Probably the best shirt ever. You have to have style.

The Grind 2.0

This is post number 158, on The Find Grind.

The old Cannon powershot #2 is about to hit the dust. The viewfinder is donzo, and I can feel it slowly dieing. It has been in the jersey pocket through hot, cold, wet, dry, fun, and not so fun rides. Cannon #3 might be in order...lets see if the extended warranty is still good.

Anyone who lives on Van Isle will probably know Ed Shum. Hes been helping young cyclists for many-a-years, including myself. After his ride across Canada last year, he decided to go across the pond and is now in Spain, riding across Europe. You can check out his blog at:

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=3Tzut&page_id=75165&v=1r

Scroll down to the bottom for daily updates and lots of pics.

Maybe someday.....

The team launch is tonight at Campione Cycles. Lots of beer and pizza are at hand I'm told, and finally the clothing is in! When things are custom made in Italy, they tend to take a little longer than normal.

I'm headed to the Ravensdale roadie in Washington this weekend. Duh duh.

Gelato machine

One of the scariest things as a cyclist(at least for me) is internal fatigue. Being a racing cyclist, the body tends to do odd things. Its amazing just how the body and mind differ.

When you think about it, the conscious mind doesn't really control a lot of the body. Yeah, you can raise your hand, and move your leg, but simple things like blinking, or breathing or recovering, they are all controlled by something...else.

As a cyclist I am always conscious of recovery. Knowing and feeling the difference between a good recovery after a training ride, and a bad recovery after a training ride makes the difference in your whole preparation for an event. Being aware of this tells you when to ride harder the next day.....or when to put the feet up and take some extra time off.

The scary thing is when you feel like your recovering well from a workout(muscles repairing, building) but internally your body is starting to shut down. This is the first step to over training.

Its here that you reach the realization that riding a lot makes you SLOW. Your body is not a machine that can work day in and out all the time. After a while of this, it starts to just do its own thing to try to conserve its internal energy.

The concerning thing is that you feel normal. All your training hours amount to going even slower, and slower, and slower. The only thing you can do is to do nothing, but wait.

Maybe this listening skill that some cyclists develop, is why they are so fickle about everything.

The key is to stay on the edge of the maximum training your body can withstand, and falling over the edge. Its something that takes a lot of patience and riding/recovery to know where you stand, and the body often throws you curve balls when you think you should be ripping the legs off people. World Champions too can fall into the pit.

I may have dipped a little too far into the reserves the past few rides...so gingerly, I've been trying to get the juice back through steady light rides with high cadence.

Patience is something always learned the hard way.

In a Twist.

In the world of Ryan there is not much to report. I'm on the hunt for a chiropractor as my back resembles that of a 80 year old Mexican wrestling champ. Booking appointments is hard when you don't have a phone.

I'm also on the hunt for a team for the Tour de Beauce. My previous plans seemed to have fallen through. Coach Luc is on it, but I have to scatter many seeds, just in case. If I'm meant to go, I'm meant to go.

On the topic of the tight back region. I'm off to a Yoga Class tonight to try to stretch out these tense muscles. Hopefully this class wont be full of old women who slaughter me in the department of Yoga. I drink too much coffee.

Grey skies are going to clear up

I'll be honest. Life has been very trying the past week or so. Nothing majorly bad has been happening, but just the little things that are compounding upon themselves. Its been raining consistently forever. I cant remember the last time I rode on a fully dry day. Despite the weatherman's predictions........It hasn't been 15 degrees and sunny in a long time.

Riding in the rain all the time takes it out of you. When you do commute to work and get wet, then ride home from work and get wet, then do 4 hours on the bike and get wet. It doesn't take long to get frustrated. A little voice gave me some advice. If you think positively, good things will happen. I'm giving it my best efforts.

When your life revolves around going fast on a bicycle, its a little disconcerning when you don't have good legs. I've been told energy spent is energy spent. Whether it be in the form of riding or mental strain, or a test....its all energy going out the door. I think having a cluttered mind the past few weeks has caught up with me, and my riding is suffering as a result. Maybe a day off will do me good.

The little things sometimes add up.

Anyway blah blah blah. Life can be much much worse. A bad day on the bike is 10 times better than wearing a suit with a 150km commute in a car, or not being able to afford rice....that's rough.

On the bright side I'm getting to know my team-mates better. I haven't met one yet who I didn't like. Its a pretty interesting group of guys really. They all come from different backgrounds and all have a little tweaked personality. When you have people who grew up just riding bikes and thinking cycling all the time...its doesn't make for good conversation when you put in the miles together. Its refreshing to have these people from all over the place with all different histories and all different views. Solid Group What.

There is a new lady in my life as well. Gemma and I had our first solid day together today, and she's a pretty good gal....Older woman too, being a 1983 Suzuki Gemma.

The team needed a scooter to motor pace with, and Scott needed a way to get to work other than riding in the rain all the time. Hence Gemma. I decided to get in on the deal and bought a whole 1/10th of the old girl. She can hit up to 50km's/hour(75 if your aero behind a car) but the needle does go into the red around 30.

I went to the gas station to fill 'er up. In BC you have to pre-pay, and I didn't know how much to put in so I just said $3 to fill it up, thinking I would low-ball it. Old Gemma, well from the bottom of the tank it took $2.40 cents($1.30/liter) to fill it to the top of the cap. I rode on the rig all day, and the needle hasn't since moved from being max full, so at least that's looking up.