Winter Prep Continues...

So for the past 5 or so weeks I've been gradually getting myself back into the swing of training and attempting (with little success so far) to drop the 15-20lbs I put on since the season finished. So far, I must say it is going very well. I find that my training has been even more focussed and structured than it was last year. This morning I did a MAP test with Arnaud and got some very helpful feedback and encouragement. I am already very much looking forward to the 2010 season.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this in any of my previous posts or not but we once again discussed that my main area of improvement needs to be endurance. This means lots of cardio as often as possible! I am hoping that xc skiing will become a regular part of my cross-training in that respect although I'll have to really work on my technique if I want to do more than push snow around, which I did with much success last winter.

Another interesting thing that Arnaud brought to my attention is a new type of power meter which measures power through the pedals (as opposed to the rear hub or crankset). It is supposed to be very accurate and also a lot lighter than the current systems which means it can be raced with no disadvantage. Check it out: http://www.metrigear.com/blog/

I will be keeping an eye on this one. I am quickly learning how training with power would be a huge benefit. Now, I need to figure out what movies to watch while riding this week... gotta love winter training!

When the season's over, it's over!

Okay so for a lot of people the season isn't over. A lot of people I ride with are enjoying the cross season and seem to be having a lot of fun. Myself on the other hand... well I've barely touched my bike in weeks. I guess after a long spring and summer of dedicated training my mind convinced me that it was time to take a step back. It happens every year, and every summer I am sure that I'll be riding well into the fall until it's too cold to get outside. But almost inevitably I lose any miniscule form of motivation I once had and spend more time on my couch than in the saddle. Maybe I'm the only one who does this but I doubt it, or at least I hope so... I beat myself up for letting myself lose the conditioning that I worked hard to build and maintain since last winter and do absolutely nothing about it! But as also happens every year around this time, I find myself feeling recharged and ready to begin preparing for the next season and figuring out how I will be able to build and improve on the season gone by. It's not winter yet, but my winter training starts now.

First of all, what went right and what went wrong this year? Well, what went right is that I diligently built up base miles over the winter and maintained a very structured training regimen that took me into the spring feeling like I was already up to speed. What also went right was a podium finish in April... which was a spin-off of the winter training. What went right is I no longer felt like I accomplished something just being able to hang in on the quick training rides around town, instead I found a place at the front most of the time and wasn't afraid to put my nose into the wind. What went right was being agressive in the training criteriums and testing myself.

What went wrong is as soon as it was warm enough to ride outside, and structure that was in my training was thrown out the window. What went wrong was crashing out of a stage race on the first day and being afraid to take corners in my next race - which just happened to be one of the big races I was targeting at the beginning of the season. Okay, that was somewhat out of my control but still...

Anyway, looking at all of that I think I had a pretty good year but the one major thing that went wrong was... well a very major thing. It seems pretty obvious to me that I need a structured training plan if I want to improve on this year, and I need to stick to it. I do have a plan to achieve this and I plan on setting some ambitious goals for next summer. First - I want to compete in as many of the Ontario Cups as possible. I will need to figure out how to afford the travel expense but I have time. Second, I will be targeting Provincials and Nationals. Yeah... nationals. Last but not least - I want to earn an upgrade to Senior 2. Hopefully by the end of the season I'll be able to register in one or two S2 races. I guess my committment and a bit of luck will determine that.

Anyway, this is a slightly philosophical and self-indulgent post but I think it was as inevitable as my almost 2-month cycling hiatus! Break's over. Time to ride.

Looking back and looking ahead: Refocusing

Cycling season is far from finished but the racing season pretty much is. With no races on the horizon, I've taken some time off the bike to relax and do lazy stuff that I would normally do if I wasn't a cyclist: Play video games; play my guitars; sleep in; drink some beers; spend more time chillin with my friends... and honestly, it's been great but it's almost as if I can feel my body deteriorating as I lose fitness and that feeling sucks!

So I was back on the bike today for a 105-ish km ride through some hilly and very scenic country with some riders who spoke mostly French and I couldn't understand. I was happy to be able to ride with them without holding up the group, though doing so hurt a lot. But the ride was great and the scenery was beautiful, and best of all it was a great group to ride with. I hope to repeat this ride a few more times this year and maybe (gasp!) remember to bring my camera!

I am looking forward to discovering many more great rides like this in the near future.

I forgot my camera...

So today I took out my mountain bike for the first time in over a year... the last time was June / 2oo8 to be exact! Craziness. But anyway, I was excited to rip up some trails and get dirty. I drove out to Camp Fortune and parked at the bottom of the hill so that I could use the gradual road climb as a quick warm-up for the less-gradual fire road climb once I got onto the Camp Fortune race course. It started out well enough - I mean, it was a fire road for about the first 2km. A quick singletrack section in the middle was enough to assure me that my technical skills were indeed rusty but it was nothing serious.

After I finally reached the top of the climb, it was time to hit the singletrack and do some decending. At the first steepish rocky section my "Oh Shit" alarm went off and I hit the brakes. Walking ensued. I thought to myself, "Man, I don't even remember thinking of this section as difficult before... what's going on??". Onwards. I finished the first decent and got into some more twisty stuff which was fun. I very ungracefully navigated some rocky sections and as I approached the next decent, the "Oh Shit" alarm sounded again! This time I looked at it and thought... "Damn, I used to ride that?!". As I finished up my first lap of the race course I remembered a time when I would laugh at other riders talking about how technical the Camp Fortune course was, thinking that they wouldn't know what to do if they saw the trails at Rockwood Park back in Saint John. At this moment, I was wondering if I was just mad at the time!

Lap 2: FUN! The "Oh Shit" alarm continued to go off, but less frequently, and I didn't get off to walk once. Cleared the whole course. It was more of a careful, slow picking my way through the technical bits than what I would call, "ripping up" the trails but at least I was starting to get my groove back and have a bit of fun.

Lap 3: FUN FUN! Yup, I pretty much got most of the cobwebs out after doing two laps and riding all the technical stuff. At this point I was actually sort of picking out lines and riding with a bit of what you might call, "flow". I went much quicker through the technical bits and was able to ride with some of the confidence I had back when I was doing much more mountain biking. This resulted in putting a foot down a couple of times since I was riding more agressively, but it felt good and I was definitely "ripping" up the trails at this point.

So at the end of the day, I realized 3 things - 1: Road riding has left me with the upper body strength of a 5 year old boy... that may be generous(my arms really hurt right now); 2: I forgot how hard mountain biking is; 3: I forgot how much fun mountain biking is! So I'm glad I took the squishy bike out for a rip and am looking forward to doing so much more often before the season is over. Next time, I'll try not to forget my camera so I have some visual goodies to add to my post!

Pro Tour coming to Canada!!

So I saw this article on cyclingnews and got a bit of a shiver up my spine! Yes, the Pro Tour is coming to Canada next year. The sport that I love but which is often overlooked by the majority of Canada due to its mainly European roots (much like soccer/football) has a very passionate following by the dedicated few here in the Great White North, but finally the European peloton will be visiting our soil for some of the very best racing in the world!

Needless to say, I have very high hopes for this new venture. Having followed text updates of races on the internet and downloading streaming video of races whenever and wherever I could find it over the last few years, I am excited by the prospect of getting to watch a pro tour race only a few hours drive from home. Of course, this doesn't substitute for travelling overseas to take in Paris-Roubaix, Flanders, the Giro or the Tour de France but to have Pro Tour cyclists racing on the same roads that we race on will be a thrill.

The other bonus of having Pro Tour races in Canada is that the organizers get to invite "wild card" teams to attend the races. At the moment, Canada's only Continental pro team, Planet Energy, gets an automatic invite. These guys race many of the O-Cups and Quebec Cup races along-side the rest of us amateurs so I think it's a great incentive which will give the sport a boost. Not only for the fans to get to see some of the best cyclists in the world competing on our roads, but for the young up-and-coming athletes who dream of grabbing a spot on a professional team... Pro Tour might seem more "attainable" now, which could very well spur an increase in participation. There is nothing I would love to see more than for cycling to increase in popularity in Canada. Not that I have any illusions that it will overtake hockey (go Canucks!!), but it would be nice to have that Euro-flavour at our regional races. We've already got two World Cup mountain biking events, which get rave reviews from the pros who compete, and now we are on the world road calendar as well. This is really, really good news for Canadian cycling!

So if you are interested, but not interested enough to click on the link that I posted above - these Pro Tour races will take place in September of 2010. One in Quebec city, which will be 290km long and another in Montreal, which will be between 225 and 240km. The UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) has confirmed a five-year term for the races. If you have any interest at all in cycling, or a curiosity about this strange European sport then you should check this out, even if it requires some significant travel time. The Pro Tour in Canada is something that should not be missed!

Big week / little week

So the last two weeks of riding have been some good ones. After returning from my camping trip I started a heavy week of training, as set out by who will very likely be my coach starting this fall. We're not technically working together yet but he gave me a sample training plan for 1 week and I was pretty happy with how it went. We also went out for a short ride together and went over some drills. The feedback I got was very positive so I'm looking forward to having someone to help me really get my training focussed and see if I can take the next step forward next season. At the end of the week my legs were pretty shot and I ended up taking a few days off for some r&r, which included some sailing - which could VERY easily turn into a new obsession should this cycling thing run its course... but that isn't very likely I don't think!

This week has been a stark contrast to last in that I've yet to do any serious training rides... however I have started commuting to work. I haven't been doing this because since I've been training after work so often, it's logistically challenging to have all my stuff in a backpack which I would have to leave at work and somehow pick it up the next day, blah blah blah... anyway, I'm commuting to work now and will hopefully be doing so for the rest of the month, if not until it's too cold to ride. It feels good to be emitting zero exhaust.

Plan for this weekend - get the mountain bike out!!! It's been OVER A YEAR since I've thrown a leg over my knobby-tired ride and I'm itching to rip up some trails so after my Saturday morning roadie ride I'm going to give the mtb a quick tune-up and head out to the Camp Fortune race course on Sunday and do laps until my eyes go crossed. If I remember, I'll bring a camera with me... something I would also like to start doing is taking pictures along my ride routes to make my entries a bit more interesting. I have a bad habit of forgetting things that aren't a part of my routine though, so I'm not making any promises because the camera is likely to end up sitting on a table at home while I'm out riding.

The Ups and the Downs... literally!

So this past week has been quite eventful, as far as the whole cycling thing goes. In my last post, I mentioned the OBC Grand Prix and how I would have to suffer a lot to stick with the front group or get into a breakaway. Well that race was last weekend and so was the provincial criterium championships. I'm throwing in some random photos from the Senior 1/2 criterium. Here's how it all went down...

Saturday morning was an early start - 7:47am to

be exact, for the Senior 3 / Junior pack. I was up early, and had a carb-loaded breakfast and some coffee. When I arrived at the start area it was raining lightly... when the race started, it was POURING. The GP starts off with about a kilometer of flat road and then immediately goes up the big climb of the day on the Fortune Parkway. I didn't do much of a warm-up since I figured I would have plenty of chance to warm-up as the race got going... not the best idea as the pace was blistering up the climb and I lost contact about 3/4 of the way up. I red-lined and started chasing, which made sure I stayed red-lined for the rest of the first lap. Did I mention it was pouring? Well it was. Water was pouring down my face and flying up at me from the wheels ahead. The decent was a bit scary, as well as the one high-speed corner in the whole circuit. The combination of working my butt off just to barely keep contact with a small chase group, and the treacherous conditions convinced me to pull out when I reached the end of my first lap. I drove home, discouraged, disappointed and filled with self-doubt.

At this point, I was wondering whether I should even show up for the criterium on Sunday - sure

that I would get dropped after a few laps since I obviously had lost whatever speed I might have had at the beginning of the season. But I eventually convinced myself that going out and burying myself for an hour might be just the cure for the disappointment that was handed to me by

the grand prix. After all, even if I have lost some of my earlier form, I wasn't going to make it any better by skipping a race!

So on Sunday morning I went through the same routine, except I brought my rollers along with me to make sure I got a proper warm-up, which is absolutely critical in a short criterium race. The weather was much more favourable on this morning and I ran into a Ciclo Works rider, Zach, who I raced with at Preston Street and was also sitting on the fence as to whether to enter the race. As I sign up for more events, some of the faces I see are becoming more familiar and it's great to have that kind of a "community" in our sport.

Anyway, the race got underway at a good speed but I found it much more manageable than Preston St, or some of the A crits I had done this year. It was still pretty hard though. The course was interesting compared to most crit courses, which are usually a flat rectangle. This one

included a chicane into an uphill on the back-side of the course, followed by a downhill leading into the final corner. This made the course a lot more fun. Actually, this was the most fun I've ever had in a race. Usually after a race I look at the result to decide how it went for me. I finished 14th on Sunday, which is far from my best result but regardless it was still a lot of fun. I know a better result was possible and the reason I didn't get it was because I lost my position on the last lap and that pretty much ruined my chances in the sprint. But hey, there's nothing to be done about that. It was a good, fast race and I was even able to take a little dig at one point.

I didn't stick around for the later races, but I later wished that I had because Ross Knight, who

organizes the weekly Seenite Sports training

criteriums was presented with a painting, a new Stevens cycling kit, and a new Stevens racing bike! Ross has given so much of his time to cycling in Ottawa and has organized over 400 races... he is a huge part of cycling in Ottawa so it is really great to see him rewarded for his selfless hard work.

So with the weekend done, and having successfully recovered from a dismal grand prix, it was back to business as usual - working and riding. On Tuesday I went out to Gatineau Park to join up with the "A" loop, but instead met some Wheelers in the parking lot who graciously invited me to join them for a ride so I went with them instead. That was also a lot of fun. It was a hard ride, but the guys in the group were also having fun at the same time. I guess this is a new concept for me because I'm used to rides either being slow and friendly, or fast and serious. This one was fast and friendly... what do you know?!

So at the end of my "official" racing calendar, I am happy to be getting back to having fun on the bike but still riding hard and pushing myself. I'll still compete in a few training races, and maybe one or two more official races but the pressure is off now. I'm going to enjoy the rest of the season and take advantage of what is left of our Canadian summer & fall.