Minor setback....

A break in the link has occurred.....Regular Wednesday night spin,,CANCELLED due to chest cold/flu like symptoms. Have learned that taking a break can be more important at this stage than trying to power through it. Idea was to get a night ride in with Fil tonight to compensate for the lost day.......the way I'm feeling now...probably not wise.....let's see what happens..Forecasting the whole week off of bike and get a fresh start on Sunday.......hope to get hockey in on Friday so, technically only one missed day ;(

just silly.......

As I was setting up the bikes, prepping the rear wheels into the Variety of Kinetic fluid and Tacx Magnetic trainers for the crew to arrive today, I asked myself........this pattern of training is probably the most intense pre-season that I have yet to succumb to...really...is this really called pre-season or just freshly POST SEASON. Yeah, my OCD tendencies lead me to setting up everyones bike in advance so all they have to do is SHOW up....my sick way of confirming consistent attendance from those parties that have expressed an interest to committing to three times a week in the dankness of the garage....method to the madness. Recall of winters past confirm that NEVER have I put so much focus and energy into turning cranks without forward momentum......it's just silly...but a good comedy.

Looking back at previous posts, not much new to talk about other than days have switched from Tue/Thur/Sundays to Mon/Wed/Sundays which actually works out well as Mondays are true "recover and technique" days after days like earlier today......HAVE MERCY!!!!!! Let the stats describe the effort:

Today Dec 12th: Have Mercy spinerval DVD......easing into 2 hour duration
1 hour 34 min
148 avg HR 184 max
In zone 52 min; above or >155 bpm = 30 min; below 11 min
997 Kcal
Avg Cad 87 Max 128

Dec 8th
1 hour 34 min....wtf....interesting that time was same as today.....:)
140 avg max 163 (aerobic base builder session)
In zone 1 hour 27 min...yeah man aerobic; above less than a minute; below 6 min
974 Kcal
avg CAD 98; max 156......yeah!!!!

Plan...tomorrow recovery and technique, Wednesday (host but can't spin) as wife is out for work but will punch in once she gets home ;) etc etc......I wonder how many sessions in now...21 spinning sessions since Oct 24th.........

A good crew

Another session of Zoots Challenge with Molly, Fil and Frank in the sweat shop tonight. Just blogging for future reflection:

58 min
151 avg 182 max HR...anaerobic workout...obviously :)
In ZOne 24 above 28 min below 5 min
662 Kcal....far from accurate but good to keep track of
Avg CAD 90
Max 146

Getting weak from lack of food....is that Shepperds Pie????

Wednesday aerobase building and Sunday 2 hour "HAVE MERCY" session should be killer

Time to reflect

The pattern is clearly established and the garage has been consistently a sweat fest for three days a week to the tune of Coach troy guiding our clan through the variety of aero and anaerobic workouts. Quite happy with the committment from most. Generally sessions are three to four strong and everyone is becoming well versed in heart rate this and lactate threshold that. It was pretty hard to keep the bike INDOORS when the mountain bike was freshly cleaned...errr. brushed off and looking to be let loose. Nonetheless, Frank and Fil (a.k.a. "F-bomb) were in for a ripper. Quick discussions re: hangover this and that led us to decide an aero base builder to sweat out the evil vs a quick suffer fest. We'll leave that for tomorrow's session.

Time to add some stats for future reflection......apparently, if done properly, my avg HR for the 20 minute "all out" time trial was 157....had more in the tank, which reflects a Lactate threshold value of approximately 150.....feel better with 155 lately so using this vs 150.. Todays stats:

1 hr 11 min
138 avg 158 max HR
In zone - 1 hr 4 min; above 1 min; below 5 min
Kcal 715....miss seeing the 1500 plus.....need to get OUTSIDE
Avg CAD 93 and max 129

The plan is to really listen to "guidelines" and keep aerobic 2 of 3 workouts and REALLY push the anaerobic workouts when scheduled. NOw.......to get rid of this slightly hoarse throat to feel comfortable with adding more tension to the trainer and PUSHING it on anaerobic workouts.

TOmmy.........if you are still checking in............what's your status man........countdown begins yesterday to SC ;)

Ain't consistency boring :)

Can't shake it if I even tried.....still spinning Tues, Thurs, and Sundays, with hockey on Fridays.....man, I think this boy's getting fit :) Shaking a cold and hoping it doesn't wreek havoc after tonights hour of aerobic spinning.....time will tell.

One Month or 4 weeks in, 14 spins INDOORS

Consistency is all I have to say.. 4 other recruits, Molly, Pat, Fil, and Frank have been putting their time in with Molly and Fil being the most consistent members. Tuesday, Thursday and Sundays have been committed sessions with the sufarama and one legged drills becoming less and less painful and having me considering cranking up my tension on my Tacx trainer.

14 sessions of garage spinning and one night ride in for the "off season" and my thoughts about 2011 are starting to change....why...let me tell you....The past three years I have been ramping up my personal goals in the 8 hour and 24 hour Chico series. I've enjoyed this time and all I've learned from it to date. The problem is.........the courses, although well put together for endurance events are, well...kind of lacking in the technical throw your ass over the back of your seat kind of fun I'm looking for. Hardwood and Albion have GREAT single track and I've come to realize that the last three years I HAVEN'T BEEN RIDING IT!!!!!!! This comes from the fact that I live in Kingston....the trails are sparse. Collins bay is great....the farm...a good staple...but anything worth blogging about is a good 2 hours plus drive away.

As much as I'd love to say I'll get out to Hardwood, Durham, Albion, Copeland(yet to experience it), Kingdom Trails etc next season outside of the racing circuit....would be a stretch. This due to the fact there will be a 2009 Ebbtide 192 SE waiting to be broken in this summer, SPRING if I had my way, at the cottage. This translates into some "crosstrainining" inclusive of wakeboarding and mellow putting around the lake.....can't wait.

In reality this is how it's going down.....Tommy, Fil and myself are going to South Carolina in March/April for a solid 7 days of 100 k daily road/mountain riding....If the winter training stays like it has started and SC is a success for training, Mansfield's SPring 8 should be successful as well......this will only lead to the feeding of the obsession....should be an interesting winter/spring/SUMMER! Now for some chamomile tea and catching the last bit of my eldest daughter's new movie obsession...Mr. Frost....nighty night...another concern....my post work craving for beer has almost become obsolete.....curious......

Tried and True

We finally got the regulars together for a spin in "the studio" tonight. Molly has demonstrated an uncanny consistency and motivation to keep this spinning up over the past few weeks almost RELIGIOUSLY. Fil has a schedule that will most likely keep us guessing on his attendance for solid Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday sessions. If tonight was a predictor of what the sessions are going to be like.......we may have to ingest more calories to ensure we don't wither away like a biafrin.

I've decided to get back to capturing stats....more for comparison purposes and will also look into other tracking methods for visuals. Will have to keep track of last anaerobic threshold test and ensure this is done every 6-8 weeks to "reset" training heart rates for lactate threshold as the need to build aerobic base for South Carolina will soon be the priority. Figured I'd take a couple pics of the "studio" at the request of Monsieur Hanrahan....see below :)

Bought a cheap 20 dollar TV from Kijiji and using my daughter's portable DVD to power up some Spinerval sessions. Surround sound complements of Bose powered by a retro sony receiver that has the usual static when attempting to adjust volume.....just right.

Figured I should get a pic of the crew in mid session of tempo intervals......Molly looks possessed....Fil is a few pedal strokes from lactating out of his ears:

Here's the stats from a "Zoot Challenge" 9.5 out of 10 difficulty Spinervals video:

48 min of "training time"
max HR 188
avg 149...beauty considering my threshold has been calculated at 150...sweet
In zone: 23 min
above 19 min
avg Cadence 100
Max Cadence 161....that's right.....the drills are working ;)

Plan....finish my nice glass o vino, get the kiddies to bed, and chill inclusive of tomorrow and then hammer it up again, most likely with Pat to the tune of something aerobic..Molly is in New Mexico and Fil has a scheduling conflict or something or other...he may need to get these priorities in check ;)

free range chicken

That's what I felt like tonight when fil asked if we were going to get a night ride in.....I was surprised with my hesitation and my new found comfort zone in the GA'rage. It might have to do with the fact that being cold and wet doesn't come into the equation..Nonetheless, a ride we had. More like an ecotouring pre-ride of a race course kind of ride due to conditions....slick and chilly. Felt good to spin a bike that was jostling underneath me vs the Tacx speedmatic that serves to beg to be broken with high cadence (>150 rpm) intervals. I feel the Coach who calls himself "Troy" taunting me during every session. Looking forward to tomorrow's session. Fil is in and Molly also indicates she's in for a rip........looks like the perfect opportunity to intro them to Zoot Challenge......hello quads of fury...prepare for battle.

Time to hit the hay......minor side effect to night riding.....12:21 am and still not that tired.....

like freshly calibrated timing

The Tuesday/Thursday/Sunday spins have now been consistent for two straight weeks and am now able to add a 4 pm ice time on Fridays....this should be a manageable winter especially when the conditions dictate keeping my xc skiis in the car permanently for a quick pre or post work at Little Cataraqui.

Plan for week is night ride tomorrow, weather permitting, and spin Tue/Thursday with hockey Friday....doesn't get much better until I add this....The regular spins are now etched in stone as I have three other's joining me, in other words, no room for slackness. Time to rest/recover, finish this glass of wine and get these kids to bed. Anticipating a blissful restful nights sleep ;)

New recruit

It's happened.....a new recruit to the "spin studio" for some garage spinning to the sounds of brutal 70's spandex music and the likes of Coach troy with his shit eating grin and comments about cadence and wattage....actually loving it.

Regular obsessed freak of nature, Fil is off in Bahamas visiting his wifey who is also getting a medical degree.....quickly found and captured a young girlie to join crew while fil is away and has now secured a sweat puddle contest spot for future Tues, Thur and Sunday spins. A little Uphill grind intro for Molly complete and looking forward to a new addition to the "studio".

Thursday slated for some "recovery and technique" to assist molly with her overly flamboyant goodlife spin cycle technique and then back to business until the snow flies and I convert an old school peugot from road bike to "hybrid" for some winter riding until enough snow to get out the reciprocal kicking planks...a.k.a classic xc skiis. Gatineau...is that you taunting me to carve my initials with yellow writing...I take your challenge :)

fall ride..yummy

I just updated the blog with the season's "stats"...essentially just placings in the events that were successfully rode....and then it happened. The burning desire to get out for a ride...ride I did...nothing epic...just a spin with some semi warm gear on and feeling refreshed and cleansed of the "more than the recommended dosage of red wine" next day feeling. Shower and Halloween party with the girlies :)

Shock an Awe.......

Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday....I've been spinning in the GA-RAGE.....still foggy but recently understanding the significance of this pre-season PRE-SEASON prep.

Without babbling and just ensuring I document how freakin early this shit is going ON.........aerobic threshold testing done...now understand and have a benchmark to re-evaluate every 6-8wks.

Plan...enjoy wknd...Emms turns two and Halloween going down as well. Spin Sunday evening with Molly....yup...recruited another sick puppy to bring a bike into the depths of my garage and spin to some poor 70 style music cycling DVD's....sleep time *yawn* love fridays....

Season is now ON!!!!! Winter that is

Shit........that's the word that comes to mind. My regular, no excuses...we're riding unless it's a tsunami or battling end stage of cancer riding buddy FIL, has just purchased a Kinetic fluid trainer. What does that mean? Well let me tell you...........after a night of absolute binge drinking with my brother in law and sister, hung over to the T*&$@, a text last night confirming an early morning spin session due to weather was confirmed. Early...well, more like 11 am. "IT" has begun. Now, what "IT" is...is a little sick in my opinion. We are October nonetheless and I just finished hammering "IT" out to the likes of some bad 70's spin studio music and coach troy's far from soothing voice telling me to Grind it out as part of the Uphill GRRrrrind. heartburn............not good.

Now I have to generate some short and long term goals, hence the reason for my narcistic blogging return ;) No need for being unrealistic here......Given, training has BEGUN as the season has just ended, thanks to Fil's most recent purchase, I have no alternative but to forecast greatness for next seasons 8 hour series. Yup, no 24's forecasted......most likely HANSOLO....so....one 24.....because it HAS to be done. So...what am I doing spinning in my garage sweating to the oldies.....getting a freaking insane base for top 5 in the summer 8's next season.....There.......the forecast has been tabled and etched in cyberspace stone. Top 5.........That should be realistic right?? Scheduled spins/rides will commence T, Thursday like religion and let the freaking chips fall where they may.

Now it's time for some advil and some serious whining in hopes wife will provide sympathy for my ridiculous self mutilating behaviour.

Another ride.....bring on winter :)

Without any races to prep for, it's nice to get a ride in, but to have that motivation to train for an event makes myself "wander" towards other interests.......Had an exceptional ride this afternoon, anticipating a solo venture and met up with Sean at trailhead. Took almost full out riding to keep up with this guy but really enjoyed the tempo.

Less than a week now until, really, my last "event". This is what used to be our semi-annual mountain bike/drink each other under the table/feast like kings weekend. It's been a while.....too long since I've been able to connect with these gents. Sure to be a solid wknd. Plan......night ride Wednesday...and mellow until wknd. Should be a killer ;) No need to post stats at this stage of the game...I geared up, I rode, I conqured :) Time to get a refil on that glass of vino......

who says there isn't technical riding in Kingston??

Last minute FB'in with a local trailbuilder lead to a hammer fest of a ride through some loops I wouldn't have thought of linking together of the local terrain at Collins Bay. Decided to take a bit of a warm up ride en route to Meeting Sean through Lemoines point and STILL really baffled at the grotesque marking of signage making a huge no bike statement off of the main gravel walking paths.....just stupid...'nough said.

A cool moment occured just as I was taking a call while en route to meet sean at trailhead for an estimate on a timing belt service from a specific automotive dealership that sounded more like a SALES call than a SERVICE call...decided to order parts online...and have my tried and true mechanic install.....dealers....'nough said :) ANYWAYS.....a small fox was in my distance as I was pulled over to the side of the road taking the call and this small fox began making it's way RIGHT for me.....wondering if it was rabbid was eliminated and locked eyes while it quite cooly trotted by about 3 feet from me........very cool........extremely cool actually :)

Typical Sean fashion....hammering right out of the gate and trying to keep up with his 6" travel stumpjumper as he was weaving like a rattle snake around the terrain was a refreshing change in pace. A couple pauses due to flat tire, chit chatting with a fellow rider and about 26 km when it was all said and done. Arranging some plans for a night ride and commenting on rear suspension at end of ride surfaced ANOTHER rear flat.....too weird. Got home, swapped out the mosquito for the tried and true and well worn Nevgal with a new tube. Stats not inclusive of road ride home ~ 5 k:

1 hr 17 min
143 bpm avg
179 max
In zone 42; above 29; below 6 min
870 KCal
19.4 km minus about 5 or so km home via road
Avg spd 15.1.....technical; 37.3 max

Plan.....hmmmmmmm...oldest daughter has a "Tea Party" event with a little friend tomorrow....may throw my youngest in the bike stroller and go for a little rip around the sub division looking for "treasures" in yard sales :) Cottage Saturday night and probably a road ride/mountain on Sunday evening...one week until BBB.............should be a blast

Re..*sound of scratching on turntable* CHARGED

Booyah!

Almost a WEEK since spinning any kind of crank in any manner and MAN did it feel good to get out tonight. Other than the fact I left work and didn't get rolling until about 5:45 and flatted about 25 minutes into the ride, it was a spirited and ego boosting ripper.

Decided to bring the lighting system, just in case, and an hour and 45 minutes later happy I did on my return to blackness. A little concerned about the recent "Verboten" of bikes on what are essentially gravel trails on my usual to/from detour through Lemoines point....apparently bikes are only allowed on the main, airport strip wide, trail that B-lines right through the conservation area....our tax paying money has even gone to clearly posting reflective (which looks super cool reflecting off my HID headlamp) signs at all trailheads...and I call "trailhead" in it's loosest form...MAN..IT'S GRAVEL PATHWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't even care to inhale or exhale any more time and effort into that bonehead committee decision.

Ran into one of the guys responsible for building trail at CB, Todd I think his name was, and his wife. Soon after, flatted on my teenie 1.9 mosquito rear..CO2 barely filled the new tube ?!?!? and debated calling it quits about 25 min in. Glad I didn't because I was slip dippin and diving for another hour 20 later. Actually, am deciding to run even lower air pressure as a result because my well worn mosquito seemed to hook up on anything and everything without the need to Baryshnikav any of the technical climbs.

Feeling good, sippin a green tea and hoping to hook up with another gent Freitag (not sure why I feel German is suitable tonight...) for a tour of some of the new trail and then pretty mellow weather permitting road rides next week to prep for the Sept BBB.....will be EPIC!! Oh yeah stats...why not:

1 hour 41
147 avg HR....won't even bother with max...this freakin HR monitor is pissing me off....212 bpm...really?!?!??! whatever
In zone 1 hr 10 above 28 below 3 min
1167 Kcal....wolfed down a four serving sheppards pie and some recoverite....mmmmm still hungry
28.8 km
avg spd 17; max 43.4

Tis the season to night ride like a demon...falalalala...la la la laaaaa

'nough said. 20 k of night riding with Fil. flowy, technical, and feeling like I need another light to eliminate the stress of outriding a 2 hour light......ebay here I come :)

WTF, enterred the "Fil zone"

Fil was jonesin for a road ride...wind was absolutely CRAZY from South East, usual route was being seriously massaged into some new pavement by a monsterous crew of heavy equipment.

Met Fil at his place and managed to get out just after 5 pm. Of course, this is Tuesday and groups of large and small were passing us as I was removing the bike from rack and getting my shit together. Initially it didn't bother me...just an easy spin...fil was looking tired. Nope..from the get go and a change in course to fly with a tail wind we were FLYING down highway 15...before we knew it we were at our turnaround, Joyceville road, headed INTO wind and was really surprised how much gas we had with QUICK sessions of pacelining. Of course, forgot my computer....decided to take Fil on a bit of a tour to lengthen the ride and found ourself back on Highyway number two with FRESH ashphalt....sweet.....full on hammering into a rather strange headwind...it should have sucked our legs dry but we were big ringing climbs and ACCELERATING while TALKING about how this SHOULDN't be so easy.

End result......can't explain why and how we hammered for two solid hours...forgot heartrate/computer....stats would have been impressive...yet again...maybe it's time to leave the computer at home for now on :)..

Beautiful Night Ride

Had a fellow who likes to night ride commit to a meeting tonight in the woods. Decided to take advantage of having an extra set of lights and mount one on the bar......WOW...that's the way to night ride...thanks Fil...good luck getting that set back :)

Took it super easy as my last ride (two days ago) surfaced some nasty in my left rhomboid/mid trap region. Put on some voodoo medicated tape a massage therapist gave me and MAN, I'm feeling pretty good. Smell a little bit like a thoroughbred but nonetheless, no sharp pains on this ride.

I LITERALLY could have rode alllll night. It was just great to be out, weaving in and out through the darkness following the beam of my 700 lumen bar light and HID nightrider headlamp. Probably the most relaxing ride I've had all season...and speaking of "season"....I'm getting the itch to get just one more race in.......thinking of committing to the Fall Hardwood 50 never ride the same trail twice race. That would be a GREAT way to end the season...play it by ear....that just might be the breaking point of a very understanding wife this season. I'm definitely looking forward to the Muskoka BBB September 25th.

I think this blog is going to dwindle as I have successfully achieved what I wanted to this season...maybe next entry I'll recap 2010 race results and "what I've learned" and develop a strategy for next years events......however......with a ski boat at the cottage next year.....may have to train for another sport alltogether :) Stats aren't impressive from a training point of view but check it out nonetheless:

1 hour 26min.....didn't hit my timer until about 5-10 min into ride
125 avg HR; 161 max.....yup...mellow
20.8 km add a couple km
avg spd 13.1; max 32.9

Plan...rain all wknd...going to the cottage...family bonding time...a few martinis :)

Recovery ride done

AAAaaahhhh. Felt good to spin the legs. Legs were happy, heart/lungs also happy, lower back gooood, but a little muscle called the Levator scapulae on the left side decided to give me jabs anytime i decided to muscle with my left upper extremity while looking left at the same time.

Decided to take out the mountain bike as I was sitting in front of a computer most of the day watching the beautiful weather. Made my work quota, completing a report from this a.m.'s assessment so figured...let's check out the local trails, mellow style, for the potential of a night ride in the very near. I figure I should take advantage of having two sets of lights for the remainder of the week and go out with a sun on my shoulders before fil gets back and wants his Seca system back....man that was a killer system...may have to invest in one next year to augment my HID nightrider....maybe I should start buying lottery tickets or selling body parts on the black market to fund my "wants".

Recap on ride...just freakin awesome...local trailbuilders were up to something since I last rode it....all cut back...new routes...man just MINT. Quickly realized that I was out riding without notifying anyone...again...and took it super easy, especially with this little sucker punching lev scap discomfort. Feeling refreshed, I made my way out of the trail head with a grin and at almost exactly an hour I felt my ITB on the left knee and the hamstrings start to get angry...lower back thought it might join in as well.....guess this is why they call them recovery rides....stats:

1 hr 3 min....got my polar strap back...bye bye Timex..keep you for skiing/running
127 bpm avg hr...that's more like it 156 max
In zone 1 hr58 sec; below 2 min 51 s; above 4 sec......now That'S RECOVER RIDING EH MATT?
584 Kcal....soaking up some recoverite as I type
17.1 km....relaxing
avg spd 16.1 km/hr; max 37.5

Plan...check my email to see if a couple guys bit for a night ride tomorrow or Thursday and bring the bike to the cottage and see what happens :)

24 Hour Success

To be honest...I didn't know what to expect. I've been "training" and I use this term loosely...really just "riding" pretty consistently, on average, every second day and have logged a couple longer rides in prep for this 24 hour event, Hot August Nights. We had all the prep in place. Loaded up all my gear and with pops in the passenger side, headed out to Albion hills Friday a.m. Set-up camp at the PERFECT spot just after transition point and decided to settle in for some of the "local cuisine" at the chalet. Plan was to do a mellow pre-ride of the course and bumped into a few guys along the way. First impression......fast and FUN was bound to be after the pre-ride. Then...chilled in for the evening.

The next day was pretty mellow...slept in and started off with a McChico, normal pre-race mixing and watching Tanya Flemming do her amazing low maintenance prep of her solo site. No nerves.....just excitement as I lined up on the start. Thanks to Matt Spak who shared some valuable and most likely a PIVOTAL bit of advice regarding heat stroke aversion and off we went. Lap times were fast...I had a hard time slowing down because the course was just too damn FUN and FAST. I have to say the pops was a CHAMP when it came to support in the pits...everything from coffee on hand to fresh headbands washed and ready...can't say enough about this guy...he better stick around for a while, because after these results...a winning team :) for 2011..

So, I just kept riding...all night....16 hours in, a few coffee, plate of pasta, and numerous conconctions (sp?) of heed/perpetuum etc, and feeling good it came to about 4 a.m......pausing at this stage of the game is a potential game BREAKER...getting cold is the battle....pops was draping me with poncho liners, warm towels, jackets, hats etc....was about to pack it in...Pops had another idea...he was on board, keeping tabs with race results (honestly I was just looking to PB) and told me if I were to get another lap or two in (13) then I'd most likely come away with 6th out of 17 showing...my brain really wasn't in the "negotiating" mode and just took his word for it. So, donned with full finger gloves, warm-up tights (yeah...I said "tights), off I went to finish my last lap that turned into my favourite DAWN lap....perfect ending.

Handed in my chip, saw my placing as 6th and quite satisfied with reaching my goals of beating last years 10 laps and riding all throughout the night. This strategy was in my favor as the weather was super hot on Saturday DAY and Sunday DAY.....end result...6th place with NO chance of doing any better than that given 5th place who was secured by Stefan...very strong rider from B.C...shot the shit while riding trails all night, who finished with 20. 7th place also got 13 laps but rode right up to the 24th hour to achieve. My ride essentially was a sustained (with small breaks) 18 hours...look back on that and shake my head.

New goal........take the advice of the the honorable Mr. Spak and get a coach for next pre/season and see how far I can fly in this under 40 category??....a little concerned though....can I continue to take in my daily beer quota???? Check out these stats:

15 hours 03 minutes of ride time
avg 143 bpm (not bad...thats aerobic), max 219 (that's not)....this polar monitor......wondering about it...may need to go Garmin next year :)
In zone 11 hours 50 min; above 3 hours 1 min; below 10 min..that doesn't add up??
9781 Kcal
192.5 km according to the polar
avg spd 12.9 max 44.8

Currently...had an hour nap.....two beer in and plan on keeping the tops twisting to celebrate a great end of season placing....bar is now raised....shit....................

Next on the agenda...stay off the bike all week (maybe a couple days at least) and then have some fun with some playing on road and mountain bike in anticipation of a freaking great BBB with the boys Sept 5th in Muskoka's...a little buckwallow, santa's...some spots to test the tried and true Trance...btw...love that bike and am thinking keeping it for next season and just beef it up with some I 9's......back to beer ;)

Cyclist rear ended...first on scene

ADRENALINE!!!!!! I'm just leaving a satisfying consult with a client who will benefit greatly from a lateral compartment OA brace when I hear this eerie.....POP!!!!! The sound of a rear wheel being destroyed by a late series mini van. I "B-LINED" it across the road and hit the four way flashers not knowing what to expect. Luckily he wasn't too badly broken...his bike on the other hand....not so good.

The driver of the van who hit him was obviously in shock and was staying in his vehicle...probably from the fact that I was shooting non-verbals in a "DON"T FUCKING COME ANY CLOSER" kind of fashion....fellow man down..instinct. Of course, I didn't bring my cell phone with me....My first words were to the cyclist down asking him if he was ok...he was doing his own self assessment at this stage...we all know the kind....body scan...moving each joint...all's good....some real good road rash appears to be all as far as I know..

The driver of the van gets out..I point at him and practically yell....YOU HAVE A CELL PHONE?? CALL 911!!!!!...apparently this may have shaken him as he retreated back to his vehicle. He decides to move his van that was once protecting the down cyclist from traffic to the SIDE OF THE ROAD?!?!?!?!?! passing motorists are calling 911...everyone that asks if someone has called is retorted with a NO, please call...VERY IMPRESSED with 911 services...must have been less than 3 minutes until fire, police, and soon after ambulance.

So now that the cyclist seems to be stable and free from significant injury.....I comment on his bike....ask him how he likes the egg beaters and tell him that he is in the market for a new wheel set...humour was good ;) MOre chit chat....find out he is a soldier, knows my father and is aware I'm riding the 24 hour this weekend with my pops as support....this meeting was meant to be.....could have been worse. Glad to see it wasn't.

Lesson learned.....don't ride at dusk......toward the sun......just freaking dangerous. Man, I'm still vibrating from adrenaline....may need to change careers to paramedic ;)

Recovery ride?? MOre of a ripper!!

You gotta love a great training partner..the kind of guy that makes it literally IMPOSSIBLE to say no to any scheduled ride unless circumstances are absolutely dire or death is imminent. My plan was to just be mellow this week....that changed quickly last night when I got a text inviting me to a "recovery ride"...now we all know what this means....it means Fil was looking forward to taunting me on every hill and challenging me with some pace lines.

It's funny....much like back in my University days, discussing that we were just going to go out for a "couple" beers and behave always turned into an absolute tabacle (sp?)...this is like the "recovery" ride with Fil....It all went wrong/right when as I was unloading the bike and about to clip in we saw this fit dude ripping through town about 40 plus k....it was ON!!!!!!! We were hammering through town, maintaining visual with our target and closing in..first climb, Fil challenges and it's a freakin hammer fest :) This guys cut left and we kept on straight for our scheduled loop...never did see him again, must have chosen an entirely different loop.

So, this ride essentially became a pretty good tempo ride with some decent alternating attacks on climbs and some ~ 50 plus k/hr pace lining our last 12 k. Came close to getting clipped with a "wide load trailer"...instinctively dropped a few gears and tried to get sucked in to the draft...a few seconds too slow on the trigger finger and not enough brute power to catch up...Hear a nasty PING and got airborne following Fil about 2" from his rear tire in a tight draft when I hit a pretty nasty rock WHICH, Fil now that I know you know about this blog....you neglected to tell me about ;) and am impressed with the campy wheelset and fondriest frame for absorbing that one...did cause the bars to drop into a more "aggressive" mode though....could have been worse...great way to end the ride.

NOW...my plan is to stay off the bike...odds are looking good on that one...we'll see..STATS san Polar

Timex:
1 hr 30 min
approximately 50 K...I think
In zone 55 min
76% avg HR
94% peak
45% min
1494 Calories

100 K done..BRING IT HAN SOLO!!

The usual nervousness finalized my early morning decision once my youngest went down for her morning nap.....capture this moment. GOD I LOVE MY WIFE.....she has been so understanding and enabling me to get, at this point, thousands of KM of riding in this season. One more event to go and then it's time to transition into winter frame of mind...XC skiing :)

The decision was made to get 100 km in today, the dilemma was do I do it on my mountain bike to prep for next weekend or go for speed with the trusty Fondriest Mega plus....decision made to take the mountain for the specificity of training for next wknds 24 solo.

The ride was just MINT...best way to describe it. I chose to carry three bottles and a credit card, luckily, as about 10 k in I noted that I forgot gels/shots....quick bank machine and eyeballing all options for food etc on way out to Glenora Ferry. Effortless spin westward due to a nice moderate tailwind. Got to Glenorra ferry, travelled across and climbed up the hill to Lake on the Mountain for a bite and some coffee.......oasis........

Weather was on/off drizzle and as expected a mild-moderate head/cross wind the entire ride back. The keester definitely DOES not like to be in the mountain saddle for 4 plus hours..may swap it out beginning of next season for the WTB with a bit more cushhhhh.

Home, showered, recoverite, and minutes away from a beer..Stats:

Polar
1 hr 45 min - 47.6 km
Avg spd 26.9
Max spd 40.8
Timex
1 hr 47 min (bank machine stop)
In zone 26 min
Avg HR 66%....yeah that's right :)
Peak HR 83%
min HR 44%
Total Cal 1147

Ferry ride......climb up the mountain to "Lake on the Mountain"
7 min 34 sec - 2 km
avg spd 16.3, max 27

Sat on Patio, coffee and chicken pot pie......mmmmm SO tempted to have a beer...behaved

2 km back DOWN the hill

Return Ride
Polar
2 hr 53 sec
47.3 km ?!?! where was the extra 300 m? on way down
Avg spd 23.5, max 31.6
Timex
2 hour 2 min (slight adjustment to remove the MP3 from ears)
In zone 1 hour 26 min
Avg HR 72% Max86% Min 48%
1516 Cal

GRAND TOTAL issssss
98.9 km....grrrr I forgot about that when I rode it last year on the road bike.....need to lengthen
2663 Calories.....confirmed...going to get a beer.

Plan....NO riding until next wknd....maybe an easy spin on the mountain (rain all week...so road)
Have the pops come over Thursday night, watch the movie 24 solo and head out early Friday to set up camp for what I anticipate will be my best ever event to date :)

Road ride...1 wk countdown

Connected with Fil tonight for a bit of a roadie. While I was waiting, I decided to take a map out and look at some other loops that we could do..Fil shows up and some discussion about length of todays ride. Ideas about a century ride were tossed about and smirks were exchanged as we headed out..

The weather was pure and perfect for a great road ride. We decided to head out northbound, further north than our usual cutback east. Stumbled across a little town called Camden East, turned right and was met with continuous new pavement and wide shoulders. I kept thinking about next wknd and what I'm in for....sure, an 80k ride today with, really, minimal vertical and just shy of 2.5 hours of riding is just a few laps in a 24 hour event. Looking forward to testing my mental and physical limits.

Really, no exciting anticdotes or spiritual moments on this ride, other than the fact every climb felt pretty easy and Big ring got it's workout with the small ring feeling neglected...so much so, that I think it's developed a psychosis.....always love this time of year...leg power is there, recovery is so quick that "sufferring" is getting harder to achieve. That brings me to one topic of conversation that was had on our ride....Cyclocross....don't get it...was wondering if that might be the next bike to hang in the garage as this season is soon approaching. Also like the idea that while out for a ride, making lefts and rights are not dictated on whether it's paved or not....I think of it as a nice mediator between the road bike and mountain bike...not sure what antics would occur around 2 in the morning in the garage when they quietly dismount from their wall hooks and chill out to some of the garage tunes, but isn't that just better to let them deal with their issues on their own?? :)

Stats are interesting:
2 hr 30 min
76.1 km
30.3 km/hr avg....yummy
52.6 max
avg CAD 87; max 114(proves I'm not a true roadie..)

Timex.....can't wait to pick up my freakin POLAR HR strap from my buddy.....
2 hr 39 min start/stop time...inclusive of a phone call received by fils wife on my cell that she was locked out of house......thatta boy....ride kept on and was lengthened ;)
In zone 1 hr 15 min
77% avg HR
92% max....min 36%.....standing baking in the sun while fil speaks his foreign tongue to his woman
2275 Calories...replenished with recoverite, on 4th glass of wine(sister visiting) and some Pad Thai

Plan.......this is a tough one....have some invites for a Sunday night ride but it's supposed to rain on Sunday. I JUST CLEANED MY MT. BIKE and swapped out my cable housing with some cool electric blue....this bike is going to be tested in a week.....I'm thinking, rest this wknd...family time is priority. Maybe throw the camel back on with some tunes Sunday and head out for a 3 plus hour ride and maybe explore a little area called Parrot Bay, just for fun...and then, realistically....I'm going to stay off the bike for the rest of the week. Oh yeah, ordered this video called 24 solo about this guy (can't recall) who was 7 time 24 hour solo champ...should be good. Hope this comes early in the week. Back to my whine and discussion with a sis who I rarely get to share space with in my living room. PEACE!!

Pre-contemplative thoughts

Just cracked a beer after a productive day generating reports that comment of forces, frequencies and postures. Feeling a lot more comfortable with my home office scenario of late.....makes me wonder about why I choose solo events over "team" the last couple of years.....Hmmmmm

A little thought about plan of attack for prep for next wknd's 24. The body is feeling pretty tight...could be from spending hours in a static position in front of a laptop....hmm not practicing what I preach....again. The plan is to get a road ride in with Fil tomorrow night. He's jonsing for that 70 k loop out and back through Wilton...love the route and especially when there's a paceline. As i will be working from home tomorrow, the escape for a ride will be just what the good Dr. Fil ordered. This wknd is slated to be a family fest...my sister is visiting on Friday night and we are off to the folks Saturday night and my wife wants to check out a beach in Lansdowne on Sunday...I think bringing the bike TO the beach and riding HOME will be the plan for the wknd...other than that.....I'm thinking bike prep for the next wknd is par for the course.....from my experience last year.....this race RUINED me psychologically....don't remember when I craved getting on the bike....I think it was like a MONTH later...this time round should be different. Especially as we have a reunion in the muskoka's in a pimped out host's house/cottage September 25th....always a little test in nudging everyone's fitness and drinking levels...should be fun..on that note..time to "carb load" with a beverage :)

Night Ride complete

Just over a week and a half until 24 hr...night ride with Fil tonight...feeling STRONG. Watched, briefly, as fil went head over on a bridge with me, following too close and with no where to go, also taking a dip in what I always thought was a deeeeep swamp...not so much.

1 hour and 36 minutes of flowy and fast single track....probably get one more night ride in pre 24...big road ride Friday and next week..melllllloooo

road ride turned NIGHT RIDE :)

Met a coworker who is getting into the sport of road riding tonight. Off to a late start with a plan to get the Wilton 70 k loop in before dark......about 40 k in and about 30 minutes left of light we chose to ride to moonlight for the remaining 30 K....sketchy but fun :)

Kudos to Molly for riding strong and riding her first night ride..lesson learned though...if in doubt...bring lights :)

Stats pretty mellow:

2 hr: 38 min
70.6 k
avg spd 26.9
max 50.9
avg CAD 85
Max CAD 107
ride time 2 hr: 37 min...one minute to take off dark lenses and ride just with prescription inserts due to lack of light :)

TIMEX:
Avg HR 72%
max 93%
min 40%
2181 calories

Plan ride with Fil tomorrow with a bit more tempo and some pacelining...route to be determined...ultimate goal...ride ride ride this week and rest rest rest next week in prep for 24 hr solo...IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS!!! BOOYAH

Easy spin?? WTF wind?!?!?!?

It was ricocheting in my head all morning as I was sitting in front of a computer commenting of forces, frequencies and postures for work. Finally after feeling quite productive and ahead of schedule, I decided......I'll just do that 70 k loop at a low intensity kind of 24 hour solo pace.......does that ever really happen?? After about 5 minutes in and shifting into lower and lower gears, I was amazed to see my avg speed hovering around 38 k/hr.....hmm must be a bit of a tail wind as i wasn't even feeling like a 4 or 5/10 RPE.

That's when I realized the direction of wind...now normally Kingston has a gentle (whatever) southwestern wind and I was assuming this would be the case, hence my out westbound in what I anticipated would be a headwind, a jog north for a bit of a tailwind/cross and a return route with a combination cross/headwind. Wasn't really the case....blah blah whine whine whine..

Finished a nice little 70 k, stopped in to a Fourwinns dealer and eyeballed a sweet deal on a 17 ft boat and am about to have a shower.....hmmm 2010 with trailer for 15,999........but it ain't no Larson ;)

Stats and Plan for wknd:
2 hr 32 min
70.3 km
27.6 km/hr avg....mello
53.9 km/hr max
Avg CAD 90
Max CAD 115

Timex:
2 hr 40 min......8 min of gawking at a new boat
In Zone 1 hr 32 min
Avg HR 74%.....perrrrrfect
peak HR 87%....perrrrfect...probably caught when I was looking at the boat in the showroom :)
Min 41%
Total calories 2115....can you say...shower and beer?? after recoverite :)

Plan - as I am working from home tomorrow...will hammer in front of a computer and if the bike beckons....who am I to ignore the signs and signals??

This wknd....bring bike with me?? Naah, this wknd is about my grandmother and family..we will be having a private ceremony in Ottawa where my Grandfather and Aunt are residing. Quite honored to be the urn bearer?? Is that the proper term? And also going to perform a tradition which I am going to jump on board with as well, pass some of her ashes at the cottage.....bit of a boat ride I presume and followed up with a bit of a toast I reckon :)

2 weeks and counting until I meet face to face with my soul in the 24 hour event....am I ready?? Can you ever be??? We'll see.

And the Thunder rolllllls

So about 78 km into my ride yesterday, I get a text from the good doctah jonesin' for a ride....the good thing about a training partner is that unless you are suffering from pneumonia, broken limb (more on that theory later...fil ruined it), or in between bouts of chemo, you don't say NO to a ride. He intro'd it perfect....just an easy one...a recovery ride for you and an easy one for me due to a pretty bad ankle sprain he sustained while canyoning out west 10 days ago.

On my way home from work...I looked up at the skies, acknowledged the sound of thunder, and made the call......Fil answers verbatim, "You're calling me to tell me we're going riding...right?" As noted above.....I quickly responded...yup. Hightailed it to wife's car swapped rack over to mine, grabbed my tools and pump from the trunk into mine, ripped home, inhaled a recoverite to make up for lack of food today...freakin work gets in the way allll the time. Filled up a couple bottles...BIG fan of Perpetuum WITH honey...a new addiction. loaded up with the checklist in head and met up with Fil and a new rider, Molly. Molly is a PT I work with who is....for lack of a better way of addressing it....a machine.

Fil was a little miffed that I invited another rider as I was soon to find out that his "sprained ankle" was actually...an avulsion. Now in laymans terms....this is essentially a fracture. He shows up for a ride with a broken limb......strike that one off the list of valid excuses NOT to ride...thanks fil..now it's just chemo and pneumonia. So I guess he was actually serious that this WAS to be an easy ride.

BTW, did I mention I tapped into a MONSTER energy drink pre-ride....another concauction that I'm beginning to be a big fan of. Rain was misty and the ride turned out to be somewhat magical with a somewhat cooling mist to rid the body of it's evil. Essentially a nice little recovery ride, a bit too much for someone with a broken ankle and just right for a new rider on the block. We picked some relatively flat routes to keep fil from curbing his tendency to ignore common sense by pushing his ankle......ER docs should know better?....well, we all don't practice what we preach.

Good ride and felt good to be on the geometry of the road bike. Hoping to get out Wednesday if wife's post work plans fall through, otherwise Thursday road and bring the mountain bike to cottage....probably not repeat the rail trail.....solo......may ride road back vs mountain..yeah that sounds more like it. Stats:

1 hour 42 min
47.6....it is what it is...recovery ride...freakin hard to just be mellow....maybe that's why I can't get to "the next level"...what does coach troy say....sometimes you have to train slower to get faster.......once again...practice what I preach.....learning
Avg spd 27.6....melllloooooo
max 49.2
avg CAD 88
Max CAD 114
Avg HR 74%
Peak 99%....yeah...recovery ride or not, I hammered this double cresting hill and pretty much came close to passing out...but in a good way :)
1598 Cal

A little bit o this and a little bit o THAT!! SNAP!

Another great wknd at the cottage. The only difference was that it was just Jac, me and the kids. Weather was beauty all wknd and the little boat was used for a couple "family" puts around the lake. Even got the canoe out and ripped around an island or two to wayfind the rocks that I once knew every hazard on the lake......time to refresh that memory for next year....that announcement will have to wait :)

Brought the mountain bike with and was planning to ride home via the Cataraqui trail. Now, let me just clarify rail trail......it's flat......which means no climbing or descending, which translated into a 4 and a half hour spin. I had this nervous feeling in my gut that I was going to meet up with a bear this ride...luckily, other than a hissing and snapping moderate to large snapping turtle, no wildlife thought I would make a good dinner. Came across a car about 10 km past Chaffey's locks that was parked on the rail trail....mighty suspicious and when I looked further into the woods a makeshift tarp tent.....kept on moving after that one.

This ride was in a word...punishing. Punishing because I thought, for one, pumping up my tires to 50 psi would be a good idea.....even with my ergon grips, it was hard to find a comfy position. I had with me 3 L of Heed and a lg water bottle with a 4 hour prep of Perpetuum...I'm now over the taste of Caffe Latte. For substance, I also brought a shot block. Now weekends at the cottage are not the most .....ummmm.....healthy ways for me to treat my liver. My wife and I let loose both nights doing quite well to put a dent in the beer we brought up and managed to find some interesting frozen treats...see below:


This morning it was humid and misty with rain. Not the most ideal weather for what I figured would be a 70-80 k mountain ride..no hesitation though..I've got a 24 hour SOLO to train for in a matter of weeks. The hammies were not happy nor was my Keester for the first 30 minutes to an hour. After that hour in...hammies were good but the keester....not happy with me right up until....now. I was changing between big ring and middle/lower predominantly just to keep the ride a bit novel. Nice look out over a bridge that was just passed Chaffey's locks:

Not much to really comment other than the fact I got spit out at Perth road village, freaked out the staff at the little store by just walking around for about 5 minutes before the rather attractive female from the back room asked if I was looking for anything in particular. They were probably looking to get me out of there as I was dripping sweat and probably not smelling too well with over 50 k of riding in at that point. Did see some home made butter tarts and added a gatorade to the equation and fired that back before mounting my steed and making my road ride back south on Perth road.

This is when it kind of got a bit miserable....rain and moderate head wind....for the remainder of my 33 k ride back home. Meandered down unity road and connected with the K&P trail to get me home. Tired....wife had sandwhich prepped for me....taking my last bit of energy to finalize this blog before I retire to the basement for some channel surfing: Stats san HR monitor as I forgot it...

4 hr 20 min
83.6 k
19.2 km/hr
54.4 max

Plan...my riding buddy fil is back from saving lives out West and reports a sprained ankle from canyoning....road ride either tomorrow or Tuesday (probably Tuesday) to catch up with fil and then every second day get some riding in whether it be road or mountain to prep for 24 at end of August. *Yawn* couch beckons.....

Martinis, beer, wine golf and boating new training regimine??

I'm alluding to the fact that I had not been on a any two wheeled craft since last Thursday's night ride and am feeling pretty satisfied with today's 30 plus hammer fest in the hot hot sun today. Kingston makes it easy to choose your weapon of choice.....winds of 30-40 plus mph in a direction that would make the most optimistic become suicidal. Mountain bike it was. I decided to donn my Louis Garneau green and white jersey and bib short for some kicks and loaded up my pockets with heed and bottle rack with pepetuum (cafe latte) and headed out to see how the body would react to my neglect of fitness over the wknd...

I was anticipating some fatigue due to heat, headwind (initially) and generally poor fueling today, due to a mad session in front of the computer hammering out reports....but ALAS, legs were spinning rhythmically and heart rate/breathing was steady and in reserve..

Made the quick decision to turn left vs right to lengthen the ride to a 30 k vs 20 k loop and had some fun dialing in to some U2 and Oasis.....highly recommend Oasis for some trail bashing. Was dipping and diving, leaning and counterleaning heavily around corners like a tactician. All was feeling great. Cleaned the new technical rock garden climbs and had one experience where I hit a sharp right from double into single track in a 4-wheel drift resulting in ricoccheting off a sign post and a tree.....but it felt......right :) quick assessment....no pain, blood etc :) and borderline bonking the last 5 k back along lake Ontario and refueling with the remainder of my perpetuum and some recoverite.

Stats:
Polar:
1 hr 49 min
33.5 km
avg spd 18.4 km....yup confirmed....was definitely hammering :)
max spd 36.8
Timex:
1 hour 51 min = 3 min of pausing to adjust MP3 player :)
In Zone 24 min
avg HR 84%; Peak 97%; Min 47%
1835 Calories

Plan.....play it by ear re: weather......

No riding and "OK" with that

Long wknd at the cottage. Just beer, golf, eating well and the occasional dirty martini. Brought bike with me and brought it back.....first wknd in a long time I wasn't "itching" to get a ride in.

Plan......get back on the schedule beginning tomorrow with a roadie....rain or shine :)

Night Ride baby

I got an email a couple days back from a pretty solid rider who was interested in getting a night ride in tonight. Was all geared up and decided to head out a little early to do a little warm up loop around Lemoines point. Arrived about 5 min before Chris and popped into trail head to adjust the lights.

Collins bay trails are nothing to sniff at....they are tight, technical and have potential to really smack you up if you begin daydreaming. Now add no light and some dew......game time. This is when I have to say....i love my bike and my HID nightrider lighting system. It was like riding in day and was enjoying being the tour guide to a pretty straight shooting guy. Other than the fact we had to back track for Chris' lost handle bar light, 2 hours went by quick and I was really just beginning. These riding partners of mine have a tendency to be either ER docs that work crazy hours or this guy who is also a geriatric doc just getting off a night shift....

Nonetheless...truly enjoyed being out in night on these trails. Because I left my HR monitor strap in a buddies truck...stats are taken from polar and timex watch....here she goes:

Polar:
27.1 km
1 hr 55 min ride time
Avg spd 14.2 and 34.4 max

Timex:
2 hr 17 min inclusive of leaving my garage and chit chat pre/post ride.
"In zone" 37 min 30
Avg HR 65%.....yup....mellllooooow
Peak 85%
Min 40%
1415 Calories

Plan....it's the loooong wknd. Working on reports from home tomorrow....may get a quick rip in prior to heading to cottage. Will leave bike at home??? That just sounds funny when I type it out...probably bring the road bike for an early Saturday ride????Long wknds just aren't long enough when you have a golf game scheduled for Sunday and a wife who is antsy to get back Sunday...so new plan...convince wife to stay at cottage until Monday...really what's the rush anyways.

recovery ride??

I was all fired up at work, almost feeling cooped up with the nice weather taunting me through the walls of windows that i am blessed to surround me overlooking the scenic waterfront of Gananoque. It was a done deal when I had the sun roof, both front windows open and that sense of......freedom overcome me on the ride home...i needed to get a ride in. Nothing silly...just load up the camel back with about 2 litres...just enough to make it a longer ride if i was REALLY feeling the weather.

Point blank..simple loop of 20 k with nothing to rave about other than the fact the legs and lungs were feeling waaaay better than i would have thought..stats on watch upstairs.....hmm maybe the legs are feeling it a bit today. And no...I'm not about to catch the last bit of the batchelorette with my wife.....that would be just gay..........not that there's anything wrong with that ;)

Satisfaction....yes....that sums it up :)

The 8 hour solo event at Hardwood is an event I've done a couple times and have enjoyed each event. This year, I was looking to do bigger and better. My goal was to get 10 laps, or one more than last year, and I did it. The other was to better my lap times by 5 minutes on average....stats will soon tell but from the numbers my pops kept it's looking pretty favourable.

This was also a pivotable race in that the speed demon a.k.a Tommy Hanrahan didn't lap me....for a change. Overall, I felt gooooood and of course regretting the fact that I didn't squeeze in that last lap. Reason for stopping at 10 came down to the simple fact that I was hurting after the 9th...so much so that I reached for a "Monster" energy drink and an advil vs the traditional perpetuum and heed staple that normally keeps me fired up. Now let me just say something about........chemicals. Chemicals are gooood. About 15 minutes into the last lap, which happened to be my fastest lap of the 95 plus km of riding that was done (I think), the chemicals blending with the Monster energy drink and the advil became synergistic for mind and body. Climbs that I would dismount, yeah this does happen as a soloist, were grinned at and killed with fierocity. Simple "on your lefts" were challenged on climbs with an off the saddle response and quickly reiterated with a "good climb solo" which further fueled the desire to hammer.

I really and truly enjoyed this 8 hour solo venture at Hardwood hills or what I like to call a mountain bikers spa. Mike Ring, who is a fellow cycling buddy of Tommy H podiumed 3rd place in his first ever solo venture...impressive. Also impressive is TH coming in 4th EVEN after crashing, and what sounded like pretty significantly, 4 or 5 times. Tom, I know you'll read this...if it weren't for the crashes, you know quite confidently that you would be 2nd place at this showing eh? Whatever......it was a good day none the less.

What was pretty cool as well, was my 62 year old father was supporting not only me, but Tommy and Mike Ring. BTW pops, Mike wanted to give out a big thank-you and stated, "he wouldn't have podium'd it it weren't for your support"...so I guess you were doing something out there eh :)

Now the plan is to do what I do.....live and enjoy life, get some riding in with the amazing support of my wife and get ready for the ultimate test which does have a tendency to burn out my desire to throw a leg over a bike, HAN SOLO. My dad is already setting a 15 lap goal based on what he saw today and my performance from last year.........I'm going to shoot for the mid point and go for 13.

Stats are normally more impressive but I was missing my heart rate monitor strap and forgot my alternate strap for my back up TIMEX watch....oh well...it would have been pretty anaerobic I'm sure...here's what I got:

7 hr 19 min in saddle riding out of a potential 8.5.....hmm still that last hour of "non-committment" rearing it's ugly head...new goal
93.6 km....auto stop function on monitor must have missed a few meters with pushing my ride up a few steeps between laps 5 and 9
Avg spd 12.7
Max 45.6

This week....recovery spins...enjoy the weather and catch up on a hell of a lot of report writing that I have been putting on the back burner for last wknd's focus.

What kind of Blog is this anyway...

Well...it happened..my 92 yr old grandmother passed away this morning at 6:20 am and was notified 10 minutes later. The common denominator to this blog was that the last event, the 24hr summer solstice, marked the wknd she had her first stroke...about three days prior to. To say this was a shock.....not in the least, she was aging and fast. She was a strong independant woman of 92 that golfed every tuesday up until about a month ago. She had wisdom in her presence and youth that gleamed from her eyes whenever you had the opportunity to talk about anything and everything. This was the woman who was part of my earliest memory that would don a knitting needle, sitting quietly in the corner who personified the "cottage" as we knew it. She was advancing in her years.....this is inevitable and to see her age was just what it was. She will truly be missed.

The day I saw her in the ER at Smith Falls was hard......someone so strong.....so independent.....at the mercy of her own mind and body. 92 and a big stroke...odds aren't in anyone's favour....if anyone could "pull through it", it would have been my Granny. I still love the fact that she had a DNR (Do Not Resucitate) on her file....it's her..She will be missed and will always be remembered in spirit with strong association around the family cottage.

A fitness blog.......yeah, that hedonistic, selfish attempt at motivating one to strive to bigger and better. This wknd, my father, who was also my best man at my wedding will be my support guy for this event. It's not about the race or the fact that I will be "suffering" throughout the 5 plus hours ( because really....after 5 hours it gets tough) to get 8 hours of consecutive riding....it's about the fact that I've got a pops who is pumped about seeing and supporting his only son participate in his most recent passion. Another highlight is being able to share this wknd's experience with a guy with whom personifies positivity and recently, dedication and perseverence...Tommy H. This is a guy, with which the first time i met, was sporting a Cannondale Super V, because he cracked the frame on his Gary Fischer Sugar 3....trying to think back to when this guy wasn't tuned in to the positive vibes..can't really tap into it.....maybre a glimpse when we were in Moab our first tour, but that had to do with the fact that he just wanted to RIIIIIDE or EXPERIENCE EVEN MORE of whatever and in present time....would love nothing more than to push the button on my camera with this guy podium'ing in this wknd's event.......RIIIP it TOMMY BOY!!!

Back to introspective...We all suffer.....sometimes when we can control the level of suffering and deepen that level of tolerance, I think this gives us a sense of "control".....in reality....shit can happen big and quickly...so..to think that we truly have control is naivity in it's purist form.

Back to Fitness and the "blog".....bike is prepped and all is packed. Car is out of the shop ready to roll and anticipate an 8 hour event like no other. To say I will better last years performance is as confident as cocky can be defined.....will look at my results from last year and table that my plan is to better each lap by a minimum of 5 minutes and hope to get another lap than last. This should be "do-able". No more keystrokes till monday....have a 5 year old muttering..."oh dad....you are boring me......ohhhh you take so long" bye bye computer...

BOOM Shalakalakka Boom

My weekly ride plans came to a screeching halt once I put the key in the ignition of the A4 on Monday after work....no headlights, turn signals, or air conditioning....Dropped it off to the shop thinking, this should be a cheap fix...probably just an alternator....never that easy with Audi...quote of a 1000 bucks for ignition wiring and fixing a rough sounding flex pipe...Car is worth keeping around for another year or two though.

So, shared wife's car today and managed to get a ride in with Fil. He seemed pretty pumped to ride...me...not so much. Was feeling tired..That quickly dissipated once we got off rolling out to the East. The old Fil was back...after 5 k into the ride...pacelining began and didn't stop for up to 25 k in...laughed at our growing desire to hammer from the get go and stay in the big ring on any and all climbs no matter HOW much it hurts. Enjoyed listening to the groans of fil loading up his bike and getting into his car after this hammer fest. Stats are two fold as I hit the stop button by accident after 44 k.

1 hr 31 min
47.5 km
avg spd 31.3 max 51.8
Avg CAD 88 Max 110

45 min
22 km or 69.5 k total
avg spd 29.4 Max 54.5
Avg CAD 87 Max 106

Forgot my Polar HR strap in buddies truck from PA ride...Timex backup:
2 hr:17 min
In zone 44 min
Avg HR 79%
peak 93%
Min HR 51%
2139 Calories

Plan.....busy week and car in shop......no riding till weekend. Play with bike and put some new brake pads on it...maybe a light spin Thursday night to break in the pads.

Green tea and sleep....early morning tomorrow

Off to PA with the familia

I've taken and made it standard luggage now, no matter where we go and how long we're away. I'm referring to mounting a bike on the roof of the family car, whether it's a quick rip up to the cottage or a lengthier stay at friends of ours in Easton Pennsylvania.

I scoped out some of the local trail builders (VMB) and bike shops and graciously took an invite from a 23 yr old downhiller for a tour of what I would have to peg as some of the most exciting trails that I have come across: http://www.bikevmb.com/node/4178

The only tricky part was coordinating my wife's shopping, girl bonding, kiddy time on tours of the crayola factory, a steam engine ride and a mining expedition. Also informed of a golfing tourny with an American vs Canadian theme....hard to pass up and yes, kicked that yankee assss!

So what I hoped to get, 2 rides in, turned into a beauty sun chasing ripper of Walking Purchase in Bethlehem. To get there, meant coordinating some challenging and sketchy streets to surface at a surreal looking park at the top of a San Fran type city street climb. Once arrived met some local riders who were interested to see we(my 24 hr partner also was dragged to this girl get together) were from Ontario and we chit chatted about the usual banter. On to the trails..

This younster "Ryan" was raving about the down hill scene and was talking about his french made (can't recall) 8" rig he loves to ride...Chris and I already were convinced this kid was going to spank us, but I had other ideas......:) We headed out, Chris on his Kona Coil Air, Ryan on his Racing Giant Hard Tail and me on what was soon coined the PERFECT bike for these trails. We started down into the first decent of what was called the "Outer Loop". The downs kept going down...could tell Ryan was a DH'r as he was flowing up the trails with Vigor. Kept on his ass though:)

First break came and we were grinning from ear to ear. The downs kept switching and transitioning along this what seemed to be a pretty decent hill. Watched Ryan do a few headers and some wash outs.........thought to myself.....not much of a technical rider.....and finally made it to bottom. Some banter was exchanged and I challenged all to a dab free climb when Ryan indicated it was pretty technical...he actually challenged me to a 10 dollar wager that I couldn't clean the climb......that fueled my desire to mount and rip it up.....a grin ear to ear and sweat POURING in the 36 plus degree weather the top came quicker than expected. About 5 minutes later I see Ryan pushing his bike....hard to resist my enthusiasm, while balancing on a tree to ensure I didn't risk a pre-mature dab I said, Is that IT???? He gladly extended an arm to seal the deal but i quickly said no worries, no need for cash, just credits to go towards future wagers...*SMILE*

More climbing and an amazing boulder rock garden later we arrived at the top...feeling super strong. Good times...only wish I had the luxury of time to check out more to these trails..apparently Leigh Valley has some pretty great technical climbs.

So haven't ridden since Friday evening and the 8 hr is coming quick. Planning on riding with Fil (road) tomorrow to spin out the legs and then probably Wednesday (mountain) to ensure bike is still ready for wknd..need to replace brake pads and break them in for wknd....Tommy is going to podium (smile) and I'm hoping to get top 50% in my category (solo under 40). Feeling this is going to happen. Anticipating rain......given history and will be pleasantly surprised if sunny. Stats:

1 hour 26 min...."advanced riders do this trail in 60 to 90 minutes".....sweeet WITH breaks that were "unnecesary" in my opinion.
Avg HR 155 max 178...batteries working now :)
In zone 36 above 48
1110KCal
14.8 km....heat and terrain....sufficiently fatigued and boost of ego as well :)
Avg spd 10.3, Max 31.3

Ride Time 1 Hr: 25 min....about a 5 min break at 3 miles in

Family Fun World

O so the day started anyway. The wifey had a work committment which meant she was expected to be at this strange run down amusement center slash drive in with go carts, batting cage and mini golf. Kids were acting unpredictable, leading lauren to head out with her mother and me with the little emms...we rolled out of the house at 9:30 on a mission....a new camel back bladder to fit the mule. The search finally ended with me buying a 3 L and cleaning kit so I don't gum these bladders up so bad which led me to throwing the old ones out...let's see how long this lasts. Reason for going back to a camel back....my rides are now consistently over two hours and the heat doesn't enable me to carry enough with me in two bottles...so back to the back weight of a camel back, for training anyways.

The wife's work party turned out to be pretty relaxing...tried to get Lauren to get into a double go cart...a no go....spent a couple rounds connecting with my baseball days in the fast ball (60 mp/hr) cage...not that fast...connected ALLL DAY BABY and worked up a pretty good sweat. ATE and ATE with the goal of getting out for a ride this evening.

My riding buddy fil, confirmed the go time of 6:15 pm...just enough time for a "nap" or whatever kind of nap that is with two kids in the house and load up the bike to meet him for the rip. We quickly confirmed that this would be an easy ride as fil was just getting of one of his usual night shifts at an ER in some surrounding town and was looking a bit rough. I was really hoping to get a 70 plus k ride in...but slowly assessed the situation and as usual, we were right back into some pace lining after about 30 k in..

Finished the ride with a solid climb in big ring for about a km and felt the PAIN in the quads...always good to test the threshold and agreed to fils idea of an icecream post ride...felt a little strange standing outside a very busy icecream shop kitted out in spandex while fil grabbed a couple cones....worth it....good ride. One of those rides that were side by side discussions and then full on hammer fests...more mellow than hammer but a ride none the less.

Countdown to PA for some riding in Bethlehem and then the next weekend is solo 8 at Hardwood with the Pops providing support :) Should be a good one. Stats:

2 hr
142 avg; 181 max....these are normal....must have been getting interference inpast or was due to weak battery??
In zone 1 hr:31 min; above 23 min; below 5 min....good aerobic workout!!
1334KCal....replenished with a gelato and some recoverite
57.6 km....over 50 but feeling guilty with such low km's.....enjoyable ride though
avg spd 28.7, max 51.3
avg Cad 89 max 117

Plan....hmmmmmm...may get a ride in on Tuesday and then chill till we get to Easton PA. Hopefully ride Friday and Saturday morning, return to K-town on Sunday, ride with Fil mountain on Monday and easy road on Wednesday and then chill till 8 hour.

Now....try and sleep after I shower

Concerned about riding in heat???

Playing it low key this wknd..Washed both cars, weeded the side and back gardens, hung out with the kiddies for a bit and then began to get antsy. Was planning on going for an early morning road bike but the insistent puttering around in the a.m. brought me to noon before I knew it. 30 degrees reading from the car made me retreat to the woods for a little mountain bike spin.

I was trying to retrace the tour that these guys brought me on last Thursday, but missed the crucial turn. Had some fun meandering in and around random trails and favourite loops to the tunes of Oasis...gooood head space. Heat was starting to affect me, knocking trees that I normally don't and losing some momentum on technical climbs that I usually fly up...was finding it also hard to drink...am going to bite the bullet and buy another camel back bladder for these training rides..one litre just isn't enough for an hour and a half ride anymore....

I popped out of the woods after meeting with a fellow rider who was just entering the trails and decided to ride north to the local BMX track...no kids on this track????? This is a beautiful pro grade track that held Nationals last summer.....weird there weren't any kids ripping it up? Considered parking and watching some of the soccer tourny that was going on, but decided I'd keep on riding and head home.

Got home and felt weird and dizzy again.....sat and observed the amount of sweat that was pouring out of my body......drank the last bit of perpetuum in my now luke warm/hot water bottle and headed in for a cool shower. BBQ lit, finish this blog, grab a beer and chill with the familia....a little movie with the wife tonight, go to wife's work summer party tomorrow and rip with Fil on a road ride in evening.....makings of a great wknd. Stats:

1 hr: 25 min
159 avg; 181 bpm max
In zone 27; above 57 min....HOT HOT HOT
1151 KCal
24.8 km
Avg spd 17.4; max 40.1

Can't wait for Pennsylvania trip...sneaking in some mountain biking with trails less than 30 min away from Easton...novelty will be just what I need.

Hatha Biking...wheeew

Tonight's ride was off to a rocky start as my wife came home and asked if I could "delay" the ride as our oldest had to go to a walk in clinic to address another ear infection....one hour later and light slowly disappearing....little did I know, my riding buddy could have quite easily called in a prescription for her symptoms as HE IS AN ER DOC!!!!!!! lesson learned....we now have a plan for next time ;)

We loaded the bikes on Fil's car to save time vs ride to trails and I mounted my lighting system not knowing how much light would be available. Well hydrated during the wait period for wife to come home we were ready to rip. Came across one of the local trail builders Shaun Weima and then emerging from the brush like some fateful event.. another guy who is responsible for some of the local trails..."Todd". This led to a hallucinogenic mind blowing technical flowy ride of ONCE AGAIN NEW terrain. Only an hour and 10 minutes of riding but it was RIPPIN'!!!

One over the bars experience by myself and Fil led for some fun air time and some great practice at unclipping in mid flight :) MAN, I'm still on a high from that ride...looking forward to hooking up with these guys again!!! I'm sure my truing stand will get some use after this ride.

Stats:
1 hr; 10 min
156 avg, 181bpm max
in zone 28 min; above 41 min
922KCal
15.2 km....just enough in this heat :)
13.2 avg spd; 37 max

Plan...wife has been pretty accomodating for rides the past few days so....family time tomorrow night and looong road or mountain ride saturday/sunday...and prep for trip to PA next week with a Tuesday ride :)

Heat Stroke anyone??

It was hot....craaazy hot today. Was in an air conditioned clinic all day and wasn't aware of the humidity until I left at 3:30 with the intention of getting an early ride in at the local trails (Collins Bay). I was silly in wearing my fox baggy shorts and a pocketless jersey which meant only one bottle which i mixed with an hour dose of cafe latte perpetuum and some Heeeeeed (yummy).

The heat was sapping the legs of enerygy, luckily I had the MP3 blaring some Korn and disturbed to keep the chemicals flowing to allow time for the perpetuum to kick in. Super hot, great new trail being developed which challenges the wits to do a double drop....not quite what I want to do as I don't have the disposable income for a new wheel set or time to spare for awaiting a broken frame...but beauty flow. Still a little foggy..fired in some recoverite and am nursing a beer...perfect combo...will finish the BBQ, get some food and add stats from today's ride later..

Back. Had some dinner and jumped on the trampoline with my oldest daughter for about 45 minutes...drenched in sweat...yet again :) Getting good at forward flips but not quite sticking the landing..also practicing some 520's...respect to the snowboarders.

Stats..let see..:

1 hr 16 min
159 avg 184 bpm max...
In zone 26 min; above 50 min
1034 Kcal
21.9 kilometers...10 of that road to get to/from trails
avg spd 17.1 with 42.9 max

Plan...bring out the Mt. bike for a tour with Fil tomorrow...and will be bringing two or THREE water bottles depending on heat....that was super hot...a wake up call.

I Love the Cottage

Even though we weren't able to get away until later Friday afternoon due to daycare for kids, wife taking off thursday and working Friday, it was golden once I packed the road bike on the roof of the "Family Car"....love that thing and headed out to the cottage.

Fil and his sister were coming this wknd with bikes so I was looking forward to being a tour guide of some of the magical loops around Pert, Lombardy and Smiths Falls. They arrived Saturday with our goal to go for a mellow ride...well one beer led to another, comments about the wind ~40-50 km/hr..and the plan quickly changed to Fil and I ripping a quick early Sunday morning ride...my preference anyways ;)

A RIIIIIPP it was...other than some dry eyes and a verge of a headache, we woke at 6:30, fired some breakfast in our bellies and headed out to Lombardy. The route was pretty sweet. We headed across Hwy 15 to a the eastbound Hwy 1 which connected, eventually to Hwy 29. I made a quick adjustment to the angle of the bars on the trusty Fondriest and the legs, which were feeling more like turbo diesel engines, were feeling smooth and loose. After about 30 Km in I could tell fil was feeling it with our 3 km alternating pace lines....he should have considering we were ripping at 38-40 km/hr. We connected with a back road which led us back to 15, travelled about 3 k south on 15 and made our way Eastbound on Hwy 1 to Perth.

Perth....let me just say this is a perfect destination for a mid ride break..We arrived at this park, that is just majical....across from this old mill that contains a restaurant called Fiddleheads...s to the weeet..dunked our heads in the stream, did some strange yoga stretches which I'm sure entertained the tourists and mounted our bikes for the last 17 k back.

Let me also say Perpetuum cafe Latte.....goooooood. My legs were feeling amazing and I was watching us rip along at 40 plus km/hr...Fil was hurting and starting to bonk which enabled me to get comfy with high cadence spinning...all in all 70 k in the big ring with the following stats...not bad ;)

Exe time 2 hr: 14 min, 48 sec; Ride time 2 hr: 14 min, 40 sec
153 avg and 209....yeah BABY 209 bpm max..last push of remaining 5 k's felt gooood
"In zone" 1 hr 13 min; above 1 hr 1 min
1693 Kcal.....still hungry at 8:40 tonight
70 plus k....first couple of km forgot to reset my cs to road bike mode
Avg spd 30.3
50.2 max
avg Cad 92; max 107

Well now...here's the plan ;)......wife no longer has Monday and Wednesday night classes....will be getting 3 days a week of mt/road riding in and a Long 4 plus hour ride, maybe Glenora and back (100 k) ride on the weekend. Next week in Pennsylvania so researching the area will determine if I bring road or mountain...........I could bring both ;)

Training session???? Kind a....

Wife got up her usual early 5 am and a little groggy realized, I had the day off. My wheels were turning since last night about the entry into the Hardwood Summer 8....here's the deal...last year I entered the spring, summer, local 8, and both 24's. The wife tolerated this but has put a bit of a kaibosch on things this year...something about having to socialize...blah blah blah.

Well, made the decision, for my sanity, to enroll in the Hardwood 8 to make up for my mediocre efforts in the last 24....not even CLOSE to enough suffering. It feels so good when you know there is only a couple of weeks until an event...next year...one a month ;)

So, wife is at work and i have both munchkins...loaded them up in the bike stroller and attached it to my retro Peugot equipped with shimano 105 with suicide shifters on the downtube. Took the kids to every park in the neighbourhood and kept fielding my oldest's question, "daddy, why are we going this way, with a quick....we're just going for a tour..which was just an excuse to get at least SOME consecutive spinning time. Ended up making a trip to macdonald's fed them with some pancakes, more like fed myself with pancakes and watched them rip around in the air conditioned play structure. Ride home was one step away from full bore down in the drops...heheh, I'm pretty sure I was exceeded the "recommended" speed limit of the stroller but, common sense prevailed as things were stable.

All in all, I estimate about an hour of consecutive spinning...legs actually feel it. Meeting up with Fil and his sister at the cottage, doing a little road loop tomorrow afternoon and will have wife drop me off en route to our return home to get some saddle time in. Mountain as many days as wife will tolerate with next weeked being a potential travel for some new trail. Looking forward to this summer 8.....A LOT...I love Hardwood 10 k loops...so fast...

Happiness is.......

A mountain ride with Dr. Fil, with me being a tour guide of the local trails he has yet to play on around Collins Bay. It was all pretty wet...yeah yeah yeah, all you tree huggers out there and that blah blah blah about erosion etc...I'm a tactician when I ride and you can barely see my tracks ;)

Found a bunch of new trail that these guys have been building and all in all FUN. Legs felt freakin' crazy strong!!!!! Including this wknd, that's 4 rides in a row.....NIIIIIIICE!

1 hour 27 min exe time; 1:26 ride time = less than 15 second breaks ~ 4 of them....waiting for my riding buddy :)
137 avg to 163 max....hmm is that fitness I'm seeing hehehehe
In zone 1 hr 20; above 1 min; below 5 min....why yes....YES it is Fitness I'm seeing
846 Kcal
18.7 km
12.9-39.4 km/hr......slick as goose poop

Plan...rest tomorrow and Fil was talking night ride Thursday...WHY NOT!!!!

Hang on...Wait a minute...ride...YES

I was assessing the legs and the body all morning, curious at just how good i was feeling. After doing a few loads of laundry and running up the stairs two at a time...it was confirmed...1.....I didn't push myself hard enough during the 24, that's a given...and two I need to go for a ride!!

Called the wifey to ensure i wouldn't be stoned to death if i didn't pick up the kids...green light..GO

Told myself I would spin easy and ensured I wouldn't go too long by only bringing one water bottle and it was warrrrrm. Legs were feeling unusually vibrant....hmm must be a tail wind...nope a head wind....hmm must be spinning in easy gearing....yup but still pushing 27 plus into a pretty strong headwind....curious..

Decided to do an out along Bath road about 15 ish k and then cut north on county rd 6..yup head wind all the way, which meannnnnns tail wind once I cut onto Taylor Kidd. Changing my stem to increase my bar height was golden as I got in the aggressive drops and started attacking flats and climbs.....now feeling really weird about not givin er in the 24..next time...

Got back, washed down a recoverite, shower, beer, and get dinner ready for wife and kiddies..maybe a little trampoline errr popcorn for the kids.

Stats 1 hr 9 min
avg 149.....good boy John with a 171 max.
In zone 51 min, above 17 min..once again...good boy..behaving
833Kcal
34.2 km
Avg spd 29.4 with a max of 62...yeah...full attack in drops pushing biggest gear
avg Cad 95 with max of 116 eh?

Plan, Mt with Fil....I just cleaned up my mt bike............oh well

Not quite deja vu...thankfully

Our plans to get to the 24 hr Summer Solstice the night before, hook up to water and power with my partner Chris's 12 foot macked out trailer did not come to fruition as we arrived to a spot that looked more like a tent city vs a trailer section....apparently the serviced areas book out earlier than April. Anyways....good thing we got there.

A little recap...I had day off Friday, in anticipation of an early trip up to mellow out and pre-ride the course with my parnter...unfortunately, a lot of crap including Chris attending a funeral for his Aunt changed our plans slightly. Nonetheless we got there and cracked our first beer around 11 pm.

We awoke to dismal and rainy conditions which did not serve the head well. This was my first ever Tag for a 24 hour and I had high hopes with my partner who appeared to be pretty pumped and had some fitness behind him. After getting updates from a site beside us intermittently while we were in the comfort of our camper :), we "rock paper scissored" for first lap with Chris winning.

Finally start at 2 vs 12 resulting in a 22 hour? vs 24 hour I was awaiting Chris to pop out of the switchback pines....first guys were ripping laps just over 45 minutes....another level altogether....maybe in a few years :)...Caught the whites of Chris' eyes and made my way to transition area..he looked tired...I was concerned as this was going to be a long race....my turn

We decided our first lap we would meet each other at the transition vs camp to get the full loop experience. Now......the difference between SOLO and TAG can be summed up this way...standing and hammering climbs is realistic and FUN in TAG and in SOLO a sure fire way of ensuring an early termination. I had a blast passing and outclimbing riders ALLLLL day.

The loop was pretty damn mellow...I generally enjoy some technical descents and full on drops that may challenge the suspension but....nadah...could be that the 5 and 5 of the Giant just makes everything too damn smooth now.

We were doing well trading off laps one to one until my third where I saw Chris at camp looking more like Aunt Jemima than a rider...quick fix....I kept riding...He was ready to roll after my return......now this was interesting. After completing my fourth lap, it was like a switch was kicking in....my mind was getting into SOLO mode and I was LIKING it....HANSOLO here we come. When Chris returned from his final lap on Saturday, the night was coming in quickly, so equipped with my HID lamp off I went.....due to humidity.....super hard to see and was getting discouraged with riders down/hurt and bleeding everywhere i looked. Not having an incident thus far..I decided to play it conservative and finish out the lap with Chris confirming he was done for the night and one beer in.......I looked at the finality in his eyes and turned the switches off in the head to get aligned with the sit, chill, and beer mode...not hard to do, but took everything i had to finish a second beer.

We hit the hay about 10:30-11pm (can't really remember) and knew my internal clock would wake me to either continue with Night rides or hammer out some day laps. 7 am came QUICK!!!!! so much for more night riding :) I looked over at Chris and saw no clear indication he was in for starting off this a.m. so I kitted up, hit trails and was enjoying the packed down terrain. As I was rolling in to transition area of camp i saw Chris standing tall and ready to tag in.......I'm impressed with this guy....would TAG another event anytime with this guy....it was his first after all and a doozer to intro him to a 24 hour..

He came back energized after his loop locking up the rear and giving a scream of joy...good sign!!! He quickly told me about the RED BULL combo which I jumped on board with and we continued to complete a total of 10 laps (me 6, Chris 4). Upon completing the final, Chris looked like he was......done....this event was not meant to be a suffer fest....I'll leave that for August...so I compromised with him and said you should finish the last 1 km, hand in the chip, and soak up the experience....he appeared to be game..I met him at the finish and tried to capture a photo, he appeared to be pretty dazed.

What did i learn.....Tag is harder than Solo....in Solo you can just keep riding and suffering comes and goes...Tag, you get to sit, eat, and fight the tendency to just freaking relax in between each lap...it's more of a psychological battle to get on the bike than a physical...also factor in that we had all the creature comforts of a 12 foot pop up camper......hard to keep riding when trail conditions were fair, light...poor due to condensation in air, and wanting to make this first experience for a buddy a favourable vs a "I'm never doing this again" experience....all in all worth it.

My stats as per Polar monitor/15.4 km laps:

Lap 1 - 1 hr 1 min
165 avg hr, 186 max In zone - 11 min, above 51 min
Avg spd 15 km; max 37.1
892 Kcal

Lap 2 - 1 hr 3 min
163 avg, 219 max(?!?!?) error? - In zone 14 min; above 49 min
Avg spd 14.6; 40.3 max
907 Kcal

Lap 3 -1 hr 3 min (doubled up with 2)
158 avg, 227 max (?!?!) In zone 24 min; above 38.....nice looking more aerobic here..warming up
14 - 36.6 km/hr
846 Kcal

Lap 4 NIGHT LAP 1 hr 20 min...was being cautious...hard to see
148 avg 222 max??? something weird here...getting other peoples data???? In zone 55; above 25 min......happy with the aerobic....good sign for SOLO in August
12-36.7 km.hr
955Kcal

2 beer...SLEEEEEP

Lap 5...polar says began at 7:33 am.....waaaay too much sleep :) 1 hour 9 min..took about half lap to feel like I was riding again...warming up just to cool down at end of lap....
149 avg 170 max HR(that's better) In zone 45; above 23 min
13.38.8 km/hr
828 Kcal

Lap 6 - 1 hr 6 min
150 avg- 175 max, In zone 42 above 24 min
13.7 - 38.1 Km/hr
807 Kcal

8th place of 13 showing....could have been 6th(easily) if we rode throughout night........................

A good time.....not feeling guilty about the lack of suffering 'cause I'll make up for it in August Hot August Nights SOLO BABY!!!!

Training plan...clean up the mt bike today...wait for rain to break and get an hour easy spin on the roadie, Mt. bike Tuesday(tomorrow with Fil) and see if Chris is up for it as well. Long wknd will bring road bike to do a nice loop from cottage to smith falls-perth-lombardy- back to cottage. Might start running.....Chris was talking about adventure racing....that would mean running.....ugh

Celebration of Life

I know I told myself I wouldn't blog prior to this wkn's event...'cause I haven't been riding, but it's time for a head check.

Last week, My grandmother had a massive stroke and is still recovering as well as a 92 year old woman can from such an event. My 24 hr tag team partner's Aunt passed away and will be attending her funeral today...

We have both decided that this wknd's event needs to happen, regardless of our family's events of sadness...probably because we both need this to reboot the head. I've decided that this will be a journey, not to get too flakey, but a journey, of self discovery and reflection about Life and to truly live every moment. Won't be too hard to motivate myself to stay in the mid ring on climbs or choose the "granny ring" in later stages to get over that hill. I will choose to ride hard and fast to assist my partner to achieving a result we will be happy with. Given the weather this weekend, this will be a true test of character and preparedness.....no worry about preparedness, now it's time to assess character.

My strategy.......Ride, pass on laps to partner, ride again, and keep riding. I won't sleep unless the body chooses no alternative...I will challenge any negative thoughts (because they come in waves) with positive reflection. In other words.....this is not going to be the usual mentality that I go into one of these events...."oh, I'll just hope for top 50 % and have some fun"...NOPE...the fun will be punishing my lactate threshold and my ability to consistently keep one hour laps for a solid 12 of the 24 hours that will be Raced...not RIDDEN!!!! F#*&% YEAH!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting turn of events....

As indicated in last post....last ride was Saturday, felt a throat thing coming on Sunday, confirmed this on Monday with a doctor's visit..STREP THROAT...on antibiotics and goal is to rest...get a call from Mother indicating my, tough as nails, 93 yr old grandmother has had a stroke on Tuesday and the kicker...my 24 hour partner's aunt passed away soon after I called to reassure that the wknd was a go. Hmmm now I'm twiddling my thumbs...my grandmother is on the up and up making gains almost hourly and...my partner is awaiting confirmation of funeral date. I have taken the initiative to confirm I can change my tag to a solo entry. Oh yeah...weather forecast is calling for showers both saturday and sunday....

This event will be a true test of mental/physical character...no more posts until I return from the event either a tag or solo team successor.