Not enough time to blog

Hurried a ride in pre-beach trip with wife and kids........feeling good and the bike is now...DIALED IN!!!!! Decided to spend some time this a.m. while sipping coffee and still in housecoat, adjusting air in fork and shock for ideal sag.....yeah, it makes a difference. I keep thinking stiffer is better but after today's ride and adding 10 pounds in front fork (damp wiiide open) and decreasing rear shock for appropriate sag, I sat in saddle over all obstacles....downhilling was super sweet and was feeling confident to prejump some doubles etc....good stuff. Will add stats later and also some pics of these trails that I ride and feel confident to call them my OWN...rarely come across riders.....where are these guys in Kingston man???? Tommy just may recruit us successfully to a community that lives breaths and eats riding :) Stats to follow later

Later is now. Found a gem of a beach on wolf island and after realizing they required 16 bucks to access, really happy with the ESP in dense gravel in the A6.....friggin LOVE THAT CAR!!! Luckily I went for a ride in the a.m. 'cause just sitting on a beach pretty much is like putting me into a straight jacket....was sufficiently fatigued from my earlier mello ride:

1 hr: 13 min
avg HR 144 bpm; max 175 bpm
In Zone 58 min; above 14 min
838 Kcal......replenishing quite well with some lime, gin and tonic......combined together with icccccceeeeee.
21.4 km...just a weee ride...love my wife's comment "you didn't go very long...you feeling ok?"..not sure if she was breaking my balls or genuinely concerned :) knew she wanted to bring the kids to the beach hence the weee ride
Avg spd 17.4 (hmmm seems a bit faster than usual log....felt good and flowy); max 42.3 always on downhill section TO trails via road

OK...June is beginning this week = 4 weeks 'till Solstice.........work is good, play is better, and family is keeping all things grouted together well :) Time to fire up the BBQ.

Plan...Tues/Thurs ride and this wknd most likely go the cottage and get that bloody dock in...bring the road bike and get a good old fashioned whipping post ride in :)

Family bike ride

A breath of fresh air.....wife took our oldest to gymnastics today so my brain slowly configured itself to identify that HEY, this is a perfect opportunity to take my youngest for a little bike ride meandering throughout the subdivision scoping out yard sales....fun! Hooked up my Fondriest Mega plus to the bike stroller (talk about overkill hehehe) after I wrapped some electrical tape around the chain stay...after all it is Italian....and off we went.

Little Emms was enjoying herself with her sippy cup and snacks and me just able to soak up some rays and just BEING outdoors. Got back and watched Emms play and play and plaaaay. Wife got back and loaded both kids in stroller wife donned the Giant and another ride was had. Actually a bit tuckered out..may have something to do with the fact I bought some Gin, limes, tonic and combined them together a few times last night....LOVE summer.

Now we're just chillin and I'm debating whether to check out a place called McCauly Mountain tomorrow or hit the local trails...should really switch it up...in that case....may get a roadie on the skinnies tomorrow. Hmm time for a beer

Lights not needed for Night Ride??

The plan today/tonight was to hook up with a young hot shot of a rider who I have had the priviledge of connecting with and rip a night ride equipped with lights. Well the weather was looking suspicious all afternoon....but funny enough.....not one time did I reconsider the fact that I was planning a night ride. The regular ride every second day is now as routine as breathing (thanks again to my wonderful wife). Interrupted the afternoon/work with a one hour massage...niiiiiiiice and looking forward to this once a week to help with training and prep for 24 hr events. Think this massage therapist may know what she's doing but will tell her to "dig in" more next time...she was mindful of the fact that I was riding tonight.

I picked up the kids and figured I'd have loads o time to prep for a 7:30 ish start...get a call at 5:30 from an excited eric who just finished convocation for med school and wanted to get rolling for 6:30...everything went smooth as buttah after that. loaded up and headed out and met him at trailhead for 6:30.....30 minutes later......he arrives.....oh well it's ride time. This is when I am starting to realize that my fitness is building.....smoothed out another new "perfect loop" that i am excited to get a few rounds in on Sunday...probably roll on the road bike, she misses me, on Saturday.

For now, finish my freshly BBQ'd T-bone, broccoli, wash it down with a moose green, and settle in for a movie (Invictus) with the wifey.....yeah man....life is good.....Stats:

Exe Time 1 hr: 45 min
Avg HR 142, max 170 bpm....In zone 1 hr 27 min; above 16 min; below 1 min
1170 Kcal....better watch the scale this week...might have to increase food intake
Distance 28.8 km
Avg spd 16.4; max 36.8

Summer is here...sweatin buckets

WOW! That is some hot a stuffa!!

Hooked up with my buddy Chris who is my tag team partner for the 24 Summer Solstice. He is fresh off his SOLO Storm the Trent adventure and looking strong on his 29r Gary Fisher. We decided to head out from my garage and catch up with some chit chat about the weekend and exchanged stories, me from my solo 8 at Mansfield and his solo at the Trent.....now listen to this. He rode 35 K, ran 10 K and don't remember what he paddled.....Not my cup of green tea..I'd prefer to one or the other, guess that's why I don't have the triathalon bug.

Our ride was in a word HOT...nice to open the jersey and feel the sweat just pouring out after about 45 minutes into the 2 hour plus 35 K ride. The legs were feeling good...too good...may have had something to do with downing a red bull right before the ride and popping an Advil after Chris asked and took one himself...I know all too well, this trick riding with my good buddy Dr. Fil...he'd load up on Advil and near the end of the ride try to coax me into a blow up.....rarely happened ;)

The ride was a nice tour guide route, with me being the guide, of all the local terrain around Collins bay. Pretty happy to have the ability to get 35 K in without having to load up the bike and truck it out the trails.....Thanks J&J....once again another positive coming from their negative hehehehe. Here's the stats:

Exe. Time - 2 hr:08 min / ride time 2 hr: 07 min ( no rest for the wicked :))
Avg HR - 81%, max 101%....switching HR monitor to BPM and adjusting my Max HR on next ride....age adjusted is not accurate...I must be 10 beats above??
In Zone 65-85% - 56 min; below - 52 min (chit chattin); above - 19 min
896 Kcal
Distance 35.7 Km
Avg spd 16.8
Max 43.5 km/hr

Ohhhh mamma...should I sell my road bike??

We packed the kids up and headed to the cottage this wknd. Golf clubs in car and bike on roof...how could it go wrong. Wife still continuing her positive streak on not giving me flak for getting frequent rides in...life is good.

So, yes...my pops is keeping tabs on my blog so I must give credit where credit is due...golfed 18 and happy with an 86 for the first round of the season...found my swing. Pops out drove me on the 18, and I knew he was going for broke as he was finishing his round with a 91. Not bad for an old guy of 62 ;)

Back to riding. It was the start to a beautiful hangover on Sunday morning and my headspace was how early do I get on the bike and where do I go. I decided to bring the mountain bike with me this wknd given the roads would most likely be full of similarly hung over people and I didn't feel like being a statistic...and that's when it happened. The cataraqui trail is about 6 k from my cottage door and what a beautiful stretch of canopied, marsh land surrounded, wildlife, heaven that was. My plan to ride back to Kingston from the cottage was pretty much kayboshed (sp?) with the fact that I was going to be spending the better part of Saturday morning on a golf course, so the plan was to just spin for 2-3 hours on this trail. Words can't explain how happy I was to be aerobic for almost three hours of smooth, sheltered, wooded riding....beats the fear of getting clipped by some yahoo in an escalade that is more concerned texting than driving.

Decided to bring the camera and take a few pics..even shot a video..you can sense how happy i was with the audio :)..It was crazy...you could see a window but you couldn't chase it down because it just kept going and going.....audio is a tad cheesy...was listening to some U2 on the Mp3 while recording the video...



No stats as i forgot my HR computer...probably better that way. Will definitely make it habbit to ride home or to cottage via this trail in future.

Plan: Hit the local trails tomorrow and ride with a my Tag team buddy on Tuesday to show him my "perfect loop" that is getting me fitter by the week. Time for a beer and a movie.

Posessed by the Devil?

The weather was about 24 degrees today and work ended early. Picked up my 4 yr old her first two wheeler and put on the training wheels and planted it front and centre in the garage for her return home from School/after care.

Back to me.....decided to go light as all of my bike gear was dirty and only had a pair of baggy fox shorts and a souvenir bike jersy san pockets from a previous Utah trip (poison spider). Felt good to head out with nothing on the back....too good, like I was forgetting something, but wasn't. MP3 loaded and off I went to the local trails.

The legs were spinning really fast and effortless the road ride out. Unlocked the suspension and into the trails I was flowin'. Decided after about 35 min in, I'd start doing some 5 and 5 intervals with 5 minutes hard and 5 minutes recovery.....well that is when it happened....The hard 5 just continued and kept on going...I was really enjoying the feeling of breathlessness and lack of leg fatigue...next thing I know I'm hammering harder than ever...Fitness has ARRIVED!!!

Other than a tree reaching out and grabbing me, knocking me down on my left side...nuthin'...That was a KILLER RIDE..Stats:

1 Hr: 15 min Exe time; 1 hr 14 min ride time
avg 85%; max 99%....yeah baby....99%
In zone 35; above 35 min
968Kcal
20.9 km....starting to run out of trail.....need a road trip....Tommy, I may be calling you to ride Durham :)
Avg Spd 16.8, Max 42.8

Tomorrow's Friday...bringing the bike to the cottage, butter up the wifey and get some daily exploratory rides in....life is good!!

First ride...recover ride??

It's been three days since being in the saddle for 7 plus straight hours in the 8 hour. It was time to get a quick rip in before mowing the lawn that seems to have grown overnight.

In a word...the bike felt light...I forgot I cut the bars down a generous 1/4 inch each side and DID THAT EVER make a difference in handling. I also moved the seat a few mm forward and more parallel to ground (did that move during the race??). All in all the bike felt like a GLOVE. Just a quick one hour rip of the local trails and am craving a trip to a hardwood or Albion....will try and hook up with my tag partner for the Summer solstice in the near and arrange AT LEAST a rip around coburg...hmm maybe Durham forest.

Getting the eye from the wifey and kids crying..better hurry up...stats:

1 hr
81% avg; 95% max
In zone (65-85%) 47 min; above 13 min
714 Kcal
Distance 18 km....seems like a cakewalk after Saturdays 88 K!!!!
Avg spd 17.7; max 40.9

Plan...regular Tues/Thursday rides with a longer wknd ride....next event SUMMER SOLSTICE 24 HOUR TAG BABY!!!

First Race Result and Improvement noted

Given I had a cold blah blah blah, I thought for sure that my lap times were faster last year when i looked at last year's results for the Mansfield 8......however avg lap time was 54:34 LAST YEAR and THIS YEAR it was 52:55......hmmmmm and time on bike increased from 6 hours 22 min LAST YEAR to 7 hours 3 min THIS YEAR.....and the most remarkable change....drum roll please.....placed 33rd out of 38 LAST YEAR and 19 out of 33 THIS YEAR..



I will now pat myself on the back acknowledge the Giant Trance X2 and it's superb ability to soak up the terrain and train even more frequent and longer for next months tag team 24.....this should be good. My year's goal is now to DESTROY HAN SOLO 10 laps LAST YEAR and anticipate 14 PLUS LAPS.....this should have an effect for next season....who knows....one day.....one dayyyyy



Oh yes and the most important note of this event. My 4 and a half daughter was my primary support and was handing me blocks and bottles every couple of laps but this was the kicker...after finishing 5 laps and not feeling "on top of my game", I decided to dismount and sit for a bit to re-evaluate my lungs (burning from my developing chest cold) ability to continue without sending me into a tail spin and that's when it happened....my daughter with an intense look in her eye said, "daddy are you here to race...YES OR NO!!!!" In my feeble attempt to politically respond about the importance of personal goals and competition she interrupted me again and said...."YES or...NO?!?!?!"...That was it...back on my bike and didn't get off for a another three straight laps. :) This kid is going to be a force to be reckoned with :)

8 hour event a success

I was pretty anxious about this event considering the night before, in our hotel, I was popping Advil cold and sinus to help me get rid of this strange head congestion that I'd had for the past week. Also an onset of a dry cough was not a good start to the day. Quick summary regarding the event.

1. Love my bike...this thing just begs to let go of the brakes on any downhill and tracks like a demon
2. Burning lungs meant for a cautious day..and slow I was
3. Got 8 laps (88Km) in which is one better than last year's event...WITH being moderately ill..can't complain
4. Watching Tommy get podium...3rd place in SS category...truly magical and well deserved
5. Hot tub gooooood....lots of vino and one too many beers after an event like this........well, I wouldn't label it bad.....
6. Need to cut my bars down and......hmmmm brain isn't working too well today...here's the stats

7 hours of ride time
Avg hear rate...90%.....yeah....this further confirms I was ill......shouldn't have been that high at the pace I was riding and my max was recorded at 123%?!?!?!?!?
In zone: 1 hour 24 min; above 5 hour: 40 min.....no way I could have been anaerobic for that long without bonking...something strange here
5507KCal burned...including some brain matter I think
88 km
avg spd 12 km/hr; max 40.9 km/hr

Tired...took two more advil cold and sinus and plan on getting a well deserved nap in after a shower.....

Putting faith in Oregano and rest

I woke up in the middle of the night with a sore throat( left side) and some head congestion...not a good sign with 4 days to go until the 8 hour. My plan to go for a spin tonight to just let the legs go has come to an abrupt halt....My two snotty nosed kids look like they are on the upswing and I am about three or four sentences from retiring to the basement for some peace and quiet...rest.

Goal = get through a busy day at work tomorrow and Thursday, have Friday off...Take Friday morning to go over the bike, clean, prep all my gear (man....just got a wave of packing nerves...)

Downstairs i go..better grab a monster glass of water.

3 hour ride.....Check

First off..I have to say..I LOVE MY WIFE. This being "mother's day" and us having two kids, getting out for a ride today should be....."sketchy" to say the least, however, Jac could sense the urgency in my not too subtle edginess of not riding since Wednesday. I helped out with folding clothes, put a load in the drier, played with the kids a bit and then it happened..."John, why don't you go for a ride now....so then later....we can do something".....Ohhhhhmmmmmmmm! Sweet MAMA!!

Firstly, weather was bleak and freakin cold. The idea of peddling into that cold wind without a camel back (bladders in both were moldy and needed to be replaced) and my jersey pockets full of water bottles and fuel for an anticipate 3-4 hour ride was not too motivating.....A brilliant moment occured...Load the bike on the roof and drive to the trail..bring tools, fuel and all needed so that I could replenish whilst keeping my back light in the dreary cold weather.

I think the one thing I love more than my bike is putting my bike on the roof of our "Family Car"....I love that thing.. Off to the trails I go. I soon figured out why it's hard to get more than a 2 hour ride in after my second loop and the third reverse loop...nice trails but just not quite long enough for EPIC rides..

Bike was feeling good an music was pumpin' and then it happened...after the first real feature , a brigdge that drops off of a 3 foot rock there is a tight right hander of a turn but my left bar decided to catch the tree and without having a chance to take my hands off of the bars or feet out of clips, down hard on the right shoulder. Enough of a wallop for me to lay there for a second and do the traditional body scan for some indicating that my body may not be happy with me...all was good. This tree kept trying to eat me after the second loop but didn't succeed. Loop two done and out of Heed (perpetuum in bottle on bike mixed for a three hour ride). I made my way back to the car to "stock up". I also decided to take the headphones off and do a quick scan of the bike...hmmm is that "play" I feel?? Luckily I brought my tool kit and finally found the culprit..a bushing/bearing in the lower attachment of the rear shock...super loose. Tightened it up and off for a final loop. All in all a pretty good ride here's the stats:

1 hr:58 min
83% avg; 96% max
In zone - 1:16; Above - 40 min; below 1 min
1444 Kcal
24.9 Km.....this is pure single track riding...pretty technical, windy terrain..
Avg spd 12.7 km/hr
Max 36.7 km/hr

I got home feeling adequately fatigued, given this was my first true two solid hours of pure single track which didn't include a commute to/from trails on road, but my head wasn't happy with the duration..Kids were sleeping and wife looked pretty content so I jumped on the opportunity to head downstairs to hop on the road bike to continue with another hour to get the number of hours my head would be satisfied less than one week before the 8 hour event. And it happened:

1 hour
75% avg; 92% max
In zone - 53 min; above 6 min
626 Kcal
Avg CAD - 81; Max 102

Now, I feel psychologically ready for this 8 hour and am convinced that I have the physiological base to have some fun with the event.

Plan-Rest Monday, Ride Tuesday, Wednesday a no go as wife is now taking night course on Thursday, clean up the bike (this will be the first real wash as my new philosophy is not to spray the bike unnecessarily to save bearing life) and pack up Friday a.m. (took day off of work) and head out to the ole Holiday Inn Express just South of Barrie...I can now say....I'm ready!

First night ride....kind of

Pretty charged up to go for a ride tonight but may have irritated my coworkers a bit when 5:05 pm came around and I pretty much told everyone..."I gotta go.." and ran out without consequence. All I could think about is in less than a week, I'll be recharging the legs and prepping for the 8 hour at Mansfield and I have yet to get a good 3-4 hour ride in.

I got a text earlier today on my way back from some ergo consults in brockville from a riding buddy who was trying to make a committment to ride on Thursday. I texted back that it was a no go but if he wanted to prep his helmet with lights we could get a ripper in tonight..he bit

6:15 we were off, lights mounted and a quick bagel scarfed down for fuel...weather was not quite decided on whether it was going to unleash or give us a window...didn't prep for wet weather gear in anticipation the bike gods were going to be watching us.

I was thinking of the "perfect loop all day" and.....it happened..I played tour guide and enjoyed every link to all of the major trail in and around Collins Bay. 2 hours went by before we got back and cracked that very important post ride beer.....damn....still just 2 HOURS...I have a plan to get some serious saddle time in this weekend...first the stats:

1 hour 55 min
80% avg 96% max hr
In zone 1:21; above 32 min; below 1 min
1338 Kcal...hence the beer and big plate of pasta I'm scarfing as we speak heheh
33.3 Km
17.3 km avg spd; max 44.7 km/hr

Okay...master plan..tomorrow rest as my wife has a function and i need to....parent tomorrow night. Friday, load up the road bike and get some hill repeats in with Eric at Fort Henry...I think I'm going to try and puke by pushing my lactate threshold to the limits...and the big plan...Off to cottage on Sat morning which means bring bike with me, pops will drive my car home and I load up the camel back and ride the cataraqui trail back..last time I checked it was plus 60 k wand with an average speed of let's say 15 to 20 km/hr...that should give me my 3-4 hour ride...DONE

Anticipation is building

The skies opened up this morning and unleashed a fury...for a couple of hours anyway...as the sun warmed up the clinic and everyone complained of heat, only one thing was going through my mind...WHAT A NIGHT FOR A RIIIDE. With the beauty of Facebook and texting one thing led to another and a riding buddy made a committment rain or shine for a ripper.

We ventured off with a goal of getting a 30 k ride in and a riide we had. Left from the garage and warmed up through Lemoine's point, bidding our usual hello's and tactful slow speed passes of mp3' donned runners/walkers (need to get a bell...not to self), and got to trailhead. Met up with a few boys I did a 24 hour (Solstice) a couple years back before venturing solo on these events and made some loose committments to getting some riding in in the future. My goal was to tour guide the trails for Eric and quickly met some other riders who I gladly took the passenger seat to a tour of their own...it's official...my next ride will incorporate the new trail found/toured today and will definitely find "the perfect loop" It has everything needed for training essentials, technical climbs, rolling features, and some quick descents with the option of picking and choosing some hill repeats to tweak that anaerobic and technical climbing.

With the sun dropping and being rewarded with a tailwind for the asphalt return back home, it was nice to roll into the garage and open a beer fridge to offer my copilot a refreshing beverage of choice...now my next goal...how to I manage to fit a couch in the garage for those post ride beers??

Plan...ride as many days as the weather will allow this week...work is crazy busy with a lot of out of town consults...may bring my bike with me to Brockville and ride Black and Decker on my way home...Yup...that's a given. Here's the stats:

1 hour 44 min
avg 77% max 92%.....pretty mellow ride
In zone 1:28; above 11 min; below 3
1135 Kcal
Distance 30 .1 Km
Avg spd 17.3
max 40.9

Chased the rain

Anticipating rain all day and had come to grips with a "recovery day".....wife saw me eyeing the clouds throughout the whole stoller session to the grocery store and she became wise when I picked it up into a breakneck speed walk that a riiiide was a brewin'. Got to love my wife for the support she is giving me....maybe she's loving the after effect of a calm and collected post ride John...

Decided to go light and beline straight for the trails. A perfect selection of lords of Acid and some old school Biggie smalls on the MP3 with a 2 hour bottle of perpetuum and I was off. Legs were feeling surprisingly fresh..was it the tunes...warm sun or all of the above?

I'm about 1 ride away from finding the "Perfect Loop"....found ANOTHER new trail and am feeling the bike becoming like an appendage. Was running out of my bottle sooner than expected and was just satiated enough that popping out of the trail became a good idea and that's when it happened...sweet bliss..

Came across 5 other riders whom I've met on trail in past and bid the typical small talk re trails, weather etc...and then decided to do my part re: J&J.....let me just say....feelings were mutual from all parties...didn't doubt for a minute that there are MANY dissatisfied PAST customers.

All in all, quick little rip...good to get out...rain clouds are building...I'll give it an hour:

59 min
82% avg
96% max
In zone 38
above 19
708 Kcal
17.7 Km
Avg spd 18.1; max 36.5

Ahhhhhh time for a beverage well crafted by the Polzaks..

Fresh Start

Allright. I think I mustered the info and got my history from April anyways on my new blog. This sure works to help tweek motivation as the forecast is calling for thundershowers and all I can think about is how and what kind of ride am i going to get in so that I can add to my fitness log.. Let's see what happens

Sick...*#&%^....Sick

Chest cold. Knew that itch in my throat during my last run was...foreign. Should know better by now...would NOT running made a difference. My "training" so far, has consisted of cleaning and detailing both cars and taking the kids for a spin to the park in the bike trailer....it's 3 am on a Friday night...sat morning...and can't sleep. Not a good sign for the 23 degree weather ride I was planning to do this weekend.....Oh well, rest and recover...just over a month left until first event: Mansfield 8 hour solo...time to pull out last years stats for motivation to beat in 2010 :)

Sat April 10th I'm Baaaack

It was a chilly morning and was tossing the idea of road or mountain. Given it is almost a month away from the 8 hour, I decided to load up the camel back with 1.5 l and some cliff shots and pull down the bike. Did I mention just HOW MUCH I LOVE my new Giant Trance X2!!!!

All warmed up with appropriate gear and an MP3 loaded up with "Lords of Acid" (heavily recommended), I watched my heart rate to ensure I was less than 85% all the way to the trail head. The mountain bike cruises sooo smoothly on the road, the sun was warming me up, and legs felt strong. Got to trail head through a long and wet gravel road expecting to pop in to just turn around after experiencing some chain clogging mud........relatively dry.....so dry, I was able to ride the upper loop without dabs and a smile on my face. Still focusing on keeping heart rate down and getting used to new ride, I played with the rear shock and am really happy with the plushness of full open and firmness of propedal.

On my way back, legs feeling flushed, lungs more functional, I decided to stop by the LBS to share the experience. I'll spare the details....J&J SUCKS.....Stats:

2 hour: 20 min
87% avg with 98% max
In ZOne - 38 min
Above - 1 hour 28 min (chest cold......)
Below - 13 min
Zone 60-85%...
KCal 1724
39 Km
Avg Spd 16.6
Max spd 52.8

All in all.....great to get out. Plan....road or mountain tomorrow and Egg J&J on my way by ;)

Mellow family time

Wife planned on meeting friends of ours to enable a play date for our kids with their kids. Destination.....downtown Kingston, about 10 k away. Getting antsy, I figured HEY, "Lauren do you want to meet Emma and Mommy at Alex and Sabrina's....we can take the bike stroooollller????" Lauren took the bait and off we went. Only 10 k there and 10 k back, but great to get the heart pumpin. The bike stroller was a hit and became a limo for Lauren and her little buddy to the park.

On the negative....got home and checked my email...Local bike shop emailed me and indicated, "I am no longer welcome in the shop, trails or at races" Reason for this email was due to my visit at their store yesterday on my way home from my ride (was on a high and just wanted to share the experience..) and was asked, "where did I buy my Giant" from one of the shop owners...told them, on the table, From Brant Cycle and got a great deal...it's the freakin truth..well.......apparently this was a big issue for them as the email also stated, "I'm glad you got a great deal at Brant because the commute to ride their trails is going to get expensive".

Well, I thought to myself.....wow....Kingston is a small town and this is really an offensive method of communication to a customer who bought a Rocky Mountain Fusion in 2005 from their store, numerous small items throughout the years, and donned their gear at a number of major events in the last couple of years. Quickly sent some emails to my old riding buddies who span and also highly represent the O-Cup and Endurance events.....

Unfortunately, J&J will not receive my $200 fee to ride their trails. These trails are exceptionally maintained by Rob Sangers, BTW, and is by far one of the most top notch guys you can come across on the trails....looks like I'll be buying some new cycling gear and connecting with some of the "old boys" to ride Durham and the likes this season. Also looks like the boys from "ride 4 life" will also be familiar cats as the local trails around Collins bay will now be my regular playground.

All in all.....super discouraged by a Local Bike Shop who has failed me time and time again....call this.....CLOSURE!!!!

April 17th "Refreshing"

This last week was a complete "write off" as my wife was in T.O for a course, which meant I was the sole parent of our two girls....no time to ride, run, etc....She returned late Thursday and I was in Markham at a course for work and didn't get back until late. We had friends from Ottawa visit and we definitely challenged our Livers with some big ole King cans of fine European brew...

Hung over and feeling antsy, I awoke at 10 am.....10 am.....amazing...and got my act together to release the Trance from the wall, load up the Camel back with a litre of Heed and a bottle of perpetuum. I want the body to get used to this fuel for the quick approaching May 15th 8 hour at Mansfield.

Beauty 28 k ride reconnecting with Collins bay trails. The Heart rate was unusually high (obviously the body wasn't happy with my abuse from last night), but the legs were feeling flowy. Here are the stats:

1 hr 39 min
avg Hr 87, Max 101% (yikes)
In zone - 28 min, above 1 hr 10 min
KCal - 1345
Distance 28.8
avg spd 17 max 37.8

Plan mellow spin tomorrow, ride to work once next week, trail ride twice (1-2 hours), and RIDE DURHAM WITH TOMMY AND CREW NEXT WKND!!!

Roadie with the good Doctah

So I'm all primed to hook up with this guy I rode a 24 hour a couple years back and I get a spontaneous text from my regular riding buddy that has been living it up in BC....no question, priority shift and unhook the road bike for a social ride.

The social ride quickly turned into a recap of each other's fitness training over the winter. Decided to keep the computer off of the bike and just riiiiiide. We pumped out a mellow 50 k with each hill that used to bag us feeling like a mole hill....good sign.

Will be in Brockville for work all day so plan on taking a pack with clothes, snacks to drop off at work on my way home to enable a ride to work/home day Wednesday.....getting pretty pumped about this years 8 hour on my new riiiide.

Fuel, shower, movie, bed, and recover...if I was wearing my HR monitor today....definitely maxed out on all three climbs....which, I killed btw....beauty night

Work Commute Successful

Forgot how much work it is to prep and ready for a morning commute inclusive of dropping off goods day before for clothes, food etc.....but worth it.

6:30 am began my commute. Wind calm and sun warming up the soul. Road bike felt good to be spinning. Came across a fellow commuter wearing some garb from a local bike shop that I no longer respect or support (the bike shop and staff...not this pleasant rider) and did my best to refrain from commenting on his apparel....making some good gains in that regards. Of course...it's ON, not letting this guy pass me on climbs and did my best to pull hard enough so that he didn't even think about passing me. Bid some "see ya later's" and on I went building momentum down Hwy 2 to Gan.

Perpetuum is where it's at. Got to work with 45 min to spare to make a pot of coffee and settle in for a nice hot shower. The return ride....now that was a tad different.

Done at 6 and chose to wear tights and arm warmers....temp was juuuust warm enough to support this choice. Had anticipated to take a longer route home but quickly determined the point a-b would be best after the first couple of cranks...legs were a tad tired. 5 min slower and about 3 points lower on the "fun" meter due to a chilly head wind the entire way. Will try and keep this 1-day a week commute up until the week before first 8 hour. Here's stats:

To work:
1 hour 24 min
87% avg
115% max....that can't be right and confirms my heart rate settings are too low
In zone - 31 min; above 52 min
Kcal 1144
Distance 39.7 km
avg spd 28.1, max 46
avg Cad - 93, max 111 (happy with that)

From work:
1 hour 32 min (head wind and mentally/physically fatigued)
82% avg, 93% max
In zone 1 hr; above 32 min
Kcal 1128
Distance 39.6??
Avg spd 25.7 (yuck...head wind); max 50.2
avg Cad 89 (blah) max 108

Plan = Mountain with some guys around Collins bay...rest Friday (B-day meal) and Saturday some loops of Northumberland forest with a buddy that I'm tagging the first 24 hour with.

Now to enjoy this medium sized glass o vino prior to settling in.....

First real trail ride

Packed up the car with wife and kids and bike on roof and off to Coburg to ride Northumberland forest. Arrived just shy of noon and transferred gear from car into a buddies truck and off we went. We met up with a french airforce guy from trenton who was apparently a pretty decent DH'er and did our best to keep up with this flying frenchman.

3 loops of the red trail with a bit of a blue loop to finish. Note....doing the Red trail backwards for last 10 of 35 total Km was a definite workout. No stats as I chose to keep HR monitor off the chest and just had some good ole fun....amazing difference between propedal on/off...super plush but responsive without and definitely more responsive with. Need to play with fork as it seemed a little too much compression with rear propedal on.

Plan....sell my Ellsworth today for 500 (sigh..) and tidy up some yardwood and hit the local trails for a mellow 30 plus km

Monday April 26th

Weather was beauty and was getting antsy as work demands began to keep me longer than expected. Easily rest assured myself with some self talk...."hey take it easy...that's why you bought that lighting system" so at 5 pm, got out of work and resisted the temptation to hammer home risking a speeding ticket to get a ride in.

Wife and kids were already home...strange...and quickly found some of my gear mixed some perpetuum and off i went to my new local spot straight out from my garage to trailhead. Dipped into the trails after unlocking my fork and taking propedal off to come to a screeching halt....dogs....what is it with dog owners and their freakin dogs!!!!! Always the case....bid some pleasantries, wait for the dog owner to lassoo up lassie and then slowly build momentum to ensure the dog doesn't want to chase the bike, which quickly leads to ANOTHER pause..

Gradually got deeper into the forest and was pretty much amazed at how the 5" front and rear soaked up the terrain around Collins Bay. Stumbled across some new trail and had a blast exploring. Losing light quickly, I decided to find my way back and spun easy as the left knee was feeling a bit "tweaky" and mounted the bike on the rack to do some adjustments to the brakes. Things are getting dialed in and really looking forward to May 15th's event at Mansfield. Here's the stats:

Ride time 1 hr 23 min
24.4 k
Avg spd 17.5 km/hr Max 40.8

HR strap being stubborn...will have to start soaking it pre rides

Plan - An Aleve (just in case knee isn't happy), beer with dinner, weather dependant ride tomorrow, commute to work Wednesday on the roadie and rest Thurs/Friday to prep for a good 3-4 hour ride on Sat with an easy spin sunday for recovery.

30 k mountain ride

I love the fact that I can come home from work and hop on my Mt. bike and head to trails in less than 10 k of road /gravel. Connected with my partner for the 24 hour Summer solstice (tag). He was donning his 29'r Gary Fischer...man that thing rolllls.

We just mellowed out to some local trails and 30 k later, beer and a beauty dinner ready when we got home, compliments of my beautiful wife.. My 4 yr old on lap while writing and her bed time long overdue...will log stats later...I'm back..Stats:

1 hour 48 min
78% avg...consensus...ride harder solo...
96% max
In Zone 1 hr 33; above 13; below 1 min
1210 Kcal...easily replenished with dinner and on beer #3...I don't get paid to ride so....
30.6 km
Avg spd 16.9 km/hr; max 36.3

Actually came across three other riders today and zoning into the "perfect loop".... Am feeling like an ambassador regarding these trails which has made me reconsider the following...

J&J used to be a bike shop that I was purchasing the occasional shit from and would occasionally test their wrenching skills which pretty much sucked ass. As such, I used to pay an annual "Trail Pass" to have the priviledge of riding a 16 k loop out in Glenburnie. I am now consistently logging more saddle time on my road and mountain bike without the added hassle of having to load, unload blah blah blah my gear to get a ride in. Oh yeah, I've been banned from J&J for buying a Giant Trance at an alternate shop and OH SO GLAD I DID :) It is interesting to see just how many people are dissatisfied with J&J in passing on road, mountain and casual chat...amazing these guys are in business....bottom feeders in my opinion. Why the long rant....because it has come to my obvious attention that J&J has indirectly improved my ability to get more consistent rides in with longer saddle time and has indirectly provided me with better base training for this coming season. In that regards...thank you J&J and in every other regard....I'll refrain from what I really want to say ;)

Plan...ease into a weekend with a mellow Friday and a long ride on Sat or Sunday...may shake it up with a roadie on Sat a.m. and Mt. on Sunday...play it be weather.

Two weeks away from Mansfield

That was the thought that was going through my mind Friday and this morning. Packed enough water (1.5 L with Heed) and a bottle prepped with Perpetuum (2 hour bottle) and headed out with a grey agenda. First, try and find a good loop at the local Collins Bay trail and then pending on how well that went venture out via a bit of a roadride out to Parrot's Bay Conservation Area.

The loop at Collins bay is alllllmost perfected. Feeling the need to just keep pedalling, I turned left instead of right out of the trails and cadenced out to Parrot's bay. There is some DEFINITE possiblity out there. I'll make sure I plan to explore a bit more next Sunday when I attempt a 3 (hopefully 4) hour ride to prep for Mansfield 8.

Really happy with my bike set-up. Installed my Ergon grips with bar ends and dropped my stem/bars down a spacer on the stack...now it's feeling "right". Added another couple of pounds in the Fox fork and adjusted angle/distance of shifters/brakes.

All in all good ride and feeling freshly fatigued..stats:

2 hr: 10 min
80% avg
max is a little messed up...must have got some strange interference because 126%?!?!?!
In Zone - 1:43, above - 25; below 1 min
1514 Kcal...that makes up for the 4 King Cans o beer last night....clean slate :)
41.5 Km
Avg spd 19.1; 39.6 max

Not bad but NOWHERE near the duration of an 8 hour ride.....Weather may reak some havoc over the next couple of days..Mountain monday, road commute Wednesday, Ride Friday and Big ride Sunday.....HAS to be 3-4 hours....

Let it begin

I've been following Mat Spak's blog once it was flagged by Tommy Hanrahan as a good resource to keep the motivation up for training for this season's mountain bike events. I've been consistently keeping track on a Blog that another highly motivated rider Winston had created last year.

I feel it's time to track my own progress and journal my experiences with this years 8 hour and 24 hour solo events on my own personal blog page...gradually adapting to this technology. I don't know how to add all of my previously logged info to this blog so......a fresh start, kind of like resetting the trip/stored info on the Polar...kind of sad to see all of that hard earned info just....dissapear. I'm going to try and import data "old school" cut and paste and see what happens.