It seems that once again I have been late on posting a race report. But I have an excuse this time. After the race I talked to the guys organizing the worlds project and found out that it was going to cost 1000 bucks! Now I know that everyone going has to pay that much but I just found out and didn't have enough money to cover that. But it seems that I will still be going thanks to some help from various people. Good to have friends that are willing to support you.
So the race on the weekend went well. After a rough start the leaders were well out of sight. But I didn't panic and got into my groove. Picked people of for the first lap and by the end was with Tyson and Zach was just behind.
Second lap Just kept it steady and gradually rode away from those 2. I made it up to Peter and Morka and was pretty happy to be with them. But then they picked up the pace. So instead of killing myself and trying to stay with them I just kept that steady pace.
After that there's not much to report. Spent the rest of the race alone trying to hold of any late race attacks. Finished 6th overall and 1st U-23.
So that raps up the O-cup season. It was an awesome year of racing and Chico did a great job as usually. Those guys deserve every ones gratitude. So if you haven't already then next time you see them be sure to thank them for all the hard work they do. The Ontario scene wouldn't be the same without chico.
Prep for worlds is going well. Past few days have been blow yourself up workouts. It's good because I have a feeling that world is going to be all about how much you can suffer without blowing up so it's good to know were that red line is.
Getting pumped for the race! Not just mine but the seeing the Elite race as well. For those who don't already know CBC will be covering the race. So if you aren't able to be there you can see the action there.
All for know
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Close call
Past few days have been pretty scary. Sunday I went to ride the new course at Woodnewton. Got in a few hrs and had the course figured out pretty good. During the ride I was having mixed sensations. One minute I would be feeling good and the next I would be red lined and wanting to go home. Held in till the end of the ride and went home. That's when things went bad. I was getting the chills and a wicked headache. Instead of trying to pretend that I wasn't sick and hoping that it would just go away which has proven unsuccessful in the past I went to bed and slept as much as possible. The next morning I was feeling a bit better. But I had to get up and go to work. That was rough and by the end of the day I was useless. Got home and repeated what I did the night before. Next day felt better again but didn't have to go to work. So I Spent the whole day doing nothing but napping eating relaxing. And guess what. It worked! Got up today and felt normal and well rested. Had a great ride and feel back to my normal self. I haven't felt normal since Kelso so I'm thinking I just needed to take a day and really rest up.
Now as for the course at Woodnewton. Well It's a classic style MTB course complete with a long start stretch threw a field, fast sandy single track and lots of steep punchy climbs. Verdict = like it. I think after riding it again this Saturday with good health will help me to love it. The second part of the course is definitely more exciting than the first with some awesome full speed burmed downhills and less blow yourself up climbing.
Look forward to the race and seeing everyone. Hope all goes well.
Now as for the course at Woodnewton. Well It's a classic style MTB course complete with a long start stretch threw a field, fast sandy single track and lots of steep punchy climbs. Verdict = like it. I think after riding it again this Saturday with good health will help me to love it. The second part of the course is definitely more exciting than the first with some awesome full speed burmed downhills and less blow yourself up climbing.
Look forward to the race and seeing everyone. Hope all goes well.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
How much can you suffer?
Just thought I would right a quick post while I'm sitting at home doing nothing. While every one is racing in Bromont at this very moment I've opted to stay home and get in some good training. Today was one of those days were I had talk myself through the pain. Did some max hill reps and finished off with a 20min mtb TT. It's funny. Every time I have hill reps to do I wake up in the morning all pumped to do them and see how hard I can go. But then when I'm actually doing them I can't remember why I was so excited. But it's always satisfying when you finish a workout like that and your sitting at home relaxing knowing that you gave it your all and got that much stronger.
Tomorrow I'll be heading to the new venue in Uxbridge to ride the course for a few hours. Pretty excited about it. It's always cool riding somewhere new and from the sound of things this place will be prime.
That's all for now. Just want to say Happy anniversary to my parents. If anyone sees them be sure to send your best wishes as it's the big 25th year. Now we're off to a nice dinner at the grandparents tonight.
Tomorrow I'll be heading to the new venue in Uxbridge to ride the course for a few hours. Pretty excited about it. It's always cool riding somewhere new and from the sound of things this place will be prime.
That's all for now. Just want to say Happy anniversary to my parents. If anyone sees them be sure to send your best wishes as it's the big 25th year. Now we're off to a nice dinner at the grandparents tonight.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Back to buisness
Wow it's been a while! Just logged on to my blogger account and saw that there were some new templates and decided to make a few changes. Might have gone a little over board with it and will most likely tone it down a bit. But for now the purple flames a sweet!
Well I guess it's a bit late to do a nationals race report. Long story short I won and it was an awesome feeling. I knew I could hang with those guys but taking the win was a bit of a shock. So what that means know is that I'm going to worlds at Mt. Saint Anne! That was kind of the "super goal" at the start of the season so I would say that anything else now is just added bonus.
Since nationals I've just been getting in some good training in the heat. I've also gotten very good at timing my rides just right to avoid any rain. Somehow I haven't got caught in any real downpour once this summer. Now that I said that I'll probably get poured on this weekend haha!
Oh ya I forgot to mention the last O-cup race... well it was probably the worst I've felt on a bike all year. I was suffering like crazy and not going anywhere. Haven't been able to pin down the reason why I felt so bad but I'm starting to feel normal again now. That's all I have to say about that. (Forest Gump quote)
Well that's all for now. I'll be sure to be more frequent with my post from now on because it was getting a little ridicules. Happy trails!
Well I guess it's a bit late to do a nationals race report. Long story short I won and it was an awesome feeling. I knew I could hang with those guys but taking the win was a bit of a shock. So what that means know is that I'm going to worlds at Mt. Saint Anne! That was kind of the "super goal" at the start of the season so I would say that anything else now is just added bonus.
Since nationals I've just been getting in some good training in the heat. I've also gotten very good at timing my rides just right to avoid any rain. Somehow I haven't got caught in any real downpour once this summer. Now that I said that I'll probably get poured on this weekend haha!
Oh ya I forgot to mention the last O-cup race... well it was probably the worst I've felt on a bike all year. I was suffering like crazy and not going anywhere. Haven't been able to pin down the reason why I felt so bad but I'm starting to feel normal again now. That's all I have to say about that. (Forest Gump quote)
Well that's all for now. I'll be sure to be more frequent with my post from now on because it was getting a little ridicules. Happy trails!
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Found my marbles
Oh boy... it's been a while. But there is a reason for that. I made a deal with myself that I wasn't going to post anything on the blog that was negative or disappointing. So we're just going to skip over the Hardwood Canada cup all together.
On to today! O-cup #4 in Midland. Awesome course. The weather leading up the race was really confusing me. But I kept thinking about last year and how much it rained before the race. I put on mud tires for that and it was a poor decision then. So seeing as it was a similar or even better situation this year i decided to stick with what I had on which was an all rounder that I run for every race.
Lined up front row again. Had a good start. The start climb is a hard one and if you don't watch your effort you could be passed at the top. Had no problems with that and was sitting with the leaders into the single track. Not much changed in the first lap. I just rolled around the course on there wheels.
Lap 2. Not sure how it happened but the leaders got away and out of sight (which doesn't take long on that course). So I rode the rest of that lap on and off of Tysons wheel as he would gap me on the downhills despite my efforts to stay with him and I would catch back up on the climbs and fast flowy sections.
lap 3. Made a few mistakes and lost Tyson. He was out of sight. So I just did what I do and rode consistent and hard on the climbs. I found a good rhythm and started riding smoother.
lap 4. Kept that consistent pace and by the top of the course Tyson was back in sight. That was a sigh of relief. Once I caught on to him I was feeling good and didn't want to give up the rhythm I had found. So I moved past him. As I went by he told me that he was attacked by a child watching the race. His brake levers were crooked but he seemed to be ok other then that. Rest of the lap was more or less the same.
lap 5. Traffic! I'm not sure what it was today but the woman's field wasn't as friendly as usual. Even some of the riders that are usually good about giving room to pass were content to make me wait. This forced me to be more aggressive then I usually like to be. I wasn't able to open up on the climbs like I had in laps before because of heavy traffic so lost a fair bit of time on that lap. Not a big deal as it wouldn't have earned me a higher spot regardless. When i crossed the line I found out that I finished 4th. Happy with that for sure. It's nice to finish the first block of races with a satisfying result. Now like everyone else I think I'll be getting back into a training routine for a few weeks.
In the meantime I'll be trying to arrange a way to get myself to Nationals in Alberta. If not then next race will be Buckwallow. Well I'm tired and getting lazy so that will be all. Talk soon.
On to today! O-cup #4 in Midland. Awesome course. The weather leading up the race was really confusing me. But I kept thinking about last year and how much it rained before the race. I put on mud tires for that and it was a poor decision then. So seeing as it was a similar or even better situation this year i decided to stick with what I had on which was an all rounder that I run for every race.
Lined up front row again. Had a good start. The start climb is a hard one and if you don't watch your effort you could be passed at the top. Had no problems with that and was sitting with the leaders into the single track. Not much changed in the first lap. I just rolled around the course on there wheels.
Lap 2. Not sure how it happened but the leaders got away and out of sight (which doesn't take long on that course). So I rode the rest of that lap on and off of Tysons wheel as he would gap me on the downhills despite my efforts to stay with him and I would catch back up on the climbs and fast flowy sections.
lap 3. Made a few mistakes and lost Tyson. He was out of sight. So I just did what I do and rode consistent and hard on the climbs. I found a good rhythm and started riding smoother.
lap 4. Kept that consistent pace and by the top of the course Tyson was back in sight. That was a sigh of relief. Once I caught on to him I was feeling good and didn't want to give up the rhythm I had found. So I moved past him. As I went by he told me that he was attacked by a child watching the race. His brake levers were crooked but he seemed to be ok other then that. Rest of the lap was more or less the same.
lap 5. Traffic! I'm not sure what it was today but the woman's field wasn't as friendly as usual. Even some of the riders that are usually good about giving room to pass were content to make me wait. This forced me to be more aggressive then I usually like to be. I wasn't able to open up on the climbs like I had in laps before because of heavy traffic so lost a fair bit of time on that lap. Not a big deal as it wouldn't have earned me a higher spot regardless. When i crossed the line I found out that I finished 4th. Happy with that for sure. It's nice to finish the first block of races with a satisfying result. Now like everyone else I think I'll be getting back into a training routine for a few weeks.
In the meantime I'll be trying to arrange a way to get myself to Nationals in Alberta. If not then next race will be Buckwallow. Well I'm tired and getting lazy so that will be all. Talk soon.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Ok lets do this
Oh boy, lots to catch up on here. Didn't do any blogging in Quebec due to sketchy Internet/being busy/laziness. So I will attempt to condense the whole trip into this one post. Here it goes.
Trip to Baie St. Paul went well. We each had a whole seat to ourselves which made for a less cranky group of people. Condense...
Got to the motel in good time. Out pit stops were nice and short so we were able to get a bit of a ride in once we got all settled in.
Sat was pre-riding. Showed up in my sweet new white leg and arm warmers. They make me feel more legit. The course was sweet. I liked it better then last year, it seemed to be more broken up rather then just climbing forever and then going downhill really fast. It had some good punchy climbs which I like and had some tricky single track.
The race, well it went something like this. Start hard, barely avoid a crash, work my way up the field, have a mechanical, lose a bunch of spots, keep having said mechanical, deal with it, make up as many spot as I could, and finish in 31st. So, not what I wanted, but not terrible either.
We packed the van and left right after the race for Mont St. Anne. Not a long drive so that was good. Arrived at our sweet chalet and got settled in. The next morning me and Mr. Garrigan went for an endurance ride up and around the mountain. Also got some great practice with changing flats. Mike showed me a few tricks and I was able to shave 6mins off the time it takes me to fix a flat. Anyways, some great training and technical practice in Mont St Anne. And a lot of fun with the team. Condense...
After the few days in St. Anne we made the trip to Tremblant. Arrived there to find out that the place we were staying at was even nicer the the one before. On the lake, nice property, 2 kitchens, completely finished basement. Easily worth over 1 mill. Not too far from the village either. The day after we got there (Saturday) we pre-rode the course. Very dry and it had been smoothed out since last year. Not too upset about that as I'm riding a hard tail this year but I can see how some may be upset about it. Pasta dinner in the Village (which was very pricey but delicious) and then back to the house to chill and hit the bed early.
Race day again! Wow that week went by fast. Woke up at 7:30ish. Had a good breakfast and gave the bike a final look over. There was a good atmosphere in the house. Everyone was super pumped to race their bikes. Good vibes.
Rode to the course at 11:30. and got a good warm-up on the roads around the village...
Skipping ahead a bit. Got called up in a better spot than last week. Off the start I played it conservative and just held my position. I didn't want to get half way up the hill and not have anything left. And it paid off. Half way into the lap I was able to pick it up and was able to pass everyone who got to excited off the start. By the time I got to the downhill I had caught up to Tyson Wagler. But he was moving fast on the decent. I was riding a bit above my head trying to keep him close. Getting close to the bottom I hit a fast washed out corner with to much speed and without even a chance to try and save it I hit the ground with my ribs taking the brunt of the impact. Oh Man! That's the first time I've winded myself during a race. It was one of the worst feelings I can remember having. It took me a good 2min to get my breath back and that's when I noticed that my ribs didn't feel right. It was painful to breath. I sat beside the trail for a while and tried to find out what was wrong. As i watched the Juniors going by I started to think it was a lost cause. But i quickly shook that thought out of my head. I made a goal at the beginning of the season to finish every race and I knew if gave that up I would hate myself later. So I Got my bike all straitened out and got back on. The next lap was hard. My breathing was restricted and it was quite painful. Anyways long story short I finished the race and was able to pick my way up to 40th. Again not what I had in mind but it feels good to say I sucked it up and got it done. After a trip to the med tent I went back to the house got cleaned up and went out with the other Ontario riders (who had great races themselves) for some great food in the village.
Stayed for the red bull race to see Mike G. defend his title. I could write an entire post about that. Lets just say that I've never seen such an unorganized event before. And it ended up costing Mike (who was clearly the strongest rider on the xc side) the win and a hefty prize pack. 3 grand and some awesome swag including a sid world cup. A little frustrated thinking about that situation so lets move on.
So that just about sums up my trip to French land. Lots of good times had and good learning experience. Looking forward to hardwood and having a good race there. I feel I have good legs and good motivation so I'll see if I can make something happen. Good night.
Trip to Baie St. Paul went well. We each had a whole seat to ourselves which made for a less cranky group of people. Condense...
Got to the motel in good time. Out pit stops were nice and short so we were able to get a bit of a ride in once we got all settled in.
Sat was pre-riding. Showed up in my sweet new white leg and arm warmers. They make me feel more legit. The course was sweet. I liked it better then last year, it seemed to be more broken up rather then just climbing forever and then going downhill really fast. It had some good punchy climbs which I like and had some tricky single track.
The race, well it went something like this. Start hard, barely avoid a crash, work my way up the field, have a mechanical, lose a bunch of spots, keep having said mechanical, deal with it, make up as many spot as I could, and finish in 31st. So, not what I wanted, but not terrible either.
We packed the van and left right after the race for Mont St. Anne. Not a long drive so that was good. Arrived at our sweet chalet and got settled in. The next morning me and Mr. Garrigan went for an endurance ride up and around the mountain. Also got some great practice with changing flats. Mike showed me a few tricks and I was able to shave 6mins off the time it takes me to fix a flat. Anyways, some great training and technical practice in Mont St Anne. And a lot of fun with the team. Condense...
After the few days in St. Anne we made the trip to Tremblant. Arrived there to find out that the place we were staying at was even nicer the the one before. On the lake, nice property, 2 kitchens, completely finished basement. Easily worth over 1 mill. Not too far from the village either. The day after we got there (Saturday) we pre-rode the course. Very dry and it had been smoothed out since last year. Not too upset about that as I'm riding a hard tail this year but I can see how some may be upset about it. Pasta dinner in the Village (which was very pricey but delicious) and then back to the house to chill and hit the bed early.
Race day again! Wow that week went by fast. Woke up at 7:30ish. Had a good breakfast and gave the bike a final look over. There was a good atmosphere in the house. Everyone was super pumped to race their bikes. Good vibes.
Rode to the course at 11:30. and got a good warm-up on the roads around the village...
Skipping ahead a bit. Got called up in a better spot than last week. Off the start I played it conservative and just held my position. I didn't want to get half way up the hill and not have anything left. And it paid off. Half way into the lap I was able to pick it up and was able to pass everyone who got to excited off the start. By the time I got to the downhill I had caught up to Tyson Wagler. But he was moving fast on the decent. I was riding a bit above my head trying to keep him close. Getting close to the bottom I hit a fast washed out corner with to much speed and without even a chance to try and save it I hit the ground with my ribs taking the brunt of the impact. Oh Man! That's the first time I've winded myself during a race. It was one of the worst feelings I can remember having. It took me a good 2min to get my breath back and that's when I noticed that my ribs didn't feel right. It was painful to breath. I sat beside the trail for a while and tried to find out what was wrong. As i watched the Juniors going by I started to think it was a lost cause. But i quickly shook that thought out of my head. I made a goal at the beginning of the season to finish every race and I knew if gave that up I would hate myself later. So I Got my bike all straitened out and got back on. The next lap was hard. My breathing was restricted and it was quite painful. Anyways long story short I finished the race and was able to pick my way up to 40th. Again not what I had in mind but it feels good to say I sucked it up and got it done. After a trip to the med tent I went back to the house got cleaned up and went out with the other Ontario riders (who had great races themselves) for some great food in the village.
Stayed for the red bull race to see Mike G. defend his title. I could write an entire post about that. Lets just say that I've never seen such an unorganized event before. And it ended up costing Mike (who was clearly the strongest rider on the xc side) the win and a hefty prize pack. 3 grand and some awesome swag including a sid world cup. A little frustrated thinking about that situation so lets move on.
So that just about sums up my trip to French land. Lots of good times had and good learning experience. Looking forward to hardwood and having a good race there. I feel I have good legs and good motivation so I'll see if I can make something happen. Good night.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Albion race report
Woke up and it was still cold and snowing. But it was supposed to get nicer for the 1:30 race so no worries. I have to say that I do not miss racing at 8:oo at all. Well done to all who toughed it out and raced at that time.
Pre race just tried to not get cold and figure out what the course was like. Verdict, looks like the course it perfect. Not to dry not to wet. They even threw the green monster back in for our race. Oh joy...
During my warm up I was feeling ok. But when I put in any hard effort I could feel my legs starting to ball up. Oh well best not worry about it. Got lined up. Front row beside Morka. Cool! Looked around and realized how much more clothes I was wearing than everyone else. Junior moment. Whistle went and we were off. Had a good start. Maybe to good as I could have taken the whole shot. But I decided that would be a mistake. So I eased up and fell in behind Adam Morka. Start loop was fast and everyone stayed together. Felt good and relaxed. Stayed with the leaders until we hit the green monster and I think Cam Jette attacked. I tried to react but I started get those knots in my legs again. So that was the end of my time in that group. Luckily I wasn't the only one who got dropped of the back. I could see a Trek Canada guy and Zack Winn up ahead. So I got into a good pace and kept them in my sight. Didn't lose or make any ground on them for the next lap and a half as Zack kept attacking the climbs.
Finished up the second lap and saw the Trek guy drop out. Turned out to be Peter. He was blown after a really tough world cup. So that just left Zack. 3rd lap I started to really feel the pain in my legs and struggled to keep it going. I was caught by Tyson Wagler and lost him when my bars moved on me and I had to stop and fix them. Only about 20sec lost there. And it gave my legs a chance to relax. Got back on the bike and found some motivation. I could see Tyson in the distance and he was riding strong. He was now with Zack and it looked like he was throwing down some more "Zack Attacks". I surged on the monster and closed it up a bit. I maintained the gap for the rest on the lap.
Lap 4. Not much happened the first half lap. When I hit the monster again I surged again and caught the tiring Zack and Tyson. At this point I was just ignoring the pain in my legs and pretending I was feeling good. I moved ahead of Tyson and shortly after was passed by the lead juniors. Ouch my pride. But I was able to grab there wheel to get a gap on the other 2. Followed them to the end of the lap.
Lap 5. Survive! I didn't know how much I had on the guys behind me and I was hurting pretty bad. So I spent the lap looking for speed wherever I could find it. One last grind up the monster and I knew I would be pretty safe after that. Rode it in for a solid 5th.
I'm happy with the race. I worked hard and that's always a good feeling. And I also made the project for the Canada Cups. That's the first goal of the season met so I'm stoked on that.
1 week to get the body, bike and mind ready for the first important race of the year. Can't wait.
Pre race just tried to not get cold and figure out what the course was like. Verdict, looks like the course it perfect. Not to dry not to wet. They even threw the green monster back in for our race. Oh joy...
During my warm up I was feeling ok. But when I put in any hard effort I could feel my legs starting to ball up. Oh well best not worry about it. Got lined up. Front row beside Morka. Cool! Looked around and realized how much more clothes I was wearing than everyone else. Junior moment. Whistle went and we were off. Had a good start. Maybe to good as I could have taken the whole shot. But I decided that would be a mistake. So I eased up and fell in behind Adam Morka. Start loop was fast and everyone stayed together. Felt good and relaxed. Stayed with the leaders until we hit the green monster and I think Cam Jette attacked. I tried to react but I started get those knots in my legs again. So that was the end of my time in that group. Luckily I wasn't the only one who got dropped of the back. I could see a Trek Canada guy and Zack Winn up ahead. So I got into a good pace and kept them in my sight. Didn't lose or make any ground on them for the next lap and a half as Zack kept attacking the climbs.
Finished up the second lap and saw the Trek guy drop out. Turned out to be Peter. He was blown after a really tough world cup. So that just left Zack. 3rd lap I started to really feel the pain in my legs and struggled to keep it going. I was caught by Tyson Wagler and lost him when my bars moved on me and I had to stop and fix them. Only about 20sec lost there. And it gave my legs a chance to relax. Got back on the bike and found some motivation. I could see Tyson in the distance and he was riding strong. He was now with Zack and it looked like he was throwing down some more "Zack Attacks". I surged on the monster and closed it up a bit. I maintained the gap for the rest on the lap.
Lap 4. Not much happened the first half lap. When I hit the monster again I surged again and caught the tiring Zack and Tyson. At this point I was just ignoring the pain in my legs and pretending I was feeling good. I moved ahead of Tyson and shortly after was passed by the lead juniors. Ouch my pride. But I was able to grab there wheel to get a gap on the other 2. Followed them to the end of the lap.
Lap 5. Survive! I didn't know how much I had on the guys behind me and I was hurting pretty bad. So I spent the lap looking for speed wherever I could find it. One last grind up the monster and I knew I would be pretty safe after that. Rode it in for a solid 5th.
I'm happy with the race. I worked hard and that's always a good feeling. And I also made the project for the Canada Cups. That's the first goal of the season met so I'm stoked on that.
1 week to get the body, bike and mind ready for the first important race of the year. Can't wait.
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