’09 Summer Solstice

Summer has officially begun, and with it came the annual Summer Solstice XC race in Bragg Creek, Alberta.

The course doesn’t vary tremendously from year to year, and there’s good reason — It’s a near perfect compliment of aggressive sustained climbing, long winding descents and of course some great views of the foothills/rockies. This year there were also some new stretches of single track added as well – They’ll be better once they mature (in my opinion), but were still a great way to mix it up.

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Diesel Power

As I get closer and closer to the Transrockies, my training rides are getting longer and longer. What used to be a 1h30min ride 4 days a week, has turned into a 2h, then a 3h, and now they’re pushing 4hours. The pace of these rides isn’t manic; it’s more sustainable and consistent and this makes sense considering something someone said to be a few months ago about the TRC, “it’s about staying out of your anaerobic zone for as long as you can.”

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Balloon Tire

Ken and I were out for a ride yesterday. It was supposed to be an epic shred through the Edmonton river valley from my place to Terwilliger (a singles-track mecca) in the south west of the city. The ride there went to plan – including both of us surviving our own spectacular spills. Ken’s slide out won for most blood drawn, while I’d have to say my endo over the bars might have won for style points. Both of us walked away from the spills no problem and we made it to Terwilliger where we thoroughly hammered the the trails for a good hour. One the way back however, I felt my rear wheel was going “thud, thud, thud…” and when I looked down it looked warped. I stopped immediately and got off to take a look.

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Spandex Bibs vs. Shorts

Epic Battle #1

When I first stated looking into bib shorts I found myself generally ridiculed, both by my wife and more significantly my friends – One of which referred to my set up as a “onesie”. As I spoke to more and more cyclists however, the bib short consistently rose up as as the “pro” choice. As such, I decided that bibs deserved at least a chance to earn a spot in my closet.

Generally speaking, I’ve never really been adverse to spandex, I’ve worn it for a quite a long time – albeit previously under “cooler” baggy riding shorts. As my training regime became more structured and I began adding road rides to my schedule I eventually lost the baggy shorts and just went with spandex, though for a shorter, more recreational ride I’ll still pull out the ‘baggies’. Many non-cyclists may think spandex is ridiculous, but when it comes to cycling, it’s standard gear, less cumbersome than other materials, keeps you cooler, and here to stay so learn to love it!

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Canada Cup, Edmonton AB 2009

Canada Cup, Edmonton AB – 2009 from Sheldon Smart on Vimeo.

Although I wasn’t in this race, despite planning and training for it, I did get to watch some wicked national level racing, and cheer on some of the locals guys that I know. Dana, sorry about your chain, man… You were killin’ it till it snapped! Sam, good to see you out there bringin’ the beats as usual. Peter, 4th place Masters Expert! Wooo hoo!!! And Paul, I think you said this was your first race in 4 years, so welcome back! 

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The Bike Shop

Ever found yourself leaning back in your chair dreaming about how great it would be to open your own bike shop? I know I have. A lot. Bike shops are one of those magical places to me. The second I walk in and smell the rubber, I get excited. That might sounds a little funny, but I know I am not the only one.

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QWERTY Bike Grips

It’s not often I run across things that satisfy my inner dork as well as well as my inner rider, but when I came across these QWERTY keyboard handlebar grips, I was in dork/rider bliss. It’s a happy Wednesday.

via SwissMiss

Iron Lung XC

Ken and I raced the Iron Lung XC last weekend in Canmore, up at the Nordic Centre. You couldn’t really choose a more picturesque local. Canmore is a really beautiful place.

I drove up Saturday night and got to Ken’s around 7:30pm, just in time for dinner. Kerstin, Ken’s better half, not only cooked up a wicked chicken curry and rice dish, but homemade cookies to boot. The plan was to eat dinner, have a glass of wine and hit the sack early. That said, we didn’t quite stay to plan…

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The Giver-8-er

The G8R marked my first solo endurance event and though I wasn’t flat out nervous per-se, I was a little anxious, especially in light of feeling a little blasé about my performance at the Perogy/TransStony (link) a few weeks prior.

That said, I had pre-rode the course with the Dead Goats on Thursday, and though my quads still weren’t 100% from my hill session earlier in the week, I figured they’d do what was required of them come race time ;-)

Though most enduro mass starts are exciting, nobody really blows out of the gates the way they do in a sprint race… This being the case, the event organizers decided to put a little twist on things by offering a crisp 50 dollar bill to the whoever finished lap #1 first. Good fun for somebody who wanted to blow up on the first lap ;-)

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Canada Cup in Edmonton!

This coming weekend (Saturday June 13th) is the first ever Canada Cup race in Edmonton. The course is through the Edmonton river valley pretty much right below dowtown. Though I’ve lived here all my life, I still find it hard to believe that we have so many miles, and miles of great mtb trails right in the center of the city! After riding in valley for over ten years, I am often amazed to find trails I’ve never ridden, that or, I haven’t ridden in so long I’ve forgotten. For a city in the prairies we are very fortunate indeed. 

If you’ve been at all thinking about giving racing a shot, this is a chance you shouldn’t pass up. A Canada cup race is a pretty big deal and lots newbies, veteran teams and the major manufactures will be out in force. I’m signed up and will be lookin’ for ya at the start line!