Pullin’ the plug

Sometimes I like to consider myself I fairly hardcore guy. When the goin’ gets tough, most times I’m able to hunker down, grit my teeth and get through it. I might not get there first, I might not get there smilin’, but I’ll get there.

With that said, there are times (albeit few) when a guy just need to come to terms with the fact that it’s time to throw in the towel. A ride a few weeks ago was one of those times.

It all started innocently enough. An email went out from one of the Deadgoats suggesting a roll through some of the more picturesque roads to the south of Calgary on the cx bikes. The weather was supposed to be grand, and I had missed the last group ride so I was eager to get out.

Read more

The Elephant and the Rider

Sometimes, although it’s rare, I can have trouble sleeping. I recall vividly, summer holidays between grade 5 and grade 6 was the first time I experienced this. It was so strange to me. We were camping at the time, spending all day outside, running around, biking, fishing, hiking. Come night time, I would be tired, ready to go to bed, but then I’d just lay there, and the lay there, listening for grizzly bears outside the tent. Good times, good times… So that was my first memory of having a hard time falling asleep, and since then, I can likely count the other times on two hands. It’s as I said, a rare thing for me. When it does happen now though, it’s normally due to some excitement, or stress in my life surrounding change or uncertainty. My brain will stay active long after my body decides it’s time to fall asleep. Lately, I’ve been wrapped up in a lot, between work, home life, training and riding, helping out here and there with some other side projects and so on. I’ve got lots on my mind, which is how I like it, as the vast majority of it fun to think about, but come 11pm when I want to shut the ol’ noodle off, it hasn’t been happening. So, what now?

Read more

So I decided to try EPO…

Well, ok, not really. But despite our ethical views against doping both Sheldon and I have wondered over a beer or three just what it might be like.

Would we instantly feel like supermen and fly past our competition, ascending hills as if immune to gravity? Or would it be something more marginal… An increase based on our training volumes, finally beating those riders that tend to always edge us out?

I think I speak for both Sheldon and I when I say that it was always more of a conversational fantasy over beers rather than a curiosity founded in any type of reality. Whenever I actually think about something like that it kind of makes me a little queasy.

I just don’t think I could do it. It just wouldn’t feel natural. And realistically, at this point in my life, there’s absolutely no reason. I race for the sport and fun of it, any results I get are simply a bonus, not something I live and die by.

Well, it turns out that somebody else had similar thoughts, but actually decided to go through with it. The author takes you on an 8 month journey from a clean amateur cyclist training an average of 15-20 hours a week, to a chemically augmented version of himself.

Read more

Kokanee Sponsors River Valley Cycle XC Race Team

Last night River Valley Cycle hosted its HUGE customer appreciation night, and announced Kokanee as the new sponsor of the RVC XC mountain bike team. It was a very cool night. The store was decked out with wall-to-wall deals on TLD gear and rides, from Santa Cruz, Kona to Rocky Mountain. For a long while there, the place was so packed you had a hard time getting around  to check everything out. Not to worry though, the RVC staff served up a choice open buffet and there was lots of Kokanee to go around!

Read more

Achilles heel

I usually don’t have sweets in the house – generally speaking I don’t really crave them, but there are some things, when placed in front of me, that have a tendency to disappear in fairly short order. The first are potato chips. Crisp, salty goodness… Should a bag open, it will not be closed until only crumbs remain (which usually doesn’t take long). The second are Guylian chocolates… Aromatic roasted hazelnut praline filling enrobed in silky Belgian milk chocolate… I will literally continue to eat these until I feel like I’m going to vomit. I cannot stop. It’s different for everybody though… Should you find yourself out to dinner with Sheldon and find crème brûlée gracing the menu you’re in for a treat. They might as well serve it with a straw ;-)

More recently Sheldon went to town at McDonalds – A very infrequent binge both he and I used to enjoy when I was living in Edmonton. Since he was going for a record, he posted his attempt: 2 cheeseburgers, 1 medium fries, 6 McNuggets, 1 McChicken, 1 Parm Chicken Wrap and a Coke. Impressive to say the least. So I decided to do the math:

Read more

Ode to a car

As some of you are aware, and many of you are not, I have been without a car for upwards of 7 months. That’s not to say my ‘household’ has been without a car, but we’ve gone from a two car household to a one car household. This was not a conscious choice, and we’re still anxiously awaiting the repair of said car.

When this vehicular challange began in June of last year, I wasn’t too fussed – I ride to work most days anyway, Calgary sees little precipitation in the summer and I thought it would be good for me. As the days grew shorter, the light waned and the mercury dropped, I became a little apprehensive, but not alarmed. I had braved a Canadian winter before and would do it again – Though admittedly with the safety net of a car whenever I deemed it necessary – I would have no such luxuries this winter.

Looking back on the last 6 months, there are three main things that strike me:

Read more

The Future of Power

I’m sure that if you asked cyclists for the highlights of their Christmas lists, power meters would’ve been pretty high on that list. Sadly however, for most of us a power meter is more of a “wish list” type of thing. Right now most ‘traditional’ power meters tend to be a little out of reach for most of us, or if nothing else, at least a very sincere investment.

Outside of price, the other main problem I’ve had with the traditional crank or hub-based power meters is the difficulty managing one power meter over multiple bikes, especially if you’re racing in multiple disciplines.

Read more

Goals for a season

Photo: Simon M. Foster

A small look back at 2009, an analytical look forward to 2010. 5 questions for the boys of Bikeridr. 5 public answers so our readers can keep us honest.
Read more

Top Ten for 2010

Well, welcome to the New Year everybody, to help kick things off, I thought I would pull together a little collection of links. There’s nothing like a Top Ten to get things started on the right foot, so I decided to combine two.

First – With all the fixie hype of late, I present “The Evolution of the Hipster,” curating 10 years of hipster culture from 2000 to today. As an added bonus, I also thought I’d include an interview with Steevo Cummings, the man who brought you “Hipsters Discussing Cyclocross.” The article is worth a read and guaranteed to make you grin – One of my favorite questions from the interview:

Since you’re a PRO, when you go out for a long training ride… Is everything “epic” and in black and white like on the Rapha website? Sometimes I do kinda’ longish rides on Saturday mornings… I have yet to see a glimpse of black and white… When was the last time that you saw anything in color?

Second – I wanted to highlight both Sheldon and my top articles of the last year (based on your viewership). As we look to make 2010 a stellar year both on the bikes and on the blog I thought it fitting to pay homage to the articles our readers liked the most.

Read more

It’s 2010 and I’m Fatter Than I’ve Ever Been!

With the flip of the calendar, it’s suddenly 2010 and like many people out there, I recently took stock of the state of things in my life. I pondered on things like my general happiness, my place in the world, my family life, my career, my dreams and goals, and on my physical health. All in all, I like where things are at, and where they’re headed – I’m looking forward to 2010 for a lot of reasons. That said, when it came to my health, my body is changing, and not for the better. I’m about to turn 35, and I’m well into ‘the slow fade’ so to speak, which comes with a slower metabolism, which in turn brings, you guessed it, more body fat. I can say with certainty that today I am fatter than I have ever been in my entire life (excluding when I was a wee baby of course). So now what?

Read more