Stoked for race season? Not me.

The race calendar tantalizingly drips promises of adventure and competition in front of us. The weather has finally cleared, the wind subsided… The open road beckons and tight, twisting single tracks awaits. And how do I feel about that?

A mild disinterest, at best.

My buddy and co-blogger Sheldon appears to be literally bursting at the seams with excitement over the upcoming season, but at this moment I just can’t rally my spirits, despite my best efforts.

So far I’ve been doing my best do put on a brave face – I have been getting out there and have managed to put a decent amount of miles under my legs. Long rides, hill repeats, even some interval work… It’s all on the books, and though I’ve been actively supporting my team mates and friends to buckle down and train hard, when I look in the mirror it’s just not in my heart.

I look back on last season, building up to the Transrockies, and sure there were times of burn out, where I struggled to keep momentum, but there was always the grand promise of the TR.

So what’s a disenchanted cyclist to do, when the season has yet to begin, and motivation is already stagnating?

Well – Quite obviously I can’t say for sure, but here’s my (hopefully) foolproof 6-step-plan…

Read more

Not TR3 ready – yet

This weekend, was an extra long weekend – 4 days, with both the Friday and the Monday off. Very nice, indeed. I was scheduled for three 3-hour EM rides. On Thursday, I wondered if this was going to be a little aggressive, but figured it shouldn’t be that big of a deal.

Read more

Speed Theory Presents: The Prairie Roubaix

Billed as “The Spring Classic Europe Wished it Had,” Speed Theory is looking to kick off the 2010 season in style. Sure to be a ‘bare-bones’ hard-man race with upwards of 20% of the 14.5km course being full-on gravel, this is guaranteed to be a great way to test your mettle for the 2010 season.

Originally billed as a spring classic ‘series,’ Speed Theory was hoping some of the other clubs would step in to host additional races. Sadly none have done so and the ‘series’ has been reduced to ‘a race.’ With that said, I’m glad that at least this one will be happening.

$5 at the ‘door’ will get you in, and regardless of your off-season fitness (or lack thereof) it should prove to be an exciting race since will put most roller-babies (I use the term lovingly) a little out of their comfort zone.

Read more

Are you ready for a stage race?

I might be a little premature, but I hazard to proclaim that spring is here (despite the weather yesterday). April is fast approaching, and with the sun setting well after 7:00 it looks as though we can leave our vampiric, sunless winter behind us.

As the sun rises on a new season, thoughts turn to long days of tearing up the local singletrack, or for those of us longing for more epic challenges, thoughts may turn to stage racing.

Unfortunately, when preparing for your first stage race, I’m not sure you ever feel 100% ready – you just try to prepare yourself as best you can. In an effort to ease some of your trepidation and potentially avoid some painful lessons being learned in-race, I will impart some sage words of wisdom based off the extensive experience I have (ie. 1 race ;-).

With that said, I’ll apologize ahead of time for the somewhat monumental nature of this post, but I feel (or at least hope) that most of this advice may prove helpful. So grit your teeth and bear it, with strength and determination you can make it to the end ;-)

I’ve pooled my deep reservoir of knowledge into eleven provocative sections:

1. Know yourself
2. Know your partner
3. Keep the calories comin’
4. Check your ego at the door
5. Be able to dig deep
6. You’re not strong enough
7. You are your own wrench
8. Gear up for adventure
9. Know what hours in the saddle feel like
10. Recover
11. Enjoy the ride

Read more

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