come together... right now

Well, it finally all came together for me. Fitness, no mechanicals, good feelings, good start. I was able to put all the elements together, and finally finish with a ride that I have been expecting for the last several races.

I love to observe things around me as they occur. One thing that I took note of today was peoples' reactions. This is a good way to determine who are real people, and who is fake. Who your friends are, and who the posers are. This is how it works: If people are, in fact, your friends/nice people, they will congratulate you on your ride, no matter how you do. This was observed in my last few races, where I didn't quite perform up to my potential. Today, I was able to "manifest my potential" and oh, wow, a bunch more people came and talked to me after the race. Very interesting. Try this experiment next time you have a crummy race, followed by a good one, or vice-versa.

I won't bore you with race details, except to say that I fell victim to a very long, drawn out "Glassford" attack, which lasted just over 3 laps. It was fun riding with him today.

Tremblant Fun

well, I think there is a direct relationship with how well my race goes, and how long it takes me to make a blog about it. Well, the race didn't go so well, and I'm sure you are all smart enough people to figure out the relationship. I believe its a linear relationship, like y=mx + b. Where b represents the constant amount of time where i have to cool down, eat something, drive home, and then eventually make it to a computer. Thats always going to be there.
the m term is made smaller by a poor race, be it from mechanical issues, poor fueling issues, or otherwise. The worse the race, the smaller the number. Once the RHS = LHS, the post is created. y will always be a constant, and then its just a matter of time (x variable) before they're equal.

Anyways, enough blathering. Positive notes for this race, the team did very well (EMD, and Ontario). Notable mention goes out to the juniors who flew in this race. Also, a certain cadet from EMD had an awesome ride, and he's only going to get going faster.

This brings me to my next point. The trailbuilding at Tremblant is despicable. To solve the issue of a wet trail, someone decided that hay would be an ideal building material to put down. Also, lots of gravel patch-ups. Terrible. If this weren't such an important and close race, I would boy-cott it, 100%.

After the wednesday night fortune race (a much better race for me!) I realized how wicked that course is. The work that myself and my friend did there last summer is wonderful, and even in the race the course was super rideable, draining well, flowy, and just awesome all-round.

Having now ridden in even more locales, I have to say, that DAMN, the trails at fortune are sick, and we really know how to design, and maintain trails. (this collective we includes myself, my best friend, his dad, my ex-boss/friend/mentor, and her husband)

Struggles in B-S-P

Baie Sainte Paul was a very interesting race. Due to some registration confusion, I did not receive a call-up. Due to the fact that there were 60 competitors, I spent the first two laps doing a lot of passing. After this, I settled into a good pace, and tried to ride my own race. This went fairly well for me, and I rode the last 3 laps a lot stronger than my first 3.

Again, this shows that my fitness is good, but i'm having some trouble digging deep in these races. I can't seem to throw down the same leg-busting efforts that I would do last year. I think this will come on with more racing.

The good news is that I came third espoir. 19th overall. Not a bad result. Not wonderful but not bad.

I'm in Sainte-Felicien right now. We pre-rode the course a bunch of times, and got it dialed in, for nationals. I really like the course, and nationals should be good. I'm glad I got to see the race, and figure it out. Tomorrow morning, we head to Tremblant to get set-up for this weekend.

Signing out, from a little trendy internet cafe in Sainte Felicien. I really like this town, and this region. Its very wild, and removed from the rest of the world, which is nice.

EMD, 1,2,3!

Well, just got back from my first Tuesday night loop of the park. WOW, it was fast. 1:01. I instigated a break on pinks, that stayed away for the entire loop, and opened up over 5 minutes on the field by the end.
It started with about 6 people, but by the end, it was me, Doug (EMD), Warren (EMD) and Aaron. In the sprint we took 1,2,3, and I proved myself wrong in my ability to sprint, peaking at nearly 1500W. I didn't think I had it in me!
Anyways, The park was beautiful tonight. Anyone in ottawa, GET OUT THERE, and ride a loop or two. So nice.

what a way to spend mothers day - Albion 09

well, O-Cup #2 went far better for me that O-Cup #1. Maybe it was the lack of mechanicals, maybe it was the fact that I rested a bit before this race, or maybe it was the longer warm up. Dunno for sure. Anyways, here's a bit of a re-cap.

Lap 1: Fast start. But not as brutal as Mansfield. Was able to hang in with some of the other fast guys, and just settle in pretty fast. Rode with Jon Kinsie, Zach Hughes, and Stu Alp for a while. in the end, Jon got away from me, but i got away for the other two.

Lap 2: Kept feeling strong, at the end of the lap, Steven Noble (a junior!) caught me, and to make matters worse, Mitch Bailey was already ahead of me. MAN these boys are fast. At 17-18, I was Unicycling definitely not mountain biking.Theres a pictures of what I was doing at that age. hmmm. Anyways, definately a huge shout out to Mitch and Steven, I had fun riding with them at Mansfield and Albion.

Lap 3: Still with Steven. Going strong, we actually did some rotating echelon on mtb. which was cool

Lap 4: At this point I realized that the Juniors (they're also in contention for CSG) had only 4 laps, and I decided to give'r. Anyways, I broke contact with Steven, and hammered. I caught Mitch with <1km to go. Passed him, and rode in. DAM, still one lap left.

Lap 5: I really payed for the energy dump in lap 4. I kinda nursed this lap around, and didn't catch anyone, but also didn't get passed. Finished 7th overall, 2nd Espoir, and 2nd out of all the CSG potentials. I think my form is coming around, because I was able to put much better power down to the pedals today :)

Overall this was a good race for me. Happy mothers day to all those babie's mama's out there.
Question for the day: "How come band-aids come only in tan? What about people with brown, or black skin?" (got that from my sister. she raises a good point)

Uxbridge Thursday Night Follies

Well, the intention was to ride up to Durham forest, do the Thursday regional race... win it... and then ride home. Well, upon arriving and seeing Adam Morka, Kyle Douglas, and Sean Ruppel (Chico), the plan changed to, "SWEET, this is going to be a wicked race!"

Anyways, it sure was. And despite several passing mishaps, and a stick in the derailleur I managed to squeeze in behind Adam to take 2nd. It was a good night, a good race, and great fun riding with those guys. I can't wait for Albion.

On a totally un-related topic, did you know the sea-horse, is the only animal where the Male gives birth to the babies?? I'm not too sure how that works, or how they define male in this case, but certainly interesting.

Spring bank Road (death) Race

The first selection race for the Canada Summer Games (CSG) occurred this Sunday. It was a day of too many. Too many Juniors. Too many Racers. Too many cement Blocks. Too many corners. Too many sketchy straights. Way to sketchy.

My sister drove me to London, from Oshawa, which was about 2.5 hours. Shout out to her for the drive.

On the second lap, there was a bad crash, and a two juniors went down. Hard. This was quite scary for me. The race was neutralized for several laps. Then we started racing again. The field was very strong, and nothing was getting away, despite many efforts. Anyways, the race finished in a sprint, and being that I can't sprint, it didn't bode well for me. However I was just happy to have survived the race.

On the ride home we (my sister and I) stopped at Wendy's, where I caught up with some South Carolina peeps. We discussed the merits of Oreo vs. Smartie "Frosties", and got some grub.

Next weekend is Albion. Should be amazing.

To sign out, all I have to say is: Once bread becomes toast, it never goes back.