Riding the Mechanical Bull

Well, the theme of my last two races would have to be mechanicals. In the Bromont World Cup, (of which I was really stoked to do) the shims that I made to compensate for a leg length discrepancy folded over top of my cleat, and rendered clipping in impossible. After a lap of really bad frustration, I went to to tech zone, and got the shim cut off. Meanwhile, I guess the muddy conditions, and jamming on the pedals with mostly one leg, bent my chain. But at the time I thought it was just really bad chainsuck that occurred every third pedal revolution. By the time I got up the big climb for the 2nd time my pedal finally clipped in. At this point I was in dead last place, and the chainsuck issue was still present. I rode as hard as I could, until I got lapped at the end of lap 4. Wow, that was frustrating! I figured that I'd just have to smoke in the next O-Cup race...

So fast foreward 1 week, to Mountainview. I only raced there once, last year at provincials, and didn't have a stellar race. But I came into it with some confidence. The start was fast, but then after we went up the hill, and popped out on a long stretch of double track, it became evident that almost everyone ahead of me had gone too hard up the first climb. I passed a bunch of people, and was soon in second place. Yeeeehaw! I was feeling relaxed and strong, just about to finish lap #2, when disaster struck. My derailleur was ripped off my bike by a wayward branch. SHIT. I quickly flipped the bike over, and thought that I should make it into a singlespeed. Then I realized that I have a dually, and the chain would likely snap. Also, I had no way to secure the derailleur out of the way. damn. I reluctantly pulled the plug, just as 3rd place was coming up on me. I guess I was comfortably in 2nd when this happened.

On the bright side, the fitness is good! On the downside, I could have really used those points for Quest for Gold, and the overall O-Cup espoir title. Shit. Well, i'll have to kill it at Kelso. But I usually race well there, so that should be a good time.

MSA

Well, Mont St. Anne was a strange race for me. I felt really relaxed at the start line, a little too relaxed, and never really got fired up all race. Also, about 5 minutes into the race, I wiped out on a corner and took a big chunk out of my top tube. Not ideal.
My legs are pretty scratched up... It looks like a small woodland creature attacked me. Its pretty gnar.

On another note, yesterday was my birthday! I'm now 22 years old. Damn, thats old! at least it feels old when your hanging around juniors. It was a great birthday, had a lovely meal with all the athletes on the project out here, and even got some cheesecake for dessert. mmm.

I'm looking foreward to Bromont. Should be a good race for me, I've just got to kill myself on every climb.

Update

Well, its been quite a long time since my last update. I keep putting it off. I'm not sure why, I guess I just haven't been in a blogging mood.
Anyways, since my last post a lot has happened.
I traveled out west, on a last minute whim to do the Edmonton and Canmore Canada Cup races. These races were a lot of fun, although I didn't go quite as fast as I wanted to. Regardless, I stayed in a cool little hostel in Canmore, and met a lot of cool people, rode some wicked trails, hiked up a mountain in clipless shoes, had a showdown with an alberta rider named cody (came out on top) and had an overall great time.

After the "out west adventures" I had a well deserved weekend off of racing. This consisted of going to my cottage, and hammering my body into submission on some epic cottage roads. Man, I was smoked after this one particular 5 hour ride. ouch.

After this, Off to bromont for another Canada Cup. Although I flatted, and had to run a bunch because my tire wouldn't seal, I felt strong, and continued to run the uphills, when other people were walking. This was good premonitions of things to come. From Bromont, Karl and I headed up to Sainte-Felicien for the Nationals project, and eventually, Nationals.

This race went quite well for me. Cody and I ended up duelling it out again, although he took it this time, on the last climb of the course. I pushed myself super hard, and was very happy with the race. Fourth was the result, although I don't like focusing on results.

The next weekend the legs proved strong again, as Eric Batty and I rode away from most of the field. I got outsprinted (again!) in the end, but had one of my best rides in a while.

I'm not sitting in a loverly condo in Mont St Anne, with Max Plaxton, and Cam Jette, on the eve of the World Cup race. I did some pre-riding behing Absalon and Adam Craig today, showed them a thing or two (just kidding) and i'm feeling pretty good. Hopefully I can ride this fitness wave that i've been on, but I guess we'll see. The course doesn't suit me, but I think that if I ride smart, and ride my heart out, I can really show some people what i'm capable of.

Its strange, I have this deep set knowledge that I will be one of the strongest mountain bike riders in the world, and I just have to keep knowing, and pushing, doing the training, resting properly, and it will all come together. Just takes time.

thats all for now, I will put up some more photos after I get onto a good internet connection. For now, i'll leave you with a good one... (shredding gnar in Canmore)

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.