Monday, May 27, 2013

OCup Update

In typical Race Fashion... no pictures exist of me from these first 2 O'Cup races... but i have some stories still!!! 
OCup at Woodnewton proved to be a hard first race of the year.... but a great fun course with some good tough climbs that suited me well and it was a good day... although the appearance of Andrew "King of 'Cross Power" Croutch was not encouraging for the false flat start.... but i was able to get away on a climb and pull off my first win of the season...
OCup 2 went down at Mansfield and Superfly Racing added a whole lot of climbing to make this possibly the hardest - no - rest course ever raced at that venue... usual tough road climb start and power flats before heading down the Amazing "Exit Wound" and then back up what used to be the technical downhill... tough...  Luke and i were able to enjoy some time at a local Cabin for sleeping before the race...
relaxed in the afternoon with some Stream Fishing... tried to catch Sean Ruppel some "Shore Dinner" but had not luck, but saw a few and lost a lure, so that's pretty much our luck...
Luke had a great race, and was feeling the Pain of a mid course climb before heading back into the swooping singletrack....
i was lacking a bit of seated power for this race, and had to push hard to keep up with Croutch and Rob Holgrem on the hills, and had no response to Holgrems 3rd lap push on the hill... tried to chase but couldn't make up the ground and was able to get away from Croutch for a solid 2nd....
need to look at the training to figure out the lack of power, but overall happy with how i rode technically and mental concentration...
next stop - Haliburton O'Cup at Sir Sam's... promises to be more climbing!!!

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Trembant Team Party

Made the annual trip out to Tremblant for the first CCup of the year, and as per tradition the course was pretty much the same... good long gradual climb with a finishing long 3-stage kick that makes your legs want to fall off, followed by a bone rattling, techincal, rocky and "easy to screw up" descent... and warm weather which was nice....
enjoyed staying with PG, Taylor and Karlee and enjoying the beautiful sunsets over the Laurentian mountain range... the Bonus of staying with the Team is that we gets lots of time to Recover which never seems to happen in my life... and i get to lure PG into conversations about training, nutrition and body preservation that only benefit my cycling and training....

PG had a great race after a Heck of a crash at Woodnewton.... rolled in for a solid 10th place while Karlee was able to control her power to finish a strong 6th and not rip apart her back again.... nice work Team!!!
was able to pull off the 3-Peat... fast start as always but stayed in contact with the Lead Out Man and pulled ahead at the top of the Big Climb and built a good gap over time.... rode the downhill well, pulled hard through the village to impress the fans, and climbed smooth and steady to pull off another Win by over 2min...
started off the next morning with a Coach Ride with PG and Mike Garrigan after some fancy french tea... not sure what i ordered is what i received but....???
continued the Celebration with a visit to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Shop and a $40 purchase of treats.... and i even saved some for the kids!!!

Monday, May 20, 2013

How hard can it be???

Just returned from the first Canada Cup in Tremblant and had another great weekend out there... on course and with the Trek Canada Team...

i will post details soon, but i just wanted to share the video link with everyone to let you know just what it's like out there... sometimes all spectators see are snip-its and feed zones, so Peter does a great job riding / describing (not at the same time!!) the majority of the Tremblant Course....

See video Here

Thursday, May 9, 2013

By-law to be nice???

so i was listening to a Talk Radio show the other day on the radio and they were talking about a new By-Law that someone wants to put into place to require a 1m distance between bikes and cars when passing... and then they started talking about the culture of commuting, driving, society, cycling, people... and it got quite interesting...  there were a few callers who were talking about the need for safety, how the number of cycling injuries were not all caused by Driver Error, and how many cyclists want others to follow the rules of the road but do not do so themselves... i tried to call in but never got through.... so here are my thoughts:

 the truth of the matter is that we have all lost our sense of decency, respect, courtesy, manners and calm now a days... i have seen so many drivers who get so uptight about the actions of other people, drivers who squeeze into spaces that force others to brake, park out front of stores in fire zones, and drivers who are in far too much of a rush to get to work that they are completely selfish and do not care about one another... what ever happened to the Thank You Wave when changing lanes?????
i think we need to remember that the most important thing in life is not where you are going, and the only person in the world is not you.... being late happens and people understand, or there are ways to rectify the problem, but that does not excuse us from treating each other properly.... we are all on our ways somewhere and all have families that we want to return to, so saving a second squeezing by a cyclist on Bloor street will be taken away ten fold at the next red light you hit....
and we need to remember that cars are big, safe, have air bags and motors, and are bigger than we sometimes think, while bikes are small, affected by pavement problems, have no airbags and ALWAYS lose the battle with a car.... there have been many times when i have been "buzzed" by a driver, have been yelled at out a window, had dogs lean out windows barking at me and had things thrown at me by passing cars.... and i was the only one in real danger...
so that is my cyclist / commuter view....

now for the other side....
are their cyclist who weave through traffic, fail to obey traffic laws, ride the wrong way on streets, take up more space than they require, ride 4 across, couriers who take their lives in their hands for a buck and yell at drivers?  absolutely....
are some of these actions wrong?  for sure... are some of them justified?  for sure...
i think that a lot of drivers would have a lot more compassion and understanding of commuters if they rode to work once in a while, tried to battle the traffic / pot holes / taxis / weather / distance / etc and realized that it is FAR more difficult to ride to work than it is to drive, and that it's far better for you and the environment..

so what's the solution? we could look at city planning of bike lanes, we could look at traffic flow and parking, we could look at licensing bikes and passing safety tests... but that is not the real answer...

what we need to do is be nice to each other... we need to treat each other properly and with dignity, pretend that the other person is a family member and give them the respect that they deserve.... remember that an accident hurts everyone.... realize that how we treat each other speaks volumes about our character... and that in the big picture, we are all equal and should be treated so....

as with many of our Societal Problems, having manners and using them will help lead us in the direction solve problems rather than create bigger ones.... we don't need the Police to force us to leave 1m between driver and cyclist, we just need to be nice to each other....

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Shred This!!!

Spent the day at the beautiful Hardwood Ski and Bike on the weekend.... saturday was the OCA Shredder Camp for U13 kids, and Luke had an awesome time!!!  Spent about 5hrs on his bike, made lots of friends, rode some cool trails, learned a ton of skills and had the chance to annoy a variety of coaches....

Hats off to Rob Fex for organizing the event, and all of the coaches for their time, patience and expertise.... Cayley, PG, Mitch, Disera, Garrigan, Brendan and the crew... great work guys... although i'm not sure why they all agreed to let Luke hang out in the middle of the group for the below pic...
 also gave me a chance to head out on the trails and get some good MTB hours in... was able to find a lot of trails (not on the Canada Cup Course) that i haven't ridden in years.... forgot how much fun they were...

Love this pic of Luke and PG having a stare down... "So Pete... Why you wearing a Winter Coat?".... "You got a problem wit dat???" ... yes he takes after Daddy...